-
‘It’s the world’
John Peters, 89, is a retired sociology professor from Waterloo, Ontario where he lives with his wife, Violet, and attends Waterloo North Mennonite Church. He and his late wife, Lorraine, were missionaries in Brazil with Evangelized Field Missions (now Crossworld) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He has an extensive history with Inter-Varsity Christian…
-
The colour of prayer
For my birthday last month, I asked for markers. Since then, I’ve spent several hours in my soft front-room chair, copying out verses from the Psalms in a large, empty sketchbook I’ve had for years, illuminating the letters like a not-very-talented medieval scribe. I meditate on the words as the texture of the paper, the…
-
Growing into the future
Over the past year, Mennonite Church Eastern Canada has been leaning into its strategic plan, “Growing into the Future,” a plan that honours the five strategic priorities set in 2022. The plan is anchored in MCEC’s identity statement—transformed, inspired and called—and includes four specific goals to be enacted over the next few years. Both the…
-
Surely there are more of us
“If I’m here, surely there are more of us, and one of us just needs to start it.” With those words in mind, Rachel Reid decided to reach out to all the churches in Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC) in hopes of starting a young adult network. Her home church—Hamilton Mennonite in Hamilton—doesn’t have a…
-
After the bubble shatters
I felt delight in growing up in the church. Not only did I attend Sunday school and children’s church, but I went to Christian elementary and secondary school. I felt most safe in the Christian bubble around me. As I grew up, I was very active in my church and volunteered in several different capacities,…
-
Book reviews
Prophet Song. I don’t think I’ve read a book that articulates as brilliantly as Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song (winner of the 2023 Booker Prize)
-
If all the earth…
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for Mennonite children’s author, Aimee Reid. Several years ago, she took her dog for a walk while camping at Valens Lake Conservation Area in Hamilton, Ontario. She returned with a phrase in her mind: If all the earth were forests green and you were the nest. “I…
-
In prayer with old monks
I’m taking a group from our church on a spiritual retreat this weekend. I’ve gone on many personal retreats to the Abbey of the Genesee, a Trappist monastery in New York, but this is my first time leading a group retreat there. I decided to do this for several reasons. First, the monastery likely won’t…
-
The future of Mennonite Men
Mennonite Men says its ministry may soon meet its end. Don Neufeld, Canadian coordinator of this bi-national organization which saw its beginnings in the 1950s when men fundraised for projects like new church builds, wrote a letter to MC Canada’s leadership and area churches of MC Canada questioning the viability of their organization: “Our donation…
