Affirmation of new executive minister highlights B.C. AGM
The affirmation of a new executive minister highlighted the annual meeting of Mennonite Church B.C. at Peace Mennonite Church in Richmond on Feb. 25.
The affirmation of a new executive minister highlighted the annual meeting of Mennonite Church B.C. at Peace Mennonite Church in Richmond on Feb. 25.
In an effort to strengthen communication and relationships between the nationwide and regional churches, Doug Klassen, Mennonite Church Canada’s executive minister, paid a visit to Saskatchewan last month.
As Roland Sawatzky gives a tour through The Manitoba Museum, his eyes light up and his hands animatedly point out the highlights and features of each gallery. It’s clear he’s passionate about his work.
While parenting can be a struggle, parenting through foster care or adoption has extra challenges, says Jenn Hook in Thriving Families. Her experience as a counsellor with a foster-care agency, and as the founder of a non-profit organization that supports foster and adoptive families gives her a solid understanding of these challenges.
In a meeting on Jan. 30, 2022, Mennonite Church Canada’s governing body, Joint Council, affirmed climate action as a nationwide ministry emphasis.
Two Ohio families with 300 years of history in the U.S. began to consider leaving America when the two brothers and their wives faced workplace transitions in 2021.
Three panels with images of bears, butterflies, salmon and eagles grace the central hallway of Uplands Elementary School in Langley, B.C. Part of a joint project by the school and Langley Mennonite Fellowship (LMF), the panels were created by Elinor Atkins of the Kwantlen First Nation.
The story of a young Filipina woman who marries into a Mennonite family and moves in with her in-laws will soon be broadcast on screens across Canada. Maria and the Mennos is a Manitoba-made television show that depicts the interaction of these different cultures and the hilarity, frustration and joy that ensues.
When Ashleigh Singleton reflects on her life, she sees God’s grace in the many turning points that have brought her to where she is today.
“I am so blessed,” she says. “I’m just surprised over and over again by how God works.”
“We’re looking for someone who can balance spiritual leadership with executive leadership . . . someone who can hybrid those two areas.” That’s how Arli Klassen, Moderator for Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC) describes the role of Regional Church Executive Minister, the senior staff position within each Regional Church.
Esther Wiebe—long-time music professor, pianist and composer—died in Winnipeg on January 26 at age 90.
She is survived by her husband George; children, Robert (Verna) and Peter (Ruth); daughter-in-law Marlene Wiebe; 12 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; extended family and friends. She was predeceased by her son, Tim Wiebe.
House of Friendship held an official grand opening celebration of its new ShelterCare facility in Waterloo, Ont., on Jan. 19. This renovated former hotel will provide shelter and other supports for 100 men experiencing chronic homelessness, including onsite health care and staffing 24/7.
Moses Falco is a Mennonite pastor who grew up Baptist, but for six weeks each year, he takes his cue from the Catholics.
When the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada wrapped up its meetings at Shekinah Retreat Centre near Waldheim, Sask., on Jan. 22, the freezing rain had started. Dick Braun loaded up the 15-passenger van with people going directly to the airport, but it was too late. The laneway at Shekinah was too slippery and he could not get up the long hill. Still, no one missed their flight back home.
A new T-shirt celebrates women of the Bible who often get overlooked.
The shirt features 11 phrases, including “Teach like Junia,” “Preach like Mary,” “Lead like Esther” and “Risk like Ruth.” Rianna Isaak-Krauss, co-pastor at Frankfurt Mennonite Church in Germany, created it while pregnant with Noa Jubilee, now five months old.
In her new memoir, The White Mosque, Sofia Samatar describes Mennonites as “something that seems very odd, at least at first: an evangelizing tribe.”
This tribe, she says, “travels the world to spread the universal love of God, and at the same time maintains the occult power of its family names, its language, its traditions, its alphabet of bone.”
The COVID pandemic brought many changes—some obvious, others not so much.
What sets apart faith-based justice work from secular causes? Do we lack spiritual depth? Are we too progressive for our own good?
By Nikki Hamm Gwala
Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba
For Judy Hildebrand of Crystal City, Man., brightly coloured comforters add cheer to long prairie winters.
If there are places where the church is centring the voices of people on the margins, Jonathan Neufeld wants to be there.
“Theologically, that’s my home,” says Neufeld, Mennonite Church Canada’s Indigenous relations coordinator.
Neufeld began his work at MC Canada, based in Winnipeg, in November. He also works half-time as pastor at Charleswood Mennonite in Winnipeg.
Six Vancouver Mennonite congregations launched the new year by singing, praying and worshipping together in three languages.
From Dirk Willems loving his enemy in 1569 to Colombian Mennonites building peace today, Anabaptists have offered a bold peace witness. But being a peace church is complicated.
Erin Koop Unger has travelled the world, but these days it’s Manitoba and the Mennonites who live there that have captured her imagination.
Koop Unger is the creator of Mennotoba.com, a website where she writes about Mennonite history and culture in the keystone province.
Shop in St. Catharines highlight Raw Carrot soup
packages in the store. (Photo courtesy of Tim Albrecht)
Congregational needs for worship resources and support skyrocketed when the pandemic roared into full swing and people struggled to create meaningful worship experiences in an online world.