Will Braun

Editor at Canadian Mennonite

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Articles

South Sudan crisis concerns Edmonton church

3 weeks ago | canadianmennonite.org | Will Braun

Members of Edmonton South Sudanese Mennonite Church are deeply concerned about family and friends in South Sudan and the surrounding countries to which many have fled as hunger and turmoil grip the region. South Sudan is the newest nation state in the world—it came into being in 2011 after decades of war and hundreds of thousands of deaths—and one of the poorest, ranking 192 out of 193 countries on the UN Human Development Index.
Pastoral letter following federal election

1 month ago | canadianmennonite.org | Will Braun

Dear Pastors, Leaders, and Members of our Church Family, Grace and peace to you in the name of our risen Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. In these days following the election, when some are relieved and others are disappointed—some joyful, others deeply frustrated—we are called to walk in ways that exude grace, humility and hospitality. We are invited to be open to possibilities that have not yet been considered.
Small, hurting world

1 month ago | canadianmennonite.org | Will Braun

Not long after M23 rebels captured the city of Bukavu in eastern DRC in February, my colleague Susan Fish spoke with a Mennonite pastor and doctor in Bukavu (article here). On the day after government forces in South Sudan placed the main opposition leader under house arrest last week, creating massive uncertainty in an already uncertain country, I spoke with Pastor Reuben Tut of Edmonton South Sudanese Mennonite Church (that article is yet to come).
Témoignage d’un pasteur en pleine violence en RDC

2 months ago | canadianmennonite.org | Will Braun

Parlant depuis son domicile à Bukavu, en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC), le 23 février, Josué Seleman a raconté des troubles dans la ville de Bukavu depuis l’entrée des rebelles paramilitaires M-23 dans la ville le 14 février, trois semaines après avoir capturé la ville de Goma dans l’est du pays. Seleman est médecin et aussi le pasteur d’une église de la Communauté des Églises des Frères Mennonites au Congo, le plus grand groupe Mennonite de la RDC, avec presque 100,000 membres.
The immeasurable power of surrender

2 months ago | canadianmennonite.org | Will Braun

When David Fitch speaks about church and power, his starting point is not any big thoughts from the seminary classrooms he’s so familiar with or even his experience as pastor of a majority-Black church. It’s the “cesspool” of the Chicago financial sector, where he spent 10 years as a dangerously successful broker and financial manager. He begins with his own stark experience of how the power of money and influence grabbed hold of his soul and how the power of God saved him from that grasp.
Does the Carver model suit Mennonites?

Feb 28, 2025 | canadianmennonite.org | Will Braun

A retired veteran of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) management put it bluntly (off-record): “MCC is not a priesthood of all believers.”I don’t know if any Mennonite organizations are. Most, like this magazine, are hierarchies, and many use some version of the Carver model of governance. While such matters may be boring for many readers, this technical, behind-the-scenes stuff affects lives.
Spirit over algorithm: An invitation

Feb 28, 2025 | canadianmennonite.org | Will Braun

If you worry that digitization is corroding your soul, or if you just don’t know how to square the digital demands of our era with the circle of life you want to live in, we invite you to undertake some form of de-digitized experiment for Lent. Starting March 5, cut screens back in some way and fill the gap with something holy. Go all-out, think big, make it hurt. Or dabble without shame because heaven and earth overflow with grace. Be still. Be bored.
Algorithm override

Feb 28, 2025 | canadianmennonite.org | Will Braun

For once, I don’t actually have much to say, so I heartily encourage you put down your device (not in your pocket) or walk away from your computer. Go outside. Look out the window. Take a breath. Be still and know. Pray. Rest. Wait. Seriously. (Then return to the links below, especially the first one; it’s really good.
An intense editorial in three parts

Jan 31, 2025 | canadianmennonite.org | Will Braun

Part I. Divine embraceOn pages 22-23, Melody Steinman writes about her relationships with people with developmental disabilities. With tenderness and vulnerability, she shares about a warm, though awkward, human embrace and a profound, transformative divine embrace. Melody’s stories of friendship, vocation and holy belonging touch the heart of Christianity. This is a gift. The article is an introduction to Melody’s five-part series, which is part of our inaugural round of MennoCreative residencies.
MCC investigation finds harassment by senior personnel

Jan 13, 2025 | canadianmennonite.org | Will Braun |Anicka Fast |John Clarke |MCC HR Controversy

An investigation commissioned by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in response to complaints put forward by John Clarke and Anicka Fast, who were abruptly terminated in August 2023, found that “MCC processes and some decision making by senior personnel as a whole … is reasonably understood to fall within the threshold of harassment as defined by MCC’s Workplace Harassment and Violence Policy.” The report was conducted by Edmonton-based Veritas Solutions, which describes itself as “the...