Fair trade under the mask
Although most of the Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) stores closed in Canada in the spring of 2020 when the TTV Canada entity ceased to exist, seven stores decided to stay open and continue to offer fair-trade products. Four of these stores—in Abbotsford, B.C.; Cobourg, Ont.; and Brandon and Steinbach in Manitoba—continued to operate with the…
Soup, biscuits, laughter and verse
Women of Mennonite Church B.C. couldn’t meet in person for the annual B.C. Women’s Day on May 1, but they could still see each other’s faces, enjoy fellowship and eat the same lunch. This year’s event was held on Zoom, with 67 participants from 12 cities in B.C. tuning in along with some from Alberta,…
Ecological grief
A million plant and animal species are nearing extinction, the global climate is dramatically shifting and sea levels are rising—the earth is in crisis and many people are overwhelmed with ecological grief. On April 28, A Rocha Canada hosted “Ecological grief and exploring hope,” a virtual panel discussion in partnership with Canadian Mennonite University (CMU).…
‘Staging change’
Twenty-six times since November, audiences have had the opportunity to participate in changing the story of gender-based violence. That is how many times Theatre of the Beat, a Canadian touring theatre company, has staged Unmute: The Impact of a Pandemic on Gender Based Violence, a forum theatre piece performed entirely through the video-conferencing platform, Zoom.…
Planting a church in a pandemic
The ideal time for planting a church is likely not the middle of a pandemic, but Josh and Cindy Wallace have discovered that it can be done. “We sort of left everything behind on the premise of a house church,” says Cindy. In 2019, Josh resigned as pastor of Warman (Sask.) Mennonite, where he had…
Who needs denominations?
Many churches today are distancing themselves from denominational labels like “Mennonite,” to appear more inclusive. Renaming churches “The River,” “The Mosaic,” or “Hope City” is one way of communicating this. Others embrace the name “Mennonite” because they want to celebrate their distinctiveness. Both see their decision as part of their witness. Mennonite Church Alberta invited…
That sacred space in between
Is it news if a crime doesn’t happen? What about when a guy who did break-and-enters for his whole life stops, or if a sexual offender learns how to express emotion in a healthy way and there are no more victims? Rielly McLaren is a bivocational pastor, serving part time at Windsor Mennonite Fellowship in…
