MC Canada announces theme for Gathering 2022
“We Declare: What We Have Seen and Heard” will be an opportunity for members of the nationwide church to re-examine what it means to tell the good news and to share and hear stories of bearing witness to the gospel of peace. “Across Mennonite Church Canada, the idea of sharing the good news elicits strong…
2020 surpluses help regional churches face 2021
Financial giving from Mennonite Church Canada congregations and individuals was stable in 2020 despite pandemic economic uncertainty. By year-end, the regional church bodies and MC Canada had strongly positive financial results, based on better-than-expected revenue and lower-than-expected costs. In planning for 2021, the regional churches acknowledged continued pandemic uncertainty and directed their 2020 surpluses into…
‘The frontlines are where history is being made’
Allegra Friesen Epp is wrapping up a six-month internship with Mennonite Church Canada and Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), but she is already brainstorming ways to continue doing solidarity work. The internship is the first of its kind, created by MC Canada’s Indigenous-Settler Relations (ISR) office and CPT’s Turtle Island Solidarity Network. From February to July,…
MC Canada and CPT send team to Unist’ot’en
Mennonite Church Canada, together with Christian Peacemaker Teams, has responded to an invitation to accompany Unist’ot’en Camp in Wet’suwet’en Territory. This past Friday, May 28, a group comprised of CPTers and members of MC Canada arrived at the camp in northern B.C. The team members are: Rachelle Friesen, Canada Coordinator, Christian Peacemaker Teams; Allegra Friesen…
Looking for applicants . . . and donors
Mennonite Church Canada is renewing its call for applicants to the Company of 1000 Study Reserve fund and also for people to become regular donors to the fund. The Company of 1000 fund provides forgivable loans to students planning to join ministry after they graduate from a post-secondary school. It also provides grants that cover…
Meet MC Canada’s Sustainability Leadership Group
Mennonite Church Canada is committing to improve the sustainability of its programs and ministries. “Leadership and commitment are some of the most critical pieces in helping an organization become more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable in all that it does,” says Tim Wiebe-Neufeld, executive minister of MC Alberta and chair of MC Canada’s Sustainability Leadership…
Heinrichs launches online book club
Mennonite Church Canada’s Indigenous-Settler Relations program is running a five-week online book club beginning this April. The chosen text is Beloved Amazonia, a courageous collection of documents from the Pan-Amazon Synod, including an “apostolic exhortation” to the church from Pope Francis. “Carrying the wisdom cultivated from consultations with more than 80,000 people in the Amazon,…
Join the crowd
Fifteen congregations have launched new websites through the Mennonite Church Canada congregational website hub. “On the one hand, it’s hard work but it’s creative work,” says Rachel Siemens, pastor of Carman (Man.) Mennonite Church, whose website launched in August 2020. “What kind of images do we use, what do we say about us, what are…
MC Canada responds to Capitol Hill violence
Mennonite Church Canada has released a statement and prayer in response to Wednesday’s violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.: “As leaders of Mennonite Church Canada and its regions, we pray for our siblings in Mennonite Church USA and, together with them, lament the escalation of violence that led to Wednesday’s events on Capitol Hill.…
‘A matter of principle’
Mennonite Church Canada is backing up the establishment of a new Sustainability Leadership Group (SLG) with a $220,000 upgrade to its head office in Winnipeg. The goals of the new group were approved by MC Canada’s Joint Council in January 2020. Based on a report to Joint Council in October, the volunteer group will make…
