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
News & Stories
Siaka Traoré, a Mennonite Pastor of the Eglise Evangelique Mennonite in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. (Photo by Joanne De Jong)
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
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
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
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
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