Ontario Women in Mission gathering
Spring! A time to shake off the cold and grey, decorate the church auditorium with quilts and share lunch and spiritual sustenance. This is the annual spring meeting and lunch of the Ontario Women in Mission at Bethany Mennonite Church in Virgil, Ont., in 1986. For more historical photos in the Mennonite Archival Image Database,…
Kitchener MWC Assembly
Mennonite Publishing House occupies a corner in the Kitchener (Ont.) Auditorium with its bookstand at the Mennonite World Conference assembly in 1962. Three women in the foreground gravitate towards the parenting books and the bestselling Mennonite Community Cookbook, while two men browse titles related to missions. For more historical photos in the Mennonite Archival Image…
Waldemar Janzen
At the 1970 Conference of Mennonites in Canada annual sessions in Winkler, Man., Waldemar Janzen, a Canadian Mennonite Bible College professor, gave a report on young people, stating: “Not everything is wrong with young people today. There is a great openness and honesty among youth today. There is a remarkable depth of insight into self…
Klippenstein house
This is a photo of the home of Bernhard Klippenstein (1880-1973) and Maria (nee Dyck) Klippenstein (1882-1956) in Waldheim, Northwest Territories. They moved from Altbergthal, near Altona, Man., to Waldheim around 1902. They returned to Altbergthal around 1907. I enjoy this photo with the thatched roof, the pole fence, the horse and buggy with top,…
Key 73
The banner at the Conference of Mennonites in Canada gathering in Vancouver in August 1971 read, “That the world may believe,” based on John 17:21. Palmer Becker, executive secretary of the Commission on Home Ministries of the General Conference, reported on plans for two new initiatives: “Probe ’72,” a Mennonite consultation on evangelism in Minneapolis,…
Dancing problems
Problems with dancing have been discussed at numerous times in many church settings. On July 3, 1951, the Northwest Mennonite Conference delegates discussed the Alberta education system that offered lessons in various types of dancing. Delegates approved a resolution that read: “Such teaching encourages the sensuality of our age. Teaching of these courses will establish…
Oakella Prison Farm
Herb Wiebe, facing camera, visits with an inmate at the Oakalla Prison Farm in Burnaby, B.C., in 1970. A growing number of British Columbia Mennonite men volunteered to befriend inmates through the M-2 (Man to Man) program, a prison visitation program then in its early days in Canada. Later known as M2/W2 (Man to Man/Woman…
Gluten free
“Gluten free” proclaims the sign on one of these desserts at a Waterloo North Mennonite Church potluck in 2011. How have the offerings at your congregational potluck changed over the years? What traditions have endured? If you could convey the history of your congregation through a potluck table, what dishes would be on it? For…
Book mixes Menno history, cocktail recipes
There are countless Mennonite cookbooks, but last month saw the debut of what is likely the world’s very first Mennonite cocktail book. Menno-Nightcaps: Cocktails Inspired by that Odd Ethno-Religious Group You Keep Mistaking for the Amish, Quakers or Mormons arrived on bookshelves on Oct. 12 via B.C.-based publisher Touchwood Editions. Written by Sherri Klassen, the…
What does it mean to be a Mennonite?
“What does it mean to be a Mennonite?” This is the question Winnipeg filmmaker Paul Plett seeks to answer in his latest film, I Am A Mennonite. Plett has been creating an extensive catalogue of movies for 10 years through Ode Productions, the company he founded that focuses on “conscious entertainment.” I Am A Mennonite,…
