Fanosie Legesse, intercultural mission minister for MC Eastern Canada, gave two keynote presentations. Photo by Darryl Neustaedter Barg.
Delegates welcomed a new congregation into Mennonite Church Manitoba and passed a resolution to endorse a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty at the regional church’s annual gathering on March 1-2.
Cedar Valley Church in Mission, B.C., often has a full parking lot, and not just on Sunday mornings. Each week, 500 to 1,000 people enter the doors of the church building to meet with various groups using space there.
Fran Schiller
Fran Schiller, 87, grew up on a farm near Goshen, Indiana, the ninth of 10 children. She attended Goshen College, where she found her faith strengthened and her eyes opened to a new world beyond life on the farm.
Danforth Mennonite Church in Toronto. Photo by Madalene Arias.
When the people of Danforth Mennonite Church in Toronto realized they needed to carry on without a pastor, they took a closer look at “the things that a pastor really does.”
Myrna Ewert (l-r), Vicky Toporchak, Betty Friesen, Tami-Lynn Lehr, Mary Jean Nicholson, Alvie Martens and Denise Bartel in the kitchen of North Star Mennonite Church in Drake, Saskatchewan. Photo by Will Braun.
As Mennonite Church Saskatchewan business played out in the sanctuary of North Star Mennonite Church in Drake on March 9, a group of women were doing church in the basement. On lunch prep duty were (left to right) Myrna Ewert, Vicky Toporchak, Betty Friesen, Tami-Lynn Lehr, Mary Jean Nicholson, Alvie Martens and Denise Bartel.
Meserete Kristos Church leaders visited a conflict region in Ethiopia in June 2021. Left to right: Gelagay Himiru, Tilahun Wase, Desalegn Abebe, Abayneh Anjulo and Addisu Legesse. Photo courtesy of Mennonite World Conference.
Violence has devastated Meserete Kristos Church (MKC), the Mennonite body in Ethiopia. As of February 12, armed groups had burned 49 MKC churches to the ground, looted and damaged another 81 churches, and killed 1,231 MKC members, including 31 church leaders.
Photo by Tomer Applebaum
Maoz Inon is an Israeli Jewish social entrepreneur and peace advocate. During a February online event—Part I of the Peace & Possibility events—he shared the story of his parents being murdered by Hamas and his family’s astonishing journey to peace.
Hildi Froese Tiessen, a scholar of Mennonite literature, has published a collection of essays that span 50 years. Supplied photo.
A new book celebrates the work of one of the foremost scholars of Mennonite literature.
Bill Block, a retired pastor in Winnipeg, turned 90 last month. Photo by Aaron Epp.
From southern Manitoba to B.C., and from Idaho to India, Bill Block had a long and varied career as a pastor.
Photo by Kevin Barkowsky.
With the theme of “Stuck Together,” delegates from all 23 congregations rejoiced together, wrestled with a budget deficit and welcomed a new church plant at the 2024 Mennonite Church B.C. annual meeting.
Photo of John Stoesz Land back by Makoce Ikikcupi - from Facebook
For John Stoesz, making land reparations to Indigenous communities is a way to follow Jesus.
A Mennonite colony in Campeche state, Mexico. Photo by Anika Reynar.
At 9 a.m., it was already hot and humid in Hopelchén, a small city in the Yucatán peninsula. A collective of Maya farmers had gathered in the shaded courtyard outside the home where we were staying. We could hear laughter and chatter over the wall as we returned from our morning walk.
Photo by Tjflex2/flickr
First Nations in Saskatchewan are in conflict with the provincial government regarding the sale of Crown land.
Photo by Artur Roman/Pexels
Our farmyard opened from its treelines to the south and southwest. A mile south, I could see the shelterbelts surrounding my paternal grandmother’s 1870s homestead. A few farmyards were dotted out in the horizon in the southwest, but looking that direction was mostly for watching weather systems develop, dissipate or roll in.
A portion of an 1821 survey showing part of the Haldimand Tract area in southern Ontario (Wikicommons).
A most promising possibility for a tangible response by churches to past injustice in the Six Nations Grand River lands conflict came from a conversation I had after the monthly meeting of the Haudenosaunee Council at Onondaga Longhouse on Saturday, March 3, 2007.
Stirling Ave. Mennonite Church. Photo by Randy Culp/Google.
Ten years ago, Adrian Jacobs of the Six Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy proposed a Spiritual Covenant with Mennonite churches located on the Haldimand Tract. One Kitchener church is now looking closely at that challenge.
Christine and Tom Poovong, pictured with their children, Joseph and Phimchanok, are MC Canada International Witness workers in northeastern Thailand. Supplied photo.
Two Mennonite Church Canada International Witness workers are at the centre of an initiative to train, mentor and support church leaders in Thailand.
Students at the Friends of Grace Bible School in Thailand. Photo courtesy of Mennonite Church Canada.
People gathered for the opening of Friends of Grace Bible School. Photo courtesy of Mennonite Church Canada.
Celebration of the opening of Friends of Grace Bible School. Supplied photo.
The Friends of Grace Bible School recently opened in the Issan area of Thailand. This school, supported by Mennonite Church Canada, will hold classes in the Friends of Grace Roi Et church. A Bible school had long been a dream for Friends of Grace, a network of about 100 worshipping groups in Laos and Thailand.
Khan (Isaac) Gatkuoth, left, at Meserete Kristos Seminary in Ethiopia. Photo by Joanne De Jong.
A recent article in Anabaptist World stated there were no known Anabaptist congregations in South Sudan. Praise God that that is no longer the case.
North Star Mennonite Church and Prairie Light Christian Fellowship celebrate a New Years meal together. Supplied photo.
Big buildings; fewer people. It’s a fact that many Mennonite churches have fewer people involved in church life than they did 20 years ago.
Gareth Brandt's painting, "A Baptism by Choice," shows the fountain from which the water for the first Anabaptism baptism was taken. (Supplied image.)
The story of Anabaptist origins came to life on Sunday, January 21, as Gareth Brandt marked the 499th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement with a presentation of art and spoken word.
Valley Road Church held its first service on January 7 in Kelowna, B.C. (Supplied photo.)
The new year has brought a new church to the Glenmore area of Kelowna, and it has given an old church building new life. Valley Road Church, a ministry of Mennonite Church B.C., held its first worship service on January 7 with Jordan Pilgrim as pastor.
‘From Here to There’ includes full-scale reproductions of some of Alvin Pauls’ large mural pieces. (Supplied photo.)
When it comes to making art, Alvin Pauls isn’t concerned with the outcome.
“It’s all in the doing,” the Winnipeg artist says. “The end result is not important.”
Dressed in a black sweater over a brown turtleneck, jeans and blue slip-on shoes, Pauls is walking around “From Here to There,” a retrospective exhibit of his work at MHC Gallery. His energy belies his 81 years.
Margaret Balzer of Langham, Saskatchewan. (Supplied photo)
Welcome to “Life in the 80s,” a semi-regular series in which we ask people in their 80s or 90s to share their wisdom.
Levi Foy (left), executive director of Sunshine House, stands with Crow Hart, drop-in program assistant, in the basement of First Mennonite Church.
It’s brighter than ever in the basement at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg.
Sunshine House, a community drop-in and resource centre, is operating there temporarily while its headquarters undergoes renovations.
The organization, which offers programming focused on harm reduction and social inclusion, moved into the church at the beginning of November.
