Welcome

The First Mennonite youth group will be heading across the country!  Their destination?  The Mennonite Youth Convention in Columbus, Ohio!  The youth will spend the week participating in worship services, attending a variety of seminars, and completing a service project in the community.  Please keep the youth group in your prayers as they travel through Monday night.

Occupied Palestine will be the focus at First Mennonite Church on Sunday, April 26.  Dr. Gordon Brubacher will preach during the 10:45 a.m. worship service, sharing from his academic and personal experiences in the area.

Snapshots of the March 7, 2009 First Mennonite Church retreat, held in Beatrice, Nebraska, are now available.

View the complete gallery.

Thanks to Craig & Brenda McLey.

Conflict in the Middle East.  Tragedy in Gaza.  How can we act to support peacemaking efforts in this troubled area of our world? 

Anna Baltzer, a Jewish American Columbia graduate, Fulbright scholar, granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, and human rights worker with the International Women's Peace Service, is the resource person for this year's Peacemaking Workshop.  Her acclaimed presentation is an account of her eyewitness experience of the conflict in the Middle East and the joint Palestinian and Israeli nonviolent resistance.

First Mennonite Church was filled with the aroma of dozens of freshly baked zwiebach on January 10.

Betta Kym instructed all who wanted to learn how to make traditional "double buns." Morning and afternoon sessions were held to accomodate all the participants.

Before the glow of Christmas faded the world was shocked by the news of the Israeli bombing of Gaza and the subsequent invasion.  We invite everyone to join First Mennonite Church in praying and acting for peace and for justice.  Here are some resources.

Mennonite Central Committee Canada Letter to Prime Minister - January 5, 2009

Please, everyone, stop what you're doing. This is not just any report from Palestine, but the worst in my lifetime, the worst in 40 years. At this moment, Israel is raining bombs down on Gaza, an enclosed tiny area that is home to 1.5 million men, women, and children, most of them innocent civilians. This space is tightly sealed by Israel, which constantly denies Gazans electricity, food, medicine, and the ability to leave. Gaza is one big prison being bombed from above. The death toll is up to 428 in the past 7 days. That's more than the number of Israelis killed in the last 7 years. This is what I would call a massacre.

First Night Lights, a candlelight vigil for peace will be held from 5:00-6:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 1.

The event, sponsored by Clergy Peacemakers, will be held on the O Street sidewalk on the north side of Woods Park (just west of 33rd and O Streets).

Everyone is invited to begin 2009 with hope for peace.

As part of their study of Matthew 25:31-46, Baptism Exploration Group members viewed a video about poverty in Lincoln called, "Do You Really See Me?"  They then interviewed people from the congregation and created a video of their responses. The video was originally presented during the November 17 worship service and is now available on YouTube.