Watch: Inside the Vine and Table
The coordinators of the Vine and Table, an intentional Christian community house in Saskatoon, are inviting you inside. In a video they posted on YouTube last week, Thomas and Terri Lynn Friesen introduce what the Vine and Table is all about. Later, some of their current and former housemates share about their experiences living in…
Remembering Rachel Held Evans
When Rachel Held Evans died on May 4 at the age of 37, it shocked the thousands of people who follow her work. Through her four books, blog, social media presence, speaking events and podcast appearances, Evans “challenged conservative Christianity and gave voice to a generation of wandering evangelicals wrestling with their faith,” as the…
‘Queer and quirky and profoundly worthy of wonder’
The gathering hymn, “God Welcomes All,” called some 120 people to worship at the opening of the “Beyond binaries: Creating an affirming church” event hosted by Waterloo North Mennonite Church on April 6. The vision for this event came from 17-year-old Thea Andres, who identified the treatment of queer people—a term being reclaimed by many…
Creating space to work towards inclusion
Churches wanting to take the next step in becoming affirming of LGBTQ+ people might wonder “What’s next?” A workshop led by Thea Andres together with Pastors in Exile (PiE) at Waterloo North Mennonite Church on April 6 aimed to answer those questions and help churches take the plunge. The seminar drew approximately 120 people, including…
Watch: The art of guitar-making
Phil Campbell-Enns, associate pastor at Bethel Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, has a unique hobby: building guitars. In the two-minute video below, Campbell-Enns takes viewers into his workshop for a quick look at how he does it. Campbell-Enns, whose original music has been featured at Mennonite Church Canada assemblies and youth gatherings, says that being a luthier has…
God has swept us together
Near the beginning of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo speaks memorable words to his fellow hobbit Sam about the adventure that lies before them: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be…
Canadian Mennonite bids farewell to Donita Wiebe-Neufeld
After more than 18 years of contributing to Canadian Mennonite as the Alberta correspondent, Donita Wiebe-Neufeld, who has developed a fondness for horses over the years—especially CD—has resigned from her reporting position to take on an increased role with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Alberta. When she began as a correspondent on Sept. 1, 2000, replacing…
Equally welcome
The other day I hosted a diverse group of women from church: some single, some widowed, some married with kids, some married without kids, some in their 20s and some in their 80s. While sharing our joys and our struggles, we each honoured the unique life stories around the room and created a space for…
Confession as a personal spiritual practice
This Lenten season I find myself reflecting on the spiritual discipline of confession. What does a healthy practice of confession look like both individually and collectively? Confession played a huge part in my childhood faith. I was taught that you couldn’t pray or be right with God if you had unconfessed sin in your life,…
Impacting the universe with the sounds we make
With her powerful, resonant voice, Ysaÿe Barnwell, composer, vocalist, speaker and former member of the African-American female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, began to sing “Amazing Grace,” stretching out the length of each phrase. Members of the audience started to hum along. Soon she invited everyone to sing in full voice. The…
