“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
News & Stories
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)
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
Adam Ens, with his back to the camera, during his two seasons of playing professional volleyball in France. (Photo by Wes Ens)
Winning awards is nothing new for Adam Ens. Maybe that’s why he expressed surprise when his whole family planned to show up for his induction into the Canada West Hall of Fame... Read More
March 11, 2020 | People | Donna Schulz
Lynell Bergen and Brian Dyck have done a lot of bird watching during their time in Ethiopia. This cinnamon-chested bee-eater visited them outside their home. (Photo by Brian Dyck)
Lynell Bergen exchanged the snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures of a Winnipeg winter this year for the warm sunshine and mountains of Ethiopia. Bergen is a pastor of Hope... Read More
March 11, 2020 | People | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Jay Hildebrand continues to be active musically in church, bringing a creative flair to worship services at Leamington United Mennonite Church, playing piano, bass and guitar, or through solo vocal performances. (Photo by Mitchel Hildebrand)
In the front yard of an average looking home lies a large rock with a landscaped garden bed around it. The rock reads “JAYCELAND’ and bears a lightning bolt with the capital... Read More
March 11, 2020 | People | Zach Charbonneau
A family photo of Jennifer Otto; son Alex, standing; son Ian; and Greg Rabus. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Otto)
When Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers Greg Rabus and Jennifer Otto landed in Lethbridge, Alta., in 2018, with their sons Alex, and Ian, they were not sure what their new... Read More
March 11, 2020 | People | Joanne De Jong
Doris Gascho, front row second from left, was one of the first women to serve on the Executive Committee of the Mennonite Conference of Ontario and Quebec. In 1978, the committee included, from left to right, front row: Laverne Brubacher, Gascho, Isaac High, Elsie Horst and Vernon Leis; and back row: Joe Nighswander, Abner Martin, Glenn Brubacher, Edward Kauffman and Ralph Lebold. (Mennonite Archives of Ontario photo)
Trailblazer, pioneer, role model and mentor. Inquisitive, passionate, open-minded. This is how Doris Gascho was described by family, friends, fellow church members and colleagues... Read More
March 11, 2020 | People | Janet Bauman
CMU students take part in a 30-minute, six-part, liturgical chapel service each Tuesday. (CMU photo)
Thanks to a shift in approach, Tuesday all-campus worship gatherings at Canadian Mennonite University are attracting a better, more consistent turnout from the student body... Read More
March 10, 2020 | Web First | Canadian Mennonite University
Aïchatou Hamidou sits with the women who make up her WASH team after finishing their morning errands in Kobiteye, a government camp supporting around 6,000 refugees. (MCC photo by Colin Vandenberg)
With a series of quick, practiced strokes, Aïchatou Hamidou clears the area around a newly built latrine with a long broom made from dry grass. After the trash and waste are swept... Read More
March 9, 2020 | Web First | Jason Dueck
An image from a zine created by Meghan Mast and Joni Sawatzky. (Image courtesy of YouTube)
How do you reckon with the feeling that everything is changing? That sense that crises are converging? With the notion that we have some big choices to make individually and... Read More
March 6, 2020 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Grebel students at a HeForShe rally last September. (Photo courtesy of Conrad Grebel University College)
Students, staff, and faculty at Conrad Grebel University College took time during their weekly Community Supper one evening in January to reflect on what HeForShe has meant for... Read More
March 6, 2020 | Web First | Elizabeth Robertson
Current faculty and staff pose at the photo booth as part of the festivities celebrating the 75th birthday of Rockway Mennonite Collegiate. (Photo by Janet Bauman)
There was cake, balloons, confetti and a photo booth with goofy props. There was singing in harmony, and prayers of gratitude and blessing—all of it to celebrate the 75th birthday... Read More
February 26, 2020 | News | Janet Bauman
David Martin, right, executive minister of MC Eastern Canada, announced a $250,000 grant from the regional church for tuition assistance for students from the regional church’s first-generation Canadian congregations, at the Rockway Mennonite Collegiate’s Founder’s Day Chapel, celebrating the 75th birthday of the school. The grant was gratefully received by Ann L. Schultz, left, Rockway’s current principal, on behalf of the school. (Photo by Yuanpei (Robin) Xiang)
Citing a “strong history of pitching in” at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, David Martin, executive minister of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, announced a $250,000 grant to... Read More
February 26, 2020 | News | Janet Bauman
At ‘The cost of colonialism: Joy of jubilee’ workshop in Vancouver last month, a breakout group discusses what jubilee might look like in relation to Indigenous-Settler relations. (Photo by Henry Krause)
An interfaith workshop drew more than 80 registered participants to Peace Church on 52nd on Feb. 7 and 8 to learn about “The cost of colonialism: The joy of jubilee.” Steve... Read More
February 26, 2020 | News | Johann Funk
Some participants in Gerald Gerbrandt’s short course on Deuteronomy opt to be part of a choir, led by Richard Janzen, that performed during the joint morning worship service on Feb. 9. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Five Mennonite Church Saskatchewan congregations collaborated recently to provide a weekend of learning for their members. Aberdeen, Eigenheim, Rosthern, Tiefengrund and Zoar... Read More
February 26, 2020 | News | Donna Schulz
South Sudanese Mennonite Church women lead worship in the Gambela region in Ethiopia in January. (Photo by William Tut)
Leaders from Edmonton’s South Sudanese Mennonite Church are serving as connectors between refugees in Ethiopia and other Mennonites in Alberta. In November 2018, people from the... Read More
February 26, 2020 | News | Joanne De Jong
Congregants walk a labyrinth set up in the church, a rich tradition at Seeds. (Photo by Ted Enns-Dyck)
Seeds Church celebrated its 20th anniversary on the first Sunday of 2020. But instead of throwing on party hats and revelling in the past two decades, the congregation faced... Read More
February 26, 2020 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Local participants in the Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday service in St. Catharines, Ont., included, from left to right: Louise Wideman, Ben Falk, Bounnho Phommaseng, Herb Sawatzky, Jim Friesen, Rob Patterson, Michael VandenEnden, John Rempel, Ed Willms, Mike Sherbino and Kenol Bernard. (Photo by Rob Patterson)
César García, general secretary of Mennonite World Conference (MWC), preached the Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday sermon at Scott Street Mennonite Brethren Church in St... Read More
February 26, 2020 | News | Maria H. Klassen
Adolphine Tshiama, left, is pictured with Kanku Ngalamulume and Joseph Nkongolo, coordinator of the Department of Service and Development of the Mennonite Church in the Congo. (Photo by Rod Hollinger Janzen)
From mid-2016 to mid-2017, the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo was devastated by an armed conflict. Rebel militias gathered around a traditional chief, Kamuina... Read More
February 26, 2020 | People | Rod Hollinger-Janzen
Larry Updike and Sandy Koop-Harder share a laugh during a discussion event at Canadian Mennonite University. (Photo courtesy of Instagram.com/cmuwpg)
Why does polarization so frequently characterize our discourse? How can people find common ground? Those were two of the questions at the heart of “Us and Them: How did we become... Read More
February 21, 2020 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Believers in Wuhan, China, distribute medical supplies. (Photo courtesy of Jeanette Hanson)
With the coronavirus continuing to impact people around the world, Mennonite World Conference (MWC) has called for Anabaptist and Mennonite congregations everywhere to unite in... Read More
February 19, 2020 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Lawan Andimi, a pastoral leader in the Nigerian Church of the Brethren, was executed by Boko Haram, an extremist Jihadi group. Prior to the killing, Boko Haram released a video in which Andimi steadfastly affirmed his faith. (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
On Jan. 20, Lawan Andimi, a pastoral leader in the Nigerian Church of the Brethren, was executed by Boko Haram, an extremist Jihadi group. He had been reported missing on Jan. 3,... Read More
February 14, 2020 | Web First | Will Braun
Valentine's Day is celebrated worldwide with more than 100 million roses and 1 billion cards sent every year. (Image by Karolina Grabowska/Pixabay)
Whether you scoff at the billion-dollar industry that Feb. 14 has become or use the day to show your affection for the people you love—or something in between—there’s no denying... Read More
February 14, 2020 | Web First | Aaron Epp
The reception area at the new Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers location in downtown Edmonton. (Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers photo)
In May 1981, the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers opened its doors with 1.5 full-time-equivalent employees, one classroom and a little office. It was started by six... Read More
February 12, 2020 | News | Joanne De Jong
An interior view of a refugee train with a family of Mennonites from Schoenwiese, southern Russia (present-day Ukraine). (MCC photo by A.W. Slagel)
“At the railroad stations, the sight was appalling. The moment the train halted it was besieged by living skeletons. From out of the rags were lifted bare arms, the wasted fingers... Read More
February 12, 2020 | News | Laura Kalmar