Indigenous leader critical of MC Canada decision
One of the co-founders of the grassroots Indigenous-led movement Idle No More says her trust in the Mennonite church has been shaken by Mennonite Church Canada’s recent decision to reduce its Indigenous-Settler Relations (ISR) position from full-time to half-time. Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum) is a law professor at the University of Windsor who is from the…
Watch: Doug Klassen invites you to Gathering 2022
Doug Klassen, Mennonite Church Canada’s executive minister, personally invites you to Gathering 2022, a nationwide church event happening July 29 to Aug. 1 in Edmonton, Alta. In a video posted on YouTube earlier this month, Klassen outlines the goals for Gathering 2022 and introduces the event’s theme, “We Declare: What we have seen and heard.”…
Watch: Witness workers extend greetings from Ethiopia
The latest additions to Mennonite Church Canada’s team of International Witness workers extend greetings from their new home in Ethiopia in a new video. Werner and Joanne De Jong arrived in Bishoftu, Ethiopia, in January. They plan to spend the next three years at Meserete Kristos Seminary, where Werner has joined the teaching staff. Joanne…
International Witness workers arrive in Ethiopia after delays
After a number of delays, Werner and Joanne De Jong arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in mid-January in order to begin their work as Mennonite Church Canada International Witness workers at the Meserete Kristos Seminary (MKS). The road has been rocky for the couple, as they navigate restrictions, visas and an encroaching civil war. With…
Youth Gathering 2022 registration now open
Registration for Mennonite Church Canada’s Youth Gathering 2022 is now open. “Amplify! giving voice to what we have seen and heard” is a nationwide gathering for youth aged 12 to 18 at Camp Valaqua near Water Valley, Alta., from July 31 to Aug. 4. “At Amplify!, we are listening for the love of God speaking…
MC Canada invites submissions for virtual choir
Mennonite Church Canada is putting together a virtual choir for Gathering 2022, and you are invited to join. The choir will record “Greater Things Than These,” a song that Winnipeg pastor and songwriter Phil Campbell-Enns composed for the event. The song starts with a reflection on Jesus’ birth before meditating on the notion that Canadian…
FAQs: MC Canada sexual misconduct policy
Doug Klassen Marilyn Rudy-Froese Occasionally readers ask questions about investigations into misconduct by Mennonite leaders. Guiding the process is the “Ministerial Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedure,” a 40-page document released by Mennonite Church Canada and MC U.S.A. in 2016 (available at commonword.ca). This document is currently under revision by a binational committee. Below, Doug Klassen, MC…
MC Canada leaders denounce white nationalism
The day after thousands of truckers and other protesters converged on Parliament Hill to call for an end to COVID-19 mandates and other public health restrictions, Mennonite Church Canada’s executive ministers released a statement decrying the white nationalism being expressed at related protests that are springing up across the country. Released Sunday, Jan. 30, the…
Series will explore responses to climate crisis
Mennonite Church Canada is hosting a new online community learning series. “Creator’s Call in a Climate Emergency” starts on Jan. 20 and lasts eight weeks. Co-hosted by the national church’s Indigenous-Settler Relations office and Sustainability Leadership Group, the series is open to anyone wishing to learn about decarbonization and decolonization as ways forward for the…
Watch: Advent greetings from MC Canada
The executive minister for Mennonite Church Canada extends Advent greetings to the nationwide church in a video posted on YouTube earlier this week. “We are making it through the COVID-19 pandemic,” Doug Klassen says in the video. “Pastors and church boards are bearing much of the stress and strain that comes with carrying a faith…
