A vision for growth
Meheret Evangelical Church has been meeting for worship in Kitchener for 20 years. Founded by four families, the church of about 15 saw slow growth over the years, as refugees from Ethiopia—who dispersed to South Africa, Greece, Sudan, Egypt and elsewhere—made their way to Canada. But after hiring Pastor Yared Seretse directly from Ethiopia a…
Fostering dialogue in the body of Christ
Creating more dialogue between the 16th-century Anabaptist tradition and the context of the Global South, and learning about how Mennonite women “do” theology, were two of the keynote addresses at this year’s “Anabaptist theology: Methods and practices” conference, held in early June 2017 at Trinity Western University (TWU) in Langley. The “Toward a more global…
An adventurous junior-high retreat in Saskatchewan
Say yes, and get out of your comfort zone. These were the two main take-aways from the Mennonite Church Saskatchewan junior-high retreat, held from May 26 to 28, 2017, at the Shekinah Retreat Centre. Four different local speakers—Stephanie Siemens, Mat Rouleau, Hamilton Fast and Ron Schellenberg—took on the theme, “Life’s an adventure.” Together, this adventurous…
A field of a million prayers
They were called and they came, a million people from every corner of South Africa. They gathered on April 22, 2017, in an expanse of field near Bloemfontein for the largest prayer meeting the country had ever seen. “[Bloemfontein] is the centre, or the heart, of the nation,” said organizer Angus Buchan as the event…
Edmonton church experiences blanket exercise
On Pentecost Sunday, June 4, 2017, a spirit of truth and reconciliation filled the fellowship hall and sanctuary of Edmonton's First Mennonite Church. Instead of the regular Sunday School time, adults and youth gathered for a “blanket exercise.” Developed by KAIROS (an ecumenical movement for ecological justice and human rights) in response to the 1996…
‘The perfect synergy’
What’s the sound of an award-winning song? Matt Epp and Faouzia know. This past May, the singer-songwriters won the grand prize for their duet “The Sound” in the International Songwriting Competition. Judges chose “The Sound” from more than 16,000 entries from 137 countries. Epp and Faouzia are the first Canadians to ever win the grand…
Stephanie Martin ends on a high note
Grace Church on-the-Hill Anglican Church was full of concertgoers lined up waiting for open seats from no-shows on April 30. Stephanie Martin’s last concert as artistic director of the Pax Christi Chorale after 20 years was a hot ticket, never mind the content and performers. Edward Elgar’s “The Apostles” had never been sung in Canada…
Walking for equality
This past spring, while her Grade 6 peers were in class writing spelling tests and working on their multiplication tables, Abby Heinrichs was doing something completely different: walking 600 kilometres in support of indigenous rights. The 11-year-old Winnipegger was one of more than 50 people who participated in the Pilgrimage for Indigenous Rights, a journey…
Cyber security underdog
Computer programming is a language foreign to most, but not to David Dyck. The 17-year-old Winnipegger is passionate about computers and knowing how they operate. “I really like understanding how it all works and being able to make a computer do the things I want it to do,” says Dyck, who recently graduated from Westgate…
