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Report on the Consultation on Believers’ Baptism
Participants in the Consultation on Baptism in Kingston, Jamaica 08-10 January 2015
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We are being torn by multi-layered, multilateral global challenges. COVID 19, nationalism, Despite this, relationships happen through technology that brings together a world that seems to be falling apart. This panel will discuss the movement of the spirit that has opened doors to collaboration and joint ministry.
Presenter: Sharon Norton
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Lutheran-Mennonite-Roman Catholic Trilateral Conversations 2012–2017
It was with the twin goals of increasing mutual understanding and helping one another grow in faithfulness to Jesus Christ that a trilateral dialogue took place between Lutherans, Mennonites and Roman Catholics, from 2012 to 2017. Over the course of the five year period, the dialogue followed the well-established interchurch conversation method of annual one week meetings hosted successively by the communions. At each meeting papers were presented by delegation members as the trilateral commission explored the respective understandings of key theological and pastoral themes related to baptism and incorporation into the body of Christ.
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Migration and hospitality have been part of human history since biblical times. Today, responses to increasing global migration often promote the building of walls, countering the biblical call to hospitality. Join Mennonite Central Committee as we consider biblical hospitality to respond faithfully to God’s call to be a welcoming church.
Presenter: Saulo Padilla is the MCC U.S. national immigration education coordinator since 2008. His work is informed by biblical hospitality and his experience as the son of a refugee and an immigrant himself. A graduate of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary and Goshen College, he attends College Mennonite Church, Goshen, Indiana, USA.
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Worship
Worship is a time when church members come together to pray, sing, read Scripture, share with each other, and give praise to God. It can be a time of fellowship, restoration, comfort, celebration, or a call for renewed action. Believers can worship in a church building, in a home, or in a boat – worship can happen anywhere!
“Worship” from Let the Children Come to Me: Nurturing Anabaptist Faith within Families by Lisa Weaver and Elizabeth Miller; Design by Judith Rempel Smucker. Cascadia Publishing House (2019). Used with permission.
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“Give us each day our daily bread”
Across the globe, more than 41 million people – around half of them children – are now at risk of starvation in 43 countries. The global hunger crisis is driven by conflict, by climate change; and by the economic impacts of COVID-19. Even in countries where some have an abundance of food, many people are lacking the basics.
Mennonite World Conference is working with a large group of Christian churches and networks to launch a weekend of prayer and action 16-17 October 2021. This will coincide with World Food Day on 16 October.
Global church and network partners include ACT Alliance, Integral Alliance, Lutheran World Federation, Micah Global, Organization of African Instituted Churches, Salvation Army, World Council of Churches, World Evangelical Alliance, World Methodist Council and World Vision International.
It will be a time for us, as followers of Christ, to unite across denominations in solidarity with our sisters and brothers, praying for them and with them, so that they can live their lives without hunger, with dignity, in all life’s fullness, experiencing the grace and love of God.
During the course of the weekend, we invite our members to share a meal with other families and individuals, offer your prayers for those who are hungry, and reflect on the causes and impacts of hunger.
On Sunday, 17 October 2021, we encourage local congregations to focus on this global hunger crisis in their Sunday service.
Click on the resources below.
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Liturgy Guide and Resources
for the Weekend of Prayer and Action Against Hunger October 11-13, 2024
For this Weekend of Prayer and Action Against Hunger, Christians from all around the world will gather for prayer and worship around the theme of global hunger and food justice.
We offer this guide to support worship planners to develop a service of prayer or worship that fits your local context. You will find selections of prayers to choose from, which are offered to be used or adapted for your own community’s context.
“Enough to Share”
There are shared meals one will never forget. Years ago, I visited churches in Zimbabwe. It was a difficult time with incredibly high inflation and political turmoil with violence. We passed by a church building under construction in the suburbs of Harare. It was a working day. Spontaneously people came when they saw our cars. We sang and prayed together.
We were about to leave, but someone asked us to stay. Women went to their homes and came back soon with chicken, rice, and salad. We sat down and shared a meal together. What a sign of love and welcome. I was blessed by the gracious gift of food, hospitality, and care. It was like light rising in the darkness. I was reminded that God’s kingdom is not a future dream. It becomes real in the middle of the injustices and hardships we are facing, such as increase of hunger, wars, armed conflicts, climate change, most affecting those who only cause few carbon emissions, etc. God’s kin-dom is real, today, when we share food with one another, explore new ways to grow wheat and vegetables, see Christ in the stranger and become God’s beloved community.
Follow up questions:
- Do you remember meals that touched and even changed your life?
- With whom could you share food? Perhaps you wish to reach out to people with whom you never met for a meal?
- Look at your life and at your community in the light of God’s promises in Isaiah 58,6-12.
Any thoughts on how these promises transform yourself, your community and the world?
—Bishop Rosemarie Wenner
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Liturgy: Sharing food with the Hungry Ð Isaiah 58: 6-12
Conflict; an uneven global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic; the effects of climate change; high inflation; as well as the rising cost of food, fuel, and fertiliser are driving a polycrisis that is pushing tens of millions of girls, boys, and their families into extreme hunger.
The number of people affected by acute food insecurity has nearly doubled over the past three years, from 135 million people across 55 countries and territories in 2019 to a record 258 million in 58 countries in 2022 Ð even more than last year’s mid-year projection that, without urgent action, 222 million across 53 countries and territories could face Ôcrisis’ (IPC 3) conditions or worse.
In the face of dire statistics, we know that hunger has a nameÉ
- Seven-month-old Hamdi weighed only 8.8 pounds in June when she arrived at a nurition clinic in Baidoa, Somalia. Health workers found her to have severe acute malnutrition, exacerbated by acute watery diarrhea and measles. Drought in Somalia is not only impacting access to food.
- Ten year old Peter in Kenya, whose family’s food supply has been impacted by drought and climate change.
- 1-year old Nadia in Afghanistan, displaced and experiencing severe malnutrition.
Nadia, Hamdi and Peter found help and support…but the situation globally remains a significant challenge. And hunger is in every neighbourhood and community.
These realities are true in a world where there is enough to feed everyone….and so we pray for justice, for hearts to act and serve and for systems to change to take steps to end hunger.
Worship resource
- Opening prayer
- Hymns & music
- Hunger today
- Prayer of Confession
- Scriptures
- Reflections
- Examples of action
- Prayers
