A Culture of Appreciation

We build a culture of appreciation by noticing what happens around us. Work done by worship committees, worship leaders, song leaders, children’s story tellers, decorating committees, health and safety committees, deacons. Work done by our paid leadership and by our lay leadership. A kind word that says “I see you” goes far in giving people the energy to continue. 

Call to prayer for Burkina Faso

The Evangelical Mennonite Church of Burkina Faso (Mennonite Church Canada’s sibling church through Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission) is calling Mennonite Church Canada to pray for security and peace in their country.

Herald Press, MC USA, and MC Canada begin second year of Common Read

The Common Read continues January 2022 through March 2022 with Been in the Struggle: Pursuing an Antiracist Spirituality by Regina Shands Stoltzfus and Tobin Miller Shearer. Common Read participants can join the authors on a live Zoom event in February. Books are available from CommonWord, MennoMedia, and other retailers.

To Love Our Neighbours

We can’t ever fully enter the experience of another person, but we can get part of the way. All it takes is a bit of empathy, a bit of curiosity, a bit of openness. And a bit of confidence that we, too, have something worth sharing from where we stand.

“Creator’s Call in a Climate Emergency” is a new, online community learning series hosted by Mennonite Church Canada, from Jan. 20 through March 17, 2022.

Hope:  What a beautiful thing to observe!

... I think of the variety of ways that people are immersing themselves in and reflecting one of the core aspects of God’s nature: hope. What a beautiful thing to observe!

Songs of Joy and Resistance

In our narrations and celebrations of Christmas we often gloss over or ignore the looming reality of despair.  Christmas cheer tries to just ignore despair; joy actively fights back against it.

Korean Anabaptist Center celebrates 20 years of resourcing, networking and service

On Dec. 11, 2021, the Korean Anabaptist Center in Chuncheon, South Korea, celebrated its 20^th anniversary.

imagining god's embrace

...for if it is our wish to experience the fullness of god’s embrace, we might practice turning from the things that hold us in their embrace … and learn to embrace god … fully.

a little more peace

An interview with Darrel Heidebrecht, author of a little more peace in the world: Reflections on my Experience with Restorative Justice

Mission nurse, educator, mentor and church leader continued ministry in ‘retirement’

Frieda Schellenberg Erb, 81, who touched many lives through her lifetime of ministry in Bolivia and Argentina, died November 14, 2021, in Choele Choel, Argentina.

Be It Resolved

As the Be It Resolved Challenge continues throughout the winter we and others continue to ask:

Are we ready to hear what Indigenous peoples require of us? Are we, as individuals and as the Mennonite Church, fully ready to hear the Truth and take action (not just pass formal resolutions) on Reconciliation?

"May our hearts reflect the hope and generosity of the shepherds, the magi, and most of all our God, who came to us this season in Jesus Christ"

Greetings to you in the Name of the one whose birth we will soon celebrate.  Tis the season of Advent – a season of waiting…waiting in hope and expectation.

Former Witness worker offers leadership coaching in Angola and Congo

Travelling from Canada to meet with Congolese and Angolan church leaders in Africa, Rudy Dirks is struck not by the cultural, social and economic differences between himself and those he meets, but their similarities.

The Greatest Laugh

Camp Valaqua, sacred space to many in Mennonite Church Alberta, gives birth to stories, stories which pass down through generations. 

“Both despair and hope have come to life for me in deeper ways”

I spoke with Kari Miller about her experience at COP26, what she witnessed and what role she believes the church plays in the climate crisis.

Bill C-15 ‘a tangible win’ for Indigenous rights

It’s been nearly five months since Indigenous leaders, activists and members of faith communities across Mennonite Church Canada celebrated the passing of Bill C-15

And this is your family…

Have you ever been introduced to a distant relative for the first time – maybe you didn’t even know they existed – and yet you immediately felt a connection with them?  After all, they are family!  Well, as part of a global Anabaptist family, we have family members all around the world, most of whom we have never met.  Yet we have deep bonds that connect us, deeper than our last name, cultural foods or language. 

Mennonite Church Canada announces speakers and registration fees for Amplify! 2022

Mennonite Church Canada is pleased to announce keynote speakers for Amplify!, the nationwide Youth Gathering happening next summer in Alberta at Camp Valaqua from July 31 to August 4, 2022.

God is closer to us than water is to a fish

...for the entire time, it felt like I was totally immersed in water. All was calmness – around me, in me, and through me.  

COP26 a chance to cultivate our garden

Truth be told, I am nervous to be attending COP26. Many reports on social media are declaring this climate summit to be of absolute importance, that the state of the global climate crisis rests upon the shoulders of those who will be negotiating.

ISR signs on to ecumenical letter of solidarity for Wet'suwet'en land protectors

Indigenous-Settler Relations is a signatory on an ecumenical letter of solidarity urging the federal government to halt the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

“We are in a climate emergency” – a statement from Mennonite Church Canada leaders

Climate scientists have been sounding the call for decades, and the urgency of this call is being emphasized again at the COP26 Climate Summit happening in Glasgow, Scotland.

Letting Go and Holding On

Letting go of the familiar can be hard. Taking time to process and to incorporate people's concerns can help.

Creation Care resource a timely tool for congregations

Senior environmental studies students from The King’s University in Edmonton have compiled a creation care resource for Mennonite Church Canada congregations.

Embodying Christ as Community

The image of being a body together also affirms a sense of unity and togetherness that is found through our calling in Christ. It highlights the sense of cooperation, of working together as a team, of valuing the different pieces that together make up the whole.

"An all-encompassing vision that includes justice, peace and anti-oppression"

Jack Suderman talks about his new book The Baby and the Bathwater and the importance of holding on to God’s vision for the church.

International Witness Support Networks: A Pastoral Reflection

International Witness Sunday reminds us that ours is a global church and gives us an opportunity to celebrate the work God is doing around the world.

Monologues from the margins and imaginative meditations: an interview with Laura Funk

In her new book, People and Places of Sacred Interior Spaces, spiritual director Laura Funk provides opportunities for imaginative walks of faith through guided meditations, and monologues inspired by the Jewish tradition of Midrash.

Kindness and Gentleness

We are God’s Church after all, so where or how do we manifest the fruits of Kindness and Gentleness in this moment in time?  Isn’t that the million dollar question?

Meet Steven -- our Church Engagement Minister

Whatever your God-given giftings and/or passions are, there is a place for you in the body that only you can fill. It is my goal to work to connect those pieces.

A message from Mennonite Church Canada’s executive ministers on religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccines

A message from Mennonite Church Canada’s executive ministers on religious exemption from COVID-19 vaccines

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation an opportunity for church to confess and strive towards justice

While residential schools were funded by the federal government, churches were contracted to run them. The legacy of harm done in the name of Christ is something that Christian churches continue to grapple with; the Mennonite Church is no exception.

My journey with the Israel-Palestine Issue

I think I assumed that he was a convert from Islam. I assumed that all Palestinians were Muslims. That was how the media presented Palestinians. It wasn’t until I went on a learning tour with MCC in 2016 that I finally realized that Palestinian Christians are the heirs of the early church.

CommonWord presents Tongue-Tied for Fall 2021 Common Read title

The Common Read title for Fall 2021 is Tongue-Tied: Learning the Lost Art of Talking About Faith by Sara Wenger Shenk.

Busy Bees

In this exhausting cultural moment, it has seemed to me that we desperately need to hear from and to hear about a God who forgives our sin and stupidity, who loves us in spite of our weary cluelessness, who speaks kindness to all of our sadness and resignation, who offers grace in the midst of all our uncertainty and inadequacy.

International Witness Sunday 2021 focusses on vision, hope, healing

Mennonite Church Canada invites congregations across its nationwide community of faith to celebrate International Witness Sunday on October 24, 2021.

Quiet

The sound of your kids enjoying this place has been music to my camp-starved ears, but today I am relishing the quiet.

Witness workers in China return to Canada to finish their term of service

After 30 years of serving in Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland of China, Witness workers Tobia and George Veith are returning to Canada.

Youth Gathering 2022 at Camp Valaqua about listening for the love of God

Amplify! Giving voice to what we’ve seen and heard at Camp Valaqua will be an opportunity for youth ages 12-18 to gather in worship, spend time in nature, recharge their spirits and meet like-minded youth from across the country.

Bridges in an Age of Division

I pray that we may continue to build bridges in response to God’s vision for the world and experience the deep blessings that come!

Step by Step: Werner and Joanne go to Ethiopia

Follow along with Werner and Joanne De Jong as they transition from pastoral work in Edmonton,  Alberta to Meserete Kristos Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Mennonite Church Canada announces theme for Gathering 2022 in Edmonton

Co-hosted with Mennonite Church Alberta, We Declare: What We Have Seen and Heard will be an opportunity for members of the nationwide church to re-examine what it means to tell the Good News and to share and hear stories of bearing witness to the Gospel of peace.

Press Release: Church Engagement Minister

Mennonite Church Alberta is pleased to announce the hiring of Steven Giugovaz as Church Engagement Minister.

Joani Neufeldt to coordinate Youth Gathering 2022

Mennonite Church Canada is pleased to welcome Joani Neufeldt as Event Coordinator for Youth Gathering 2022 in Alberta.

An “A-peeling” Camp Valaqua Volunteer

“I’m a-peeling cucumbers, carrots, and potatoes.” 

Apologies and Forgiveness?

Since the discovery of the bodies of 215 children at the former Kamloops residential school we have heard the repeated call for an apology from the Roman Catholic Church.

Witness in Wet’suwet’en

Josiah Neufeld and Allegra Friesen Epp were part of a five-person team that spent most of this past June at Unist’ot’en Camp in Wet’suwet’en territory in northern B.C., a place that has become a site of resistance by Indigenous peoples against energy extraction projects for decades, as well as a place of healing and cultural resurgence.

In the following interview, they share what they did at the camp, the conversations they had with Elders, what they learned and what they believe the church’s role is in supporting Indigenous communities on the frontlines.

Our Villages: Varied and Valuable

Reach out to that person you think is doing so well and check in on them, they might not be doing as well as you think they are. We are people who crave connection – make your connections count.

Expanded Belonging

I raised my fist in the air in jubilation and briefly celebrated … before a moment of self reflection took over. I was happy for Andre De Grasse, but I started reflecting on why on earth I felt so connected to him; why it almost felt like when he won, I also won. It is this strange connection I unconsciously sense with all these athletes that wear a uniform with “Canada” written across it, and a kind of disconnection with anyone from another country.

Mennonite Church Canada welcomes new Witness workers in Ethiopia

Mennonite Church Canada International Witness is pleased to announce Werner and Joanne De Jong, from Edmonton, Alberta, as new Witness workers in Ethiopia, working as relief faculty for Meserete Kristos College.

A Million Resources or, the Right One?

We often say that Google can provide a million resources, but CommonWord can provide the right one.  

Grassroots podcast launches for Mennonite Church Canada nationwide family of faith and beyond

If you ask Ryan Dueck and Carrie Lehn, co-hosts of the new podcast The MennoCast, how the idea for the project came about, they will both point a (virtual) finger and say, “It was Moses’ idea.”

Mission worker/administrator planted seeds of good news on four continents

Three months after a cancer diagnosis, Erwin H. Rempel, 76, died June 25, at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Erwin and Angela, his wife of 55 years, served with Mennonite Mission Network and a predecessor agency, Commission on Overseas Mission (COM), on four continents from 1975-2009.

Accept the Invitation. Show up.

My Mennonite identity – shaped by my faith in God as revealed through Jesus – can create an opening for authentic relationship-building with people whose identity and privilege might differ from my own.

Building Community at Camp Valaqua

“We will pray for you in your ministry of mentoring and caring for all who come to camp this summer.”

Moral Foundations, Identity and Gifts

A question: “Can we maintain our identity and welcome the gifts of others?” 

A reflection following King's College, Edmonton's Interdisciplinary Studies conference. 

An Encounter, Embrace, and Embodiment of Christ in Community

As the MCA faith family we are halfway through Year 2 of our 3 Year Action Plan, “Encountering, Embracing, Embodying Christ…in Community”. The past 16 months of health restrictions have forced us to look for different ways to connect with each other and be the community God calls us to be. I am grateful for the many ways God brings people together even during a pandemic, whether within our faith family or beyond.
 

“We cannot stand by silently in the face of injustice”

In a recent Zoom conversation with Mennonite Church Canada International Witness, leaders of Iglesia Cristiana Menonita de Colombia (IMCOL) described how their church is responding to ongoing protests in Colombia and promoting a message of peace to the government.

Response to unmarked graves near Marieval Indian Residential School

We join our siblings in Mennonite Church Saskatchewan as they lament 751 unmarked graves recently found on Cowessess First Nation, near what was once Marieval Indian Residential School:

Ron Janzen: An integral part of the Camp Valaqua community

Ron Janzen, of Springridge Mennonite, Pincher Creek, has been fundraising for the Camp Valaqua Hike-a-thon for over 20 years, often bringing in the most donations. And yet, fundraising is only one part of his contribution to life at Camp Valaqua. 

Reflections from NAIITS symposium 2021

Learn what members of a Mennonite Church Canada delegation to the annual symposium held by NAIITS – an Indigenous Learning Community, learned on June 3-6.

Connecting while Distanced

Isn’t it wonderful that God can bring us together even when other circumstances are pulling us apart? I thank God that we can encounter, embrace and embody Christ in Community, even without gathering face to face.

Forgiveness in Frustration

A plea for forgiveness reaches across all time and space and applies to every human for all eternity.

A Closing Conversation

This week’s Menno Minute features a video dialogue  between Donna Entz and Suzanne Gross.

Mennonite Church Canada joins MCBC in lament of children's remains discovered at residential school

We join our siblings in Mennonite Church British Columbia as they lament the discovery of the remains of 215 children buried at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Indigenous-Settler Relations launches Be it Resolved Challenge in June

This June Indigenous-Settler Relations is launching the Be it Resolved Challenge, a nationwide initiative encouraging Mennonite Church Canada members and congregations to create and commit to new resolutions for Indigenous Justice.

“Listening and learning as guests on Wet’suwet’en territory”

An interview with two team members from the Mennonite Church Canada and Christian Peacemaker Teams accompaniment team at Unist’to’ten

Mennonite Church Canada and Christian Peacemaker Teams form accompaniment team in Unist’ot’en Camp in Wet’suwet’en Territory

Mennonite Church Canada, together with Christian Peacemaker Teams, have responded to an invitation to accompany Unist’ot’en Camp in Wet’suwet’en Territory. Today a group comprised of CPTers and members of Mennonite Church Canada arrived at the camp.

Coping with Covid

The Mennonite Voluntary Service Adventure handbook has no protocol for navigating a global pandemic. And yet, that is the challenge for volunteers and committees in 2020-2021. A challenge for which there is no road map!

Mennonite Church Canada and ecumenical groups across Canada mobilize around Bill C-15

“I don't think that anybody can relax until we actually hear the words ‘royal assent.’ I think we have to be all over this,” says Jennifer Preston, general secretary for Canadian Friends Service Committee, the peace and social justice agency of Quakers in Canada.

On Perspective

Reading Acts leads readers to a place of perspective when facing changes in our society today.

Stuff I Say

A few weeks ago I was invited to speak at Bergthal Mennonite Church. As I was preparing, I started wondering about my “themes” and if I’m prone to saying the same things over and over again.

An interview with Marta Bunnett Wiebe on Germinating Conversations

Marta Bunnett Wiebe, peace and advocacy coordinator for MCC Manitoba shares the context behind the new book, Germinating Conversations: Stories from a Sustained Rural-Urban Dialogue on Food, Faith, Farming and Land, and why it's significant for churches and other community groups.

Young Children and Worship

Last fall, there was such an emptiness.  The joyful weekly connection of young children and loving adults, talking, touching, singing, laughing, praying and exploring Bible stories together was gone.  Our Sunday morning experience had disappeared.  How would we stay connected?  A new idea started percolating and I began recording Bible stories and sharing them with the whole congregation through our weekly community connection email.

Planting a seed of transformation

“The first step is to recognize that (becoming an intercultural church) is a long process,” says Fanosie Legesse, who is a member of Zion Mennonite Church in Elmira, Ont., and intercultural mission minister for Mennonite Church Eastern Canada.

My 3 Ps

“To pray, does not mean to listen to oneself speaking. Prayer involves becoming silent and being silent and waiting until God is heard” – Soren Kierkegaard.

Denominations: Who needs them?

Another successful Faith Studies event!

Call to prayer for church in Colombia

This week our siblings in faith in Colombia are asking us for prayers regarding the wave of protests and violence that has broken out across the country. Protesters took to the streets and called for a national strike today, May 5, in protest of a new tax law that is being proposed that will further repress small business and those living in economic insecurity who are already the hardest hit due to the pandemic. There are also new healthcare and pension reforms that also affect low-income families. 

Witness workers embrace Indigenous names and identities

Dann and Joji Pantoja, Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers in the Philippines, are embracing their Indigenous names and identities.

In a statement published on their website waves.ca in March , the Pantoja’s explain the colonial history their birth names represent and why their Indigenous names are significant to them.

EVENT: Denominations -- Who Needs Them?

Join with others from across MCA for a free online Faith Studies event sponsored by the Congregational Leadership Committee.

This study and conversation will examine the role of broader denominations and local congregation in being the church in today’s world. Does the broader church play a critical role, or is it a distraction from the mission of the local congregation?

I know not why... #338

But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day. 

Peace Africa network develops to nurture peace between Christians and Muslims in Africa

Mennonite Church Alberta representatives were early participants in Peace Africa, including Donna Entz, facilitator of MCA’s North Edmonton Ministry, which builds bridges between different faith communities and invites dialogue between Muslims and Christians. 

My Story

I thank the people in the church, the Canadian government and its people for allowing us to be in Canada, but my heart is still with my people in South Sudan and I think of them all the time.

Let’s talk about our generosity: an interview with Lori Guenther Reesor

In our latest interview Lori Guenther Reesor introduces her new book, shares about why churches struggle to talk about money and why stewardship is not about a budget.

EVENT: Join NEM and PCCI

Peacemakers Confessing Christ International (PCCI)is a network of Mennonites who engage Muslims somewhere in the world.  NEM is now networking with PCCI.   

Please join us for a stimulating discussion about engaging Muslims.  We will meet weekly for 8 weeks in April and May on zoom for one hour starting April 10, every Saturday morning at 9:30 am.   Please spread the word.  Check out some sample videos.  

to sign up contact Donna Entz at lorenanddonna@gmail.com 

Susan Reynar joins Mennonite Church Canada staff

Susan Reynar is the newest addition to the Mennonite Church Canada office. She will serve as executive assistant beginning May 1, 2021.

Mennonite Church Canada responds to Colombia Mennonite Church’s statement against violence; sends letter to Colombian government

Mennonite Church Canada has issued a statement in response to La Iglesia Menonita de Colombia’s (IMCOL) own statement against ongoing violence in its country, and has written a letter to the Colombian government in support of IMCOL and its non-violent witness.

Canada-Colombia relations revived

Mennonites in Colombia and Canada are reinvigorating a 76-year-old relationship. It started last fall when Iglesias Cristianas Menonitas de Colombia (IMCOL)—the Colombian conference of 25 congregations—shared a statement(link is external) about violence, suffering and peacebuilding with Mennonite Church Canada and others.

God of the Impossible

The Bible, it makes no sense. Walking around a city seven times for the walls to come down?  Using trumpets and clay pots for weapons?  People walking through water?  Being fed by ravens? Feeding 5000 from a small lunch? A virgin birth? 

Company of 1000 fund seeks to equip pastors through forgivable loans and tuition grants

Mennonite Church Canada is renewing its call for applicants to the Company of 1000 Study Reserve fund and also for people to become regular donors to the fund.

A Revisiting of Vision and Purpose

At times the process of reviewing of MCA’s Constitution and Bylaws may have felt more like sifting through grains of sand than thinking through important aspects of what it means to be the church. And yet documents like these name important aspects of who we are and what we aspire to be.

Raise hard truths and turn toward healing

In their new book Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization, authors and life partners Elaine Enns and Ched Myers confront hard truths about settler complicity in historic injustices perpetrated against Indigenous peoples and offer a way toward healing.

Through the lens of Enns’ own Mennonite family narrative, they examine the complex reality of how one traumatized people (Mennonites fleeing Ukraine in the early 20th century) unknowingly displaced other traumatized peoples (Indigenous peoples on the Saskatchewan Plains). Equal parts memoir, social-historical-theological analysis and practical workbook, Enns and Myers invite settler Christians (and other people of faith) into a discipleship of decolonization and restorative solidarity.

Building a Vision of Hope

Many of us tend to internalize the idea that building a vision of hope for the future can only be uncovered by looking forward, willing ourselves not only to learn more, but to learn faster, convinced that we must find ourselves on the forefront of some field or industry where we will then, finally, have the capacity to “make a difference.”

Thank you for another successful ADS!

Thank you all for the inspiring and encouraging  Annual Delegate Sessions and all-MCA Worship!  We had a wonderful two days together!     

Highlights from both are now on the ADS page.

You will find both of Werner's messages, the Children's Feature from Sunday morning, the Year in Review plus videos from Doug from MC Canada and our students at CMU. 

If you missed it and heard it was great -- sit down with a cup of tea and catch up! 

Also there are new E3:Year Two resources available.  Find those HERE

Mennonite Church Canada issues call to prayer for Bethlehem Bible College

In the midst of the worst-yet coronavirus outbreak in Palestine, Bethlehem Bible College (BBC) invites us to pray with them for students, staff, faculty, families and all Palestinians.

Indigenous-Settler Relations launches online book club in April

Mennonite Church Canada’s Indigenous-Settler Relations program is running a five-week online book club beginning this April.

The chosen text is Beloved Amazonia, a courageous collection of documents from the Pan-Amazon Synod, including an “apostolic exhortation” to the Church from Pope Francis.

“Carrying the wisdom cultivated from consultations with more than 80,000 people in the Amazon, the result is an urgent and life-giving call for the church to fight for the rights of Indigenous peoples and Mother Earth,” says Steve Heinrichs, director of Indigenous-Settler Relations.

Meet Mennonite Church Canada’s Sustainability Leadership Group

“Leadership and commitment are some of the most critical pieces in helping an organization become more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable in all that it does,” says Tim Wiebe Neufeld, executive minister for Mennonite Church Alberta and chair of Mennonite Church Canada’s Sustainability Leadership Group (SLG).

The SLG focusses on the environmental and social impacts of Mennonite Church activities. It identifies ways the regional churches and Mennonite Church Canada can improve in these areas while remaining economically sustainable.

The Spice in Spicy

As I look back, my memory is filled with faces, names and occasions. Above all else, I see smiles. Contagious smiles.

A life-altering gospel and simple faith

Today, Meserete Kristos Church has over 647,000 members, 1135 local churches and 1,112 church-planting centres, which are growing congregations supported by a mother church. Twenty-seven thousand people were baptized in 2019 alone.

For believers in Canada, this growth is staggering. But for those a part of MKC, the church growth is intimately tied to the church’s history of persecution and the methods it took to survive. Out of these practices developed a robust process for nurturing leaders, who were encouraged to plant churches in their own neighbourhoods and whose gifts were discerned by communities of believers.

Help us spread the word - we're hiring!

Mennonite Church Canada invites applications for the position of executive assistant. The position is full-time and located in Winnipeg, Man. Applicants from across Canada are invited to apply. The start date is May 1, 2021.

The Yeast. The Bread.

May we see Christ in everyone we feed and in all those who join us at the table.

They who Wait upon the Lord

Biblical prophet Isaiah promises that they who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; God is just, and longs to be gracious and show compassion to His creation - Blessed are those who wait for Him! King David waited for God, who with unfailing love redeemed him from sin, set his feet upon a rock, and put a new song of praise in his mouth.

Conrad Grebel offers virtual youth events for congregations across Mennonite Church Canada

Grebel’s Virtual Youth Event: Purpose, Calling and Connection serves two purposes: it provides pastors and youth leaders a well-deserved break from planning a virtual event for their youth and it offers youth a chance to learn about Grebel from current students.

Mennonite Church Canada and Christian Peacemaker Teams create internship opportunity in 2021

Mennonite Church Canada’s Indigenous-Settler Relations (ISR) program has partnered with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) to create a six-month internship for a young leader within the nationwide church to participate in nationwide peacemaking and solidarity work.

Allegra Friesen Epp is from Winnipeg, Man., and graduated in 2020 from Canadian Mennonite University with a degree in Biblical and theological studies and peace and conflict transformation. She is a member of Home Street Mennonite Church.

Congregations launch new websites through MC Canada congregational website hub

Fifteen congregations have launched new websites through the Mennonite Church Canada congregational website hub.

In February 2020 the five regional churches and Mennonite Church Canada launched their new websites, which are part of a website hub created by Barefoot Creative, in Breslau, Ont. Shortly after, twenty-one pilot congregations were invited to join the hub to create new websites.

The platform offers several tools congregations have found useful during the pandemic.

Sometimes a Selfie is a Must

...my camera clicked automatically to my voice-activated call to “Smile”.

“Did I get a good picture? Let’s see.” 

Who are My People?

Who are my people? Who are your people?  Perhaps a healthy starting point for respectful relationships!

Mennonite Church Canada issues call to prayer for Myanmar

Mennonite Church Canada calls on our 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.

“The intersection of peacemaking and storytelling is where I feel alive”: Common Read author discusses peacemaking during online webinar

When McRay was 11 he went on his first trip to Israel and Palestine. He has made 13 trips since then and undertaken graduates studies in conflict resolution at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. Telling stories of conflict resolution has become his life’s work.

“The intersection of peacemaking and storytelling (is) where I (feel) alive,” he said.

I Am Not Your Enemy’s ten chapters tell stories based on McRay’s interviews with activists, peacebuilders and former combatants in conflict areas.

Walking Together -- with so much to Learn

Mennonite Church Canada congregations match $50,000 donation for MWC COVID-19 fund in 2020

Mennonite Church Canada's Joint Council approved a $50,000 donation to the fund in May 2020 and asked congregations to match the amount in their giving for the rest of the year. Congregations across the five regional churches gave $50,946 in 2020, which means Mennonite Church Canada's total contributions to the fund were over $100,000.

Pain and Potential

“All that kills abundant living, let it from the earth be banned: pride of status, race or schooling, dogmas that obscure Your plan. In our common quest for justice may we hallow life’s brief span.”  from the hymn, For the Healing of the Nations

The Challenges of Congregational Leadership

This has obviously been a year of challenge for our congregation. At the same time, we have experimented often and discovered much. 

CommonWord, Herald Press and MC USA partner for Common Read winter title

Common Read encourages Mennonites to engage in a "common read," every few months, promoting specific books written to nurture Christian faith in our current cultural moment.

“Congregations are often looking for recommended titles for small group study,” says Arlyn Friesen Epp, director of CommonWord. “A Common Read book gives our nationwide church an opportunity to engage a topic collectively.”

Prayer and response to violence on Capitol Hill

As leaders of Mennonite Church Canada and its regions, we pray for our siblings in Mennonite Church USA and, together with them, lament the escalation of violence that led to Wednesday’s events on Capitol Hill. We condemn white supremacy and Christian nationalism that are revealing themselves in American and Canadian society.  

Christ is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility. We are called as church communities to be people of God’s Shalom in all that we do.

A prayer for the New Year

God who makes all things new,

help us to embrace the new.

Open our eyes to a future that will look different than the past.

May we grow through and be changed by these strange times.

Mennonite Church Canada International Witness invites Canadian Mennonite congregations to participate in Witness Support Networks

Mennonite Church Canada’s International Witness program invites congregations across its nationwide community of faith to join networks of support for Mennonite Church Canada’s International Witness ministries.

“Being part of the network for the Philippines reminds us that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves. We see the work that is being done in the name of God’s kingdom,” said Marlene Friesen from Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C.

Restoration

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
    to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and release to the prisoners;
² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. --Isaiah 61: 1-2a

Celebrations

I believe that while they may look different, our Advent and Christmas celebrations will be filled with meaning and we prepare to welcome the Christ child, who comes bearing hope, peace, joy, and love.