• A moment to relentlessly seek peace

    USA I grew up in Guatemala in evangelical and Pentecostal churches. Our songs, Sunday school teachings and sermons were filled with Christian Zionist theology that declares God’s will to be the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The duty of Christians is to support Israel. Some churches even display an Israeli flag in their…

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    A moment to relentlessly seek peace
  • Another way

    “There should be justice. They should pay for the terrible wrong they have done.” These and other similar phrases have been repeated in the news in recent months.   In my country, Colombia, I have heard the same sentences too many times on the lips of Christians who claim to follow Jesus, the God who chose…

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    Another way
  • Resistance, repentance and a sweet harvest

    It was Palestinian Christians who taught me to see that Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem are real places whose histories shaped Jesus. His context, plagued by military, economic and cultural oppression, was not so different from the situation of Palestinians growing up today in refugee camps in the West Bank or Gaza. Now as then, injustice…

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    Resistance, repentance and a sweet harvest
  • Blessed are the peacemakers

    As Christians, we may look to our Bibles to interpret today’s realities in light of long ago promises.   The answer to this question is different for each faith community, says Dorothy Jean Weaver. A Jewish community’s answers arise from the Hebrew Bible, but as Christians, we are called to live out of the new covenant…

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    Blessed are the peacemakers
  • Faith, history and actions

    Paraguay My name is Monika. I come from Paraguay, and I did a voluntary service in Nazareth Village. Nazareth Village is an open-air museum in Nazareth, Israel. This museum recreates life of the first century and aims to show tourists the Nazareth of Jesus’ time.  I was with the YAMEN* program for 11 months, 2022-2023. …

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    Faith, history and actions
  • Courier 2024 / 39.1

    Inspiration and reflection  Perspectives Resources General Secretary Word from the editor Confession and much humility  “God is under the rubble in Gaza… He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. If we want to pray, my prayer is that those who are suffering will feel this healing and comforting presence.”   Pastor,…

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    Courier 2024 / 39.1
  • Further reading on CCC 39.1

    More resources related to this issue Kairos Palestine A moment of truth Christ at the Checkpoint Bethlehem Bible College Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center Assembly 2022 webinars The Bible, the land and the Middle East conflict Evangelical faith and the Land of Israel Mennonite Church USA Seeking Peace in Israel and Palestine A statement of…

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    Further reading on CCC 39.1
  • Striving for integrity

    Andre Wiederkehr, of Ontario, Canada, doesn’t have a driver’s license. That’s because he chooses not to use fossil fuels to get around.  Without using a car, attending Hanover Mennonite Church on Sundays means riding 21 kilometers by bike. “None of us is really an enthusiastic biker,” says Andre Wiederkehr, who lives on a farm with…

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    Striving for integrity
  • From division to unification

    India A brief description of the journey of the Bharatiya General Conference Mennonite Church from the darkness of the 7-year period of division to the light of unification. The division and reunification of the Bharatiya General Conference Mennonite Church were marked by a series of events and challenges. The initial division was caused by a…

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    From division to unification
  • A jar of clay in God’s hands

    Brazil Sometimes, it’s not an option to discuss difficult topics. Conflicts arise, but we can build something new instead of shattering the old.   In 2011, the Mennonite Brethren church in Brazil (COBIM) faced difficult conversations. God had brought leaders from other denominations into COBIM. Now we had to learn how to handle these differences. The…

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    A jar of clay in God’s hands
  • The gospel with two hands: physical and spiritual development

    Malawi “I am Yao,” says Madalistso Blessings Kaputa. That people group is regarded to be Muslim in Malawi. “Someone has reached me.”  Chewa, Yao, Lome (major people groups in Malawi): they can all be part and parcel of this family of God, he says.  As a Yao, he is able to represent the church in…

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    The gospel with two hands: physical and spiritual development
  • Less rain, less shade, more people

    January to April is the rainy season in Guayaquil, a port city on the coast of Ecuador. But this past year, says Sara Noemi Viteri Moreno, a member of Iglesia Jesus el Buen Pastor (Jesus the good shepherd, a Mennonite church) in Guayaquil, it hardly rained at all. 

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    Less rain, less shade, more people