Fates intertwined
The closing of Grace University in Omaha, Neb., is a sobering reminder not to take the existence of a small Christian college for granted. Grace was never officially Mennonite, but its founders were. Most were...
[read more]Honorable protests
Few protests are remembered for 500 years, like Martin Luther’s. Or even 50, like anti-Vietnam War marches. Demonstrations by National Football League players this fall may be historic or fleeting, but...
[read more]No halfway liberty
The protest that shook the world began 500 years ago this month. On a church door in the Saxon town of Wittenberg, an obscure German monk posted 95 statements of dispute with Catholicism. It was Oct. 31, 1517....
[read more]Gifts without limits
There’s room for everyone on the spectrum of Mennonite beliefs about women in ministry. On the traditional side are conservative and plain groups who agree the pulpit is for men only. In the middle are U.S....
[read more]Boundaries redrawn
Gerrymandering — drawing a political district’s boundaries to assure a political party’s hold — isn’t new. It celebrated its bicentennial a few years ago. Newspaper columnist Leonard Pitts elaborated...
[read more]Tearing down idols
On a 1986 trip to the Soviet Union, students from Tabor and Bethel colleges could count on seeing two things in every city: a monument to the Great Patriotic War (World War II) and a statue of Vladimir Lenin...
[read more]Always reforming
The church is always reforming. Exhausting as it is, it’s a necessity. Just as our bodies continually fight death by renewing themselves every way they possibly can, healthy church bodies must do the...
[read more]Not deterred?
What happens to the doctrine of nuclear deterrence when leaders act in ways that suggest they lack sound judgment and restraint? The war of words between Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump exposed the moral evil of...
[read more]Total eclipse of the heart
Carsten Stein experienced a sense of welcome and belonging when he attended a gathering of a different German Anabaptist body in April. The Mennonite Brethren man wrote in a recent issue of Die Brücke that...
[read more]‘Lead Your Way’
Imagine a Mennonite college admissions counselor, for whom the national youth convention is harvest time. Thousands of her best prospects will pass through the exhibit hall where she’s set up shop....
[read more]Discerning what is of God
The leadership of Conservative Mennonite Conference recently demonstrated boldness and humility in upholding their interpretation of Scripture while rejecting extrabiblical traditions that limit women’s...
[read more]Taking Israel’s side
The Mennonite Church USA resolution on Israel-Palestine is not anti-Israel. That is one of the first things advocates of the statement want everyone to know. They call it a third way, a recognition that...
[read more]Come in, the show is free
Mennonite Church USA congregational membership and convention attendance are lower. It is apparent to anyone who has attended a denomination-wide gathering in the last two decades. Some attendees surely...
[read more]Comfortable in their skin
From 2015 to 2017, Mennonite Church USA conventions changed drastically. Two years ago at Kansas City, debates over how to handle diverse views about LGBTQ people in the church cast a cloud of tension over the...
[read more]Christ’s victory is ours
Since learning Mennonite World Conference had members in Italy, I wanted to fellowship with them, as Italy is where my dad’s family is from. MWC’s website lists 200 members of four congregations in the...
[read more]Global leader?
Nations that flout international norms get a “rogue state” label. Now the United States is going rogue. By dropping out of the Paris climate-change accord, the U.S. joined Syria and Nicaragua as the only...
[read more]Root of the matter
A tree is known by its fruit. The same goes for churches. The apple industry is revolutionizing itself by getting to the root of a blight problem, and its tactic should be of interest to evangelically minded...
[read more]Born to sing for God
The song leader raised his hands to heaven. “Lift up this evening,” he implored. Or prayed? Fifty thousand voices responded with shouts of joy. An electric guitar chimed a prelude to a plea and a praise:...
[read more]No jesting matter
The British philosopher Francis Bacon coined the term “jesting Pilate” to describe the Roman governor’s attitude when he asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Since Pilate didn’t wait for an...
[read more]Separatists sign up
A generation after Old Colony Mennonites in Canada followed the promise of less government interference to Mexico, local pharmacy operator Walter Schmiedehaus detailed colony culture for a 1947 issue of...
[read more]Anabaptism in bloom
Five hundred years after the first, a second Reformation is transforming the face of Christianity. This time the revolution is happening in the Global South. As historic centers of power decline in Europe and...
[read more]Patience, prayer, power
The weeks following Jesus’ resurrection must have been an exciting time of transition for his followers. “After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them...
[read more]What big numbers hide
The numbers betray the humanity within them, because they are simply too big. Some 4,000 members of 30 congregations in Communautês Mennonite au Congo (Mennonite Communion of Congo) are hiding in the forests...
[read more]Unified outlier
Every trend has exceptions. Even the decline of Christian denominations in North America. These venerable entities thrived during an era of trust in big institutions. Now, according to the most pessimistic...
[read more]Shalom says it all
We could have called our Annual College Issue “Teaching Shalom, Making Shalom.” The word “peace” just isn’t enough to describe the many ways Anabaptist colleges are making a better world. Why...
[read more]About Me
