Of rentals and relationships
Big buildings; fewer people. It’s a fact that many Mennonite churches have fewer people involved in church life than they did 20 years ago.
Big buildings; fewer people. It’s a fact that many Mennonite churches have fewer people involved in church life than they did 20 years ago.
The story of Anabaptist origins came to life on Sunday, January 21, as Gareth Brandt marked the 499th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement with a presentation of art and spoken word.
The new year has brought a new church to the Glenmore area of Kelowna, and it has given an old church building new life. Valley Road Church, a ministry of Mennonite Church B.C., held its first worship service on January 7 with Jordan Pilgrim as pastor.
When it comes to making art, Alvin Pauls isn’t concerned with the outcome.
“It’s all in the doing,” the Winnipeg artist says. “The end result is not important.”
Dressed in a black sweater over a brown turtleneck, jeans and blue slip-on shoes, Pauls is walking around “From Here to There,” a retrospective exhibit of his work at MHC Gallery. His energy belies his 81 years.
Welcome to “Life in the 80s,” a semi-regular series in which we ask people in their 80s or 90s to share their wisdom.
It’s brighter than ever in the basement at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg.
Sunshine House, a community drop-in and resource centre, is operating there temporarily while its headquarters undergoes renovations.
The organization, which offers programming focused on harm reduction and social inclusion, moved into the church at the beginning of November.
While pursuing degrees in health studies and music at the University of Waterloo, Mykayla Turner stumbled into a plethora of worship songs that left her wondering why and how she’d never heard them before.
Mennonites in British Columbia celebrated the holidays in a variety of ways last month.
With both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve falling on Sundays, churches were presented with the question: How many services should be held, and what kind? Will congregants come to multiple services on a holiday weekend?
One winter day in 2022, our family was discussing the problem of our society’s dependence on fossil fuels. One of our young-adult sons, who perhaps felt we were slipping into finger-pointing, brought the focus back around to our own household by asking: “What about our hot water heater?”
It’s not your typical nativity play.
On December 19, approximately 250 Mennonites, Palestinians and others gathered in Waterloo’s City Hall to call on Member of Parliament Bardish Chagger to publicly support an immediate and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza.
About 30 Mennonites assembled in the lobby of Garden Park Tower on December 19 to make their voices heard on the Mennonite Day of Action asking for a ceasefire in Palestine.
Mennonite Church Canada is pleased to announce Emissions Reduction Grants (ERG) totaling $23,021 to help one rural and eight urban congregations reduce their carbon footprint. Fourteen additional congregations expressed interest in the program.
On October 24, 2023, the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre (TMTC) held a virtual closing ceremony to mark the end of its 33-year existence. The centre’s mandate was to develop theological leadership for church and academy, by supporting Mennonite graduate students in theology, biblical studies and related fields.
On November 29, Canadian Mennonite hosted “Answering the Call,” an online event featuring three young pastors: Curtis Wiens of Aberdeen Mennonite Church in Aberdeen, Saskatchewan; Kennedy Froese of Sterling Mennonite Fellowship in Winnipeg; and YElshaday Baraki of Meheret Evangelical Church in Kitchener, Ontario.
The film Custodians: A Story of Ancient Echoes won big at the Saskatchewan International Film Fest (SIFF) in October. The documentary explores the work of local landowners, volunteers and municipal government officials in conserving the many signs of historic Indigenous presence in the Herschel, Saskatchewan, area.
Mennonite Church Saskatchewan continues to deliberate on the future of its camping ministry. The regional church operates Camp Elim, Youth Farm Bible Camp and Camp Shekinah. On November 25, over 40 people from across the province gathered at the Fall Leadership Assembly to hear an update on the future of the camps.
Overwhelmed, distraught, touched and compelled by the stories and images from Gaza, Canadian Mennonite reporter Madalene Arias has interviewed many people—Palestinians and Jews—she found through various connections and means. Below are interviews with two people Arias has spoken with recently. We share this as a cry of the heart and a prayer for mercy. – Eds.
One of the latest churches to partner with Mennonite Church Manitoba is outside the province—2,047 kilometers outside of Winnipeg, to be exact.
Estuary Church, an emerging congregation in Delta, B.C., is receiving guidance and support from MC Manitoba as it gets established and finds a denomination.
Growing up as a member of the Sumacher Indigenous peoples group in the Philippines, Tala Bautista listened to American music. She longed to see snow and perhaps roast chestnuts on an open fire. She wanted to see the West Virginia country roads of which John Denver sang.
Working for a more peaceful world can take place anywhere. For Susanne Guenther Loewen it takes place at the front of the classroom at Saskatchewan’s largest public university. Guenther Loewen is in her third year of teaching Introduction to Peace Studies at Saint Thomas More College on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon.