Volume 15, Number 18
Not just ‘frosting on the cake’
Stoesz
Stiffney
What does it mean for a faith-based organization to make faith and spirituality an integral part of its board meetings and planning?
Fly like an eagle
Amy Dueckman overcomes her fear and discovers newfound courage through the thrill of skydiving.
On a gorgeous summer afternoon, I willingly tumbled out of an airplane from more than 3,000 metres above the ground, entrusting my life to a piece of nylon, a ripcord and a stranger strapped to my back. It was the boldest, craziest thing I had ever done.
Helping through interior design
Nicole Tiessen sits in the sample room in the design studio of Aodbt Architecture + Interior Design in Saskatoon, Sask.
If you are out running errands in Saskatoon and your travels take you to the bank, a convenience store or your doctor’s office, there’s a chance you will encounter the work and influence of Nicole Tiessen in the various buildings you pass through.
Financial crisis looms
Ray Koop, CEO for Bethania Group, and Ferdinand Funk, chaplain at Bethania Personal Care Home, stand in front of the Bethania facility.
What makes a Mennonite personal care home Mennonite? This question is central to the critical financial situation that the Bethania Group faces in its two personal care homes.
A place to belong
A place to belong: These few little words became especially important to me as I reflect not only on the upcoming 60th anniversary of Mennonite Women Canada in 2012, but also on a recent experience that helped me to see that such a “belonging place” had been missing in my own life since we moved and changed churches a few years ago.
Don’t judge a church by its sanctuary
Someone I know goes to church on Sunday mornings in a movie theatre. The group worships in a “cheap seats” cinema on the outskirts of our city, nestled in a suburban cluster of big-box stores and strip malls.
Don’t fear the fight
I once endured the excruciatingly dreary annual meeting of a non-profit organization. The endless evening reaffirmed my conviction that there is a hell.
What shapes us?
A popular Mennonite plaque that has hung in many homes states: “True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant; it clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry; it comforts the sorrowful; it shelters the destitute; it serves those who harm it; it binds up that which is wounded; it becomes all things to all men.”
For discussion
1. Ralph Lebold says that “the congregation is the central reality for gathered Christians.” Do you agree? What are some ways that people from your congregation engage meaningfully with each other? Why do we often resist being open about our questions, finances, mental and emotional struggles?
Strange and wonderful paths
Ralph Lebold, left, and Jim Lapp at the Purdue ’87 Mennonite Church assembly.
Ralph Lebold and Florence Driedger moderate the joint Mennonite Church/General Conference assembly at Normal ’89.
After 50 years in ministry I have discovered that there is a significant interplay between the divine and human when it comes to physical and emotional healing. All healing is a work of God’s grace, including medical, psychological and social interventions, whether the caregivers acknowledge it or not.
Ten years later
The question isn’t, “Has our world changed since that fateful day of Sept. 11, 2001?” It is rather, “How have we changed 10 years after?”
