The Mennonite provides Anabaptist content and is a publication of Mennonite Church USA.
Daily News
Friday roundup: Five things worth paying attention to this week
Here are five things worth paying attention to this week. These are designed to expose you to a perspective you may not normally come across in your daily lives. 1. Joy This summer, my congregation is doing a series on “joy.” While there are a good number of Scripture verses on joy, church can sometimes […]
How do we keep our churches safe?
How do we keep our church safe in a world that feels more dangerous than ever? This question has been posed frequently to both Dove’s Nest and Peace and Justice Support Network after mass shootings in churches, schools, malls, music venues and more, this past year. The question is asked of Dove’s Nest because of […]
Why missional?
What is my motivation? Why do I do what I do? What is my end goal? What am I valuing above anything else that would inspire me to behave the way in which I am behaving? As Mennonite people, deeply rooted in tradition, history, and a strong communal story, we need to ask the question […]
Commemorating the United States the right way
This Fourth of July I gathered with Plains Mennonite Church and Evangelical Center for Revival, a predominantly Congolese Mennonite congregation, which held a joint July Fourth commemoration. This was the first time both of the churches got together for this kind of commemoration. The event displayed the willingness of both congregations to think about how […]
Friday roundup: Five things worth paying attention to this week
Here are five things worth paying attention to this week. These are designed to expose you to a perspective you may not normally come across in your daily lives. 1. I know Gordon Houser mentioned this last week, but the documentary Won’t You Be my Neighbor highlights the work of Fred Rodgers and his message to […]
Jesus wasn’t White
The sin of racism continues to cause dissension and violence in our country. Despite the progress that has been made, we continue to find racism at the center of injustice and inequality in all parts of society, even the church. For people of faith, what if the roots of racism go deeper than we’ve ever acknowledged? […]
¡Bienvenidos a Meno Acontecer de julio, 2018!
Suscríbase gratis en: menoacontecer@themennonite.org Encuentre los números anteriores en: https://themennonite.org/spanish/menoacontecerarchivos/ Para leer más historias de Meno Acontecer, visite https://themennonite.org/the-latest/spanishes/ Versión para imprimir: Meno Acontecer PDF Somos lo que comemos, somos lo que vemos y oímos, somos lo que leemos. Los expertos nutricionistas afirman en relación a nuestra salud, que somos lo que comemos. Los diseñadores gráficos y productores de video, […]
Participating in praise and peace in Philadelphia
Last week I worshipped with Philadelphia Praise Center and taught at one day of their summer Peace Camp. Philadelphia Praise Center, a congregation of Franconia Mennonite Conference, holds worship services in Indonesian and in Chin Burmese, and has a house church service in English in the evening. I attended the congregation’s Indonesian service. I was […]
Continuum of care is an answer to prayer
This is a web-exclusive article on the theme “Aging with Dignity.” For more stories on this theme, see the July issue of The Mennonite, available here. Photo: Siegfried Wendt. Photo provided by Landis Communities. Siegfried Wendt and his family experienced the upheaval and violence of World War II. Following the end of the conflict, he was able […]
My father’s journey into dementia
This article comes from the July issue of The Mennonite, which focuses on “Aging with Dignity.” Read more reflections online or subscribe to receive more original features in your inbox each month. Holding out his hand, my 85-year old father beseeched me, “Am I still the same person I was before?” It was a farmer’s hand, weathered and rough from a long […]
When Jesus comes with a whip
This is a web-exclusive article on the theme “Costly Discipleship.” For more stories on this theme, see the June issue of The Mennonite, available here. The authority of Jesus has everything to do with the questions we allow his life to pose to our lives. And what becomes clear as we read through John’s Gospel is […]
When questions of discipleship and parenting collide
This is a web-exclusive article on the theme “Costly Discipleship.” For more stories on this theme, see the June issue of The Mennonite, available here. The candles were lit. The lights were out. The eerie, beautiful voices echoed through the tall ceilings. By candle light, I could make out the same faces I’ve been praying this […]
Couple reflects on 30 years of co-pastoring one congregation
Photo: Roger and Cynthia Neufeld Smith. Photo provided. Fresh out of seminary in their early 30s and married just the previous year, Roger and Cynthia Neufeld Smith left Chicago for their first co-pastoring assignment at Southern Hills Mennonite Church in Topeka, Kansas. They knew they wanted an urban church, and Cynthia wanted to apply her […]
The privilege of safety and security
This is a web-exclusive article on the theme “Costly Discipleship.” For more stories on this theme, see the June issue of The Mennonite, available here. When I was 16, a friend and I were arrested for setting off fireworks in a housing development near my home. When we noticed a police vehicle cruising the neighborhood, we […]
What would Mr. Rogers do with the Muslim travel ban?
I know a thing or two about the power of fear. I was grounded by a fear of flying many years ago. I traveled to Europe twice in a cheap cabin deep in the belly of the Queen Elizabeth 2, near the rumbling engines, because I couldn’t bring myself to get on an airplane. With […]
A place of refuge or oppression?
The recent “zero tolerance” policy that has been conducted by the Trump administration toward asylum seekers along the U.S.-Mexico border has left thousands of families horrified and traumatized as parents and children were detained separately. Such an abhorrent policy does not take into account the vulnerability of these migrant families who have escaped violence and […]
What I learned at the Philadelphia Detention Center
I recently participated in a tour of the Philadelphia Detention Center. After doing a lot of reading about the injustice of mass incarceration in our country, including The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, I feel like my eyes have been opened to a new reality that I had previously ignored or had not chosen to see […]
The cost of not remembering 1525
Two articles previewing an observance of a 500th anniversary of Anabaptism stressed the importance of “right remembering.” Another way to describe it might be “not remembering.” In 30-plus pages, in the January 2017 issues of The Mennonite and Mennonite Quarterly Review, there is no mention of three founders present at Anabaptism’s start, nor a brief […]
The Gaza scandal: Are Mennonites listening?
On May 14, the day the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem and congratulated itself for advancing the peace process, the U.S.-supported Israeli military massacred more than 60 Palestinians participating in the nonviolent “Great March of Return” campaign. These events in Gaza reveal the scandal of how churches and civil society have been so […]
Responding to ‘Rethinking Mennonites’ approach to Israel and Palestine’
“Respectful criticism is welcomed; comments should focus on others’ ideas, not motives, character or faith.” This is in part what The Mennonite, Inc.’s comments policy says. What if this comments policy were applied to articles like Lisa Schirch’s recent piece “Rethinking Mennonites’ approach to Israel and Palestine”? Let’s look at her article and see how […]
