Prayers of gratitude and intercession

France

After last summer, you can’t deny it. It’s here. It was the driest year in France and it’s been like that for several years. So you can see people are becoming more aware of climate change. Now it is beginning to affect them. 

And yet there is still so much more to  talk about.  

This should be a top of the list issue. It really affects every aspect of our lives and it’s not just about creation; it’s about we who live in this creation. It’s about our neighbours beside us and those who live around the world.  

Right now, we are making choices that have the potential to shift things one way  or another.  

In my work with LightclubberZ, an arts ministry of Joie et Vie, we don’t just talk about climate change, we make art about it. 

Association des Eglises Evangéliques Mennonite de France collaborates with other churches in France on this mission agency. My work is with young people – teenagers and young adults. Using dance, music, livepainting, theatre and stomp, we make art that shares the good news.  

Joyful simplicity

Although our creations can be quite complex, I have recently become very influenced by the concept of simplicity. I encountered it through reading La sobrieté heureuse (happy simplicity) by secular environmentalist Pierre Rabhi. But then, of course, I also found it as a central message from Jesus: do not accumulate wealth; look at the birds, look at nature; look how God provides; stay limited to what you need, not have more superficial things (Matthew 6:19-34). This is a big theme in the gospel and the Bible.

As a Mennonite, I connect a lot with that topic. Unfortunately, although it’s rooted in the Bible and Anabaptist theology, we don’t really have it as part of our daily practice. 

So with the young people in LightclubberZ, we wrote a song together about simplicity.  

French engineer Jean Marc Jancovici points out the technical problems of climate change are not the difficult part. It is the cultural aspects that are challenging: changing people’s hearts and minds, or simply changing their habits. 

Through songs, dances, and artwork, the young people in Lightcluberz are learning to change the way they see. One of the strengths of art is that it helps us to receive information through other doors. Instead of receiving through our minds, we learn through our bodies, our hearts, our feelings.  

Shaping values in community

Following our Mennonite convictions, we bring people together in a small community where values can be shaped. Bringing people together to make art is a way to see God’s kingdom come in our midst.  

God doesn’t need us but God invites us to participate in God’s work in the world. When I do my work with LightclubberZ, I feel like I am helping participate in God’s work at all levels.   

We are social animals, we need the influence of others around us. We really see changes in people’s lives when we have an experience of living together, not just we meet we do a show and go back home. Through our summer camps or our tours, when we live as a community for days or weeks together. After the confinement experiences with COVID, it was so obvious how much we need real relationships in order to be influenced in a right way. We need the church and real community of real people to move closer to what Jesus asks from us. 

The Bible was really ahead of our time. Anabaptist theology interprets the whole story as one of seeking shalom. The gospel is not just at the level of individuals, not even just at the level of community but also at the level of all God’s creation. That theme of shalom is there from the very beginning of creation – and it includes the natural world as well as humans. 

That’s a prophetic message we have to bring to a world where everything is about the individual. 

Our motto at LightclubberZ is “Faire du beau pour faire du bien”: make beauty, in order to do good. God set the example for us in creation and Jesus continued to show us how to live that out. Let us work at this together.  

—Ephraïm Goldschmidt is a member of the Mennonite church in Altkirch and director of LightclubberZ with Joie et Vie. He lives in Mulhouse, France.  

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France 

Association of Mennonite Evangelical Churches of France (AEEMF)

The history of Mennonites in France goes back to the beginnings of Anabaptist history. There were Anabaptists in Strasbourg by around 1526. They were quickly forced to operate clandestinely, but an Anabaptist presence would continue in Alsace throughout the 16th century.  

In the 17th century – especially during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) – Anabaptists from Zurich and Berne settled in the area and contributed to the effort to restore the land to agricultural production. They lived in the Vosges mountains around SainteMarie-aux-Mines and later on in the region of Montbéliard (which was not yet French territory). Since they were rejected by the surrounding society, these Anabaptists lived on the margins, kept their German dialects, and formed “ethnic” communities. Nevertheless, there were ties with other European Mennonites in Switzerland, Germany and in the Netherlands.

In 1693, the “Amish schism” took place among the Anabaptists of France, Switzerland and the Palatine region. Was it necessary to maintain a strict line of separation from the world and practice a demanding form of church discipline? Or had the time come to open up a bit to the outside world? Most French Anabaptists followed the stricter Amish tendency and only adopted the Mennonite label many generations later. 

Wars and shifting borders

Having been exempted from military service and the swearing of oaths by the nobles who welcomed them on their lands, these Anabaptists began to experience difficulties starting at the time of the French Revolution (1789). As French citizens, from that point on they were called to participate in Napoleon’s wars. After a respite of a number of years, France forced them into military service.

Around 1850 there were some 5 000 Anabaptists in France and only 3 000 by the end of the same century, the majority of whom were still Alsatian. This majority became German once again in 1870, leaving very few strictly francophone Anabaptists. As a result, the number of Mennonites remaining in France was greatly diminished and toward 1900 some spiritual leaders began to foresee the possibility of extinction. 

At the start of the 20th century, the situation of Mennonites in France was not easy. Sixteen congregations had disappeared during the previous century. The remaining families were dispersed and several communities were only able to gather for worship once a month. In addition, there were no ties between the congregations. 

Then came the First World War (19141918) where some battlefields crossed the regions inhabited by Mennonites. After the war, Alsace-Moselle became French once again, resulting in an increase in the number of Mennonites. In spite of the war, historian Jean Séguy considers the years 1901-1939 a period of re-establishment and awakening, thanks to a return to Anabaptist history and new contacts with French evangelical (Protestant) churches. 

This awakening was interrupted by the Second World War (1939-1945). The region of Alsace-Moselle was annexed by Hitler’s Germany and Mennonite men were forced to enroll in the German army. It is important to note the extent to which French Mennonite history was marked by European wars, from the time of Napoleon to the time of Hitler. 

Reconstruction and reconciliation

In 1945, Alsace-Moselle became French once again and two Mennonite groups (French-speaking and German-speaking) began to work together. The presence of Mennonite Central Committee in post-war reconstruction efforts had a very real impact in the lives of European Mennonites, including those in France.  

A kind of new life was born, resulting in the start of collective reflection on the questions of nonviolence and conscientious objection; the establishment of social institutions; a new engagement in mission; and the creation of the Bienenberg Bible School. This school had its origins in the reconciliation of Mennonites separated by wars that were still fresh in their memory. Located near Basel in Switzerland close to the French and German borders, it is bilingual (French and German) and trinational. 

Until this time, Mennonite congregations in France (now including Alsace-Moselle) were in rural communities for the most part, often made up of farmers (with a very good reputation). Led collegially by elders, preachers and deacons, these congregations had ties between them and important decisions were often made in meetings of elders where all of the congregations were represented in principle. Since the 19th century, worship services in France took place in French, while in Alsace-Moselle the German language and Alsatian dialect had been predominant. From the mid-century on, French became the dominant language in worship and in meetings. Moreover, for more than 20 years, French Mennonites have participated in the Francophone Mennonite Network (Réseau Mennonite Francophone) that aims to create ties among French-speaking Mennonite churches in Europe, Africa and Quebec. 

The Alsatian conference and the French language conference merged in 1979 to become the Association of Mennonite Evangelical Churches of France (AEEMF). From that time on there has been a single national structure. Twice a year, delegates from the congregations meet to make decisions on matters that concern the entire group of churches. The annual meeting of elders, preachers and deacons contributes to decision-making concerning theological matters. This structure is somewhere between a congregationalist structure (where each congregation maintains its autonomy) and a synod structure (where churches get together to make decisions for all of them). Within this structure are centers of activity and reflection dedicated to specific questions: youth, ministries, peace theology and ethics, mission in France, mutual aid and development aid and service. Other associated structures, independent of the AEEMF, deal with foreign mission, the publication of a monthly magazine (Christ Seul) and dossiers on thematic subjects (three times a year), hospital chaplaincy, the organization of camps, holiday camps and trips for adults. 

Following Jesus through study and service

Until recently in this long history, there was a certain mistrust with regard to the training given in theological schools. Led by a college of elders, Mennonite congregations did not have paid pastors. Certain elders had studied in evangelical Bible institutes in France and Switzerland. Starting in the years 1970-1980 some French Mennonites began to enroll in university theology faculties (departments) in France, or, in rare cases, in North America. 

The make-up of congregations has also gone through important changes. Fewer and fewer Mennonites are farmers; many are employed in the majority of professions of the contemporary world. Little by little, the proportion of “ethnic” Mennonites is going down and the number of members of non-Mennonite origin is increasing in the congregations, including positions of leadership. Congregations are becoming less rural and more urban. The first urban congregation was founded in the region of Paris in 1958. Today there are churches in Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Colmar and close to Geneva on the French-Swiss border. 

These changes have also resulted in the growing acceptance of trained and paid pastors. A ministries commission helps the churches reflect on the recruitment and hiring of pastors and the importance of maintaining a collegial way of functioning. 

Mennonite congregations participate in missionary work outside of France as well as in France, where there are several new church plants in progress. The aid fund engages regularly in humanitarian work, often together with other European Mennonites and with MCC. The presence of the office of Mennonite World Conference in Strasbourg (1984-2011), as well as MCC’s office for Western Europe for a number of years has contributed to showing Mennonites in France the importance of belonging to something global, beyond France and Europe. 

French Mennonites recently decided to enter a trial period with the Protestant Federation of France and the National Council of Evangelicals of France, with the hope of becoming a bridge between these two Protestant families.  

‚ÄîNeal Blough retired in 2020 as director of the Paris Mennonite Centre. He is professor emeritus at Vaux sur Seine seminary (FLTE) and continues to teach at many theological schools.  Didier Bellefleur is a leader in Eglise de StrasbourgIllkirch and president of the Association des Eglises Evangéliques Mennonites de France (AEEMF). 

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Colombia 

Now Israel, what does the Lord your God desire from you? … love him, serve him with all your heart and in all your life, and observe his commands… You see, What does it mean to worship God and to walk in his ways while keeping in mind that “the heavens and the earth and everything in it belong to God”? And what does this imply for us as a church in our present times?. (Deuteronomy 10:12-14, ISV)  

What does it mean to worship God and to walk in his ways while keeping in mind that “the heavens and the earth and everything in it belong to God”? And what does this imply for us as a church in our present times?

Since 2016, a small group from our Teusaquillo Mennonite congregation in Bogotá, Colombia, began to meet to study creation care. We were concerned about the environmental crises that we see in the country and in the world (frequent droughts or floods) and the serious impact this has – especially on less privileged communities where our brothers and sisters are also present.  

We began to share with each other what we knew about the climate crisis and its impact, and to study it in the light of  the Bible. 

We read together sections of books such as: Salvation Means Creation Healed by Howard A. Snyder, Earth Trek: Celebrating and Sustaining God’s Creation by Joanne Moyer, Creation: The Apple of God’s Eye by Justo Gonzalez, and the Call to Action of the Latin American Lausanne/WEA Creation Care Network. From this ad hoc study group, a “Creation Care Committee” emerged to promote this issue among the congregation. 

From the beginning, it was clear to us that we wanted to bring this issue to the whole congregation, not only in theory, but to put it into practice in our own lives. 

We were given the opportunity to lead a service: we chose songs, biblical texts and a teaching on the theme.  

A second action was to hire a seamstress from our congregation to make cloth bags for church members to carry their purchases. These bags carried the slogan: “Caring for creation, we follow Jesus Christ. Genesis 9:16: Re-evaluate, Reject, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.” 

The bags have a double purpose: to educate and to be a practical alternative to disposable plastic bags when shopping. Some bags were given as thank you gifts to people who served during the year in different ministries of the church, and others were sold to members of the congregation who requested them. 

The COVID-19 pandemic activated the YouTube broadcasting of our congregation’s Sunday services. It provided our creation care committee with a wonderful opportunity to continue offering information and practical suggestions to the congregation.  

For months, we prepared short videos (2-3 minutes), and presented them before the closing of each virtual service. We included topics such as: conscious consumption, care for water, minimizing and managing waste in our homes, deforestation and mining. 

We organized face-to-face workshops on healthy eating and on how to recycle. The latter workshop was done in collaboration with members of the congregation who make their living collecting recycling. We brought packaging, jars and wrappers and learned to distinguish which ones can be recycled and which ones cannot. While doing so, we also discovered how much unnecessary material we receive when shopping in supermarkets and stores.  

We also learned from our brothers and sisters who earn their living by recycling how hard and poorly paid this work is. Many recyclers live in precarious situations, though they themselves provide a fundamental service. 

So, we teach what congregation members can do at home, but in addition, we examine our practices as a congregation. 

For example, on Sundays at the end of the service, people have a coffee while they talk and greet each other. We asked ourselves: what cups should we use to serve the coffee? Styrofoam, paper or hard plastic? In the end, we opted for reusable hard plastic cups, acknowledging that this alternative does require the use of water and someone to wash them every time. We realize that there are no actions that are pure and free from environmental impact, and that there will always be pros and cons to choose from, but we try to make improvements each time.  

We recently carried out, as a group, a methodical and guided self-evaluation of the impact of our church building and our practices on the environment, which led us to identify several areas for improvement. We changed the lighting to LED bulbs and included water saving devices in our toilet tanks, among other changes. All of this is helping us to achieve greater congregational coherence. 

The Creation Care Committee has had its own challenges. Many times, work and family occupations make it difficult to maintain the consistency we would like, but this minimal structure has helped us sustain the theme in the congregation. 

The recognition and support received from the pastor and the leadership group of the church has also been key.  

Our emphasis has been largely on our personal and corporate practices to care for God’s heaven and earth. But we are also aware that much of the environmental damage and its solutions lie in policies and actions of companies and government, and social practices that go beyond the scope of our individual efforts. 

How can we influence social and business policies and practices toward greater environmental responsibility? 

How can we as a church show solidarity and help those who suffer most from resource scarcity or environmental deterioration?  

We continue to ponder about this and seek ways to honour God and follow  God’s ways. 

—Written by the Creation Care Group of Iglesia Menonita de Teusaquillo, Bogotá, Colombia

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Indonesia

I cannot forget the high tide flooding of 23-25 May 2022.

As pastor of GKMI Sidodadi in Semarang in Central Java province, Indonesia, I still recount the anxieties and panic of the community. Our church building is just 10 minutes’ walk from Tanjung Mas Seaport from where the  flood came.  

Seawater ran down so fast, hitting the pier embarkment and flooding the area. Our church and people’s settlements were flooded. The water level was as high as an adult’s hip. We were shocked, especially those who worked near the pier. 

The workers panicked when they saw the seawater suddenly rushing into the factory. None of the workers came out of the factory with their clothes dry. Some even needed the help of heavy vehicles. It was very chaotic. 

The breach of the water embankment (due to the great pressure and rising sea levels) inundated people’s settlements for three days.  

In the afternoon, the sea began to rise and inundate residents’ settlements and the seawater began to recede again at midnight before dawn. This tidal flood took place for three days. Electricity had to be turned off. People could not work during the flood.

Not a few people were forced to move their place of residence temporarily for health and safety reasons. 

Climate change culprit

According to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the cause of the tidal flood was the natural phenomenon of perigee, in which the earth is at the closest distance to the moon.

In recent years, the height of the sea level increased and the embankment at the port could not hold the water. It is also believed that the increase of the sea level was due to global warming.

The people of the port area knew that the coastal areas of northern Semarang and the neighbouring area of Sayung, Demak, are often hit hard by high tide floods. 

Many houses in the coastal area must be abandoned by the owners because the area – which was once comfortable to live in – has been inundated by seawater. 

This tidal flood disrupted the community’s activities. Daily activities were turned into activities on how to save family members and property. Many houses and household appliances suffered permanent damage. 

Today, we are grateful that the embankment was repaired so that the seawater cannot hit our homes. Community activities have returned to normal. The people, however, need to be vigilant because unexpected tidal floods can take place at any time. We are aware that the increasing volume and pressure of seawater amid global warming and climate change can destroy our neighbourhood again. 

Bearing one another’s burdens

During the high tide hit, 55 families of the GKMI congregation who live around the church suffered from the disaster. Some of them were forced to flee to another safe place. 

On the first and second day of the flood, these families could not have sufficient food because their houses were inundated by seawater. On the third day, the condition improved because they began to receive assistance from different groups and other GKMI congregations. 

Since my house was not inundated by seawater, I used it to cook food and distribute relief items to our congregation and surrounding communities affected by the disaster.  

We received daily needs items such as rice, eggs, noodles, cleaning supplies, mattresses. Our members packed and distributed these items to the 55 families and to other survivors in our community. 

It was heartwarming to see that our church members, although they experienced difficulties because of the flood, could help each other and the others across religious and ethnic boundaries. 

I believe that God wants us to serve one another with love in times of trouble. The apostle Paul says that we must “bear one another’s burdens” because in this way we shall “fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2-5). God’s power was shown to our congregation during the tidal flood. We not only serve our members but also those  in need.  

As I contemplate the natural disaster, I can see that the ministry of love invites us to bring about justice toward others. But I also know that the breach of the embankment shows that nature and our environment are not doing well.  

No matter how solid the embankment is built, one day it will not be able to contain the strong waves and sea pressures of which volumes continue to increase as a result of global climate change. 

Our earth is suffering. Human behaviour has caused ecological damage. In addition, our greed brings about exploitations on earth. As God’s people, we must remember that God gave humans the duty and responsibility to “work and care for” the earth and all that is in it. We must not destroy the earth’s riches. We must restore these. If nature is angry, humans will receive its consequences. 

—Basaria Dwi Febrina Sianturi serves at Gereja Kristen Muria Indonesia (GKMI) Sidodadi in northern Semarang,  Central Java, Indonesia. 

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Canada

Early in January I took my kids to our local indoor ice rink to skate. The place was packed, and people were frustrated. All-tosoon we were shooed off the ice to make way for an afternoon hockey game. The one-hour public skate was clearly not enough to meet the community’s need. It wasn’t until we got home that we realized the rink was packed because nobody was able to skate outside.  

In our part of the world, it’s not uncommon for a park to have an outdoor ice sheet; for families to flood a part of their yard; or for frozen ponds to be a pressed into service as hockey rinks.  

This year, none of that has worked. It simply hasn’t been cold enough. Now we rely on refrigeration. 

When a river floods that doesn’t flood very often, when a forest burns hotter or more quickly than expected, when a storm brings more wind and rain than usual, when a drought doesn’t seem to end, when ponds don’t freeze, we ask, “Is this climate change?” And inevitably the meteorologists stumble and stammer and try to explain concepts that don’t fit into sound bites.  

The meteorologists know that people want a definitive answer, even though it’s not possible to attribute individual weather events to climate change. People want an answer because the want to muster more support for their politics. The story of climate change in Anglophone North America is a story of disagreement and partisanship.

Katharine Hayhoe, a Canadian climate scientist living in Texas, often explains the impact of climate change on the weather by saying that it’s like playing with unfair dice. In the board game of weather and life we’re now more likely to roll harmful numbers. 

The UK-based website Carbon Brief has a useful map that links severe weather events around the world with formal studies exploring the relationship of these events to climate change. Zoom in on North America and you’ll see references to the British Columbia floods of 2021, the rains from Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019, the Alberta wildfires of 2016, the many California wildfires in recent decades, the relatively recent reduction in the flow of the Colorado River, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and many, many other devastating weather events.  

When you put it all together it’s clear that the dice are not rolling like they once did. The weather in North America is more charged with extremes. We’re losing more than traditions like outdoor skating. 

A couple of years ago, I interviewed more than a dozen Christian leaders to find out what barriers were preventing their communities from doing more to care for God’s creation. A few said their community didn’t see the connection between caring for people and caring for their natural home. A few said that, with declining church participation, they didn’t have the energy or the resources to take on anything new. What almost all of them said, however, was that caring for creation was seen as a divisive political issue.  

Climate change is impacting our world, but many leaders are hesitant to get engaged. 

Part of the reason creation care, including responding to climate change, is so contentious is because many North Americans are still coming to terms with their history. A recent paper published in The Lancet Public Health posits that the Global North is responsible for 92% of the world’s excess CO2 emissions. It’s hard for us to know how to respond to such an indictment, and so we obfuscate, deny and fight back. 

Yet it is here, in the face of injustice and complacency, that our Anabaptist theology and practices presses us to engage.  

Anabaptists join other Christians in believing that the creation story implies that the role of human creatures is to care for and to preserve God’s creation. Our Anabaptist theology prompts us to be moved to action by the suffering caused by our nation’s wealth and runaway consumption.  

We pray too for a movement of God’s Spirit that will make plain the divisive tricks of the evil one and call our communities to repentance, to turn from harm-inducing greed to shalom-generating care.

—Anthony Siegrist is a former Mennonite pastor who now works for A Rocha Canada, which is part of a global family of Christian environmental organizations. 

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This article grew from a conversation within MWC’s Creation Care Task Force regarding whether a solar how-to guide for churches that Mennonite Creation Care Network had produced for a US context would be appropriate for a global audience. 

How solar energy in the Global South improves lives 

Climate anxiety may be a new term coined in the Global North, but it is not a new experience for communities that depend on rain-fed subsistence farming. I first joined the adults in my family in worrying about the weather when I was 8 years old. 

In farming communities, talking about the weather is not small talk – it is everything. The weather is a major determinant for quality of life: it affects water, food and energy security. When a planting season comes late, there is anxiety. In my childhood, each day after 25 November was a harbinger of doom: the potential harvest for corn reduces significantly each day.  

In my early years, I was drawn into the complexities of drought and implications for the well being and survival of my relatives and their communities in rural Matabeleland. Other fears haunted my childhood as well. I feared the spread of genocidal killings and the traumatic speech from urban communities toward climate migrants. Waves of my relatives were displaced by both drought and death.  

All these things were inextricably intertwined.  

As a small child, I wanted to be powerful enough to be part of the solution to the complex problems I saw. Therefore, I studied rural and urban planning and have worked and done research in rural and urban development since 1996. I’ve thought a lot about what authentic sustainability and resilience would look like in my context. I believe these principles can be adapted to other regions as well.  

My vision for Southern Africa has three interrelated elements: general access to off-the grid solutions like solar power; empowerment of women and girls as dignified agents in local peace and development spaces; and re-tooling and re-agrarianizing to mitigate negative impacts of outmigration from rural communities. 

In this article, I would like to show how these three issues are interrelated and what it would mean for rural communities in Zimbabwe if they could access solar panels and the skills to maintain these systems.  

In the United States, a middle-class church that goes solar has the satisfaction of knowing that they are keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. Once the panels are paid off, they may have more money for their ministries; but using renewable energy is not likely to change members’ standard of living or affect their opportunities for jobs and education. 

In Zimbabwe, nearly half the population does not have access to electricity.1 Yet with more than 320 days of sunshine annually, it is one obvious off-grid solution. Access to renewable energy can empower women, transform people’s lives, enable education, jumpstart development and heal the land.  

Solar power can help rural communities protect their local ecologies and watersheds. Solar panels are not perfect, but at this point, they are the cleanest, least destructive form of energy we know. A church powered by solar is a witness to God’s desire for shalom for all people. Lives are enriched by energy, produced at a lower environmental cost, on a scale that invites living within the limits of God’s free gifts.  

Solar is a women’s issue

In Southern Africa during the colonial period, workers, mostly men, were pulled in as labour for mining and paid urban work. The bush war and later, a tribal cleansing affecting the Midlands and western region of the country forced more men to flee for refuge in neighbouring countries. According to patriarchal cultural norms, women remained at home to hold that space and take care of its demands. 

In Zimbabwe, almost 70% of the population is rural and most of that population comprises women and girls. It then falls upon them to do the bulk of the work of food production, finding firewood, hauling water and foraging. All these tasks can take hours and require covering large distances. 

This makes energy transformation a women’s issue that requires women’s involvement.

Solar paves the way for education and development

When women and girls in rural communities can access energy, it frees up time for other tasks. With a pump and a borehole in place for clean, potable drinking water, other kinds of infrastructure development like irrigation become easier, too.

What might women and girls do with the additional time? It can be re-appropriated. Electric lighting can mean more time for study after the chores are done. Women and girls will also experience better health outcomes when smoky cookfires are replaced with clean energy. Access to energy can also attract teachers to rural schools that lacked energy and water. Access to energy also means improved functionality of healthcare centres.  

Solar reduces deforestation and carbon emissions

Women are part of deforestation for want of firewood for cooking. They need assistance to disconnect from unsustainable fuel sources.  

Rural electrification has been an ongoing strategic program of the Government of Zimbabwe since 2002; however it has not gone as fast as planned. Rampant deforestation looms large in both rural and urban areas. Off-grid solutions such as solar projects are a faster option for closing the energy gap that continues through overdependence on firewood for domestic use.  

Solar can heal the relationship between the land and its people

I believe we must accompany rural communities as they nurture their spaces, heal their soil, heal interpersonal and inter-group relationships and help people embrace one another and the land. I would love for our communities to keep thinking more about what we can do with locally available resources. The grass is not necessarily greener elsewhere; climate change is hitting the whole world. Off-grid solutions can reorient production and offer a path to innovating with what we have. 

Pathways to solar access 

Women must be part of the solution

Churches owe a lot to women’s participation. Government structures mostly have men at the helm and seem to marginalize women. However, grassroots programs depend a great deal on women’s agency as the bulk of the resident population.  

Giving women access to harnessing solar energy is a very direct way of rehumanizing and redignifying women and girls as equal, honoured partners in development. Power-with that has responsible access to means of production is likely to go a long way in connecting women to their local economy and its monetization.  

This power-with could receive a boost through barrier-crossing leadership that supports roles, participation, and visions of women and girls. Girls in school and out of school need to hear that we need them to be powerful and supported as they take their place producers, nurturers and consumers in local communities and beyond. 

Authentic, productive power should be available to women and girls as producers of market-worthy goods and services. I would love to see women and girls become solar engineers, creating tools, implements, and off-grid solutions. I want them to have the wherewithal to maintain a dam and waterworks; or to keep irrigation equipment running. They need to be equal partners in contributing to household livelihoods.  

Churches and schools are part of the solution 

Churches have had long staying power at the grassroots level. If the solarization of churches can begin, this would strengthen the work of women’s clubs, saving and lending groups and other important communal efforts that meet in the safe spaces of church structures.  

Other community facilities would make good partners as well. Local schools, including Bible schools and seminaries can function more sustainably by producing their own food. This would diversify income sources, reduce tuition and increase staff retention in the long run. Solarization can run concurrently with intense reforestation and other watershed healing interventions. 

Networks for support 

Vibrant networks that share information, share stories from their contexts, and strike partnerships that can help communities access resources for harnessing solar energy are an essential point of organizing for sustainability. Through regional representatives and global connections, MWC offers those bridges and conduits for support. 

I am interested in birthing such a collaboration between Anabaptist agencies as part of the strategic means for sustaining holistic creation care across the African continent. Anabaptist churches, schools, agencies, and their adjacent communities are free to contact me at okuhlen@icloud.com for movement building toward improved gospelling with creation care at heart.

‚Äî‚ÄØSibonokuhle Ncube, from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, is a member of Mennonite World Conference’s Creation Care Task Force and co-regional director of Mennonite Mission Network in Africa and Europe.  

1 Figures from 2019, www.macrotrends.net/ countries/ZWE/zimbabwe/electricity-accessstatistics 

Remove far from me falsehood and lying;  give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, “Who is the Lord?”  or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:8-9, NRSV)

As I began to write these words, Cyclone Freddy was wreaking havoc in Malawi and Mozambique. As I thought about our congregations there, I was reminded of the words I heard from a participant in our last Assembly: “Creation care is a topic of interest to the churches in the north. We are more interested in spiritual matters.” With that phrase, a leader from one of our churches stated his disagreement with how Mennonite World Conference included creation care as an essential theme in the 2022 global Assembly. 

Given the reality of climate change and the crises caused by it in recent years, such a statement surprised me. Climate issues have become another issue of political polarization in our societies. Amid fear and guilt, arguing about facts and fake news, is it possible to find hope and healing for a divided world? Can we speak of our call to care for creation as a profoundly spiritual issue that goes beyond the current climate crisis? 

Following the teachings of the Scripture, the spiritual disciplines of simple living and contentment have been a part of Anabaptist spirituality for many years. We can recall here the biblical ideas of

• living with what is necessary (cf. Luke 11:3),
• stopping work to rest (cf. Exodus 20:10),
• avoiding accumulation (cf. Luke 12:15-21),
• not stressing about economic needs (cf. Luke 12:22-31) and
• practicing generosity (cf. Luke 18:22-25).

These biblical teachings and others have shaped the Christian disciplines of simple living and contentment for centuries. These disciplines go directly against the values of a society that wastes and consumes excessively, that encourages the search for happiness in material things, and that encourages the egocentric accumulation of wealth as a means to achieve security. The climate crisis that today threatens to destroy our planet is primarily the result of our voracious appetite that consumes without being satisfied and does not spare the consequences of a life that always needs more in its vain search for satisfaction, identity and affirmation. 

In our Anabaptist tradition, how we live our everyday life is a profoundly spiritual issue. The decisions we make about our lifestyle are deeply spiritual. Talking about how they affect the environment, taking into account the divine invitation to care for and administrate creation (cf. Genesis 2:15) is not only spiritual; it is an urgent imperative in the face of the growing climatic calamities that affect the most vulnerable communities in the world, where, by the way, most of our local congregations are located today. 

These are some reasons why Mennonite World Conference established a global, multicultural task force (Creation Care Task Force) to lead our Communion on this issue. That is why this issue of Courier discusses topics related to the care of creation from different cultural and theological perspectives. That is why we celebrate the creation of resources and initiatives such as those shown in the video Transmission Latin America, where churches from various places share how their faith impacts their relationship with nature. 

I pray that our global community grows in creation care and that my life may develop more and more of the disciplines of simple living and contentment because, as Gandhi said, we need to “live simply so others may simply live.” 

— César García, MWC general secretary, originally from Colombia, lives in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. 

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France

“Happy are those whom you choose, whom you bring to live in your sanctuary…” (Psalm 65:4, Good News Translation).

The “pause for prayer” at the Mennonite church of ChâtenayMalabry (Paris, France) was created in March 2021as part of the journey towards Easter in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initiated by our former pastor, Silvie Hege, it took the form of a weekly one-hour meeting by Zoom during the lunch break, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The online gathering was to be held every Friday of the Lenten period and to end once Easter arrived.

Time for a break

This time was an opportunity to take a break in our day and in our week, to come and be refreshed/filled by the Spirit, a time to walk with Jesus. It was a time of fasting for those who wished to do so, a time set apart for ourselves, a time of sharing, a prayer break that really allowed us to feel close to Jesus in this moment and close to each other, united by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Once Easter 2021 was over, it was impossible for us to end this divine rendez-vous, this weekly meeting with the Father who does us so much good.

It is at this point that I took on the responsibility of leading this time of prayer that has continued to this day – even during vacations – with participants taking turns leading if necessary.

Although the day has been changed from Friday to Wednesday for reasons of convenience, we have kept the original principle: to spend a lunch break together (that lasts on the average an hour and 15 minutes) to be with our Lord, to rest in God’s holy presence and to stand in the breach1 .

Praise, adoration and rendering thanks

During our meetings, the reading of at least one Bible passage allows us to contemplate our God and to pray on the basis of God’s Word. We then praise and adore God, giving thanks and interceding for the world, for the subjects of prayer shared in our church at Châtenay-Malabry and in this prayer cell.

Every member of the church is welcome. The connection link is shared every week through the different communication channels of the church. The number of participants is not large, but the blessings of God are overwhelming. We have seen a great many prayers answered.

There is a small number of people who are faithful to the meetings, making it a privileged place where trust is built up/ established, allowing us to speak about prayer subjects that cannot always be shared with the entire congregation on Sunday.

Occasionally, we have had the joy of the unexpected presence of a person whom the Holy Spirit has led to connect, and this, at times, sometimes in a very unique way.

This “pause” has allowed us to see so many answers and so many signs from God that it has reinforced the idea that he is present with us during this time.

Each meeting has been a genuine moment of renewal. Be it 2, 4 or 6 people connected, we feel privileged to be able to participate in this time of prayer as it is written in Psalm 65:4.

A burden that became a benefit

The idea of this prayer time, meeting via Zoom, would probably not have seen the light of day without COVID-19. A structure that could have initially been considered a burden or a limitation has turned out to be a real asset because we can participate from wherever we are: from home, from the office, from vacation spots, with the only condition being access to an internet connection. God truly does make all things work together for the good of those who love him.

Other than the worship service, this prayer break is the only weekly meeting in our church. We truly give glory to God for this additional opportunity for fellowship and for all that we have been able to experience through these blessed times since the very beginning.

The challenges are great but we want to keep standing in the breach so that the Lord may act among the nations, in our lives, in all the situations that come upon us, so that we may see the manifestation of God’s glory.

—Nicole Djuissi is a member of the pastoral team, the leader of the online prayer meeting and also head of a house group. She is employed as a digital project manager, and the mother of two children ages 13 and 17.

1Psalm 106 :23; Ezekiel 22:30, Isaiah 11-12

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Canada

Then we read Scripture out under the open sky, it comes alive in new ways.

Phrases like, “The heavens are telling the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1), “all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12) and “let justice roll down like water” (Amos 5,24) all take on deeper significance as we reflect on creation as participants in praise or harbingers of God’s wisdom.

Similarly, Jesus taught outdoors. He often drew on the natural world (water, vines, rocks, birds, flowers, etc.) to offer insights into his ministry and the kingdom of God.

God’s Spirit is continually active in the world around us. God is hiding in plain sight, and at Burning Bush we are honing our senses to be become more fully aware of God’s living presence and inspiration in our midst.

Gathered and grounded

Burning Bush Forest Church found its beginnings in an unexpected epiphany in late 2014. A seed of inspiration was received, planted, allowed to sit dormant for a while, then germinated and took root at our first official worship gathering in March 2016. The basic idea that grounds who we are and what we do is that we worship outdoors, all year ‘round, not merely in creation, but with creation! We engage with God’s good earth as our place of worship, as an extension of our worshipping community, and as one of our worship leaders.

This form of worship – inviting people outdoors to connect with Creator and creation – seems to resonate with many people in this era of multiple environmental crises.

Our gatherings are generally small and intimate (usually between 10 and 30 people).

They engage our whole bodies as we ground ourselves through our senses in the particular place where we are gathered.

Our gatherings include Scripture and prayer, but not a traditional sermon. Participants are given time to “wander and wonder” (usually 30 minutes) to pay attention to how they are noticing God’s presence that “speaks” in a variety of ways.

There is time for sharing with one another around the circle.

Children are free to explore and follow their curiosity, and to participate along with their parents and the whole community. Their insights are welcome and often profound.

Ultimately, worshipping outdoors helps us to feel a deeper sense of belonging to God’s “community of creation.” Over the years, we have met in different public parks in our city, settling in at one with a creek and naturalized forest area as our primary location. By returning to the same spot, we have learned to know the names and characteristics of the trees, plants, birds, animals and insects around us. We have been immersed in the rhythms of the seasons as they play out. We have witnessed lessons of letting go, abundance, interdependence, death, renewal and resurrection, all written into creation for us to see.

Practical pattern

As we already had a well-established pattern of intentionally gathering outdoors for several years before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we did not feel the restrictions as dramatically as other congregations who needed to close the doors of their buildings for a time.

We were able to continue our worship with only a few minor adjustments such as using an on-line registration tool (Eventbrite) to ask participants to pre-register. This allowed us to stay within gathering limits and have information for contact tracing should that be necessary. We also enhanced our email newsletter, adding in more resources for personal engagement and spiritual growth at home. At Burning Bush, we did not decide to experiment with worship simply to offer something new and different, or to figure out how to pivot in a new context. We are following God’s leading to return to a way of connecting heart, mind and soul with the beloved community of creation. This is both ancient and new. It has been a journey of renewal and transformation, rooting ourselves in God’s great vision of shalom for all creation.

—Wendy Janzen is pastor of Burning Bush Forest Church and an ecominister with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada. She lives in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

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Democratic Republic of the Congo

May glory be given to the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his good deeds. By the grace of God, in Congo the pandemic was not as cruel as it was under other skies. Aside from the hygiene lessons given regularly and generally by the political/ administrative and health authorities to the population, there was no direct long-term link between the pandemic and worship.

Given the severity of health measures, no gatherings were possible. Nevertheless, Christians were invited to gather in their respective homes and some leaders visited the faithful and prayed with them.

During the pandemic we were asked to shorten worship times in order to avoid contamination and this practice continues to the present.

We were in the habit of embracing visitors during the time of welcome, but this practice was eliminated with the arrival of the pandemic. We no longer embrace visitors. At the end of every worship service, we had the custom of shaking hands between brothers and sisters, but this no longer happens. These are not improvements per se, but simply things that are different.

As a result of the health measures enacted by the government, notably the closing of churches and the prohibition against gathering, contact among children was nonexistent. This greatly impacted relationships among the faithful and significantly blunted fellowship. (It is good to clarify that this situation only lasted some five to six months.)

It was this aspect of no gatherings of the children of God with its corollaries such as the absence of spiritual and material sharing as well as the impossibility of giving offerings to God that we missed the most during the pandemic.

All of the activities of members having been turned upside down, the only thing that was possible for the faithful was intercession. Indeed, the children of God who got into the habit of praying in their families prayed for others and for an end to the pandemic. When the restrictive measures were lifted, all of the activities of the church resumed normally.

It is important to note that even though the pandemic was dangerous and severe, our church conference was not affected or shaken to the point of negatively impacting the organization of worship. We thank MWC for having given our church conferences, through AIMM, the means to inform the members concerning COVID-19 and attitudes to adopt in order to avoid it.

During our times of praise, the pandemic helped us better understand our vulnerability as humans and always trust in God. And even though we prayed for others before the pandemic, we became more conscious of the need to pray for the healing of others with the arrival of the pandemic.

The grace and peace of the Lord be with you.

— Pasteur Jean Félix Cimbalanga, president of the Communauté Evangélique Mennonite (CEM). Felo Gracia, General Council member (GC) representing Communauté des Eglises Frères Mennonite du Congo (the Mennonite Brethren church of Congo). Both leaders contributed insights to this article.

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South Korea

South Korea was very successful in its response to the pandemic, especially during the early stages. The virus was contained and death rates were low although the government refrained from issuing drastic measures such as lockdowns or business closures.

However, the Protestant community was highly criticised within Korea for its behaviour during the early days of the pandemic. Traditionally, a South Korean church on average has about 10 worship services a week. Korean churches put a lot of weight on face-to-face public worship: this made the COVID-19 pandemic particularly hard. Many continued faceto-face meetings overtly or in secret. Videos of Christians violating public health codes and ignoring scientific facts in the name of “faith” went viral. The South Korean church had been already deemed selfish and ultraconservative by the public in the past decade; this led people to think of it as detrimental to society.

Megachurches were able to prepare well for online services. With abundant resources, they produced forms of online worship that were even more systematic than offline formats, and are reaching even more people than before. But for small to mid-sized churches who rely on faceto-face meetings, large portions of their congregations did not return to the pews.

Peace and Joy Mennonite Church

Peace and Joy Mennonite Church is located in the countryside of a small city called Nonsan in central South Korea. The location is somewhat isolated, and most of the congregation either live on the church premises or in the nearby villages.

Our Sunday worship had to go online for a few months in the beginning of the pandemic, and then turned offline with limitations – no eating together; masks on; seating arrangements, etc. – adhering to government regulations. Brothers and sisters living on the same premises had to work and eat together even during the weekdays, so they still gathered, but took measures to limit as much contact with the outside world as much as possible.

Entering the “new normal” after the pandemic, most Korean churches are calling for the “revival of the face-to-face worship.” For Peace and Joy Mennonite Church, all of us have a sense of belonging and solidarity no matter where we are. The question of whether face-to-face worship service is the “true” form of worship wasn’t such a big issue for us. When we had to be online because of circumstances, we simply discussed how we could serve those in need.

For example, when we had confirmed cases in our midst or our village, we put necessary supplies and food on the doorsteps of quarantined people. We also began recording church services and uploading them on the church SNS group. We wanted to provide the sharing of the Word and the ongoing congregational context to brothers and sisters unable to attend the service. The weekly meeting of all members where all church matters are discussed and decided upon take place online during the week.

True worship

Even when you are completely cut off from the entire world, you can still worship God alone. Abraham and Jacob’s most significant encounters with God took place when they were both alone.

The Mennonite church reveals its faith in God through the relationships it fosters with brothers and sisters and neighbours; therefore the church community is of utmost importance. However, COVID-19 is not an one-time phenomenon. Human greed is getting bigger and the whole creation will suffer.

But even then, there is no reason to fear or despair. We shall not try to run away from worship, or tear ourselves away from the cord of three strands that Jesus tied us with, no matter the circumstances. If Sundays are no longer available for worship, we will simply worship on some other day. We do not look for excuses to not worship, but we look for different ways to worship.

Peace and Joy Mennonite Church tries to make sure that everyone’s voice is heard in our church service. Instead of a sermon, the facilitator (whose role rotates amongst the members) invites everyone to share their insights into the Word of God. Bible verses, questions and commentaries relating to the text are shared during the week so that the brothers and sisters taking part in the worship service can prepare their reflection and interpretation. Worship is teeming with life and more people are undertaking the necessary steps to become a full member of the church. It could be that each person is offering a hand to the congregation’s effort to put Jesus at the centre of peace and reconciliation, in a less authoritative and more communal manner.

We do not wait for church service because that is when and where we meet God: we wait for it because we can listen to the stories of how our brothers and sisters have met God in their lives. How precious is the time when we can see each other’s face light up as we share our stories of thanksgiving? How precious is the time when we can sing in one voice the same songs of praise? How precious is the time when all or any of us offer the common prayer that reflects our communal faith? Thanks be to God that we have our brothers and sisters in faith!

Pandemics are rooted in human greed and therefore may return any time and in any form. We do not know what destruction humanity’s uncontrolled desires may bring, but Peace and Joy Mennonite Church will take the road to a community of peace, where we love our brothers and sisters and put Jesus at the centre.

The same questions people brought in John 4:20-23 are heard in the church today: “Our fathers worshipped here, but you say…” The place and the format are not important. Jesus’ answers are the same, back then and even now: “the true woshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”

— Yongha Bae is general secretary of Mennonite Church South Korea. This article was translated from Korean into English by Hakjoon (Joe) Ko.

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