Alberta delegates meet in Pincher Creek
The most overheard phrase at the 2023 Mennonite Church Alberta annual delegate sessions in Pincher Creek was, “It’s so good to be together again!” After three years of video meetings, the joy of the gathered church at Springridge Mennonite in Pincher Creek on March 17-18 was palpable. The smell of coffee, the crowd’s babble punctuated…
Mental health and ‘having faith’
After retiring from professional service almost two years ago, Valentine (Val) Warkentin found she missed her work as a counsellor and accepted an invitation to volunteer at Canadian Mennonite University. Many kinds of mental illness only develop, or present for the first time, during a person’s teen years and early-twenties, which makes academic institutions dynamic…
Breaking the chain of violence
Is the New Testament inherently violent? What does Jesus’ brutal death on the cross mean to persons holding a more passive view of non-resistance? How does one seriously read the text and make sense of Jesus’ teaching of non-violence and his behaviour with the money-changers in the Temple, for instance? These are the tough questions,…
Readers write
Call on whatever God you worship for comfort when grieving I was interested in “A heart for grieving people,” March 7, page 22, which featured Hank Friesen in his role as an assistant funeral director in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. For 45 years I have had the privilege to be a licensed funeral director in…
Making space for God
In the words of David Martin, executive minister of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, at the 2015 annual church gathering, “Since our habit is to normally talk about God in the abstract or to reflect on how my intellectual beliefs impact my values or actions, I have chosen to share with you more concretely how I…
The Work of Love: A Sermon
With my colleague Doug being away on holidays, this past Sunday and next Sunday I’m going to try my hand at a two-part sermon series on some themes in the second and third letters of John. If you’ve read both letters you’ll know that they are probably two of the very shortest books in the…
Looking back on a most incredible journey
A few years ago, when I prayed for a greater sense of social responsibility and deeper bonds with fellow Christians, I had no idea God would answer my prayer as creatively as he did. That fall, I was invited to attend the MC B.C. Women’s Ministry retreat weekend at Camp Squeah in Hope by a…
Columbia Bible College appoints new academic dean
Gil Dueck, a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, Holland, will assume the role of academic dean at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C., beginning Aug. 1, 2017. Dueck has considerable experience in a Bible college setting, having served as an associate dean of students, an instructor in theology, and academic dean at Bethany…
Mennonites asked for Mandela’s release
As the world remembers Nelson Mandela today, Walter Bergen, an organic farmer from Chilliwack, BC, recalls a moment in July, 1986, when the Conference of Mennonites in Canada stepped forward to “officially encourage the Canadian government to release Mandela and to send a letter of support to Bishop Desmond Tutu for his work against apartheid,”…
My Most ‘Precious Gift’
A couple of months ago I read a post that had been shared around among some of my Facebook friends. It told the story of a bride-to-be, just moments before her wedding, praying with her husband-to-be and thanking God for their blessed ability to keep it in their pants. One select quote from this story…
