♪ In this issue, we are including an investigative article covering allegations made by former Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) staff about unjust terminations by MCC. It is unlike anything we normally print, and this may raise questions about our reason for including it.

♪ The ministry staff I work with at Inner City Youth Alive (ICYA) walk closely with many people experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, addictions and other challenges. We are not mental health professionals, but we encourage our staff not to underestimate our role as “boots on the ground” ministers.

♪ I was thinking about Adam and Eve while I pushed my wheelbarrow full of dirt and weeds to my discard pile. What was tending the garden like for them?

Recently we were made aware of a rumour that the General Board was beginning a review process for evaluating conference affiliations with other agencies. Specifically mentioned to be at the centre of this discussion was Mennonite Central Committee. Upon reading the Conference Council minutes of June 29, 2024, the rumour was validated.

♪ “During her cancer journey, I would often tell her that I’m jealous; jealous that she gets to be with Jesus before me.”

Sitting and hearing Ernie’s story reminded me of a foundational truth that I so often forget; eternity with Jesus is the hope that we cling to.

♪ According to the information we have from our churches across Canada, approximately half our congregations have a missions committee of some sort—though how they function varies.

♪ A prayer from the African pastor Augustine in the 4th century has stirred my thought for some time: God, “you were closer to me than I am to myself.” If you place that prayer alongside Paul’s prayer that the Ephesians be “filled [with] … all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19), you quickly find yourself in a bottomless sea of wonder and prayer.

♪ If you go to the place where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet and converge, you won’t find the Garden of Eden anymore. You will, however, find a nicely manicured park with a large tree at the center.

♪ You’ve been back in this country for a little less than three months and you’re just wrapping up another talk at one of your sponsoring churches. People walk up to you after the service and shake your hand to welcome you. “You must be so happy to be home!” they proclaim earnestly as they insert words into your mouth before you can even open it in protest.

SBF’s season of Sunday school ended with an outdoor service, followed by lunch outdoors. After lunch attendees made some teams and played interactive games with people of all ages. It was a beautiful day!

♪ In the area where we serve, the culture is male-dominated, and women believe they have no value. Without marriage they are nothing; whether never married or widowed. Without a husband, they have no value and are a burden to their relatives.

♪ “I still use it,” Anicka Fast says of the brownish knitted potholder she received at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) orientation in Akron, Pennsylvania, in 2009. Fast and her husband John Clarke were en route to their first MCC assignment at the time.