Viewpoints

Does religion make people intolerant?

Predictably, CBC jumped on the story of presumed Bible Belt intolerance.

Radio host Esther Horch, 1958

Radio host Esther Horch interviews school children live on a Saturday morning broadcast of Children’s Party in 1958. This education and entertainment show for children aired daily on CFAM from Altona, Man. Founded in 1956 by Mennonite shareholders, CFAM could reach 90 percent of Manitoba’s population.

Readers write: October 12, 2015 issue

Relationships in an age of ‘impacts and outcomes’

Re: “The future of MCC,” Aug. 31, page 11.

Certainly relationship has been at the core of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) for many years. But is that still really the case?

Recapturing the momentum of reconciliation

Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission events, there has been limited movement and engagement for local churches with regard to first nation relationship development.

Jesus in a world in upheaval

A number of weeks ago I boarded a plane in Toronto for Istanbul. It’s a long flight—more than nine hours—and I secretly hoped that the seat beside me would remain empty so I could stretch out and sleep. It wasn’t to be. A young man in his late 20s plopped down beside me. I did the polite thing and introduced myself. “I’m Armi,” he replied.

Adopted and given my wings

I was born in Bukavu in Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaïre). My parents were polygamous so I didn’t have a great family structure. I grew up Roman Catholic and then, at age 17, I was baptized in the Pentecostal church. As a child, life in Congo was extremely difficult.

Readers write: September 28, 2015 issue

Mennonite museum can help redress grievous wrongs of the past

Global gifts

Mennonite Church Canada’s history of engaging our global neighbours in mission and international church relations began more than 100 years ago. Since that time, the worldwide church has grown significantly. Almost two-thirds of the global Anabaptist community today is African, Asian or Latin American.

Tribalism

Tribes are good (essential, I said in my last column). And yet there is danger when tribal extremes become virulent tribalism. Such tribalism takes what is good and life-giving about a bounded group and morphs it into a destructive, negative force. It proclaims the superiority of one group over another.

‘Wholehearted giving’

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (II Corinthians 9:7).

The ‘terroir’ of church

During our 13 years in Niagara, my wife and I grew to appreciate the beauty and complexity of the winemaking process. Wine is fascinating to me. So is its intimate connection with the Christian faith. Consider how significant Jesus made wine to our understanding of redemption.

The long path back to the Bible

“I am 86 years old now and I am confused.” The e-mail came from a Canadian Mennonite reader who was referring to references in this magazine to myth and metaphor in the Bible.

Nurse Katherine Dyck, 1956

The Canadian Mennonite collection, Mennonite Archives of Ontario

Mennonite Central Committee nurse Katherine Dyck poses with mothers and twins in Pusan, Korea, in 1956. Born in Russia in 1925, she immigrated to Rosthern, Sask., and worked as a nurse in Saskatchewan and Maryland before beginning service in Korea in 1953.

Readers write: September 14, 2015 issue

MWC should celebrate mission conference in 2027

How do you pray?

“There are no atheists in foxholes.” So goes the maxim with roots in the Second World War. Caught in a pinch, surrounded by stress and fear, most human beings turn to some higher power. In fact, one must rationalize away the desire to beseech the divine from deep holes.

Staying put

My family and I moved from Vancouver to Regina in July and are slowly searching for a faith community. So far we’ve attended two churches close to where we live, and with which we would feel comfortable, theologically. When we arrived (late) at both services, the first thing I noticed was that there were mostly older folks sitting in the chairs.

Anna Thiessen, Winnipeg missionary

Photo from Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies/Mennonite Archival Image Database

Missionary to the city of Winnipeg, Anna Thiessen, is seated with some girls she worked with in 1919. Rural life has been an important part of Mennonite life and self-understanding. The city was seen as dangerous and unhealthy and therefore shunned. Mennonite Brethren missionary Anna Thiessen was one of the first Canadian Mennonites who chose to work in the city, beginning in 1915.

Gathering footprints of faith at Mennonite World Conference assembly

The Mennonite Women Canada quilt gathered 160 footprints at MWC assembly. (Photo by Liz Koop)

Antje van Dijk stopped by the Mennonite Women Canada display to chat with Liz Koop. Van Dijk coordinates women’s groups in the Netherlands. (Photo by Liz Koop)

Liz Koop met Ekien-E-Kiag Baudouin, who is planting a Mennonite Church in Durban, South Africa. He wants to connect women from South Africa with women from Canada. (Photo by Liz Koop)

I can hardly find words to describe the experience of worshipping, singing, eating and fellowshipping with about 7,500 others at Mennonite World Conference (MWC) assembly, held in Harrisburg, Pa., this summer. We came from so many different countries, speaking so many different languages, yet connected to each other by a common confession of faith. What an amazing and inspiring week it was!

The future of MCC

In 1967 Gary Dewarle of Saskatoon (in the checked shirt) helped to build a road at a refugee camp near Saigon, South Vietnam. (Mennonite Archives of Ontario photo)

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has long been part of the DNA of the North American Anabaptist church, linking us to the world and providing a sense of relation to “the least of these.” It has served as an informal seminary, immersing thousands of us in realities that have enriched us and, in turn, enriched our friends, family and the church. But that is changing.

Readers write: August 31, 2015 issue

Mennonites should denounce Canadian arms sales

Engaging change, pursuing the Spirit

Life is never static. As I transition from eleven years of leadership with Mennonite Church Canada into a season of semi-retirement and new opportunities, I’m struck by the parallels between the endemic and essential aspects of change in personal life and in church life.

In fond farewell, I offer a few reflections on change for the church.

Tribes

On a recent visit to extended family, I greeted my nephew’s wife Emily and their year-old son Kenneth. She immediately thrust her child out to me, introducing him to his “auntie from away.” Like a thirsty desert traveller, I drank in the sweetness of the youngest family member, who settled without protest into my eager arms, stranger though I was to him.