Midwives of a new era
John Borthwick is calling on church leaders to see themselves as midwives and chaplains.
God at work in the Church
Credit union gives $1 million gift to Conrad Grebel
Mennonite Savings and Credit Union’s $1 million gift will add a fourth floor to the plans for a $6.3 million centre announced in the spring that would triple space for the Mennonite Archives of Ontario, double study space and add 460 square metres for community education in the Peace and Conflict Studies Department
Susan Schultz Huxman, the newly installed president of Conrad Grebel University College, called it a “transformative gift, the largest single gift in Conrad Grebel’s history.” And it was especially fitting on the eve of Remembrance Day.
MC B.C. relinquishes title to Olivet Church
One chapter of the Mennonite Church British Columbia story came to a close on Nov. 5 when delegates voted at a special meeting to return the title for former member Olivet Mennonite Church back to the congregation. Olivet had withdrawn from MC B.C. in 2007 and had requested the transfer of title, held in trust by MC B.C.
CMU receives $10 million in private, public funds
Steven Fletcher, the federal transportation minister, centre, announces $3.5 million in government funding for a project CMU professor Kirit Patel, right, will undertake in Asia. CMU president Gerald Gerbrandt looks on.
Over the course of a week in October, Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) came into a total of $10 million for its new business school and a food security research project in South Asia.
Engaging with new media
Geoff Vanderkooy of PeaceWorks Technology Solutions, Waterloo, spoke to a group of mostly pastors and church administrators at a Mennonite Church Eastern Canada-sponsored seminar on social media last month at Conrad Grebel University College.
Which Sunday is Peace Sunday?
Bergen
Peace has always been one of the defining factors of Anabaptist Mennonites, but each autumn peace is intentionally discussed and prayed for on specific Sundays.
Level Ground wins communications award
Dan Loewen, worship and creative arts pastor at Level Ground Mennonite Church, Abbotsford, B.C., contemplates new ways to incorporate multi-media into church ministries.
Annual church general business meetings are not usually occasions of inspiration or excitement, but one Mennonite Church B.C. congregation found a way to make it both—and won an award for it.
Bolivian Mennonite rape trial ends in convictions
Eight members of the Manitoba and Riva Palacios Mennonite colonies accused of raping more than a hundred women and girls were found guilty on Aug. 25 after a two-month trial. A ninth, Jacob Neudorf Enns, escaped from the Palmasola Prison in Santa Cruz some time ago and remains a fugitive.
‘This is not a ladder’
Noémie Jean-Bourgeault encouraged the L’Église évangélique Mennonite de Joliette, Que., congregation to be creative in transforming an old ladder into a new object, saying, ‘This is not a ladder.’
At the general meeting of the members of L’Église évangélique Mennonite de Joliette, Que., on June 12, the pastor’s mandate was not renewed. The congregation was shocked and surprised, but members feel now that God knew what was coming.
Beyond Ourselves: Partners in China
Mennonite Partners in China (MPC)
As a young seminary graduate in 1995, Timothy Zhang became pastor of the Anjing church. With few material resources, a common reality in rural church settings where most families are subsistence farmers, the Anjing church had little support to offer him.
Community ministry has church bustling with activity
Anna Marie Geddert, right, director of community ministry at Jubilee Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, Man., works with members of the J Club to make trees and learn how to care for them.
One of the young J Club members helps plant seedlings donated by Manitoba Hydro at Jubilee Mennonite Church.
Visiting Jubilee Mennonite Church on a Thursday evening one discovers upwards of 30 neighbourhood youths excitedly milling about waiting to be shepherded into vehicles for an evening at Birds Hill Park, several young adults putting up a new basketball hoop, adults working in their garden plots, and throngs of young children playing in the yard and basement.
Former Bible school helped shape the call for many pastors
The Bible school students of 1964 take their turn doing the dishes at lunch.
About 140 former students and spouses of Ontario Mennonite Bible School and Institute met at Mannheim Mennonite Church, Petersburg, Ont., for a reunion on May 29.
More MC Canada staff changes
Plenert
Tim Froese, former executive director of Mennonite Church Canada’s International Ministries program, has assumed the position of executive secretary of Witness, filling the post vacated by Janet Plenert, who resigned on April 21.
Readers comment
- You are doing a wonderful job at this point of time. I see you change ideas as times change. Good!
- Have the confidence that you are aware that endeavours like this can remain static.
- Would it be possible to print and mail from Saskatoon for Saskatchewan readers. By the time we get a copy, much is old news.
The survey says . . .
Despite a small survey sample—only 215 out of more than 14,000 subscribers took the time to send back the two-page questionnaire in our Feb. 21 issue—it is clear that readers still believe Canadian Mennonite “should be a primary source of information about Mennonite Church Canada”; 89 percent agree or strongly agree with this sentiment.
Pennsylvania confirmed as site for 2015 MWC assembly
With eyes wide open about the visa challenges faced by international participants, especially youths, the Executive Committee of Mennonite World Conference (MWC) agreed on May 9 to hold the next global assembly in the United Sates in July or August 2015, in Harrisburg, Pa.
Sexual inclusivity motion to be presented at national assembly
While topics regarding sexuality have dominated the mainstream headlines in the past several weeks, Mennonite Church Canada and area church leaders have made a move that points to a shift in values regarding sexuality within the denomination.
A river runs through it
Volunteers help lay sandbags around the buildings at Camp Assiniboia on May 7 as the Assiniboine River began to rise.
River levels are changing daily at Camp Assiniboia as the Assiniboine River ebbs and flows around the south and east boundaries of the camp. Unprecedented volumes of water are creating great stresses on the dikes and diversions that lie along the path of this major Manitoba waterway.
‘I’ll take it from here’—Metzger
All indicators point to the old structures giving way to new ways of being the church, Willard Metzger told the nearly 400 delegates gathered for the 2011 annual church gathering of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada Friday, April 29. “This is the new reality and we really don’t know what it is.”
‘With sadness and lament’
In order to manage as yearly donations are decreasing, Mennonite Church Canada announced publicly on April 12 that, regrettably, it must reduce expenditures by terminating or altering positions and programs. The announcement comes a month after MC Canada councils met to identify the core responsibilities of the national church, those that are integral to its mission and values.
Plowing the way for peace
Area church youth minister Anna Rehan and area church minister Jerry Buhler light candles during the memorial service at this year’s annual general meeting in North Battleford.
A public stand for peace, peace between believers and peace with their neighbours all came to the fore during the Mennonite Church Saskatchewan annual delegate sessions last month in North Battleford.
Rediscovering Mary
‘Mary With Tears,’ a sculpture of Mary, the mother of Jesus, by Vilius Orvidas, who did most of his work under the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. He died in the early 1990s. Photographed by Jerry Holsopple, a visual and communication arts professor at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va.
Singing was a significant element of the two-day ‘Mary in Anabaptist Dress’ Conference. Paul Dueck, pastor of Windsor Mennonite Fellowship, Ont., acted as song-leader.
Panelist Irma Fast Dueck of Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, Man., right, said, “We have only a few biblical accounts of Mary. That’s a blessing. We have to use our imaginations to shape our image of Mary that has an Anabaptist-Mennonite sensibility.” The panel included Adam Tice, associate pastor of Hyattsville Mennonite Church, Md., left
After two days of singing, discussing, pondering images and praying last month, questions continued to swirl around Mary, the mother of Jesus, and what she might mean for Mennonites and Anabaptists today.
‘The signs are clear’
Mennonite Church Canada leaders spent much of their spring leadership assembly last month preparing for a smaller national church structure in the near future.
“We have done all the tweaking we can do to provide sustainable programming within our current income level,” says general secretary Willard Metzger. “The signs are clear.”
‘The end belongs to God’
Jim Shantz, pictured with his wife Lorraine, received a Bateman print from Mennonite Church Alberta as a token of appreciation for eight and a half years as conference minister. Shantz completes his term on June 30.
Willard Metzger, Mennonite Church Canada general secretary, inspired MC Alberta delegates with the reminder that no matter how difficult things are for the church, “this is not the end; the end belongs to God.” Basing his keynote presentations to the 82nd annual assembly of MC Alberta, held last month at Holyrood Mennonite Church, Edmonton, on Revelation 21, Metzger noted that trends across den
Peace Church identity explored at LEAD conference
Linda Enns, left, of Peace Mennonite Church and a member of the MC B.C. Church Health Committee, greets LEAD conference speaker Lois Barret
With the theme of “Being a Peace Church,” 88 church leaders and others interested in the topic met at Living Hope Christian Fellowship, Surrey, for the annual Mennonite Church B.C. Leaders, Elders and Deacons (LEAD) conference on Feb. 25.
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