Mennonite Disaster Service didn’t let the COVID-19 pandemic stop it from having a banner year. In a seven-minute video released on YouTube last Saturday, the binational... Read More
News & Stories
Mennonite Disaster Service personnel present a homeowner with keys after rebuilding her home. (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
February 12, 2021 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Superb Mennonite Church, near Kerrobert, Sask., where Lois Siemens’ ministry began. (Photo by Lois Siemens)
What she really wanted was a party, but pandemic realities prompted Lois Siemens to find another creative way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her ordination. Superb Mennonite... Read More
February 10, 2021 | People | Donna Schulz
A meal at Grovenland Farm near Lanigan, Sask. (Photo courtesy of Grovenland)
When COVID-19 struck last March, farmers who sell food directly to customers saw a rush on their products. “It seemed like people were just googling farms to go right to the... Read More
February 10, 2021 | News | Will Braun
The current Mennonite Voluntary Service Adventure unit hikes in Waterton Park for the first time, together with some of the members of Lethbridge Mennonite Church. Pictured from left to right: volunteers Maj-Britt Becker, Sven Kobel, Evelyn Bechtold, Hanna Schacher, Johannes Roesch and Noah Sommer. (Photo by Elaine Klassen)
Even in the midst of a pandemic, six young adults from Germany and France chose to continue with their plans to serve with Mennonite Voluntary Service Adventure in Lethbridge... Read More
February 10, 2021 | News | Joanne De Jong
A forest class at Willowgrove. (Photo by Willowgrove)
If you pivot enough times, it becomes dancing. And over this past year, Willowgrove found that, despite its Mennonite roots, it has taken to dancing quite naturally. Johnny... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps |
Thinking of our remarkable trees, never in my 14 years at Squeah have we had such losses to life and limb—trees, that is. Buildings damaged, activities crushed and some truly magnificent softwood giants have fallen. (Photo by Tim Larson)
In the late hours of a wintry night, a cold wind blew hard up the valley. It howled from an unusual direction, bending tree and limb. Under the unaccustomed pressure, seemingly... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Tim Larson
Children in B.C. hope to return to activities at Camp Squeah this summer but will have to wait until spring to see if the camping season can proceed. (Photo courtesy of Camp Squeah)
After last year’s cancellation of summer camp due to the pandemic, staff at Mennonite Church B.C.’s Camp Squeah are hopeful that a regular camping season can resume in summer 2021... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Amy Rinner Waddell
Campers enjoy a bonfire at Camp Elim. (Camp Elim photo)
Last year marked Camp Elim’s 75th anniversary, but it was a challenging year for us. Our plans for running camp as normal were quickly thwarted with the looming pandemic. By mid-... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Laura Grassing
Hidden Acres 2020 summer staff cabin, pictured from left to right: Chris Pot, Brittany Ratelband, Cassie Zehr, Julia Lantz, and Sam Bielby, (hanging upside down). (Photo by Chris Pot)
As I reflect on a year of “being camp” during COVID-19, I hear Psalm 32: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my loving eye on you... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Brent Musser
Youth Farm Bible Camp’s corn maze theme last year was ‘Love thy neighbour,’ honouring its neighbour, the Mennonite Nursing Home, and its dedicated staff. (Photo by Mark Wurtz)
Innovation, creativity and pivoting were key strengths that non-profit organizations used in 2020, especially if their main revenue streams involved gathering people together in... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Mark Wurtz
Ontario Mennonite Music Campers participate in daily master classes with their instrument of choice, as part of two action-packed weeks of music, games, faith, concerts and friendship, in 2018. (2018 Ontario Mennonite Music Camp photo)
Ontario Mennonite Music Camp (OMMC) is a two-week camp hosted at Conrad Grebel University College, offering teenagers aged 12 to 16 an opportunity to explore both music and faith... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Rachael Driediger
2020 Silver Lake Mennonite Camp Camp@Home T-shirt logo. (Silver Lake Mennonite Camp photo)
Camp can make such a difference in the life of a camper, even over Zoom. That was the great discovery of the summer of 2020. We were very happy to see so many faces in this online... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Karen Cornies
Jemma Cotrone is dressed as RBG for a costume dance party at Fraser Lake Camp. (Photo by Karie Cotrone)
Last year, Fraser Lake Camp’s cabins, which magically turn groups of kids into little families each summer, went empty. There were no echoes of rambunctious camp songs to rattle... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Jason McDowell
Volunteers carry out building supplies on Shekinah’s Ravine Trail. (Shekinah Retreat Centre photo)
At Shekinah we struggle to sit still. When we decided to shut our doors in March 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, it not only felt foreign, it also felt wrong. It is... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps |
Springstein congregants join others to help place sand bags at Camp Assiniboia during the flooding of 2011. (Photo courtesy of David Hogue)
After a week of non-stop activities soundtracked by endless cheering and screaming kids, you might think the staff of Camp Koinonia would sleep in. Instead, every Sunday morning... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Campers do a nature activity at the ‘Pop-up Camp’ at Morden (Man.) Mennonite Church. (Photo by Janet Peters)
Summer Camp 2020 was full of innovations. Almost everything needed adjustments. We held staff Zoom parties in the spring to begin to build the camp community feeling that usually... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps | Janet Peters
Camp Valaqua, Hike-A-Thon 2020 logo
In this year of so many disappointments, it is easy to lose track of the good things. Even when summer camp is cancelled and so many major events are postponed, God brings us joy... Read More
February 10, 2021 | Focus on Camps |
Francine Mukoko, standing at right, a public health graduate and the first university graduate from the Communauté Mennonite au Congo community in Bateke, presents public-health advice in Teke, the local language. (Photo courtesy of Seraphin Kutumbana)
Congregations across Mennonite Church Canada have matched a $50,000 donation made by the nationwide church to a COVID-19 relief fund operated by Mennonite World Conference (MWC)... Read More
February 9, 2021 | Web First | Katie Doke Sawatzky
Bob Ratelle does cleanup in the kitchen at Scott St. Church in St. Catharines, Ont., after making meals made possible by support from the MDS Canada Spirit of MDS Fund. (MDS photo)
After a successful first year, Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada has announced a new round of funding from its Spirit of MDS Fund. The 2021 round of funding started Jan. 31... Read More
February 8, 2021 | Web First | John Longhurst
Hayat Mohammad, 10, and Ali al Sheikh, 11, participate in psychosocial activities sponsored by the Popular Aid for Relief and Development to help children deal with the trauma of the massive explosion in Beirut last summer. (Photo courtesy of PARD)
Eight of Alice Joubanian’s grandchildren—all under eight years old—lived with her and her daughter in a Beirut camp for Armenian refugees when a massive explosion of ammonium... Read More
February 5, 2021 | Web First | Linda Espenshade, Stephanie Dyck and Rewa El Masry
Christians pray in Myanmar’s Chin State. (MC Eastern Canada file photo by Brian Bauman)
Mennonite Church Canada calls on the nationwide community of faith to pray for the people of Myanmar. Pray also for our Myanmar siblings here in Canada. They are deeply concerned... Read More
February 2, 2021 | Web First |
‘There are a boatload of songs in the works,’ says singer-songwriter Paul Bergman. (Photo by Ken Bergman)
It’s been more than five years since Paul Bergman’s last album, but the wait for new music is over. “I Just Want to Walk in the Dark with You,” a three-minute single from the... Read More
January 29, 2021 | Web First | Aaron Epp
Mennonite Church Canada’s International Witness program invites congregations across its nationwide community of faith to join networks of support for its International Witness... Read More
January 27, 2021 | News |
Generous Space participants gather at one of the organization’s annual retreats. (Photo courtesy of Generous Space Ministries)
Jamie Arpin-Ricci Thousands of LGBTQ+ Christians have found community at Generous Space Ministries. Manitoba Mennonites are no exception. In fact, Pastor Jamie Arpin-Ricci is... Read More
January 27, 2021 | News | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Wilf Funk, left, stands with Bob Wyma in the Friendship Inn kitchen, where 500 meals are prepared each day for Saskatoon’s vulnerable population. (Photo by Claire Ewert Fisher)
When the missions and service ministry team at Mount Royal Mennonite Church in Saskatoon was trying to identify a giving project the congregation could rally behind, it thought of... Read More
January 27, 2021 | News | Donna Schulz