Book explores healthy masculinity
Once upon a time, living in splendid isolation, Mennonite men were moulded differently from the rest of society. Worshipping in a traditional peace church with a different set of values, they didn’t fit the western stereotype of a male. But today, Mennonite men are diverse; as much urban as rural, as much men of colour…
‘I realized I had been duped!’
Gordon Toombs was deceived by the Canadian military when he tried to register as a conscientious objector (CO) during the Second World War. His recent book, L74298: Recollections of a Conscientious Objector in World War II, is dedicated to Conrad Stoesz, archivist at Winnipeg’s Mennonite Heritage Archives, in gratitude for revealing the deception. The 98-year-old…
CommonRead connecting churches from coast to coast
The number of people who read the Bible is steadily declining, studies have found. Whether they can’t reconcile problematic texts with their lives, or feel like they just aren’t getting anything out of it anymore, people are leaving the Bible on the bookshelf. Meghan Larissa Good is trying to change those attitudes with her book…
Part memoir, part devotional reading
Stephanie Lobdell grew up in the church as a pastor’s kid. She was a high achiever with dreams of becoming a missionary, but things didn’t work out as she had hoped and she struggled to accept the losses that life threw her way. In Signs of Life, she reflects on her growing realization that…
Fall 2019 List of Books & Resources
Theology, Spirituality Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus. Jim Wallis. HarperCollins, 2019. Wallis argues that many Christians have become disconnected from Jesus’ primary message. He identifies eight questions that Jesus asked, or were asked of him, as a way to measure our spiritual foundations. He is critical of American religion that is…
CommonWord shares books by the dozen
Still a hidden gem for some, CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre is a well of resources for the Mennonite community and beyond. One of the ways it shares these materials and guidance is through its “Cheaper by the dozen” program. This bulk-loan initiative lends 12 different resources to a church for an extended six-week period,…
Readers ‘zoom’ to discuss Unsettling the Word
In a large city like Toronto, attending a church small group or Bible study may not be feasible for those with families or busy schedules. But Toronto United Mennonite Church has found a technological solution. Congregants recently completed a six-week book study based around Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization and conducted remotely by…
Translation valuable to Swahili-speaking pastors
In mid-February, 50 Tanzanian Mennonite Church leaders, under the guidance of Palmer Becker, a Canadian Mennonite author and teacher, studied spiritual leadership, pastoral care and Anabaptist essentials using a translation of Becker’s book Begin Anew: Christian Discipleship Seminars. The training sessions were hosted by Bishop Chris Kateti of the Shirati Diocese of the Tanzanian Mennonite…
From power to pathos
Peter M. and Susanna Friesen. “The story of Mennonites in Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union and the Soviet successor states is relatively short, beginning only in 1789. Despite this brief history, our memories of Mennonite life in this region are etched with deeply contradictory images. “On the one hand, we remember a resplendent culture marked…
An eye-witness account of Nazi occupation
At the age of 85, I am probably one of the few survivors of the German occupation of Ukraine/Russia from 1941 to 1943 who still have clear personal memories of that time. When the German army occupied Chortitza, Ukraine, where I lived, we Mennonites were exuberant. I remember vividly the euphoria of being liberated from…
