General Council fosters interdependence in global communion
In four days of meetings just prior to the July 21-26 Mennonite World Conference Assembly, the General Council gathered with about 120 representatives from MWC member churches around the world. About half the time involved sharing stories and reflecting on themes of unity and diversity. Members shared stories from Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Panama, Angola, Venezuela, India,…
Readers write: August 17, 2015 issue
TRC not a road map forward Re: “What do we take away from the TRC?” editorial, June 22, page 2. What do we take from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission? Not much, I am afraid. The Canadian TRC has documented a sordid chapter in Canada’s history, a chapter that has left many scarred. That injustice…
A word from the MC Sask moderator
As the new moderator of Mennonite Church Saskatchewan, I am dealing with feelings of anticipation, apprehension, excitement and a little fear. As with the other area churches, we are an association of individual churches. These churches are located in different areas, understand some scripture slightly differently, and see their role of living out the Christian…
Mission drift
In the last couple decades, most churches caught the mission statement bug. To revisit, renew, or finally wrestle with a reason for being is crucial for any organism. As human beings we all eventually ask the big “why” of existence, so why should it be any different for groups of human beings? Sometimes, however, these…
Ministry in Richmond and in the Punjab
I’m not exactly a new Canadian as I arrived in Vancouver back in 1989, leaving behind my hometown of Dadwan, Punjab, India. My grandparents were traditional Hindu and Sikh, but my father joined the British army and so converted to Christianity, though he was a very nominal Christian. My mother had been born into a…
How should Anabaptists celebrate 500 years?
Mennonite World Conference held its first assembly in 1925, which was the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the Anabaptist movement. With the 500th anniversary now only 10 years away, many people are wondering how MWC plans to commemorate it. A workshop on July 24 at the MWC Assembly in Harrisburg, Pa., addressed that question.…
Lenore Mendes at Mennonite World Conference, 1990
Lenore Mendes of Guatemala addresses Mennonite World Conference 12 in Winnipeg in 1990. She thought she would be speaking to a few hundred people, but was surprised to see thousands. The Winnipeg gathering was the biggest to date with 13,000 registrants. Her sermon in Winnipeg was an important stepping stone to her election to the…
Slowing church down
The Commons is starting to slow down. No, we are not retiring as a church, we just think it is time for a little different pace. The plan is to switch things up in the fall for our Sunday worship gatherings. We plan to use our gathering time to dig a little deeper into liturgy,…
MCC Global Family program goes local
A group of children visited a greenhouse on the last day of Bread for Success, an after-school project in Saskatoon supported by Mennonite Central Committee’s (MCC) Global Family education program. The kids are learning about how vegetables are grown, and Chris Buhler, co-owner of Floating Gardens Ltd., showed them around where tomatoes and eggplants twist…
Refined by fire
“I’m not very good at being helpless,” says Ric Driediger as he reflects on the impact Saskatchewan’s forest fires have had on his business and his life. Driediger and his wife, Theresa, own Churchill River Canoe Outfitters in Missinipe, Sask., 457 kilometres north of Saskatoon. This summer promised to be one of their best, with…
