Bruno Götzke, a Mennonite pastor and refugee from East Prussia, sensed early in 1953 the police were taking too much interest in his efforts to establish roughly a dozen new centers of worship for...
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As stay-at-home orders are lifted across the United States and Canada, MennoMedia released a statement May 19 discouraging congregational singing when physical gatherings resume. “While singing is considered...
[read more]“You’re a maintenance crew,” said an adviser to a congregation navigating a pastoral transition. “Your job is to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace, as Ephesians 4:3 says.” A...
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As stay-at-home guidelines are eased and church doors and sanctuaries reopen, worship and church ministries will, undoubtedly, look different than before the coronavirus outbreak. And so it should — so that...
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The people who came on Sunday, March 22, to Mellinger Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pa., never got out of their cars. Pastors Roger Weaver and Dan Cloyd offered drive-through prayer in the carport...
[read more]The pews were empty. But the Word was preached, hymns sung, prayers said. In a scene that played out around kitchen tables and in living rooms across North America, Mennonites didn’t let the coronavirus stop...
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“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (John 4:18a). “…you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). In my experience as pastor I’ve often been...
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My friend made plans to come over. Before she arrived, she sent me a text warning me that the “well-meaning” white folks at her para-ministry job made her especially mad that day. She then added,...
[read more]A flood and a robbery brought two Mennonite Brethren congregations in Sioux Falls, S.D., closer in late August. An Aug. 27 storm flooded Christ Community Church with 3 to 5 inches of water, the U.S....
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Churches survive because people give them money. Sure, that’s a simplification, but I stand by it. And I think the church needs to say “thank you” more. Lots of other charities rely on donations...
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At our block party this week, a new friend and I were laughing about how coming out as a Jesus follower might be one of the weirder things to do these days. In her spiritual awakening, she was realizing that...
[read more]There’s an emerging consensus among Mennonite congregations these days, especially among those at polar opposites on issues related to homosexuality. The congregations at the extremes are united in their...
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When our church, Laws Mennonite Church in Felton, Del., burned almost six months ago, one of the things that did not melt was our stack of tubs for feetwashing. Our church family still practices feetwashing....
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I never watched 19 Kids and Counting and never knew the Duggars existed until their scandal hit the news this week. But I had my own Josh Duggar. It was maybe 1969, which would make me about 7 years old. The...
[read more]In “Don’t Break Up the Body” (April 27), James M. Lapp writes that the church is “our laboratory for learning to love, even when we disagree.” He states further, “What holds our body together is...
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Editors attending the conventions of Canadian Church Press and the U.S.-based Associated Church Press in late April in Toronto heard the latest challenging statistics about religion in Canada and its effect on...
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On a Sunday several weeks ago, my family and I had several neighbors over to a “goodbye party” for our next-door neighbor, John, who had decided to move to an apartment closer to his son’s family after...
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Many of us are all too aware of the brokenness, insecurities, limitations and inadequacies in us and around us. When the women of my congregation got together on Sunday to learn from Julian of Norwich’s...
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Thriving in ministry doesn’t depend solely on what any one pastor does or doesn’t do. Congregations play a critical role. I know that my church has done a great deal to support and enable me to thrive. So...
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We tend to measure the “success” of a church by numbers. I propose in A Fellowship of Differents another way of measuring whether or not our church measures up to the kind of success that the Bible...
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The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. — Paul, Acts 17:24 It’s almost impossible to think of congregations...
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You may have never attended an “average” church. But you’ve certainly seen one: older buildings, often made of dark brick, with old-fashioned roofs that slope down from the center, possibly a bell...
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As one of two staff members who works to implement a sexual abuse prevention policy for our church, I have an enormous and difficult task. We have a good policy. We train, screen and keep in regular contact...
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After noticing its persistent presence on my Facebook newsfeed for multiple days, I caved and watched the three minute video of Naomi Feil, a Jewish woman, singing Christian songs to Gladys, an elderly woman...
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BURRTON, Kan. — When Aoife Rose Compton was born Nov. 18 to Rachelle and Martin Compton, she was the last child to become part of Burrton Mennonite Church. After 108 years of ministry, the church will hold...
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