MC Canada discussions with Canadian Mennonite Publishing Services

Since its beginning, the purpose of Canadian Mennonite (CM) has been to share news across the country, to inform, and to connect the nationwide church.

With recent changes in communications, the hiring of Regional Church and MC Canada Communicators, and the restructuring of Mennonite Church Canada, the role of Canadian Mennonite has arisen.

In 2018, Barefoot Creative was hired to re-design MC Canada and Regional Church websites. Early on in their work, a survey was conducted that included CM. Results indicated that CM serves an important role in informing and connecting MC Canada congregants across the country. It also plays a role in discernment of issues and in our ongoing discussions around the nature of the church. However, the current readership represents an important but limited portion of the MC Canada constituency.

MC Canada and Regional Churches believe that there is an important role for CM in our structure. In considering our continuing relationship, we invite your responses to the following questions, with the hope that it will lead to the renewal of our covenant with Canadian Mennonite Publishing Services.

Name*

First NameLast Name

Email*

example@example.com

Home Congregation*

Purpose

A primary goal of both Canadian Mennonite (CM) and MC Canada is to “build up the body” (Ephesians 4).

In what ways do you see and appreciate CM’s role in building connections and relationships in the nationwide community? What concerns do you have?

Editorial Vision

MC Canada and Regional Churches would like to see more collaboration with CM in setting the general editorial direction and themes, and in working more closely when engaging in controversial issues.

What excites you about moving in this direction? What concerns do you have?

Every Home Plan (EHP)/Revenue

Canadian Mennonite, MC Canada and Regional Churches share the goal of engaging as many congregants as possible in nationwide, regional and global stories and discussions. They are working towards expanding readership and addressing the current differences in subscription rates among Regional Churches.

CM receives $111,600 from MC Canada and $137,300 from Regional Churches from subscriptions (or 31% of the annual budget). Government of Canada grants provides 33% of CM’s budget. Individual donations account for 18% while the balance is from advertising revenue and other sources of income.

In MCA, church administrators keep track of subscription lists and MCA pays for subscriptions. In some regions, congregations receive subscriptions in bulk, while in others, congregations pay for their own subscriptions.

What do you appreciate about our current EHP arrangement? What concerns do you have? How might we envision new ways to grow readership and to finance subscriptions?

Do you have any other comments about our relationship with CM that you'd like to share?