Going further together
To put names and faces to these partnerships, Canadian Mennonite’s correspondents across the country have profiled Witness workers and the churches that support them. Following are stories from B.C. and Alberta.
Volume 21 Issue 14
Volume 21, Number 14
Cover Date:
July 3, 2017
Are you prepared to die?
Recently I sat in an audience of several hundred Christian communicators and watched the feature film, Silence, by accomplished American director Martin Scorsese.
The movie was released in January, but—movie buffs that we are—my husband and I did not race out to see it in the local theatre. The subject is martyrdom.
Readers write: July 3, 2017 issue
Speaker sets the record straight on the Ziffernsystem
Re: “Singing by the numbers,” May 22, page 32.
It was good to see a report on my participation in the annual meeting of the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan.
Paddling rough waters
I’m told that white-water rafting requires four simple considerations.
They are simple but they are very important:
Tradition or traditionalism?
How do we know when tradition is helpful or harmful? How do we know when tradition breathes life and hope into the people of God? Or when it becomes a barrier to the leading of the Holy Spirit for our time? This is a critical matter the church must be constantly discerning. Is tradition serving as a propeller or an anchor?
Pies bring a message of encouragement
Each year Tim Sauer, left, takes his first rhubarb pie to John Neufeld, the executive director of House of Friendship in Kitchener, Ont., because rhubarb is John's favourite. (Photo courtesy of Tim Sauer)
Tim Sauer is known as the “pie man” because every now and then he shows up at places like the thrift shop or House of Friendship in Kitchener, Ont., with a pie for volunteers or staff. His gifts of pie are meant to bring a message of encouragement, to say, “You’re doing important work.”
Tim’s rhubarb pie
Tim’s rhubarb pie—a pie to share and enjoy! (Photo by D. Michael Hostetler)
Tim Sauer, who is known as the “pie man,” bakes at least 200 pies a year that he gives away to encourage volunteers and those who work in church-related organizations. This is his recipe for rhubarb pie, a favourite of John Neufeld, executive-director of House of Friendship in Kitchener, Ont.
Tractor and binder
The Voth family in the Steinbach, Manitoba, area on the farm with tractor and binder in the 1940s. August is a busy harvesting time for farmers and gardeners with eyes on the upcoming fall and winter. Farming has changed dramatically in the past decades but remains the backbone to feeding the country and beyond.
Letting all our gifts bloom
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
A vision for growth
Pastor Yared Seretse, left, dedicates Haset, which means ‘joy’ in English, for Enyew and his wife Tsega during the Meheret Evangelical Church worship service at St. Marks Lutheran Church on June 11, 2017. (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)
As Pastor Yared Seretse, right, prays, Josef and Teddy Ekle sing and play during a time of contemplation after Seretse’s hour-long sermon on seeking, finding and obeying God’s guidance during the Meheret Evangelical Church worship service at St. Marks Lutheran Church on June 11, 2017 (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)
Meheret Evangelical Church has been meeting for worship in Kitchener for 20 years. Founded by four families, the church of about 15 saw slow growth over the years, as refugees from Ethiopia—who dispersed to South Africa, Greece, Sudan, Egypt and elsewhere—made their way to Canada.
Fostering dialogue in the body of Christ
Mennonite Church B.C. participants Jon Nofziger, left, and Artur Bergen pause for discussion during a break at the Anabaptist Theology Conference at Trinity Western University on June 8. (Photo by Amy Dueckman)
Creating more dialogue between the 16th-century Anabaptist tradition and the context of the Global South, and learning about how Mennonite women “do” theology, were two of the keynote addresses at this year’s “Anabaptist theology: Methods and practices” conference, held in early June 2017 at Trinity Western University (TWU) in Langley.
An adventurous junior-high retreat in Saskatchewan
Say yes, and get out of your comfort zone. These were the two main take-aways from the Mennonite Church Saskatchewan junior-high retreat, held from May 26 to 28, 2017, at the Shekinah Retreat Centre.
A field of a million prayers
They were called and they came, a million people from every corner of South Africa. They gathered on April 22, 2017, in an expanse of field near Bloemfontein for the largest prayer meeting the country had ever seen.
Edmonton church experiences blanket exercise
On Pentecost Sunday, June 4, 2017, a spirit of truth and reconciliation filled the fellowship hall and sanctuary of Edmonton's First Mennonite Church.
‘The perfect synergy’
What’s the sound of an award-winning song? Matt Epp and Faouzia know.
This past May, the singer-songwriters won the grand prize for their duet “The Sound” in the International Songwriting Competition.
Stephanie Martin ends on a high note
Stephanie Martin, Pax Christi Chorale’s artistic director, left, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó who sang the role of Mary Magdalene, and Meredith Hall who sang the role of Mary the mother of Jesus, acknowledge the audience who attended Edward Elgar’s ‘The Apostles’ at Toronto’s Grace Church on-the-Hill on April 30. (Photo by Dave Rogalsky)
Grace Church on-the-Hill Anglican Church was full of concertgoers lined up waiting for open seats from no-shows on April 30. Stephanie Martin’s last concert as artistic director of the Pax Christi Chorale after 20 years was a hot ticket, never mind the content and performers.
Walking for equality
Abby Heinrichs speaks at a rally in Ottawa, where the pilgrimage ended. (Photo by Kathy Moorhead Thiessen)
Abby Heinrichs was one of the youngest participants on the pilgrimage. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
Abby Heinrichs, left, is pictured with her father, Steve Heinrichs, right, and Idle No More co-founder Sylvia McAdam, centre. (Photo by Chris Harrison)
This past spring, while her Grade 6 peers were in class writing spelling tests and working on their multiplication tables, Abby Heinrichs was doing something completely different: walking 600 kilometres in support of indigenous rights.
Cyber security underdog
Computer programming is a language foreign to most, but not to David Dyck. The 17-year-old Winnipegger is passionate about computers and knowing how they operate.
