‘We’re all crazy Mennonites,’ musician “Weird Al” Yankovic sang in 1996.
It’s been 25 years since legendary music parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic lampooned the Amish, mentioning Mennonites along the way.
Bad Hair Day, Yankovic’s ninth album, was released on this day in 1996. It has sold more than 2 million copies in the United States alone.
A Mennonite World Conference food relief kit. (MWC photo)
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, stories poured in from Mennonite World Conference (MWC) member churches about job losses and hunger in their congregations and communities due to shutdowns. MWC began collecting funds to respond to pandemic-related needs within and through the household of faith.
Phil Campbell-Enns has two compositions in the new hymnal: “Mountain of God” and “Fill Us with Your Feast.” He wrote the latter as part of Leader magazine’s 2007 Lent material. (Screenshot)
Winnipeg pastor and songwriter Phil Campbell-Enns is the latest person featured in a new video series from MennoMedia showcasing Anabaptist contributions to the new Voices Together hymnal.
In the four-and-a-half-minute video, which ends with a performance of the song, Campbell-Enns recalls writing “Fill Us with Your Feast,” which is #309 in Voices Together.
The ‘Lamenting Racism’ team, from left to right: Dave Johnson, Rob Muthiah, John Ragsdale, Tamela Kelly, Jessica Wai-Fong Wong, Abigail Gaines, Anthony Powell and Brian Lugioyo. (Photo courtesy of MennoMedia)
Racial injustice is a blight on our society, yet many Christians have been hesitant to speak up about racism.
Members of several Anabaptist groups in Thailand met together for the first time on Nov. 25, 2020. (Photo courtesy of Pat and Rad Houmphan)
Living Water Church in Borabu, Thailand, was honoured to host the first Anabaptist gathering in that country from Nov. 25 to 27, 2020.
Five Anabaptist missions organizations were represented: Eastern Mennonite Mission, Mennonite Brethren, Brethren in Christ, Rosedale Mennonite Mission, and ourselves: Dayspring Christian Ministries International / The Great Commission Foundation.
John Cornies with his grandson Henry at the Out-Spok’n Bike-A-Thon, MennoHomes Ride for Refuge in support of affordable housing. (Photo courtesy of the Cornies family)
“Leadership can be rewarding as well as lonely,” wrote the late John Cornies in his memoir. “I have, however, felt God's leading and calling in these endeavours. While I felt that God called and equipped me when placed in positions of leadership, my human failings got me into difficulties at times. And yet, I have felt blessed by a very generous God throughout these experiences."
Mennonite Disaster Service personnel present a homeowner with keys after rebuilding her home. (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
Mennonite Disaster Service didn’t let the COVID-19 pandemic stop it from having a banner year.
In a seven-minute video released on YouTube last Saturday, the binational organization—which cleans up, repairs and rebuilds homes that have experienced a disaster—outlines the unexpected opportunities and unexpected blessings that 2020 brought.
Francine Mukoko, standing at right, a public health graduate and the first university graduate from the Communauté Mennonite au Congo community in Bateke, presents public-health advice in Teke, the local language. (Photo courtesy of Seraphin Kutumbana)
Congregations across Mennonite Church Canada have matched a $50,000 donation made by the nationwide church to a COVID-19 relief fund operated by Mennonite World Conference (MWC).
The fund, which is part of MWC’s Global Church Sharing Fund, helps MWC-member churches struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bob Ratelle does cleanup in the kitchen at Scott St. Church in St. Catharines, Ont., after making meals made possible by support from the MDS Canada Spirit of MDS Fund. (MDS photo)
After a successful first year, Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada has announced a new round of funding from its Spirit of MDS Fund.
The 2021 round of funding started Jan. 31 and runs to April 30. It will provide grants up to $2,500 to Canadian Anabaptist/Mennonite congregations.
Hayat Mohammad, 10, and Ali al Sheikh, 11, participate in psychosocial activities sponsored by the Popular Aid for Relief and Development to help children deal with the trauma of the massive explosion in Beirut last summer. (Photo courtesy of PARD)
Eight of Alice Joubanian’s grandchildren—all under eight years old—lived with her and her daughter in a Beirut camp for Armenian refugees when a massive explosion of ammonium nitrate rocked the city on Aug. 4, 2020.
Christians pray in Myanmar’s Chin State. (MC Eastern Canada file photo by Brian Bauman)
Mennonite Church Canada calls on the nationwide community of faith to pray for the people of Myanmar. Pray also for our Myanmar siblings here in Canada. They are deeply concerned for their loved ones and the effect that recent actions will have on peace within Myanmar.
‘There are a boatload of songs in the works,’ says singer-songwriter Paul Bergman. (Photo by Ken Bergman)
It’s been more than five years since Paul Bergman’s last album, but the wait for new music is over.
“I Just Want to Walk in the Dark with You,” a three-minute single from the southern Manitoba singer-songwriter, is out today.
Colin Friesen, far left, participates in a panel discussion at Conrad Grebel University College in early 2019. (Conrad Grebel University College photo)
Christian theology, ministry and the Bible are complex topics that can be studied using various approaches at Conrad Grebel University College (Waterloo, Ont.), whose master of theological studies (MTS) program offers students three distinct paths to complete their degree: course work, applied studies and thesis.
Nindyo Sasongko, pictured in 2019, is one of the founders of a theology discussion channel on YouTube called “@Theovlogy.” (Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/nindyo.sasongko)
Nindyo Sasongko believes theology should be publicly available to a wider audience. His experiment in online discussions began in late 2018. When the pandemic hit last year, “@Theovlogy” increased in frequency to meet the demand for online means of connecting.
Waterloo Region music teacher Melinda Metzger with her copy of Voices Together.
It may be aimed at children, but everyone will learn something from a video exploring the new Voices Together hymnal.
The video walks viewers through everything that is on a hymnal page, as well as many of the hymnal’s indices. Melinda Metzger, a Waterloo Region music educator, created the video for the Sunday morning children’s time at St. Jacobs (Ont.) Mennonite Church.
High-profile Nazi officials toured the Mennonite colonies in occupied Ukraine. During his 1942 visit to Molotschna, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and an architect of the Holocaust, exchanged greetings with Mennonite surgeon Johann Klassen. (Mennonite Heritage Centre photo [Alber Photo Collection])
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has initiated research into how national socialism (Nazism) shaped the contexts in Europe and Paraguay where MCC operated in the 1930s and ’40s, and how, at the time, MCC engaged with the German National Socialist government and worked to resettle Mennonite refugees from the Soviet Union.
‘I Am Not Your Enemy’ is the Common Read book for winter 2021. (Photo courtesy of MichaelMcRay.com)
Mennonite Church Canada, Mennonite Church USA and Herald Press began partnering in September to encourage Mennonites to engage in a “common read,” a shared reading experience focused on specific books written to nurture Christian faith in this cultural moment.
The United States Capitol, pictured prior to Wednesday’s attack. (Photo by Joshua Sukoff/Unsplash)
Mennonite Church Canada has released a statement and prayer in response to Wednesday’s violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.:
'O What a Christmas It’s Gonna Be' by the WhizBang Shufflers is part of Canadian Mennonite's 2020 Christmas Playlist.
If you’re missing the songs you are used to singing and hearing in church at this time of year, Canadian Mennonite has just the thing for you.
Magdalene Redekop (right), a professor emerita of English at the University of Toronto who grew up in a conservative Mennonite community in Manitoba, argues in her new book that 'art provides a space where we can deal with the crisis of representation by making believe together and by participating in dialogue.'
Ancient cave drawings illustrate that artistic expression is endemic to humanity. And throughout history, artists have pushed boundaries and come into conflict with their communities.
Mennonite Church Eastern Canada staffers Fanosie Legesse (left) and Norm Dyck, pictured last year by the sign in front of the Meserete Kristos Church in Mekelle. Mekelle is the capital city of the Tigray region, which is at the centre of the war in Ethiopia. (Photos courtesy of Mennonite Church Canada)
Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) held a nationwide fasting and prayer for peace on Nov. 16.
In response to Hurricane Eta, MCC staff member James Helmuth, left, and volunteer Edgar Hernandez load vehicles with relief kits that will be delivered to the Q’eqchi’ Mennonite Church in the Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala. The church will distribute the kits, which contain towels, hygiene and laundry supplies, to people affected by flooding. (MCC photo by Jardely Martínez)
After two hurricanes in two weeks flooded several countries in Central America twice, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is providing emergency food and supplies and making longer-term plans to help with recovery.
Dona Park of Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C., was commissioned to illustrate the logo and banner for the Women Doing Theology webinar series. (Photo courtesy of Dona Park)
Working with the theme of “What we need is here,” young Canadian artist Dona Park of Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C. was commissioned to illustrate the logo and banner for the Women Doing Theology webinar series for Mennonite Church U.S.A.
John Roth, a professor at Goshen College in Goshen, Ind., is general editor of the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. (Photo courtesy of Goshen College)
Whether you’re looking for historical background for an academic paper, a church anniversary story, or to confirm a detail like “when was the Mennonite World Conference Assembly held in Curitiba, Brazil?” the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online can help you.
Congregations around the world seek to be compliant with local public health recommendations while meeting to support each other and worship together. Pictured, a worship service in Zimbabwe is socially distanced. (Mennonite World Conference photo)
The 12 Mennonite World Conference (MWC) regional representatives gather online every quarter to reflect on the struggles and joys of the Anabaptist churches in their regions. During its latest gathering, the representatives shared the burdens and creative resilience they see in their churches in response to COVID-19.
Struggles
