Winnipeg-based journalist John Longhurst, a frequent contributor to Anabaptist World, has been named a member of the Order of Canada for his media contributions to Canada’s interfaith dialogue.

Longhurst, a former Mennonite Central Committee Canada communications coordinator, is a freelance columnist at the Winnipeg Free Press. He’s considered to be Canada’s only religion reporter at a major newspaper.

Throughout his career in communications and journalism, Longhurst has carved out a space in Canada’s media landscape to report on diverse faith issues in Manitoba and across the country.

He said faith-based groups and churches are usually busy working in communities, not promoting their work — like the Winnipeg church that opens its doors in the winter months to provide a warm place to sleep.

“Churches don’t send me press releases about the work they are doing. They don’t promote themselves,” Longhurst said. But he sees faith angles everywhere: “The story I’m trying to tell is how faith is active and engaged and doing things in this province and in this country. . . . I believe faith is still important to millions and millions of Canadians.”

Longhurst began his career at MCC Canada in the mid-1980s as a communications and media relations coordinator, spending more than a decade with the organization and bringing MCC’s work into new spaces in the public sphere.

“John forged a way to amplify the work of MCC to new audiences, and he left us a solid path to follow in media relations,” said MCC Canada executive director Rick Cober Bauman. “He built up relationships with mainstream news editors across the country, which went a long way in establishing MCC’s reputation as a trusted source.”

He has worked for Mennonite Economic Development Associates, MennoMedia and Mennonite Disaster Service. In the late 2010s, he chaired the Mennonite World Review Board of Directors as plans were being made to merge MWR and The Mennonite, creating Anabaptist World.