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
News & Stories
An image from a zine created by Meghan Mast and Joni Sawatzky. (Image courtesy of YouTube)
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
Kathy Braun, left, tells the children at Osler Mennonite Church that it takes a lot of people to do the work of Mennonite Central Committee. (Photo by Adeline Cox)
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), and one Saskatchewan congregation got off to an early start in celebrating it. Osler Mennonite Church... Read More
February 12, 2020 | News | Donna Schulz
Paul Plett, right, whose documentary Seven Points on Earth was featured at this year’s Bechtel Lectures at Conrad Grebel College, chats with Lester Bechtel, who funds the annual lecture series as a way to make the academic world accessible to a broader audience. (Photo by Jennifer Konkle)
Mennonite farmers have a lot in common. They see themselves as stewards of the land, they live with uncertainties, and they take pride in what they produce, but they farm in... Read More
February 12, 2020 | News | Janet Bauman
As an outreach event in January, members of Crossroads Community Church of Chilliwack, B.C., hosted friends to view the movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood with Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers. (abeautifulday.movie photo)
Crossroads Community Church sees its presence in Chilliwack, British Columbia, as a ministry to the surrounding community. Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian minister who saw his... Read More
February 12, 2020 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell
‘As people who believe in nonviolence, we cannot stand silent as the RCMP uses force and threat of force against people,’ says Rachelle Friesen, CPT's Canada coordinator. (Photo courtesy of CPT)
“The province of British Columbia alongside Coastal GasLink are continuing their plans to build a pipeline through the unceded territories of the Wet’suwet’en. The five hereditary... Read More
February 12, 2020 | News | Ross W. Muir
Mennonite Women Canada executive members met for a final time at Gathering 2019 in Abbotsford, B.C. Pictured from left to right: Shirley Redekop, president; Elsie Rempel, secretary/treasurer; and Liz Koop, communications coordinator. (CM file photo by Amy Rinner Waddell)
In spite of the sadness involved in bringing the Mennonite Women Canada (MW Canada) organization to a close, Shirley Redekop, the final president, expressed confidence that “God... Read More
February 12, 2020 | News | Barb Draper
Wendy Kroeker, third from left, is pictured with the Mennonite World Conference Peace Commission The others, from left to right, are: Mennonite Church Canada Witness worker Joji Pantoja, Neal Blough, Andrew Suderman, Garcia Domingo, Adriana Belinda Rodriguez, Kenneth Hoke and Jeremiah Choi. Kroeker and Pantoja were part of the delegation to Hong Kong. (Photo by Marijne Stenvers)
Name any region in Asia and chances are that Wendy Kroeker has done peace work there. Kroeker, an assistant professor of peace and conflict transformation studies at Canadian... Read More
February 12, 2020 | People | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Top row from left to right: Christen Kong, Andrew Klassen Brown, Madison Harms. Bottom row from left to right: Rebecca Janzen, Ashley Rempel. (Photo compilation by Betty Avery)
Five young adults—one from each of Mennonite Church Canada’s regional churches—will represent the nationwide church at Global Youth Summit (GYS) 2021 in Salatiga, Indonesia. The... Read More
February 12, 2020 | People | Katie Doke Sawatzky
Huxley Phillips, left, Mason Avery and De’Sean Burnette enjoy a campfire at Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp, New Hamburg, Ont. (Photo: Aaron Lantz / Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp)
Sitting around the campfire after saying goodbye to our final group of campers on the last night of the summer, the staff spent the evening reflecting on the summer and all that... Read More
February 12, 2020 | Focus on Camps | Chris Pot
Leaders-in-Training Isabelle Netherton and Micah Peters-Unrau, standing left and right, are pictured with LiT leader Joanna Loepp Thiessen. (Ontario Mennonite Music Camp photo)
Every night at Ontario Mennonite Music Camp we sing a closing song around the campfire to send campers off to bed. More often than not, it’s our favourite tune, “Sanctuary”: “O... Read More
February 12, 2020 | Focus on Camps | Joanna Loepp Thiessen