March 2012

Douglas Estes, in his book SimChurch, describes the experience of creating an avatar (virtual character) and visiting a “virtual church” at a website called Second Life. His online character is able to experience a church service with all the usual elements of a real-world church – congregational music, sermon, offering, and communion.

Last summer, I invited a friend along to supper with several Christian acquaintances. Within half an hour, they were asking her if she was a Christian. When she replied “no,”…

“Have you read this book? It’s going to change our church for the better!” “Yeah. Plus we’re going to use some cool social media that will really rejuvenate our ministry!” Christians seem to be magnetically drawn to all the latest and greatest ministry innovations.

As I began a walk around the block, I turned north to avoid Julia standing in her driveway to the south. We weren’t speaking to each other; not since our…

Jesus concluded his Sermon on the Mount with a reminder not only to hear his words, but to put them into practice (Matthew 7:24–27). Jesus expected people to respond to his teaching by taking concrete action. The apostles carried on this expectation in their ministry, illustrated by the crowd’s response to the apostles’ teaching at Pentecost:

With
Author: Skye Jethani
Too often, Christians approach the Bible and God with an eye toward a three-step solution to whatever ails us. In the opening of With, managing editor of Leadership Journal and speaker Skye Jethani argues that we often see God as a means to an end, rather than the end himself.

It’s a girl?!” I blurted out. Three pairs of eyes peered over their masks and fixed themselves on me. Those were not the right words for the moment.

MCC restructuring process results in employee layoffs; Portage Avenue Church celebrates 75th anniversary; Canadian Foodgrains Bank responds to drought in East Africa; Ten Thousand Villages Canada appoints new general manager; Theological education to provide for Chinese-language church leaders; MCC may need to scale back or temporarily delay programs; Canada’s first aboriginal saint canonized; Creative Living Legacies workshop offered; Students raise money for MCC program

Mennonite Central Committee thrift shops, material resource centre, and offices are to rise on a new 8.5-acre campus in B.C.’s central Fraser Valley. The project proposal won overwhelming approval at a special meeting of B.C. MCC members Dec. 15.

Introducing George Toews, Rod Schellenberg, Kevin Carrigan, Jim Nightingale, Kendra Freeland

Farewell to Travis Reimer, Ernie Bergen

Dad loved to work. One of his frustrations in the last year was the loss of strength to work. He knew well how to delegate, having raised seven children on a farm; but now he guarded the tasks he was still able to do, such as moving folding chairs from the car’s trunk to the house, and expressly asked that I not help.

The premise of “Indescribable” is attention-grabbing right from the start: murder. At the centre of this art show are two stories of murder. Five artists have worked to make sense of the senseless, exploring feelings and memories related to personal tragedy in this exhibit at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery in Winnipeg.

Beyond the Dark Night: An Ethiopian Journey
Author: Ingrid Koss
There are so many stories that come our way; stories of economic hardship, of war and earthquakes, of survival, of struggle and grace. The constant barrage of news has the power to numb us to sorrow, and to God’s work in individual lives in the midst of a blur of global trends and realities.