“What are the dreams that have been placed in us? What has God whispered in our ears? How has God invaded our thoughts?” asked Willard Metzger, Mennonite Canada’s executive minister (formerly executive director). Thus began his final address on Oct. 15 to those who gathered for Special Assembly 2017.
“Our Anabaptist history is intrinsically tied to migration, and so is our Christian story,” says Saulo Padilla, immigration education coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) U.S. “We must keep challenging the narratives that separate us, build borders and invite us to dehumanize others.”
Chesley Lake Camp, located west of Owen Sound, Ont., lost its main building to fire on Canada Day. The building housed offices, a restaurant, tuck shop and many memories.
The fire has been classified as accidental and no further investigation is being carried out. Fireworks had been displayed near the building on the evening of July 1, 2017, and the fire began several hours later.
Karli Bijakowski, right, Karlie Haining, centre, and Jonathan Seiling display two completed comforters that were knotted for MCC during the Niagara Region Youth Hunger Relief Games on May 12. (Photo by Jonathan Seiling)
One of the games involved creating a structure that could bear the weight of cans of food. (Photo by Jonathan Seiling)
Karli Bijakowski, right, and Karlie Haining attempt to knot comforters for MCC while blindfolded and wearing gardening gloves during the Niagara Region Youth Hunger Games. (Photo by Jonathan Seiling)
Nick Schuurman, left, associate pastor of St. Catharines United Mennonite Church, counts the number of cans in the tower contest while competitors look on. (Photo by Jonathan Seiling)
More than 30 youth from Mennonite Church Eastern Canada congregations in the Niagara Region gathered at Grace Mennonite Church in St. Catharines on May 12, 2018, for the “Hunger Relief Games.” Using non-perishable food items, plus items for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) hygiene kits and two comforters, they played a series of five games.
Around the world, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) partners with people who are negatively affected by climate change. In response to increased droughts, storms and other disastrous weather patterns, MCC is taking steps to better care for creation.
Gardening
Canadian Foodgrains Bank is responding to the hunger crisis in Somalia, where immediate emergency assistance is needed to help prevent a hunger catastrophe.
Step into the fields of Etienne Tiendrébeogo (pictured at right in the bright shirt) in Yé, Burkina Faso, and you’ll notice something striking: large half-moon shapes dug into the soil, adding a fanciful touch to the dirt of his rural fields.
The result is anything but fanciful, however.
“We Are Your Future/Somos Su Futuro” opened at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery in Winnipeg on Sept. 9. The exhibition focusses on the lives of women from the indigenous community of Tlamacazapa, Guerrero, Mexico. It features etchings by Cuernavaca artist Alejandro Aranda and watercolour paintings by gallery curator Ray Dirks, along with palm weaving by 30 women from Tlamacazapa.
Volunteers on antique threshing machines raised funds that the Canadian Foodgrains Bank will use to help small-scale farm families in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya learn to grow more and better food, so they can better provide for their families. (Photo courtesy of Canadian Foodgrains Bank)
(Photo by Shaylyn McMahon)
(Photo by John Longhurst)
(Photo courtesy of Canadian Foodgrains Bank)
(Photo by John Longhurst)
(Photo by John Longhurst)
Manitoba became home to another world record on July 31, 2016, when 139 antique threshing machines harvested a field simultaneously for 15 minutes at the 62nd Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede held at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum in Austin. Nine others started, but, for various mechanical reasons, couldn’t finish the 15-minute test.
Photo by Dave Rogalsky
Photo by Dave Rogalsky
Building of a light-rail transit system along the spine of Waterloo and Kitchener had to change focus in March 2016, when excavations in uptown Waterloo exposed the remains of a corduroy road. Archeologists are dating the road to the late 1700s or early 1800s. It was probably built by Mennonites, the original settlers in the area.
Around the world, MCC supports projects that help families make a better living, helping them pay for food or school for their children. Sometimes those projects involve animals—getting loans to buy them or training and new techniques to raise them. Here’s a glimpse of some of the MCC animals and how they are at work across the globe.
Seven six-year-olds—Niko Van Geest DeGroot, Calum Goetzke, Matea Thiessen Unger, Frieda Nuss Hildebrand, Vito Stoesz, Nicholas Rempel Nighswander and Isabelle Heinrichs—received Bible story books in a church service focussed on children at Hope Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, on Sept. 13, 2015.
Just as the ripples from a stone thrown into a body of water move outward from the centre, so too the effects of one person acting in and for peace affect many around them, sometimes in surprising and unexpected ways. Conrad Grebel University College’s fifth annual summer camp for youth between ages 11 and 14 ran August 10 to 15, 2015, at the college’s Waterloo campus.
Calgary Chin Church women’s singing group shared special music on Sunday morning at the Alberta women’s retreat. (Photo by Helena Ball)
A blues group from Foothills Mennonite Church participated in the Saturday night variety show at the Alberta women’s retreat. (Photo by Helena Ball)
About 60 women between the ages of 20 and 80 gathered for a Mennonite Church Alberta women’s retreat at Sylvan Lake on May 22-24, 2015. They joined together to worship, pray, learn, share in meals, and most importantly to laugh together at the Saturday night variety show.
Gennifer Brooks, Ph.D., encourages Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary students to immerse themselves in the lives of the people to whom they will preach, so that their messages are good news that fit the context of their listeners. (Photo by Mary E. Klassen)
Gennifer Brooks began her presentations for the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) Theological Lectureship the same way she begins the preaching classes she teachers—with the story in Luke 4 of Jesus reading from Isaiah in the temple.
Photo by Gerald Warkentin
Photo by Gerald Warkentin
Photo by Gerald Warkentin
In an effort to do something creative with the snow from this past winter, these three snow words were made in front of Bethel Mennonite Church in Winnipeg. However, these words were vandalized one night. The heart in “love” and a couple of the letters in “peace” were destroyed. This seemingly small act of destruction brought a new symbolic meaning to this project.
Combining their gifts for words and pictures, two Mennonite Church Canada pastors who are long-time friends have produced a 2015 inspirational daybook.
Christmas stocking ‘goodie bags’ greeted registrants for the B.C. women’s retreat at Camp Squeah in October. The theme for the weekend was ‘Unwrap your gifts.’
Being surrounded by Christmas wall hangings and table deco-rations helped women from Western Hmong Mennonite Church in Maple Ridge, B.C., get into the Christmas spirit.
When Mennonite Women in B.C. members arrived at Camp Squeah for their annual fall retreat last month, they might have thought their calendars had skipped two months ahead. The holiday season was in the air with Christmas trees, ornaments and banners decorating the lodge, all in keeping with the theme, “Unwrap your gifts.”
When it comes to creating beauty out of garbage, Rosthern Junior College (RJC) students needn’t play second fiddle to the Paraguayan Recycled Orchestra.
A simple game like roller hockey has turned into a ministry that has been going on at Eden Mennonite Church in Chilliwack for more than 17 years. Eden offers its church parking lot every Wednesday afternoon from April to October for youths aged 12 and over to play drop-in hockey.
Jamie Arpin-Ricci, pastor of Little Flowers Church, left, and Janet Conrad take part in the I’m Sorry campaign at this year’s Gay Pride Parade in Winnipeg on June 2, to express regret for the way Christians have not shown love to their LGBTQ neighbours.
Sam Schalk, Jen Funk and Hannah Foulger share their messages at the Gay Pride Parade in Winnipeg on June 2.
For the second year in a row, a group of Christians gathered in Winnipeg to say “I’m sorry.” They joined the crowds on the sidelines of the annual Gay Pride Parade in downtown Winnipeg on June 2 to convey their message of contrition.
Walid Dabbous, left, a Syrian refugee now living in Sidon, Lebanon, tells his story to Don Peters, executive director of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada, centre, and Ali Jammoul, a worker with the Development for People and Nature Association.
The executive director of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada says the situation in Syria is likely to worsen and more must be done for the people affected by the conflict.
Angelika Dawson, a member of the Good Friday Blues Band, nails her ‘blues’ to a cross as part of the Good Friday Blues service.
Angelika Dawson and son Aaron perform the blues as part of the Good Friday Blues service in Abbotsford, B.C.
Blues filled the House of James Christian bookstore for two nights during Holy Week, raising the roof with music and raising funds for a local charity.
Where might you find coffee grounds, potato skins and egg shells mixed with meat, napkins and leftover spaghetti? Typically, beside other garbage in the dump. In fact, for years, this is where Goshen College sent its food waste.
However, in 2010 the college implemented a new practice, taking something perceived as “dirty trash” and transforming it into something of value: compost.
In the wake of Typhoon Bopha in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, Daniel and Joji Pantoja’s staff loaned one month of their salaries to purchase food aid for 650 families, prompting smiles of gratitude from young recipients.
With a food pack over his shoulder, a typhoon survivor knows that he can feed his family for five days.
A typhoon, five million hungry people and no available funds for relief operations. When Peacebuilders Community Inc. (PBCI) faced that scenario late last year, staff rose to the challenge by digging deep into their own pockets.
