Playing for fun and connection
SBF’s season of Sunday school ended with an outdoor service, followed by lunch outdoors. After lunch attendees made some teams and played interactive games with people of all ages. It was a beautiful day!
Teaching women's value and health in a male-dominated culture
♪ In the area where we serve, the culture is male-dominated, and women believe they have no value. Without marriage they are nothing; whether never married or widowed. Without a husband, they have no value and are a burden to their relatives.
Involuntary: Terminated MCC workers call for accountability and change
♪ “I still use it,” Anicka Fast says of the brownish knitted potholder she received at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) orientation in Akron, Pennsylvania, in 2009. Fast and her husband John Clarke were en route to their first MCC assignment at the time.
Workers ask constituency to hold MCC accountable
The EMC office and The Messenger received a letter from our missionaries Lesley and Marianne Fast pointing us to an investigative piece by Canadian Mennonite about allegations made by Fast’s daughter and son-in-law against MCC.
A surprising discovery
♪ I was wrong. Embarrassingly so. I had been working with leaders in training at a Christian camp every summer for 20 years, and I gave the wrong answer to the most basic question of all.
Mennonite World Conference commemorates birth of Anabaptism in 2025
On May 29, 2025, Mennonite World Conference (MWC) will welcome guests from around the world to The Courage to Love: Anabaptism@500.
A youth’s journey of faith and baptism
One of the youth in Mennville EMC’s joint youth ministry with Riverton Gospel Chapel recently asked to be baptized in our church. Upon her confession of faith, we baptized and welcomed Susan Marks into membership on May 19, 2024.
A journey through GriefShare
♪ Dwylla Zacharias’s life was upended in a moment. It was early 2021. She, husband Jared, and their four children had recently returned from the mission field of Hungary and were sorting out how to report to supporting churches despite pandemic restrictions.
Convert, how is that working for you?
♪ Have you discovered an exciting new theology or even joined a new church and then become an evangelist sharing your news with friends near and on Facebook?
EMC Project Builders golf tournaments: putting the fun in fundraiser
Want to have a fun way of raising some funds for a good cause? Come on out and participate in the Project Builders golf fundraisers! In June 2024, events took place in Steinbach, Man., and La Crete, Alta., together raising over $60,000.
EFC Steinbach receives 11 members
On June 2, 2024, 11 members joined Evangelical Fellowship Church in Steinbach, Man.
When being the ‘expert’ creates a barrier
♪ In recent years, SIL has felt it necessary to shift our approach in serving minority peoples. In the past we focused on languages; we now want to put “people before language.” This is a very welcome turn. I reflect briefly on my experience of these two approaches as I look back on my career with SIL (see sil.org/about).
Reading through the Bible in under 100 days!
♪ You may think this is a bit of an exaggeration—but let me assure you, reading through the Bible in under 100 days was seriously fun! Trust me, I was just as surprised as you might be. Let me take you through my adventure.
Ramones departs, Ginter to begin at EMC office
We are sad to announce that Betty Ramones, who served as EMC Church Leadership Assistant for the past year, is no longer working as part of the EMC staff team.
Building bridges, not barriers
June 28–30, 2024, EMCers from across Canada gathered in La Crete, Alta., to worship and learn.
Conference proposes changes to EMC gatherings, affiliations
♪ Delegates gathered on June 29, 2024, in person at La Crete (Alta.) Christian Fellowship Church (LCCFC) and virtually over Zoom to hear of proposed changes to EMC gatherings and affiliations.
Different family situations, different challenges
♪ In 1 Corinthians 7:32–34, Paul writes that for both the unmarried man and woman, they are freer to be “concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how [they] can please the Lord.” He adds, “her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit.”
Ministerial: strengthening churches
♪ “We do this because we want to better understand who we are so that we can make the necessary adjustments to better serve in our appointed roles within the kingdom of God and advance his work.”
Leaders gather to learn how to pass on the faith
♪ Steinbach Bible College was pleased to host Dr. Joel Thiessen on March 15–16, 2024, at the annual SBC Leadership Conference. The topic was “Passing the baton: How faith gets passed to the next generation … or not.”