Timbits and the sea
June 23, 2024, Multicultural Sunday, was celebrated at Abbeydale Christian Fellowship by recognizing the diversity of believers in our church family in a number of ways. About 20 languages were represented either in Scripture reading or song.
Prayer needed for conflict in Burkina Faso
Join us in prayer for Burkina Faso. Siaka Traoré, a leader in the Evangelical Mennonite Church of Burkina Faso and Regional Representative for Mennonite World Conference, is asking for prayers as the country continues to face terrorist attacks.
Pre-dedication at the core
This year has held so many beautiful and heart-warming blessings to praise God for. The parent/child dedications. The multiple baptisms. The member acceptances. The involvement and leadership in a huge community-wide children’s VBS program.
Stories of tragedy and trust: honouring the legacy we started with
♪ “We came in 1875,” my father tells me. Dad is 94, and a trip to the ER is giving him a sense of urgency to pass on the stories his mother shared.
MCC executive directors respond to concerns of former workers
♪ As the executive directors of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada and MCC U.S., we want you to know that we are listening to the concerns recently raised by alumni, staff and others, and are holding them with humility and compassion. We are practicing prayerful discernment that will allow us to work with wisdom and grace toward resolution and healing.
Editorial: MCC association doesn't mean we discount allegations
♪ 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.
Mental health, presence and prayer
♪ 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.
Half-finished projects
♪ 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?
Letter
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.
We don't live for this world
♪ “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.
Missions committees: thinking outside the box
♪ 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.
Dead trees and dead heroes
♪ 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.
Can God fit in you?
♪ 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.
The untold stories of returned missionaries
♪ 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.
Playing for fun and connection
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!
Teaching women's value and health in a male-dominated culture
♪ 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.
Involuntary: Terminated MCC workers call for accountability and change
♪ “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.
Workers ask constituency to hold MCC accountable
The EMC office and The Messenger received a letter from our missionaries Lesley and Marianne Fast pointing us to an investigative piece by Canadian Mennonite about allegations made by Fast’s daughter and son-in-law against MCC.
A surprising discovery
♪ I was wrong. Embarrassingly so. I had been working with leaders in training at a Christian camp every summer for 20 years, and I gave the wrong answer to the most basic question of all.
Mennonite World Conference commemorates birth of Anabaptism in 2025
On May 29, 2025, Mennonite World Conference (MWC) will welcome guests from around the world to The Courage to Love: Anabaptism@500.