Music builds bridges to Africa
A chance connection on social media led Heidi Epp, a music teacher from B.C., to travel to Africa this summer to teach music and peace and conflict transformation.
A chance connection on social media led Heidi Epp, a music teacher from B.C., to travel to Africa this summer to teach music and peace and conflict transformation.
This summer, Alberta supporters of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and Camp Valaqua got physical to raise funds.
Rod and Susan Reynar made a huge life change in 2014 when they moved from Alberta to Manitoba and started Emmaus House, an intentional community for university students in Winnipeg. This spring, they said goodbye to their last group of students and closed their doors.
Special celebrations were held at two congregations in Saskatchewan this summer.
Delbert Erb, who served God in Argentina for more than seven decades, died June 14, in Buenos Aires. “He decided that his heart and ashes would remain in Choele Choel, [Argentina],” said Rafael Stábile, pastor of the Mennonite church where Delbert and his wife Frieda Schellenberg Erb were members.
In 2021, there were three recipients of Mennonite Church Alberta tuition bursaries, which offer an incentive for young people who attend an MC Alberta congregation and have enrolled in a Mennonite/Anabaptist post-secondary institution.
"Well, I am a strong believer that all people have been given a gift,” says Reuben Unger of Clavet. “Whatever it is, everyone has a gift. If you have a gift, you use the gift, and don’t be afraid to tell people that you think it is a gift.”
As Neill von Gunten and his Black companions departed an increasingly volatile Chicago rally at which Martin Luther King Jr. had taken a brick to the head, KKK members and other whites attacked their bus at a red light. Bricks flew through windows. Rioters rocked the bus.
“There is a great deal of love for the work Tom and Christine do, and for them as a family. Their stories and visits are always warmly received,” says William Loewen, pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church in Calgary.
Gail Schellenberg influenced the lives of thousands of people during her career as a teacher and principal in Mennonite high schools across Canada, and later as executive director of Initiatives for Just Communities (IJC). She died from cancer in 2020, but her legacy lives on in people’s memories.
Ernie Hildebrand intended to spend his life farming along the banks of the Cypress Creek, where he grew up in south-central Manitoba. And while Hildebrand, now 80, and his wife Judy currently live less than a mile from where Ernie played as a boy, a pastoral calling took them on a 23-year journey away from those creek-side sheep pastures.
In the middle of Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal neighbourhood is a small and much-loved community centre, the Maison de l’amitié (MA) or House of Friendship. This unassuming brick building is a bustling place, fueled by the desire for community and social change. On any given day you will see people wandering in to volunteer or to benefit from the variety of services that this centre offers.
Three guest speakers will engage the theme of witness at Mennonite Church Canada’s Gathering 2022, to be held in Edmonton, Alta., from July 29 to August 1.
Mennonite Church Canada Witness worker Werner De Jong teaches at Meserete Kristos Seminary (MKS); his classes are mostly made up of third- and fourth-year students. Fourth-year students in the English program are required to do a research paper, which they must defend at the end of the term. Two of the graduating students are profiled below.
Ermako Awano
It’s hard to imagine when Ben Borne finds time to sleep.
“I have four jobs,” he says with an easy laugh. “It’s busy, but I love what I do.”
Borne works for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Saskatchewan, teaches at First Nations University of Canada, and is the co-president/co-founder of Symmetry Public Relations.
Anna-Lisa Salo, pastor of Bergthal Mennonite Church in Didsbury, has taken advantage of Zoom’s free 40 minute limit. Two years ago, she reached out to four young women from her congregation who were heading off to post-secondary institutions.
During Holy Week, bright pops of colour appeared in a downtown alley amid the brown slush and litter of a Winnipeg spring.
Deborah Lynn Sprunger, 71, of Lancaster, Pa., passed away on March 27, 2022, at Lancaster General Hospital surrounded by her loving family. Deborah was the loving wife of Rev. JW Sprunger.
She was born in Presque Isle, Maine, on April 17, 1950, to Clayton and Lynette Coffin.
After a number of delays, Werner and Joanne De Jong arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in mid-January in order to begin their work as Mennonite Church Canada International Witness workers at the Meserete Kristos Seminary (MKS). The road has been rocky for the couple, as they navigate restrictions, visas and an encroaching civil war.
You may have just done a double take, but no, this is not a Daily Bonnet article. A Manitoba Mennonite really did create a Low German version of Wordle, a word puzzle craze whose popularity skyrocketed in December 2021.
Doug Klassen’s term as executive minister of Mennonite Church Canada has been renewed for a second three-year term beginning June 1.
“We received strong affirmation for Doug’s renewal from Joint Council,” says Calvin Quan, moderator for Mennonite Church Canada.
Leonard Doell speaks at a City of Saskatoon event honouring residential school survivors. (Photos courtesy of Leonard Doell)
A group of leaders from the Stoney Knoll Band, and the Mennonite and Lutheran communities meet to share stories, information and connection. Doell is pictured in the back row, left.
In 2017, Senator Lilian Dyck invited members of the Stoney Knoll Band, as well the Mennonite and Lutheran communities, to share their story with MPs and senators at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. They are gathered outside the Parliament Building to commemorate that event. Leonard Doell is pictured second from left.
A Saskatchewan man was recently recognized for his decades-long work in peacemaking and community building, especially between Mennonite settlers and Indigenous Peoples. Leonard Doell was honoured with the 2022 Global Citizen Lifetime Achievement Award from the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation.
It was at the end of February 2020 that Lydia Rekrut shook hands with the owner of a floral shop in Thorold, Ont., and bought the business, which included the stock and equipment. March was spent relocating to another building and doing renovations. The official opening was to be April 1, 2020.
Throughout the pandemic, many Mennonite church congregations have faced the challenges of lower attendance, shrinking budgets and uneasy questions about the future.
Winter BYXE Week, an event designed to promote winter cycling in Saskatoon, was held from Feb. 14 to 21. Saskatoon residents were encouraged to try cycling for winter transportation, exercise and leisure.
For Stephanie Siemens, two-wheeled transit in the city is a year-round passion.