Like the news, the winds and rain that came with Super Typhoon Haiyan have let up. But the damage from the storm that slammed regions of the Philippines on Nov. 8, 2013, remains... Read More
News & Stories
A damage report from Super Typhoon Haiyan compresses a huge disaster into one page of stark statistics. This report is for just one assessment area. (Photo by John Chau / Used by permission)
January 29, 2014 | God at work in the World | By Dan Dyck
Mary Klassen and James Neufeld relax in the café at Sam’s Place, where the sorted and organized donated books are sold as a fundraising project for Mennonite Central Committee.
Mary Klassen and James Neufeld bring a rare commitment to volunteerism. Ever since Sam’s Place opened in 2009, Klassen has spent her retirement from teaching volunteering full-... Read More
January 29, 2014 | God at work in Us | Story and Photo by Evelyn Rempel Petkau
Meghan Harder poses in a human-sized nest she built in Waterloo Park, Waterloo, Ont., as part of her art challenge to our current culture, to think about how dependent Canadians are on technology. She wonders how humans would—or will—live if their possessions and supports are taken away from them. (Photo courtesy of Meghan Harder)
Meghan Harder’s art works at themes of political, social and environmental issues, using mixed media, public installations, interventions and performance. At Box 13—a series of... Read More
January 29, 2014 | God at work in Us | By Dave Rogalsky
For God and Country is a bit of a surprise for a Mennonite publisher. Although non-Mennonite readers may find the questions it raises about the role of Christian soldiers thought-... Read More
January 29, 2014 | Artbeat | Reviewed by Barb Draper
What was it like to be a conscientious objector during the Second World War? Did Mennonites participate in the War of 1812? Did Mennonite women contribute to First World War... Read More
January 29, 2014 | Focus On | By Laureen Harder-Gissing
Ongoing debate in the divided Old German Baptist Brethren Church illustrates difficulties that the conservative Anabaptist group continues to face in its efforts to restrict... Read More
January 29, 2014 | Focus On |
Munching on a fresh zwieback (because sauerkraut and spring rolls would be too messy to eat on the podium), John Thiesen, archivist at Bethel College’s Mennonite Library and... Read More
January 29, 2014 | Focus On | By Melanie Zuercher
Composer Tim Corlis, left, with Gerard Yun, Kenneth Hull and Mark Vuorinen, conductors of Conrad Grebel University College’s three choirs, who came together to perform Corlis’s musical setting of Psalm 150 on Nov. 30, 2013, at one of the college’s 50th-anniversary events. (CGUC photo)
As home to the Music Department at the University of Waterloo, the culture at Conrad Grebel University College is steeped in harmony. The college hosts dozens of concerts each... Read More
January 29, 2014 | Focus On |
Kathleen Doll, Columbia Bible College’s associate dean of students, relaxes in the commuter lounge with a couple of students.
I was 18 when I first walked on to the Columbia Bible College campus for new student orientation. Filled with nervous anticipation, I approached the registration table. A young... Read More
January 29, 2014 | Focus On | Kathleen Doll
When the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is observed around the world this year from Jan. 18 to 25, there will be a special focus on Canada. Each year, churches in a different... Read More
January 23, 2014 | Web First | Leigh Anne Williams
In Damascus, a woman accepts a box of food supplied by MCC through its partner, the Syrian Orthodox Church. People in the photo are not identified for security reasons. (Photo courtesy of the Syrian Orthodox Church)
As international efforts are under way to convince warring parties in Syria to gather for peace talks in Geneva on Jan. 22, 2014, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is releasing an... Read More
January 22, 2014 | Web First | Linda Espenshade
We almost missed it on the first pass, buried under the newspapers and magazines that were filling a large recycling bin. If we hadn’t been checking each piece, it would have been... Read More
January 15, 2014 | Focus On | Mike Strathdee
Before Malcolm Gladwell signed copies of his newest book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, for a gathered crowd at Floradale Mennonite Church... Read More
January 15, 2014 | Artbeat | Story and Photo by Dave Rogalsky
Saskatchewan guide Ric Driediger helps people meet God in the wilderness. (Photo by Churchill River Canoe Outfitters)
The trickling of an indoor waterfall in the room where Ric Driediger sits evokes images of a northern stream while he reflects on 40 years on the waterways of northern... Read More
January 15, 2014 | God at work in Us | Story and Photo by Donna Schulz
At the end of December, I sat down with my journal and day planner to jot down my highlights of 2013. I quickly had a list of 32 events or milestones that I felt were significant... Read More
January 15, 2014 | Young Voices | Aaron Epp
Many of us are familiar with the concept of organ donation that occurs after someone passes away, but more recently I have learned about the need for living organ donations. Over... Read More
January 15, 2014 | Young Voices | Daniel Bigham
For many parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer (LGBTQ) children, the ongoing Mennonite church’s inclusion discussion brings them back to different points in... Read More
January 15, 2014 | Young Voices | Rachel Bergen
My fellow Canadian Mennonite writer, Aaron Epp, has launched his Year of Reading Biblically , offering public reflections on his private cover-to-cover reading of the Good Book. I... Read More
January 15, 2014 | God at work in the Church | By Will Braun
‘The occupation has meant a lack of income for people, and that makes this natural disaster a catastrophe,’ says Khalid Abu Sharekh, chair of Al Najd, a Mennonite Central Committee partner, of the flooding in Gaza shortly before Christmas.
A week after torrential rain battered the Gaza Strip, people in the al Nafaq Street area of eastern Gaza City were still struggling to clean mud and debris out of their homes and... Read More
January 15, 2014 | God at work in the World | By Sheldon C. Good
Karen Ens, Sophia Kutsiuruba and Andy Arthur are co-managers of MCC’s Village Green Thrift Shop in Saskatoon.
Twenty-four-year-old Andy Arthur remembers the April day in 2013 that a factory full of garment workers collapsed in Bangladesh. As he did his job as assistant at the Mennonite... Read More
January 15, 2014 | God at work in the World | By Julie Bell
Sister Sophia was full of thanks for the work that Mennonite Central Committee had done in her commu-nity and for the work it would do in the future.
Last year, a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Learning Tour group—including the author—visited Ethiopia and Uganda to get a grasp of MCC’s work and its effectiveness in the holy... Read More
January 15, 2014 | God at work in the World | Dan Unrau
On a cold, windy December day in Winnipeg in 1963, 40 men made the decision to form Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada . Exactly 50 years later, a group of people braved... Read More
January 15, 2014 | God at work in the World | Evelyn Rempel Petkau
The Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery invites artists to submit artworks for consideration for a national exhibition to take place during the Mennonite Church Canada assembly to... Read More
January 14, 2014 | Web First | Mennonite Centre Heritage Gallery
Ex-offender Ryan Grills, who chairs the Forward Step support group, left, chats with Dave Feick, coordinator of the Micah Mission.
Sporting a bright orange T-shirt and a shaved head, Ryan Grills is an imposing presence, but his handshake is warm and his voice enthusiastic as he speaks about Forward Step, a... Read More
January 9, 2014 | Web First | Story and Photo by Donna Schulz
Ashley Goff, minister for spiritual formation at Church of the Pilgrims, compares her time in her church’s backyard to making lasagna -- spreading vegetable scraps in one layer, straw in the next. (RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks)
The wheelbarrow outside the sanctuary was overflowing with vegetable scraps; decomposing matter filled the baptismal font; and a pile of rich brown soil replaced the Communion... Read More
January 6, 2014 | Web First | Adelle M. Banks