BLUFFTON, Ohio — Bluffton University professor Randy Keeler explained his findings as the 2014-15 Ohio Conference Youth Ministry Resource Person during Friday Colloquium at the
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.
HALLE, Germany — Eastern Mennonite Missions workers here say refugees need Jesus more than clean bedsheets, but they want to give them both. As Germany deals with Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II, EMM workers in Halle have joined in the emergency relief efforts.
The Mennonite Church USA Executive Board staff cabinet has called together a panel to continue the work of healing and prevention of sexual abuse within the denomination. The panel’s formation is a response to the Churchwide Statement on Sexual Abuse passed this summer by the delegate assembly at the MC USA convention in Kansas City, Mo.
Bluffton (Ohio) University has become the third Mennonite college this year to leave the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities after expanding its nondiscrimination hiring policy. The Bluffton board of trustees voted unanimously Oct. 10 to include sexual orientation and gender identity in its employment policy.
Among several large Anabaptist conventions and assemblies in North America this year, the biggest was put on by a relatively small denomination. The Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, held its general conference — its first since 2003 — Nov. 17-20 in Tupelo, Miss.
FRESNO, Calif. — Paul Toews, a leading Mennonite Brethren historian who taught for 44 years at Fresno Pacific University and did groundbreaking research on Mennonites in Russia, died Nov. 27. He was 75.
A donation shortfall has prompted Mennonite Church Canada to reduce staff and accelerate structural change, placing more ministry activities at the provincial level. A Nov. 28 news release cited “a pressing financial necessity” to implement changes proposed by the Future Directions Task Force earlier than expected.
GOSHEN, Ind. — By invitation, Goshen College President Jim Brenneman took part in a higher education climate roundtable discussion Nov. 19 at the White House, as part of the American Campuses Act on Climate day of action. About 50 colleges and universities were represented.
