Bring what is in your hand – Mennonite World Conference

The church as the body of Christ is central in God’s activity of reconciliation in the world. We want to embody this idea in our global structure.

Mennonite World Conference (MWC) is an organic community and not a bureaucratic institution. As a global church, we are committed to serving people rather than building an infrastructure to maintain our institution.

Although we want to have a strong body that follows plans, policies and healthy organizational principles, all this exists to serve people and to nurture relationships.

We speak of MWC as having a heart with four chambers with the Commissions representing each one: Faith & Life (theology), Peace, Deacons and Mission.

The Mission Commission has the mandate to strengthen mission and service awareness in national churches.

“We create conversations that show how mission and service belong together within Anabaptist theology,” says James Krabill, chair of the Mission Commission. “We encourage different organizations to partner together, but we’re not an administrative body that programmatically does mission.”

“What we do is facilitate conversations. We network across organizations doing mission and we try to provide resources that help them to do their work better. We get people together,” he says.

The Mission Commission also oversees the Networks which are a gathering place for agencies and organizations that serve the church as expressions of the church.

“It’s easy for these agencies to create a life of their own and not be in conversation with the other parts,” says James Krabill. “When we gather, we strengthen our understanding that mission and service are all part of being faithful to kingdom priorities.”

Both service and mission are inextricably linked to the church as a gathering of Christ-followers in the world. If that link is lost, something is missing.

These are the general goals of the Mission Commission and the Networks.

To link arms in mission – north, south, east, west.
To pray for each other, encourage each other and partner together as God leads us.
To learn from each other.
To share resources in mission – prayer, personnel, teaching and finances.

Background

The Global Mission Fellowship (GMF) and Global Anabaptist Service Network (GASN) are established Networks.

Since 2015, other networks have also been emerging:

Global Anabaptist Education Networks – Primary and Secondary [GAPSEN] and Higher Education [GAHEN]
Global Anabaptist Peace Network [GAPN]
Global Anabaptist Health Network [GAHN]

GMF was started in 2003 around the Assembly in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. It meets in-person every three years alongside the General Council. In between those meetings, there are online gatherings.

From consultations on diakonia and service in Pasadena, California, USA, in 2006 ongoing dialogue and consultation led to the formal formation of GASN in 2012 in Switzerland.

The GMF promotes consultation, cooperation and works on intercultural mission and building churches, says Nelson Okanya, GMF steering committee chair.

It’s an opportunity for members to learn from each other, says Nelson Okanya. Organizations can create strategic spaces to contribute to what each other are doing around the world in mission as they ask:

What’s happening in that part of the world?
What’s happening in this part of the world?
What can we learn from one another?

Barbara Hege-Galle, GASN steering committee chair, says GASN emerged because there were groups whose focus on service bound them together in mission-focused spaces.

“It is hard to explain the value of spending this time together without planned tangible outcomes.” says Barbara Hege-Galle. “What you get from the Network is the growing knowledge of each other – who is working where – and knowing that you are not the only ones doing this work.”.

To encourage and build up

“These are the things the Networks are for: that people are encouraged and recognized in the ministry and service they provide and also affirmed in the personal experience they share with each other,” says Barbara Hege-Galle.

A comment from in-person meetings alongside the General Council in Kenya in 2018 is seared in memory. Members of the group were speaking of their experiences with microfinance. One member from the Global South was quiet during the discussion but afterward came to Barbara Hege-Galle. He assumed others had more wisdom and he was only there to learn, he said, but he realized he also had relevant experience to share.

GASN is growing in its capacity to create these spaces for sharing.

Recent webinars have been structured with one featured presentation plus sharing time. Members learn about one organization – its best practices, its areas of challenge – and have the opportunity to ask questions.

In smaller groups members can further discuss their own relevant experiences and expertise and ask questions. Finally, they all have opportunity to pray for and encourage each other.

A global shift

“I have been ‘singing’ the fact that the centre of Christianity has shifted from the Global North to Africa, Asia and Latin America,” says Nelson Okanya.

But Nelson Okanya notes that shift is not as apparent when it comes to missiology where the majority of voices still come from the Global North.

“How do we create that cross-fertilization in our spaces so we can listen to voices that actually are hosting the church in large numbers?” says Nelson Okanya.

This shift is apparent in the global Anabaptist family: some two-thirds of baptized believers live outside Europe and North America, the historic poles of Anabaptism: 37% in Africa, 20% in Asia and the Pacific, 10% in Latin America and the Caribbean; only 3% in Europe and 30% in North America.

The Mission Commission took a step to address the unrepresented voices with the 2018 book God’s People in Mission: An Anabaptist Perspective, with contributors from all over the world.

Barbara Hege-Galle regrets that it seems “our Southern brothers and sisters still look at the North.” There’s a tendency to defer to those who are educated in formal institutions. “But those are not the ones who are the most important.”

“We are all part of it; you are not alone” is a key message for GASN participants, says Barbara Hege-Galle.

The Networks – where all come to the table as equals – is one place to hear voices from other places. Each has been structured with a steering committee with a representative from each region.

“But we have a long way to go,” says James Krabill.

A communications shift

With members coming from cultures around the world, there are different ways of sharing knowledge and experience. For many, stories rather than reports or didactic methods are the ways to share.

Stories move us from the dryness of numbers and reporting (which are fine in their own right), to engaging people in changing moments, not just statistics, says James Krabill.

“When you tell a story, there are more the facts; there’s a life to the telling. It gives witness not only to what was going on but also the impact it has on you and the world around you,” says Barbara Hege-Galle. “To listen to each other requires patience and respect.”

“If we value the global voices, then we all need to be able to come to the table,” says Nelson Okanya.

It also means we have to make it possible to hear one another. This applies to translation and the words we use and also to just making sure each one can hear, says Nelson Okanya. “Make it accessible.”

That means putting a priority on making sure each one can be present. “That doesn’t mean a handout,” says Nelson Okanya, but it means being honest about global financial disparities.

“When we gather and we hear inspiring stories from parts of the world that don’t have a lot of financial resources, it just reminds us that that the gifts are so much more than money,” says James Krabill.

“What often inspires us is faithful service and activity. In some cases, being faithful has brought on persecution or difficult life: through stories, we are reminded that the gifts that we’re talking about are multiple,” says James Krabill.

“Everybody comes to the table with something. Bring what is in your hand,” says Nelson Okanya.

Growing together

James Krabill invokes Ephesians 3 where the Apostle Paul says it is together that we grow into the knowledge of the wisdom of God. Often theologians focus on defining ‘wisdom,’ he says, “but maybe the most important word is ‘together’.”

“It really requires everyone bringing their knowledge and wisdom to the table so that together we grow into that knowledge,” says James Krabill. It’s a constant reminder that there is no one person, no one professor, no one pastor, no one culture that understands everything about the wisdom of Christ.”

‘Together’ has been a key component in MWC themes: included in the Assembly themes from 2022 (Following Jesus Together Across Barriers), 2009 (Come Together in the Way of Jesus Christ), implicit in 2003 (Sharing Gifts in Suffering and in Joy) and key in MWC’s new three-part tagline that sums up the mission: Following Jesus, living out unity, building peace.

Both churches and organizations that are part of the Mission Commission Networks are in the process of figuring out how to witness to the world, how to build peace (sometimes at odds with mission) and how to function together as the body of Christ.

Tensions and divisions

Nelson Okanya observes the opportunities in the tensions, even as divisions are occurring.

“Mennonite World Conference is sort of safe place where those who want to maintain an Anabaptist identity and be part of that stream of history can do that,” he says. “And they find themselves around the tables with people that they just divided out from.

“It’s hopeful. It creates a space for people to stay in conversation.”

The Networks – with their focus on work instead of theology – can be a helpful place for building relationship on collaboration without focusing on differences.

“I think Mennonite World Conference kind of creates that space that’s a little bit less threatening,” says James Krabill.

The Shared Convictions provide a theological grounding so members can focus on learning from each other, doing things together and worshipping together.

“People eat together and have communion together,” says Nelson Okanya, referencing the times he’s seen leaders eat together in network contexts – leaders who otherwise don’t tend to work together.

The fellowship, the learning and the strategy sessions are all so valuable when done face-to-face, says Barbara Hege-Galle. But the most important part of being together at face-to-face meetings in Virginia in 2023 (making up for COVID-related challenges to meet in Indonesia in 2022) was a story. A member from India said what she told the group in person could not have been shared in any other forum. For the safety of those involved, it could not be shared in a newsletter, email or even an online meeting.

“It’s different when you meet and see the face of the other person,” says Barbara Hege-Galle. “And this is worth spending that money for triennial meetings so that you have the opportunity to know the face on the other side of the screen.”

The Networks will gather alongside the General Council meetings in 2025. The year marks the 500^th anniversary of the first Anabaptist baptisms.

“Those first Anabaptists in Switzerland made a plan for evangelizing Europe, and within a year or two, most of them had been put to death. So that’s a reminder of the implications of the work we do,” says James Krabill.

At the 2025 meetings, the revised terms of reference will be up for consideration. The new document is streamlined and has greater clarity on the roles of the Networks and their leadership.

This article first appeared in
Courier / Correo / Courrier, volume 39, number 4

GASN

Member organization

Africa

La Casa Grande – Benin
Centre de Réflexion et d’Appui aux Initiatives de Développement – DR Congo
Meserete Kristos Church Development Commission – Ethiopia
Mennonite Association for Peace and Development – Malawi
Passion Center for Children – Malawi
Igreja Irmãos em Cristo em Moçambique – Mozambique
Brethren In Christ Church (Zambia Conference) – Zambia
BIC Compassionate Ministries-Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe

Asia & Pacific

Brethren In Christ Church, Odisha – India
Emmanuel Ministries (BJCPM) – India
Little Flock Fellowship (BJCPM) – India
Mennonite Brethren Development Organization – India
Mennonite Christian Service Fellowship of India – India
Mennonite Diakonia Service-GKMI Synode – Indonesia
Japan Mennonite Fellowship (JMF) –Japan
Korea Anabaptist Center – South Korea
Nepal BIC Church/Brethren in Community Welfare Society – Nepal
Integrated Mennonite Churches, Inc. – Philippines

Europe

Caisse de secours – France
Christliche Dienste – Germany
Mennonitisches Hilfswerk e. V. – Germany
Doopsgezind WereldWerk – Netherlands
Services Missionnaires Mennonites/Schweizerische Mennonitische Mission – Switzerland

Latin America & Caribbean

Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Boliviana – Bolivia
Iglesia Misionera Anabaptista – Bolivia
Associaçao Menonita Beneficente – Brazil
Associação Menonita de Ação Integral – Brazil
Associação Menonita de Assistência Social – Brazil
Asociación Sembrando Semillas de Paz – Colombia
Centro Cristiano para Justicia, Paz y Acción Noviolenta – Colombia
Fundación Agropecuaria Tejiendo Esperanza – Colombia
Fundación de Educación para la Paz y Resolución de Conflictos Edupaz – Colombia
Fundación Menonita Colombiana para el Desarrollo –Colombia
Comité de Justicia y Paz – Costa Rica
Iglesia Evangélica Menonita de El Salvador – El Salvador
Iglesia Evangélica Menonita de Guatemala – Guatemala
Programa Fundameno – Guatemala
Red Regional de Justicia y Paz – RedPaz – Guatemala
Acción Cristiana Educativa Menonita – Honduras
Comisión de Acción Social Menonita – Honduras
Proyecto Paz y Justicia – Honduras
Comisión de Emergencia Anabautista de Nicaragua (CAE) – Nicaragua
Comisión de Paz y Justicia de las Iglesias Anabautistas de Nicaragua – Nicaragua
Asociación de Servicios de Cooperación Indigena Menonita – Paraguay
Servicio Voluntario Menonita – Paraguay

North America

Mennonite Central Committee Canada – Canada
Mennonite Central Committee – USA
Mennonite Disaster Service – USA
Mennonite Health Service Alliance –USA
Mennonite Mission Network – USA

GMF