Feature
“Your congregation knows how to care for seniors”
When Gloria Dirks was retiring from the joint position of Administrator and Director of Care at Parkwood Mennonite Home in Waterloo, Ont. in 2003, she knew she wanted to use her skills in some way. The call of her congregation, the Waterloo-Kitchener United Mennonite Church, to research the potential of a parish nurse seemed like a good fit.
Caring for our seniors
Across the country, many MC Canada churches are staring at the numbers and scratching their heads. As young people drift away from the church and the baby boomers retire, church leadership is faced with increasing numbers of grey heads.
For discussion
Is technology enriching our worship?
Technology is the single most significant characteristic of modern western culture. Canadian philosopher George Grant contends it has long displaced democracy and capitalism as top identifiers. Technology directly shapes Christian belief and practice in ways we must at the very least question, if not actively resist.
Salvation comes to a rich house
Money, business, salvation and the kingdom of God. You won’t often find these words sharing the same sentence, but they do belong together in the Gospel of Luke. It turns out Luke has a lot to say about how we manage organizations that produce goods and services, and about how this is very closely related to salvation and God’s kingdom.
For discussion
1. According to Larry Miller, the last two decades have been a time of fundamental change for Anabaptists around the world. What changes have you seen in Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and in how Mennonites interact globally? Do you agree that the centre of gravity of the global church has shifted to the Global South?
Miller was a ‘migrant missionary’
“You were a new kind of ‘migrant missionary’ described in John Howard Yoder’s As You Go,” said Bert Lobe, in an evening of memories of Larry Miller at Rockway Mennonite Church, Kitchener, on Oct. 23, 2011.
‘A place that gives life’
Larry Miller’s tenure as MWC general secretary was marked by his gift of encouragement among other global leaders. In this 1991 photo, he stands behind his ‘big brothers’: Mesach Krisetya, left, of Indonesia, who was to become MWC president in 1997, and Reg Toews of Canada, then serving as treasurer.
The Millers and their children (now married) in Kolkata, India, in 1997, with the parents-in-law of Indian church leader Menno Joel, right. Pictured from left to right: Anne-Marie Miller Blaise; Elisabeth Miller Sommers, Menno’s parents-in-law, Larry Miller, Alexandre Miller, Eleanor Miller and Menno Joel.
At the 2011 Executive Committee meetings in Taiwan, Cisca Mawangu Ibanda of Congo, centre, presents carved animals to Larry Miller, left, now former MWC general secretary, and César García, who assumed the general secretary’s role on Jan. 1. More than curios, said Ibanda, the animals represent qualities important for their service to MWC: Miller ho
Larry Miller remembers one moment clearly when, as a 38-year-old, he was weighing whether or not to accept the nomination to lead Mennonite World Conference (MWC). The year was 1988 and he was sitting in a university library in Strasbourg, France, where he lived.
For discussion
Creation history of the King James Version
A Bible meant to be read with your ears
Superlatives for the KJV, as it’s known, abound: ‘The greatest work of prose ever written in English,’ ‘The most beautiful book in the world,’ ‘The most important book in English religion and culture,’ one of the ‘books of the millennium.’
Have you heard the Bible recently? Not read it, but listened to it—heard the words of Scripture, not just seen them on the page.
‘I’m the Mother Jesus now’
A happy Christmas morning
Singing ‘Silent Night’ in German
Sometimes a Christmas experience stands out in memory simply because it is so different from any other.
When Joani Neufeldt, nee Goerzen, thinks of a memorable Christmas, it is one of these unique experiences: “The one that came to mind was when, I think I was late teens, we did a kind of live nativity at Bergthal.”
Lighting candles, telling stories
Christmas in Nazareth
Thirty years of A Christmas Carol
Thirty years ago this Christmas, my wife Annemarie and I began a Christmas tradition we’ve continued year after year, with variations.
For discussion
Learning from diverse faiths
A group of Muslim men gather for prayer at a mosque in Israel/Palestine. Palmer Becker wonders if Mennonites, through their example and witness, might eventually help both male and female Muslim believers to pray and worship side by side.
An instructor at the Kitchener, Ont., LDS church explains the consequences of trying to follow both the way of the world and the way of the Lord to a group of high school students who meet each weekday morning for 45 minutes of ‘seminary’ instruction over the course of four years. Do Mennonites have church communities where we might convene our you
In our increasingly multicultural and multi-faith society, can we learn from belief systems other than our own? I believe so, and offer what I have learned from two faiths—Mormonism and Islam—that have very diverse beliefs from each other and also from my own Mennonite faith. This has called for risk-taking, relationship-building and honest self-reflection.
On using Scripture to discern sexual issues
Delegates to the 2011 Mennonite Church Canada assembly responded to the Being a Faithful Church (BFC) 3 process with more than 750 recorded comments being turned in from the 800 adults and youths who attended the event.
Unwrapping sexuality
The alternative method of God
Andrew Suderman, right, preaches at Harvest Time Ministries, a church located in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa, with Pastor Ntapo handling translation duties. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Suderman)
One thing that I find so inspiring in South Africa is the countless people who participate in miraculous activities as they strive to make their communities better.
For discussion
New logo a distraction to talking about peace and violence
It is nothing new to say that Winnipeg and southern Manitoba boasts an abnormally high concentration of Mennonites, although I suppose the Mennonites don’t boast. And given our historical and ongoing tension with how to respond to issues of peace and violence, it was also no surprise that more than a few eyebrows were raised at the unveiling of the Winnipeg Jets’ new logo.