Structure and identity
After Gathering 2019 last summer, Doug Klassen, then newly hired as executive minister of Mennonite Church Canada, sat down with me for a chat in the Abbotsford, B.C., airport. Amid the chatter of travellers and loudspeaker announcements, we considered the work ahead for our church. We talked about structure and identity. Since the denominational restructuring…
Life on the geographic fringes of MC Canada
Mennonite Church Canada is characterized by various geographic concentrations of churches, some thicker than others. But a few congregations exist far from any other MC Canada sisters and brothers. What is church like in the farther flung reaches of our denomination? What do congregations do to stay connected? What are the advantages of remoteness? Andrew…
Going deeper together
If you have been paying attention to what the regional churches are up to recently, you may have noticed a common question and a common longing. A question expressed at both regional and nationwide levels: What is God calling Mennonite Church Canada to do, as a church? And the longing: We desire to go deeper…
Watch: Doug Klassen addresses MC Canada
Mennonite Church Canada isn’t finished, disbanded, archived or dead. That’s the message Doug Klassen, MC Canada’s executive minister, delivers in a video uploaded to YouTube this past Friday. “Mennonite Church Canada is alive and well because the regional churches that comprise Mennonite Church Canada are alive and well,” Klassen says in the four-minute video, which…
Crokinole boards sold for China mission
Wooden game boards made in Yarrow, B.C., and a crokinole tournament at this summer’s Mennonite Church Canada Gathering 2019 have made a connection with modern-day Chinese Christians and a 16th-century Dutch Anabaptist martyr. Darnell Barkman, pastor of Yarrow United Mennonite Church, had received a crokinole board for his birthday last December, and after playing on…
Holy Spirit fire and imagination
“Sing a new church into being,” sang the 300-plus people gathered for the first nationwide meeting of Mennonite Church Canada since its restructuring in 2017. Behind the blended voices was the vision, “Igniting the imagination of the church,” the theme of Gathering 2019, held in Abbotsford, B.C., from June 28 to July 1. Representatives came…
God’s love will ignite the church’s future
When you live on the west side of the Rocky Mountains and sometimes feel isolated from the rest of the country, what does it mean to be part of our nationwide family of faith? This summer’s nationwide gathering in Abbotsford promises to bring that connection closer to home for us here in B.C. As Mennonite…
What to expect at MC Canada’s annual general meeting?
Q. What is the purpose of the delegate session at Gathering 2019? A. Delegates will review and ratify Joint Council actions; receive and review reports from our programs—International Witness, Indigenous-Settler Relations and CommonWord—as well as the regional churches; and act on any recommendations coming from Joint Council or regional churches. They will also review and assess progress…
MC Canada primer
If you care about connecting with the wider Mennonite community but have trouble keeping up with all the conference restructuring and acronyms—so many M’s and C’s—this article is for you. If you form part of the small remnant of church nerds who love organizational charts, you may want to pull out your copy of Martyrs…
Gathering 2019 events
Workshops on Saturday, June 29 • Being Jesus in Today’s World For many, the current post-Christendom reality is bad news, but for followers of Jesus this reality presents exciting opportunities for kingdom work. During this workshop, Colin and Judith McCartney of Connect City Ministries in Toronto will discuss opportunities to do effective and innovative ministry…
