Martin So, pastor of Vancouver Peace Church.
A quiet, years-long journey. A voice speaking in a mosh pit full of teenagers. A love for the church. An unexpected second career. These are just some of the ways that Mennonite Church Canada pastors from across the country entered into pastoral ministry. Pastors shared with Canadian Mennonite their stories of pastoral calling and what keeps them in ministry.
(Photo by Ryan Arnst/Unsplash)
In Ethiopia, almost every Mennonite church has an evangelist; in fact, there are more evangelists than pastors.
Having so many evangelists has formed the church to be very outward looking. This partly explains how the Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia, a denomination that is part of Mennonite World Conference, is baptizing 20,000 new believers each year. There are now more Anabaptists in Ethiopia than in any other country in the world.
Arlyn Friesen Epp portrays a cigarette-smoking Simon Peter in “About those Fish…,” a short film he created for Gathering 2022.
Arlyn Friesen Epp just made scripture a little fishier.
George Epp lives and blogs in Rosthern, Sask.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Mennonite Church Canada’s Joint Council approved updates to the MC Canada operating agreement at its latest meeting on June 8.
Idle No More co-founder Sylvia McAdam, pictured speaking at a church event in 2013. (Photo courtesy of Kairos Canada)
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.
“Come and share together… what God is doing in our congregations, regions and nationwide church,” Doug Klassen says. (YouTube photo)
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.”
MC Canada International Witness workers Joanne and Werner De Jong arrived in Ethiopia earlier this year. (YouTube photo)
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 De Jong enjoys coffee with his students. (Photo courtesy of Joanne De Jong)
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.
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 out in all kinds of voices: soft voices, human voices, the voice of all of God's creation, ‘outsider’ and ‘insider’ voices, and even unpopular voices and the voiceless,” says Kirsten Hamm-Epp, planning team member and Mennonite Church Saskatchewan’s regional church minister.
A virtual choir sings as part a launch event for the Voices Together hymnal in 2020. Mennonite Church Canada is inviting Canadian Mennonites to join a virtual choir for Gathering 2022. (YouTube photo)
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.
‘Nathan confronts David’ (a detail), by Emanuel Granberg, circa 1773 to ’78. (Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication)
Rudy-Froese
Doug Klassen, pictured in March 2020, is one of six Mennonite Church Canada leaders who made a statement on Sunday denouncing the white nationalism being expressed at protests across the country. (YouTube photo)
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.
Steve Heinrichs, director of Indigenous-Settler Relations for MC Canada, will co-host a learning series on the climate crisis based on the book, ‘A Good War.’ (Photo courtesy of Instagram.com/heinrichs_steve)
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.
Doug Klassen extends Advent greetings to the nationwide church in a video posted on YouTube earlier this week.
The executive minister for Mennonite Church Canada extends Advent greetings to the nationwide church in a video posted on YouTube earlier this week.
Kari Miller (back row, far left), pictured at COP26 in Glasgow with A Rocha representatives from across Canada, France, the U.K. and Ghana. (Photo courtesy of Kari Miller and A Rocha Manitoba)
Kari Miller is the environmental education coordinator for A Rocha Manitoba and attends Home Street Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, Man. She attended COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, from Nov. 5 to 12, 2021, as part of the Christian Climate Observers Program.
Joanne Moyer, second from right in the middle row, stands with students from the King’s University in 2019. Hanna Groot, third from left in the front row, and Anna Pattison, second from left in the back row, contributed to the resource “God’s Green Church.” (Photo courtesy of Mennonite Church Canada)
Senior environmental studies students from The King’s University in Edmonton have compiled a creation care resource for Mennonite Church Canada congregations.
Robert J. Suderman is the author of 'The Baby and the Bathwater: Aspiration and Reality in the Life of the Church.'
In his new book, The Baby and the Bathwater: Aspiration and Reality in the Life of the Church, Robert J. Suderman, former general secretary for Mennonite Church Canada, makes a case for the importance of the church at a time when its relevance is in question, even by its own members.
‘There is nothing in the Bible, in our historic confessions of faith, in our theology or in our ecclesiology that justifies granting a religious exemption from vaccinations against COVID-19,’ Mennonite Church Canada leaders said this week. (Image by ronstik/Pixabay)
Mennonite Church Canada’s executive ministers released a statement earlier this week responding to inquiries from constituents regarding exemption from COVID-19 vaccines.
Previously known as Orange Shirt Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30 is an opportunity to remember the impacts of Canada’s 140 Indian Residential Schools. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
In advance of Canada’s first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation tomorrow (Sept. 30), Mennonite Church Canada is reminding the nationwide church about Mennonite involvement in Indian Residential Schools, and asking people to take steps toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
‘Tongue-Tied: Learning the Lost Art of Talking about Faith’ is the Common Read title for fall 2021. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
In September 2020, Mennonite Church Canada, Mennonite Church U.S.A. and Herald Press began encouraging Mennonites to engage in a “common read,” a shared reading experience focused on specific books written to nurture Christian faith in this cultural moment.
Meserete Kristos Church worship in Ethiopia.
Mennonite Church Canada invites congregations across its nationwide community of faith to celebrate International Witness Sunday on Oct. 24, 2021.
The focus of this year’s celebration is on experiencing God’s call, drawing inspiration from the MC Canada denominational Vision: Healing and Hope statement:
‘We Declare: What We Have Seen and Heard’ is the title and theme for Mennonite Church Canada’s Gathering 2022 in Edmonton.
“We Declare: What We Have Seen and Heard” will be an opportunity for members of the nationwide church to re-examine what it means to tell the good news and to share and hear stories of bearing witness to the gospel of peace.
Team members, from left to right: (Back row) Josiah Neufeld, Steve Heinrichs and Allegra Friesen Epp; (front row) Emily Green and Rachelle Friesen. (MC Canada photo)
Mennonite Church Canada, together with Christian Peacemaker Teams, has responded to an invitation to accompany Unist’ot’en Camp in Wet’suwet’en Territory. This past Friday, May 28, a group comprised of CPTers and members of MC Canada arrived at the camp in northern B.C.
The team members are:
(Photo supplied by Iglesia Cristiana Menonita de Colombia [IMCOL])
Late yesterday afternoon, Mennonite Church Canada released the following call to prayer, written by Jeanette Hanson, director of international witness:
