Behind the scenes of Voices Together
When some of the individuals working on the forthcoming Voices Together hymnal needed help with a big task, they called their moms. The task was daunting. The text committee, the group responsible for researching and preparing all aspects of the more than 750 song texts to be included in the collection, needed draft files…
Money for missions
In 1989, a group of women from St. Catharines United Mennonite Church decided to sell their crafts and baking to raise money for missions. This “making and baking” was something the women did well, and their efforts became known as the Mennonite Food and Craft Bazaar. It took place in November, early enough for some…
Adapting to changing volunteer realities
“This is how I am a Christian,” says Heather Driedger of her work with Parkland Restorative Justice. As executive director of the non-profit organization, Driedger provides programs for inmates at the Prince Albert penitentiary. Supported by Mennonite Church Saskatchewan, Parkland offers three restorative programs: Person to Person (P2P) matches volunteers with inmates for monthly…
Churches partner to help residents in recovery
Twenty years ago, two men attending Vancouver’s Sherbrooke Mennonite Church desperately needed a safe place to live so they could find their way out of the world of addiction. Considering what could be done, Garry Janzen, Sherbrooke’s then-pastor, proposed the idea to his congregation of helping people in addiction recovery. “We did a feasibility study…
