-
‘Jesus is with us’ in our creation-care efforts
“Last year, Mennonite Church U.S.A. passed a resolution on creation care at its Phoenix assembly. Is it time for [MC] Canada to have a resolution as well, and, if so, what should it look like?” Joanne Moyer, a member of the Mennonite Creation Care Network Council (www.mennocreationcare.org.), a ministry of the two national churches that…
-
Leon provides B.C. prof a paw to stand on
It’s hard to organize a trip to Mennonite Church Canada’s assembly, knowing what to pack, how many books to bring and how to plan visiting times. The who to travel with, however, is a no-brainer for Bonnie Sawatzky. Leon, a black lab service dog, is her constant companion. Leon helps Sawatzky pick things up, walk…
-
Prayer to heal the heart
Who gets the help when a pastor marries a psychiatrist? At the 2014 Mennonite Church Canada minister’s conference, the answer was no joke, yet everyone left feeling better. Dr. Karl Lehman, a psychiatrist, and pastor Charlotte Lehman team up in both life and work to teach people how to help each other heal through prayer.…
-
What exclusive allegiance to Jesus looks like in a pluralistic culture
Embodying the love that Jesus Christ modelled and treating people the way we want to be treated are the best ways to face an increasingly pluralistic society. That’s the message Ryan Dueck, pastor of Lethbridge (Alta.) Mennonite Church, delivered during a July 4 Assembly 2014 seminar entitled “Hope in disorienting times: Navigating the challenge of…
-
Cancer buddies connect at assembly
They walked together through a valley of shadows for two years, yet Assembly 2014 is the first time Elizabeth Wall and Lorraine Reimer have met face to face. Reimer, a member of Whitewater Mennonite Church in Boissevain, Man., is a breast cancer survivor. A mutual friend in Edmonton connected her with Wall in November 2012,…
-
‘Spiritual disciplines are not magic’
“It only takes a scrap of time to turn to God.” April Yamasaki shared this anonymous piece of 14th-century wisdom in her “Cultivating spiritual disciplines” workshop at Assembly 14. Sometimes it feels like a scrap of time is all people have, but that can be turned into a sacred pause, she told a roomful of…
-
Sisters equipped to care for their sisters
What are the needs of women, and how are they working to meet those needs? Rhoda Keener, co-director of Mennonite Women U.S.A., led a presentation and discussion surrounding these needs at the assembly. Keener explained that Sister Care seminars, which are given all over the world, are made up of four units: Claiming our identity…
-
‘We are all cousins’
The Cree word “kiciwamanawak” means “we are all cousins.” In Canada, however, this familial relationship between settler and host is fractured. This was the theme of the “Broken covenant: Indigenous nations, the Crown and the Royal Proclamation” workshop co-hosted by Steve Heinrichs, Mennonite Church Canada’s director of indigenous relations, and Brander McDonald, MC B.C.’s indigenous…
-
Subversive guest
After seminar leader Chris Lenshyn began his post-Christian landscape session by reading chapter 1 of Daniel, he invited participants—48 adults and one baby—to gather in twos to converse about this story of young exiles living out their faith in a foreign land. It is the story, he said, of a group of people expressing their…
-
A splashing good time
Unique timing and collaboration led to one of Manitoba Church Manitoba Camps with Meaning sites hosting two days of the children’s assembly—a first in Assembly gathering history. And they did so in the midst of flood conditions. Twenty children embraced the theme of Wild Hope and experienced the wider church community at a kids’ level.…
