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Lassana Kanneh is healing

Lassana Kanneh, a former child soldier in Liberia's civil wars, interacts with classmates at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at Eastern Mennonite University, in Harrisonburg, Va. (Photo by Michael Sheeler)

Celebrating with Summer Peacebuilding Institute classmates, Lassana Kanneh shares an irrepressible spirit for helping his fellow humans heal from great harm and trauma. (Photo by Michael Sheeler)

In 1999, along with more than 20,000 Liberian children, 11-year-old Lassana became a soldier. He was kidnapped and forced to use drugs and alcohol, destroy property, and kill in the Second Liberian Civil War from 1999 to 2003.

Bike to GROW tops $100K entering Ontario

Mary Fehr and Sarah French are cycling across Canada to raise money for women farmers in Ghana. (MEDA photo)

As they biked across the Manitoba border into northern Ontario, Mary Fehr and Sarah French had extra power pushing their pedals.

Past MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) interns Fehr and French are on a four-month bike ride across Canada, called Bike to GROW, to raise $150,000 for MEDA’s GROW (Greater Rural Opportunities for Women) project in Ghana.

Commitment to faith puts farmers at risk

Mennonite Christians in the village of Sidi, Burkina Faso, at a meeting in May 2015. These farmers risk losing access to their land and to their place within the village community because of their faith. They refuse to provide chiefs with items designated for sacrifice to the spirits of the land. (Photo by Siaka Traoré)

In the village of Sidi, Burkina Faso, a group of Mennonite Christians risk losing access to the land they farm and to their place within the village community, because of their faith. They refuse to provide chiefs with items designated for sacrifice to the spirits of the land.

Engaging women’s voices

Kim Penner (left) and Allison Murray planned and facilitated a symposium, “Engaging Women’s Voices on Church, Theology and Mission,” sponsored by Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre, with support from Mennonite Church Eastern Canada. 

After a full morning of “food for thought,” the diverse group of participants enjoy a fine feast of Indian foods and stimulating conversation about the ways in which their concept of the church’s mission had been expanded. (Photo by Michele Rizoli)

John Rempel, retiring director of Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre enjoys food and conversation with Ajeng Chrissaningrum who presented a paper, “Hard pressed but not crushed,” which was about her research with Javanese Christian women from Indonesia. (Photo by Kim Penner)

Abigail Lofte presents a paper on “Rethinking Humanity’s Relationship with the Earth and its Implications for the Church’s Mission in Light of the Resurrection” as respondent, Henry Paetkau, area church minister for Mennonite Church Eastern Canada and symposium moderator Kim Penner listen. (Photo taken by Susan K. Harrison)

Several women in post-graduate theological studies at Toronto School of Theology (TST) challenged the 20 women and men who gathered on a Saturday in early May with new ways of thinking about church, theology and mission. The symposium was sponsored by Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre and supported by Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC).

Nepali churches respond to quake victims

Because transportation is a huge issue after the earthquakes in Nepal, residents from the affected villages come to central distribution centers and carry supplies back to their homes. (Eastern Mennonite Missions photo) 

A group of Nepali Anabaptist fellowships is reaching out to communities affected by the April and May 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, with a goal of assisting 2,000 families. The group is known as Binay Church Council.

Saskatchewan Valley Auction celebrates 35 years

Four generations supporting the Foodgrains Bank through the June 20 Osler, Sask. Auction. (L-R) Grandchildren Marcy Ziolkowski, Kianna Regush, grandmother Edna Hays, great-grandmother Bertha Fehr, and mother Rebecca Ziolkowski. (Photo by John Longhurst)

It was raining hard, but nobody was unhappy as they pulled into Walter and Peggy Wiebe’s farmyard near Osler, Sask. on June 20, 2015, for the 35th annual Saskatchewan Valley Auction for Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

“It’s a million dollar rain,” said Bill Wiebe, one of the Auction’s organizers as he watched the rain fall from the shelter of the auction tent.

Cross-cultural experiences lead to growth in faith and skills

Yoweri Murungi, from a town in the Kibaale District in Uganda, is a participant in the Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network (YAMEN) program. He is serving in Lusaka, Zambia, as the assistant coordinator of MCC-supported Peace Clubs. (MCC photo by Silas Crews)

Opportunities to fill leadership responsibilities in a local church enrich Yoweri Murungi’s year-long cross-cultural service assignment in Lusaka, Zambia. His many new experiences include leading praise and worship services, Bible study classes and youth ministries at the Chilenje Brethren in Christ church in Lusaka.

Europeans support peace ministry in the Philippines

The city of Dresden, including the Dresden Frauenkirche, was destroyed in WWII. (Photo by Gise Löwe 1958, used by permission of Creative Commons License 3.0)

Mennonite Church Canada workers Daniel and Joji Pantoja (far left front row and 3rd from the right second row, respectively) and PBCI ministry plan to develop Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) teams in each of 81 provinces in the Philippines. 

The Dresden Frauenkirche was destroyed in 1945. Reconstruction began in 1994 and was completed by 2005. It hosted a 70th anniversary commemoration of Dresden’s destruction. (Photo by Kolossos, used by permission of Creative Commons License 3.0)

A heartfelt desire for peace and reconciliation inspired church-goers in Europe to make a gift to PeaceBuilders Community Inc. (PBCI), a ministry in the Philippines. The gift came from donations made at a commemoration event in Dresden, Germany.

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