News

Saskatchewan historian receives award

Conrad Stoesz (left), president of the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada presents the Award of Excellence to Leonard Doell. (Photo by Graham Schellenberg)

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.

T-shirt honours fierce biblical women

Arlyn Friesen Epp, director of CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre in Winnipeg. (Photo by Aaron Epp)

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.

Mennonite mission?

Amos Chin, left, and two Mennonite colleagues baptize young people in rural Myanmar. (Photo courtesy Amos Chin)

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.”

Music copyright in an age of online church

Emily Fieguth working in her office with the different hymnbooks. (Niagara United Mennonite Church archives photo)

The COVID pandemic brought many changes—some obvious, others not so much.

Are Canadian Mennonites too progressive?

(istock photo by Evgeny Gromov/Betty Avery)

What sets apart faith-based justice work from secular causes? Do we lack spiritual depth? Are we too progressive for our own good?

Quilting across continents

L to R: Gayle Zacharias, Kathryn Derksen, Michelle Hildebrand, Susanna Derksen, Judy Hildebrand and Jake Plett. (Photo courtesy of Judy Hildebrand)

Addlight Mudombo of Joseph Village, Zimbabwe with comforters she sewed by hand from used clothing. (MCC photo by Meghan Mast)

Great winter warm-up

By Nikki Hamm Gwala
Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba

For Judy Hildebrand of Crystal City, Man., brightly coloured comforters add cheer to long prairie winters.

Meet MC Canada’s new Indigenous relations coordinator

Melanie and Jonathan Neufeld. (Photo courtesy of Jonathan Neufeld)

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.

Cross culture: three languages, one church

The Lucerna Community Choir, with singers from Point Grey and Chinatown Peace congregations, sings at the “Cross Culture” service in Vancouver. (Photo by Walter Toews)

Six Vancouver Mennonite congregations launched the new year by singing, praying and worshipping together in three languages.

Mennonites respond to recent military spending

F-35A Lighting II:
Length: 51.4 ft/15.7 m,
Wingspan: 35 ft/10.7 m,
Internal Fuel Capacity: 18,250 lbs/8,278 kg,
Weapons Payload: 18,000 lbs/8,160 kg,
Speed (Full Internal Weapons Load): Mach 1.6 (~1,200 mph),
Range: 2,200km
(Source: F35.com) (Photo released by Lockheed Martin)

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.

Steinbach writer explores ‘Mennotoba’

Erin Koop Unger, pictured last year at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach. (Photo by Andrew Unger)

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.

Soup to change the world

(Photo courtesy of Tim Albrecht)

Trudy Enns and Tim Albrecht of the Christian Benefit
Shop in St. Catharines highlight Raw Carrot soup
packages in the store. (Photo courtesy of Tim Albrecht)

Anabaptist Worship Network supports worship and song leaders

Anneli Loepp Thiessen, left, and Katie Graber are co-directors of the Anabaptist Worship Network. (Photo courtesy of Anneli Loepp Thiessen)

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.

Backyard bakery creates community

Jacquie Loewen building her backyard oven. (Photo by Michelle Burkowski)

One might be able to live on bread alone, at least according to Jacquie Loewen.

The resident of Winnipeg’s West End neighbourhood has spent the past year building a stone oven, learning to bake bread in it, and sharing this bread with her neighbours—all from the comfort of her own backyard.

Socks, socks and more socks

Youth at United Mennonite Church of Black Creek, B.C., with socks they collected. (Photo courtesy of Marian Peckford)

The youth group at United Mennonite Church of Black Creek were thinking about Christmas stockings in December, but not what they would find in their own. They were all about supplying them to the less fortunate.

What is Mennonite identity and why does it matter?

Clockwise from bottom left: panellists Justin Sun, Kim Penner, Moses Falco, and host Aaron Epp.

“Why are you a Mennonite?”

That’s the question panellists were asked at the third instalment of Canadian Mennonite’s online discussion series. People on 47 different screens tuned into the Nov. 16 conversation, engaging in a lively back-and-forth with the speakers.

Youth converge in Essex County

Young people from three Leamington Mennonite churches participate in the Junior Youth Converge event on Nov. 25. (Photo by Barry Bergen)

Like many of their peers in Mennonite Church Canada congregations, the youth pastors in Leamington were wondering how to react to declining Sunday school participation and overall shrinking numbers of youth in their churches.

Ontario MB leader ousted, two churches suspended

Ed Willms, former executive director of the Ontario Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.

Ed Willms had high hopes when he organized a Sept. 13 event for about 45 pastors and other leaders from the Ontario Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (ONMB) to talk about LGBTQ+ welcome and inclusion.

MC Canada churches receive grants from MDS fund

MDS funds churches in Canada to be the hands and feet of Jesus. (MDS photo)

A Mennonite Church Eastern Canada congregation is among five Canadian churches that received grants this fall from the 2022-23 Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada Spirit of MDS Fund. The purpose of the fund is to assist churches in Canada as they serve and support people in their communities.

A welcoming space for U of M students

Mark von Kampen, the Menno Office chaplain, and U of M student Andrew Enns at IMCA’s annual meeting. (Photo by Gladys Terichow)

After two years of online learning during the pandemic, Andrew Enns is finally experiencing in-person learning on the University of Manitoba campus.

Enns, a third-year student in the agriculture program, is now making new friends and reconnecting with former friends and acquaintances at the Menno Office.

Joy and love: Christmas Eve vigil in Kenya

Ethiopians gather to share meals and storytelling at Christmas. (Mennonite World Conference photo)

One of the most outstanding Christmas traditions among communities in Kenya is having vigils popularly know as “Kesha” on Christmas Eve. Most worshippers come together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ by singing hymns and carols, and even at times recreate the holy event by nativity plays.

Diverse responses to Hockey Canada scandal

In the wake of Hockey Canada’s recent scandal, some Mennonites are re-thinking what it means to be a hockey fan. (Flickr photo by Brad Saunders)

Like other Canadians, many Mennonites watch or play hockey. But in the wake of Hockey Canada’s recent sexual-assault scandal, some Canadian Mennonites are considering what it means to be a Mennonite hockey fan. Opinions differ.

Canadian religion by the numbers

Religious make-up of Canadian population. (Pie chart by Betty Avery)

Every 10 years Stats Canada collects religious data. Recently, World Vision and WayBase—another Christian organization—partnered to distill the numbers related to changes in religion from 2011 to 2021. Here is a distillation of their distillation.

Why does the Incarnation matter?

(Flickr photo by Lawrence OP)

In the Christian tradition, the story of Christmas is grounded in the truth that God took on human form and came to live among us. Isaiah 7:14 says: “Therefore, the Lord will give you a sign.

A cry of alarm and call for prayer

(Mennonite World Conference photo)

“We raise a cry of alarm to the different faithful members of the Mennonite church around the world,” writes Reverend Alphonse Kisubi Kassa, a leader of Communauté des Églises des Frères Mennonites au Congo (CEFMC).

Call-in style discussion series spotlights nonviolence in a time of war

CMU faculty David Balzer, a key figure in launching the radio-style show, has more than a decade of experience working in broadcast radio in Winnipeg. (Screenshot by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)

CMU faculty and staff: Karen Ridd, top left; Valerie Smith, top right; and Wendy Kroeker, bottom, are the hosts of ‘We Need to Talk: Voices of Nonviolent Resistance.’ (Screenshot by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Karen Ridd was struck by how many people around her immediately called for military troops to be sent.

Great winter warm-up

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