New administrator welcomes church into school
Chilliwack, B.C.—A year ago, the Chilliwack School District asked Crossroads Community Church, a Mennonite Church B.C. congregation, to consider moving its Sunday morning service to a different school. Although it meant considerable adjustments, the church obliged, in order to show a cooperative spirit to the public school community. The move to Vedder Middle School proved…
Gathered with our people
Death brings to the fore the cost of having left home. For many at First Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Canada is a home away from home. When death strikes, they cannot be gathered with their people in their countries of origin. Finances, dangers or immigration status can stand in the way, and many, many kilometres…
‘We became family to each other’
What do you get when you start a Mennonite church in the middle of nowhere? A community that is still going strong more than 50 years later, even after the church itself has closed its doors. Thompson United Mennonite Church was formed in 1962 in Thompson, Man., an isolated northern frontier town formed out of…
From belief to belonging
“Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for…
Paving the way to the Promised Land
“You don’t go quickly from Egypt to the Promised Land,” quips Harold Schlegel. “The wilderness is where God forms us.” The wilderness Schlegel speaks of is the transition in a congregation’s life between one pastor and another. Church leaders suggest it’s a time that’s ripe for interim or transitional ministry. An interim pastor, hired for…
Church workout
A ladder made of masking tape sticks to the floor of the foyer of Charleswood Mennonite Church in Winnipeg. It’s not a typical sight in a worship space. Yet every Tuesday and Friday morning, a path is cleared through the chairs in the sanctuary, and a small group of seniors ranging from their 60s to…
Walking toward wellness
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.—Various attributions According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, 20 percent of all Canadians will personally experience a mental illness in their lifetime. Those statistics apply to people in our congregations as well, even if we don’t always like to talk about them in…
Communion and Cabernet
Alcohol has become ubiquitous in Canada, so much so that on April 5 even Starbucks began serving beer and wine in three of its Toronto outlets. How does this preponderance of alcohol affect life in the Mennonite church? While there may not be alcohol in church buildings, it is certainly a part of the lives…
Bethany Mennonite reaches half-century milestone
The way Bill Goertz remembers it, every time it seemed that the building plan for Bethany Mennonite Church was settled, Victor Dyck would come to yet another caffeine-fuelled Founders Committee meeting and say, “Maybe we can do a little more.” Eventually, rather than building only the education wing with a gymnasium, the entire building was…
Small town + small church = big influence
Church of the Way in Granisle, British Columbia, may be small, but as the only church in town its witness in the community is large. Located on Babine Lake in B.C.’s northern interior, the village of Granisle has a population of about 300. Most of the local residents are seniors, with only a handful of…
