September 15thMCM Gathers with Nationwide Church in Kitchener
Just over 400 people from across Mennonite Church Canada came together for Gathering 2025, July 2-5 in Kitchener, Ontario. This included around 60 people from Mennonite Church Manitoba, with more than 20 congregational representatives from MCM churches and 14 regional church delegates, along with MCM’s two members of MC Canada’s Joint Council and several MCM staff.
“This was my first time attending an MC Canada Gathering, and I was very grateful for the program, the small group discussions, and the diversity of prayer and input,” says Ha Nguyen, lay pastor at Vietnamese Mennonite Church (Winnipeg). “My wife Anna and I both had a very positive experience. If anything, I just found the program quite full, so I realized I needed a bit more energy to take it all in!”
The program, including pre-Gathering and post-Gathering meetings, ran full days from Wednesday through Saturday. The overarching theme was “Each Gift,” focusing on the gifts we give and receive in an intercultural church, with many of the presentations and sessions focused on the topic. MCM was well-represented among the speakers and presenters, including Anika Reynar (Home Street) along with MC Canada staff Sandy Plett (Pembina), Jonathan Neufeld (Charleswood), Carolina Gouveia Santana, Arlyn Friesen Epp (Home Street), and Doug Klassen (Bethel). There was a parallel track for young adult participants under 30, as well as a youth gathering at a separate venue.
MCM’s delegates report a positive experience at Gathering. Matthew Froese (First) says, “I appreciated the table conversations with people from other parts of the country about what's happening in their congregations,” he says. “I was glad to hear some honest sharing about where more work is needed to make sure people feel like they truly belong in their churches.”
“Doug Klassen's sermon was a highlight of the Gathering,” says Lizzie Wipf (Elim). “It has encouraged me to work in my own context towards naming who we know we are to be—people who belong to God, belong to the earth, and belong to one another and have been gifted the grace to live into that belonging—and to live into this identity.”
Colin Reimer (Altona Bergthaler) participated in the U30 track. “The experience that had the greatest impact for me was a lunchtime round-table discussion with all the young adults and the MC Canada Joint Council,” he says. “We were able to have a very interpersonal and candid conversation about what young people are saying and the desires we hold for our church. This fed my spirit with inspiration and gratitude.”
The next in-person MC Canada Gathering will take place in summer 2028, hosted by MCM.
Praise God for a wonderful gathering of our nationwide church! See here for more info about MC Canada Gathering 2025, including links to videos of many of the presentations. To support financially our nationwide church ministries together, see www.mennochurch.mb.ca/giving.