Three Congolese doctors and the work they each are contributing to for the Congolese healthcare and health systems.
Dr. Emery Bewa Gindaye Teto shares his research on strategic purchasing in the context of a low resilient health system.
Dr Blaise Kutala presents his clinical research on liver disease and nutrition as well as access to primary care in peri-urban and rural areas together with Dr Delphin Kapasa Mulongo.
These three speakers bring their expertise as well as their life experiences of working in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Dr. Murray Nickel, GAHN steering committee member, moderates the session
The Global Church Sharing Fund is part of the Jubilee Fund of MWC. What is the goal of the GCSF? We will show some supported projects. What is the impact of the fund?
Presenter: Henk Stenvers (Decons Commission Secretary) is a Dutch Mennonite, from 2002 until his retirement in 2020 he was general secretary of the Dutch Mennonite Conference (Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociteit). From 2012 until this Assembly he is Deacons Commission secretary.
An MWC member/associate member or an organization associated with member churches is eligible for Jubilee funds if the request is related to and enhances the four pillars of church life: fellowship, worship, service and witness.
The Jubilee fund can support member churches in case of need after natural or human-made disasters.
The member church submitting the request must contribute at least 30% toward the endeavour. This requirement does not apply in cases of disasters.
The amount requested should not exceed US $10 000. In some cases (e.g., disasters), the maximum amount of US $10 000 can be exceeded at the discretion of the committee that decides on the applications.
An MWC member church will be eligible for only one grant in a three-year period.
Procedure:
An application package is available on the MWC website or upon request from any MWC office.
Requests must be officially approved by the national church officers and should include what the applicant church will contribute towards the project.
Forms A, B and C must be submitted.
Form D is for submission of the final narrative and financial report.
The MWC general secretary, and chair and secretary of the Deacons Commission form the committee that decides on the applications.
Following our MOU with Mennonite Central Committee, MWC will include an MCC advisor in the committee decisions about allocations from the Global Church Sharing Fund.
This committee may ask advice from MWC Regional Representatives and other organizations involved in the area.
Monitoring:
The member church receiving the gift is required to keep a record of all disbursements.
A mid-term project update is required within one year of receiving the grant. The update should include a report on how the money has been spent to date and an updated budget for the completion of the project. A timeline of the project work should also be included.
The final financial and narrative reports are required within six months of the project completion. This report should include detail of project spending and explanations of any significant changes from the original proposal.
As presented to the Mennonite World Conference General Council, Limuru, Kenya, 24 April 2018
Part I “All things gathered in Christ”
God is a gatherer
The Old Testament
The New Testament
Ephesians 1:10 – The Secret is Out! God is gathering all things in Christ!
Ephesians 2:11-22 – For He is “our” Peace
The near and the far
Conclusion – Anabaptists and the “gathering of all things”
Part II “Unity of the Spirit – the creation of body and temple”
Spirit (ruach/pneuma) – energy, breath, wind
The unity of the Spirit
1. Spirit as energy or power
2. Spirit as breath
3. Spirit as wind
The body of Christ, the womb in which the new human is being formed
The temple of God – a home from recycled material
Unity and diversity
Anabaptists and Spirit
Part III “Maintaining the Unity of the Spirit – when walking together is hard”
We do not walk alone
How do we walk together?
Humility, patience, suffering each other
Forgiveness
Speaking truth WITH the neighbour
Seeing the face of God in each other
Does the bond ever tear? Does the chain break?
At time of writing, Thomas R Yoder Neufeld is chair of the Faith and Life Commission. He is retired as professor of religious studies (New Testament) and peace and conflict studies at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
A Culture of Peace, by Alan Krieder, Eleanor Krieder, Paulus Widjaja; Good Books, Intercourse, PA, GoodBooks.com and Pandora Press, Kitchener, ON, www.pandorapress.com
The Global Mennonite History Series consists of five volumes of history, one from each continental region. Writers from each region trace the origins, development and mission of the Anabaptist-related churches there, reflecting the experiences, understandings and perspectives of these churches.
This fresh offering of history is the first time some of these churches have cooperated in telling their story in their own voice. Themes in one book differ from those in another. This telling of the story of Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches is intended “to stimulate the renewal and extension of Anabaptist Christianity worldwide.” This series helps readers to understand what the North American religious magazine Christian Century calls “the shift in church energy, leadership and numbers from North to South, from developed to developing nations.”
The Global Mennonite History Series was initiated by Mennonite World Conference at its thirteenth global assembly in Calcutta, India in January 1997. The series was guided by an international organizing committee whose members represent all five continental regions. General editors are John A. Lapp and C. Arnold Snyder.
The series includes the following five volumes:
(All volumes in English, with translations of some into selected languages)
1. Anabaptist Songs in African Hearts, released in 2003 at the 14th global assembly in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (also available in Spanish and French).
Throughout the whole Bible, we see God working in history to create a faithful people, a people comprising members “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” (Genesis 15:5; 17:4-7; Revelation 7:9)
When Jesus met with his disciples near the end of his earthly life, Jesus prayed that those who would follow him “might be one.” (John 17:20-23)
In his ministry, the Apostle Paul worked ceaselessly for unit y, even in situations of serious division and among those whose doctrines he saw as misguided and wrong. (1 Corinthians 1:12-13; Romans 12:1-15; 13; Philippians 2)
We see Christian unity, therefore, not as an option we might choose or as an outcome we could create, but as an urgent imperative to be obeyed.
Our Situation
As Mennonites and Brethren in Christ, we give thanks to God for brothers and sisters of other traditions around the globe who accept the claims of Scripture and seek to live as followers of our Lord.
We confess that we have not done all we could have to follow God’s call to relate in love and mutual counsel with other brothers and sisters who confess the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and who seek to follow him.
We have seen peacemaking and reconciliation as callings of all Christian disciples, but we confess that we have not done all we could have to overcome divisions within our circles and to work toward unit y with other brothers and sisters.
We recognize that we find our identity and mission, not in isolation, but in interaction with others with whom God has placed us as fellow inhabitants of God’ s world in this time and place.
As members of the Mennonite World Conference family, we recognize that God has given us some unique faith experiences and insights we can contribute to other Christians.
We recognize that there is much we can learn from Christians of other traditions.
We recognize that our relationships with others will be strengthened as we become more secure and more firmly grounded in our faith.
Confessions of faith have been prepared by many of our conferences; we appreciate the opportunities they provide for sharing our understandings with one another and strengthening each other in our Christian faithfulness.
Cooperative Efforts
We should not refuse to witness and serve in some ways with others just because we cannot do everything with them. In such cooperative efforts, we should not go beyond the extent of the unity we have found and thereby depreciate the meaning of truth and unity.
Present and Future Relationships
We give thanks for the relationships many of our members and congregations have with Christian brothers and sisters in their local communities.
We are grateful for the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ groups who actively participate in global, national, and local inter-confessional church fellowships and councils; we encourage consideration of such relationships where it is discerned that these can further unity and common witness.
We seek to be sensitive to the ways our relationships with others are affected by the different contexts in which we find ourselves around the world, with differing memories of past experiences, experiences of present persecution, situations with respect to the relative sizes of conversation partners, power balance factors, etc.
The Mennonite World Conference and national conference groups can help our churches by providing written materials and leadership to guide existing and new conversations and relationships with other traditions and movements, and to deepen our understanding of the faith we confess.
Biblical studies and fresh accounts of our common history of Anabaptists who took the initiative in seeking to relate to others would help ground us for the initiatives we need to take today.
Prayer for Renewal
With other believers around the world, we pray for the leading and renewal of the Holy Spirit as we seek to be God’s faithful people in our time:
“Renew your church, O Lord, and make us instruments of your peace! “
Date Adopted: 22 July 1998 Adopted By: MWC Executive Committee and MC-GC Interchurch Relations Committee Location Adopted: Goshen, Indiana, USA
