Amid the recent events surrounding the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, the latest fatal violence against African Americans, Mennonite Church USA joins in mourning and lament. We lament that...
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Over two weeks in January and February, I traveled in the U.S.-Mexico border region from San Diego, Calif., to Brownsville, Texas, with stops in more than 10 cities on both sides of the border. I have seen and...
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — On my first visit to Ramon St. Hilaire’s workshop, in a narrow alley in Port-au-Prince, I remember it smelled of fragrant, fresh-cut wood. Sawdust sparkled in the tropical air....
[read more]A new direction and a different interpretation are mother’s milk to the historian. At times this is helpful. At other times, not so much. Anabaptism, defined from its inception by its enemies, more recently...
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For several years, Kenya has been a flashpoint of Christian-Muslim conflict. With each incident of terror, the tension increases. Kenyan Mennonites are finding hope in small incidents of transformation. Kenya...
[read more]In “From Belief to Belonging: Open communion is on the rise in Mennonite Church Canada congregations”, Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe describes how open communion is on the rise in Mennonite Church Canada...
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WASHINGTON — In the Feb. 27, 1968, Gospel Herald, Mennonite leader Guy F. Hershberger reflected on why there should be a “Mennonite office” in Washington. He noted the “emergency” in May 1967, when...
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As we traveled dusty roads together, Luis Flores and I had much time to talk about current events, program planning and the challenges that we faced in our work together. Flores had left his secure position as...
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“Fill me with your love, O Lord,” I say to myself as I breathe in. “And free me from fear,” I think on the exhale. I’m sitting in a black van, parked on the side of the highway in Syria. As I look...
[read more]When James H. Cone, a leading founder of the black theology movement, died last month, I felt the loss personally. Cone’s book God of the Oppressed changed my theological career. Early on, I knew Mennonites...
[read more]As a member of a Mennonite Church USA congregation, I would like to respond to E. Daniel Martin’s characterizations of us (“Why Lancaster Conference Got an Annulment,” Letters & Comments, March...
[read more]Since leaders and writers from outside Lancaster Mennonite Conference have offered their perspectives on why LMC withdrew from Mennonite Church USA, I will add my voice. I was part of LMC when we decided to...
[read more]He pointed his right hand with a pistol at me as I rounded the hallway corner into the den. Shocked, I stopped and stood frozen. His newspaper fell off his lap, and he sat upright. “You scared me half to...
[read more]In recent months there has been unprecedented exposure of sexually predatorial men in high places, as well as unprecedented violence perpetrated by solitary men with little or no regard for human life. Whether...
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We were reminded this past week about how labels and degrading words can and do bring intense pain to people. Our president made some very egregious and degrading comments about particular countries. People...
[read more]For the broader Mennonite community, the work of Mennonite Central Committee often looks like relief sale auctions, Ten Thousand Villages stores and quilt blitzes. And all carry out the mission of MCC: a...
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ODESSA, Ukraine — Many people ask me how things are in Ukraine. When I think of the complex history of the country, I sometimes wonder how to respond. One evening in May, friends took me to visit a bright...
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WINNIPEG, Man. — I was grateful for the opportunity in early May to sit around the dinner table on a Manitoba farm and share a Mennonite feast with local friends, some Mennonite Central Committee colleagues...
[read more]The video begins with a map of Western Europe, a dot hovering over Zurich. The scene shifts as a voice with a Pennsylvania Dutch lilt describes the baptism of Felix Manz in 1521. Woodcut pictures cross the...
[read more]I often encounter Christians who once were fundamentalists but now distance themselves from that kind of faith, which they found to be spiritually oppressive. Often, this distancing has to do with the...
[read more]I read with interest Harold N. Miller’s thoughtful opinion piece, “Scripture Overrules Experience” (March 27). I support his statement that an argument from experience alone on the LGBT issue “is not...
[read more]For many of us, church feels good and safe. We were loved there as children and respected there as adults. In fact, we often describe our churches as “families” or caring communities where all are...
[read more]Many in our church are sure we should fully include those in same-sex marriages, blessing their covenants and credentialing their pastoral gifts. I would like to join them. Life is simpler when we move with...
[read more]The Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches faces many challenges: financial, organizational, ecclesiological, sociological, operational and theological. This article focuses mainly on...
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When Anne and Daniel Garber Kompaoré talk of their work in North America, they are often met with questions. Anne works as a Bible translation consultant with Mennonite Mission Network and has lived in...
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