(Photo by mauro mora/Unsplash)
No one would dispute that our world has become intercultural. Culture meets culture and languages are exchanged randomly on streets, in restaurants, in classrooms and even during Sunday church worship. “Intercultural” is being used at a massive rate. But this is being done without the faintest idea of what it means to be truly intercultural.
Photo: Mennonite Archives of Ontario
Women at Grace Lao Mennonite Church sing at a “ladies’ revival” in 1999. This was an important year for the congregation of about 90 people, as they also dedicated their own independent church building in Kitchener, Ont. Previously, they worshipped nearby at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church. The church grew from the efforts of refugee families sponsored by St.
Main Street in Laird, Sask. (Photo by Canadian2006/CC BY-SA 3.0)
Someone suggested I apply for a pastoral position in a church in a large Canadian city. My ego liked that quite a lot. Then I gave it some thought.
(Photo by Clay Banks/Unsplash)
Learning happens because learners do something, not because teachers teach. Education is not about teaching—it is about learning.
'Nostalgia is an enemy of hope...' (Photo by Josh Hild/Unsplash)
Three years after graduating from Bible college on the prairies, I returned for a one-week complimentary alumni seminary course. I was excited to be back in the classroom again, but if I’m completely honest, I was just as, if not more, excited to return to a place that held so many good memories.
More-with-Less Cookbook author Doris Longacre Janzen (pictured) is 'one of our best theologians,' says Kenton Lobe, who teaches a course on simple living at Canadian Mennonite University. (MCC Canada photo/Mennonite Heritage Archives)
For 45 years, the More-with-Less Cookbook has been a beacon of the Mennonite legacy of simple living. The popular, and much more recent, cookbook, Mennonite Girls Can Cook, is rooted in a decidedly more First-World spirituality. The divergent books illustrate something of the tension faced by Mennonites living in a land of plenty.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
What if there had been no war in Afghanistan?
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When I was director of Person-to-Person, a prison visitation program started by Mennonite Church Saskatchewan in the early 1970s, the V&C Room (Visitors and Correspondence Room) was often a place of holy space. While the prison system has a strict policy of nothing in and nothing out, God seemed to have little interest in following those guidelines.
(Photo: Mennonite Heritage Archives / Walter Bergen)
On the heels of the Second World War, the General Conference Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church were concerned about scouting programs that promoted patriotism to boys and girls. In 1957, the Wayfarers girls club was begun and in 1958, Mennonite Publishing House published a Torchbearers guide book and manual for boys.
(Image by Gordon Johnson/Pixabay)
Long ago I studied both sociology and theology, and I remain intrigued by the relationships between culture and faith. We can’t have one without the other. Which influences the other more?
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Being authentic has always been important to me. However, what authenticity means or looks like isn’t always as straightforward as I’d like. Especially as a pastor.
The More-with-Less Cookbook and Mennonite Girls Can Cook have both been popular. (Photo by Will Braun)
Going right back to Menno himself, Mennonites have valued simplicity. But to what extent has this ethos survived the age of gadget-saturation, relentless advertising and soul-numbing consumption?
Laura Enns and her son Oran view the new information panel in front of the Brubacher House museum. (Photo by Joshua Enns)
How can Mennonite historical sites become sites of decolonization and reconciliation? This question has challenged and inspired my husband Joshua and me for the past four years, as we have served as hosts of Brubacher House Museum.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Nonviolence is the greatest ideal and goal
Re: “Finding a balance between pacifism and reality” letter, Aug. 16, page 8.
(Photo by Brian Matangelo/Unsplash)
Winston Churchill, Great Britain’s Second-World-War-era prime minister, famously said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Or maybe it was Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff and mayor of Chicago. The internet is unsure.
(Photo: David L. Hunsberger / Mennonite Archives of Ontario)
David Hunsberger’s photos are normally more well-composed. But it appears he saw the expression of expectation and joy on the face of music teacher Doris Moyer and he couldn’t wait to capture it. She grew up in Pennsylvania and taught at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener, Ont., in 1954, when this photo was taken.
(Photo by Ed Olfert)
On my mantel stands a pack of smokes. It’s in a place of honour.
It’s probably been 50 years since I last purchased cigarettes for my own use. It’s a phase that came and went quickly. I’m good with that.
(Photo by Mathieu Stern/Unsplash)
“Who says they have enough money? We’ve never heard such a thing!” blurted the students at a Christian college at which I used to teach. I had just told them that I was going on an international human-rights delegation. After asking about funding, they vocalized their surprise that I was paying my own expenses. “I have enough money,” I had said.
(Photo by Rod Long/Unsplash)
Occasionally, if my wife Rebecca doesn’t get home when I was expecting her, my mind will become morbidly creative.
Meheret Evangelical Church in Kitchener, Ont., looks normal from the outside. As the church has now reopened, it has adapted to the pandemic and has made changes along the way. (Photo by Yeabsera Agonfer)
There is no question that COVID-19 has been disruptive. We, like the Israelites, found ourselves wandering in the wilderness, anxious to get back to normal.
We have realized that “normal” will not happen anytime soon so, like the Israelites, we made our home in this new place, building houses (carving out offices) and planting gardens (noticing and practising what is life-giving).
“There is a form of belonging and connection that is intended to not only transcend our capacity to imagine it, but also the boundaries of exclusion that are so fundamental to all these other ways of imagining belonging. . . .” (Photo by Mireia B L from istock.com)
I’m not naturally a morning person; it usually takes a lot to get me started at the beginning of my day. But this last Wednesday, I set my alarm a little earlier and bounced up from bed like a child on Christmas morning.
Visio divina involves the use a photo, sculpture or work of art to walk through ‘divine seeing’ in four stages of pondering how God is speaking to the community. (Photo by Mim Wenger)
What can services look like without music?
Mennonites express their unity and diversity through singing together. The coronavirus pandemic silenced many voices for the sake of public safety.
Kyle Penner, assistant pastor of Grace Mennonite in Steinbach, Man., is also the Mennonite poster boy for vaccinations in the province. Literally. Penner is on the advisory committee for Protect MB, the provincial government’s COVID-19 outreach initiative.
The correlation is unavoidable. Some of the areas with the lowest vaccination rates in Canada are areas inhabited by lots of Mennonites.
The Globe and Mail reported on vaccination resistance in the Aylmer area of Ontario, with special mention of Mennonites.
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
‘Big’ farmers can be ‘Christians with a conscience’ too
Re: “Germinating conversations,” June 7, page 16.
(Image by Alexandre Bricio/Pixabay)
He discretely looked to the left, then to the right and said quietly, “Why don’t we talk about evangelism in this denomination?”
I grinned and replied, “Ever seen the movie A Thief in the Night?”
“No”, he said.
I briefly described the 1970s era Christian film depicting a rapture, tribulation and the second coming of Christ.
