Leonard Gerbrandt
Assisting with autumn cleanup and yard maintenance at one's church is a common activity for many MAX members. On Oct. 16, this annual activity turned tragic for Leonard Gerbrandt, 69, a long term, faithful member of the Ottawa Mennonite Church, Ottawa, Ontario.
Followup included preparation of a study book, the initiation of a world day of prayer for Latin American Anabaptist women, and the declaration of a decade to work to change situations of family violence and the devaluing of leadership of women in the churches.
A sense of solidarity and fellowship took a leap forward September 6 to 8, at the third
Wenger-Shenk invites the congregation to declare with her, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.” --Photo by J. Tyler Klassen
“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb,”
Jake Buhler shares a message of peace on a highway billboard near Osler, Saskatchewan. Photo by Rod Andrews, Saskatchewan Valley News
Jake Buhler is a man with a different pair of glasses. They reflect a steely determination to pursue peace and help others do the same.
“Peace is the lens through which we see everything,” he says.
With that lens, he notices things that others may not. It colors his whole worldview. And it helps him see the world with different eyes.
The Crystal Cathedral, the gleaming Southern California megachurch known for its "Hour of Power" television broadcast, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors.
Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman said in an Oct. 18 statement that the decision came after some creditors chose to file lawsuits against the ministry, Religion News Service reports.
A former general secretary of the World Council of Churches has warned that tension in Sudan ahead of a plebiscite on independence for the south of Africa's biggest country could spark mass killings similar to the Rwanda genocide in 1994.
Vic Toews
There's a global recession and Canada's economy is not immune.
Shiploads of strange, foreign refugees — economic migrants and oppressed minorities — have been landing on our shores, fleeing civil war, economic upheaval and famine.
No one is certain how they can be assimilated and there are concerns about criminals, subversives and agitators in their midst.
Ron Rempel (left) converses with Sheri Hartzler, Third Way Media, Joan Pries, one of three Canadian board members of MPN and Phil Bontrager, chair of MPN's board. --photo by Dick Benner
Coming down off the mountaintop of excitement about a proposed merger
MCC canners are (left to right) Aaron Ressler, Jeffrey Durksen, Ryun Lawrence and George Wieler, Jr. -MCC photo by Brenda Burkholder
In 1997, when Martin Rahn heard that volunteers in an Ontario town were making plans to host a portable meat canner, his first thought was: “I need to stop this.”
A Canadian court has urged compromise when considering whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear veils while testifying in court.
The head of the World Council of Churches has reached out to a global gathering of Evangelicals
A documentary film exploring the consequences of war in Afghanistan, "The Garden at the End of the World", has earned a 2010 human rights award from two global Christian communication groups.
It explores the legacy of devastation and trauma in Afghanistan and illustrates the consequences of the conflict, and the hunger, homelessness and lawlessness that it causes.
The Neufeld children in Swift Current colony in Boliva reading Das Blatt für Kinder und Jugend, a magazine for children and youth. --MCC photo by Silas Crews
Eleven-year old Franz Neufeld tries to hold back his tears as he talks about a Bible story that his mother reads to him and his siblings.
It is the story of Joseph, who is favoured by his father, sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers and reunited with his father, brothers and their families when the brothers came to Egypt to buy grain.
Spending billions on more prisons in Canada won’t create safer communities, says a spokesperson for Mennonite Central Committee.
Event is an invitation to harness our creativity to challenge the necessity of war.
“To Remember is to Work for Peace” is the theme for the annual Fraser Valley Arts and Peace Festival, which runs at various locations in Langley and Abbotsford from Nov. 7-13th. Its mission is to provide opportunities to celebrate, reflect and be a public witness for creativity, love of neighbour and nonviolent peacemaking.
Muslim and Christian leaders need to set up permanent structures of relating to each other to head off potential conflicts in a world where religion is often seen as having a divisive role, the head of the World Council of Churches has said.
A private member's bill, which would have allowed U.S. conscientious objectors to the Iraq War to remain in Canada, was defeated on second reading in the House of Commons on Sept.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, often described as South Africa's moral compass, officially retired on his 79th birthday saying he wishes to devote time to his wife, Leah, and family.
Stephanie Epp poses in front of a “peace bus.”
A grassroots response to Mennonite Church Canada’s Peace in the Public Square initiative is rolling through the streets of Saskatoon.
The Council of the Religious Institutions of the Holy Land has expressed "grave concern" over the Oct. 3 burning by militant Israeli settlers of a mosque in the West Bank village of Beit Fajar near Bethlehem.
"The CRIHL strongly condemns these and similar acts of vandalism and arson which have taken place in the past year," said the council in a 5 October statement.
Matiku Thomas Nyitambe during the MWC Executive Committee meetings, July 2009, in Asunción, Paraguay. (Photo by Merle Good)
Matiku Thomas Nyitambe, a prominent leader in the Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania (KMT), was killed in an automobile accident October 3, while driving from his native home of Kirongwe, Tanzania, near the Kenyan border. His wife Penina sustained relatively minor injuries and was released from hospital the next day.
Sumana Basumata is the fifth Mennonite World Conference intern to serve for a year in the Mennonite Central Committee United Nations Office. (MCC photo by Doug Hostetter)
Sumana Basumata dreams of working with an international organization that promotes peace education among children and youth. This year, she is taking a big step toward that goal by serving as the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) intern in the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) United Nations Office, New York City.
The head of the United Bible Societies has praised the newly released Revised Chinese Union Version Bible, which took 27 years to complete, as a uniting point for Chinese Christians around the world.
Islam is part of a modern, changing Germany, the country's president, Christian Wulff, told the nation in an address on the 20th anniversary of the reunification of the once divided nation.
Conrad Grebel University College president Henry Paetkau presented “Barn Raising,” a Peter Goetz print from the Grebel collection, to David Johnston as a farewell gift on behalf of the uWaterloo University Colleges. Johnston is Canada's new Governor-General. Photo by David Perrin
David Johnston began his first day on the job as Governor General by telling Canada about Mennonites, Blackberrys and the students that marked his time back in Waterloo Region.
