2012 Ministry Highlights: Growing People and Communities for God

What does Mennonite Church Canada have to do with ministries like Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) or Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), or even the soup kitchen down the street? Quite a lot, actually. Mennonite Church Canada builds the foundation for the good work they do by building people of faith.

These ministries and others like them rely upon the hands, feet and hearts of people – often volunteers – who are dedicated to working for peace and justice, caring for creation, healing relationships with Canada’s First Nations, and extending compassion and hospitality to newcomers and those of other faith traditions. Many of them draw their convictions from deep roots in Jesus Christ that have been nurtured by God’s gift of the church.

With your encouragement and support, Mennonite Church Canada provides faith education, resources for learning and worship, leadership training, and peace and conflict resolution teaching. Through ministry in 26 countries including Canada, we are encouraging community development, ministry partnerships between nations, and we are growing relationships for God’s holistic vision of shalom inside the church and beyond, through our churches and through the crucial ministries of our sister organizations.

The many ways in which we minister together are not as immediately visible as on-the-ground responses to the social justice issues or national disasters that make media headlines, but they are making a difference. Read on to discover a few of the many ways that you have helped to grow people and communities for God in 2012. And please consider sharing excerpts from this report on a regular basis at your meetings, on your bulletin boards, and in your church newsletters and Sunday morning bulletins.