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Tending congregation-pastor relations
For many years, the model of ministry within Mennonite Church Canada congregations featured a solo pastor working full-time for a congregation of 100 to 150 members. MC Canada accordingly designed tools and support systems to facilitate such a relationship between pastor and congregation. Three notable examples include our pension plan, benefit plan and annual pastoral…
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Pain, apologies and repair following 2017 MC Canada restructuring
Jeanette Hanson, director of International Witness for Mennonite Church Canada, began a Zoom call last spring with an apology to members of the Anabaptist Network in South Africa. “I told them I was sorry for the way MC Canada broke relationship with them,” she said. “Two people on the call cried, talking about the hurt…
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Amplifier of youth voices moves on
The end of summer 2024 also marks the end of over a decade of commitment to youth ministry for Kirsten Hamm-Epp, regional church minister for Mennonite Church Saskatchewan. The Manitoba native, now 34, took over the reins of the Saskatchewan Youth Ministry Organization (SMYO) in the summer of 2013 after graduating with an English degree…
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Over 1,000 Mennonites killed in Ethiopia
Let us pray Violence has devastated Meserete Kristos Church (MKC), the Mennonite body in Ethiopia. As of February 12, armed groups had burned 49 MKC churches to the ground, looted and damaged another 81 churches, and killed 1,231 MKC members, including 31 church leaders. Inter-tribal violence in western Oromiya regional state, home to nearly one…
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Adjusting our structures
In 2017, Mennonite Church Canada put new structures into place based on the work of the Future Directions Task Force (FDTF). Over the last six years, we have been living into the newly imagined structures, with varying degrees of success. As we have attempted to do this, I have often thought of Jesus’s parable about…
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Hear the climate call
It’s worth celebrating that the regions of MC Canada have identified the climate crisis as a priority ministry area in recent years. Like all priorities, where the rubber really hits the road is not in reports and lists and minutes from meetings, but where two or three (or 200 or 300) are gathered—the congregation. That…
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MC Canada launches Emissions Reduction Grant
Mennonite Church Canada will provide grants to congregations that wish to upgrade their facilities in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Grants will cover 50 percent of project costs, to a maximum of $6,000. Eligible projects include upgrades to insulation, lighting, windows or doors, as well as energy efficient heating, cooling and appliances. Installation of…
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MC Canada climate action update
In a meeting on Jan. 30, 2022, Mennonite Church Canada’s governing body, Joint Council, affirmed climate action as a nationwide ministry emphasis. Eight days later, MC Canada published a document prepared by the executive ministers entitled, “Taking Action on Climate Change: The Eco-Mission of the Church in a Critical Time.” The document outlines six initiatives…
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Meet MC Canada’s new Indigenous relations coordinator
If there are places where the church is centring the voices of people on the margins, Jonathan Neufeld wants to be there. “Theologically, that’s my home,” says Neufeld, Mennonite Church Canada’s Indigenous relations coordinator. Neufeld began his work at MC Canada, based in Winnipeg, in November. He also works half-time as pastor at Charleswood Mennonite…
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What exactly do regional churches and MC Canada do?
Annual congregational meetings are just around the corner, a time when budget lines designated for regional churches are often queried. I’m reminded that many people do not have the history or know the people who stand behind the dollar figures. I’m immensely grateful for the foresight of our elders who founded and supported, both financially…
