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
News & Stories
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)
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
RJC students Trissy Murphy, left, and Katie Laye craft earth-friendly Christmas gifts during the school’s Youth Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability (YESS!) Summit on Nov. 28.
They had only 20 minutes to create a skit based on a Bible text and a box of props. It was “creation care” up close and personal for the students and staff at Rosthern Junior... Read More
December 31, 2013 | Focus On | Story and Photo by Donna Schulz
When my family moved to a rural community in southwestern British Columbia, I didn’t realize how much life and my faith would be challenged. I was born and raised in the Fraser... Read More
December 31, 2013 | Young Voices | Rachel Bergen
How do we reconcile leading Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder’s theological brilliance with his sexual harassment of a number of his female students? It’s something I’ve been... Read More
December 31, 2013 | Young Voices | Susie Guenther Loewen
Finn Klebe, a Grade 11 student from Germany studying at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, is pictured with Jacob Deng of Wadeng Wings of Hope, an organization committed to helping the rural people of South Sudan.
The staff, students and teachers at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, Kitchener, Ont., had the privilege to welcome Jacob Deng, one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” to speak to us in... Read More
December 31, 2013 | Focus On | Finn Klebe
Jimmy Juma, centre, coordinator of the African Peacebuilding Institute in South Africa, talks with Mennonite Collegiate Institute students Rebecca Giesbrecht, Karina Letkeman, Renee Peters and Sam Schellenberg during MCC Day at the school on Nov. 21, 2013.
Taking learning beyond the regular classroom, Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) invited Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) on Nov. 21, 2013, as guest speakers engaged students... Read More
December 31, 2013 | Focus On | By Shanda Hochstetler and Peter Epp
The board and staff of MennoMedia, the publishing agency for Mennonite Church U.S.A. and MC Canada, has issued a statement regarding the continued publication of John Howard Yoder... Read More
December 31, 2013 | Artbeat |
Directed by Frances Lawrence. Written by Simon Beaufoy and Michael deBruyn (screenplay); Suzanne Collins (novel). Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson and... Read More
December 31, 2013 | Artbeat | Reviewed by Vic Thiessen
Frederik de Klerk, left, and Nelson Mandela shake hands at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, in January 1992.
I was on Chapter 10 of Alan Paton’s defining South African novel, Cry the Beloved Country, when Nelson Mandela died. The story of the man and the story in the book—published in... Read More
December 31, 2013 | God at work in the World | Will Braun
Three hours before the memorial service for Nelson Mandela began, people gathered to honour their beloved past-president and peacemaker in a celebratory manner. The gathering included singing, dancing, clapping and shouts of ‘Mandela ,you’re my president!’
After a lifetime spent struggling for the emancipation and equality of all, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela can finally rest, his long walk at an end. “Madiba,” as he is affectionately... Read More
December 31, 2013 | God at work in the World | Andrew and Karen Suderman
Early last month an open letter to the leadership of Mennonite Church Canada was posted on a website called FossilFreeMenno.org, asking individuals to sign it, identify their home... Read More
December 31, 2013 | God at work in the World | By Donita Wiebe-Neufeld