News & Stories

The University of Waterloo Balinese Gamelan in 2017. (Photo courtesy of Conrad Grebel University College)

Over the last two years, Conrad Grebel University College’s YouTube channel has become a go-to source for quality gamelan videos. This moderate internet fame is spurred on by one... Read More
June 28, 2019 | Web First | Conrad Grebel University College

Jeanette Hanson will begin as interim director of Mennonite Church Canada’s International Witness program on Aug. 1. (MC Canada photo)

Jeanette Hanson, associate director for Mennonite Partners in China, will begin as interim director of Mennonite Church Canada’s International Witness program on Aug. 1. Jason... Read More
June 20, 2019 | News | Mennonite Church Canada

St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., has hosted numerous Mennonite-Catholic gatherings. (Flickr.com photo by Keith Ewing, Creative Commons)

One could say Anabaptism began as a rebellion against Catholicism. Our forebears bled and died so we could be not-Catholic. Time does not erase the past, but intervening centuries... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Will Braun

The Anglican Church of Canada-Mennonite Church Canada dialogue began in 2016. It had its first face-to-face meeting in 2018. (Image by Ron Porter/Pixabay)

There are hundreds of denominations within Christianity, and it can be easy to focus on the differences between them all. But a group of Mennonites and Anglicans is breaking... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe

A group walks from the Fort Langley United Church to the Kwantlen Nation Longhouse to begin B.C.’s fourth annual Walk in the Spirit of Reconciliation. (Photo by Ian Funk)

In solidarity with their First Nations neighbours, Mennonites in the Fraser Valley joined others in a Walk in the Spirit of Reconciliation from May 31 to June 2. The event was a... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell

Valerie Proudfoot of Edmonton First Mennonite Church, right, presents Irma Fast Dueck with a picture of a Mennonite Mary. Entitled ‘Mennonitische Madonna,’ the artwork by Helena Dueck of Pennsylvania was originally given to Proudfoot in 1986 as a gift of encouragement. (Photo by Joanne De Jong)

“We grew up never talking about Mary. It was like the Catholics got Mary in the divorce settlement and Mennonites got a 30-minute sermon,” said Irma Fast Dueck in her opening talk... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Joanne De Jong

Muriel Bechtel, right, and Dennis Flaming, organizers of the 'My Place is Right Here' play and joint fundraising event, are pictured with Alie Teetzel-Edmondstone and Yasmine Mohamed, representatives of the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank, who accepted the food donations. (Photo by Janet Bauman)

It was all about working together for the good of the local Cambridge community when Preston and Wanner Mennonite churches partnered with a local theatre group to support the work... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Janet Bauman

Meg Harder stands in front of her artwork at the Conrad Grebel University College Centre for Peace Advancement Gallery. (Photo courtesy of the Centre for Peace Advancement)

An Ontario artist is enlivening a Mennonite folk-art tradition that hasn’t been widely practised for more than 150 years. Meg Harder’s six-piece exhibit, “New Fraktur,” draws on... Read More
June 19, 2019 | News | Rachel Bergen

According to Elaine Presnell, a funeral officiant and a commissioned lay pastor at Pleasant Point Mennonite Church, the best gift one can offer a grieving family is non-judgmental listening. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

Elaine Presnell has presided at around 600 funerals. That’s a number most pastors won’t achieve in a lifetime. But Presnell isn’t an ordinary pastor. For more than 10 years, she... Read More
June 19, 2019 | People | Donna Schulz

Dona Park painted a mural at a school in Cambodia during her term with MCC. (Photos courtesy of Dona Park)

For Dona Park, making art is the equivalent of eating, sleeping and breathing. She does it every day because she needs to. The 24-year-old attended Goshen (Ind.) College, from... Read More
June 19, 2019 | People | Rachel Bergen

A shopper admires the wares of Irene Harms at the artisan market, new to this year’s MCC Saskatchewan Relief Sale and Auction. (Photos by Donna Schulz)

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Saskatchewan hosted its 49th annual relief sale and auction at Saskatoon’s Prairieland Park on June 7 and 8. An estimated 750 people took in a... Read More
June 18, 2019 | Web First | Donna Schulz

Francesco Zuba, coordinator of the Association for Assistance to Orphan Children, stands in front of the damaged preschool in the Munhava neighbourhood of Beira, Mozambique. (Photo by Paul Shetler Fast)

Two broken chalkboards thrown by the 190-kilometre-per-hour winds of Cyclone Idai bake in the sun on what remains of the crumpled tin roof of one neighbourhood’s only preschool... Read More
June 18, 2019 | Web First | Paul Shetler Fast

David Martin, executive minister of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, speaks about confronting ministerial sexual misconduct. (Photo courtesy of Darryl Neustaedter Barg)

In the midst of the #MeToo movement, in which those in positions of power are being called to account for sexual abuse, a conference hosted by four Manitoba Mennonite... Read More
June 17, 2019 | Web First | Rachel Bergen

More than 5,400 people volunteered with MDS last year. (Facebook.com/MennoniteDisasterService)

The folks who volunteer with Mennonite Disaster Service are “gettin’ it done.” We recently published a photo essay featuring Canadian Mennonites who are volunteering with MDS in... Read More
June 7, 2019 | Web First | Aaron Epp

Kuri is singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Scott Currie. (Photo by Rachel Pick)

Almost two years after he started recording it, Kuri has released his new album. Titled No Village , the 10-song collection came out today via Nevado Records. No Village is the... Read More
June 7, 2019 | Web First | Aaron Epp

Over coffee and Turkish sweets at The Mennonite Story in St. Jacobs, Jim Loepp Thiessen, left, has an animated conversation with Faruk Ekinci and Mustafa Ustan while Mustafa Jr. listens in. These Turkish Muslims were interested to learn that many Mennonites also came to Canada as refugees. (Photo by Barb Draper)

On April 30, several Muslim families from Waterloo Region toured The Mennonite Story in St. Jacobs, in order to understand more about Mennonites. Leon Kehl of Floradale Mennonite... Read More
June 5, 2019 | News | Barb Draper

Mary Funk stands in the community garden at Jubilee Mennonite Church’s Community Roots Resource Centre. (Photo by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)

“If an alien ship were to come take our church away, would anyone notice?” This is the question that members of Jubilee Mennonite Church asked themselves more than a decade ago... Read More
June 5, 2019 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe

The Flourishing Congregations Institute’s Joel Thiessen, holding the microphone, speaks at Columbia Bible College on May 4. The seminar was sponsored by the Mennonite Faith and Learning Society in conjunction with Columbia Bible College. (Photo by Amy Rinner Waddell)

Key factors surrounding flourishing congregations in Canada, and how congregations can thrive and grow in an age of diminishing importance of the church in society, were the... Read More
June 5, 2019 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell

Charles Olfert, with white cane, participates in a simulation exercise as part of the Rick Hansen Accessibility Certification Program. Pictured with Olfert is classmate Cal Schuler and his service dog, Sierra. (ABE Factor, Inc. photo by Samantha Proulx)

Charles Olfert is enthusiastic about creating buildings that meet their users’ needs. A principal architect with AODBT Architecture + Interior Design, he recently applied that... Read More
June 5, 2019 | News | Donna Schulz

People from different cultural and religious backgrounds enjoy food and conversation around tables at the Iftar meal hosted by Breslau Mennonite Church on May 14. (Photo by Janet Bauman)

On May 14, Breslau Mennonite Church hosted an iftar meal after sunset, marking the end of the daily fast for Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, a season of fasting, prayer... Read More
June 5, 2019 | People | Janet Bauman

Since opening in 2016, Aurora House has provided housing for 14 people and several babies. (aurorahouse.ca photo)

“When God has a plan,” says Christine Langschmidt, “it just happens, despite us.” Langschmidt is director and chair of Aurora House, which provides community-based housing for... Read More
June 5, 2019 | News | Joelle Kidd

Rockway Mennonite Collegiate students, from left to right, Ramtha Lensung, Jennifer Dawthleipar, Naomi Joy and Rachel Weber visit after a church service at the Kitchener, Ont., Chin Christian Church on April 28. (Photo courtesy of Marlys Neufeldt)

Every year, Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener, Ont., facilitates worship services at churches in the area, to build bridges between the school and its constituency. This... Read More
June 5, 2019 | People | Rachel Bergen

Thang Dinh, owner of Calsask Granite in Saskatoon, cites gratitude to the Mennonites who sponsored him 40 years ago as one of the reasons he likes to give back to his community. (Photo by Donna Schulz)

“We’ve experienced a lot of humbling stories,” says Phyllis Roth of her participation in the Saskatchewan Valley Hospital home-building project, but one story in particular stands... Read More
June 5, 2019 | People | Donna Schulz

Jan Carrie Steven, centre, and her husband Laur, right pose with their pastor, David Brubacher, during a 2016 Ride for Refuge event. (Photo courtesy of Jan Carrie Steven)

Type the words “Mennonite vegans” into your search engine and you likely won’t come up with much. But being a Mennonite vegan is very doable, whether you are culturally Mennonite... Read More
June 5, 2019 | People | Jan Carrie Steven

(Photo by Barb Draper)

Vegan cooking can be as easy or challenging as you want to make it. I’m a “10-minute—five ingredient” kind of gal so here is a crockpot bean recipe that takes minutes to make. If... Read More
June 5, 2019 | People | Jan Stevens

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