A study conference on human sexuality held last fall by the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches was intended to reinforce the denomination’s Confession of
Members and congregations of Mennonite Church Canada may be on the verge of getting more deliberate about respecting each other when they disagree. The denomination’s Being a Faithful Church task force has processed seven years of questions and responses into a set of four recommendations for the MC Canada Assembly July 6-10 in Saskatoon, Sask.
María Magdalena De Leon, antiracism worker, pastor and leader of Mennonite institutions, died Dec. 25. She was 71.
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — After six years of training and preparation, the Vietnam Mennonite Church ordained 26 pastors in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec. 5.
MUSOMA, Tanzania — Infertility, single parenting, poverty, the raising and teaching of children, life with an unbelieving or unfaithful husband and maintaining faith in desperate times: These issues confront East African women daily.
Eastern Mennonite University vice president of enrollment Luke A. Hartman resigned Jan. 11 after a Jan. 8 arrest for solicitation of prostitution.
HARRISONBURG, Va. — “Project 606,” MennoMedia’s song collection project for the next hymnal serving Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada, is beginning this year. MennoMedia began accepting applications for committee and staff positions Jan. 1.
Both U.S. Mennonite Brethren institutions of higher learning are among about three dozen colleges and universities that have been granted waivers exempting them from some federal antidiscrimination laws. President Jules Glanzer of Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education requesting a Title IX exemption Dec. 3, 2014. Fresno (Calif.) Pacific University President Richard Kriegbaum sent a similar letter June 2, 2015.
GOSHEN, Ind. — Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, unwittingly helped write the final exam this semester for students in several Bible classes at Bethany Christian Schools. Bible teacher Dale Shenk used Falwell’s controversial statements regarding guns and Muslims to test students not only on their knowledge of course content but also on their ability to synthesize their knowledge of history with current faith issues.
NORTH NEWTON, Kan. — Robert S. Kreider, an educator and historian who championed causes of peace, service and cooperation through Anabaptist engagement with the world, died Dec. 27. He was 96. Driven by limitless curiosity and optimism, Kreider’s life spanned Civilian Public Service leadership as a conscientious objector during World War II, postwar relief leadership for Mennonite Central Committee in Europe, the presidency of Bluffton (Ohio) College and diverse historical interests that included a successful inter-Mennonite effort to acquire 300-year-old Martyrs Mirror printing plates.
HAVANA, Cuba — Shortly before presenting the first of two Sister Care seminars, Carolyn Heggen, a psychotherapist specializing in trauma healing, and Rhoda Keener, Sister Care director for Mennonite Women USA, visited an art museum in Old Havana.
