Idle No More co-founder Sylvia McAdam, pictured speaking at a church event in 2013. (Photo courtesy of Kairos Canada)
One of the co-founders of the grassroots Indigenous-led movement Idle No More says her trust in the Mennonite church has been shaken by Mennonite Church Canada’s recent decision to reduce its Indigenous-Settler Relations (ISR) position from full-time to half-time.
“Come and share together… what God is doing in our congregations, regions and nationwide church,” Doug Klassen says. (YouTube photo)
Doug Klassen, Mennonite Church Canada’s executive minister, personally invites you to Gathering 2022, a nationwide church event happening July 29 to Aug. 1 in Edmonton, Alta.
In a video posted on YouTube earlier this month, Klassen outlines the goals for Gathering 2022 and introduces the event’s theme, “We Declare: What we have seen and heard.”
Violinist Lorin Friesen entertains attendees at a fundraising banquet at Peace Mennonite Church in Richmond, B.C., on May 7. (Photo by Jet Takaoka)
A fundraising dinner to help people affected by the current war in Ukraine began with a man who had vivid memories of leaving Ukraine as a five-year-old in the mid-1940s. The man phoned Gerd Bartel, a well-known member of Peace Mennonite Church in Richmond, with the simple question, “What can we do to help people in Ukraine?”
A leader and camper at the Urban Promise camp in Toronto, made possible with support from the Spirit of MDS Fund. (Photo courtesy of Urban Promise)
Meals and blankets for homeless people, helping low-income kids go to camp, support for refugees—these are some of the ways the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada Spirit of MDS Fund helped Canadian congregations and organizations serve their communities.
Pictured with UMEI’s Project Renew sign are, from left to right: principal Sonya Bedal, board chair Steve Enns and board secretary Carolyn Warkentin. (Photo by Megan Snippe)
The sanctuary of North Leamington United Mennonite Church was packed on March 9 as supporters of UMEI Christian High School gathered for a special meeting.
The UMEI board had been facing difficult numbers for several years, and it was time to face the question: “When is it time to say that it’s no longer sustainable to keep the school open?”
In this 2018 photo, Lorne Brandt (right), then chair of Mennonite Church B.C.’s Service, Peace and Justice Committee, presents Steve Heinrichs with a vest and moccasins made by Cree craftspeople. The governing body of Mennonite Church Canada has ended the full-time Indigenous-Settler Relations position that Heinrichs held for the last decade. (Photo by Henry Krause/Canadian Mennonite files)
The governing body of Mennonite Church Canada has decided to end the full-time Indigenous-Settler Relations (ISR) position held by Steve Heinrichs and replace it with a new half-time position.
Heinrichs’s 10-plus notable years with MC Canada are over.
CMU student Anna Schwartz, left, stands with visual artist and piano instructor Shirley Elias in front of one of the artworks that make up ‘Spectrum – The Colour of Music; Precision and Impression.’ (CMU photo)
Imagine if you could see sound. When Anna Schwartz listens to music, she not only hears the different instruments, keys and dynamics—she sees them. That’s because she has synesthesia, a neurological condition in which information entering a person’s brain stimulates multiple senses at once.
Elaine Enns and David Neufeld examine a bison rubbing stone at the Coalmine Ravine region in September 2021. (Photo courtesy of Randy Klassen)
“We hope that people, landowners especially, will talk about what’s on their land, who occupied the land and who occupies it now,” says Harry Lafond, a Muskeg Lake Cree First Nation elder. “The land holds everyone’s history and everyone’s story. We, all of us, need to be responsible custodians of the story. We need to talk about these issues.
Santosh Birhor works on his kitchen garden tomato plants. Through the support of CASA, an MCC partner, he has been able to drastically increase his yields and plant more diverse crops. (Photo courtesy of CASA)
When thinking about migration, it is easy to focus just on resettling refugees fleeing conflict or disaster. But the work Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) does with migrants isn’t just about resettling those on the move. Hundreds of millions of people are migrant workers, seeking higher-paying jobs far away from their families and homes.
MC Canada International Witness workers Joanne and Werner De Jong arrived in Ethiopia earlier this year. (YouTube photo)
The latest additions to Mennonite Church Canada’s team of International Witness workers extend greetings from their new home in Ethiopia in a new video.
