Mennonite Church Canada Witness

Witness workers in China return to Canada

After 30 years of serving in Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland of China, Witness workers Tobia and George Veith are returning to Canada. Tobia most recently taught at a Chinese university and George developed Anabaptist resources for use in the church in China. The Veiths have been spending time over the past few weeks with the Macau Mennonite Church, which they were instrumental in starting. “How do you put 30 years into a few words? Relationships, growth, living life, laughter, tears, uncertainty, . .

Witness workers embrace Indigenous names, identities

Lakan Sumulong (Dann Pantoja) and Lakambini Mapayapa (Joji Pantoja) have served as Witness workers in the Philippines since 2006. (Photo courtesy of Lakan Sumulong and Lakambini Mapayapa)

Dann and Joji Pantoja, Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers in the Philippines, are embracing their Indigenous names and identities. In a statement published on their website Waves.ca in March, the Pantojas explained the colonial history their birth names represent and why their Indigenous names are significant to them.

Peace Africa nurtures relationships between Christians and Muslims

Peace Africa’s hearse project will enable Muslim and Christians in Burkina Faso to share a vehicle similar to the one pictured. (Photo by Siaka Traoré)

“Peace Africa explores how the global Mennonite community can support peacebuilding initiatives between Christians and Muslims in African countries,” says Tany Warkentin, Mennonite Church Canada’s liaison to ministry in Africa.

Postures of trust and openness to transformation

Doug Klassen (left), executive minister of Mennonite Church Canada, stands with members of a Mennonite church in Burkina Faso in a hardware store owned and operated by the church. (Photo courtesy of MC Canada)

Tany Warkentin and her family served as Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers in Burkina Faso for six years, until 2011. Warkentin brings that experience to her role as liaison to ministry in Africa for MC Canada.

Web of connections

(Photo courtesy of Mennonite Church Canada)

In these days of pandemic responses we are continually reminded by public health officials that our individual actions affect our neighbours and that we are responsible for protecting those around us. We are connected.

This reminds me of the web of connections I witnessed during my ministry with Mennonite Partners in China (MPC).

Coffee for Peace employees affected by COVID-19 shutdown

Coffee for Peace is a social enterprise managed by Joji Pantoja, a Mennonite Church Canada International Witness worker in the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/coffeeforpeace)

The shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting employees of Coffee for Peace, a social enterprise managed by Joji Pantoja, a Mennonite Church Canada International Witness worker in the Philippines.

Where are they now?

A family photo of Jennifer Otto; son Alex, standing; son Ian; and Greg Rabus. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Otto)

When Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers Greg Rabus and Jennifer Otto landed in Lethbridge, Alta., in 2018, with their sons Alex, and Ian, they were not sure what their new home was going to be like. From 2012 to 2018, the young family had served as church planters and then community builders together with the Ludwigshafen Mennonite Church in Germany. 

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