The Messenger is an award-winning publication!
ON MAY 3, 2024, Canadian Christian Communicators Association (CCCA) announced their awards that names the best work of its member community for 2023. The Messenger (and EMC) won in six categories. Check them out!
SBC Professor Arlene Friesen goes to her next calling
STEINBACH BIBLE COLLEGE is saying goodbye to long-time Bible professor, worship instructor and registrar Arlene Friesen.
SBC honours 2024 graduates
STEINBACH BIBLE COLLEGE concluded its 2023–24 school year by awarding a hard-working collection of servant leaders with their Bachelor of Arts, Associate of Arts, and Certificate degrees during graduation weekend on April 26–27, 2024.
Myanmar: “Being riskless is not always the will of God”
EVERY DAY, WHEN Mr. Khong awakens in Myanmar, he has two challenges: One, avoid being captured, conscripted or killed by the military junta that is struggling to hold onto its power to govern. Two, get food to people who have fled to remote mountainous areas of the country to avoid the reaches of the junta.
Awesome KidMin Conference 2024 participants are anchored in community
“PEOPLING IS HARD,” said main speaker Connie Jakab at the first session of Awesome KidMin Conference 2024. And, she said, “It’s gotten even harder post-COVID.” Yet Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 emphasizes the importance of community.
Young Adults Spend Time TOGETHER
Over the past few years, a group of Region 8 leaders have been planning and hosting a retreat for young adults. This year that continued with a retreat on the theme “Together.”
Anabaptist Dictionary of the Bible Phase 1 Nears Completion
The first phase of the Anabaptist Dictionary of the Bible (ADB) is nearing completion. This free online project at the centre of biblical interpretation and Anabaptist thought is adding article 49 toward a goal to cover all 66 books in the Bible.
A Girl Called ‘Ding:’ How an MCC Partner in South Sudan was a Refuge for a Young Girl’s Future
For three days and three nights, Mary Laat ran and hid from members of her own family. The goal of their pursuit? To bring her to the altar to marry a man she didn’t know who’d paid his dowry and expected a wife in return.
Equipping Future Church Leaders in Indonesia
As a generation of experienced pastors enter retirement age, many churches around the world are seeing a shortage of trained leaders. Pastoral candidates who have studied Anabaptist theology are even more rare.
Refugees focus of Project Builders event
EMC Project Builders (PB) has been around for over 50 years but in 2024, for the first time, the PB held a dessert fundraiser rather than the usual annual general meeting.
Kindness in every twist of thread
Serhiy* has had to move three times in the last two years. Living in Nikopol, Ukraine, means facing constant bombardment by Russian military forces.
The Armchair Anabaptist launches second season on ‘community’
The Armchair Anabaptist is a podcast that explores theological issues from an Anabaptist perspective with the goal of positively changing the way we live.
EMC Missionary Fellowship ‘like a family gathering’
EMC missionaries from all over the world were able to make new connections, build community, and encourage one another in their calling at the annual EMC Missionary Fellowship held September 07, 2023, at Prairie Rose EMC in Landmark, Man.
‘Can you help us help?’
The first thing they said was “Can you help us help?” recalls Sarah Funkhouser, who, together with her husband, Seth Malone, is Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) representative for Jordan, Palestine and Israel.
A ‘glass half full’ approach to development
Despite the amount of resources mobilized for local development, progress remains insignificant and unsustainable in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in general and in Mennonite churches in particular. Concerned about this situation, with funding from Project Builders and AIMM donors, AIMM organized a training seminar on the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach.
Spirit of MDS Fund invites applications for 2023–24
Every year the Gospel Mission Church, an Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference (EMMC) congregation in Winkler, Man., runs an event called Love the Valley.
Long-time treasurer retires from campus chaplaincy board
For almost three decades, students have found a sense of community, peer support, pastoral care, counselling and more at Menno Office on the University of Manitoba campus. Menno Office a campus ministry supported by the Inter Mennonite Chaplaincy Association (IMCA), is a shared ministry of Mennonite church conferences that appoint members to serve on the board. Shortly after the IMCA was formed in 1995, Len Loewen was appointed to the board and served as IMCA’s treasurer from May 1996 until his retirement in May 2023.
Witnessing in Hong Kong & Beyond
Church members gather in a school auditorium, singing worship songs in both Cantonese (the mother tongue for most people in Hong Kong) and Mandarin. The Chinese languages share a script that contains thousands of characters. Through the internet and the globalization of church music, people who can’t read the script can now find a translated version of the songs to understand and sing along.
“You brought hope and love to the community”
For Amanda McDougall-Merrill, Mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, volunteers with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada did more than repair homes damaged by Hurricane Fiona in Cape Breton.
MCC Seek Program helps young adults explore Faith and Culture
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) invites applications for Seek, its newest young adult program for 18- to 20-year-olds who want to do six months of service, discipleship training and cross-cultural sharing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.