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Welcome to Mennonite Men.  We are the men’s organization for Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA with a mission of Engaging men to grow, give and serve as followers of Jesus for God’s shalom.

Check out our program for assisting new churches under JoinHands, our resources for men under JoinMen, and our campaign to plant one million trees under JoinTrees.

Subscribe to our monthly email newsletter, Engage, or read past issues by clicking here.

Stories

  • Malleable Men: A Mennonite Men Retreat at Camp Friedenswald

    Malleable Men: A Mennonite Men Retreat at Camp Friedenswald

    By: Jon Zirkle On the first full weekend of March, twenty-eight men gathered at Camp Friedenswald in southern Michigan for a Mennonite Men retreat. The COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons had led to a pause in this annual retreat for several years, and many celebrated its return. Rarely, if ever, had this retreat been offered in the spring during the Lenten season. One never knows if early March in the Midwest could bring snowstorms, thunderstorms,…

  • New Building and Thriving Community

    New Building and Thriving Community

    By Jon Zirkle On Sunday March 15, Eastside Church in Harrisonburg, VA celebrated its 16th anniversary as a congregation.  While on a Mennonite Men visit to Virginia, I had the pleasure to see the building firsthand and later had a conversation with one of the pastors about Eastside past and present. For many years the congregation rented worship space, and as many can attest, renting worship space can present some challenges and constraints.  “I don’t know…

  • What good can we do?

    What good can we do?

    By Steve Thomas We’re back from Palestine and Israel – just eight days before the US bombed Iran. From February 2–20, a delegation of 25 people from the U.S. and Canada traveled to the region as a learning, peace, and tree planting mission. This trip was a joint initiative of Mennonite Men and the Mennonite Palestine-Israel Network (MennoPIN) with three Mennonite Action staff. Before we left, someone asked me: “What will you actually do, and…

  • Confronting Israel’s Occupation of Palestine

    Confronting Israel’s Occupation of Palestine

    By Steve Thomas Photo credit: Steve Thomas Our joint peace and tree-planting delegation of 25 people, representing Mennonite Men and the Mennonite Palestine-Israel Network, recently returned from Palestine. We heard firsthand reports of the brutal reality of Israel’s occupation: a history of ethnic cleansing, concentration of families into refugee camps, random acts of violence to terrorize Palestinians, the demolition of homes and schools, the seizure of farmland, the choking restriction of movement. All of this…

  • JoinMen: A conversation with Isaya

    JoinMen: A conversation with Isaya

    By Jon Zirkle A few weeks ago, I was in downtown Goshen for a midday meeting and encountered high school students marching to the Goshen courthouse square.   I was moved to see so many young people taking prophetic public action.  Many of them were youth I recognized from nearby Mennonite congregations.  One of the youth was Isaya Magatti, a high school junior I know from church who is part of the Mennonite Youth Fellowship (MYF)…

  • Jesus Embodies Solidarity and Nonviolence

    Jesus Embodies Solidarity and Nonviolence

    ​Back in July at Follow Jesus 2025 in Greensboro, I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Martin, a Mennonite man from Colorado Springs, CO. He was staffing an exhibit hall table for RAWTools, an organization he founded in 2013. Walking up to the table, I saw a display of incredible tools and pieces of art made out of transformed weapons. As someone who uses garden tools for a living, I was drawn in immediately. Suddenly,…

  • Tree Planting is Climate Action to Protect our Planet

    Tree Planting is Climate Action to Protect our Planet

    ​Our JoinTrees campaign targets climate change, an existential threat to life on our planet. By increasing tree and forest cover, one of our goals with tree planting is to help mitigate global warming. Does “existential threat to life” overstate the problem? Not according to what is happening on our planet. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations finds that climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying, with increasing temperatures, forest fires,…

  • Walking Together: An Invitation to Men

    Walking Together: An Invitation to Men

    ​ One afternoon back in 2021, I crossed paths unexpectedly with a guy from church when we both pulled into the church parking lot about the same time, arriving before a gathering started. He was alone in his vehicle, head tilted back and looking exhausted. I went over to his van and we started catching up. To my surprise he told me he had just lost his job and his son was getting out of…

  • Working Together for Creation Care

    Working Together for Creation Care

    ​ Collaboration among organizations brought energy and encouragement to potentially challenging ecological work on the Mennonite Central Committee campus in Akron, PA. MCC partnered with Mennonite Men and the nonprofit Let’s Go 1-2-3 for a creation care event in mid-November. A group of 20 people gathered to learn from two experts on the topic of woodland restoration and invasive plant removal using the MCC Akron campus woodland as a model. The weather was beautiful, and…

  • JoinTrees for Creation Care

    JoinTrees for Creation Care

    ​ We continue to receive inspiring tree-planting proposals from Mennonite communities worldwide. Recently, groups in Indonesia and Kenya submitted plans to address the climate challenges facing their regions. Before we can fund these, however, we must first complete our current projects in Angola, DR Congo, and this year’s U.S. project in Orrville, Ohio. The Ohio project is restoring 51 acres of farmland with 36,000 trees, while also repairing relationships with Indigenous peoples in central Ohio.…

  • Mennonite Men and Indigenous Solidarity

    Mennonite Men and Indigenous Solidarity

    ​ In recent years, Mennonite men have become directly involved in Indigenous solidarity work. Some of this has come to Mennonite Men as an organization through staff and board members; in other cases, individual men have initiated involvement on their own. In both cases, Mennonite men are being invited to show up, listen, and bear witness to realities that Indigenous persons have historically and currently faced. Mennonite men are being invited to pray with and…

  • A Foundation of Faith: JoinHands Grant Empowers Ghanaian Church Construction

    A Foundation of Faith: JoinHands Grant Empowers Ghanaian Church Construction

    In the spring of 2025, Mennonite Men was contacted by Matthew Krabill of Mennonite Mission Network, who is serving in Ghana, inquiring about JoinHands grants for a Ghanaian congregation seeking to build a place of worship. After receiving a JoinHands grant application for the Santramozorh Mennonite Church, Mennonite Men’s JoinHands committee engaged via email and Zoom in dialogue with Ghanaian pastor Francis Kwame Dzivor and with Krabill. What an honor it has been to hear…

  • My Corner of the World

    My Corner of the World

    ​ I wonder about this piece of land. What was it like before the European’s brought the axe and plow to alter forever the landscape of what was. Located in a transitional region between the eastern woodlands and the sweeping western prairies, was it densely wooded with maples, oaks and elm, or an open space with mixed grasses and wild flowers waving in the summer breezes? As a young man I knew it as a…

  • A Place of Welcome in South Philadelphia

    A Place of Welcome in South Philadelphia

    ​When I arrived at the Indonesian Community Bazaar in South Philadelphia, I was greeted with warm smiles, a cold Thai tea, and a plate of delicious food. Members of Indonesian Light Church ushered me with excitement into the tent where they were selling home cooked food. I was there to present a grant check on behalf of Mennonite Men’s Join Hands program that helps congregations purchase their first church building. I was also being welcomed…

Pieces

Support Peace & Justice in Palestine

Want to do something to support Palestinians and learn God’s way of peace in the Holy Land? Join MennoPIN (Mennonite Palestine Israel Network) and Mennonite Men as we travel to Palestine and Israel to plant olive trees, meet Palestinian peacemakers, and connect the land to Jesus’ way of peace. Help raise $50,000 to replace up to 3,000 olive trees lost to ongoing conflict—restoring livelihoods and helping Palestinian families remain on their land. Then, travel with us to Palestine and Israel, February 4–19, 2026, to plant trees, meet Palestinian peacemakers, and visit sacred sites. This transformative journey connects faith, justice, and action as we follow Jesus’ call to peace. Download flyers on the TRIP and FUNDRAISER.

Join the Conversation: Survey to Explore Anabaptist Rites of Passage for Boys

Mennonite Men is excited to explore how we honor boys coming of age from an Anabaptist perspective. Join the conversation by completing our short survey on boys’ rites of passage. Your input will help shape important discussions at the Follow Jesus 2025 gathering in Greensboro, NC. Share your voice today!

Take the survey HERE.

Planting Seeds For the Future: Re-Indigenizing Agriculture

The Vicente Guerrero group, in collaboration with EPIC and Mennonite Men, is spearheading an innovative project. By recovering prehispanic practices, the group is helping their community address several complex challenges, such as food insecurity, climate extremes, loss of biodiversity, and exclusion of women and youth. In the fight to mitigate climate change, ‘metepantle’ systems will be fundamental! 

Mennonite Men welcomes Jon Zirkle to co-leadership role

Mennonite Men is excited to welcome Jon Zirkle to leadership as co-director of U.S. Mennonite Men with Steve Thomas. Jon has been on the board of Mennonite Men for past two years and involved with the work of JoinMen for men’s growth and JoinTrees for creation care.

Jon brings a background in agriculture, land conservation, not-for-profit leadership, environmental education, and theological training. Jon is a member of Assembly Mennonite Church in Goshen where he helped form a men’s group. He has an MA in Plant and Soil Science from University of Vermont and is a recent graduate of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary with a M.A. in Christian Formation.

Read more HERE.

Now available: Worship Resources for Trees of Life: Hope for God’s Earth 

Both the US and Canada designate days each spring to plant trees and celebrate ecological awareness. These present a good opportunity to celebrate and plant trees for creation care and climate action. Trees are the best, most cost-efficient natural climate solution. Trees not only sequester carbon, cool the planet, and slow climate change, but support biodiversity and provide an array of amazing other benefits. This packet provides worship resources for congregations who wish to focus on trees of life in the ecology of God’s creation. Download it here. 

Mennonite Men work in Palestine

Participate in a pair of programs to support the work of peace in Palestine. Mennonite Men and MennoPIN will partner to: 

Raise funds to replace olive trees in Palestine

Help MennoPIN and our JoinTrees campaign raise $50,000 to replace thousands of olive trees and enable Palestinian families to remain on their land.

Travel to Palestine & Israel

A two-week sojourn in Palestine and Israel, February 12-27, 2025, will include time to plant olive trees, meet Palestinian peacemakers, and connect the land to Jesus’ way of peace. 

2023 Annual Report now available

Mennonite Men’s 2023 Annual Report is available toprovide a summary of our recent work. Find the four-page report at HERE. 

Order Living that Matters: Honest Conversations for Men of Faith

Do you wonder what it means to be a man? Do you desire to grow? Want something more? Long for a life that matters? Seek to make a difference in the world? If so, Living That Matters may be for you or your group. This practical handbook is a guide to help individuals and groups engage in honest conversations on what matters most for men—with a focus on following Jesus, forming community, and building peace.

With over 60 years of combined experience in pastoral ministry and social work geared toward men, authors Steve Thomas and Don Neufeld offer many short reflections to help individuals and groups deepen relationships with one another, with ourselves, with our families and communities, and with God as we seek to live into God’s shalom—a peaceable order with abundance, security, and justice for all and well-being throughout creation.

More details about Living that Matters at bit.ly/LivingThatMatters

Carbon Offset Program

Show your care for the environment and communities across the world by carbon offsetting. You can support our JoinTrees projects that will help to offset your carbon dioxide generated by use of fossil fuels. JoinTrees projects tackle climate change and support tree planting all across the world. 

Offset your actual carbon footprint

  1. Calculate your carbon footprint by entering your flights, driving, public transport, home energy, food and household expenditure at https://climatestewardsusa.org/offset/
  2. Click HERE and enter your dollar amount.

Offset your carbon emissions without calculations
If you want to skip all these steps, you can simply make a donation to offset your carbon footprint by assuming your footprint is the same as most other people. The average carbon footprint is 16 tonnes per year in the United States. Offsetting this requires a donation of $68 per month, or $816 for the entire year.

Podcast and other digital resources available for Peaceful at Heart

Mennonite Men, in collaboration with Mennonite Central Committee’s Ontario office, has created an audiobook, study guide, and a podcast/video interview series with the book’s contributors. These written, audio and video materials will assist in individual or group engagement of these critical ideas. 

The interview series includes the personalities and passions of each of the contributors as they are interviewed about their chapters.  Cedric Martin of Ontario-based Theatre of the Beat hosts the interviews and performs the audiobook.  Retired professor Dan Epp-Tiessen walks leaders through a series of 11 sessions in the written study guide, providing suggestions for facilitating group conversations including questions to get men thinking and sharing.  From the hard stuff of abuse to a vision for living life with a peaceful heart, covering a broad reach of masculinities, Peaceful at Heart challenges our thinking of what it means to be men of God.

Access all of these free resources HERE.

Study Guide and Kindle edition for Peaceful at Heart

A study guide for the book Peaceful at Heart is available. Written by Dan Epp-Tiessen, Associate Professor of Bible at Canadian Mennonite University, and published in partnership with Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite Church Canada, Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, and Be in Christ Canada, this study guide is a great resource to facilitate much-needed conversations about masculinity, church, and our Christian faith. Download the study guide here.


A Kindle edition of the book Peaceful at Heart: Anabaptist Reflections on Healthy Masculinity is also available. Peaceful at Heart provides a uniquely Anabaptist voice to resource our discussions of healthy masculinity, whether individually or collectively in a book study group. Rather than supporting patriarchy and nationalism commonly advanced in traditional Christian thought, this volume draws on the experiences of various contributors to present an Anabaptist perspective of faith that invites men to experience God’s call to live at peace and be peacemakers. Further details and sources for purchasing this resource can be found here.

Video: Building Places of Faith