On the way to Sängerfest, 1934
A group of 18 young men and women travel in the back of a truck on their way a Sängerfest or song festival in the Didsbury, Alberta, area in 1934. No seatbelts used here! Song festivals were popular in Mennonite circles as a way of gathering to see old friends, enjoy singing four-part harmony music,…
Community Mennonite celebrates 25 years
The roots ran deep in both the Berea and Moorefield Mennonite Churches, north of Kitchener-Waterloo. Berea, first known as the Parker Mission, was founded in 1941 and joined the Ontario Mennonite Conference in 1947. That same year a congregation was founded less than 10 miles away at Moorefield, using a disused Anglican church building. In…
Emotions run high at MC USA convention
Pick a category of people at the Mennonite Church USA convention, and you could identify their pain. It might have been the pain of exclusion due to sexual orientation. Or of feeling the church has agreed to tolerate sin. It might have been the pain of sexual abuse. Or of concern for the future of a…
Faith, fasting and feasting
An interfaith symposium on July 6 at Abbotsford’s Garden Park Tower found Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs reflecting on fasting and peace and then eating together with a meal around formally set tables. “Fasting: An Aid to World Peace” was organized by Rizwan Peerzada, president of the local Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama (AMJ), who wanted to…
Ester Neufeldt leaves MCEC after 27 years
Ester Neufeldt has been around Mennonite Church Eastern Canada longer than MCEC has existed. The area church came into being on Feb. 1, 1988, but Neufeldt began her job on Jan. 25. Besides learning the ropes from the outgoing accountant for Mennonite Church of Ontario and Quebec, one of her first jobs was to close…
Pastor brings compassion to same-sex debate
A letter to my congregation: An evangelical pastor’s path to embracing people who are gay, lesbian and transgender into the company of Jesus. By Ken Wilson. Read the Spirit Books, 2014. Into the fevered and polarizing debates about churches responding to those who are same-sex attracted comes a clear, compassionate and discerning voice, that of…
Singing a new song
When children arrive at Mennonite Church Manitoba’s (MCM) three camps this summer, they will have a new tune to learn. “This Ground” is a simple, catchy, four-chord song—and it was written by current and former staff of MCM’s camping ministry, Camps with Meaning (CWM). Darryl Neustaedter Barg, associate director of communications at MCM, led a…
A ray of sunshine in the classroom
Wilhelm (Will) Friesen, a Grade 5/6 student, does not have a voice. Will was born with severe cognitive and physical disabilities which prevent him from performing basic tasks, including speaking. Born in a Mennonite colony in Bolivia in 2004, he moved with his parents and two sisters to Manitoba in 2007. The Old Order Mennonite…
Saskatchewan Mennonites pedal for peace
Before they ate their fill of rollkuchen, watermelon, farmer’s sausage and other traditional Mennonite food, a group of Saskatchewan Mennonites cycled 43 kilometres in solidarity with those who have to leave their homeland in search of peace. The first-ever Pedal For Peace took place at the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Saskatchewan relief sale on June…
