Billy Graham enters Chick-fil-A controversy
Billy Graham, usually silent since he retired to his cabin in the beautiful North Carolina mountains, has come out roaring this week. Days ago he decried America’s spiritual decline.
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Longing for peace in Niagara
The historic District of Niagara included what is roughly the whole of the Niagara Peninsula.
'Bright future' for Christianity, but crisis in Catholicism
A top church historian has said he believes Christianity faces a "bright future" worldwide, but predicted the Roman Catholic church will undergo a major schism over its moral and social teaching.
Virginia youth work on Ontario project
Members of the Warwick River Mennonite Church youth group and their leaders work on the roof at the Hamilton Welcome Inn as part of the MDS Summer Youth Build. --Photo by Dave Rogalsky
It was a hot Southern Ontario day in July but the crew from Warwick River Mennonite Church in Newport News, Virginia felt that the humidity was nothing compared with home. They were there as part of Mennonite Disaster Service’s 2012 Youth Summer build in the north end of Hamilton.
Neighbours, friends join new members
Sitting: Gary & Beatrice Wilkinson, Floris Leis (Absent-Wayne Leis) Standing: James & Halley Matthews, Marilyn & Gary Zehr, Donna Jantzi, Gail Nafziger.
Sunday, June 24, was a special Sunday for the St. Agatha (Ont.) Mennonite congregation. Our Church Membership Sunday welcomed persons through baptism, membership by confession of faith, affirmation of membership, and membership by transfer from other congregations. Persons being received into the congregation invited neighbours and friends to join them.
'Love of God' tops most-sung in song survey
The present hymnal is now 20 years old.
“The Love of God” is the song most sung in Canada and the US in the Hymnal: A Worship Book and their two supplements, Sing the Journey and Sing the Story, reports Amy Gingerich, director of print media for MennoMedia and co-chair of the Bi-National Worship Council, from a nine-month survey of songs-most-sung.
Wiens: rising political star in Paraguay
Arnoldo Wiens: suspended candidacy for president in 2013.
News update: In what is being called a Saturday night coup, Paraguay's Senate removed President Fernando Lugo for what they charged was his role in a deadly clash between police and landless protesters that killed 17 persons.
Ecumenical leaders decry deadly battle over land in Paraguay
The leader of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) has condemned a deadly clash June 15 between army troops and farmers fighting eviction in Paraguay.
Landscapes of war, a people of peace
Jonathan Seiling, right, consults with Carol Penner, pastor of The First Mennonite Church, Vineland, Ont. on a recent historic tour. (Photo by Melissa Seiling)
The War of 1812 is important to commemorate for many reasons. As the only defensive war fought on Canadian soil in the last two centuries, it was also the first testing of the historic peace churches' position of conscientious objection in Canadian history.
Suspicious hospitality: Feds reduce health coverage for refugees
Some 150 people gathered in front of city hall, Kitchener, Ontario, Monday evening, June 18, to protest and sign petitions against reduced health care for refugees. (Photo by Dick Benner)
According to the UN, there are now 10.5 million refugees who have been forced to flee their countries due to conflict, natural disaster or persecution. About 25,000 of these people are allowed to settle in Canada each year, but Mennonite refugee advocates say Canada's posture toward these people is changing.
Wink challenged ‘powers’ and taught nonviolence
Walter Wink, dead at 76.
New Testament theologian Walter Wink, noted for relating the biblical phrase “principalities and powers” to the dominating sociopolitical structures of the modern era, died May 10, leaving a legacy of books, teachings and nonviolent resistance to apartheid in South Africa.
Stouffville counters with peace at 1812 parade
Peace church members gather at the settlement site on Main Street, where an historical marker notes that Abraham and Elizabeth Reesor-Stouffer settled the town. MCC's Care and Share Thrift shop is in the background. --Photo by Peter Kear
Some 60 Mennonites, Quakers and Brethren in Christ members, including seniors and children, gathered for a peace church testimony Saturday, June 16, during Stouffville’s commemoration of the War of 1812, complete with a parade of Governor General’s Horse Guard, reports Arnold Neufelt-
AMBS appoints two faculty members to focus on Christian formation
Rachel Miller-Jacobs
Andy Brubacher Kaethler
Rachel Miller Jacobs and Andy Brubacher Kaethler have been appointed to faculty positions at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, each to focus on different aspects of Christian faith formation in our current culture. Both will begin these half-time assignments in July.
Huebner named to business faculty at CMU
Jeff Huebner
Jeff Huebner, of Calgary, has been appointed by the Board of Governors to the faculty of the Redekop School of Business at Canadian Mennonite University.
Huebner comes to CMU from his role as assistant professor of International Business at Ambrose University College in Calgary, where he served for the past five years.
Kraybill president-elect of MWC
Church leaders pray for J. Nelson Kraybill, new president-elect of Mennonite World Conference. From left are Danisa Ndlovu of Zimbabwe, MWC president; Kraybill; Ervin Stutzman, Mennonite Church USA executive director; and Janet Plenert of Canada, MWC vice president. — photo by Merle Good/MWC
It took three impromptu songs to count the ballots and confirm the results, but Anabaptist leaders from around the world elected J. Nelson Kraybill president-elect of Mennonite World Conference at MWC General Council meetings May 20-27.
Anabaptist Vision revisited globally
Tom Yoder-Neufeld: "Community happens when Christians join in communion with the divine Trinity."
In three presentations at the Mennonite World Conference General Council meetings May 20-27, theologians and historians revisited the Anabaptist vision in a global context and sought input from meeting participants.
Scottish professor coming to AMBS
Jamie Pitts begins in July.
Jamie Pitts, Ph.D., will become assistant professor of Anabaptist studies at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, beginning July 1.
Mennonite Relief Sale Raises $335,000
This feature quilt titled "Fiesta" fetched $3,200. With a final bid of $6,700, the quilt titled "Underground Railroad" pushed the sale totals to $335,000.
It was titled “Underground Railroad” and it went for $6,700 as the top quilt of the event, pushing the total raised to $335,000 for the 46th Mennonite Relief Sale held on the fairgrounds here Saturday, May 26.
Amnesty International flags persecution of religious minorities
Jacinto Perez, a community leader in Nebaj, Guatemala, resisting the hydroelectric dams on their ancestral territories. See upcoming story in Canadian Mennonite's June 11 edition, titled "This Land is Us." --Photo by Tobias Roberts, MCC
Editor's Note: See the major feature "This Land is Us" in the June 11 edition of Canadian Mennonite.
Stouffville to consider peace site and plaque
A task force was asked by the town council here Tuesday, May 15, 2012, to look into a proposal by the area’s peace churches to select a site and erect a plaque in honour of the founders’ conscientious objection to the War of 1812.
Links between Christianity and African traditional religion
When a missionary asked Africans in Zanzibar to tell him something about their God, they simply said, "God thunders!" The cleric had travelled across the seas in the 19th century to tell "the heathens without religion" or "people with a primitive religion" about God.
Fast going to Senegal for SST
Karin Fast with her host mother.
A Eastern Canada student is participating in the Goshen (Ind.) College Study-Service Term (SST) in Senegal during this summer, along with 21 other students. Goshen established an SST unit in the French-speaking West African country in 2004 and this is the fifth unit to go to the country.
Mormonism fast-growing faith in US
Even though their Mecca is the Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, one non-Mormon observer says they are growing fast because "the way they organize themselves makes for more congregations."
Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney may or may not become the first Mormon to move into the White House next year, but a new study shows that Mormonism is moving into more parts of the country than any other religious group, making it the fastest-growing faith in more than half of U.S. states.
92 grads of Outtatown
92 graduates comprise the largest class ever.
Family and friends of 92 graduates from the 2011-2012 Outtatown program gathered April 14-15 on the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) campus to celebrate their experiences in Africa and South America. They shared their experiences through stories and music during their two-day event.
Confessing our fossil fuel sins
Earth Day Tent Revival at Memorial Park, in front of the Legislative Building in Winnipeg, Sunday, April 22 350 people of all ages attended. 200 participated in a walk to the event. Brother Aiden John (aka Aiden Enns), in the hat, delivered the sermon and altar call. Charleswood Mennonite Church and Hope Mennonite Church were among the sponsors.
Christians are taught that taking a Sabbath from work is an important spiritual discipline, but some Mennonites in Winnipeg organized a Sabbath from consumption.
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