A sidewalk chalk sign invites people into Nutana Park Mennonite Church to ‘Prep for Pride.’ (Photo courtesy of Susanne Guenther Loewen) This wasn’t the first time Mennonites... Read More
News & Stories
About 45 people representing three MC Saskatchewan congregations walked in the Saskatoon Pride parade on June 22. (Photo courtesy of Ben Borne)
July 17, 2019 | News | Donna Schulz
Daryl Redsky of the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation stands on a temporary bridge over the man-made channel that used to isolate his community but has now been replaced by Freedom Road. (2014 file photo by Will Braun)
For the first time in more than a century, the isolated island of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation is now connected to the rest of mainland Canada. The Indigenous community, located on... Read More
July 17, 2019 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Philip Martin, left, and Ella Strathdee promote Cycling into the Future at a community event at Kitchener (Ont.) City Hall. (Cycling into the Future photo)
When Philip Martin discovered several years ago that “cycling education in Canada is almost non-existent,” he set out to do something about it. With the help of his students at... Read More
July 17, 2019 | News | Janet Bauman
Pictured from left to right: MVS volunteers Rudy Moyer-Litwiller, Sophia Amstutz, Tjorven Lichdi and Michelle Moyer-Litwiller. (Photo courtesy of Sophia Amstutz)
This year, Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) is celebrating 75 years of placing young adults in service positions across Canada and the U.S. About 20 years ago, when the General... Read More
July 17, 2019 | People | Rachel Bergen
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... Read More
July 17, 2019 | People | Joanne De Jong
From left: John D. Roth, César García, Thomas Yoder Neufeld and Reformed Pastor Peter Detwiller cross the Limmat River in Zurich to visit Reformed and Anabaptist sites. (Photo by J. Nelson Kraybill)
“Reformed and Anabaptist are branches from the same tree,” said Hanspeter Jecker, a Mennonite theologian from Switzerland. “Anabaptist convictions that once were controversial—... Read More
July 16, 2019 | Web First | J. Nelson Kraybill
Francois Tshidimu of the Democratic Republic of Congo addresses the Anabaptist history symposium while Anicka Fast of Canada translates. (Photo by Laura Miller)
More than 30 people from 12 countries gathered at Goshen College on June 17-19 to talk about gathering and preserving the sources that are crucial to the history of the global... Read More
July 16, 2019 | Web First | Laura Miller
Participants in the Spirituality and Aging retreat at Conrad Grebel University College choose a pearl at the end of the event, to represent spiritual resources that bring courage and resilience on the journey of aging. (Photo by Janet Bauman)
“Old age is not for sissies,” quipped Celia McBride, one of six presenters at the annual Aging and Spirituality Seminar sponsored by the Schlegel-University of Waterloo Research... Read More
July 16, 2019 | Web First | Janet Bauman
Local elders greet walkers at the Health Sciences Association of Alberta office in Calgary as part of the closing ceremony. (Photo by Jonas Cornelsen)
Friends and family huddled in light afternoon rain on June 14, waiting for about 30 participants in the Walk for Common Ground to arrive in Calgary. The walkers were led in by a... Read More
July 3, 2019 | News | Jonas Cornelsen
Crowd participation was part of the dance presentations at the World Refugee Day event held in Abbotsford on June 22. (MCC B.C. photo)
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) B.C., along with other local organizations, celebrated World Refugee Day at Mill Lake Park in Abbotsford on June 22. Over 200 people, some... Read More
July 3, 2019 | News |
Church members brought back the circle games they used to play at weddings and church events when they were young. (Photo by Rick Friesen)
While many churches in rural Canada face closure, Arnaud Mennonite Church recently celebrated its 75th anniversary. Located in the prairie town of Arnaud, Man., the church is home... Read More
July 3, 2019 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Sarah Johnson, of the Voices Together hymnal committee, displays the blank pages of the new hymnal mock-up, reminding participants at a regional worship service, held at Rosthern Mennonite Church, that the contents of the new hymnal haven’t yet been decided.
The people of Mennonite Church Saskatchewan love being together. In particular, they enjoy singing and worshiping with one another. This apparent enjoyment sparked the idea of... Read More
July 3, 2019 | News | Donna Schulz
The 2019 feature quilt, “Little Brown Church.” (Photo by St. Jacobs Printery)
Over the last 53 years, the New Hamburg Mennonite Relief Sale has raised more than $12 million for relief, development and peacemaking efforts around the world by Mennonite... Read More
July 3, 2019 | News | Janet Bauman
Zoe Matties and Scott Gerbrandt work for A Rocha Canada. Zoe is the Manitoba program manager and Scott is the Manitoba director. (Photo courtesy of Zoe Matties)
Climate change is doing more than triggering environmental disasters. It’s also triggering mental health crises and a sense of impending doom for some people. Zoe Matties, 30, is... Read More
July 3, 2019 | News | Rachel Bergen
Youths and sponsors who attended the retreat at Camp Elim display their dragons. (Photo courtesy of Kirsten Hamm-Epp)
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-... Read More
July 3, 2019 | People | Kirsten Hamm-Epp
The SheCycle team of Anna Kuepfer (left), Abby Loewen and Leah Wouda, won first place at the World’s Challenge Challenge in London, Ont. (Photo courtesy of Leah Wouda)
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... Read More
July 3, 2019 | People | Rachel Bergen
The University of Waterloo Balinese Gamelan in 2017. (Photo courtesy of Conrad Grebel University College)
Over the last two years, Conrad Grebel University College’s YouTube channel has become a go-to source for quality gamelan videos. This moderate internet fame is spurred on by one... Read More
June 28, 2019 | Web First | Conrad Grebel University College
Jeanette Hanson will begin as interim director of Mennonite Church Canada’s International Witness program on Aug. 1. (MC Canada photo)
Jeanette Hanson, associate director for Mennonite Partners in China, will begin as interim director of Mennonite Church Canada’s International Witness program on Aug. 1. Jason... Read More
June 20, 2019 | News | Mennonite Church Canada
St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., has hosted numerous Mennonite-Catholic gatherings. (Flickr.com photo by Keith Ewing, Creative Commons)
One could say Anabaptism began as a rebellion against Catholicism. Our forebears bled and died so we could be not-Catholic. Time does not erase the past, but intervening centuries... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Will Braun
The Anglican Church of Canada-Mennonite Church Canada dialogue began in 2016. It had its first face-to-face meeting in 2018. (Image by Ron Porter/Pixabay)
There are hundreds of denominations within Christianity, and it can be easy to focus on the differences between them all. But a group of Mennonites and Anglicans is breaking... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
A group walks from the Fort Langley United Church to the Kwantlen Nation Longhouse to begin B.C.’s fourth annual Walk in the Spirit of Reconciliation. (Photo by Ian Funk)
In solidarity with their First Nations neighbours, Mennonites in the Fraser Valley joined others in a Walk in the Spirit of Reconciliation from May 31 to June 2. The event was a... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell
Valerie Proudfoot of Edmonton First Mennonite Church, right, presents Irma Fast Dueck with a picture of a Mennonite Mary. Entitled ‘Mennonitische Madonna,’ the artwork by Helena Dueck of Pennsylvania was originally given to Proudfoot in 1986 as a gift of encouragement. (Photo by Joanne De Jong)
“We grew up never talking about Mary. It was like the Catholics got Mary in the divorce settlement and Mennonites got a 30-minute sermon,” said Irma Fast Dueck in her opening talk... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Joanne De Jong
Muriel Bechtel, right, and Dennis Flaming, organizers of the 'My Place is Right Here' play and joint fundraising event, are pictured with Alie Teetzel-Edmondstone and Yasmine Mohamed, representatives of the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank, who accepted the food donations. (Photo by Janet Bauman)
It was all about working together for the good of the local Cambridge community when Preston and Wanner Mennonite churches partnered with a local theatre group to support the work... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Janet Bauman
Meg Harder stands in front of her artwork at the Conrad Grebel University College Centre for Peace Advancement Gallery. (Photo courtesy of the Centre for Peace Advancement)
An Ontario artist is enlivening a Mennonite folk-art tradition that hasn’t been widely practised for more than 150 years. Meg Harder’s six-piece exhibit, “New Fraktur,” draws on... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Rachel Bergen
According to Elaine Presnell, a funeral officiant and a commissioned lay pastor at Pleasant Point Mennonite Church, the best gift one can offer a grieving family is non-judgmental listening. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
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... Read More
June 19, 2019 | People | Donna Schulz