Walking and talking along the trail
In solidarity with their First Nations neighbours, Mennonites in the Fraser Valley joined others in a Walk in the Spirit of Reconciliation from May 31 to June 2. The event was a partnership between Mennonite Central Committee B.C., Mennonite Church Canada, and several other denominations, including Anglican, the United Church and Christian Reformed Church. While…
A Canada committed to genuine and mutual relationships
Mennonite Central Committee shares God’s love and compassion for all in the name of Christ. We have a vision of communities worldwide in right relationships with God, one another and with creation. Sometimes we share God’s love through an emergency food response to disaster. Often, we seek right relationships by working alongside partners in community-based,…
Workshop challenges participants to move from multiculturalism to antiracism
There were two Lego sets and two groups of participants. The first group to assemble its toy would be the winner, but it quickly became apparent that the playing field was not level. Group 1 made the rules, and the rules stated there was to be no talking and that the men in the group…
‘That is a Christian!’
Members of the Rosemary Mennonite Church community and the Siksika Nation gathered together on Jan. 4 to praise God for the life of Alvin Lepp. Pastor Fred Krulicki, who led the service, likened Lepp to Barnabas, who is described in Acts 11:24 as “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a…
‘A picture of his grandmother’
Gerald Neufeld and his father Henry share a passion for linking families from First Nation communities within the Berens River watershed in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario with archival photographs of their ancestors. Their collection of about a thousand digitized pictures includes photographs from the University of Philadelphia archives that were taken in the summer of…
Gifts symbolize Indigenous relations
A vest and moccasins presented to the Mennonite Church Canada director of Indigenous-settler relations symbolized the ongoing work of Indigenous relations in B.C. During an Oct. 27 meeting of the regional church’s volunteer Indigenous Relations Group, Lorne Brandt, chair of Mennonite Church B.C.’s Service, Peace and Justice Committee, honoured Steve Heinrichs with the gift of a…
Worship happened
The small church where I pastor, Grace Mennonite Church in Prince Albert, Sask., is probably not often accused of being “high church.” A few weeks ago, the service began with a worship leader wandering distractedly between his seat and the pulpit, wondering out loud whether he should shed his tools before the service began. Finally,…
‘It’s not too late’
Public recognition of the traditional territory of First Nation groups that were signatories to specific treaties is a fairly new concept in Canada. Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, a panellist at the Oct. 10, 2018, Canadian Mennonite University Face2Face discussion on “Treaty One and Mennonite Privilegium,” described treaties as “vessels of family making.” The assistant professor of…
The long path
In a recent adult Sunday school class, a member of my church spoke about her quarter-century journey of relating to Indigenous people. Twenty-five years and still learning, she admitted. Given the centuries of injustice and pain our neighbours have experienced, that doesn’t seem like such a long time. Mennonites in Canada have shown an interest…
Peter’s Letter to Canadian Christians
To the friends living in the colonized lands of the Salish, Mi’kmaq and Innu. This is Peter, follower of the poor Christ, in prison on the West Coast. I write because the time is urgent. Some say, “The end of the world is at hand” (I Peter 4:7). Some say, “Eternity is being determined now.”…
