It was a moment of simple joy. You have likely experienced similar moments. Sitting on the grass in the cool shade of a tree, I bit into a fresh peach. It was perfectly ripe. I could smell its rich, fragrant aroma already, before I brought it to my mouth. What a beautiful picture of the way God has designed every aspect of his creation.

Reviewed by Mitchell Martens, associate pastor of youth at Blumenort Community Church.
I’ve been a youth pastor for a little while, and it can sometimes feel like I’m in a rut. Year after year goes by, and things more-or-less stay the same. For me, this is sometimes discouraging, but it can feel overwhelming to think about how we might change things up. How can we be sure that something new will actually work? How can we know our changes will do what we hope they will?

The ministry began in South Sudan almost 20 years ago, but in recent years fighting and unrest have pushed us south over the border into Uganda. Northern Uganda hosts many refugee camps with over one million South Sudanese refugees. Our main focus is a holistic church planting training developed with African partners. The training includes teaching and tips on self-sustainability. God is using the training to impact and change people, their families, and their communities!

Living and working in the North End of Winnipeg for the last 18 years, I have learned it is easy to get consumed in the pain, trauma, loss and tragedy, and to lose track of gifts and strengths. But it is important to me to have an appreciative inquiry lens in the work I do in the North End community.

We are grateful to God for his unwavering guidance, which often exceeds our own plans and expectations. The year began with the establishment of new connections and partnerships, enabling us to train previously untrained leaders in unexplored locations and territories.

The math of Psalm 145 according to Abbeydale Christian Fellowship may leave some readers perplexed … but like the Ethiopian eunuch’s confusion, it can be explained. Apparently, Calgary is home to people of 240 different ethnic origins, speaking 120 different languages.

Church camp is a highlight for many people at Stony Brook Fellowship. We enjoyed being together and connecting as a church family during this event held June 9–11, 2023.

On June 9, 2023, Straffordville EMC was privileged to host the Watoto Children’s Choir.

On July 16, 2023, MacGregor EMC was pleased to baptize and welcome into membership Sara Thiessen, and Isabelle Toews, pictured with Pastor Russell Doerksen.

For almost three decades, students have found a sense of community, peer support, pastoral care, counselling and more at Menno Office on the University of Manitoba campus. Menno Office a campus ministry supported by the Inter Mennonite Chaplaincy Association (IMCA), is a shared ministry of Mennonite church conferences that appoint members to serve on the board. Shortly after the IMCA was formed in 1995, Len Loewen was appointed to the board and served as IMCA’s treasurer from May 1996 until his retirement in May 2023.

Church members gather in a school auditorium, singing worship songs in both Cantonese (the mother tongue for most people in Hong Kong) and Mandarin. The Chinese languages share a script that contains thousands of characters. Through the internet and the globalization of church music, people who can’t read the script can now find a translated version of the songs to understand and sing along. 

For Amanda McDougall-Merrill, Mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, volunteers with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada did more than repair homes damaged by Hurricane Fiona in Cape Breton.