After 33 years as the executive director of Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp, Campbell Nisbet is grateful for all the growth he has witnessed. Whether it is the trees he planted on the... Read More
News & Stories
Campbell Nisbet (right) with his wife, Chris (second from right), and their four children. (Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/HiddenAcresCamp)
August 21, 2019 | Web First | Janet Bauman
The Vine and Table is located in Saskatoon’s Riversdale neighbourhood. (Photo courtesy of Terri Lynn Friesen)
The coordinators of the Vine and Table, an intentional Christian community house in Saskatoon, are inviting you inside. In a video they posted on YouTube last week, Thomas and... Read More
August 16, 2019 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Lydia Grigoryevna, second from left, gets a birthday hug after worship at Nikolaipolye Mennonite Church on June 16. (Photo by Paul Schrag)
Welcoming visitors from North America, Ivan Kapelushniy, pastor of Nikolaipolye Mennonite Church, led his congregation of about 15 people in singing “For God So Loved Us” in... Read More
August 14, 2019 | News | Paul Schrag
Natalia Mezentseva, second from left, director of New Life, a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) partner in Ukraine, accepts an MCC centennial paperweight from North American visitors. Looking on are MCC board member Robert Enns of Calgary, left, and Viktoria Rabchenyuk, second from right, and Tatiana Yorzh, right, New Life women’s house residents. (Photo by Paul Schrag)
Natalia Mezentseva oversees a household of “women in difficult circumstances.” With an affirming and instructive place to live, thanks to a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)... Read More
August 14, 2019 | News | Paul Schrag
‘It takes every ounce of . . . love to cope with the success of God’s gathering,’ Tom Yoder Neufeld told delegates at this year’s MC U.S.A. conference in Kansas City, Mo. (Photo by Vada Snider)
God’s success is our problem. But it’s a good problem. From these thoughts of Tom Yoder Neufeld came a catch phrase of MennoCon19: “The church is a mess. Thanks be to God!” A... Read More
August 14, 2019 | News | Paul Schrag
Organizer Martha Smith Good, left, chats with Amanda Witmer, instructor and lecturer who led a group of women in exploring biblical and Gnostic references to Mary Magdalene, at an event held at Wilmot Mennonite Church on July 22. (Photo by Janet Bauman)
Who was Mary of Magdala? What impressions do people have of her, and where do those impressions come from? With these questions, Amanda Witmer, an instructor in religious studies... Read More
August 14, 2019 | News | Janet Bauman
The play’s five-member cast performed The Mennonite Fairytale 13 times in under three weeks. (Photo courtesy of Real Live Entertainment)
Hansel and Gretel—I mean Peter and Tina—enter the woods and end up at a house made entirely of waffles and white sauce, where they are led by their evil stepmother to pick rhubarb... Read More
August 14, 2019 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Patricia Erb received an honorary doctorate in June from Vancouver Island University for her social justice and development work. (Photo courtesy of Patricia Erb)
“I’ve had many teachers, most of them children,” says Patricia Erb. “The best ones.” It could be seen as a surprising assertion from Erb, who, at 63, has been involved in human-... Read More
August 14, 2019 | People | Joelle Kidd
Cedar Klassen presents the new collection to The Hymn Society. (Photo courtesy of The Hymn Society)
Growing up, Cedar Klassen loved singing hymns. Klassen’s family would gather around the dinner table singing verses from Hymnal: A Worship Book , and later Sing the Journey and... Read More
August 14, 2019 | People | Rachel Bergen
Donna Dinsmore, interim pastor of Foothills Mennonite Church in Calgary, is pictured with her beloved seven-year-old Tucker. ‘Tucker makes every community more human,' she says. (Photo courtesy of Donna Dinsmore)
Donna Dinsmore never felt she fit into church life. “I wanted to serve in the church and I loved God, but I didn’t feel called to work with small children and I didn’t make... Read More
August 14, 2019 | People | Joanne De Jong
Shake participants gather for a photo on the Shekinah Retreat Centre deck. (Photo by Darryl Neustaedter Barg)
“We want to be shaken not by what the world throws at us, but by what Jesus throws at us.” With these words, Kirsten Hamm-Epp welcomed participants to Shake: Rattled by the... Read More
August 14, 2019 | News | Donna Schulz
Christoph Neuhaus, left, Bern canton’s state councillor and director of church affairs, and Lukas Amstutz, the Swiss Mennonite Conference co-president, plant a linden tree as a symbol of reconciliation on April 20 at Église évangélique mennonite Tavannes. (Photo by Raphaël Burkhalter)
It took about 490 years for government officials in Bern, Switzerland, to ask for forgiveness for persecution of Anabaptists in the region. It took less than two to get a response... Read More
August 12, 2019 | Web First | Tim Huber
'Being in a new place helps me discover... my own self,' Anna Wiebe says. (Photo by Carly Hunt)
Anna Wiebe is on the move again. The singer-songwriter from New Hamburg, Ont., released her second album, All I Do is Move , on July 12, bringing her listeners a more complex... Read More
August 9, 2019 | Web First | Rachel Bergen
Youth from across Canada gathered at Shekinah Retreat Centre last week. (Photo courtesy of Vimeo)
"Shake: Rattled by the Radical," a gathering for youth from across Mennonite Church Canada, wrapped up this past Thursday. Watch a five-and-a-half-minute video recapping the event... Read More
August 6, 2019 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Kyle Penner explores his church's approach to membership requirements for volunteer involvement during a presentation at Canadian Mennonite University this past May. (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
What do you do when (1) your church has a rule that people need to be members in order to volunteer in leadership positions, (2) you have an increasing number of people attending... Read More
August 2, 2019 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Katie Geddert, right, MCC country co-representative in Ukraine, speaks at the joint meeting of the U.S. and Canadian MCC boards on June 19 . At left are MCC Canada board chair Paul Gilbert and MCC U.S. board chair Gwen White. (Photo by Paul Schrag)
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has a loyal constituency, but its leaders don’t take the support for granted. “We can no longer assume Mennonite churches are familiar with MCC... Read More
July 31, 2019 | News | Paul Schrag
Bill Tiessen, right, has played Jesus for 12 years in Manitoba’s Passion Play. (Photo courtesy of the Manitoba Passion Play)
Every summer, more than a hundred volunteers from across Manitoba gather in the rolling hills of the Pembina Valley to bring to life the most important event of the Christian... Read More
July 31, 2019 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Enjoying VBS craft time at Foothills Mennonite Church in Calgary are, from left to right: Arianna Toews, Kaylynn Toews and Zoe Willms. (Photo by Ainsley Dunn)
Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers asked the question, “Won’t you be my neighbour?” every day for almost 40 years on Mr. Roger’s Neighbourhood . In the 2018 documentary of his life... Read More
July 31, 2019 | News | Joanne De Jong
Sales of custom-made crokinole boards from Yarrow (B.C.) United Mennonite Church are helping support Mennonite Partners in China. (Photo by Amy Rinner Waddell)
Wooden game boards made in Yarrow, B.C., and a crokinole tournament at this summer’s Mennonite Church Canada Gathering 2019 have made a connection with modern-day Chinese... Read More
July 31, 2019 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell
Theatre of the Beat actor Lindsey Middleton performs at the Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference in the Netherlands. (Photo courtesy of Theatre of the Beat)
The second annual Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival took place in Elspeet, the Netherlands, between June 27 and 30. It brought people together with the aim of... Read More
July 31, 2019 | News | Rachel Bergen
The pastor-canoeists take a break on a rocky outcropping in Massasauga Provincial Park. Pictured from left to right: Mark Diller Harder, Yoel Masyawong, Yared Demissie Seretse, Chung Vang, René Baergen and Joseph Raltong. (Photo courtesy of Yoel Masyawong.)
For three days and two nights in June, six Mennonite Church Eastern Canada pastors journeyed by canoe and camped in the wilderness of Massasauga Provincial Park, near Parry Sound... Read More
July 31, 2019 | People | Janet Bauman
A gift to Chris and Campbell Nisbet to remember their years at Hidden Acres was a blanket made out of Campbell’s many camp T-shirts. (Photo by Roy Draper)
The idea that Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp is a sacred space where God is at work came up over and over again at the farewell event for Campbell and Chris Nisbet, held on July 13... Read More
July 31, 2019 | People | Barb Draper
Eleanor Funk uses a large red umbrella to illustrate how Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross covers the sins of those who put their trust in him. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Eleanor Funk has been teaching people about the tabernacle for almost 40 years. “The passion has never left,” she says. Eleanor, who lives in Saskatoon with her husband Don, grew... Read More
July 31, 2019 | People | Donna Schulz
Frogmore stew (Photo by Barb Draper)
This recipe, that probably originates in the southern U.S., came to Ontario via the MCC meat canner and an Amish community in Ohio. Read the accompanying Gathering Around the... Read More
July 31, 2019 | People | Veg Weber
Veg Weber, in the background, serves Frogmore stew to young adults from her congregation, Floradale (Ont.) Mennonite Church. She surprises her guests by serving the food with no plates or utensils. (Photo courtesy of Veg Weber)
Veg Weber knows how to do old-fashioned hospitality and she enjoys having people sit around her table. A few years ago, this hostess from Hawkesville, Ont., came across a recipe... Read More
July 31, 2019 | People | Barb Draper