Features Archives | Page 59 of 157

Refugees on Greek island inspire European CPT project

Two years ago, Christian Peacemaker Teams saw a need on a small island in the Aegean Sea. In July, that hunch was confirmed when a refugee crisis on the Greek island of Lesbos dramatically escalated.

The 630-square-mile island is home to about 85,000 residents but sits far closer to Turkey than Greece. Lesbos is only four to five miles from the Turkish coast at its closest points.

Tim Huber | Mennonite World Review

October 5, 2015

Theater addresses MC Canada sexuality conflict

Theatre of the Beat in Stouffville, Ont., is taking on same-sex sexuality and gender within Mennonite Church Canada in a new play written by artistic director Johnny Wideman.

“We would hear, ‘Oh, if you guys tackle social justice issues, would you ever talk about the conflict of sexuality in the church?’ ” Wideman said. “We heard that time after time after time.”

Kelli Yoder | Mennonite World Review

September 28, 2015

Tanzanians counter myths, stigma of albinism

CHITARE, Tanzania — In a Mennonite church packed with about 180 people, workshop facilitator Specioza Kifutu guided the crowd in voicing what they’ve heard about those living with albinism — an inherited condition where people lack pigmentation or coloration in their skin, hair and eyes.

The answers were chilling.

Marla Pierson Lester | Mennonite Central Committee

September 28, 2015

Kenya church planters are trained to multiply

NAIROBI, Kenya — Multiplication — one of three Eastern Mennonite Missions core values — was at the heart of a training on “simple church” concepts

Andrew Mashas | Eastern Mennonite Missions

September 28, 2015

When your pastor is ill

Eight things congregations can do when their pastor is ill for an extended time A few years ago, when I was chair of our leadership

anna

September 23, 2015

What I’ve learned as a worship leader

Four lessons about the nature of worship in congregations Our congregation had a small group series with the title “Re-Imagining Worship.” The purpose of this

anna

September 23, 2015

Babe Ruth and Orie Miller

Two giants with different lives and different legacies Two giants: George Henry (Babe) Ruth and Orie Miller were born just three years apart in 1895

anna

September 23, 2015

Another Moses

We need another Moses, like Harriet Tubman, to help lead people out of the modern slavery that is our prison system. In the top right

Isaac S. Villegas

September 23, 2015

Combatant for a just peace

Our upbringings could hardly be more different, but the kinship I’ve found with an Israeli military veteran makes me want to bring him to my

anna

September 23, 2015

Opening a window of hope amid Syrian war

Roseangela Jarjour talks daily with pastors in Syria working for peace and providing a reason for Syrians who stay to hope, even as they hear bombs drop around them.

“The priority is really to bring peace into our country, so we keep our people in our country,” Jarjour said during a Mennonite Central Committee video press conference Sept. 17.

She is a Syrian who works for an MCC . . .

Kelli Yoder | Mennonite World Review

September 21, 2015

Restoring a way of life after Katrina

Grand Bayou, La. — Ruby Ancar picks up a teddy bear mailed to her by a Mennonite child a few months after Hurricane Katrina devastated her home in the southernmost region of Plaquemines Parish.

“She was only 4 years old then,” said Ancar, who lives now in a home repaired by Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers.

One of those volunteers was the girl’s father. When he returned home after . . .

Susan Kim | Mennonite Disaster Service

September 8, 2015

Lasting ties in western Europe

ENKENBACH, Germany — At the age of 85, Artur Regier vividly remembers the night he fled his family’s West Prussian farm. It was 1945, and

Emily Loewen | Mennonite Central Committee

August 31, 2015