God at work in the Church

MC Saskatchewan ‘extends the table’

The Gospel According to Food, a play written and performed by members of Pleasant Point Mennonite Church, encourages the audience to re-examine their relationship with food. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

The Saskatunes performed during MC Saskatchewan’s annual delegate sessions. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

The bread and the cup graced the communion table at Nutana Park Mennonite Church during MC Saskatchewan’s recent annual delegate sessions, along with jars of preserves and a basket of corn reflecting the event’s theme: ‘Extending the table: Enough for all.’ (Photo by Donna Schulz)

Nutana Park Mennonite Church delegates, from left to right, Brent Gunther, Susanne Guenther Loewen, Mat Rouleau and Gordon Peters, discussed proposed changes to the structure of MC Canada. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

Susanne Gunther Loewen reminded those at MC Saskatchewan’s annual delegate sessions that “’our God is generous, welcoming, always making room for more at the table.’ (Photo by Donna Schulz)

“Extending the table: Enough for all.” That was the theme chosen for Mennonite Church Saskatchewan’s annual delegate sessions this year, and as delegates and guests broke bread together, literally and metaphorically, they found there was indeed enough for all.

A ‘manufactured narrative’?

“Moral selectivity is worse than immorality,” insisted Omar Ramahi, a Muslim Canadian invited to address an adult Sunday school class at Waterloo (Ont.) North Mennonite Church recently, to give his perspective on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He was referring to the biblical narrative that justifies occupation and injustice as a “manufactured narrative.”

WEW wows Waterloo women

Exuding excitement and purpose, Nancy Mann, associate pastor of Floradale Mennonite Church, exclaimed “WEW!” for the newest chapter of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) Women Empowering Women organization. The kick-off event, at which 75 women were in attendance, was held on Feb. 2, 2017, at 50 Kent Avenue, the “Mennonite hub” in Kitchener.

An historical treasure

Holding the 1930 volume of the Saskatchewan Valley News, Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan members, from left, Jake Buhler, John Reddekopp and Susan Braun, pose with Terry Jensen, the paper’s owner. Jensen is donating all of the paper’s archival material to the society’s Archives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan member Jake Buhler examines a drawer filled with 35mm negatives used in publishing the Saskatchewan Valley News. Now that the weekly community paper is no longer being published, the negatives will be preserved in the Historical Society’s Archives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

In addition to back issues and photographic negatives, an assortment of documents pertaining to Mennonite church history that have been housed at the Saskatchewan Valley News offices will also be donated to the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan Archives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

Bound copies of the Saskatchewan Valley News dating from 1930, as well as unbound copies from recent years, will find a new home at the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan Archives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

The first volume of Der Mennonitische Immigranten Bote (The Mennonite Immigration Messenger), published in 1924 in Rosthern, Sask., is among the historical artifacts that Terry Jensen, the owner of the Saskatchewan Valley News, is donating to the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan Archives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

Jake Buhler knows an historical treasure when he sees one. That’s why he’s so excited that the Saskatchewan Valley News is donating all of its back issues to the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan Archives in Saskatoon.

Pastoral transitions in Ontario

• Hans Peters began as the minister of Milverton Mennonite Fellowship on Jan. 1. He spent the past seven years at Jane Finch Faith Community Church in Toronto as pastor. During that time he took Jane Finch from a “service ministry doing work in the community, to a church doing work in the community.” That church is now being led by three young adults from the congregation.

EVI listening tour roundup

Clockwise from left: Sara Erb, Steph Chandler Burns, Kathy Janzen, Ed Janzen and Chris Brnjas consider the questions posed at the second Emerging Voices Initiative listening tour event on Nov. 11, 2016, at Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ont. (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)

During the EVI meeting in Saskatoon on Nov. 26, 2016, Graham MacDonald, second from left, discusses his views on the future of Mennonite Church Canada, while, from left to right, David Epp, Terri Lynn Friesen and EVI members Madeleine Wichert, Katrina Woelk and Kathleen Bergen listen attentively. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

Small groups put their heads together on Mennonite identity and purpose at the Jan. 13 EVI event in Winkler Man. (Photo by Beth Downey Sawatzky)

Over the past three months, the Emerging Voices Initiative (EVI) conducted a cross-country listening tour, endeavouring to gauge the mood of Mennonite Church Canada congregants on what should happen next with the national church following the presentation of the Future Direction

​‘Let him speak’

An Mennonite Church Manitoba meeting at Fort Garry Mennonite Church took a confrontational turn on Jan. 12, 2017, opening the floodgates of debate on just what it means for local congregations to “create space” for one another based on the Being the Faithful Church (BFC) 7 resolution passed at last summer’s general assembly in Saskatoon.

No longer alone

Ottawa Mennonite Church is located at 1830 Kilborn Avenue in the nation’s capital.

Pastor Anthony Siegrist is pictured in the worship space at Ottawa Mennonite Church.

In past years, there were only two Anabaptist congregations in Ottawa, the nation’s capital, one Mennonite Brethren and the other, Ottawa Mennonite Church, a member of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada.

Engraved on the heart of God

With the moon still peeking over the mountains and the stars twinkling in the clear sky, more than 60 people gathered together in the wee hours of Christmas morning at the Epp family farm in Yarrow, B.C., to celebrate Christmas with a sunrise service. (Photo by Angelika Dawson)

With the moon still peeking over the mountains and the stars twinkling in the clear sky, more than 60 people gathered together in the wee hours of Christmas morning at the Epp family farm in Yarrow to celebrate Christmas with a sunrise service.

From behind the Iron Curtain

Tales of families separated through war and later reunited through letters 60 years ago were featured at the Mennonite Historical Society of B.C.’s fall fundraiser. The program, held at King Road Mennonite Brethren Church in Abbotsford on Nov. 13, 2016, was entitled “A small sign of life and love: Letters from the Soviet Union during the Khrushchev Thaw, 1956.”

New Ethiopian church emerges in Ottawa

Wondimu Senbeto, left, chair of the Oromo Evangelical Church of Ottawa’s elders group, and Teso Felmina, vice-chair. (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)

The Oromo Christian Fellowship, which was established in 2004 and changed its name to Oromo Evangelical Church of Ottawa in 2010, has applied for emerging church status in Mennonite Church Eastern Canada and expects to be received into fellowship in April.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - God at work in the Church