Making connections
Hello to everyone from the new Mennonite Church Alberta moderator. I believe that who I am influences my approach to serving as moderator, so let me introduce myself. I am, first and foremost, a follower of Christ. Beyond that, I am son, husband, father, brother, uncle, engineer, manager and now, moderator. I grew up on…
Students dream of new churches in South Sudan
A recent article in Anabaptist World stated there were no known Anabaptist congregations in South Sudan. Praise God that that is no longer the case. Gatjiak (Simon) Tongyik, one of the new students sponsored by Mennonite Church Alberta to attend the Meserete Kristos Seminary in Bishoftu, Ethiopia, says there is now one small Mennonite church in…
The gift of limited options
This past spring, Mennonite Church Alberta held its first in-person annual delegate sessions in four years. Representatives from across the province were in attendance. Who hosted this grand gathering? One of the smallest churches in the province: Springridge Mennonite. There are about 25 people in the pews at Springridge on a typical Sunday morning and…
MC Alberta hosts first ever Taste of MCA event
When most people think of Mennonite cuisine, they think of perogies and farmer sausage, or perhaps fresh rollkuchen dipped in Rogers Golden Syrup. Yet at A Taste of MCA, a Mennonite Church Alberta event at Bergthaler Mennonite Church near Didsbury, on April 12, the menu featured dishes like chicken biryani, chicken kabobs and roti, injera…
Remembering the early days of Camp Valaqua
George Heidebrecht fiddled with the knobs of his slide projector in anticipation of a morning of storytelling. Stories about Camp Valaqua. Stories of adventures he had carried for decades. Stories of boys — now men of retirement age themselves — sleeping in lean-tos, getting rain-soaked, eating over an open fire. Stories of tying their provisions…
Engaging with ‘people not like us’
A group of Mennonite young adults from Alberta has been gathering on Zoom for six Sundays in a row to learn about engaging with “the other.” Topics included “Engaging the religious other,” with a focus on Islam, and “Engaging the culturally other,” with a focus on connecting with people from other races and cultures, and…
MC Alberta says farewell to communications coordinator, clown
Mennonite Church Alberta is sad to say goodbye this summer to June Miller. Not only has she served the regional church as its first communications coordinator, she has also used her clowning gifts to bring joy to her congregation, Foothills Mennonite Church, as well as to the MC Alberta community. A graduate of the Ohio…
A column about plague columns
If you’ve travelled in central or eastern Europe, you may have come across a plague column holding a prominent place in a town square. Plague columns were constructed in the 17th and 18th centuries as a display of public faith in the church and in God. At the time, the Catholic church was experiencing pressures…
You’re more interesting than you think
Earlier this month, I interviewed an ex-offender who had successfully gone through Mennonite Central Committee Alberta’s Bridges Ministries program. He mentioned that when you are locked up in prison, you have no internet and no fresh air. He then shared how his ex-offender friends who are currently staying at home due to COVID-19 joke about…
Mennonite Church Alberta holds virtual AGM
With COVID-19 limiting the ability to connect in person, virtual meetings now seem to be the wave of the future. Mennonite Church Alberta had already been using the Zoom platform to hold small provincial committee meetings online, but when its annual general meeting (AGM) was cancelled, the regional church decided to explore whether a larger…
