Shattering spears and bows
Setsuko Nakamura was 13 years old in 1945, the day American forces dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, where she lived. She recalls the horrific aftermath of that event and still tells her own story of survival and of the death and desolation visited on her city. By the end of…
Hope and faith . . . even when things don’t go as planned
There is a new church among the farmlands of southwestern Manitoba, but it has more than a hundred years of history. This spring, Crystal City Mennonite Church and Trinity Mennonite Fellowship in Mather merged to create the new Prairie Mennonite Fellowship congregation. Crystal City Mennonite was founded in 1948, while Trinity began in 1976. Only…
‘Are you a pastor’s wife?’
In Vietnam it is still uncommon to see female pastors. But the president of the Evangelical Vietnamese Mennonite Church (EVMC) is a woman and also a pastor. Reverend Hong Thi Nguyen is the leader of 40 Mennonite congregations throughout the southern part of Vietnam. After completing a degree in civil engineering, she married and started…
Worship is what I need
During a Zoom call a month or so ago, a pastor friend mused, “Is worship all we have left?” Our virtual meet-up—all folks involved in congregational leadership—had been sharing various strategies we had tried to carry on with Sunday morning worship services. Many have clicked into the Mennonite Church Canada nationwide services. Others have recorded…
‘Be on our side’
Acknowledging that “the church has been awakened and reawakened to racial injustice in our midst after the death of George Floyd,” MennoMedia, an agency of Mennonite Church Canada and MC U.S.A., dedicated one of its ‘adaptive church webinars’ to addressing racism in churches. The July 9 webinar, entitled “Expanding our witness: Equipping ministry for anti-racist…
‘House church with a building’
With eight members, Northgate Anabaptist Fellowship of Dawson Creek is the smallest congregation in Mennonite Church British Columbia. It is also the most remote, located about 1,880 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, near the Alberta border. Northgate was not always its current size. It began as a Mennonite Brethren church plant in 1962, first known as…
From days gone by to ‘Richer Days’
Like many rural congregations, Pleasant Point Mennonite Church isn’t as large as it once was. But, although small in number, the church enjoys a rich and interesting congregational life. Pleasant Point also has an intriguing history. It’s the only Mennonite Church Saskatchewan congregation with a building that boasts a steeple and a church bell. Moravian…
Riverton Fellowship Circle closes its doors
Riverton (Man.) Fellowship Circle decided on June 24 to close its doors, passing a motion to dissolve the church corporation and its assets. The congregation began meeting in 1985, when the Indigenous community expressed its desire for a church. They were led by Neill and Edith von Gunten, who also did ministry work in Matheson…
Pastoral misconduct investigation mishandled, says complainant
Mennonite Church Eastern Canada should have taken action against Wilmer Martin at least two years ago, says one of the people responsible for bringing complaints against him to the regional church. Doug Johnson Hatlem, who served as co-pastor at Erb Street Mennonite Church in Waterloo, Ont., from August 2016 until January 2020, says MC Eastern…
