There were no known cases of COVID-19 in Malawi when Vivian Bertrand was planning how to include soap and handwashing in the next food distribution. But it didn’t take long for that to change.
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MCC Canada
Annual list measures return on investment, impact on ground Canadian Foodgrains Bank has been named one of Canada’s top ten impact charities by Charity Intelligence for the second year…
Mennonite Central Committee in Canada: A History By: Esther Epp-Tiessen
George and Sherri Klassen went to Bangladesh as Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) volunteers in 1977.
Working with local farmers, George, an engineer, invented the rower pump using mostly locally available material.1963 was an extraordinary year, said Esther Epp-Tiessen, author of a soon-to-be-published history of MCC in Canada. Mennonite Central Committee Canada celebrated the organization’s 50th year of existence with a dessert reception at Canadian Mennonite University, Sept. 20., where Epp observed that in 1963, Bob Dylan wrote “The times they are a-changin’” and indeed they were: Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I have a dream” speech at the march on Washington, the FLQ began its activities in Quebec – and MCC Canada was born.
“MCC is an arm of the church; it is not a parachurch organization,” said binational chair Herman Bontrager at Mennonite Central Committee’s binational annual general meeting, June 10–11. The executive directors met with MCC delegates, board members, and staff from Canada and the U.S. in Abbotsford, B.C.
Mennonite Central Committee is changing how it does its work, but not the work itself. That’s how Arli Klassen, MCC executive director, described MCC’s process of streamlining and shifting areas of responsibility among its member organizations at the June 11–12 meeting of MCC’s binational delegate body.
The board of faith and life (BFL) gathered in Winnipeg Jan. 22–23 for their thrice-yearly meetings. “When questions and theological challenges arise, BFL works through these on the church’s behalf – they ensure the church has a voice,” says Lorraine Dick, board chair.
A decision by federal Conservatives to abruptly terminate funding to a Canadian church organization has set off alarm bells among other church groups across the country.
Flying over northern Alberta and seeing the oil sand development below was a sobering reminder of humanity’s willingness to exploit creation for energy needs, say two MCC leaders. For MCC Alberta executive director Abe Janzen, the sight was both “dazzling and frightening”: a testament to modern, technological accomplishment, but also a stark example of what humans can do to the land.