Langham artist finds connection through painting
Her parents called her Dynamite. Although she didn’t care for the nickname when she was a child, Valerie Wiebe has come to appreciate its layers of meaning.
Her parents called her Dynamite. Although she didn’t care for the nickname when she was a child, Valerie Wiebe has come to appreciate its layers of meaning.
The oldest and the youngest participants in the Shekinah Bike-Paddle-Hike-a-thon both rode walking bikes. Irvin Driedger, 84, poses with Finnegan Fast, 3, and his mom Sarah Unrau. (Photo by Jeff Olfert)
The small group of cyclists cheered as Irvin Driedger set off on his walking bike, kicking off the 2019 Shekinah Bike-paddle-hike-a-thon. His participation was inspiring on many levels.
Eight years ago, he suffered a massive stroke. He could only move his eyes and one foot. The doctor told Irvin’s wife Donna that he likely wouldn’t survive.
Dave Wall, who was an active member of Grace Mennonite Church in St. Catharines and an ardent supporter of Silver Lake Mennonite Camp fundraising dinners, was honoured by his local community for the many roles he played there and for his enduring legacy.
For César Garcia, general secretary of Mennonite World Conference (MWC), relocating to office space in Kitchener has “been a blessing.” He shares the office with four staff, some of the 40 people who work and volunteer for MWC around the world. MWC shares space at 50 Kent Avenue with staff from a variety of other Anabaptist related organizations.
In 2013, the first cast of Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz’s “Homeless Jesus” was installed. The bronze statue, which depicts the Christ figure as a person sleeping on a park bench, was offered to two churches before being installed at Regis College at the University of Toronto.
Ontario’s Theatre of the Beat has a mandate of staging change and creating conversations around social justice issues, but that’s also happening in communities beyond the Mennonite enclaves the company brings its plays to.
Bob Lebold made his first donation to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) when he was about 10 years old. It was Christmas, sometime in the late 1960s, when he tagged along to the MCC centre in Kitchener with his mom Elaine, who was the material aid supervisor. His task was to help sort and bale clothing to be shipped overseas.
Are you over 18 years old with a love for your regional, nationwide and global Mennonite church?
Mennonite Church Canada is seeking representatives from each of the five regional churches to represent their respective communities at the next Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Global Youth Summit (GYS) in Salatiga, Indonesia, in 2021.
“I’ve had many teachers, most of them children,” says Patricia Erb. “The best ones.”
Growing up, Cedar Klassen loved singing hymns.
Donna Dinsmore never felt she fit into church life.
The pastor-canoeists take a break on a rocky outcropping in Massasauga Provincial Park. Pictured from left to right: Mark Diller Harder, Yoel Masyawong, Yared Demissie Seretse, Chung Vang, René Baergen and Joseph Raltong. (Photo courtesy of Yoel Masyawong.)
For three days and two nights in June, six Mennonite Church Eastern Canada pastors journeyed by canoe and camped in the wilderness of Massasauga Provincial Park, near Parry Sound, Ont.
The idea that Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp is a sacred space where God is at work came up over and over again at the farewell event for Campbell and Chris Nisbet, held on July 13 at the camp near Shakespeare, Ont.
Eleanor Funk uses a large red umbrella to illustrate how Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross covers the sins of those who put their trust in him. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
The bronze altar dominates the courtyard of Eleanor Funk’s life-size model of the tabernacle. The model lamb sitting peacefully on the altar seems blissfully unaware of the fate that awaits it. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Inside the tabernacle, the priest stands beside the altar of incense, in front of the curtain to the most holy place. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Two seraphs guard the Ark of the Covenant inside the most holy place. The walls are lined with mirrors to simulate the polished gold that would have overlain the wooden walls of the original most holy place. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Eleanor Funk has been teaching people about the tabernacle for almost 40 years. “The passion has never left,” she says.
This year, Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) is celebrating 75 years of placing young adults in service positions across Canada and the U.S.
Streets Alive and Mennonite Voluntary Service Adventure volunteer Simon Crelerot, left, and his girlfriend, Cathy Oberli, travel around Lethbridge, Alta., offering sandwiches, clothing and encouragement to people living on the streets. (Photo courtesy of Simon Crelerot)
So how did a 22-year-old Mennonite from France end up volunteering on the streets of Lethbridge as a bouncer for Jesus? Even he’s not sure, but he’s loving it, and when he returns to France in September, he plans to continue working with street people if he can find an opportunity.
Twenty-five youth and sponsors gathered at Camp Elim, on Lac Pelletier, south of Swift Current, Sask., for Saskatchewan Mennonite Youth Organization’s youth retreat. Held May 24-26 the retreat was filled with fun and games, worship, and dragons!
For many women around the world, accessing pads, tampons or menstrual cups isn’t as easy as making a trip to a drug store, nor is it affordable. Some women and girls resort to making their own menstrual products out of things like mattress foam, newspaper or old clothes, which can cause problems like tetanus and urinary tract infections, or even worse infections.
Elaine Presnell has presided at around 600 funerals. That’s a number most pastors won’t achieve in a lifetime. But Presnell isn’t an ordinary pastor. For more than 10 years, she has worked for Mourning Glory Funeral Services in Saskatoon as a funeral officiant.
Previously, she spent 16 years as a psychiatric nurse at Saskatoon’s Regional Psychiatric Centre.
For Dona Park, making art is the equivalent of eating, sleeping and breathing. She does it every day because she needs to.
The 24-year-old attended Goshen (Ind.) College, from which she graduated with a double major in fine arts and history in 2017. She is now a freelance artist based in Abbotsford, B.C., where she attends Emmanuel Mennonite Church.
On May 14, Breslau Mennonite Church hosted an iftar meal after sunset, marking the end of the daily fast for Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, a season of fasting, prayer, reflection and charity observed by millions of Muslims around the world.
Every year, Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener, Ont., facilitates worship services at churches in the area, to build bridges between the school and its constituency.
This year, the senior choir students had a particularly moving experience when they sang and led worship at Kitchener’s Chin Christian Church, a member congregation of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, on April 28.