MWC assembly was an amazing experience
All the youth name tags at Mennonite World Conference assembly in Harrisburg, Pa., had “#J178” on them. Nobody gave much thought to it until 600 youth from around the world were gathered in a 24-acre space under the arena in the morning while the adults listened to the sermon in one of two daily worship…
How should Anabaptists celebrate 500 years?
Mennonite World Conference held its first assembly in 1925, which was the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the Anabaptist movement. With the 500th anniversary now only 10 years away, many people are wondering how MWC plans to commemorate it. A workshop on July 24 at the MWC Assembly in Harrisburg, Pa., addressed that question.…
Slowing church down
The Commons is starting to slow down. No, we are not retiring as a church, we just think it is time for a little different pace. The plan is to switch things up in the fall for our Sunday worship gatherings. We plan to use our gathering time to dig a little deeper into liturgy,…
Here’s to old white guys and everyone else
I stopped short when the ’70s picture of a serious-looking white-haired man in a suit and tie popped up on my screen. I had started an article about a Mennonite thinker and institution builder who died before I had a chance to meet him. Part-way through my research I stumbled upon his photo. It was…
The Mennonite and the Lurmen
Are there parallels between the Star Wars universe and Anabaptism? I asked myself that recently after watching an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated TV series. The episode, entitled “Defenders of the Peace,” begins like any other episode in the series: Separatist forces are winning and the Jedi arrive to help turn…
Growing Mennonite
It wasn’t until Grade 6 that I realized it was possible to be more than just a Mennonite. Our teacher asked us to come up with one word to described ourselves. One of my classmates chose the phrase, “Russian Mennonite.” It leaped out at me, along with a jealousy of my classmate’s confidence in claiming…
It’s time for a vote
“I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). There is so much handwringing going on in Mennonite circles about same-sex relationships, the…
Frank thoughts on future directions
A quantifiable angst hangs in the church air these days. Mennonite Church Canada is in decline. There are exceptions and bright spots, but the trend has long been unmistakable. The numbers, whether in dollars or heads, are likely a bit smaller this year than last. Donations to MC Canada were down by about $38,000 for…
The Bible and the billionaire
Billionaire media titan Rupert Murdoch has made headlines over the phone-hacking scandal that forced him to shut down his British tabloid, News of the World. But few people know that News Corp, the company Murdoch heads, also owns Zondervan, the world’s leading Bible publisher. News Corp, which took in $32.7 billion last year, also owns…
