The Constitutional Court of Korea brought an end to 70 years of imprisoning conscientious objectors when it ruled June 28 that it is unconstitutional for South Korea not to offer... Read More
News & Stories
SangMin Lee is believed to be the only Korean Mennonite to choose jail over military service. He was released in July 2015, after serving 15 months of an 18-month sentence. In June 2018, the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled against the practice of imprisoning conscientious objectors. (Mennonite World Conference photo)
July 17, 2018 | Web First | Tim Huber
Henry Paetkau, this year’s speaker at the Ralph and Eileen Lebold Endowment for Leadership Training fundraising banquet, and Eileen Lebold share a quiet moment at the final banquet at Conrad Grebel University College on June 5, 2018. (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)
The Ralph and Eileen Lebold Endowment for Leadership Training met its goal of $1 million a few years ago, when Mennonite Church Eastern Canada used monies from the Schmidt bequest... Read More
June 27, 2018 | God at work in the Church | Dave Rogalsky
Mennonite Church South Korea youth participate in a peace walk in April 2018. (Photo courtesy of Bock Ki Kim)
In her entire life, Hyun Hee Kim never imagined that Donald Trump, president of the United States, and Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea, would one day meet and shake hands. Hyun... Read More
June 27, 2018 | God at work in the Church | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Cutting the ribbon at the dedication of Mennonite Disaster Service Canada’s new office on June 15 are: (from left) Harold Friesen (MDS Canada board chair), Ross Penner (director of Canadian operations), Kevin King (MDS executive director), Grace Loeppky (MDS Canada board secretary and volunteer) and Gerald Loeppky (MDS volunteer). (Photo by Kelsey Friesen)
On June 15, 2018, Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada hosted a dedication for their new office space located on the second floor of 600 Shaftesbury Blvd. at the Canadian... Read More
June 27, 2018 | God at work in the World | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Sisters Jessica and Samantha Friesen enjoy having their faces painted in the children’s entertainment area at the MCC Alberta relief sale. The sisters are from Abbeydale Christian Fellowship in Calgary. The congregation donated half of the pies needed for the sale and the Friesen family delivered them to Didsbury. (Photo by Donita Wiebe-Neufeld)
The Mennonite Central Committee Relief sale is a more than a fundraiser for Alberta Mennonites, it is an anticipated social event. Creating an atmosphere of fellowship and common... Read More
June 27, 2018 | God at work in the World | Donita Wiebe-Neufeld
Walter Unger
Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C., is remembering its former president, Walter (Wally) Unger, who died May 9 at the age of 81 in hospice care in Abbotsford. Unger was... Read More
June 27, 2018 | God at work in Us | Amy Rinner Waddell
Steve Heinrichs, holding the microphone, speaks during a panel discussion at the launch of Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization at Canadian Mennonite University on May 24. (Photo by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)
Mennonite Church Canada recently released Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization , the latest of several publications that explore reconciliation and... Read More
June 27, 2018 | Artbeat | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Describing the gospel in seven words ‘gives us something to think about and chew on that I hope will bring us deeper into relationship with our creator,’ Moses Falco writes. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
As part of the discussions at the pastoral care team meetings at the church I pastor, we often talk about what the journey of faith is like. How can we walk with people? What does... Read More
June 27, 2018 | Young Voices | Moses Falco
‘My classmates and I came to CMU as vulnerable newcomers, and . . . we will walk into many more situations that need vulnerable people,’ Jason Friesen says. (Photo courtesy of CMU)
Most of us don’t like to be in vulnerable spaces. The uncertainties of those spaces leave us with butterflies fluttering around in our stomachs. Conceding power is uncomfortable... Read More
June 27, 2018 | Young Voices | Jason Friesen
A Jan Luyken engraving of Anabaptist Dirk Willems saving his captor from drowning, published in Martyrs Mirror, 1685.
A peace exhibit committee has commissioned Manitoba sculptor Peter Sawatzky to build a bronze statue of martyred Anabaptist Dirk Willems. Based on an engraving of Willems, by Jan... Read More
June 26, 2018 | Web First | Abe Warkentin
Mushiya Christine, left, Kayaya Lulula Clementine and Veronique Lumba Misenga take part in a support group for refugee seniors in Durban, South Africa. (MCC photo by Matthew Sawatzky)
There are more than 65 million displaced people worldwide—nearly double the population of Canada. The United Nations says this number is unprecedented and the need for... Read More
June 26, 2018 | Web First | Compiled by Rachel Bergen
MCC holds regular tours of the border between Arizona and Mexico to raise awareness of increasing migrant deaths, militarization, environmental degradation and effects on habitat and sister communities across the border. In this 2015 photo, a Borderlands Learning Tour saw three Romanian migrant women and a baby processed as asylum seekers. (MCC photo by Jorge Vielman)
As the U.S. government increases immigration enforcement, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) U.S. has been expanding its legal training, resources and educational opportunities for... Read More
June 26, 2018 | Web First | Linda Espenshade
Henry Paetkau addresses the final Ralph and Eileen Lebold Endowment for Leadership Training fundraising dinner on June 5, 2018, five days after his retirement from Mennonite Church Eastern Canada. (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)
May 3, 2018, was Henry Paetkau’s last day in the Mennonite Church Eastern Canada office, but he wasn’t quite done yet. On June 5, he delivered the final address of the Ralph and... Read More
June 25, 2018 | Web First | Dave Rogalsky
Ted Swartz receives back the keys from Michelle Milne for her car, taken from her in a deal she didn’t understand. The vignette in the play Discovery: A Comic Lament parallels the taking of Indigenous lands in North America, where the original inhabitants do not control the land. The play was seen by four full houses in Waterloo Region, Ont., from May 31 to June 3, 2018. (Ted & Co. photo by Josh Kraybill/Ted & Co)
The Doctrine of Discovery is based on the Roman Catholic papal bull “Inter caetera.” Issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493, it gave all the lands along a meridian west of the... Read More
June 21, 2018 | Web First | Dave Rogalsky
The private sponsorship group welcomes Christian and Esperance Manwengwe to Calgary last December. (Photo courtesy of Daria Soltysiak)
There are 23 million refugees around the world, with 1.2 million in need of resettlement outside of their home country or region. In 2017, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) helped... Read More
June 20, 2018 | Web First | Rachel Bergen
Anita Lehmann, left, a resident in the Mennonite Nursing Home’s secure unit, talks with administrator Joan Lemauviel about her ministry to her fellow residents. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
For Anita Lehmann, home is the dementia unit at the Mennonite Nursing Home. But unlike most of the unit’s 29 other residents, Lehmann doesn’t suffer from dementia. When it became... Read More
June 13, 2018 | Focus on Seniors | Donna Schulz
Lindenwood Manor residents Hedy Thiessen, left, and Connie Hamm, right, discuss food preparation with Grade four students from Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary and Middle Schools. (Photo by Lois Litz)
We all have our favourite recipes. There is the tried and true. Or there’s the newly created ones that are fun to test and then turn into classics. One tried and true combination... Read More
June 13, 2018 | Focus on Seniors | Lois Litz
At recent meetings in Limuru, Kenya, the Mennonite World Conference General Council delegates raise orange cards to show consensus. (Photo by Len Rempel)
The mission of Mennonite World Conference (MWC) is to create space for the global Anabaptist family to meet together. Much of the time, it is fulfilled virtually, on social media... Read More
June 13, 2018 | God at work in the Church |
A broken cup symbolizing a life shattered by professional sexual misconduct surrounds a whole cup, symbolizing survival from traumatic experience. #ChurchToo resource person David Martin, who has dealt with several cases of clergy sexual abuse as executive minister of MC Eastern Canada, said he has been ‘deeply pained but still profoundly hopeful’ in the process. (Photo by Amy Dueckman)
Many troubling issues and questions arise when a Christian leader engages in professional sexual misconduct. At the #ChurchToo conference at Columbia Bible College over two days... Read More
June 13, 2018 | God at work in the Church | Amy Rinner Waddell
Visitors examine the historic Bender Bible, which was returned to Canada 90 years after it left Ontario. Conrad Grebel University College held a ‘homecoming’ event on May 12, 2018, which included the story of how the Bible originally arrived in Upper Canada in 1832. (Photo by D. Michael Hostetler)
On May 12, some 125 people gathered at Conrad Grebel University College for an unusual homecoming celebration—for a Bible. This large, centuries-old book is a part of Ontario... Read More
June 13, 2018 | God at work in the Church | Virginia A. Hostetler
Dan and Erin paint the Repair Café trailer outside the Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church. (Photo by Frank McKinney)
Four years ago, my father Albert Kiang passed away. He was the ultimate Mr. Fix It, whether it was cars, computers or electronics. He was always tinkering away. When he died, the... Read More
June 13, 2018 | God at work in the World | Sandy Yuen
Volunteers Sheila Harder, left, Eileen Flath and Hariette Melin sort through donated produce at the Good Neighbours Food Centre. Whatever isn’t good enough to go into a food hamper will be placed in the food bank’s vermicomposting tower. Nothing is wasted. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
“In my walk with the food bank,” says Wilmer Froese, “I feel like I am putting my faith into action, and doing so in a more deliberate way than I ever have before.” He and his... Read More
June 13, 2018 | God at work in the World | Donna Schulz
Urie A. Bender
For his funeral text, Urie Bender chose the passage from II Corinthians 4:7: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (KJV). In his meditation at the funeral, Scott Brubaker-... Read More
June 13, 2018 | God at work in Us | Barb Draper
Documenting his fishing experiences piqued Jay Siemens’ interest in photography. (Photo by Jay Siemens)
Jay Siemens was set to begin photography school in Winnipeg when, three days before classes started, his friend called him with a compelling proposition. “He said, ‘You’ve got to... Read More
June 13, 2018 | Young Voices | Aaron Epp
‘There’s been a lot of experience and wisdom we’ve been able to tap into,’ Katie Steckly says of the podcast. (Photo by Michelle Reiner)
Two young women from Mennonite Church Canada congregations are the creators of a new podcast about entrepreneurship. Katie Steckly from Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church in... Read More
June 13, 2018 | Young Voices | Aaron Epp