News & Stories

Mennonite Church Saskatchewan Annual Delegate Sessions at North Star Mennonite Church in Drake. Photo by Will Braun.

“T he gospel begins with ‘hello.’” This was the challenge Doug Klassen, executive minister for Mennonite Church Canada, gave to those gathered for the Mennonite Church... Read More
March 28, 2024 | News | Emily Summach

Fanosie Legesse, intercultural mission minister for MC Eastern Canada, gave two keynote presentations. Photo by Darryl Neustaedter Barg.

D elegates welcomed a new congregation into Mennonite Church Manitoba and passed a resolution to endorse a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty at the regional church’s annual... Read More
March 28, 2024 | News | Aaron Epp
C edar Valley Church in Mission, B.C., often has a full parking lot, and not just on Sunday mornings. Each week, 500 to 1,000 people enter the doors of the church building to meet... Read More
March 28, 2024 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell

Fran Schiller

Fran Schiller, 87, grew up on a farm near Goshen, Indiana, the ninth of 10 children. She attended Goshen College, where she found her faith strengthened and her eyes opened to a... Read More
March 28, 2024 | News | Carla Klassen

Danforth Mennonite Church in Toronto. Photo by Madalene Arias.

When the people of Danforth Mennonite Church in Toronto realized they needed to carry on without a pastor, they took a closer look at “the things that a pastor really does.” Mike... Read More
March 28, 2024 | News | Madalene Arias

Myrna Ewert (l-r), Vicky Toporchak, Betty Friesen, Tami-Lynn Lehr, Mary Jean Nicholson, Alvie Martens and Denise Bartel in the kitchen of North Star Mennonite Church in Drake, Saskatchewan. Photo by Will Braun.

As Mennonite Church Saskatchewan business played out in the sanctuary of North Star Mennonite Church in Drake on March 9, a group of women were doing church in the basement. On... Read More
March 28, 2024 | News | Will Braun

Meserete Kristos Church leaders visited a conflict region in Ethiopia in June 2021. Left to right: Gelagay Himiru, Tilahun Wase, Desalegn Abebe, Abayneh Anjulo and Addisu Legesse. Photo courtesy of Mennonite World Conference.

Violence has devastated Meserete Kristos Church (MKC), the Mennonite body in Ethiopia. As of February 12, armed groups had burned 49 MKC churches to the ground, looted and damaged... Read More
March 28, 2024 | News | Staff

Photo by Tomer Applebaum

Maoz Inon is an Israeli Jewish social entrepreneur and peace advocate. During a February online event—Part I of the Peace & Possibility events—he shared the story of his... Read More
March 7, 2024 | News | Staff

Hildi Froese Tiessen, a scholar of Mennonite literature, has published a collection of essays that span 50 years. Supplied photo.

A new book celebrates the work of one of the foremost scholars of Mennonite literature. On Mennonite/s Writing: Selected Essays is the first collection of work by Hildi Froese... Read More
March 7, 2024 | News | Aaron Epp

Bill Block, a retired pastor in Winnipeg, turned 90 last month. Photo by Aaron Epp.

From southern Manitoba to B.C., and from Idaho to India, Bill Block had a long and varied career as a pastor. Along the way, he and his wife Dolores, who died in 2019, raised four... Read More
March 7, 2024 | News | Aaron Epp

Photo by Kevin Barkowsky.

With the theme of “Stuck Together,” delegates from all 23 congregations rejoiced together, wrestled with a budget deficit and welcomed a new church plant at the 2024 Mennonite... Read More
March 6, 2024 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell

Photo of John Stoesz Land back by Makoce Ikikcupi - from Facebook

For John Stoesz, making land reparations to Indigenous communities is a way to follow Jesus. In 2012, Stoesz’s family sold his grandparents’ farm near Mountain Lake, Minnesota... Read More
February 23, 2024 | News | Aaron Epp

A Mennonite colony in Campeche state, Mexico. Photo by Anika Reynar.

At 9 a.m., it was already hot and humid in Hopelchén, a small city in the Yucatán peninsula. A collective of Maya farmers had gathered in the shaded courtyard outside the home... Read More
February 22, 2024 | News | Lars Åkerson, Tina Fehr Kehler and Anika Reynar

Photo by Tjflex2/flickr

First Nations in Saskatchewan are in conflict with the provincial government regarding the sale of Crown land. Indigenous peoples in the province have treaty rights to use... Read More
February 22, 2024 | News | Emily Summach

Photo by Artur Roman/Pexels

Our farmyard opened from its treelines to the south and southwest. A mile south, I could see the shelterbelts surrounding my paternal grandmother’s 1870s homestead. A few... Read More
February 22, 2024 | News | David Driedger

A portion of an 1821 survey showing part of the Haldimand Tract area in southern Ontario (Wikicommons).

A most promising possibility for a tangible response by churches to past injustice in the Six Nations Grand River lands conflict came from a conversation I had after the monthly... Read More
February 22, 2024 | News | Adrian Jacobs

Stirling Ave. Mennonite Church. Photo by Randy Culp/Google.

Ten years ago, Adrian Jacobs of the Six Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy proposed a Spiritual Covenant with Mennonite churches located on the Haldimand Tract. One Kitchener... Read More
February 22, 2024 | News | Madalene Arias

Christine and Tom Poovong, pictured with their children, Joseph and Phimchanok, are MC Canada International Witness workers in northeastern Thailand. Supplied photo.

Two Mennonite Church Canada International Witness workers are at the centre of an initiative to train, mentor and support church leaders in Thailand. Tom and Christine Poovong,... Read More
February 15, 2024 | News | Aaron Epp

Camp Valaqua. Photo by Jon Olfert.

When campers first roll down our narrow road into the tall, tall trees, they are usually thinking about themselves: Will I have fun? Will I be scared? When they return, they often... Read More
February 8, 2024 | Focus on Camps | Camp Valaqua

Campers bond in the field at Silver Lake in Sauble Beach, Ontario. Photo by Jessa Braun.

Cam was working as a kitchen assistant at Silver Lake Mennonite Camp at the beginning of July 2022. It was his firstever week on staff. He’d had a lot of experience cooking, but... Read More
February 8, 2024 | Focus on Camps | Silver Lake Mennonite Camp

Ontario Mennonite Music Camp. Supplied photo.

Ontario Mennonite Music Camp (OMMC) at Conrad Grebel University College is a small camp with a big impact. With a focus on communal music-making, campers receive exceptional... Read More
February 8, 2024 | Focus on Camps | Conrad Grebel University College

Campers at Hidden Acres. Photo by Ben Watson.

Hidden Acres’ “Narnia Closet” carries the adventurous explorer on an unexpected journey. What begins as an innocent cleaning closet winds through a maze of stored items, a section... Read More
February 8, 2024 | Focus on Camps | Brent Musser

Photo by Darryl Neustaedter Barg.

While I’m new in my role as associate program director for Camps with Meaning, I am not new to this place, or rather, these places. What has always shimmered at camp is the... Read More
February 8, 2024 | Focus on Camps | Nadya Langelotz

Students at the Friends of Grace Bible School in Thailand. Photo courtesy of Mennonite Church Canada.

The Friends of Grace Bible School recently opened in the Issan area of Thailand. This school, supported by Mennonite Church Canada, will hold classes in the Friends of Grace Roi... Read More
February 5, 2024 | News | Mennonite Church Canada

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