For Steph Chandler Burns of Kitchener, Ont., talking about her faith journey means talking about coming out as a queer individual. “I am a bisexual woman and I am a woman created... Read More
News & Stories
Steph Chandler Burns recently served as interim pastor at Bloomingdale (Ont.) Mennonite Church. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
January 10, 2018 | Young Voices | Aaron Epp
To celebrate Christmas, members of Gereja Kristen Muria Indonesia churches act out Bible stories in the style of wayang orang. (Photo courtesy of berita GKMI)
Christian communities around the world celebrate Christmas, yet each culture has its own traditions. Here, Anabaptist brothers and sisters from different regions share how they... Read More
December 23, 2017 | Web First | Various contributors
Weiny Hablemichael, left, Tim Reimer and Aron Hablemichael discuss the presentations at the Anabaptist Learning Workshop event held at Danforth Mennonite Church, Toronto, on Nov. 18, 2017, that focussed on East African persecutions. (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)
It was the Christian apologist Tertullian in AD 197 who first wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” As he watched Christians killed in the bloody... Read More
December 20, 2017 | God at work in the Church | Dave Rogalsky
Calvin Quan was “happily surprised” by the positive spirit and efficiency of the first meeting of Mennonite Church Canada’s new Joint Council. “There was a strong sense of... Read More
December 20, 2017 | God at work in the Church | Donita Wiebe-Neufeld
The new Joint Council of MC Canada is composed of, from left to right, front row: Ken Warkentin, moderator, MC Saskatchewan; Paul Neufeldt, moderator, MC Alberta; Lee Dyck, moderator, MC B.C.; Paul Wideman, moderator, MC Eastern Canada; and Peter Rempel, moderator, MC Manitoba; and back row: Jacquelyn Janzen, MC Saskatchewan rep; Vince Friesen, interim MC Alberta rep; Betty Loewen, MC B.C. rep; Calvin Quan, MC Canada moderator; Alicia Good, MC Eastern, Canada rep; Allan Hiebert, secretary/treasurer; Gerald Gerbrandt, MC Manitoba moderator elect and MC Manitoba interim rep; and Geraldine Balzer, assistant moderator, MC Canada. (Photo by Ryan Siemens)
On Dec. 7 and 8, 2017, the new Joint Council of Mennonite Church Canada met for this first time. ( See a follow-up to those meetings here . ) Following the re-structuring of MC... Read More
December 20, 2017 | God at work in the Church | Ross W. Muir, with files from Donita Wiebe-Neufeld, Lisa Williams and Marianne Siemens
The newly renovated Westgate Mennonite Collegiate, featuring the atrium at the front. (Courtesy of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate)
They say it takes a village to raise a child. For Westgate Mennonite Collegiate, it takes a village to not only raise its 300 students, but also to complete a $10.3-million... Read More
December 20, 2017 | God at work in the Church | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Jacqui Block, left, Peter Guenther and George Epp enjoy a light-hearted moment as they reflect on what they learned about Mennonite Central Committee’s disaster response. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
“There’s no such thing as a natural disaster,” according to Bruce Guenther. But Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada’s disaster response director wasn’t in denial. Guenther... Read More
December 20, 2017 | God at work in the World | Donna Schulz
Ed Zacharias (Plautdietsch Medienkonferenz photo)
Ed Zacharias started with Exodus, translating word by word into Low German ( Plautdietsch ). For a decade he worked at it, sometimes with institutional backing, sometimes as a... Read More
December 20, 2017 | God at work in Us | Will Braun
A page from a Jehovah’s Witness Bible study booklet in Low German.
While some might see Low German as the arcane language of people stuck in the past, Jehovah’s Witnesses have embraced it. For years, they have dedicated considerable energy to... Read More
December 20, 2017 | God at work in Us | Will Braun
Jim Tubb sits in his Duke Street studio in Kitchener, Ont., surrounded by paintings, art supplies and the music—including jazz—that fuels his work. (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)
Jim Tubb has lived on borrowed time for more than 40 years. In 1975, he was told that he had only a short time to live due to respiratory issues, but he says that in the meantime... Read More
December 20, 2017 | Artbeat | Dave Rogalsky
AlbertaSat members, including Taryn Haluza-Delay, second from right, met with former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, centre, this past October. (Photo courtesy of Taryn Haluza-Delay)
For most people who dream of exploring outer space, the dream dies before they reach adulthood. That’s not the case for Taryn Haluza-Delay. The 20-year-old Edmonton resident, who... Read More
December 20, 2017 | Young Voices | Aaron Epp
Matthew Kopperud, right, spent 2017 touring with his Close Talker bandmates Will Quiring and Chris Morien. (Photo courtesy of Close Talker)
2017 was a big year for Matthew Kopperud. The 25-year-old guitarist toured across North America and Europe with his band Close Talker in support of its most recent album, Lens ... Read More
December 20, 2017 | Young Voices | Aaron Epp
Tim Wiebe-Neufeld stands beside the Ray Dirks painting that tells the story of Maria Friesen Neufeld, his great grandmother, one of the courageous Mennonite women who brought their families out of the hardships and terror of the Soviet Union in the early 1900s. (Photo by Donita Wiebe-Neufeld)
On Dec. 2, 2017, more than a hundred people gathered at Edmonton’s King’s University for the opening of the Along the Road to Freedom art exhibit. This was the first of three... Read More
December 12, 2017 | Web First | Donita Wiebe-Neufeld
Edwin Klassen (left) shares a laugh with longtime MEDA editor Wally Kroeker as he signs copies of his book, God’s Week has Seven Days: Monday Musings for Marketplace Christians, at the MEDA convention in Vancouver, B.C. (MEDA photo by Steve Sugrim)
Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) raised a record $6.5 million from donors in the past year, president Allan Sauder told the group’s annual meeting in Vancouver Nov... Read More
December 12, 2017 | Web First | Mike Strathdee
The Anabaptist prayer book, Take Our Moments and Our Days, is now available as a mobile app.
Users in 15 countries across six continents have downloaded a new free mobile app version of Take Our Moments and Our Days: An Anabaptist Prayer Book in the four weeks since its... Read More
December 9, 2017 | Web First | Annette Brill Bergstresser
Highlighted in grey is the conflict zone within the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country of Rwanda, to the east, is also affected by the conflict. (Canadian Mennonite map by Betty Avery)
“As many as 250,000 children could starve in Kasai in the next few months unless enough nutritious food reaches them quickly,” says David Beasley, World Food Programme’s executive... Read More
December 6, 2017 | God at work in the World | Will Braun
A police officer, rehabilitation counsellor, medical cannabis producer and Mennonite pastor present their thoughts on the implications of the Canadian government’s plan to legalize marijuana at ‘Our need for weed? Sparking conversations in the church and community,’ the Nov. 15 Face2Face event at Canadian Mennonite University. (Photo by Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe)
It’s not often that you see the words Mennonite, church and university in the same sentence as marijuana. Yet, “Our need for weed? Sparking conversations in the church and... Read More
December 6, 2017 | God at work in the World | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
These displaced families, who are staying in the Kikwit District of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, wait to receive a month’s supply of food and non-food emergency assistance, including flour, beans, oil, sugar, salt, tarps and soap. (MCC photo by Fidele Kyanza)
Displaced people who recently received food and shelter supplies distributed by Mennonite churches in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) have seen... Read More
December 6, 2017 | Web First | Rachel Bergen
Scholars Muhammad Ali Shomali, left, and Irma Fast Dueck enjoy a break at the fifth annual Christian-Muslim dialogue in Edmonton during the last week of October. (Photo by Donita Wiebe-Neufeld)
At a time when world news seems to set nations against each other, the chatter and laughter of an obviously diverse crowd can be inspiring. On Oct. 28, men and women of a variety... Read More
December 6, 2017 | God at work in the World | Donita Wiebe-Neufeld
While Palmer Becker, right, looks on, Maahin Khan and Aroob Asheaf from the Kitchener Masjid and Stephanie Janzen-Martin, from Waterloo North Mennonite Church exchange contact information at the end of Waterloo North Mennonite Church’s open house with the masjid on Oct. 22. (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)
Palmer Becker began to attend the Kitchener (Ont.) Masjid when he returned from teaching at Bethlehem Bible College in 2009. While in Bethlehem, he had heard the daily calls to... Read More
December 6, 2017 | God at work in the World |
Mennonite Church Canada executive director Willard Metzger, standing left, explains changes to the structure of the new nationwide church to congregational leaders gathered for MC Saskatchewan’s fall leadership assembly. Standing beside Metzger is Ryan Siemens, MC Saskatchewan’s area church minister of congregational and pastoral relations. (Photo by Donna Schulz)
Potential. That word kept surfacing at Mennonite Church Saskatchewan’s fall leadership assembly, as pastors and congregational leaders met with MC Canada’s executive minister,... Read More
December 6, 2017 | God at work in the Church |
What started as a simple book club has become a place of deep friendship and support for a group of Winnipeg women. (Photo by Rachel Bergen)
I remember the day well. It was Nov. 8, 2016. Donald Trump, whose behaviour as a sexual predator has been widely reported, had just been elected as president of the United States... Read More
December 6, 2017 | Young Voices | Rachel Bergen
Attiya meets with Steve, her abusive ex-boyfriend, in the documentary A Better Man. (National Film Board photo)
In the remarkable documentary, A Better Man , released earlier this year, filmmaker Attiya Khan documents her meeting with Steve (no last name), her ex-boyfriend who abused her... Read More
December 6, 2017 | Young Voices | Aaron Epp
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) campaigners Setsuko Thurlow, Ray Acheson and Cesar Jaramillo call on Canada to join a UN nuclear weapons ban at a press conference in Toronto on Oct. 27, 2017. Jaramillo is the executive director of Project Ploughshares, a Mennonite Central Committee partner. (Photo courtesy of Paula Cardenas)
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) congratulates Project Ploughshares, a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), on winning the 2017 Nobel Peace... Read More
December 5, 2017 | Web First | Rachel Bergen
Phil Monture, Six Nations land claims researcher, speaks at 50 Kent Avenue in Kitchener, Ont., on Oct. 26, about the Haldimand Tract that was promised to Six Nations in the late 1700s. (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)
The community room at 50 Kent Ave. in Kitchener had standing room only on Oct. 26, with more than 180 adults of all ages there to listen to Phil Monture. Monture, a Mohawk from... Read More
December 4, 2017 | Web First | Dave Rogalsky