How is COVID-19 affecting Anabaptists worldwide? How does our faith offer hope in this uncertain time? Mennonite World Conference (MWC) is updating its YouTube channel regularly... Read More
News & Stories
'Be humble before God,' says Max Wiedmer from France. (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
April 3, 2020 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Angela Bifuko Bahati (centre, orange dress) and her family live in the Mubimbi camp outside of Minova in eastern DR Congo. They have access to a clinic supported by MCC. (MCC photo by Matthew Lester)
Things like frequent handwashing and social distancing have become the new normal. This is life during the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures help reduce the spread and keep... Read More
April 1, 2020 | Web First | Jason Dueck
Outtatown’s 2019/20 cohort, pictured last September. (Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/OuttatownCMU)
Students and staff from Canadian Mennonite University’s Outtatown Discipleship School who were stranded in Guatemala arrived back in their hometowns this past weekend. Thirty-six... Read More
March 30, 2020 | Web First |
‘This is an unexpected opportunity to work at rebuilding our sense of peoplehood nationwide,’ says Doug Klassen, executive minister for MC Canada. (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
Mennonite Church Canada, in collaboration with its regional churches and their local congregations, will share worship services each week for congregations across our nationwide... Read More
March 27, 2020 | Web First |
Darryl Neustaedter Barg (right) sings "You're Not Alone" with Phil Campbell-Enns, Jessica Falco and Moses Falco. (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
Efforts to produce online worship resources have resulted in three new videos featuring music written and performed by musicians from Mennonite Church Canada. “PSALM 46” by... Read More
March 27, 2020 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Outtatown students pose for a group shot at the top of Pacaya, a volcano that lies 30 km. outside of Guatemala City. (Photo courtesy of Instagram.com/outtatowncmu)
While school and government officials work together to bring the group home, 36 students, six leaders and two program staff from Canadian Mennonite University’s Outtatown... Read More
March 26, 2020 | Web First | Beth Downey
The sign outside Level Ground Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C., announces the stark reality of church closure due to health concerns. (Photo by Amy Rinner Waddell)
With the spread of the COVID-19 virus prompting provincial health authorities to recommend social distancing, including public gatherings not to exceed 250 people, Fraser Valley... Read More
March 25, 2020 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell
Siaka Traoré, a Mennonite Pastor of the Eglise Evangelique Mennonite in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. (Photo by Joanne De Jong)
When Pastor Siaka Traoré packed his bags for his trip to Canada and the United States in early March, it never crossed his mind that almost every event and visit he had planned... Read More
March 25, 2020 | News | Joanne De Jong
Participants in East Zorra Mennonite Church’s learning trip to the Philippines are pictured with MC Canada Witness workers Dann and Joji Pantoja in front of the Coffee for Peace sign. (Photo courtesy of waves.ca)
Twelve people from East Zorra Mennonite Church, near Tavistock, Ont., knew they would be impacted by their 10-day learning tour to the Philippines in early January. What they didn... Read More
March 25, 2020 | News | Janet Bauman
The minutes, board actions, nominations slate and budget at this year’s MC Manitoba annual gathering were all approved. (Photo by Darryl Neustaedter Barg)
“Where are we headed? What are the challenges we are facing?” At the 2020 Mennonite Church Manitoba annual gathering, the regional church focused on these big questions it is... Read More
March 25, 2020 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
John Friesen, one of the original founders of the Menno Simons Centre, speaks at the farewell celebration for the facility, held on March 14. (Photo by Evan Kreider)
The Pacific Centre for Discipleship, which owns the Menno Simons Centre in Vancouver, has decided to sell the student building and prepare to build a larger student residence on... Read More
March 25, 2020 | News | Henry Neufeld
Heather Agnew, left, Tracy Weber, Vicci Taylor, Sarrah Scott and Alison Enns perform in the ‘Little Sisters of Hoboken’ talent show during a performance of Nunsense, a fundraiser for Grebel’s kitchen and dining room expansion. (Photos by Margaret Gissing)
Conrad Grebel University College presented Nunsense , an off-Broadway hit musical comedy, over four days in late February. This comical tale was mounted as a fundraiser for Grebel... Read More
March 25, 2020 | News | Elizabeth Robertson
For his daughter’s wedding, Barry Reesor made a tower of butter tarts. (Photo courtesy of Barry Reesor)
Barry Reesor is widely known for the generosity with which he shares his famous homemade butter tarts. He calls it his “butter-tart ministry.” Although he is a computer guy who... Read More
March 25, 2020 | People | Barb Draper
Buttertarts (Photo by Barb Draper)
Read the story behind this recipe here . Pastry: 2 cups all-purpose flour ½ tsp. salt ¾ cup shortening ½ to ¾ cup ice-cold water Stir together the flour and salt and cut in... Read More
March 25, 2020 | People | Barry Reesor
Henry Harms proudly displays a camera that once belonged to Esther Patkau, former missionary to Japan and long-time spiritual care director at Bethany Manor, where Harms lives. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Henry Harms once owned a thousand cameras. He still has a closet full of them. They bear witness to a life-long love of photography. Harms was 9 when he bought his first camera—a... Read More
March 25, 2020 | People | Donna Schulz
Participants at a recent MC Eastern Canada youth workers retreat take part in a super heroes’ cape blessing, reminding each other that they are covered with the love of God. (Photo by Brent Musser)
“Youth need to experience God for themselves. . . . We need to offer Jesus to our youth,” said Michele Hershberger, a Bible and ministry professor and department chair from... Read More
March 25, 2020 | Web First | Janet Bauman
Participants gathered at Hamilton (Ont.) Mennonite Church on Feb. 29 for an initial meeting of In This Together: Anabaptist Network of Canada, to further the conversation about the safety and inclusion of people who are LGBTQ+ in Anabaptist congregations. (Photo courtesy of In This Together Committee)
Twenty-three people gathered in the basement of Hamilton (Ont.) Mennonite Church, together with remote groups in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Calgary, to discuss the future... Read More
March 24, 2020 | Web First | Janet Bauman
Osheta Moore, a blogger and speaker, presented a workshop at 'Shaping faith in a digital culture,' held at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. (Photo by Annette Brill Bergstresser)
Elkhart, Ind.—In an age when people turn instinctively to Siri for directions, Mennonite church leaders and educators found that Divine Lady Wisdom’s words from Proverbs have an... Read More
March 23, 2020 | Web First |
(Image by sspiehs3/Pixabay)
Doug Klassen, executive minister for Mennonite Church Canada, has recorded a sermon for churches to use during this time of social distancing. It is expected that many... Read More
March 21, 2020 | Web First | Aaron Epp
(Image by Gerd Altmann/Pixabay)
Mennonite churches and organizations across Canada are cancelling or postponing services and other events in response to COVID-19, also known as the novel coronavirus. Here is a... Read More
March 13, 2020 | Web First |
'Because the most common spread of the virus is through hand transmission, it is important to get into the habit of washing your hands often with soap and warm water.' (Image by JKerner/Pixabay)
As of March 11, the World Health Organization is now describing the global outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 as a pandemic. This move is not to incite fear but to motivate... Read More
March 12, 2020 | Web First |
César García, MWC general secretary (second from right), welcomes participants at the first Renewal 2027 event in Augsburg, Germany in 2017. (MWC photo by Harry Unger)
With the World Health Organization using the word “pandemic” to describe global infection from the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), Mennonite World Conference leadership has... Read More
March 12, 2020 | Web First |
Will Braun, Canadian Mennonite’s senior writer, left, makes a point to Marnie Klassen during the Face2Face panel discussion at Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, on the theme ‘Us and them: How did we become so polarized?’ (CMU photo)
How do people respond to the strong rhetoric of polarization that is gripping the world? How can they listen and talk to people that are different from them? And why does it... Read More
March 11, 2020 | News |
Lee Dyck, left, outgoing moderator of MC B.C., reads a final blessing along with Garry Janzen, the regional church’s executive minister, at the conclusion of the 2020 annual general meeting on Feb. 29. (Photo by Amy Rinner Waddell)
“Connections: God’s church in the 21st century” was the theme when 143 delegates gathered on Feb. 29 for Mennonite Church British Columbia’s annual general meeting at Cedar Valley... Read More
March 11, 2020 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell
Screen grab of the new Mennonite Church Canada website’s home page. (Photo from MC Canada website)
Mennonite Church Canada and its five regional churches all launched new websites over the course of a week in mid-February. The sites are part of a developing website hub created... Read More
March 11, 2020 | News | Katie Doke Sawatzky