Sunday Seminars
In our Sunday Seminars (Aka Adult Education) we delve into topics related to Christian witness and congregational life drawing upon speakers, books and online resources and then group discussions. Specific topics include creation care, missions and service, caring for mental health, the visual arts in worship, and the meaning and practice of communion. We meet at 9:30 am unless otherwise noted.
Recalling and Reflecting on Troubling Times in Mennonite History
Sunday Seminar Series - Charleswood Mennonite Church – Fall 2023
As a faith community it behooves us to recall and reflect not only on the worthy, even heroic, episodes in our history but also on the troubling times. This is the intention of this Sunday Seminar series with an emphasis on the Dutch/North German – Prussian – Russian Mennonite stream. It will begin with an overview of Mennonite history to provide a context for the troubling times and conclude with general reflections on how we can understand these times and work through current and future troubles. In between there will be presentations on specific episodes by experts followed by discussion.
September 10 Overview of Mennonite History - Jeremy Wiebe
September 17 Landlessness in Russia (1840s-) - Aileen Friesen
September 24 Emigration from Ukraine (1920s) - Peter Rempel
October 1 Church Separations in Manitoba (1890s-) - Conrad Stoesz
October 8 (Thanksgiving Sunday) No seminar
October 15 Self-defense Corps in Russia (1910s-) - Aileen Friesen
October 22 Missions and Church in Kenya (1940s-) - Patrick Obonde
October 29 Settling and Colonizing Manitoba (1870s-) - Shelisa Klassen
November 5 Violence in North Germany and Netherlands (1530s-) - Andrew Klassen Brown
November 12 Coping in Troubling Times: Past and Present - Jon Isaak
These books, available in our library and from Common Word, plus the Wikipedia article, provide introductory overviews:
An Introduction to Mennonite History by Cornelius Dyck (1993)
An Introduction to the Russian Mennonites by Wally Kroeker (2005)
Mennonites, Politics, and Peoplehood: Europe - Russia – Canada 1525 to 1980 by James Urry (2006)
The Russian Mennonite Story: The Heritage Cruise Lectures by Paul Toews with Aileen Friesen (2018)
Mennonites in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union: Through Much Tribulation by Leonard Friesen (2022)
Russian Mennonites - Wikipedia
Articles in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online will be suggested in the weekly church bulletin. For general reflections on the benefits of knowing our history see the article by David Irala, a Paraguayan Mennonite historian, at https://www.goshen.edu/isga/2023/06/06/the-benefits-of-historical-and-contextual-research/
Planning Team: Aileen Friesen, Jeremy Wiebe and Peter Rempel