The year 2020 featured some big moments in the Mennonite world. MennoMedia launched Voices Together , the new worship and song collection; and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)... Read More
News & Stories
Lynda Toews painted “Psalm 19” to commemorate the launch of Voices Together. (Photo courtesy of Lynda Toews)
December 16, 2020 | People | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Catherine Bergs, Conrad Grebel University College. Second place
Catherine Bergs, a student at Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ont., and Jubilee Dueck Thiessen, a student at Canadian Mennonite University when she gave her speech... Read More
December 16, 2020 | People |
Amelia Pahl
Amelia Pahl, a fourth-year Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) student doing an interdisciplinary degree in religion and narrative, did a three-month practicum placement with... Read More
December 16, 2020 | People |
Milo Penner, 4, looks out the window as a candle lit by his father, Kyle Penner, burns in support of Steinbach's healthcare workers, patients and their families. (Photo by Kyle Penner)
A single flame flickered into existence in the window of a home in Steinbach, and now throughout the city—and across the country—candles send warmth to a hurting community. Grace... Read More
December 2, 2020 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
In preparation for Remembrance Day in early November, Noel Dueckman of Emmanuel Mennonite Church leads high school youths in a Bible study on peace. (Photo by Amy Rinner Waddell)
The weekly church youth group gathering, whether for service, faith discussions or recreational activity, has had to change this fall in the face of COVID-19. B.C. youth leaders... Read More
December 2, 2020 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell
Leah Reesor-Keller, newly installed MC Eastern Canada executive minister, speaks from the sanctuary of First Hmong Mennonite Church, Kitchener, Ont., which hosted the physically distanced installation service that was recorded and shared at the regional church’s fall gathering held online. (Screenshot by Janet Bauman)
“Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me . . . I will keep on singing.” These words from a praise song led by Keith Ly of Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church, seemed... Read More
December 2, 2020 | News | Janet Bauman
Thanks to a generous donor, Camp Valaqua was able to build two yurts this spring to offer as places to rest and refresh. Next to the Little Red River on the north quarter of the camp’s property in Water Valley, Alta., each yurt has a bunk bed, and pull-out queen bed together with other modest furnishings. Yurt bookings are expected to be available by April 2021. (Photo by Jon Olfert)
A regional church check-in meeting last month gave members a chance to learn how Mennonite Church Alberta is faring. With the arrival of fall, when in-person meetings were... Read More
December 2, 2020 | News | Joanne De Jong
In the 1980s, volunteers from St. Catharines United Mennonite Church took down a wall that symbolically separated the congregation from the community. (St. Catharines United Mennonite Church Archives photo)
As with most celebrations during this pandemic, it was a quiet 75th anniversary celebration for St. Catharines United Mennonite Church on Nov. 1. In order to limit social contact... Read More
December 2, 2020 | News | Maria H. Klassen
(Photo courtesy of Steve Heinrichs)
A new anthology published by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada and Mennonite Church Canada hit the press this fall. Be it Resolved: Anabaptists & Partner Coalitions... Read More
December 2, 2020 | News | Katie Doke Sawatzky
Ethel Draper copied her mother’s Christmas pudding recipe into her scrapbook of recipes. (Photo by Barb Draper)
For many of us, sitting around the table with extended family is a very important part of our Christmas celebration. In my family of origin, the traditional menu included turkey... Read More
December 2, 2020 | People | Barb Draper
Rennie Regehr and his wife Jenny are pictured with Rennie’s father, John. (Photo courtesy of the Regehr family)
Before his death in November 2019, John Regehr of Winnipeg said he wanted to start a discussion about death and dying. Regehr, 93, a former Canadian Mennonite Brethren pastor and... Read More
December 2, 2020 | People | John Longhurst
(Photo by Bard Draper)
This recipe comes from my husband’s “Aunt” Nancy who was an English war bride. I cut the recipe in half and made a few adjustments to suit my preferences. To see the story that... Read More
December 2, 2020 | People | Barb Draper
Magdalene Redekop (right), a professor emerita of English at the University of Toronto who grew up in a conservative Mennonite community in Manitoba, argues in her new book that 'art provides a space where we can deal with the crisis of representation by making believe together and by participating in dialogue.'
Ancient cave drawings illustrate that artistic expression is endemic to humanity. And throughout history, artists have pushed boundaries and come into conflict with their... Read More
December 1, 2020 | Web First | Gordon Houser
Mennonite Church Eastern Canada staffers Fanosie Legesse (left) and Norm Dyck, pictured last year by the sign in front of the Meserete Kristos Church in Mekelle. Mekelle is the capital city of the Tigray region, which is at the centre of the war in Ethiopia. (Photos courtesy of Mennonite Church Canada)
Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) held a nationwide fasting and prayer for peace on Nov. 16. “Believers are still praying for peace, individually and collectively,” they announced. “... Read More
November 27, 2020 | Web First |
In response to Hurricane Eta, MCC staff member James Helmuth, left, and volunteer Edgar Hernandez load vehicles with relief kits that will be delivered to the Q’eqchi’ Mennonite Church in the Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala. The church will distribute the kits, which contain towels, hygiene and laundry supplies, to people affected by flooding. (MCC photo by Jardely Martínez)
After two hurricanes in two weeks flooded several countries in Central America twice, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is providing emergency food and supplies and making longer-... Read More
November 26, 2020 | Web First | Linda Espenshade
Congregations across Mennonite Church Canada celebrated International Witness Sunday in October. The nationwide church declared Oct. 18 to be the official day, but welcomed... Read More
November 18, 2020 | News |
Mennonite Church Eastern Canada staff “will now consider any ministerial sexual misconduct complaints, including anonymous and second-hand concerns, to be sufficient to open an... Read More
November 18, 2020 | News | Ross W. Muir
Vurayayi Pugeni, MCC’s area director for Southern, Central Africa and Nigeria, speaks at MCC Saskatchewan’s virtual peace conference. (Screenshots by Donna Schulz)
Home is where one is from, where one lives, where one belongs. But for those displaced from their homes, the concept of home may be more of an illusive dream than reality. “... Read More
November 18, 2020 | News | Donna Schulz
One sectionals of the First Mennonite Church Corona Choir records in the sanctuary. (Photo by Howard Rempel)
Hedie Epp has been singing with First Mennonite Church choirs on and off for 40 years. When COVID-19 hit and the Winnipeg church had to halt all its choral activities, it was... Read More
November 18, 2020 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Leah Reesor-Keller, recently appointed executive minister of MC Eastern Canada, says regular opportunities to develop leadership gifts when she was growing up helped to prepare her for this role in the regional church. (Photo by Jacquie Reimer)
Leah Reesor-Keller anticipated that her work as the new executive minister of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada would involve “a lot of talking to people at potlucks.” She was... Read More
November 18, 2020 | People | Janet Bauman
Pictured from left to righ: the Bena family is composed of Sephora, Sidney, Sikila with mother Mamissa, Stony, standing, and father Ben. (Photo courtesy of the Bena family)
In 2005, a Congolese Mennonite couple with a 15-month-old baby made a desperate plan to flee through Europe and fly to Calgary to safety. Even though the second Congo war had... Read More
November 18, 2020 | People | Joanne De Jong
Wenger Shenk, plenary speaker for MC Canada’s virtual ‘Table talk’ study conference, on Oct. 25, addresses the question ‘Why church?’ in one of two talks she gave. (Screenshots by Janet Bauman)
A feast of metaphors was on the menu for Mennonite Church Canada’s inaugural study conference on the character and mission of the church and the role of worship. “Table talk: Does... Read More
November 4, 2020 | News | Janet Bauman
Members of Mount Royal Mennonite Church’s Baby Boomers Plus group celebrate Christmas together in 2019 at Eric and Verna Olfert’s home. (Photo by Ron Wiebe)
Baby Boomers Plus, as its name implies, is a small group for people of a certain age. But it’s a small group with a difference. Three years ago, Claire Ewert Fisher was serving as... Read More
November 4, 2020 | News | Donna Schulz
Grade 10 music students at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener, Ont., take to drumming outside on the back field of their school in order to explore music in a different way while pandemic protocols prohibit them from singing or playing wind instruments inside the classroom. (Photos by Leanne Lobe)
Eric Dettweiler’s Grade 10 music class at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener began the school year drumming every day for the first few weeks, often outdoors. Now the 11... Read More
November 4, 2020 | News | Janet Bauman
(Photo courtesy of Instagram.com/edcyzewski)
Indiscriminate use of social media is bad for us, warns Ed Cyzewski. While technology is convenient and promises to make us more efficient and keep us in touch with more people,... Read More
November 4, 2020 | Focus On Books & Resources | Barb Draper