When someone suggested to Jacquelyn Janzen that she get involved with the new Joint Council of Mennonite Church Canada, she knew it was something she wanted to do. “Being involved... Read More
News & Stories
Jacquelyn Janzen is one of two representatives appointed by Mennonite Church Saskatchewan to sit on Mennonite Church Canada’s Joint Council. (Photo courtesy of Jacquelyn Janzen)
May 16, 2018 | Young Voices | Aaron Epp
Three issues of Canadian Mennonite received a Canadian Church Press award in the category General Excellence-Magazine. The magazine also received four other awards for content published in 2017.
Canadian Mennonite editors Virginia A. Hostetler and Ross W. Muir were present at the Canadian Church Press (CCP) convention and awards banquet in Hamilton on May 4, and came away... Read More
May 15, 2018 | Web First | Ross W. Muir
Kenyan children perform a poem, with song and dance at Renewal 2027 at Kisumu, Kenya. The Mennonite World Conference event focused on the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. (Photo by Len Rempel)
As a local band played “You are the most high God,” international guests from the global Anabaptist family swayed and sang at this year’s Renewal 2027, “The Holy Spirit... Read More
May 15, 2018 | Web First |
Palmer Becker
Palmer Becker of Kitchener, Ont., a long-time church leader, pastor, missionary, church planter, author and educator, was named the recipient of the 2018 Anabaptist Mennonite... Read More
May 15, 2018 | Web First |
MCC Canada board member David Chow grew up believing that the current state of Israel is a continuation of the biblical people of Israel, and that building up the state of Israel is a sign that Jesus is returning. Chow visited the West Bank with other members of MCC’s board in September and October of 2016. The learning tour shifted his perspective on the region and what the kingdom of God looks like. (MCC photo)
David Chow recalls sitting in Sunday school as a child and learning about what the nation of Israel meant for Christians in a traditional Christian Missionary Alliance... Read More
May 14, 2018 | Web First | Rachel Bergen
Willard Metzger has served as executive director of Mennonite Church Canada since 2010. He will be completing his service at the end of 2018. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
After careful consideration and prayer during meetings in Toronto on May 5 and 6, the Joint Council of Mennonite Church Canada discerned with executive director Willard Metzger... Read More
May 8, 2018 | Web First |
Mary and Emery Ens, at the pulpit, reflect on life in the old Zoar Mennonite Church building in Langham, Sask. Sheila Wiens Neufeld is seated at the piano and Valerie Wiebe is standing beside the piano. (Photo courtesy of Zoar Mennonite Church)
“We celebrated 108 years of life in that building,” said Ed Bueckert, referring to Zoar Mennonite Church’s sanctuary in Langham, which faces imminent closure. About 110 members,... Read More
May 2, 2018 | God at work in the Church | Donna Schulz
Fresno Pacific University professor Tim Geddert, right, gives a presentation on Reading the Bible Together at a seminar for Mennonite Church B.C. leaders and congregants at Level Ground Church in Abbotsford on April 14, 2018. (Photo by Amy Dueckman)
Scripture and community were the focus when Mennonite Church B.C. members gathered at Level Ground Mennonite Church in Abbotsford on April 14, 2018, for Reading the Bible Together... Read More
May 2, 2018 | God at work in the Church | Amy Dueckman
Ben Pauls of Zoar Mennonite in Waldheim, Sask., leads an ensemble of 15 singers from a number of MC Saskatchewan congregations during a joint worship service at Muskeg Lake Cree Nation on April 22, 2018. (Photo by Jason Gooding)
Music continues to be the catalyst for growth in the relationship between Mennonite Church Saskatchewan and its Indigenous neighbours. On Earth Day, April 22, 2018, Mennonites and... Read More
May 2, 2018 | God at work in the World | Donna Schulz
The Heppner Mueller family with their waste from 2017. Pictured from left to right: Kaija, Aria, Connie, Rick and their dog Juno. (Photo courtesy of Connie Heppner Mueller)
People hear every day about garbage mountains growing, icebergs melting and species going extinct. With every plastic bag and old cell phone people throw away, they are... Read More
May 2, 2018 | God at work in the World | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Kenyan farmer Mary Mutua uses conservation agriculture principles promoted by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Her fields are healthier and more advanced than neighbouring crops. These methods are a way to increase resilience to climate change. (Canadian Foodgrains Bank photo by Valerie Gwinner)
The Canadian Foodgrains Bank walks a fine line on climate and walks it well. A recent and rare slip demonstrated the tensions it, like the rest of us, must navigate. The Hill... Read More
May 2, 2018 | God at work in the World | Will Braun
Kara Carter, pastor of Wellesley Mennonite Church, left, stands with Christa Gerber, chair of Wellesley and Community Food Cupboard Committee and of the Wellesley Mennonite Church Mission Committee. (Wellesley Mennonite Church photo)
Four years ago, while part of a missional leadership group, Kara Carter, pastor of Wellesley Mennonite Church, received news from the local school parents advisory group that... Read More
May 2, 2018 | God at work in the World | Dave Rogalsky
Only in the last decade has the extent of Canada’s mistreatment of its Indigenous peoples been widely recognized. The most horrific example of this mistreatment was the... Read More
May 2, 2018 | Artbeat | Vic Thiessen
Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe and Erin Froese ‘yarn-bombed’ a tree on CMU’s campus as part of a project exploring ecofeminism. (Photo courtesy of Erin Froese)
Most upper-level university classes end with a final essay, not a photography project, prayerful meditations or a “yarn-bombed” tree. Sheila Klassen-Wiebe, however, took the road... Read More
May 2, 2018 | Young Voices | Rachel Bergen
Representatives from a variety of faiths gathered in Vancouver in March for Celebrating Our Diversity Now, an interfaith dialogue. (Armenian Diocese of Canada photo)
This past March, I participated in an interfaith dialogue for young people in Vancouver, hosted by the Armenian Diocese of Canada. The week-long event, entitled Celebrating Our... Read More
May 2, 2018 | Young Voices | Annika Krause
Pastor Bhagan Chaunde reads Scripture at the Surunga Church inauguration service before the ribbon cutting. (Photo by Henk Stenvers)
In 2000, the Brethren in Christ (BIC) church board of Nepal sent Bhagan Chaunde to Surunga, Jhapa, Nepal, to plant churches. The passionate evangelist shared the gospel and... Read More
May 1, 2018 | Web First |
The ceremonial ribbon cutting at the April 13, 2018, grand opening of the Centre for Resilience at CMU. From left to right: Heather Stephanson, Manitoba’s minister of justice and attorney general; Cheryl Pauls, CMU’s president; Ian Wishart, Manitoba’s education and training minister; Doug Eyonlfson, MP for Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley; and James Magnus-Johnston, director of the Centre for Resilience. (Canadian Mennonite University photo)
Faculty, students and staff celebrated the grand opening of the $1.7-million Centre for Resilience (CFR)—a co-working lab that will incubate and nurture social enterprises—on... Read More
May 1, 2018 | Web First |
Allan Rudy-Froese, AMBS Associate Professor of Christian Proclamation, leads an orientation session for incoming students in the Chapel of the Sermon on the Mount in August 2017. (AMBS photo)
In North American Mennonite theological education, a regional focus is emerging, as students prefer to access seminary education closer to home. Uprooting families and finding... Read More
May 1, 2018 | Web First |
Fatumo, left, and Sahro, right, (last names are not used for security reasons) are just a few of the children who received MCC school kits at a distribution in Kismayo, Somalia. Lutheran World Federation, an MCC partner, provided the school kits to displaced and refugee children who are returning home to Somalia. (Photo courtesy of Lutheran World Federation)
Many Somali refugee families returning home after years in refugee camps lack basic items, like blankets and school supplies. In the summer of 2017, Mennonite Central Committee (... Read More
May 1, 2018 | Web First | Rachel Bergen
Steve Heinrichs, Mennonite Church Canada’s Indigenous-Settler Relations coordinator, is pictured while being arrested on criminal and civil charges for contempt of the order and injunction by the B.C. Supreme Court during a protest of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline by religious leaders in Burnaby, B.C., on April 20, 2018. (Photo by Jennifer Osborne)
Three Mennonites were among the faith leaders who blockaded the entrance to Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C. for several hours on April 20, protesting the planned... Read More
April 23, 2018 | Web First | Amy Dueckman and Ross W. Muir
Berzegin Yimam stands in front of the protected hill outside of Lalibela, Ethiopia. She is a member of the local committee responsible for protecting the hillside. Since restoring the hillside, the community has seen many benefits, including more reliable water springs and new plants that can be used to make organic pesticide. (Photo by Stefan Epp-Koop)
Two hills, sitting side by side in a valley outside of Lalibela, Ethiopia, have a story to tell. One hill is brown, its vegetation stripped away by livestock and deforestation... Read More
April 20, 2018 | Web First | Stefan Epp-Koop
Volunteers raise the first of four timber frame bents into position. By the fall of 2019, five others like this one will be in place. (Shekinah Retreat Centre photo)
Shekinah Retreat Centre recently launched an exciting new building project. The first of six planned timber-frame cabins took shape at the Mennonite Church Saskatchewan camp... Read More
April 18, 2018 | God at work in the Church | Donna Schulz
Wendy Dueck and Rosanna Kwan engage in full-body exercises. (Photo by Megan Klassen-Wiebe)
A ladder made of masking tape sticks to the floor of the foyer of Charleswood Mennonite Church in Winnipeg. It’s not a typical sight in a worship space. Yet every Tuesday and... Read More
April 18, 2018 | God at work in the Church | Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe
Participants at the 2017 B.C. Women’s Day gather to chat outside. Changing times and perspectives on women’s ministry have put the future of the annual gathering in doubt. (Photo by Amy Dueckman)
Mennonite women in British Columbia have been coming together each spring since 1939 for Women’s Inspirational Day, a time of spiritual encouragement and fellowship. But as the... Read More
April 18, 2018 | God at work in the Church | Amy Dueckman
Top: Allan Rudy-Froese, left, associate professor of Christian proclamation at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind., leads Pastors in Exile preachers and leaders—Tamara Shantz and Jessica Ressor-Rempel, as well as Benjamin Weber, Kim Rempel and Caleb Redekop in an exercise to feel their mouths.
Bottom: Allan Rudy-Froese, left, leads the Pastors in Exile preachers Benjamin Weber, Emily Hunsberger, Jennifer Regehr, Sylvia Hook and Katherine Matthies—in an exercise to get into the biblical text physically. (Photos by Dave Rogalsky)
Hands on his stomach, Allan Rudy-Froese walked a group of young preachers through exercises designed to make them feel at home and centred in their bodies by learning to recognize... Read More
April 18, 2018 | God at work in the Church | Dave Rogalsky