Anticipating the theme and process: Participating in this 6-week experience will take you on a journey of discovery and challenge. As you pray with the scripture texts for Lent, you will be invited to consider how Jesus brings light into the shadow places of our lives and our world. You will be challenged to seek and to shine light, finding hope in desperate times.

Using the Weekly Prayer Sheets: Each week you will have a Prayer Sheet to guide you. Throughout Lenten Guided Prayer (LGP), we will be practicing contemplative prayer which invites you to notice how God’s spirit is moving within your everyday life experience, through listening, pondering, and wondering. We do this using the lens of scripture - in particular, the Lectionary readings from the Sundays during Lent.

Each sheet introduces you to the theme of the week and provides different suggestions for how to pray with the scriptures. Expect that some of the prayer exercises will easily draw you in, while others might stretch you into new ways of praying and responding. Since there are many prayer suggestions, it is not expected that you will pray with each one listed. Be open to however God leads you to express your prayer. There is no limit to how contemplative prayer can happen and where it can lead you. The key is that whatever you do, you do it in a prayerful, reflective way - even if it means getting curious about your resistance. Our hope is that through these prayer options, the themes of the Lenten texts can interact deeply with your life experience.

Sharing and Responding in the Weekly Small Group: For those who participate in a small group (we recommend 3-4 people), each week you will meet with a group facilitator to share some of your prayer experiences. People share only those things they feel comfortable sharing from their prayer times. Perhaps they share recorded reflections from their journal, some created artwork, a hymn that resonated, a calling they felt, what felt challenging, or something they saw that caught their attention.

Registration Fee:

$40 for congregations/organizations
$20 for individual use
$10 for students

PDFs:

Upon registration, PDFs of the 6-week set of Prayer Sheets, along with the Opening and Closing Liturgies, will be emailed to you.

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"I have been looking for a book like this for a long time. From the first essay, I knew that the fire in Unsettling the Word would be for everyone who wishes to decolonize what they've learned of the Bible in the white church." -- Kaitlin B. Curtice (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), author of Glory Happening: Finding the Divine in Everyday Places"

Unsettling the Word helps Christians take responsibility for the damage our sacred texts have done to Indigenous peoples and Creation. More importantly, it empowers us to read those texts--and act on them--in a profoundly different, restorative way." -- Sara Stratton, Reconciliation and Indigenous Justice Animator for the United Church of Canada

Great Big Beautiful World is a one-week Vacation Bible School curriculum. The five Bible stories in this curriculum lead children on an adventure through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Through worship and drama, Bible study, nature-themed art projects and snacks, active games, and science explorations, children will discover God’s love for all of creation, including each child.

Great Big Beautiful World invites children to see the ways God cares for the earth and challenges them to care for God’s world in tangible ways—both during the unit and at home.

Great Big Beautiful World is the first VBS unit produced by Shine Curriculum and incorporates the same approach to Christian faith formation as the Shine: Living in God’s Light Sunday school curriculum.

You can also preview the VBS curriculum on the Shine website.

Every day we lose a little bit of something.

Career plans wither. Friendships crumble. Our zeal for Jesus wanes. Whether it's the demise of ideals and expectations, belief in the church, a previously healthy relationship, or our image of ourselves: we all experiences losses.

So does the God of the resurrection have anything to say to our hurts? Was Christ's resurrection a once-and-done thing, or is there hope for healing and restoration now?

In Signs of Life, pastor and writer Stephanie Lobdell leads readers into the grand story of God's saving action and resurrection power. Punctuated with stories of biblical figures such as Sarah, Naaman, Saul, and Anna--who faced ordinary deaths and also God's reviving power --Signs of Life maintains that Jesus' resurrection matters now. In candid and artful prose, Lobdell shares stories of her own depression, loss of confidence, and disillusionment with the church.

Hope isn't cheap, and you can't muscle your way through to joy. There's no sense in pretending everything is fine. Yet through it all, Lobdell says, God breathes life into what seems beyond redemption. Through it all, the resurrection matters.

Includes questions for study/discussion.

(11 sessions)

Just come on over.

Many people today feel lonely, isolated, and disconnected from God and others. We crave authentic community, but we have no idea where to start. We’d be glad to cultivate friendships; but honestly, who’s got the time?

In Invited, writer Leslie Verner says real hospitality is not having a Pinterest-perfect table or well-appointed living room. True hospitality is not clean, comfortable, or controlled. It is an invitation to enter a sacred space together with friends and strangers. Through vivid accounts from her life and travels in Uganda, China, and Tajikistan, and stories of visiting congregations in the United States, Verner shares stories of life around the table and how hospitality is at the heart of Christian community. What if we in the West learned about hospitality from people around the globe? What if our homes became laboratories of belonging?

Invited will empower you to open your home, get to know your neighbours, and prioritize people over tasks. Holy hospitality requires more of Jesus and less of us. It leads not only to loving the stranger but to becoming the stranger. Welcome to a new kind of hospitality.

Includes questions for reflection and discussion.

(10 sessions)

After 5 years of development, Mennonite Men is pleased to provide this important resource to the dialogue on healthy masculinity.

While there are plenty of books by men, for men, on the topic of “Christian masculinity,” these books generally fail to address men’s propensities for violence and the traditional inequity between men and women, often endorsing inequity and sanctioning aggressive behaviour as an appropriate “manly” response to conflict. Peaceful at Heart cuts through this conversation by offering a uniquely Anabaptist Christian perspective on masculinity.

Much has been written describing the characteristics of masculinity and the impacts of patriarchy. Instead, this volume moves the dialogue in the direction of building a vision of discipleship, community and peace as an alternative for men's lives. Rather than supporting the patriarchy and nationalism commonly advanced in traditional Christian thought, this volume draws on an Anabaptist perspective of faith which invites men to experience God's call to live at peace and be peacemakers.

The vision of masculinity presented in this book is more peaceful, just, caring, life-giving for men, and more sensitive to women and children than both traditional images of masculinity and the hypermasculine images promoted by contemporary popular culture and wider evangelical Christianity. Peaceful at Heart addresses men and masculinity using Anabaptist theological themes of discipleship, community, and peace.

As a collaborative project by men, for men, this book demonstrates through personal narratives, theological reflection, and practical guidance the importance of collective discernment, accountability, and mutual encouragement regarding how to live as a peaceful man in a violent world.

Also see related book launch video.

“Much of the literature written in men’s psychology/spirituality is ensnared in wild/aggressive/warrior/conquer language. Like a beacon of light, this book reveals a vision of peace for men and shows how to embrace a peacefulness within male humanity. . . . Most certainly, this book will be one that I loan to men who are not satisfied with what our cultures are asking of them.” —Doug Klassen, Executive Minister, Mennonite Church Canada

“By bravely, intelligently, and compassionately wrestling with what it means to be a man who loves Jesus, this book invites men to invert their ideas of strength and power, living into deeper connection, sacrifice, and dependence on God. This book is a sorely needed gift for the contemporary church.” —Kristyn Komarnicki, Director of Oriented to Love, Evangelicals for Social Action

“I am grateful for Mennonite Men and their willingness to take on this project. I am also grateful for their commitment to give voice to a diverse group of men and their experienced masculinity from outside the typical white heterosexual narrative of North American society.” —Glen Guyton, Executive Director, Mennonite Church USA

“My hope for this project is that it will not only get men talking but also get women and men talking together. . . . Together we can overcome this toxic reality of masculinity and create healthy norms of masculinity and femininity.” — from the Afterword by Cyneatha Millsaps, Executive Director, Mennonite Women USA

"This book is for men who want to explore alternatives to the dominant but tired and harmful mythological types of men as warriors, kings, or wild ones. Teenage through senior males will be challenged by stories and models of masculinity marked by honesty, interdependence, and faith. Maleness in the twenty-first century is complex, but, as this book demonstrates, it is both possible and life-giving to reconcile with ourselves and with all humanity." —Andy Brubacher Kaethler, Associate Professor, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

Children and youth will just "catch" the faith of their parents, right?

Not necessarily. Talking with kids about Jesus no longer comes naturally to many Christian parents. In Raising Disciples, Natalie Frisk helps us reconnect faith and parenting, equipping parents to model what following Jesus looks like in daily life. Filled with authenticity, flexibility, humour, and prayer, Frisk outlines how parents can make openings for their children to experience God in their daily lives.

As a curriculum pastor, Frisk calls parents who follow Christ to ask the big questions about the spiritual formation of children and teens. In practical and thoughtful ways, she equips parents to disciple their kids in various stages of childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Raising Disciples will awaken parents to the possibility of Jesus-centred parenting and encourage us to engage in the lost art of discipling our own kids.

Also see MB Herald review.

Hardcover

If tradition has a taste, this is it.

Like your grandmother’s beloved recipe file, Hope’s Table brings enticing meals to your family’s table. From the kitchen of Mennonite cook Hope Helmuth comes this mix of more than 150 delectable recipes, stunning food photographs, and stories of strawberry picking, corn day, and Christmas cookie bakes. Traditions of hearth, home, and hospitality run deep, and those values flavour every recipe and story.

Hope’s Table offers simple step-by-step instructions that help you create wholesome dishes with artistic flair. Practical kitchen hints and memories from a Mennonite life garnish the pages. In Hope’s Table, you’ll find recipes sure to become family favourites:

• Mom’s Rolls
• Bacon and Corn Chowder
• Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
• Maple-Glazed Pork Chops
• Apple Dumplings

Step into the serene, natural beauty of a Mennonite home. Take a seat at Hope’s table, and you’ll find plenty of reasons to linger.

Do you ever think you’re forgetting how to talk about God? Or never learned how?

Theology is nothing more—and nothing less—than speaking together about God. Still, a lot of us don’t know where to start.

In Speaking of God, pastor and theologian Anthony Siegrist helps readers recover a basic language around Christian theology. The sweeping epic of Scripture serves as the scaffold for this accessible book. In vivid and even humorous writing, Siegrist introduces us to scholars and pilgrims and traditions that disclose essential truths about God and Jesus Christ, as well as concepts like creation, sin, redemption, the church, and discipleship. By plumbing the works of theologians such as Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Antonia Gonzalez, and Kazoh Kitamori, Siegrist offers readers an introduction to Christian theology throughout the ages, emphasizing common threads of thought and practice across traditions.

Learning to talk about God requires courage and humility; this handbook of Christian theology will help you gain both. Join the deepest, longest conversation in the world.

“Siegrist makes theology come alive. When you finish this book, your mind will be dancing with new words and ideas about faith and God.” - Carol Penner, assistant professor of theological studies at Conrad Grebel University College

The list of global problems is massive and overwhelming. When confronted with such significant problems, our first instinct is to tell the bad guys to stop being bad. Of course, doing so would be on a rigged playing field. And for each person that actually does write a letter or confront the bad guys, there might be a thousand people that simply develop an ulcer.

We think the reason we see so many people angry is because they genuinely care. But they seem to get stuck at being angry. Some people spend a hundred hours a week for 20 years being angry and not much changes. We think that if you spend a tiny fraction of that time doing the things mentioned in this book, your global positive impact will be a thousand times greater.

For nearly every global problem there are solutions we can implement in our backyard that, at the same time, save us money and help provide more luxuriant lives. If a few of us do these things and bask in the glow of the opulence and extra cash, others will observe and think “I want extra luxury and money too! Not fair!” So they emulate. And on and on it goes. Then the global problems sorta just dry up and blow away. That’s what this book is all about.

Available to pre-order. Release date is mid April.

Cancer, hurricanes, hunger, suicide: suffering is the most profound challenge to faith that many people will face.

Valerie G. Rempel leads readers into a gentle meditation on the many questions surrounding why we suffer. How can God be all-loving and all-powerful? Why don’t prayers seem to work? Is pain always redemptive? And what do the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus reveal about suffering? We may not find answers to all our questions, but we can lean into the God big enough to absorb all of them.

Includes questions for reflection and discussion.

(5 sessions)

Is nonviolence irresponsible? Is peacemaking naïve?

In Speak Your Peace, Ronald J. Sider, author of the Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, plumbs Scripture, building a persuasive case that Jesus meant what he said when he commanded us to love our enemies.

With candour and logic, Sider takes on enduring questions about violence and nonviolence, showing how the contemporary church in a warring world has largely set aside Jesus’ call to love our enemies and traded its birthright in Christ for a stew of nationalism and militarism.

Ignoring what Jesus said about killing is a huge theological mistake. Returning us to the inescapable call of the Son of God, Sider reminds the church of its true vocation in a world of hatred and war.

Includes questions for reflection and discussion.

(14 sessions)

Available to pre-order. Release date is late March.

Hardcover

Harmony with nature is an Amish art.

From photographer Danny Graber comes Seasons of Amish Life, a vibrant photographic collection of an Amish community through the year. Through remarkable photographs and sensitive prose, visit a snow-covered pond at dawn, when men and boys cut blocks of ice and load them onto wagons. See Amish women planting gardens in spring and children helping fathers thresh oats in high summer. Autumn brings together the whole community to raise a barn in two days.

Watch and learn from a community that works with nature’s calendar, not against it. See the beauty of traditions carried forward in time.

Available to pre-order. Release date is mid April.

How is the one God also three persons? How is Jesus fully God and fully human? Who in the world should we pray to? And why does any of it matter?

Steve Dancause offers a succinct and profound investigation into how what we think about God as Trinity matters in our faith, our work, and our love. It matters because the walls of our churches are cracking around us. We can keep patching things up, but it is better to go to the foundation and do the hard digging. With the right foundation, the structure holds, and it stands the test of eternity. And it is only in Jesus, and the Trinity he reveals to us, that we build our lives on solid rock. Let’s dig down together.

Includes questions for reflection and discussion.

(5 sessions)

Copies will be arriving soon.

In 1975, Mennonite Central Committee Canada established the Ottawa Office to monitor and interpret government policy for its Mennonite and Brethren in Christ constituency, and to undertake advocacy to government on behalf of its national and international programs. William Janzen was the first director of MCC's Ottawa Office, a position he held for thirty-three years. In this volume, he shares a rich collection of stories from those years of "advocating for peace."

In February 2019, when he was honoured in the Senate of Canada for his role, in 1979, in crafting the first Master Agreement for the Private Sponsorship of Refugees, the government's representative in the Senate, V. Peter Harder, stated, "You may not have realized it at the time, but you were pivotal in making Canada the inclusive and compassionate country it has become. Few are those who can call themselves nation builders. You, Bill, are one who can."

Also see the book launch article from Conrad Grebel University College.

Available to pre-order. Release date is late April.

Straight from an Amish family’s recipe box.

Savour the authentic, time-tested recipes of an extended Amish family in your own kitchen. In Amish Family Recipes, beloved Old Order Amish newspaper columnist Lovina Eicher shares more than one hundred mouthwatering recipes. Colourful photographs of easy-to-prepare dishes and pictures of life in an Amish household reveal a people committed to faith, family, community, and simplicity.

Chock-full of delectable dishes from four generations, Amish Family Recipes includes recipes and memories of Lovina’s mother, Elizabeth Coblentz, who wrote The Amish Cook newspaper column. Stories from Lovina, her sisters, and her children offer family lore and mealtime memories. Practical sections devoted to cooking with children, preparing for family picnics, and making large dishes for reunion meals round out this scrumptious collection.

A taste of what’s inside:

• Overnight Cinnamon Pecan Cake
• Sweet Spicy Baked Chicken
• Autumn Vegetable Dish
• Cherry Blueberry Supreme
• Whoopie Pies

Recipes passed down in families are the best kind.

During the season of Lent, God’s children reflect on the life and death of Christ. This year, we are invited to prepare by asking God to show us how to find our hidden God as well as our own safe hiding place, how to remember God’s faithful, loving presence, how to reconnect with the Rock of our salvation, how to really see. As we do so, our Lenten journey will help us remember God’s power over death and help us learn how to balance joy and sorrow from Jesus on the hard but worthwhile path to resurrection.

This resource for the home is adapted form the congregational worship resources for Lent, printed in Leader magazine published by MennoMedia.

Use this At Home worship guide whenever and however it fits into your home’s routines and life stage realities. If your family has younger children, feel free to simplify, shorten and paraphrase the prayers and pondering thoughts. To use this booklet for daily worship times, repeat the litany for each day of the week and read the daily scripture recommendations which have been divided into seven short readings.