Summer Camp 2020 was full of innovations. Almost everything needed adjustments. We held staff Zoom parties in the spring to begin to build the camp community feeling that usually... Read More
News & Stories
Campers do a nature activity at the ‘Pop-up Camp’ at Morden (Man.) Mennonite Church. (Photo by Janet Peters)
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Janet Peters
Camp Valaqua, Hike-A-Thon 2020 logo
In this year of so many disappointments, it is easy to lose track of the good things. Even when summer camp is cancelled and so many major events are postponed, God brings us joy... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps |
Francine Mukoko, standing at right, a public health graduate and the first university graduate from the Communauté Mennonite au Congo community in Bateke, presents public-health advice in Teke, the local language. (Photo courtesy of Seraphin Kutumbana)
Congregations across Mennonite Church Canada have matched a $50,000 donation made by the nationwide church to a COVID-19 relief fund operated by Mennonite World Conference (MWC)... Read More
February 9, 2021 | Web First | Katie Doke Sawatzky
Bob Ratelle does cleanup in the kitchen at Scott St. Church in St. Catharines, Ont., after making meals made possible by support from the MDS Canada Spirit of MDS Fund. (MDS photo)
After a successful first year, Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada has announced a new round of funding from its Spirit of MDS Fund. The 2021 round of funding started Jan. 31... Read More
February 8, 2021 | Web First | John Longhurst
Hayat Mohammad, 10, and Ali al Sheikh, 11, participate in psychosocial activities sponsored by the Popular Aid for Relief and Development to help children deal with the trauma of the massive explosion in Beirut last summer. (Photo courtesy of PARD)
Eight of Alice Joubanian’s grandchildren—all under eight years old—lived with her and her daughter in a Beirut camp for Armenian refugees when a massive explosion of ammonium... Read More
February 5, 2021 | Web First | Linda Espenshade, Stephanie Dyck and Rewa El Masry
Christians pray in Myanmar’s Chin State. (MC Eastern Canada file photo by Brian Bauman)
Mennonite Church Canada calls on the nationwide community of faith to pray for the people of Myanmar. Pray also for our Myanmar siblings here in Canada. They are deeply concerned... Read More
February 2, 2021 | Web First |
‘There are a boatload of songs in the works,’ says singer-songwriter Paul Bergman. (Photo by Ken Bergman)
It’s been more than five years since Paul Bergman’s last album, but the wait for new music is over. “I Just Want to Walk in the Dark with You,” a three-minute single from the... Read More
January 29, 2021 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Mennonite Church Canada’s International Witness program invites congregations across its nationwide community of faith to join networks of support for its International Witness... Read More
January 27, 2021 | News |
Generous Space participants gather at one of the organization’s annual retreats. (Photo courtesy of Generous Space Ministries)
Jamie Arpin-Ricci Thousands of LGBTQ+ Christians have found community at Generous Space Ministries. Manitoba Mennonites are no exception. In fact, Pastor Jamie Arpin-Ricci is... Read More
January 27, 2021 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Wilf Funk, left, stands with Bob Wyma in the Friendship Inn kitchen, where 500 meals are prepared each day for Saskatoon’s vulnerable population. (Photo by Claire Ewert Fisher)
When the missions and service ministry team at Mount Royal Mennonite Church in Saskatoon was trying to identify a giving project the congregation could rally behind, it thought of... Read More
January 27, 2021 | News | Donna Schulz
Safwat Marzouk, keynote speaker at MC Eastern Canada’s Pastors, Chaplains and Congregational Leaders online event, explores the journey toward becoming an intercultural church. (Screenshot courtesy of MC Eastern Canada)
Safwat Marzouk “I want to learn from you.” These words express the attitude in an intercultural church. Keynote speaker Safwat Marzouk encouraged this posture of openness at a... Read More
January 27, 2021 | News | Janet Bauman
Menno Wiebe, left, presents a riding crop to renowned Lubicon Cree chief Bernard Ominayak in Little Buffalo, Alta., in 1993. Wiebe’s presentation was accompanied with the words, “Ride on, sir!” (Photo: Michael bryson / mennonite heritage archives)
Upon entering the home of Menno and Lydia Wiebe at 10 Concord Avenue in Winnipeg, where they lived for 48 years, one would likely be met not with conventional niceties but with a... Read More
January 27, 2021 | People | Will Braun
Youth from Addis Ababa and surrounding areas come for discipleship and leadership training by Pastor Mezgebu A. Tucho. Tucho’s son, Zecharias Abdissa, centre, also preached. (Photo courtesy of Pastor Mezgebu Tucho)
What was so important that an Ethiopian Mennonite pastor would go back to Ethiopia with his family during COVID-19 and a war? After much preparation and prayer, Pastor Mezgebu A... Read More
January 27, 2021 | People | Joanne De Jong
Menno Wiebe with a fish at Pimicikamak (Cross Lake), Man. (Photo by Rudy Regehr, courtesy of Mennonite Heritage Archives)
Menno Wiebe, who died on Jan. 5 at his home in Winnipeg, was highly respected in Mennonite circles and beyond for his work and relationships with Indigenous Peoples. While... Read More
January 27, 2021 | Web-only | Will Braun
Erwin Cornelsen speaks at Sherbrooke Mennonite Church, Vancouver, B.C. as its first pastor. (Photos courtesy of the Cornelsen family)
Erwin Cornelsen Erwin Cornelsen, former pastor and one of the last Mennonite Aeltesters (elders) in Canada, died Dec. 26, 2020, at Menno Hospital in Abbotsford, B.C., at the age... Read More
January 27, 2021 | People | Amy Rinner Waddell
Linda Bartel, centre, volunteers at the Good Neighbours Food Centre in Rosthern, Sask., every week. She is pictured with fellow volunteer Rachel Wallace, left, and Good Neighbours community catalyst Pristine Chabaylo. (Photo courtesy of Good Neighbours Food Centre)
It’s not uncommon for Linda Bartel to meet former students while volunteering, and she’s always delighted to see them. Bartel, who is 86 years old, volunteers two or three days a... Read More
January 27, 2021 | People | Donna Schulz
Colin Friesen, far left, participates in a panel discussion at Conrad Grebel University College in early 2019. (Conrad Grebel University College photo)
Christian theology, ministry and the Bible are complex topics that can be studied using various approaches at Conrad Grebel University College (Waterloo, Ont.), whose master of... Read More
January 26, 2021 | Web First | Abby Rudy-Froese
Nindyo Sasongko, pictured in 2019, is one of the founders of a theology discussion channel on YouTube called “@Theovlogy.” (Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/nindyo.sasongko)
Nindyo Sasongko believes theology should be publicly available to a wider audience. His experiment in online discussions began in late 2018. When the pandemic hit last year, “@... Read More
January 25, 2021 | Web First |
Waterloo Region music teacher Melinda Metzger with her copy of Voices Together.
It may be aimed at children, but everyone will learn something from a video exploring the new Voices Together hymnal. The video walks viewers through everything that is on a... Read More
January 22, 2021 | Web First | Aaron Epp
High-profile Nazi officials toured the Mennonite colonies in occupied Ukraine. During his 1942 visit to Molotschna, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and an architect of the Holocaust, exchanged greetings with Mennonite surgeon Johann Klassen. (Mennonite Heritage Centre photo [Alber Photo Collection])
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has initiated research into how national socialism (Nazism) shaped the contexts in Europe and Paraguay where MCC operated in the 1930s and ’40s,... Read More
January 15, 2021 | Web First |
Trisha Robinson, left, executive director of the Wilmot Family Resource Centre, New Hamburg, Ont., stands next to Santa and Mrs. Claus outside Steinmann Mennonite Church in Baden, where 137 free curbside Christmas dinners were distributed. At least 10 community churches joined in the effort to bring some Christmas cheer to people in the community who were alone for Christmas. (The Wilmot Post photo by Nigel Gordijk)
On Christmas Day, 137 free turkey dinners were served up for people who needed some Christmas cheer in the Wilmot and Wellesley townships of Waterloo Region. The curbside... Read More
January 13, 2021 | News | Janet Bauman
In online meetings in mid-November 2020, the Executive Committee approved expansion of MWC’s structure to include new specialized networks. (Mennonite World Conference screenshot)
In online Mennonite World Conference (MWC) meetings in mid-November 2020, the Executive Committee approved expansion of MWC’s structure to include new specialized networks... Read More
January 13, 2021 | News |
This house, at 24 Mill Street in Kitchener, Ont., was acquired by MennoHomes from Waterloo Region in a lottery and will be renovated by Mennonite Disaster Service in a unique partnership to create more affordable housing for families. (Photo courtesy of MennoHomes)
The need is great. Six thousand people wait for affordable housing in Waterloo Region. Local government is committed to creating 25,000 new housing units in the next five years,... Read More
January 13, 2021 | News | Janet Bauman
Participants gather outside Yarrow United Mennonite Church in rural B.C. to re-enact the Christmas story on Christmas morning. (Screenshot by Ross W. Muir)
In the early morning of Dec. 25, 2020, still dark and with snow on the ground, a small group of people gathered in front of Yarrow United Mennonite Church to re-enact the first... Read More
January 13, 2021 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell
Jake Buhler’s mother, Maria, top left, is pictured with her family before tragedy struck in 1918. (Photo courtesy of Jake Buhler)
COVID-19 has given Jake Buhler pause to reflect on his family history and how it has been shaped by pandemics. In 1918, when both the Spanish flu and tuberculosis were wreaking... Read More
January 13, 2021 | People | Donna Schulz