Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers often describe their service as being “the hands and feet of Jesus.” During the weekend of Nov. 21-23, those hands—and backs—were... Read More
News & Stories
In response to an extremely large snowfall, volunteers from the Drayton, Ont. area, shovel snow off the roof of a dairy barn near West Seneca, N.Y. (Credit: Paul Hunt)
November 25, 2014 | Web First | Barbara Weaver
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has invited its member churches and partners to join the World YWCA campaign “NoXcuses for Violence against Women.” “There is no excuse for... Read More
November 25, 2014 | Web First | World Council of Churches
Bobby Switzer, organizer of the hymn marathon, leads a hymn during a Goshen College chapel service. In 2012, he started the Goshen College Hymn Club, which regularly invites the campus community to sing four-part hymns out of the blue Mennonite hymnal. (Photo by Brian Yoder Schlabach)
Bobby Switzer did not grow up going to church or singing, but he has become passionate about hymns and congregational music since coming to Goshen College four years ago. When he... Read More
November 21, 2014 | Web First |
Photo by Gerhard Epp.
Aaron Epp has memorized Scripture on occasion in the past, but it has never been a habit.
Every Sunday after church, a woman in my congregation hands out candy to children in Sunday school who can recite a Bible verse from memory. My guess is that the goal is to... Read More
November 19, 2014 | Young Voices | Aaron Epp
Formed in 2009, Pocket Change solidified its current line-up in 2012. Pictured from left to right: Nolan Kehler, Brandon Letkeman, Jonas Cornelsen and Mike Wiebe. (Photo by Matthew Ryan Photography)
Most university students use reading week to study or go on a quick vacation, but not the members of Pocket Change, a Winnipeg rock band. While their peers were hitting the books... Read More
November 19, 2014 | Young Voices | Aaron Epp
Ben Borne and Krista Loewen, co-pastor of Wildwood Mennonite Church, Saskatoon, are planning a listening day in January for LGBTQ people and affected people in the community, along with co-pastor Joe Heikman.
Ben Borne, 24, who self-identifies as gay, was talking to Krista Loewen and Joe Heikman, his co-pastors and friends, after attending a Mennonite Church Saskatchewan meeting to... Read More
November 19, 2014 | Young Voices | Rachel Bergen
Peter Rempel, left, chair of the MC Manitoba board, addresses delegates at Bethel Mennonite Church in Winnipeg on Nov. 6. Treasurer Tom Seals looks on.
Despite falling short of a quorum, delegates attending Mennonite Church Manitoba’s fall gathering on Nov. 6 gave the board strong affirmation for its 2015 proposed budget. The... Read More
November 19, 2014 | God at work in the Church | Story and Photo by Evelyn Rempel Petkau
Adrian Jacobs, right, responds to questions and concerns from Rudy Friesen and Gerhard Neufeld.
Instead of the usual small, intimate gathering that has characterized previous fall Partnership Circle meetings, more than 85 northern indigenous people, Mennonite Church Manitoba... Read More
November 19, 2014 | God at work in the World | Story and Photos by Evelyn Rempel Petkau
Daryl Redsky of the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation stands on a temporary bridge over the man-made channel that isolates his community. (Photo by Will Braun)
When Mennonites in Winnipeg baptize a believer, they do so with water from Shoal Lake. The baptismal water comes from a project for which the members of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation... Read More
November 19, 2014 | God at work in the World | By Will Braun
Mennonite Church Canada has responded with letters of support to the Supreme Council of the Evangelical Community and the Middle East Council of Churches. The organizations state... Read More
November 19, 2014 | God at work in the World |
Keynote speaker Jae Young Lee, left, visits with Tina Doell at the MCC Saskatchewan Encounter and annual general meeting held in Saskatoon on Nov. 1.
How does a South Korean soldier become a teacher of peace? Delegates at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Saskatchewan’s Encounter and annual general meeting heard the answer to... Read More
November 19, 2014 | God at work in Us | Story and Photo by Donna Schulz
Many people have grown tired of the pat answers that the church and religion have provided regarding questions of faith and meaning in life. A new book addressing the deepest... Read More
November 19, 2014 | Artbeat |
Day and night, children love to play on the metal playground equipment, placed there haphazardly many decades ago. . . . The rusted slides have gaping and jagged holes, and can’t be used except to scramble up and down; children do this each day, still wearing their blue and grey school uniforms as they pause for some fun. (Photo: Nathan Dirks)
When entering Bontleng in Botswana’s Gaborone Region from the southeasternmost road you find yourself passing tall grass, wrought-iron covers and headstones of a large cemetery... Read More
November 19, 2014 | Focus On | Nathan Dirks
Jewel and Richard Showalter
We are Richard and Jewel (Wenger) Showalter. As church planters, missionaries, educators, mission administrators, parents and now grandparents, we have walked as part of the... Read More
November 15, 2014 | Web First | Richard and Jewel Showalter
Laura Funk and Gilbert Detillieux live on the bridge between the Mennonite and Catholic faith. (Photo courtesy of authors)
The authors participate in the activities of Bridgefolk, “a movement of sacramentally-minded Mennonites and peace-minded Roman Catholics who come together to celebrate each other'... Read More
November 14, 2014 | Web First | Laura Funk and Gilbert Detillieux
Goshen College students will sing all 658 songs in the Mennonite hymnal from Nov. 14-16 in order to raise money for Christian Peacemaker Teams, an international peacemaking agency. (Credit: Goshen College)
With the goal of uniting in harmony to bring peace to a troubled world, Goshen College’s Hymn Club will bring together students and community members to sing continuously through... Read More
November 14, 2014 | Web First | Ariel Ropp
Chester and Sara Jane Wenger on their 70th wedding anniversary (Credit: Greta Shenk Bucher)
I am profoundly reluctant to write this letter because I know there are those it will wound deeply. But I have also come to the conviction that I can no longer hide the light the... Read More
November 11, 2014 | Web First | Chester Wenger
Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander has proposed a bill that would ban marriage for underage children and make polygamy grounds for deportation. (RNS photo courtesy Michael Swan/Flickr)
Canada is weighing legislation that would ban arranged marriages of minors and make polygamy grounds for deportation. The “Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act,”... Read More
November 11, 2014 | Web First | Ron Csillag
Participants of the Thai Anabaptist conference pray for Khmu church leaders, after worship at a Khmu church in a Thai village. (Credit: Sarah Schoenhals)
Prior to Lek (not his real name) believing in Jesus, ten of his fifteen children died. After he became a Christian, his children stopped dying. People in his village noticed! Lek... Read More
November 7, 2014 | Web First | Sarah Schoenhals
While “deeply shaken” by the terror caused by IS (Islamic State) militias in Iraq and Syria, “we believe that the situation does not render pacifist convictions obsolete,”... Read More
November 7, 2014 | Web First |
“We know our lifestyle in North America far exceeds what the rest of the world enjoys. Building a tiny house is a small protest against that," say Jared and Rachel Regier. (Photo courtesy of Rachel and Jared Regier)
Newlyweds Jared and Rachel Regier are building a new home in Saskatoon . . . and it’s no bigger than a garage. The couple, who attend Nutana Park Mennonite Church, call it their “... Read More
November 5, 2014 | Young Voices | Rachel Bergen
As a student at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, Kitchener, Ont., I was taught to care about the well-being of others. When I graduated in 2009, I originally planned to pursue social... Read More
November 5, 2014 | Young Voices | Tim Wenger
Video games are fun. They can be seen as an escape from reality, but often provide an opportunity to overcome challenges. Many of them are violent. However, for every violent... Read More
November 5, 2014 | Young Voices | Glenna Schowalter
We share in the grief and shock our nation is feeling. We honour Corporal Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, who were killed. Our prayers for comfort and healing... Read More
November 5, 2014 | God at work in the World | By Natasha Brubaker Garrison
Like many Canadians, I find myself in a place of sadness following the senseless violence in our capital city on Oct. 22, two days after a similar incident in St-Jean-sur-... Read More
November 5, 2014 | God at work in the World | Willard Metzger