News & Stories

(Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/CampSqueah)

Despite challenges including a fire ban and a staffing shortage, Mennonite Church B.C.’s Camp Squeah enjoyed a successful summer, according to camp director Rob Tiessen. Rob... Read More
September 7, 2023 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell

(Photo by Melita Rempel-Burkholder)

Mennonite Church Canada’s Palestine-Israel Network is inviting people to join its Palestine-Israel tour, scheduled for May 11-26, 2024. If you’re passionate about peace wedded to... Read More
September 7, 2023 | News | Byron Rempel-Burkholder

Local MLA Fred Tilley (second from left) presents a Nova Scotia flag to Ross Penner, executive director of MDS Canada; Ike Epp, MDS project director; and Roman Heuft, Cape Breton response coordinator.

For Amanda McDougall-Merrill, mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, volunteers with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada did more than repair homes damaged by... Read More
September 7, 2023 | News | John Longhurst

John D. Roth, pictured in Waterloo last month during a meeting with the Anabaptism at 500 advisory group. (Photo courtesy of MennoMedia)

Local contributors to an Anabaptist Bible that is set for publication in 2025 met with the Bible’s advisory group last month. The advisory group for the Anabaptist Community Bible... Read More
September 7, 2023 | News | Barb Draper

The new settlement started by Low German-speaking Mennonites from Mexico is near Malanje, Angola. (Google Maps)

Several families from a Mennonite colony in Campeche, Mexico, arrived in Angola earlier this year to begin a new settlement in the African nation. It is believed to be the first... Read More
September 7, 2023 | News |

Hans Juergen Wiens and his jars of jam. (Photo by Maria H. Klassen)

Jam

In 2004, at the age of 70, Hans Juergen Wiens sold his business, including several farms, a feed business, and his last pig, all in one year. He was unemployed and restless. But... Read More
August 24, 2023 | News | Maria H. Klassen

Kathryn Lymburner

On May 13, Canadian Mennonite Publishing Service (CMPS) held its 52nd AGM via video conference. CMPS is the non-profit body that publishes Canadian Mennonite magazine. Kathryn... Read More
August 24, 2023 | News | Tobi Thiessen

Abbey Bergen, summer intern at Emmanuel Mennonite Church. (Photo by Amy Rinner Waddell)

Every Tuesday morning this summer, children from Emmanuel Mennonite Church have been searching for a sheep while finding fun through nature-themed stories, water games, art... Read More
August 24, 2023 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell

“Gate to the Past” by Renate Dau Klaassen. (Photo courtesy of Renate Dau Klaassen)

An art gallery lines the hallway between the sanctuary and the auditorium of the Niagara United Mennonite Church near Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The art hanging there reminds... Read More
August 24, 2023 | News | Maria H. Klassen

Carol Ann Weaver (left) and Nataliia Kurhan at Hawkesville Mennonite Church in May, 2022. (Photo by Ingrid Bauman)

February 23, 2022, was a relatively ordinary day on our planet. Until 10:30 p.m. Ontario time—early morning of February 24 where Nataliia Kurhan lives—when I heard a reporter... Read More
August 24, 2023 | News | Carol Ann Weaver

Sumas Lake, known as Semá:th Lake to the local Stó:lō people, prior to it being drained by government in the 1920s. (City of Vancouver Archives)

“The draining of [Sumas Lake] and our settlement on your ancestral lands was devastating and demoralizing and disrespectful.” That was part of an apology offered to Semá:th First... Read More
August 24, 2023 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell

A group of Indigenous people and Mennonites gather under the arbor at Muskeg Lake Cree Nation. (Photo by Randy Klassen)

About 75 people gathered at Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, located an hour’s drive north of Saskatoon, on August 6 for the Singing in the Arbor event. The event, which included music,... Read More
August 24, 2023 | News | Phyllis Goertz and Harry Lafond

Cree elder, Harry Lafond, offers the opening prayer at the Spruce River Folk Fest as Ray Funk (centre) and members of the bluegrass band O’Kraut look on. (Photo by Emily Summach)

Music is a universal language. In Saskatchewan, music is also the language of reconciliation. On August 15, the Spruce River Folk Fest was held to encourage friendship and... Read More
August 24, 2023 | News | Emily Summach

The pipe organ at Waterloo Kitchener United Mennonite Church. (Photo courtesy of John Enns)

John Enns remembers a time when 200 children filled the Sunday school classrooms at Waterloo Kitchener United Mennonite Church (WKUM). Currently, the congregation has 225... Read More
August 24, 2023 | News | Madalene Arias

Jakob Rempel and his family a few years before he was arrested and sent to the Solovky prison camp in 1929. (Photo courtesy of Mennonite Heritage Archives)

While Jakob Rempel was being transferred by train from one Gulag camp to another, he jumped from the train in a snowstorm. Ultimately, he ended up in Uzbekistan, near the town of... Read More
August 9, 2023 | News | Amalie Enns

Melody Steinman with her mother. (Supplied photo)

I find myself in the middle of living and I am faced with death. Although it was expected, I was still surprised when a friend of mine died earlier this year. Another dear friend... Read More
August 9, 2023 | News | Melody Steinman

Eva Booker (left) painting the pollinator garden's picnic table with student volunteers Anna Miller-Buza and Claire Treacy. (Photo by Margaret Gissing)

On a bright morning in April, Eva Booker and a team of student volunteers rolled out a 25-foot-wide tarp across Grebel’s front lawn in preparation for the College’s recent green... Read More
August 9, 2023 | News | Tim Saari

A view from the train window during the “Memories of Migration” tour. (Photo by Shelisa Klassen)

The premise of the “Memories of Migration” Russlaender centenary train tour is a complicated one. The July tour commemorated the journey of the historic migration of 21,000... Read More
August 8, 2023 | News | Shelisa Klassen

An eastern bluebird prepares to feed its chicks. (Photo by Merri-Lee Metzger)

When Gordon Janzen was searching for a way to unwind, he found it by looking up. Around 10 years ago, the Winnipegger realized he was working a lot and didn’t have many hobbies... Read More
August 8, 2023 | News | Aaron Epp

Springridge Mennonite Church attendees sing together on Christmas morning last year. (Supplied Photo)

This past spring, Mennonite Church Alberta held its first in-person annual delegate sessions in four years. Representatives from across the province were in attendance. Who hosted... Read More
August 3, 2023 | News | Emily Summach

John D. Roth, project director of Anabaptism at 500. (Jace Longenecker photo for MennoMedia)

Anabaptists around the world are gearing up to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement in 2025. To mark this historic occasion, MennoMedia’s Anabaptism at 500... Read More
August 1, 2023 | News |

Sunset from the train west of Kamloops. (Photo by John Longhurst)

I like telling stories. And I like trains. So when organizers of the “Memories of Migration: Russlaender 100 Tour” asked if I would join the cross-country train tour as a reporter... Read More
July 28, 2023 | Web First | John Longhurst

Adelia Neufeld Wiens is a deacon at Bethel Mennonite Church, where 35 households were defrauded of more than $1 million. (Photo by Aaron Epp)

Members of a Winnipeg church are feeling shocked and bewildered after the revelation that multiple households in the congregation were defrauded of a total of more than $1 million... Read More
July 27, 2023 | News | Aaron Epp

Sonny McHalsie (in red) tells stories of Kawkawa Lake, or Q’owqewem Lake, to Mennonites on an Indigenous tour in B.C. (Photo by Amy Rinner Waddell)

A nine-hour bus tour gave 30 participants a taste of the history of places that Indigenous people had inhabited for 10,000 years prior to the arrival of Mennonites in B.C. in the... Read More
July 27, 2023 | News | Amy Rinner Waddell

Westgate students on the roof of the Ecce Homo Convent in Jerusalem. (Photo by James Friesen)

On the last night of Westgate’s 2023 Middle East trip , students and staff met on the rooftop of the Ecce Homo Convent in the Old City of Jerusalem to reflect on their experiences... Read More
July 27, 2023 | News | James Friesen

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