“I don’t think that anybody can relax until we actually hear the words ‘royal assent.’ I think we have to be all over this,” says Jennifer Preston, general secretary for Canadian... Read More
News & Stories
An outdoor church service at St. Catharines United Mennonite Church. (Photo by Randy Klaassen)
As the pandemic continues, all in- person church programs have been cancelled and new ways of staying connected have been established. Sunday School and youth events have gone... Read More
June 16, 2021 | News | Maria H. Klassen
Photos by Jerry Grajewski, Grajewski Fotograph, Inc.
The Chortitz Housebarn is one of the Mennonite Heritage Village’s signature heritage buildings. It will undergo a major restoration this summer, for which the MHV is currently raising funds. Its goal is 50 percent of the renovation costs—just over $22,000.
Although the Mennonite Heritage Village (MVH) may look like it’s frozen in time, it has adapted impressively to the challenges of the 2020s. The MHV is a 16-hectare, open-air... Read More
June 16, 2021 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Curtis Wiens, standing centre, envisions a community gathering at Shekinah year round, to worship outdoors and delight in the beauty of God’s creation. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Why does God rest after creating the world? According to Curtis Wiens, it isn’t because God is tired and needs a break. Wiens, who is pastor of Aberdeen Mennonite Church, posed... Read More
June 16, 2021 | News | Donna Schulz
This restored Allis-Chalmers D14 tractor was the top-selling non-quilt item at the recent online relief sale. (Photo by John Reimer)
The New Hamburg Mennonite Relief Sale (NHMRS) that raises funds for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) had to adapt and innovate once again, as pandemic restrictions in Ontario... Read More
June 16, 2021 | News | Janet Bauman
This is where the girls lined up to brush their teeth at the former Blue Quills Indian Residential School. Children were referred to by numbers, not by names. (Photo by Suzanne Gross)
At the end of May, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Kukpi7 First Nation discovered the grave site of around 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. Like many... Read More
June 16, 2021 | People | Joanne De Jong
Anju Shaw, 41, is a client of MCC partner Barrackpore Avenue Women's Cultural & Social Welfare Society. (Photos courtesy of Barrackpore Avenue)
There was no peace in Anju Shaw’s life. For 20 years, she endured constant abuse and neglect at the hands of her husband and then her husband’s parents. She had no support, no one... Read More
June 15, 2021 | Web First | Jason Dueck
In a recent video, Stratford pastor Troy Watson shared four songs that came to mind as he reflected on the discovery of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.
Words failed Troy Watson when he tried writing a sermon following the discovery of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. Watson, a pastor at... Read More
June 14, 2021 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Will Braun, who wrote one of the articles in Germinating Conversations, is pictured with his son Matoli on their farm south of Morden, Man. (Photo courtesy of Will Braun)
Since 2012, the “Germinating Conversations” initiative has brought together small farmers, bigger farmers and urban folks who care about food. At public and private events around... Read More
June 2, 2021 | News | Will Braun
Despite the pandemic, Samih Saltah and Katherine Kandalaft managed to plan a special wedding in 2020. (Photo courtesy of the bridal couple)
The bride and groom may have hoped for a traditional church wedding with an entourage of attendants, surrounded by all their friends and extended family, followed by a fabulous... Read More
June 2, 2021 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell
Irma Fast Dueck, associate professor of practical theology at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, gave three workshops on cohabitation in May at the invitation of Springridge Mennonite Church. (Photo courtesy of Irma Fast Dueck)
“What questions does cohabitation raise for you?” asked Irma Fast Dueck at a Portable CMU event hosted by Springridge Mennonite Church in Pincher Creek, Alta., in May. The... Read More
June 2, 2021 | News | Joanne De Jong
Wandering the Wilderness, pulled from Hull's Family Bookstore
“Manitoba book store censors retired pastor’s book” was the title of a press release sent to Canadian Mennonite earlier this year by author Ray Friesen, a retired Mennonite pastor... Read More
June 2, 2021 | News | Ross W. Muir
Fanosie Legesse, middle row, left, was guest speaker during one of Peace Mennonite Church’s midweek Bible studies. Also pictured, from left to right, top row: Florence Driedger, Donna Schulz and Otto Driedger; middle row: Peter and Margaret Peters, and Peichen Gu; and bottom row: Eve and Rich White, Yao Che and Dario Hernandez. Zahara Alli and Eugene Laramee joined the meeting after this screenshot was taken. (Screenshot by Donna Schulz)
Peace Mennonite Church gathers for Bible study every Tuesday evening. Since the pandemic began, the Regina-based house church has been meeting via Zoom, enabling members who no... Read More
June 2, 2021 | News | Donna Schulz
Lily Hiebert Rempel inside the nurses station at Sandy Lake First Nation in northwestern Ontario, where she worked as a public-health nurse on three different occasions during the pandemic. (Photo courtesy of Lily Hiebert Rempel)
After more than 40 years as a nurse, Lily Hiebert Rempel was starting to ease into retirement. That is when COVID-19 hit, and the health-care system needed more nurses, not fewer... Read More
June 2, 2021 | People | Janet Bauman
Kari Miller recently graduated from CMU with a degree in thanatology – the study of death. (Photo courtesy of Kari Miller)
When Kari Miller tells people her major in university, they either look uncomfortable and walk away, or begin sharing deeply personal stories. That’s because she studied... Read More
June 2, 2021 | People | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
The Executive Committee of Mennonite World Conference, pictured here in November 2020, met online last month.
“The growth of digital platforms has increased the awareness of what our [Mennonite World Conference] family is doing during the pandemic,” said Carlos Martínez García, Executive... Read More
June 1, 2021 | Web First |
Team members, from left to right: (Back row) Josiah Neufeld, Steve Heinrichs and Allegra Friesen Epp; (front row) Emily Green and Rachelle Friesen. (MC Canada photo)
Mennonite Church Canada, together with Christian Peacemaker Teams, has responded to an invitation to accompany Unist’ot’en Camp in Wet’suwet’en Territory. This past Friday, May 28... Read More
May 31, 2021 | Web First |
Marta Bunnett Wiebe is the editor of ‘Germinating Conversations: Stories from a Sustained Rural-Urban Dialogue on Food, Faith, Farming and Land.’ (Photo courtesy of MC Canada)
In 2012, A Rocha Manitoba, Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba and Canadian Mennonite University hosted two events with the purpose of bringing together Manitoba farmers and... Read More
May 31, 2021 | Web First | Katie Doke Sawatzky
Frank H. Epp (Photo by David L. Hunsberger, Mennonite Archives of Ontario)
Two Mennonite organizations have reported findings of inappropriate sexual behaviour by influential leader Frank H. Epp. Mennonite Church Eastern Canada and Mennonite Central... Read More
May 28, 2021 | Web First |
Four great grey owls keep watch over Camp Valaqua. (Screenshot)
Did you know that owls pant to cool off, and that they fly without making a sound? Those are just two of the facts you’ll learn when you watch the latest edition of Ninety Seconds... Read More
May 21, 2021 | Web First | Aaron Epp
(Photo by Philipp Salveter, flickr.com)
Michael Pahl A former church minister in Morden is pushing back on churches arguing for freedom from COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. In a series of tweets sent out May 3, Michael... Read More
May 19, 2021 | News | John Longhurst
Jane Nigh, manager of Villages Port Colborne, Ont., wears a jacket and scarf from Ark Imports and earrings from Ten Thousand Villages. (Photo by Travis-James Haycock)
Although most of the Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) stores closed in Canada in the spring of 2020 when the TTV Canada entity ceased to exist, seven stores decided to stay open and... Read More
May 19, 2021 | News | Maria H. Klassen
Many participants at the MC B.C. Women’s Day on May 1 enjoyed a lunch of soup and biscuits, prepared together as guided online by Chef Dez. (Photo by Jane Grunau)
Women of Mennonite Church B.C. couldn’t meet in person for the annual B.C. Women’s Day on May 1, but they could still see each other’s faces, enjoy fellowship and eat the same... Read More
May 19, 2021 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell
Pictured clockwise from top left, moderator Kari Miller and panellists Zoe Matties, Josiah Neufeld, Marta Bunnett Wiebe and Bob Haverluck took part in “Ecological grief and exploring hope,” a virtual panel discussion, on April 28. (Screenshot by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)
A million plant and animal species are nearing extinction, the global climate is dramatically shifting and sea levels are rising—the earth is in crisis and many people are... Read More
May 19, 2021 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Calvin Peterson as Jay, right, and Lindsey Middleton as Addi, perform a scene from Unmute.
Twenty-six times since November, audiences have had the opportunity to participate in changing the story of gender-based violence. That is how many times Theatre of the Beat, a... Read More
May 19, 2021 | News | Janet Bauman