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Generational Shift at Conrad Grebel University College

Carol Ann Weaver, centre, flanked by her daughter Myra and husband Lyle Friesen, laughs in appreciation as she is toasted and roasted at her retirement party on June 9.

If anyone has been keeping track, Conrad Grebel University College is going through a generational shift in faculty and staff. This spring saw the retirements of James Pankratz as academic dean and Carol Ann Weaver as associate professor of music, with Pankratz being replaced by Trevor Bechtel and Weaver by Timothy Corlis.

Be the hands and feet of Jesus for a week

Stephanie Jorritsma and Emily Enns paint doors outside a client’s home. (Photo: Nick Hamm)

What good can a stranger with no construction skills do in a disaster zone in a week? Quite a bit, it turns out.

Enduring service

Seniors often take on the responsibility of caring for their peers.

Seniors are often pillars of prayer in their churches.

Seniors may lament the loss of the music they hold dear.

It would appear that 65 is the new 40 across Mennonite Church Canada. As Canadians continue to be active into their 60s, 70s and even 80s, so, too, are Mennonites remaining active in their churches well into their senior years.

Menno maids help families survive

Some of the earliest Mennonites to live in large cities in Canada were young women who went to work as domestics in upper-class homes. Before the 1920s, Mennonites were farmers and the city was considered a foreign and dangerous place, but Mennonite refugee families who had fled from Communist Russia in the 1920s sometimes felt they had no choice but to accept work where it was available.

MCC from a Western Canada perspective

In her history of the first 50 years of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada, Esther Epp-Tiessen repeatedly defends the decision to create a separate Canadian MCC, distinct from the older organization with its headquarters in Akron, Pa.

Spring 2014 List of Books & Resources

Theology, Spirituality

Discerning God’s Will Together: Biblical Interpretation in the Free Church Tradition. Ervin R. Stutzman. Cascadia Publishing House, 2013, 175 pages.

Translation breathes new life into old history

“This book launch is 141 years late,” quipped historian Walter Klaassen. He was referring to the recent event celebrating the translation of his great-grandfather’s book, History of the Defenceless Anabaptist Churches from the Times of the Apostles to the Present, that was published by the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada in late 2013.

‘God, you are so cool’

On a hot day, camper Owen Crouse discovers there is nothing like a dip in the pond at Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp, near New Hamburg, Ont.

Megan Anderson, a camper at Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp, paints the face of her counsellor, Rachel Ruby, for a ‘counsellor competition.’

The biggest way that camp has affected me is in my faith and my walk with the Lord. For me, this past summer he led me ever so gently with much more grace than I deserve, all because he loves me.

My camp journey

Kristen Berg, the director of Fraser Lake Camp near Bancroft, Ont., balances her daughter Miriam on her shoulders.

Every summer for as far back as I can remember, I would pack my suitcase a week early in anticipation of going up to Fraser Lake Camp near Bancroft, Ont.

Music camp changed my life

Ontario Mennonite Music Camp staff do their best to look cool at the 2013 talent show. Campers can judge whether they succeeded.

People who attend Ontario Mennonite Music Camp love this camp! They feel welcome and wanted right away, no matter who they are.

New guide to Ontario Mennonite peace history online

What was it like to be a conscientious objector during the Second World War? Did Mennonites participate in the War of 1812? Did Mennonite women contribute to First World War relief efforts? Do Mennonites celebrate Remembrance Day?

Maintaining separation from a wired world

Ongoing debate in the divided Old German Baptist Brethren Church illustrates difficulties that the conservative Anabaptist group continues to face in its efforts to restrict Internet use, says a Bluffton University professor who has studied the church.

Eating like a Mennonite

Munching on a fresh zwieback (because sauerkraut and spring rolls would be too messy to eat on the podium), John Thiesen, archivist at Bethel College’s Mennonite Library and Archives, introduced the 2013 Menno Simons lecturer, Marlene Epp.

Conrad Grebel celebrates 50th anniversary in song

Composer Tim Corlis, left, with Gerard Yun, Kenneth Hull and Mark Vuorinen, conductors of Conrad Grebel University College’s three choirs, who came together to perform Corlis’s musical setting of Psalm 150 on Nov. 30, 2013, at one of the college’s 50th-anniversary events. (CGUC photo)

Composer Tim Corlis, right, is pictured with Lena Williams, who established the Henry A. and Anna Schultz Memorial Fund in memory of her parents. The fund was used to commission Corlis to write a musical setting of Psalm 150 to help Conrad Grebel University College celebrate its 50th anniversary last fall. (CGUC photo)

As home to the Music Department at the University of Waterloo, the culture at Conrad Grebel University College is steeped in harmony. The college hosts dozens of concerts each year: instrumental ensembles, jazz band concerts, vocal performances and choral presentations.

The core never changes

Kathleen Doll, Columbia Bible College’s associate dean of students, relaxes in the commuter lounge with a couple of students.

I was 18 when I first walked on to the Columbia Bible College campus for new student orientation.

Filled with nervous anticipation, I approached the registration table. A young woman smiled and called me by name. Stunned, with no time to dwell on how she could possibly know my name, I was whisked away to my new home.

Things I wish my father had done

We almost missed it on the first pass, buried under the newspapers and magazines that were filling a large recycling bin. If we hadn’t been checking each piece, it would have been discarded unnoticed.

Students say YESS! to creation care

RJC students Trissy Murphy, left, and Katie Laye craft earth-friendly Christmas gifts during the school’s Youth Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability (YESS!) Summit on Nov. 28.

Vincent Massey Community School Drumming Group from Saskatoon, led by principal Ian Wilson, right, were featured in a workshop entitled ‘Living in rhythm with the earth.’

RJC students Jenae Funk, left, and Mackenzie Nicolle express their hopes for the earth on construction paper leaves, which were later added to a large wall mural.

Students in the “Natural building options” workshop, presented by Jesse Ens of Rosthern, Sask., work together to construct a model timber frame house with cordwood walls.

The YESS! Summit wall mural created by students depicts their hope for restoration and renewal of the earth.

A completed model timber frame house with cordwood walls and a living roof, constructed by students during the YESS! Summit held at Rosthern Junior College on Nov. 28.

They had only 20 minutes to create a skit based on a Bible text and a box of props. It was “creation care” up close and personal for the students and staff at Rosthern Junior College (RJC), who took time from their academic schedules to examine their attitudes and habits affecting the environment.

‘A dream which became true’

Finn Klebe, a Grade 11 student from Germany studying at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, is pictured with Jacob Deng of Wadeng Wings of Hope, an organization committed to helping the rural people of South Sudan.

The staff, students and teachers at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, Kitchener, Ont., had the privilege to welcome Jacob Deng, one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” to speak to us in chapel and in class this fall.

MCC is more than thrift stores to MCI students

Jimmy Juma, centre, coordinator of the African Peacebuilding Institute in South Africa, talks with Mennonite Collegiate Institute students Rebecca Giesbrecht, Karina Letkeman, Renee Peters and Sam Schellenberg during MCC Day at the school on Nov. 21, 2013.

Taking learning beyond the regular classroom, Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) invited Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) on Nov. 21, 2013, as guest speakers engaged students in interactive workshops on interfaith dialogue, material resources, an introduction to MCC’s work, and peace in an African context.

A choir that creates community

A choir truly is a community-building venture. Something happens to people when they sing together. They bond, becoming part of something bigger than themselves. Menno Singers, a part of the Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., choral community since 1955, experienced and recognized that earlier this year upon the death of one of our long-time members.

Pornography resource primarily for church leaders

Stephen Siemens is the Restorative Justice Co-ordinator for MCC Canada.

Are Mennonites ready to discuss the ugly facts of pornography? A new resource being published by MCC can help start the conversation.

2013 Fall List of Books & Resources

Theology, spirituality

Flowing with the River: Soundings from my Life and Journey. Sue Clemmer Steiner. Self-published, 2013, 174 pages.

Strengths, weaknesses in final ‘global history’ text

Royden Loewen and Steven Nolt have undertaken a difficult challenge in writing a history of Mennonites in North America. The scope of the project is broad, not only in terms of time and geography, but also in terms of the wide spectrum of theological diversity among Mennonite communities across Canada and the United States.

‘I’ve been everywhere, ma’am’

Wilmer Martin, president and co-owner of TourMagination, sitting front left, and Yvonne Martin, back in sunglasses, enjoy tea while travelling in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on a joint TourMagination/MEDA trip in 2007.

Yvonne Martin, right, observes an irrigation project in Zambia while travelling in 2011.

Yvonne Martin, retired from the Mennonite Savings and Credit Union, and her husband Murray, also retired, have travelled to many places—all of Canada, half of the U.S., and many locations in South and Central America, Europe, Africa, New Zealand and Asia—reminding one of Geoff Mack’s 1962 song, “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man,” sung by Canadian country music icons Stompin’ Tom Connors and Hank Snow

MCI enrolment up

GRETNA, MAN.—At the start of September, Mennonite Collegiate Institute (MCI) eagerly welcomed 142 students for the 2013-14 school year, representing an 8 percent increase from the previous school year and the highest enrolment in three years. In its second year, the combined Grade 7/8 class increased by more than 50 percent, from 13 to 20 students.

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Theology, Spirituality

Theology, spirituality

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