News
A church basement tribute
As Mennonite Church Saskatchewan business played out in the sanctuary of North Star Mennonite Church in Drake on March 9, a group of women were doing church in the basement. On lunch prep duty were (left to right) Myrna Ewert, Vicky Toporchak, Betty Friesen, Tami-Lynn Lehr, Mary Jean Nicholson, Alvie Martens and Denise Bartel.
Over 1,000 Mennonites killed in Ethiopia
Violence has devastated Meserete Kristos Church (MKC), the Mennonite body in Ethiopia. As of February 12, armed groups had burned 49 MKC churches to the ground, looted and damaged another 81 churches, and killed 1,231 MKC members, including 31 church leaders.
Beyond revenge: The story of Maoz Inon
Maoz Inon is an Israeli Jewish social entrepreneur and peace advocate. During a February online event—Part I of the Peace & Possibility events—he shared the story of his parents being murdered by Hamas and his family’s astonishing journey to peace.
Fifty years of listening to poets
Life in the 80s
'Stuck together' at MCBC AGM
‘What do you do with an unjust benefit?’
For John Stoesz, making land reparations to Indigenous communities is a way to follow Jesus.
The meaning of seeds
At 9 a.m., it was already hot and humid in Hopelchén, a small city in the Yucatán peninsula. A collective of Maya farmers had gathered in the shaded courtyard outside the home where we were staying. We could hear laughter and chatter over the wall as we returned from our morning walk.
Saskatchewan sidesteps First Nations in selling Crown land
Giving back to the land
Our farmyard opened from its treelines to the south and southwest. A mile south, I could see the shelterbelts surrounding my paternal grandmother’s 1870s homestead. A few farmyards were dotted out in the horizon in the southwest, but looking that direction was mostly for watching weather systems develop, dissipate or roll in.
A spiritual covenant with churches and First Nations
A most promising possibility for a tangible response by churches to past injustice in the Six Nations Grand River lands conflict came from a conversation I had after the monthly meeting of the Haudenosaunee Council at Onondaga Longhouse on Saturday, March 3, 2007.
Small steps toward reparation
Ten years ago, Adrian Jacobs of the Six Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy proposed a Spiritual Covenant with Mennonite churches located on the Haldimand Tract. One Kitchener church is now looking closely at that challenge.
Witness workers provide Thailand overview
New Bible school opens in Thailand
The Friends of Grace Bible School recently opened in the Issan area of Thailand. This school, supported by Mennonite Church Canada, will hold classes in the Friends of Grace Roi Et church. A Bible school had long been a dream for Friends of Grace, a network of about 100 worshipping groups in Laos and Thailand.
Students dream of new churches in South Sudan
Of rentals and relationships
Big buildings; fewer people. It’s a fact that many Mennonite churches have fewer people involved in church life than they did 20 years ago.
Poems and paintings mark 499th anniversary
The story of Anabaptist origins came to life on Sunday, January 21, as Gareth Brandt marked the 499th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement with a presentation of art and spoken word.
New church launches in Kelowna
The new year has brought a new church to the Glenmore area of Kelowna, and it has given an old church building new life. Valley Road Church, a ministry of Mennonite Church B.C., held its first worship service on January 7 with Jordan Pilgrim as pastor.
The power of the pencil
When it comes to making art, Alvin Pauls isn’t concerned with the outcome.
“It’s all in the doing,” the Winnipeg artist says. “The end result is not important.”
Dressed in a black sweater over a brown turtleneck, jeans and blue slip-on shoes, Pauls is walking around “From Here to There,” a retrospective exhibit of his work at MHC Gallery. His energy belies his 81 years.
‘We’re capable of lots of things’
Welcome to “Life in the 80s,” a semi-regular series in which we ask people in their 80s or 90s to share their wisdom.
Resource centre finds temporary home in Winnipeg church
It’s brighter than ever in the basement at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg.
Sunshine House, a community drop-in and resource centre, is operating there temporarily while its headquarters undergoes renovations.
The organization, which offers programming focused on harm reduction and social inclusion, moved into the church at the beginning of November.
Pursuing a career in worship music
While pursuing degrees in health studies and music at the University of Waterloo, Mykayla Turner stumbled into a plethora of worship songs that left her wondering why and how she’d never heard them before.
B.C. churches mark Christmas and New Year’s
Mennonites in British Columbia celebrated the holidays in a variety of ways last month.
With both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve falling on Sundays, churches were presented with the question: How many services should be held, and what kind? Will congregants come to multiple services on a holiday weekend?
Landing out of hot water
One winter day in 2022, our family was discussing the problem of our society’s dependence on fossil fuels. One of our young-adult sons, who perhaps felt we were slipping into finger-pointing, brought the focus back around to our own household by asking: “What about our hot water heater?”