Jonathan Neufeld is the Indigenous relations coordinator for Mennonite Church Canada.
During the Papal visit to Canada in the summer of 2022, observers and news-watchers likely caught glimpses of banners and heard chants to reject or repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery. For some, this may have been a first introduction to the Doctrine; for others it represented decades of work to bring the Doctrine out of the shadows and into the light.
'I hear and feel two different narratives—one about keeping the doors open and another about bursting out of the doors on a mission.' (Photo by Manuel Hodel/Unsplash)
“I am convinced more so now than ever before that every neighbourhood deserves a Jesus-centred, disciple-making peace presence.” Norm Dyck starts the 2022 Church Planting Resource from Mennonite Church Eastern Canada with that conviction.
A mural in San Salvador shows Oscar Romero surrounded by peasants. (Photo by Will Braun)
It’s not easy to come up with fresh, new material for Easter, so we dug up something nearly 500 years old instead. We’re putting the “Menno” in Canadian Mennonite, literally—the original Menno.
(Photo by Wall in Palestine/Flickr)
In our feature article, Carol Ann Weaver tells of two Mennonite evangelists who imposed a ban on musical instruments decades ago. It’s tempting to marvel at how utterly unenlightened such a response to perceived wrong now seems. Banning feels so backward.
(Photo by Will Braun)
(Photo by Will Braun)
I prefer books and sky to screens and Hollywood, but the fact that kerchief-clad colony women will appear on-screen at Hollywood’s biggest event creates a moment of opportunity for our church.
(Photo by Gift Habeshaw/Unsplash)
Two readers recently wrote to me with concerns. “Over the years that we have received [CM],” wrote a Manitoba couple, “we have detected a constant shift toward liberal theology. . . . de-emphasizing evangelism, Christ’s life and ministry, and his death for our salvation.”
(Photo released by Lockheed Martin)
I thank God for moments when people share their hearts.
Mennonite demographics have shifted greatly over the centuries. Perceptions need to follow. (Design: Betty Avery)
I grew up happily embedded in white Mennonite culture in rural Manitoba. Our family regularly travelled to Winnipeg and on the edge of the city we would pass a Chinese Mennonite church. I never visited, heard about, read about or asked about that church. I just saw that sign and wondered vaguely how we all fit together.
This was the quiet view out of Braun’s window as he wrote about Advent.
Sometimes I wish the perennial efforts to wring some fresh meaning from amidst the hecticness of Advent would abate. It feels like open season for religious cliches and uninteresting comments about busyness, when all I want is silence.
Today, in the town where the Prince of Peace was born, a concrete wall hems in local residents. (Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)
Bethlehem Bible College sits within walking distance of the birthplace of Jesus and about 200 metres from the eight-metre-high concrete wall that hems in Palestinians such as those who lead and attend the college.
Peter and Elfrieda Dyck share a laugh during a commissioning for an MCC speaking tour in 1994. (MCC photo/Canadian Mennonite files)
Let me share some wishes for Canadian Mennonite, which are largely my prayer for the overall endeavour of faith. These are topics I’m drawn to and challenges I note.
(Photo by Climate Reality Project/Unsplash)
Movies and TV shows about journalism always catch my attention. How do publishing enterprises work? How do reporters and editors gather information? How are decisions made about the content that the public will see?
Here are questions that readers have about the content you read on the print and web pages of Canadian Mennonite.
Celebrating 25 years of Canadian Mennonite (Graphic by Betty Avery)
Canadian Mennonite publisher Tobi Thiessen and executive editor Virginia A. Hostetler reflect on the magazine's 25th anniversary:
Tobi Thiessen, Publisher
(Photo by Gaelle Marcel/Unsplash)
I once knew a young child for whom change was extremely difficult. Whether the change came as a surprise or whether the child anticipated the happy results of an expected change, it was hard to move from “here” to “there.” Change can be difficult for people of all ages.
Stella and Rebecca Liu of Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church help file documents and shelve books in the former Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, Ont. In the summer of 2019 Mennonite youth and leaders participated in a Mennonite Disaster Service project there to help the Woodland Cultural Centre’s Save the Evidence campaign. “It’s personal, there are names and faces. It’s not just textbook information now,” said one participant. (Photo by John Longhurst)
The Friesen Housebarn at Neubergthal Heritage Site in Altona, Man. (Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/NeubergthalCommons)
First, a disclaimer: I love books. With a father in the bookstore and publishing business, I grew up in a household that always had books available. I’ve volunteered and been employed in a library. I currently own cards to two local libraries. For me, books have been a source of learning, inspiration and connection to people in other places and times.
Fanosie Legesse, part of Mennonite Church Canada’s Intercultural Church Steering Committee, leads a workshop at Gathering 2022 entitled ‘When evangelism meets interculturalism.’ (Photo by Jessica Evans)
In this issue you will find reports about Mennonite Church Canada’s Gathering 2022. Recently over 300 of us met in person and virtually to explore the theme, “We declare.”
(Image by Lars Nissen from Pixabay)
As a self-described church nerd, I love to learn about my larger church family, and I’ve found much to explore online related to the Anabaptist-Mennonite world.
(Pixabay.com by ijmaki)
What are Mennonites up to these days? If you have within reach a smart phone, a tablet or a computer, the world of social media gives a glimpse into the larger Mennonite community.
So, who wants to be weird? Is “countercultural” still a descriptor we Mennonites want to claim today? (Photo courtesy of Pixabay)
“When you learn to follow Jesus, you will act a little strange.” This memorable line comes from a song by Mennonite singer/songwriter Bryan Moyer Suderman. Besides being an earworm, this simple song encourages children, youth and adults to consider what their lives will look like as they’re learning to walk in the way of Jesus.
(Photo by Ashni on unsplash)
What is a faithful response to the news in the world around us? Canadian Mennonite posed this question in our annual spring fundraising appeal. Each year CM needs to raise $150,000 on top of advertising and subscription revenue to ensure that people across the church, and newcomers online, have access to the important church stories of today.
(Photo by Samantha Borges/Unsplash)
When you hear the words “church,” the first thing that pops into your head is probably not “tech team.” And yet, as we’ve lived through two years of pandemic worship, those folks operating the video camera, microphones and the Zoom controls have been vital to the church’s life together. The people managing the congregation’s YouTube channel and Facebook page have played important roles.
(Photo by Johny Goerend on Unsplash)
This editorial is not about abortion. Or maybe it is.
I write this on the day after Mother's Day, at a time when conversations are intense about the rightness or wrongness of ending a woman’s pregnancy. There is a lot to be said about the medical, legal and religious aspects of abortion, but not by me right now.
(Photo by Priscilla Du Preez/Unsplash)
“How do we speak of our faith in a society of many faiths and no faith, a society that has seen all too well the harm the church can inflict in the name of Jesus?”
Pope Francis, pictured from behind in 2016. (Photo by Nacho Arteaga/Unsplash)
On April 1, 2022, the world witnessed a remarkable event. On that day Pope Francis addressed a group of Indigenous people with the words, “I am very sorry.”
(Image by Gerd Altmann/Pixabay)
I have a vivid childhood memory of hearing my mother read C.S. Lewis’s book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Chapters 14 and 15 tell the story of the battle between life and death: the horrific killing of the hero, Aslan, the grieving of his faithful friends, and his triumphant emerging into life once again.
