Registration now open for virtual study conference
Registration is now open for Mennonite Church Canada’s upcoming virtual study conference. The conference, titled “Table talk: Does the church still have legs?”, will take place on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020. The registration link is mennonitechurch.ca/tabletalk2020. “Table talk: Does the church still have legs?” will examine what it means to be the church and the…
Setting our sights on God’s shalom vision
How has COVID-19 affected you and your community? SWS: The pandemic upended our world here, as it has for so many people. People no longer go to church and need to reinvent their jobs or find ways to make life work at home with new rhythms and the intensity of family. We’ve offered shelter to…
Embracing disequilibrium
“We have to embrace the disequilibrium we feel right now and let it teach us what it needs to teach us,” said Claire Ewert Fisher, interim pastor of Rosthern Mennonite Church, speaking at Mennonite Church Saskatchewan’s virtual town hall event, “Dreaming church beyond pandemic.” The gathering, held via Zoom on June 16, involved pastors and…
A conversation with a Buddhist
I was recently invited with a handful of other clergypersons to lunch at a local seniors home. Between the main course and dessert, the conversation turned, predictably, to the decline of the church. There was talk of the good old days when churches were full, the culture was Christian and people dressed up on Sundays. There…
Tending the in-between spaces
In the midst of significant structural change in Mennonite Church Canada, a group of Canadian Mennonite University students came together in December 2015 around the question, “Do young people care about the future of the church?” This initial gathering generated surprising energy among the participants. Soon a group of 15 of us began gathering over…
Environment matters today and tomorrow
I often hear people describe the church as being behind the times. What this means is that by the time the church addresses issues that were important to society last year, or last decade, most people have already moved on to more pressing issues that the church will be sure to deal with in…
Wandering in the wilderness
This past weekend, I was invited to one of our small rural congregations to help it discern the future. The concern, as expressed by the congregation, is that if the status quo remains, the church will have to close its doors in a couple of years. Some options were presented: cut pastoral time from the…
EVI listening tour roundup
Over the past three months, the Emerging Voices Initiative (EVI) conducted a cross-country listening tour, endeavouring to gauge the mood of Mennonite Church Canada congregants on what should happen next with the national church following the presentation of the Future Directions Task Force recommendations at last summer’s assembly in Saskatoon and the creation of a…
Do young people care about the future of the church?
Never let it be said that young people don’t care about the future of the church. Late last year, Katrina Woelk, a sociology student at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) and a member of the student council, was having a conversation with some other students and members of the university administration about the challenges facing Mennonite…
