Joining the Office of Fun
After four decades of ministry primarily focused on youth, young adults and young leaders, I welcomed the invitation to become the director of congregational ministries within Mennonite Church Manitoba. As congregations walk into the future, they know that the work of reconnecting and reimagining awaits them. What I also want them to know is that…
Fatigue, polarization, uncertainty
These three words, at least for me, capture strong feelings I experience as I work with congregations and pastoral leaders at this time. We have entered a time when we are not where we were and not yet where we are going. We may not even know what the postal code is yet of where…
Passing on what we have received
There is something about snowstorms that brings out the best in people. A stuck car will quickly attract a group to help push it out. My wife and I often find our neighbour has shovelled our walks before we get to them. After one particularly intense storm, six neighbours got their snowblowers together and worked…
‘What is it that endures?’
In this beginning time of 2022, while we are coming out of the dark of winter, and hopefully out of the dark of this pandemic, what is it that endures? Also, what is it that gives us hope? Jesus has said that the church will endure (Matthew 16:18), and, while we are often seeing that…
Perpetual epiphany
It was a lifelong dream coming true. In a crowded stairwell I inched toward what we had all come to see. Down in the basement, below street level, the room smelled of the smoke from oil lamps dangling precariously overhead, the very place, according to tradition, where Jesus Christ was born. I was in the…
The heart of evangelism
In warmer months, a circle of seven or so adults gathers in my backyard on Sunday afternoons. We earnestly discuss Scripture, share the highs and lows of our lives, ask what God may be saying to us this afternoon. We pray. We pass bread and glasses of grape juice. Sometimes we even sing. I sat…
Keeping a kettle out of the landfill
The last time my in-laws came north to visit, they brought us a broken electric kettle. We had gifted it to them at a long-ago Christmas. Now, years later, it stopped working. It was under warranty, but that only applied in Canada. With repair, it could function and stay out of the landfill. That is…
We are a global family of faith every day
I remember a conversation with my mom when I was a child. “Why is there a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day, but no Children’s Day?” I asked. My mom’s answer was rather predictable, “Every day is Children’s Day!” Across Canada, on Oct. 24, we celebrated Mennonite Church Canada’s International Witness Sunday. This was a…
The banality of saying ‘Intercultural’
No one would dispute that our world has become intercultural. Culture meets culture and languages are exchanged randomly on streets, in restaurants, in classrooms and even during Sunday church worship. “Intercultural” is being used at a massive rate. But this is being done without the faintest idea of what it means to be truly intercultural.…
