Many of the Mennonites who fled southern Ukraine in the early decades of the 20th century ended up in the Fraser Valley. Some of the areas where their ancestors lived – northeast of Crimea, west of Mariupol – have already…
For the past 50 years the annual MCC Festival for World Relief in Abbotsford has raised funds for uprooted and vulnerable people around the world. This year, thanks to the pandemic, the September 19 – 20 event will be a…
World Refugee Day is coming up on June 20. This week I will post the new Middle East Refugee Resettlement Initiative of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC). Over the next couple of weeks we will look at some of…
Now that’s the way to celebrate your 30th anniversary! When the dust settled at the Commodore Ballroom last Monday (June 23), Pacific Theatre had won four Jessie Awards in the Large Theatre category for plays from their 30th season. And…
How many times have I heard people bemoan the lack of art – or even the appreciation of art – in the modern church? That may have been legitimate in the past, but the tide has clearly turned. Here are…
It’s Christmas in May for Carolyn Arends, but those bearing gifts will be repaid later this year. The local musician has created lots of music over the years – 10 albums and counting – though she clearly has a particular…
Daughters in the City tells the remarkable story of ‘Mennonite Maids in Vancouver, 1931 – 1961.’ Sitting elbow to elbow in every available space and stitching patterns onto small individual squares of pre-used cotton flour sacks, a group of young…
Ken Shigematsu: God in My Everything When I first wrote about God in My Everything in August, the big news was how well the book was selling. I have no doubt sales are continuing briskly. Not only is this a…
Abbotsford has often been described as the Bible Belt. Novelist Caroline Adderson said in Sitting Practice that there are “more churches per capita” and more people who use the Bible as a weapon to “slam down hard across a child’s knuckles…