Worship services for our nationwide community of faith
These videos are a resource for congregations to use, if they would like, as part of their alternative worship practices, during the COVID-19 pandemic. While some congregations have the capacity to record their own services, others do not and so we want to share these services here to help build up our nationwide community of faith. Most videos are uploaded to the Mennonite Church Canada YouTube Channel but can also be viewed on this page; others are livestreamed from congregational websites.
We will be sharing services every Sunday, from June 20 to September 5.
If you have questions, please contact your regional church communicator or Katie Doke Sawatzky, Mennonite Church Canada communications officer, at kdsawatzky@mennonitechurch.ca.
We continue to pray for your congregation’s health and spirits.
Sept. 5, 2021
This week our Mennonite Church Canada worship service is led by Bergthaler Mennonite Church in Altona, Manitoba. Using Romans 8:18-28, the service explores the groaning of creation during the pandemic and shares the hope we have in the resurrection of Jesus, the first fruits. Available at www.mennonitechurch.ca/worshipservices and on our YouTube Channel.
August 29, 2021
Sterling Mennonite Fellowship in Winnipeg joins together with a collection of Mennonite churches in Manitoba for this week’s nationwide worship service. The scripture text for this Sunday is James 1:17-27. As we think back on this pandemic season, we will to hear from a variety of churches about how COVID-19 has forced us to discern what church is truly about in our particular contexts.
August 22, 2021
Rosthern Mennonite Church is sharing a service thinking about the Christ who is our Bread of Life, and how that Bread nourishes us, from the young to the old in our congregation and beyond. Focusing on John 6:56-69, in a sermon entitled, "Beyond Bread," Pastor Andrea Enns-Gooding invites us to encounter the hard words of Jesus, and asks: "Are we disturbed by this language of actually consuming the flesh and blood of Christ to the point where our discomfort will lead to a curiosity about what this Christ may be trying to say to us? How are Christ's statements still relevant to our lives today?"
August 15, 2021
Eigenheim Mennonite Church, located near Rosthern, Sask., is sharing a nationwide worship service with us for this Sunday, August 15. Pastor Rachel Wallaces’ message “Letting Go and Pressing On” continues their study of Philippians, focusing this week on chapter 3:4b–14. She will unpack how Paul has given up his old identity and values, how this has transformed his goals in life, and asks what are key elements in your identity and what would it take for you to give those up?
August 8, 2021
Trinity Mennonite Church from De Winton, Alta., shares a service with us for this Sunday, August 4, 2021. Pastor William Loewen takes us to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains for a sermon focussed on hearing God's voice.
August 1, 2021
Peace Mennonite Church in Richmond, B.C., is shares a nationwide worship service with us for this Sunday, August 1. This sermon begins Peace’s summer series entitled ‘He said What?!’ The series explores Jesus’ use of humor as a communication tool to teach and challenge his hearers. We will seek to discover what those uncomfortable (yet funny) lessons mean for us today. This week’s message tackles judgmentalism in the church.
July 25, 2021
Preston Mennonite Church is a small congregation in Cambridge, Ontario. This summer we are preaching through the book of Acts, encouraging our congregation to read along two chapters at a time. This Sunday, we are reading chapters 17 and 18. We will look more closely at the work of the Holy Spirit in the story of Apollos found in Acts 18:24-28.
July 18, 2021
Foothills Mennonite Church shares a service from Calgary, Alta., led by the Montgomery family with a message from Reece Zablocki and a children's feature with Linda Dickinson from MCC. Reece reflects on the difference between facts and the deeper truth told in our stories. As we read the story of David and Goliath, we are invited to listen to the stories of people on the margins in our own context, those whom Jesus is calling us to hear and listen to. We invite you to sing and pray and hear God's word with us this morning. This service was recorded on June 20, 2021. Music licensing provided in the video.
July 11, 2021
Eden Mennonite Church welcomes our nationwide community this Sunday. Mary Barg, an Eden congregant and gifted theological thinker and teacher, will offer a message focused into Psalm 121. We hope you can join us virtually for this service (and if you happen to be in Chilliwack, B.C., we would love for you to join us in-person). Available at mennonitechurch.ca/worshipservices.
July 4, 2021
First Mennonite Church Edmonton shares a service with us this week (recorded on June 27), focusing on on the scriptural promise of the Ascension captured in Luke 24: 44-53. Woven throughout is the theme of cross-pollination – a calling Donna Entz explores as she shares with us her last sermon in her role as director of North Edmonton Ministry. Intercultural and interfaith cross-pollination was the focus of Donna’s work for ten years. Donna and Loren Entz will be moving to Winnipeg in September 2021. The service opens with an instrumental version of God Loves all His Many people, a tune from the Congo, with a visual display of artist Rhonda Harder Epp’s series entitled “Scarves and Islamic Geometric Designs.”
June 27, 2021
This Sunday, June 27, join St. Jacobs Mennonite Church, worship leader Zac Klassen and pastor Mark Diller Harder as they begin their summer worship theme “Come to the Water.” Mark will preach on the theme “A River Runs Through It,” naming how themes of water run through both the Scriptures and our lives. What do we learn when we pay closer attention to water?
June 20, 2021 - Sherbrooke Mennonite Church
Pastor Kevin Barkowsky reflects on his favourite KDrama, shedding new light upon Philippians 4:8-9, with a sermon titled "What I learned from the KDrama ‘My Mister.’” Will Mr. Park continue to walk with integrity, even though Lee Ji-an, his boss, his wife and brothers all fall short?
September 6, 2020
Join Morden Mennonite Church in their homes and backyards this Sunday as they share their worship service with our nationwide community of faith. Drawing on lectionary texts for this Sunday, the service focuses on the relationship between "the law" and "love." Through song and story, readings and meditation, may we be drawn afresh into Jesus' way of love.
August 30, 2020
Join Foothills Mennonite Church in Calgary, Alta., as they do what they do each week: remember what matters most through scripture, story, song and prayer. In addition, the worship team will be sharing what they are learning about themselves and God during a time of great staff and structural transition.
All music is public domain.
August 23, 2020
Langley Mennonite Fellowship shares a service with us this Sunday, drawing from Matthew 16:13-28. In the intimacy of Jesus’s and Peter’s master-disciple relationship, Jesus is recognized for who he is and Peter is blessed, ordained, confounded and sternly rebuked. Living with good news is so perplexing and surprising.
August 16, 2020
Lyrics are also included in video
Join St. Jacobs Mennonite Church from St. Jacobs, Ont., as they continue their summer theme of "Deadly Sins and Holy Virtues." Kevin Derksen and Chip Bender will explore the pairing of Gluttony and Self-Control through a variety of scriptural and experiential contexts.
August 9, 2020
Charleswood Mennonite Church in Winnipeg shares worship for us this week. In Matthew 14: 22- 33, Jesus walks on the water and beckons Peter to follow him. How is the church being invited to step out of the boat and walk toward Jesus as a storm of injustice, crises and uncertainty swirls around us? Please join us as we gather to praise our Lord, who calls out to us to say, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."
August 2, 2020
Worship lyrics and music licensing will be provided in the video.
Sherbrooke Mennonite Church in Vancouver, B.C., will share their service with our nationwide community of faith this Sunday, Aug 2. Pastor Kevin Barkowsky reflects on Matthew 11:1-6 with the message “Liminal Spaces and Desert Places.” Why does God send His people into the desert? Many times in life, well thought-out plans fall to pieces in a heap. Humbled and frustrated, we are not happy. Aren’t followers of Jesus supposed to get what we pray and plan for?
Participants
Garry Janzen - Welcome and Sending
Worship songs - Devon Howie and worship team
Scripture reading - Youngmo Choi
Message - Kevin Barkowsky
Order of service
Welcome
Song O Come to the Altar
Song Broken Vessels
Scripture Matthew 11:1-6
Message Liminal Spaces and Desert Places
Song What a Beautiful Name
Sending
July 26, 2020
First Mennonite Church in Edmonton, Alta., shares their service with our nationwide community of faith this coming Sunday, July 26. Pastor Craig Neufeld uses Romans 8:26-39 to explore the theme of "Scattered, but not Separated."
Worship lyrics and music licensing are provided in the video.
July 19, 2020
Langham Mennonite Fellowship shares a service with us this Sunday, with Pastor Emily Summach sharing the message.
July 12, 2020
Niagara United Mennonite Church shares their service with our nationwide community of faith this coming Sunday, July 12. Join Daniel Janzen as he reflects on Exodus 3:1-6: I am here. How many times did Moses walk by the burning bush before he noticed it? How long was God trying to get Moses' attention? It is often in the wilderness where God meets people.
July 5, 2020
Mennonite Church Manitoba staff leads in worship from Camp Assiniboia with Matthew 6:25-34 as the backdrop for our life these days.
Order of service:
Call to Worship and Opening - Rick Neufeld
Lament and Prayer for Camps - Janet Peters
Song - Be a Sower - David Hogue and the Homesteaders
Scripture Reading - Matthew 6:25-34 - Jake Fehr
Short Meditation - Kathy Giesbrecht
Short Meditation - Dorothy Fontaine
Song - Now Thank We All Our God Paul Dueck
Short Meditation - Rick Neufeld
Song - Lord, You’ve Searched Me - Darryl Neustaedter Barg
Benediction - Rick Neufeld
Song - Now May the Lord of Peace - Darryl Neustaedter Barg
All song lyrics included on-screen.
June 28, 2020
Link to video playlist on YouTube
Peace Mennonite Church in Richmond, B.C. will guide our nationwide community of faith in worship as we gather this Sunday, June 28. The life of faith is not always a straight, upward line, but often a journey marked by victory, failure and restoration. Lead Pastor Winston Pratt will introduce a new sermon series, “When Heroes Fall,” which highlights God’s grace in our weakness, focusing on Gen. 12:10-20.
This Sunday's service features a series of videos. Click the link to the playlist above and play through all of them. Or, navigate to the "Created Playlists" section on our YouTube channel page.
Order of service:
Welcome & Announcements Videos
Call to Worship – by Pastor Jenny Toews
All Creatures of Our God and King (lyrics in video) - by Pastor Jenny Toews & team
Yet Not I (lyrics in video) - by Pastor Jenny Toews & team
The Lord’s Prayer
Peace Kids Message - by Brittani Gifford
Sermon "When Heroes Fall" - by Pastor Winston Pratt
Christ Be All Around Me (lyrics in video) - by Pastor Jenny Toews & team
Benediction video
June 21, 2020
Springridge Mennonite Church in Pincher Creek, Alta., shares a service with our nationwide community of faith. You are welcome to reflect with us on how the gifts of each of our members are needed to strengthen the body of Christ as a whole (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
June 14, 2020
Members of Zoar Mennonite Church, Rosthern Junior College and Mennonite Church Saskatchewan have come together to offer a time of reflection and worship to God, welcoming the broader community of Mennonite Church Canada. We invite you to a service full of vitality and challenge, where we focus on the theme of God's goodness toward humanity and our response. Together, we will visit Exodus 19:2-8 and Matthew 9:35-10:14 with Pastor Andrea Enns - Gooding and examine our reply to the relentless love of God.
June 7, 2020
The service be live at 10 a.m. EDT (a recording on YouTube is also available at the link below).
Livestream link: https://www.avonmennonite.com/live-stream.html
Message: “Lighten Up”
Scripture: Luke 11:33-36 and Matthew 5:14-16
Please Join Avon Mennonite Church in Stratford, Ont., this Sunday, June 7, as we reflect on Jesus teachings in Luke 11:33-36 and Matthew 5:14-16. Shane and Angela Wiebe, Cyrille Fopoussi and Mary Anne Musser will lead us in worship. Troy Watson will unpack what Jesus might mean when he says, “You are the light…your eye is the lamp.”
Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2020
Theme: “Will the Fire Change You? Text: Acts 2:1-4
Springstein Mennonite Church from Springstein, Man., invites you to join in worship as we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. Our theme is taken from this spring’s Leader magazine resources written by Joani Neufeldt of Lethbridge, Alta. This service includes communion so please be prepared with bread/cracker and wine/juice.
Available to view here and on the Mennonite Church Canada YouTube channel.
May 24, 2020
Message: Ascension Absence
Text: Acts 1:6-11, John 16:5-28, 33
Chinatown Peace Church in Vancouver, B.C., will share an Ascension Sunday worship service with our nationwide community of faith, this Sunday, May 24. Tim Kuepfer, pastor of the English congregation, will preach on "Ascension Absence," asking how might Jesus' ascension inform our own acts of love toward others despite our physical absence from each other? You are also invited to join in communion toward the end of the service. Please be prepared with crackers/bread and juice/wine.
May 17, 2020
Message:"An Accompanied Life"
Text: John 14:15-21
Holyrood Mennonite Church from Edmonton, Alta., invites you to join in worship as we consider Jesus' parting words to his disciples, words intended to comfort and strengthen them for the very uncertain days which lay ahead. View this service at www.mennonitechurch.ca/worshipservices and the Mennonite Church Canada YouTube Channel.
May 10, 2020
***In this service, participants standing close to each other are from the same households.***
Mount Royal Mennonite Church from Saskatoon, Sask., welcomes you to join their worship service this coming Sunday, May 10. Working through a series called "Everyday-Jesus Spirituality," this coming Sunday focusses on the spiritual practice of blessing in Genesis 18:1-15 and Matthew 5:3-11. Val Regier will lead us in worship along with a music team led by Darrell Bueckert. Claire Ewert Fisher will encourage us to consider our role in blessing. The video will be available here and on the Mennonite Church Canada YouTube Channel.
May 3, 2020
Join Niagara area pastors as we reflect on Acts 2:42-47 – “All Things in Common in Uncommon Times.” Louise Wideman (Vineland United Mennonite Church), Alissa Bender (Hamilton Mennonite Church) and Renate Klassen (Niagara United Mennonite Church) will guide us as we gather as a nationwide community of faith.
Live-streamed at https://www.hmc.on.ca/mc-canada at 9:45 a.m. (EDT).
April 26, 2020
Bethel Mennonite Church from Winnipeg, Man., shares their service with us this week. After Jesus' followers have had their lives and faith turned upside down by the events of his death, the risen Christ reorients them, helping them to reinterpret their lives and faith in light of his death and resurrection. So we too look to Jesus for reorientation in this time of life-altering crisis.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
"The Marvelous Grace of Insecurity"
Text: Luke 24: 13-32
This week’s national Sunday service will be shared from Mennonite Church British Columbia’s Crossroads Community Church. Pastor Len Hjalmarson will be teaching from the road to Emmaus.
Transcript of sermon: Getting to Hopelessness
Worship lyrics provided in the video. All music used with permission.
Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020 - "Raised with Christ"
from Lethbridge Mennonite Church
Texts: Mark 16:1-8; Colossians 3:1-4
Mark’s account of the resurrection leaves us hanging more than the other three gospels. We are forced to sit at the empty tomb with the women who, at least initially, are not overjoyed but trembling, bewildered, and afraid. The good news of Christ’s victory over death was not obvious to the first witnesses, at least not right away. In this time of pandemic, perhaps we, too, find fear and confusion to be the dominant feelings of the day. Christ’s victory comes to us in our moment, and in every moment, inviting us into the reality of resurrection. Since we have been raised with Christ, we set our hearts and minds on the things above, living as resurrection people.
Order of service:
*This worship service was recorded in stages over two days to avoid having all participants in the church building at the same time, as well as to ensure that all surfaces (specifically, the piano) were cleaned for those contributing to the service.
**Lyrics and music credits are included in the order of service. All songs are used with permission.
Good Friday, April 10, 2020
Link to low-resolution version for download
Mennonite Church Alberta, together with Calgary-area Mennonite churches (Calgary Chin Christian Church, Calgary First Mennonite, Foothills Mennonite, and Trinity Mennonite Churches), shares a service with us this Good Friday. With a message entitled, "The Towel, the Cup and the Cross," this services focusses on John 13, 15 and 18. It explores how Jesus, when speaking of his own death, often paired it with the suffering of those following him. Together, we will contemplate the challenge of Jesus’s words in our own daily lives.
Lyrics are displayed in video for all hymns and songs. They are also included in the order of service. Hymns can be accessed through the Hymnal Worship Book.
Order of service:
Music credits and permissions are listed in the order of service.
Mennonite Church Canada Palm Sunday service for April 5, 2020
Link to low-resolution version for download
Eigenheim Mennonite Church, together with Mennonite Church Saskatchewan, collaborated this week to bring a service to our nationwide community of faith for Palm Sunday on April 5. Ryan Siemens, Executive Minister for MC Sask, focusses on Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11) and helps prepare us to walk with Christ to the cross.
Order of Service (includes lyrics to worship songs and hymns):
Music and text by Steve Bell, used by permission. Music and text by Johann P. Neumann; translation by John D. Rempel, used by permission.
March 29, 2020
Sunday, March 29 @ 9:40 a.m. EDT
Focus: Lazarus, John 11
Steinmann Mennonite Church and Mannheim Mennonite Church from Mennonite Church Eastern Canada in Ontario collaborated to bring a worship service to our nationwide community of faith and connect us across Mennonite Church Canada. Pastors Myrna Miller Dyck and Gord Alton focussed our attention on the story of Lazarus, from John 11. This video was live at https://smchurch.ca/live-stream/.
March 22, 2020
Lyrics for Worship music below:
Link to low-resolution version for download
Music credits and thank you to: Phil Campbell-Enns and Bryan Moyer Suderman
Voices Together worship songs