The Mennonite Church in Canada has changed over the years. Mennonites first came to Canada in 1786. These Mennos arrived from Pennsylvania. Mennonites from Ukraine came to Canada in the 1870’s. They felt that the Ukrainian/Russian authorities were beginning to put pressure on their faith and economic life. Most of the Mennonites left Ukraine in the early 1990’s, and live now in Germany. Although, there is a small community living in Ukraine today. Please pray for them.
Mennonites have flourished in Canada. But now, we have many people who are leaving the Mennonite Church. We are having less and less children. Most of our growth is from new communities coming from Myanmar, Eritrea and Ethiopia. We worship in many languages on a Sunday morning. We worship in different styles. We used to have over 50 overseas missionaries, but now we have only a handful. Our staff at our national office has been reduced to a small number of people. We are much different today.
What is in our future ? Our future will now include coming out of the pandemic. We have a good building here at Poole. We take care of one another. We pray for each other and the world. What must we do going forward ? Programs or compassion or both ?
Prayer Today, Ukraine is on our mind. WAR has come once again. We want peace to break out . We are at a loss with the hatred in our world We do not know what to do. Show us the way of peace and hospitality. AMEN.
” Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
Fred
Chaos in the winds Scattering my troubled thoughts to land on soft clouds Monica Pieper Landoni 2022