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Events General News News Releases

Youth Share Perspectives at Interfaith Conference

March 19, 2012 – Interfaith Youth Movement Held at CMU Draws Students Working Together for Social Change – On March 4, more than 80 students and other participants gathered at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) for Winnipeg’s first Interfaith Youth Conference. Targeted at youth ages 16 to 26, the event aimed to bring young people of faith together to think about, discuss, and imagine ways to understand each other and work together for social change.

Speakers included Obby Khan, a Winnipeg Blue Bomber starter; Michael Champagne, who spoke about his experiences growing up as an Aboriginal in Winnipeg’s North End; and Seunita Mahraf Sandhu, who shared some common misconceptions about Hinduism. The conference also included panel discussions and discussion groups where students from different faith backgrounds broke into small groups to explore an issue and develop steps to address it.

Melanie Kampen, a student at CMU and one of the conference organizers, said, “I was impressed by how articulate and creative the youth were. They are already leaders. We need to find ways to engage them, elicit their wisdom and imagination, and trust them with creating and organizing their visions for solidarity and justice.”

At left: CMU Student Melanie Kampen

Like the conversations it started, the conference itself was the result of many different groups and ideas coming together for a common purpose. The free day-long event was presented by the Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA), funded by Manitoba Multiculturalism Secretariat and the Winnipeg Foundation, and hosted at CMU. The organizing committee worked to find a date and time that could accommodate Muslim Friday afternoon prayers, the Jewish Sabbath, and Sunday morning Christian worship.

CMU was a natural fit to host this unique conference because of its commitment to educating for peace and justice, learning through thinking and doing, practicing generous hospitality and radical dialogue, and modelling an invitational community.

Elizabeth Beattie, a Booth College student who volunteered as a liaison between conference organizers and ISSA (who received funding for this project), said that “learning about similarities – instead of focusing on differences – is a way to bring people together for a common goal.” She called the conference a success, and an important step in building a bright future for faith communities in Winnipeg.

The conference organizers hope to hold more events like this one, and are hoping it will lead to the creation of an Interfaith Youth Council that would meet to continue the discussions started at the March conference and work to create a better understanding among young people of faith in Winnipeg and beyond.

Text: by Lindsay Wright for CMU

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General News News Releases

Student Ambassadors, Visit Days Help Students

March 9 – CMU Student Ambassadors and Campus Visit Days Help Students Decide on University Programs – For many students considering university, deciding to attend and choosing programs can be difficult. There are many factors to think about. Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) helps make this a little easier by having students talk to Student Ambassadors to get the opinion of current students. As well, to help in decision making, students can participate in a Campus Visit Day, next being held on March 16, to experience firsthand what university life is like.

Student Ambassadors (SAs) play a role in helping potential future students decide to come to CMU by sharing their own experiences in classrooms, dorms, and in the CMU community as a whole.

Currently, Kate Polle, David Klippenstein, Amy Beckwith, and Jenna Dyck are SAs at CMU.

According to Polle, a fourth-year International Development Studies major, SAs work out of CMU’s Admissions Department and help the admissions counsellors with work that needs to be done. One of the more important jobs SAs have is letting people know about Campus Visit Days. They also promote CMU and the Outtatown program at public events. This involves talking to prospective students about their personal experiences.

Lisa Kelly, CMU’s Assistant Director of Enrolment, who works closely with the SAs, comments, “They are the ones best suited to telling the story of CMU to our prospective students as they are the ones living it.”

For Beckwith, a Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies major, Communications minor who also participated in Outtatown South Africa, being an SA gives her the opportunity of “interacting with new people and promoting something that I honestly believe in and care about.”

Beckwith’s experience doing the Outtatown program changed her life, she said. She has also been able to be involved in numerous leadership positions including Student Council and a fellowship group. She loves the small class sizes and how much the CMU professors care about their students.

“I can honestly promote the institution,” she said.

Dyck, a third-year social sciences major with a concentration in counselling, wasn’t sure what to major in right out of high school. Talking to high school students who seem to be in similar positions enables her to share her own story of switching majors two or three times.

“I’m able to reassure them that they don’t have to decide everything right away.”

Dyck also took part in CMU’s Outtatown program.

All of the SAs find it meaningful to help prospective students make decisions that will ultimately change their lives.

Klippenstein, who is studying History and Communications, observes that university is an opportunity for a lot of growth. CMU is no exception, though the community, he feels, is very different from most other post-secondary institutes.

“I love when I find a good fit, someone whom I could see having life-changing, growing experiences at CMU,” he said.

Frequently, it is because of conversations with SAs that high-school graduates decide to enrol as students at CMU.

Says Beckwith: “I often run into students at CMU or on Outtatown that I remember speaking to when they were looking around. One guy came up to me who is now a CMU student and went on Outtatown. He said, ‘Amy, you were the reason I went on Outtatown!’”

CMU’s next Campus Visit Day is March 16
Students and parents interested in attending CMU’s next Campus Visit Day should contact mkrohn@cmu.ca or sign up on the website (go to: future students > campus visits >form). To reply in person, call Mitch Krohn at 204.487.3300. During Campus Visit Day, guests will have opportunity to attend a class, learn about financial aid and residence life, eat lunch in the dining hall, tour the campus, and have conversation with faculty. Campus Visit Day begins at 9:00 a.m. on north campus at 500 Shaftesbury Boulevard and ends at 3:00 p.m.

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Events General News News Releases

CMU Holds 2012 PIT Youth Conference

March 8, 2012 – Canadian Mennonite University’s (CMU) Peace-It-Together (PIT) Conference takes place on campus March 9 to 11, 2012. CMU welcomes high school students from youth groups all across Canada to stay at CMU and to share and discuss peace and justice issues with one another. The theme of this year’s PIT conference is “Jesus: The Peace that Matters,” focusing specifically on what the story of Jesus teaches us about peacemaking.

“It is exciting to anticipate youth from across Canada coming together to discuss Christian peacemaking,” says Harry Huebner. “Giving attention to Jesus is important in a world where we do not seem to know the things that make for peace.”

The Peace-It-Together Conference is a great opportunity for youth to learn from a variety of speakers, make friends, and see what CMU is all about. The Conference will be filled with activities of worship, discussion, singing, drama, games, and workshops.

Worship sessions and workshops will focus specifically on what the story of Jesus teaches us about peacemaking. The speakers, all CMU professors, will consider topics such as food, politics, and power, and ask how concerns around these topics can be shaped by the story of Jesus.

The worship session leaders include Kenton Lobe, Instructor in International Development Studies; Justin Neufeld, Lecturer in Philosophy; and Irma Fast Dueck, Associate Professor of Practical Theology. Focusing their sessions on the temptations of Jesus by the devil, PIT’s worship leaders will explore how the peace Jesus offers is true peace, respecting human freedom and the power of God, and how the peace the world offers is false peace.
Other highlighted weekend events include CMU’s get-to-know-you game called “Walk-a-Mile,” jam sessions, a drama presentation titled “Gadfly” by Theatre of the Beat, art workshops, movies, Variety Night, and sports activities. The PIT conference is hosted by students and allows youth to integrate into the CMU community and meet some CMU professors and staff.

PIT is an opportunity for youth to explore what CMU is all about and learn about peace in the process. Peace and justice are integrated into the core of the CMU institution and this conference helps to nurture a vision for peacemaking among the youth in Canada.

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Alumni Profiles Articles

Alumni Profiles: Chris Thiessen (CMU ’05)

Being a firefighter or a paramedic is difficult work – and it is work that everybody appreciates. Everyday, people in our communities are being helped by others who have this type of specialized training. But what is it that drives firefighers and paramedicas to seek out such tough careers? What drives them to go to work every day, when each time brings with it the real possibility of difficult circumstances and risking one’s own life helping others?

For firefighter Chris Thiessen, who graduated from CMU in 2005 with a three-year Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in History, what inspired him to fight fires and help people as a job was his time at CMU and his practicum at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg.

At Grace Hospital, Thiessen worked in the Emergency Room helping out in any way he could.

Though his degree doesn’t exactly fit in with his career, Thiessen said it was the community at CMU that shaped his worldview and his practicum that allowed him to take the step into his career.

“Being at CMU was a very formative time in my life,” Thiessen said.

Because he has a passion for helping people, being at CMU was a perfect place for Thiessen. “It’s a culture of people who are always doing something for others. The people at CMU are very involved and informed. They want to be active and make a difference. They are very motivated. That inspired me to be active and to make a difference,” he said.

Thiessen now works as a firefighter in Abbotsford, BC. But he has had to use his life-saving skills off the clock as well.

While on a hunting trip with his father last year, Ken, Thiessen’s quad broke down on a trail. At that moment, a man came running down the trail and begged for assistance.

The man’s friend’s had gotten into a quadding accident and had fallen off a cliff onto an embankment, leaving him badly wounded and in a serious condition.

Thiessen sent the person asking for assistance back to the camp, where there was cell reception, to call 911.
Thiessen then ran to the embankment with his first-aid kit and bandaged the injured man, stopping the bleeding. He then waited by the man’s side for more than two hours for the helicopter to arrive and take the injured man to a local hospital. The man survived.

“It was one of those situations where everything had to work out just right. It was God working in mysterious ways,” Thiessen said.

Looking back, seven years after completing his degree at CMU, Thiessen feels thankful that the career choices he made and the experience and skills that he gained let him help someone in difficult circumstances.

Text by Rachel Bergen

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Faculty - David Balzer General News News Releases Student Projects

CMU Students Inspire Change through Radio

March 6, 2012 – Communications & Media Students Join with Local Radio Station IGNITE 107FM to Help “Ignite Change” – Communications and Media students from Canadian Mennonite University have produced a series of radio spots in two unique formats to help inspire change in teens and young adults as part of Ignite 107FM’s “Ignite Change” campaign. The Golden West radio station will broadcast the CMU students’ radio spots from March 5 to May 20, 2012.

“CMU’s media workshop class took on the challenge of understanding the station’s target audience of 15- to 35-year-old males and developing original content. It’s been a real privilege to partner with the station and Kyle Rudge, IGNITE’s Program Director. Getting to this point, where the radio spot series have made it to air, is very exciting for everyone involved,” says CMU Instructor David Balzer, who teaches Communications and Media courses and produces CMU’s weekly radio show Sunday@CMU.

Students worked in two production teams. One group called its project “Let’s Talk;” the other designed a series called the “CMU Skylab.”

The “Let’s Talk” team included media students Amy Beckwith, Evelyn Kampen, Cameron MacDonald, Laura Tait, and Matthew Veith. Their goal was to ignite change through the act of listening to others. The five students took to the frosty winter streets of Winnipeg with only a provocative sign reading “Let’s Talk” and a microphone. One of the passersby, who stopped to talk, later remarked: “Thank you for listening. Not many people take the time to talk to me!”

What makes the interviews unique is that the interviewers have no questions. “This experience reminds me to take time to listen,” says Veith. “I’m always hurrying to places. This activity has forced me to pay attention to what’s going on in other people’s lives. It really is eye-opening.”

The “CMU Skylab” radio spot series was produced by Daniel Friesen, Thomas Krause, Erin Olsen, and Alec Schaefer. The series is hosted by a “humorous alien scientist” named Dr. Karl from his UFO-like laboratory. The host, being concerned with the notion of social change on Earth, sends his earthling assistants out to interview people who actively give of themselves to make a difference in the lives of those around them. He enjoys adding his own brand of witty banter as commentary throughout the spots.

Kyle McDonald, author of “One Red Paperclip,” states in an audio interview with earthling and CMU student Daniel Friesen, “If you do something, and continue on that path, eventually something great will come of it… it’s easy to do and the sacrifice is really small.”

The student team feels that Kyle MacDonald’s experience of trading up from a paperclip to owning a house in Saskatchewan captures the spirit of the Ignite Change campaign, which encourages listeners to believe that starting small can lead to a big difference.

Ignite 107FM will broadcast the Let’s Talk and CMU Skylab series from March 5 to May 20, launching a new spot each Monday morning at 8:20 am during The Hype morning show. The featured radio spot will then run for one week, aired four times a day at a variety of times.

Tune in to Ignite 107FM, or visit ignite107.com or media.cmu.ca to hear the Let’s Talk and CMU Skylab radio spot series.

“Let’s Talk” Series
Let’s Talk – Perry
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sTalk_Perry_Final.mp3|titles=LetsTalk_Perry_Final]

Let’s Talk – Whitney
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sTalk_Whitney_Final.mp3|titles=LetsTalk_Whitney_Final]

Let’s Talk – Rex
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sTalk_Rex_Final.mp3|titles=LetsTalk_Rex_Final]

Let’s Talk – Natalie
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sTalk_Natalie_Final.mp3|titles=LetsTalk_Natalie_Final]

Let’s Talk – Meagan
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sTalk_Meagan_Final.mp3|titles=LetsTalk_Meagan_Final]

Let’s Talk – Idressa
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sTalk_Idressa_Final.mp3|titles=LetsTalk_Idressa_Final]

Let’s Talk – Christopher
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sTalk_Christopher_Final.mp3|titles=LetsTalk_Christopher_Final]

Let’s Talk – Brenna
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sTalk_Brenna_Final.mp3|titles=LetsTalk_Brenna_Final]
“CMU SkyLab” Series
CMU Skylab – Kyle MacDonald
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/CMU-SKYLAB-Kyle-MacDonald.mp3|titles=CMU SKYLAB – Kyle MacDonald]

CMU Skylab – West Broadway Youth Outreach
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/CMU-SKYLAB-West-Broadway-Youth-Outreach.mp3|titles=CMU SKYLAB – West Broadway Youth Outreach]

CMU Skylab – Manitoba House
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/CMU-SKYLAB-Manitoba-House.mp3|titles=CMU SKYLAB – Manitoba House]

Golden West Radio is “Community Service Radio” serving small and medium-sized communities across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta with a network of AM and FM radio stations and Online Community websites.

A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as two graduate degree programs. CMU has over 1,700 students, including Menno Simons College and Outtatown students, and is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

For further information on Ignite Change radio spot series, contact student project representatives:
Let’s Talk – Laura Tait, ltait@student.cmu.ca
CMU Skylab – Erin Olsen, OlsenEr@student.cmu.ca

Release prepared by:
CMU Communications & Media Student Evelyn Kampen

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Events General News News Releases

Ministry Quest Attracts Diverse Student Group

March 5, 2012 – Sharing and hearing call stories in small groups became powerful experiences for a diverse group of 21 Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) students, gathered for CMU’s Fourth Ministry Quest Retreat on January 20 – 22, 2012 at St. Benedict’s Retreat and Conference Centre, just north of Winnipeg.

Attending the weekend retreat were 10 students from Mennonite congregations and 11 from other denominations—Baptist, United, Alliance, Presbyterian, Alliance, Pentecostal, and Non-Denominational congregations.

“They quickly developed a level of trust with each other that allowed them to bare their souls and wrestle with life questions under the guidance of five wise and gifted resource persons,” says Abram Bergen, CMU’s Director of Church Relations.

Joining in the Retreat were CMU faculty, Irma Fast Dueck and Dan Epp-Tiessen; Pastor Dan Unrau, Fraserview MB Church in BC; Jon Isaak, Director of the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies; and Pastor Mary Anne Isaak, River East MB Church in Winnipeg.

“The growing need in the church is for more dedicated and effective congregational and mission leaders,” said Abram Bergen, CMU’s Director of Church Relations. “One way CMU is meeting this need is through Ministry Quest, a weekend retreat designed to help students gain greater clarity and confidence as they determine whether and how God is calling them into ministry.”

“How Christians hear God’s call has always been something I have struggled with,” commented Lee Hiebert, from First Mennonite Church in Kelowna, BC. “I’ve never been sure if it was supposed to be an audible voice in some kind of divinely inspired dream, or simply a direction that was inescapably apparent.

“Hearing the call stories from Dan Unrau, Mary Anne Isaak, and Jon Isaak allowed me to see the differences in the way God calls people. There is no distinct formula, but there are places we can look to for understanding,” said Hiebert. “One of the main themes that I came away with was that God calls us through the voices of His people. It is through listening to the faithful Body of Christ that we can begin to see the ways that God calls us.

“Since the retreat, I have begun to put much more faith in the affirmations that have and do come from the people around me,” he added. “Looking back on my own story, there seems to be a distinct direction that God has been opening to me through the people He has placed in my life. While I do not have a full picture of God’s will for my life, I do have a better understanding about how I can pay attention to the ways He is directing me.”

Danielle Bailey, from New Life Baptist Church, Stonewall, Manitoba, found herself eager to explore the idea of being called. “I felt open to learn and seek revelation from God on this topic. While at the retreat, I didn’t receive a lot of new information, but rather, a new way of thinking and speaking about previous ‘calls’ I have experienced,” said Bailey. “This framework was helpful. Leaving the retreat, I found my ‘call’ to student leadership at CMU reaffirmed and plan on deepening my involvement on student council committees next year.”

“I had several questions going into the Ministry Quest Retreat,” reflected Gabrielle Lemire from McIvor MB Church, Winnipeg. “Am I called to vocational ministry? How do I understand being called? Am I ‘allowed’ to be interested in ministry? Am I ‘allowed’ to say I want to do vocational ministry? Do I even want to do vocational ministry? What wisdom do my peers and teachers have to offer me with regard to this topic? What were/are their experiences?

“At the retreat, I learned how to relate understandings of ‘call’ and ‘recall’ to my current life experience. I was reminded to look for where I am called right now, in this time and place. God’s calling does not merely dictate future life choices, but also what I choose to invest in right now and what I have done so far. As a result, I feel at peace about my uncertain future because I know that God has guided me this far and is with me presently.

“My plans as a result of this weekend are to invest with confidence in places/things I feel called to,” said Lemire. “I would like to go into the future with confidence knowing ‘Emmanuel’ God is with me, regardless of where I go or what job I get.”

Students requested follow up conversations after they returned to campus. A few such conversations happened less than two weeks later with CMU’s Pastor-in-Residence, Doug Klassen, from Foothills Mennonite in Calgary as he opened students to “the Practice of Ministry” and “What Does our Pastor do Anyways?”

During their debrief, the resource leaders reflected on how this had been a holy time for them, as well, as they too had learned much from each other and from the students, and consequently enlivened their own call and vocation.

Article by Kim Penner and Abram Bergen

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Events General News News Releases

Seedy Saturday Marks Gardening Season at CMU

March 2, 2011 –  Volunteers from Friends of Gardens Manitoba, Canadian Mennonite University, the Winnipeg Community Garden Network, and Seeds of Diversity Canada joined together to present the 12th annual local version of anational phenomenon.

“Seedy Saturday is a gathering of gardeners,  held every year in late winter, to celebrate the local gardening community and the start of a new growing season,” says CMU’s Kenton Lobe, Instructor in International Development Studies. “Seedy Saturday brings together gardeners of all ages, farmers, seed growers and seed savers, native plant enthusiasts, conservation groups and horticultural societies, for a day of great connections and new ideas.”

Vendors, displays, and a varied program of speakers offer abundant inspiration. “The heart of Seedy Saturday is the seed swap where people share their cherished seeds and the stories that go with them,” says Lobe. “There are lots of seeds for sale, too.”

Canadian Mennonite University
Saturday, March 3, 2012         

Program Speakers:

Special Guest Speaker Lisa Mumm on OSGATA vs. Monsanto
Organic seed growers are seeking protection through the courts against Monsanto’s patent infringement lawsuits. The introduction of genetically modified (GMO) seed has drastically changed the way farmers save seed and grow our food. Lisa Mumm, a Saskatchewan farmer and seed grower, will give us an update on the issue and the recent court proceedings she attended in New York City.

Patrick Elazar “The Benefits of Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening”
Designing a garden with wide raised beds offers many advantages to both plants and gardeners. With a little history, a lot of pictures, and a wealth of personal experience, urban agriculture enthusiast Patrick Elazar will inspire you to try this method in your garden to increase your yields, improve your soil, and extend your harvest.

Patrick Elazar has degrees in Agriculture & Middle-east studies. He has farmed, market-gardened & been a district agrologist before taking his current position as a marketing rep for the Canadian Wheat Board. Passionate about food and gardening, Patrick was affiliated for many years with the Lindsay Street community garden and is currently a member of Slowfood Manitoba.

Shirley Froehlich “Native Plants and the Web of Life”
Look beyond the beauty of your garden to its critical role in preserving local biodiversity, and choose plants to create a sustainable dynamic community in your backyard ecosystem. Growing native plants greatly expands the variety of life your garden can sustain, and they bring unique beauty to your landscape.

Shirley Froehlich owns Prairie Originals in East Selkirk, working with Manitoba gardeners to create beautiful, environmentally friendly gardens with prairie wildflowers and native plants.

Anna Weier “Growing Alternative Food Systems”
Manitoba has an abundance of visionary people and exciting ideas. Anna Weier of MAFRA will share the stories of recent projects they have supported in urban, rural and northern Manitoba aimed at increasing the local production of healthy food. These include establishing school gardens in Brochet and St Theresa Point, a Dauphin project connecting seniors and youth through canning and preserving workshops; the North Point Douglas community oven, and Fruit Share’s new guide to backyard fruit in Manitoba.

Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance is composed of universities and community organizations across Manitoba. They provide funding to people developing alternative food systems that provide local, fresh, healthy, culturally appropriate, fairly produced and affordable food.

 Video “Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling Us?” is a profound, alternative look at the global bee crisis from director Taggart Siegel. Taking us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive, this engaging and ultimately uplifting film weaves an unusual and dramatic story of the heartfelt struggle of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world including Michael Pollan, Gunther Hauk and Vandana Shiva. Together they reveal both the problems and the solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.

More information at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/139694382805910/
Contact: winnipegcgnetwork@gmail.com 204-231-4321

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Audio Student interviews Sunday@CMU Radio

Belinda Morales – Practicum in Thailand

Belinda Morales
Social Sciences Major

Interview Date: March 3rd, 2012

On March 3, 2012, Belinda spoke in a CMU chapel service about her recent practicum experiences in Thailand.  Belinda worked with StepAhead, a Christian-based Community Integrated Development Organization.  Listen to how Belinda encountered God in a tsunami-ravaged region of Thailand.

[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120304BelindaMorales.mp3|titles=20120304BelindaMorales]
Play/Download Here

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General News Lectures News Releases

Robert Benne to Lead 2012 CMU Lecture Series

February 29, 2012 – CMU Welcomes Professor and Author Robert Benne as guest lecturer in Proclaiming the Unique Claims of Christ Lecture Series.  

What are the extraordinary claims of Jesus Christ that resonate with us today? What do these claims mean for Christian practice and involvement in the world? Such questions are the focus of Canadian Mennonite University’s (CMU) Proclaiming the Unique Claims of Christ Lecture Series, led in 2012 by Dr. Robert Benne, Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion Emeritus and Director of the Center for Religion and Society at Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia. The lectures will be held at CMU on March 12 to 13, 2012.

“Dr. Benne is one of America’s foremost experts on church-state relations,” says Dr. Pierre Gilbert, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at CMU and organizer of the lecture series. “These lectures offer a wonderful opportunity to hear Benne speak about the nature of the Gospel, how followers of Jesus Christ can make a real difference in the world, and how Christians can and should position themselves in relation to the political sphere. “

The Proclaiming the Unique Claims of Christ series began in March 2007.  Guest lecturers are invited to address various dimensions of Christian apologetics, such as theory, evangelism, Gospel and society, and the singularity of Christ in a multi-cultural context. 

A native of Nebraska, Benne received his BA from Midland Lutheran College and his MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. He has been a Fulbright Scholar to Germany (Erlangen, 1959-60) and has done post-doctoral research at Hamburg University in Germany (1971-72) and at Cambridge University in England (1978-79, 1985-85, 1992-93). Benne is the author of 11 books, his latest being Good and Bad Ways to Think about Religion and Politics (2010).

Each of Benne’s lectures will be presented in the CMU Chapel. The first, titled “The Unique Gift of Christ,” takes place on Monday, March 12, from 11:30 am-12:10 pm. In this opening lecture, Benne addresses God’s gift of Christ as our saviour, matters of grace and law, and how we are called by the Spirit to turn from ourselves and amend our lives by serving others.

His second lecture, also on March 12, 7:00-8:30 pm, is titled “The Unique Claim of Christ – Living as Christ’s Ordinary Saints in the World.”  Benne speaks about the “Christian difference,” encouraging Christians to live out their obedience in ordinary places of life, demonstrating their faith, love, and hope in practical ways. 

The final lecture, “The Unique Claim of Christ – Living as Christ’s Ordinary Saints in Political Life,” will be held on Tuesday, March 13, from 11:30 am-12:10 pm.  In this lecture, Benne presents different ways to think about religion and politics, and he reflects on practical ways that organized religion can engage the political world.

“This event is ‘a must’ for any Christians, young or old, who want to think more deeply about how  they can make the best contribution they can to this world as partners with and representatives of Jesus Christ,” says Gilbert.

The Proclaiming the Unique Claims of Christ lecture series is sponsored by Canadian Mennonite University, the Institute for Theology and the Church, and the Winnipeg Centre for Ministry Studies, an inter-Mennonite partnership facilitating the offering of graduate and professional theological studies in Manitoba.

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General News News Releases

CMU Professor Leads 2012 Study Tour to UK

February 27, 2012 – Irma Fast Dueck and Students to Explore Contemporary Edge of Christian Ministry – “What does Christianity look like ‘deep down on the edge’ of today’s contemporary society?  How are innovative ministries reaching out to people in modern society? On CMU’s Deep Down on the Edge Study Tour, participants are given the chance to explore these questions while discovering the fierce physical landscape of the isle of Iona, visiting urban ministries in Glasgow and London, and attending the 37-year-old Christian arts festival in Cheltenham, England. 

“The Deep Down on the Edge Study Tour will explore Christianity on the edge, both physically and spiritually,” says CMU Professor of Practical Theology and tour organizer Irma Fast Dueck.

The United Kingdom study tour runs from August 24 to September 8, 2012. Open to undergraduate students, graduate students, and auditing participants, the study tour will explore wild physical, social, and theological Christian landscapes in Great Britain.

“Innovative ministries in Great Britain continue to flourish on the margins of the mainline church – on the Isle of Iona through the work of the Iona community, through urban ministries in Glasgow and London, and through the Greenbelt Christian Arts Festival,” notes Fast Dueck. “When I attended the Greenbelt Christian Arts Festival, there were thousands of Christians there,” she says.  “It was great to see so many people from different faith groups and cultural backgrounds who were committed to peace and justice and communicating the Christian faith.”

The study tour begins at the Greenbelt Christian Arts Festival in Cheltenham. The Greenbelt festival hosts a rich programme of music, visual and performing arts, comedy, and discussions on spirituality.

“I don’t think students at CMU will have experienced anything like this in North America,” says Fast Dueck. “The festival explores Christian faith and life in fresh and creative ways, through speakers, music, and art, pushing at the edge of what might considered ‘mainstream.’”  

After Cheltenham, the tour group will examine the theme “deep down on the edge” in the urban settings of London and Glasgow, exploring ministries that are on the fringe of the mainstream church and society. 

The tour will end on the Isle of Iona in Scotland, a fierce physical landscape where the line separating the material from the spiritual is described as being “tissue paper thin.”

On the Isle of Iona, students will be given an opportunity to explore Celtic Christianity, a faith hammered out on the margins of Britain and Europe and on the edges of Christendom.

Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is a Christian university offering undergraduate degrees in the arts and sciences, business, communications and media, peace and conflict resolution studies, music, music therapy, theology, and church ministries, as well as graduate degrees in Theological Studies and Christian ministry. Located in Manitoba, CMU has approximately 1,700 students at its Shaftesbury Campus in Southwest Winnipeg, Menno Simons College in downtown Winnipeg, and through its  Outtatown discipleship program. CMU is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).  

For tour information, contact: Professor Irma Fast Dueck ifdueck@cmu.ca