Canadian Mennonite
Volume 6, number 11
June 3, 2002

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Coaldale, Alta.

Photo: Judy Dyck, MCC Canada thrift store coordinator, speaks at the 30th anniversary gathering in Coaldale. Photo by David Moll

Mennonite Central Committee thrift store workers from across Canada recently marked the 30th anniversary of the MCC thrift store movement by paying tribute to past accomplishments, and looking to the future.

About 150 volunteers, managers and board members met here April 25-26 for the national Thrift Workshop, held every four years.

"We wanted to demonstrate respect for the past accomplishments of this grass-roots movement, while equipping present workers with the necessary tools to compete in a second-hand marketplace that has many new non-profit and for-profit entries," explained Judy Dyck, MCC Canada's national thrift store coordinator.

Thirty years ago, a group of women began the first thrift shop in Altona, Manitoba (see April 22, page 27). Four women who were on the planning team for the first store attended this anniversary meeting. They received a standing ovation from conference attendees.

Meanwhile, a new program of "branding identity" was launched at this workshop. A stylized shopping bag around the MCC logo will become the new visual identity for MCC thrift shops in North America. The logo will be used on all signs, shopping bags, letterhead and advertising.

Wendy McClelland, MCC B.C. thrift shop coordinator, was the key-note speaker at the event. McClelland previously owned a business consulting firm in Abbotsford.

A seminar on safety and security gave information on product safety according to Health Canada guidelines and tips on preventing loss of products from the local police chief. It helped workers understand their rights and obligations. A seminar called "Fresh spaces, fresh places" provided guidelines on renovations and building projects.

The Western Coffee House was an evening of fun and celebration, featuring a barbershop quartet, violinist, a trumpet trio and a mouth organ duo. At the intermission a quartet of anniversary cakes, complete with sparklers, was wheeled out to a chorus of "Happy anniversary."

The 54 thrift stores in Canada forwarded $4.2 million to MCC this past year.

-MCC Canada release

Winnipeg, Man.

The Canadian Foodgrains Bank has announced that donations totalled $6.1 million for its year ending March 31.

"This is the third highest level of donations in the 19-year history of the Foodgrains Bank," said Jim Cornelius, executive director. "We continue to be blessed with the strong support of grassroots Canadians." The Foodgrains Bank is made up of 13 member churches, including Mennonite.

Donations were $200,000 more than last year, and cash donations of $3.3 million were up 15 percent. Actual tonnage of grain was down 15 percent from the previous year due to drought and poor harvest weather, but prices and types of crops donated were of a higher value.

Last year, the Foodgrains Bank supplied 32,436 tonnes of food to people in 26 countries. The Canadian International Development Agency provided $16 million in matching funds.

"We had major programs in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India and North Korea last year.... Afghanistan faced drought and conflict, Ethiopia had poor crops, our India response was related to chronic poverty and the North Korean response is as a result of economic collapse," Cornelius said.

This spring, the Foodgrains Bank is shipping 7,000 tonnes of Canadian wheat flour to North Korea. It will provide food for three million pregnant or nursing mothers and children. ADM Milling Company is milling the flour in its Calgary and Medicine Hat mills. The vessel is scheduled to leave Vancouver on May 24 to arrive in North Korea in late June.

Foodgrains Bank is also supplying iron and vitamin A supplements as the flour will be made into fortified biscuits and noodles prior to distribution.

The Catholic Relief Agency, Caritas, and staff affiliated with the Foodgrains Bank in North Korea will plan and monitor the food distribution.

-From Foodgrains Bank release

War on terror major
setback to missions

The United States' war on terrorism could set missions back 1,000 years, Tony Campolo told the North Carolina Baptist Men's Conference in March. Campolo, a sociologist and well-known Baptist speaker, said it has become dangerous to quote Jesus in church since September 11. "I'm not sure we want to hear of a Jesus who says, 'Blessed are the peacemakers....'" The war against terrorism is like trying to get rid of malaria by killing mosquitoes, he said. "You get rid of malaria by destroying the swamps in which the malaria mosquitoes are bred. There's a swamp out there called poverty and injustice." Campolo described himself as a "pro-Israel evangelical," but spoke against injustices against Palestinians. "When they send tanks into the West Bank and level 70 houses in retaliation to some madman setting off a bomb in Tel-Aviv, they're using Hitler-like tactics.... God loves the Palestinians every bit as much as he loves the Jews." Campolo also spoke out against the U.S. government's "faith-based" social programs. Putting government together with church programs "is like mixing ice cream with horse manure. It's not going to hurt the manure but it's going to raise havoc with the ice cream."

-From reports

World Youth Day
official Ontario event

World Youth Day, a Roman Catholic event scheduled for Toronto July 18-28, will be the largest international conference ever held in Canada. The province of Ontario is an official sponsor. Up to half a million delegates from 150 countries, along with 3,500 media representatives, will join Pope John Paul II in a celebration of their faith. The Ontario government has a web site (www.wydontario.com) to highlight "how an event of this magnitude presents enormous opportunities for Ontario," according to its release. Delegates will travel across the province as part of the event's "Days in the Dioceses" program. World Youth Day was created in 1984 by the pope.

Winnipeg, Man.

Photo: Matt Love (right), youth ministries coordinator in Alberta, recalls his "worst scar" story for the Youth Ministry Council. Seated are, from left: Jodi and Jim Ostland from South Central-Western District Conference (MC USA) and Anne Campion.

The importance of congregations and parents in encouraging youth to consider ministry and service cannot be underestimated.

That's one conviction youth leaders shared at a Youth Ministry Council gathering here May 1-4. Thirty-three area conference youth ministers and staff from across Canada and the United States gathered at Canadian Mennonite University to look at youth leadership and nurture, post-secondary education, and calls to service in the Mennonite Church.

The event was led by Anne Campion (Director of Youth Ministries for Mennonite Church Canada), and Steve Ropp (Minister of Youth for MC USA). Schools, service ministries, and the youth publishing arm of Mennonite Publishing House were represented.

"We heard stories of parents really getting on the case of youth ministers or voluntary service staff for encouraging their son or daughter to do a year of service before going on to college," Ropp reported. "We're also aware that youth aren't being encouraged to get into the ministry for a variety of reasons, and our lack of numbers in both of these programs are reflecting that."

The importance of youth resources from Mennonite Publishing House also surfaced. Fast Lane and Generation Why Bible study series will not be putting out any more new materials, and it is time to start brainstorming about what comes next in youth curriculum. A new baptism resource by Michelle Hershberger and April Yamasaki is in process.

YouthGuide, a youth leader's resource, has been discontinued, while With magazine will be expanded to include an on-line curriculum resource called "With the Lesson" and retreats called "With Weekends."

Dan Nighswander, general secretary of MC Canada, and Justina Heese, executive secretary of Christian Formation for MC Canada, used hula hoops to illustrate structural elements of Mennonite Church Canada. Anna Rehan, MC Saskatchewan youth minister, reported on youth participation at the MC Canada assembly in Saskatoon this summer.

Beginning in 2003, Canadian youth assemblies will become bi-annual gatherings; every fourth year U.S. and Canadian youth will meet in a joint convention, along with the adults.

While participants address the issues, they also spent time providing support for each other.

The Youth Ministry Council "broadens our perspectives and enables us to look at our own settings with new eyes," said Anne Campion. "It also challenges us all in the church to listen for God's dream for us and to be willing to answer the call wherever it might be-ministry, service, seeking God in all vocations!"

-MC Canada release

Bogotá, Colombia

Photo: Gaviria

Many horrendous acts are committed when a country is at war, especially when it is a so-called "dirty war" like the one Colombia is enduring. Recently, someone loaded explosives onto the back of a donkey and hired two kids to lead the donkey toward a police station. Then they blew up the donkey with a remote control trigger, killing several people, including one of the children. The other child was severely maimed.

In another violent act, an executed farmer was put back into his booby-trapped vehicle to bait the police. When they tried to deactivate the bomb, it exploded and killed them. One of the bomb experts had deactivated 350 bombs in his career. These are demonic actions.

The apostle Paul writes that where sin abounds, grace increases all the more.

Another story revolves around the governor of Antioquia, a state which has been particularly hard hit by both para-military and revolutionary groups. On April 23, Guillermo Gaviria began the "March of nonviolence" into the heart of FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia) territory.

By Sunday evening the group had grown to over a thousand people before it was stopped by the FARC. Television cameras recorded the FARC soldiers leading the governor and other marchers away, supposedly for discussions. That evening, all were released except for the governor and a former defence minister who was also on the march. The two of them have not been heard from since.

The following day, Gaviria's wife read a letter he had written prior to the march in which he proclaimed his belief in nonviolence as the only means to resolve Colombia's crisis. He said he has studied the life and writings of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi and believes that nonviolence is the most powerful force available to Colombians.

He asked that if he were kidnapped or killed there would be no military action taken; he had gone as far as to name his replacement to carry on the responsibilities of his government.

Colombians have good reason to be suspicious of their politicians and so many suspect some ulterior motive behind this governor's action. I have not been able to learn much about Guillermo Gaviria, but on the surface, at least, it is one of the most Christ-like actions that we have witnessed in Colombia. A powerful governor, as a protest against the violence, emptied himself of his status and military protection and gave himself up, convinced that the battle cannot be won with counter violence.

The "March of nonviolence" was to culminate in an international congress on nonviolence the following week in Medellín, with the governor as host. The congress was to continue in spite of the kidnapping.

We invite you to pray that actions of courage and faith will not fall on deaf ears but that they will take hold and overcome the powers of darkness.

-Rudy and Helen Baergen

The writers are Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers in Bogotá. They sent this story just before coming to Canada to spend the month of May with ailing parents.