Prayers of gratitude and intercession

“I cannot be grateful enough that even though we are a large and diverse group, we speak the same language: the language of love for Christ and his people,” says Daniel Nugroho. He was part of the team that made it possible for all to understand.

Up to four interpreters from a team of 21 served from the stage at each worship plenary, interpreting all the speakers into Indonesian. Meanwhile, two interpreters from a team of eight served in the French and Spanish booths.

Interpreters experienced extra challenges in Indonesia with COVID infections and internet glitches affecting the listening headsets.

“Simultaneous translation is a particularly demanding exercise, requiring a great deal of attention, especially as you have to adapt to the accents and speech patterns of the different speakers,” says Karina DerksenSchrock, MWC interpretation coordinator.

And understanding is not only about the words used.

“Being an interpreter, we get the chance to be a bridge not just for language but also with culture and connect people too,” says Sarah Pillay, interpreter from English to Indonesian.

Interpretation coordinator for Indonesian Ary Rusdianto worked behind the scenes for years. He oversaw translation of MWC stories and worship materials into Indonesian to help fellow Indonesians become familiar with MWC before the event. One of his challenges was finding interpreters for Indonesian and Spanish.

“It is God’s blessing because he provided many Indonesian interpreters to help at the Assembly,” says Ary Rusdianto.

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This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

Life in the Spirit: Learn, Serve, Worship

34 delegates: 4 from North America, 4 from Europe, 11 from Asia, 6 from Africa, and 9 from Latin America.

In delegate sessions, some common challenges for young people that surfaced were loneliness and the need for belonging, the need for good leadership, bridging the generation gap and the need to redefine church in a way that the function of it can shift to the spaces where young people are present.

Delegates also brainstormed solutions so they could be a part of bringing change by building relationships and sharing resources.

More than just discussing, the delegates and participants enjoyed their time learning from their different cultures, sharing snacks from their countries, sharing words of encouragement and strengthening, and praying for each other.

“One of the most impactful moments of GYS was after the delegates shared their conclusions with the participants and we spent time praying for each other’s countries on a large floor map, as well as for each other personally. The Spirit was very present as we united in prayer, and people authentically prayed for the change they wanted to see in the world and in themselves,” says Ebenezer Mondez, YABs Committee representative for Asia (2015-2022), YABs mentor (2022-2028).

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This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

Wednesday morning

There have always been two main kinds of learning: academic and experiential. Most of us have an inclination toward one or the other, but the reality is that both are necessary for learning. Knowledge doesn’t do anyone much good if it’s not applied. Alternatively, it’s often counterproductive and wasteful to implement something without prior investigation. Navigating diverse perspectives could be understood in multiple contexts whether that relates to our global Anabaptist family, the worldwide body of Christ, or our broader multicultural society. Our ability to learn from someone is only limited by our ability to see the image of God in each person, and our openness to allow the Spirit of Christ in us to teach us through any person or situation – no matter how different, uncomfortable, or unlikeable. In thinking about what it looks like for us to learn together as a global Anabaptist family, four essential qualities that Jesus displayed come to mind: humility, integrity, discernment and responsibility.

Humility and integrity

Humility and integrity are equally tied to our identity in Christ. Psalm 119 starts with: “Happy are the people who walk with integrity, who live according to the teachings of the Eternal” (The Voice). If we know who we are as beloved children of the Father saved by grace through faith, we are able to engage in conversations with diverse perspectives humbly and without feeling prideful or defensive. Knowing who and whose we are gives us security so that we can act with integrity in diverse settings.

Jesus is clear: if we abide in him, we will do what he commands, and our lives will show it. The more up front we are about who we are and who we follow, the less people are surprised when we behave a certain way, and they are forced to make a choice in response. In the same way, Jesus knew his identity as the Son of God and his calling from an early age, which shaped his priorities, his ministry and how people reacted to him.

To operate in our own calling as priests and ambassadors of God, we must know who we are in relation to our Father. When we are confident in who we are because of our Father’s love and forgiveness, we are free to extend the same without expectations. Jesus knew he was the beloved Son of God and yet he came to serve, not be served. We are able to live in that same identity of divine sonship and servanthood that he modelled for us.

Discernment

Discernment is not so glamorous, but I’ve realized lately it will become more essential for the church as the noise and news and never-ending reels inundate us with information – both true and false. How – amid the clamour of voices in the world – are we to learn from others while discerning and bearing witness to what is true and authentic?

A pastor recently reframed discernment for me as being able to identify the source: the world, our flesh, Satan or the Spirit. Our ability to do this is something that only comes through the Spirit. One passage of Scripture that illustrates this is 1 Corinthians 2: “for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God …. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God…. Those who are spiritual discern all things…. But we have the mind of Christ.”

One of the most difficult things to learn to trust is someone else’s experience of God. Among Christians, there is a wide range of how people experience their relationship with God and discern God’s direction and guidance in their lives. Sometimes we evaluate learning from others as if we are always learning directly from God. But what we learn from others isn’t always from God or aligned with God’s Word. This is something that is discerned by the Spirit, with whom we should always be testing everything we receive (1 John 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:21) – whether prophecy, teaching, or experiences – and measuring it against God’s Word.

Responsibility

Responsibility is the most dangerous thing that comes with learning. It’s a kingdom principle that with knowledge and blessings come responsibility to steward them well before God. “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required” (Luke 12:48, NLT).

Therein lies the danger of one-sided learning: acquiring knowledge without putting it into practice. This particularly applies to the West and to those of us who have grown up in Christian environments. Even so, having less does not exempt anyone from responsibility. There is so much available in my culture to resource people from books, to conferences, to social media content, to retreats to cohorts – any kind of content you want, you can find. I wonder sometimes what would happen to the church in the West if all of that was taken away. If all we were left with was the Word of God, the created world, and the people of God directed by God’s Spirit, would that be enough for us to learn?

I’m not saying we need to disregard all the resources out there, but my concern, even as I evaluate my own life, is how easily I can turn to other sources for growth and knowledge than the true Source. And more importantly, what am I doing with all I have learned and gained?

This is my challenge to you, dear brothers and sisters, in these tumultuous times, to, as Ephesians puts it, “no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:14-15). As we become continually transformed into the image of Christ, may our ability to learn together in all humility and integrity lead to greater discernment through the Spirit to know truth and display what it means to live our lives according to it.

This is the kingdom Jesus initiated, and this is our calling as the body of Christ: to flesh it out for the world to see.

—Larissa Swartz serves as chair of the Young Anabaptists (YABs) Committee (2015-2022). Currently, she is transitioning to New York City to be a part of a house church movement.

Learning Together – Morning Plenary: 6 July 2022

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This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

Wednesday morning

Learning together to discern the will of God”: the first Christians were confronted with this challenge from the beginning. Indeed, “learning together to discern the will of God” is not mere wishful thinking! It is not a comfortable process. In fact, it is the major challenge of Christian life; of our personal lives as well as those of our local congregations.

To consider this challenge, I suggest returning to a fundamental moment in time, an original moment: the time when the disciples were called Christians: “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26).

To my great surprise, reading and meditating on this episode in the history of the church would force me to question what I believed I knew. This shift came when I observed that the period in which the name “Christian” was given to believers was anything but idyllic. It was not so much the context of persecution – or “distress” as described in the text – that was the most dangerous threat to the emerging Christian church. No, the most surprising thing for me was to realize that this beautiful moment, this moment when they received a “name,” moreover including the name of Christ, corresponded in reality to a situation wherein the major threat for the new believers was one of division, that of internal division.

On one hand, there is the community of Jerusalem, the mother community, the oldest and culturally Jewish. On the other, there is the Antioch community: culturally Greek and a younger and more dynamic community with greater growth and more visible fruit! So, on one side there are those who proclaim the Word exclusively to the Jews, and on the other side, those who proclaim the good news to the pagans, the Greeks.

Two styles: the elders close to tradition, and the younger ones, without a doubt more inventive and with greater freedom!

Thus, two ways of being and two evangelistic projects. In such a situation, how can they continue to learn together? How can they discern the will of God together?

From the beginning, the first Christians were painfully confronted with this challenge. We can apply this to our situation today: What do the Mennonites of present-day Europe – where Anabaptism first got started – have in common with the Mennonites of other continents, with the younger and more dynamic churches?

Let’s return to our story of the Acts of the Apostles: what are the reasons that schism did not take place, at least not at that moment, even though all the ingredients of division were present? What were the steps taken in the process of discernment?

First, we notice that the mother church (that of Jerusalem) chooses to send a man, Barnabas, who is not a high-profile individual, at least not then. It is the attitude of this man that is the decisive factor and will make the bonds unity possible: “When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all…” (Acts 11:23)

So, Barnabas first begins by taking time to observe, not scrutinizing with judgment, but rather with a gaze of amazement. He is not afraid of newness! Without a doubt he saw all the risks that this young, dynamic community was facing, all the potential deviations, and rightly so, since otherwise Jerusalem would not have sent him. But his first impression is one of amazement of what he sees the other is experiencing, giving thanks for the fruits others are bearing.

This is the first step in the process: to have a vision of kindness and admiring the good in the other, the good in the church of the other. Wouldn’t the relationships between our countries and different cultures change if we dared to admire the other? Are Westerners ready to appreciate what is happening elsewhere and learn from others? Are we ready for this conversion of our perspectives?

Once again, let us return to our story! Barnabas is not blissfully optimistic for what is bearing fruit! True kindness, genuine goodness does not exclude the task of examining the truth which makes things firm. And so, in a second step, we see how Barnabas takes the initiative to go find Paul and bring him back to Antioch so that the two of them can teach this new, young community for one year.

There is, however, a small detail, which, in reality, is not a small one: Paul and Barnabas do not only have the role of teachers. It is said that they “met with the church” (Acts 11:26) They are not afraid to be “one among others”, to be on equal footing in a relationship of reciprocity where everyone takes part in the conversation. This happens over time; a one-year period, allowing them to build relationships and become familiar with the situation from the inside. This is the second step in the process.

Let us go back to the young church in Antioch. It is not afraid to welcome someone sent by the mother church, to accept being taught by a person coming from a community that is much less dynamic and apparently bearing less fruit. It is not afraid of accepting others.

But the story is not finished. The young church would, in turn, take care of the mother church. During a time of famine, it would organize a fundraiser and send money to Judea (Acts 11:27- 30). There is genuine reciprocity in this concrete care of one another

The moment when the believers receive the beautiful name “Christian,” is therefore the moment when they accept not to remain in their way of seeing, only depending on their ethnicity, their culture, or their local reality. “To learn together” is accepting the risk of crossing boundaries, because we belong to one and very same body, because “we are members one of another” (Romans 12:5).

We are of the same flesh, that of the Body of Christ.

—Anne-Cathy Graber is a Mennonite pastor and theologian and a consecrated sister in the Chemin Neuf community in Paris, France. She serves the MWC Faith and Life Commission as representative to the Global Christian Forum and the World Council of Church Faith and Order.

Learning Together – Morning Plenary: 6 July 2022

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This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

 

Wednesday night

When he was 17, my grandfather was forced to fight in World War II (WWII). When I started talking about my plans to study peace and peace theology, he got a little upset. He said: “You talk about peace and war, but you don’t know what you’re talking about! When war comes, you don’t have any choice. There is nothing you can do!” At that time, I believed that what Western Europe was missing during World War II was good peace theology. Which we have now, so we’ll be fine. Or so I thought.

A few months ago (and about 80 years after WWII), war broke out in Ukraine. And while our brothers and sisters in Ukraine face the evils of war, many Mennonites in Western Europe are shocked by the nearness and the reality of war. Our many years of good peace theology are forgotten. We feel again like my grandfather felt: “There is nothing we can do”. Suddenly, for many peace-believing Christians, the only possible option is violent engagement. We affirmed nonviolence when our context was peaceful, but in the face of war we see nonviolent resistance as naive and unrealistic. We have many good peace theologians, but now what they were saying has become irrelevant. Today, we are afraid that war may overtake Europe. Suddenly our theology and our beliefs feel obsolete. A storm took over Europe, and our convictions collapsed. Storms tend to do that: they break the things that we thought were solid and strong.

The Scripture we read today is the closing argument of the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon is a collection of teachings of Jesus, addressed to people living in difficult times. At that time, Palestine was under Roman occupation, and the Jews struggled under the oppression of a violent regime. Heavy taxation, forced labour and sexual abuse were part of their daily life. Yet, Jesus calls them, the people oppressed by imperial Rome, to collectively love their enemies and to not resist the evildoer. And he warns them that this will be really hard to do, and that they may pay it with their lives.

Somehow, the crowds seem to like what they hear. “Wow, Jesus sure has a lot of charisma, see how he teaches! The authority!” Jesus probably knows that many of his listeners are just curious. They’re here to see what the fuss is about, to listen, discuss, comment… and they won’t act on his teachings or practise them. But a storm is coming that will put all their ideas and beliefs to the test. For the people sitting on the mount and listening to Jesus, the war with Rome is about to get a lot worse. For Matthew’s readers, persecution will afflict those who decide to follow the Way of Christ. And these storms will break some of the opinions and beliefs that felt so very solid.

However, there is a way for beliefs to survive the storm. Jesus talks about two houses, one built on rock, the other on sand. The storm came for both. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house”, but one house fell and the other one did not. The difference between the two houses is their foundation. The foundation of the house is not believing or not in Jesus. Jesus tells us that the rock foundations are the practice of his words.

In the story he tells, both men have heard the words of Jesus, but only the wise man acted on them. Other translations have “put them into practice.” It’s acting on the words of Jesus, again and again, day in and day out, that prepares us for the storm. Because the storm will come anyway. There’s only one way for us to stand firm in the storm: practise! Practise the love of enemies, practise nonviolent resistance, practice disarming the oppressor without harming the oppressor. This is something we can all practise together.

If we practise together, we learn together. Before I was a pastor, I was an occupational therapist. The core idea in occupational therapy is that the brain and the body learn by doing. When we do something new, neurons in our body connect in new ways. When we repeat and practise, the connections grow stronger. After a while, we can do that new thing in different situations, without having to think about it anymore.

When we practise, we learn. That also means that if we want to learn, we need to practise. In theory, I believe I could run a marathon. But I’ll only be able to do it if I practise running. The same goes for a radical peace witness, or nonviolent resistance. In Western Europe, when we Mennonites talk about peace, we spend a lot of time talking about how we should act in different situations. And most of the time, that’s all we do. When the war actually comes, that’s when we should start doing what we’ve been discussing. But the middle of the storm is not the right time to learn how to act.

Don’t wait for the storm to figure out if your foundation is solid. Make sure it is. How? With practice! Mennonites are used to hearing calls to nonviolent resistance at Assembly.

At the 1967 MWC Assembly in Amsterdam, Vincent Harding called on Mennonites to come alongside our Black sisters and brothers in the freedom struggle, to come alongside the many revolutionary movements around the world.

At the 1984 Assembly in Strasbourg, Ron Sider urged the church to develop a highly trained peacemaking task force – which sparked the creation of Community Peacemakers Team.

But most of us have stayed on the sidelines, where things are comfortable. In a nice little house on the beach.

What does it look like to practise love of the enemy on a collective level in our time and place? It may very well look like nonviolent war resistance. Maybe Mennonites could prepare for war resistance with an “anti-military service,” like a nonviolent resistance boot camp. Nations prepare for war with military service. There is first-aid training for emergency health care. It might be time for us to create a widespread training for regular church people to learn and practise the basics of civil resistance.

Some people do and will commit their whole life to nonviolent peacemaking, and we desperately need people like that. But we also need a foundation of practice for the whole church.

In most of Europe, we have more experience in discussion and debate than we do in activism, war resistance, revolution or social change. We need the help of the global church if we want to find our footing in the field of practice. We know that we have brothers and sisters who have experience in nonviolent resistance. Please train us. Practise with us. So we can learn together. That’s how we’ll hold fast when the storms come.

—Salomé Haldemann is a trained occupational therapist and a graduate of theology and peace studies at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana, USA. She interns as a pastor of Eglise Evangélique Mennonite de Béthel, Neuf-Brisach, France.

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This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

Tuesday night

Jesus is exhausted, frustrated probably! He recently planned a retreat with his disciples, but clamouring crowds get in the way. So, he spends a full day teaching and organizing food for 5 000 people.

Next comes a night of prayer and then a stroll across the Sea of Galilee. He sees his disciples struggling against the wind. His plan is to walk past them and reveal his divine identity, but they completely miss the point. So, he miraculously calms the storm, and sighs that they just don’t understanding anything!

Then comes a heated confrontation with narrow-minded religious leaders and a disappointing conversation with his dullminded disciples (Jesus’s words, not mine!).

He needs a break. So, he heads for the nearest resort town on the Mediterranean Coast – something like a beach resort on the coast of California, or Bali, or Tenerife or Rio. Again, his plans are foiled: (I quote) “He did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret!”

Did you notice how the human and divine aspects of Jesus intertwine in this section of Mark’s Gospel? Jesus miraculously multiplies loaves, walks on water, identifies himself as “I AM.” Yet he’s tired, frustrated, unable to follow through on carefully made plans.

“Jesus is the centre of our faith.”

• the human Jesus, who learned and lived and served and suffered and experienced all sorts of human limitations, as we all do.
• the divine Jesus, who exists from all eternity as the second person of the Trinity, creator of heaven and earth, worthy of all honour and worship as GOD!

This “divine-human Jesus” is the centre of our faith.

The faithful church has always confessed that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. That is the mystery we call “the Incarnation”: God becoming a human person, uniting forever in the person of Jesus, divinity and humanity.

The Incarnation is the greatest barrier-crossing event in the history of the universe. In Jesus, the barrier has been crossed between eternity and time, spirit and matter, Creator and creation. And because of this, we can be confident that the great barrier still separating God and God’s faithful people will one day be gone forever.

After the great barrier-crossing event we call “Incarnation,” Jesus just kept right on crossing barriers: between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, male and female, sacred and secular, clean and unclean, Jew and Gentile.

Because Jesus is fully divine and fully human, we do well to explore Gospel narratives with two questions in mind:

1. What does Jesus, the incarnate Jesus, God in the flesh, reveal to us about what God is like? and,

2. What does Jesus, the fully human Jesus, reveal about how we should relate to God and to each other?

In many texts, the divine aspects of Jesus seem to be in the forefront. In Mark’s text about Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman, the human aspects shine through pretty clearly

God in the flesh cannot even keep his presence secret. A woman shows up – a very unlikely candidate for Jesus’s ministry. A woman, a Gentile, a Syrophoenician; the nearest biblical equivalent would be Queen Jezebel! Jesus is not amused. And if we don’t listen carefully, it sounds as though Jesus simply insults her! “What? Throw good food to a dog? No way!”

Wait! What? Is this Jesus talking? If that is all we hear, we are not listening carefully. It is true that Jews sometimes called Gentiles “dogs! (kunes).” Not house pets: wild, unclean, dogs that roam the streets. Yet Jesus here uses a different word! If your translation doesn’t make that obvious, check the footnotes. He refers to (kunaria), puppies, “dear little puppies,” house pets surrounding “the kids” who are eating at the table. The text sounds quite different already, doesn’t it? And note that Jesus does not actually call her a puppy; he’s using a metaphor! And did you notice that in English I just called the children little goats? (That’s what “kids” actually means!)

Jesus’s metaphor is not designed to be offensive, any more than mine was. He’s not demeaning her. He knows that one day Gentiles will be fully equal partners with the Jews in the people of God.

The real problem with this text is not that Jesus talks about puppies; it is that Jesus denies her request! “I’m on vacation! It is not a good time. Sorry, your request is denied!” But again, let’s listen more carefully. “First, let the children eat all they want.”

“First…” Jesus is not saying, “No”; he is saying “Not, yet!” Some things need to happen first! Jesus knows the divine plan for the salvation of the world, “First the Jew, then the Gentile.” First the blessing to Abraham and his descendants, then through them to the rest of the world. Jesus came to save the whole world! That is why he starts with Israel, recruiting and training those he will commission to spread the good news to the ends of the earth!

And this spunky, persistent, faith-filled woman agrees! “Yes! Yes, Lord! First, the children! So, I won’t ask for a seat at the table … not yet! I’ll just wait for a tiny crumb to fall from the table now already. That’s all I’ll need!” Her clever and faith-filled response is enough to make Jesus change his mind!

Martin Luther put it this way: “Behind Jesus’s ‘No,’ she heard God’s secret ‘Yes.’”

Jesus did not come to Tyre to do ministry, but he ends up doing it. Jesus did not plan to start ministering to Gentiles, not yet, but he ends up doing exactly that. Jesus has his plans in place, but he changes his mind. Or maybe we should say she changes his mind.

In fact, she does even more than that. She becomes the instrument through whom Jesus learns which “next step” he should take in doing his Father’s will.

Why should that surprise us? He is showing us how to be responsive to the needs of others – others whom God will often use to help us discover our own ministry calling. Jesus is showing us what our redeemed humanity ought to look like. At the same time, this is a portrait of what God is like, hearing the pleading cries of those in need, breaking through the barriers in a response of generous grace.

May we learn from Jesus what God is truly like, crafting a plan to save the world, working in time and space to bring that plan to its glorious fulfillment and pouring out grace on individuals all along the way. May we learn from Jesus what we are called to be, barrier crossers who minister God’s grace to others. And may we learn from the Syrophoenician woman what it takes to cross barriers, reaching out in courageous faith to connect with the heart of Jesus, the divine-human Jesus, who is the centre of our faith.

And may all that we do in these next four days together – listening, praying, singing, worshipping and celebrating the diversity of God’s family – give us glimpses of what Jesus is doing among us, and around the world that he came to save.

—Timothy J. Geddert is a professor of New Testament at Fresno Pacific University (Biblical Seminary) in Fresno, California, USA. He is a member of North Fresno Mennonite Brethren Church, California, USA.

Opening Ceremony & Worship: 5 July 2022

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This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

Following Jesus together across barriers

Mennonite World Conference (MWC) global Assemblies are the equivalent of a Sunday meeting at a local congregation.

Through the liturgy, we declare the sovereignty of Christ in our global church, challenging nationalism, racism and other false ideologies that claim our obedience and following.

Through teaching, workshops and preaching, we affirm our Anabaptist identity and facilitate character building in our churches by exposing them to different perspectives and biblical emphases shaped by the context of many different cultures.

In informal activities, we appreciate the importance of each individual and their community, share the gifts we have received and mutually enrich ourselves with the new relationships that arise.

Through moments of prayer, we support those facing persecution, violence, extreme poverty and natural disasters.

We discover that we are not alone, that we are a living organism and that we are part of the body of Christ.

These are just a few reasons why MWC Assemblies have been an essential part of our global community for decades. In 2022, we celebrated the second world Assembly in Asia and the 17th since the inception of MWC in 1925.

When we started planning Assembly 17, we never imagined the magnitude of barriers we would have to cross. Indonesia 2022 will go down in history as one of the most complex and challenging events we have ever developed. In addition to differences in culture, social class and theological perspectives, some barriers we had to overcome included the following:

• Finances: Moving the event from 2021 to 2022 due to the pandemic resulted in substantial financial costs.
• Health: A significant number of people had to quarantine – myself included – due to COVID-19 and other viruses. That prevented the full participation of many attendees.
• Technology: With this being the first officially hybrid Assembly, many activities were planned to facilitate online participation. However, technical failures hampered the live broadcast and prevented reception of simultaneous interpretation on site, despite many tests and the apparent certainty of the experts that the technology would not fail.

The leadership of the Assembly prepared for seven years to carry out a successful event. The evaluation that we develop after the Assembly and the participants’ experience will reveal the event’s success level. However, as a church, it is worth remembering that we are called to have fruitful events more than just successful events.

It is in the sense of fruit that we can appreciate the value of the Assembly in Indonesia.

Thanks to varied barriers, disciples of Christ from many nations learned to practice patience with one another. People from many different cultures mobilized to work in unity and seek the welfare of those sick and needed support. The love and concern for others, in many cases, were evident. Misunderstandings and unexpected conflicts led us to practice the ministry of reconciliation in our midst. We discover again the importance of vulnerability and the confession of faults committed. We understood how crucial it is to humbly ask for and receive forgiveness.

Consequently, the Assembly in 2022 deepened the intercultural relationship of many members of our churches and facilitated unity amid diversity. Admittedly, Assembly 17 may not have been the most successful in human parameters that measure the quality of events. Still, it has been one of the most fruitful to grow in our call to be a global communion in the Anabaptist tradition.

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

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This article first appeared in Courier / Correo / Courrier, October 2022

India

The missionaries from USA started Mennonite mission work in central India, presently Chhattisgarh state in November 1899. They began with philanthropic works, providing relief to the drought-stricken people. The first baptism of 43 new converts was in December 1900. At the beginning, membership grew very rapidly. In 1949, when the Mission Work Golden Jubilee was celebrated, baptized membership was 1 579.

During the years following, MCI was not growing numerically as was hoped. Early MCI Indian leaders made some attempts to start new churches in new areas. Overall, however, having been satisfied with maintaining the status quo, MCI did no self-evaluation.

Possibly God was not satisfied with this maintenance of the status quo, and thus emerged the Pentecostal movement.

The coming of Pentecostals in MCI conference area

Before the 1970s, I remember some Pentecostal preachers were invited to preach at special occasions by local churches and also by the MCI Conference. They were mostly such preachers who could stir people emotionally.

In early 70s, Pentecostal presence was felt more in some urban Mennonite churches where membership was mixed from other denominations. In the main Mennonite church, Pentecostal worship services started in a private house in the mid-70s. Especially, the Mennonite youth who were not in the forefront of MCI activities started meeting for worship and fellowship in private houses. Non-Christians also started attending those Pentecostal house meetings.

The meetings were marked for their lively and emotionally charged singing and praying. Slowly the movement picked up momentum. New birth, immersion baptism, tithing and speaking in tongues were emphasized. People were encouraged to shout “Alleluia”, “Amen” and “Praise the Lord” during preaching. In worship services people were encouraged to share what the Lord had done in their lives during the previous week. At times, simple foods were freely served after worship services.

During weekdays, Pentecostal pastors regularly made house visitations, even in Mennonite houses. Praying for sick was boldly done. The pastors sought every opportunity to make their presence noted, like at funerals. They would often befriend well-off MCI members who were not very active in MCI churches. Slowly, Pentecostal house churches increased in numbers. They rapidly spread to more and more cities and villages and grew in numbers. The enthusiastic lay leaders were encouraged to attend Pentecostal Bible schools, and after completions they would be given congregations to serve.

It seems, there was not much institutionalized system. The pastors were the decision makers in all matters and free in running the local congregations.

MCI churches and Pentecostal presence

At first, though the church leaders invited distant Pentecostal preachers for preaching, the local Pentecostals were discouraged. Mennonite members who had joined Pentecostal movement were forced to leave Mennonite churches. But the persistent presence and increasing number of Pentecostals have changed the MCI thinking tacitly. Also many of MCI members married Pentecostal-background wives who have become active in the MCI churches.

Now the presence of Pentecostal churches and leaders are acknowledged and accepted. There is no more open rivalry between the two. In fact, the MCI has accepted changes in its own worship patterns. There is more singing in worship and people are invited to share what the Lord has been doing in their lives during the past week.

The Pentecostal pastors are accepted with due respect. Mennonite pastors are encouraged to pray for the non-Christians attending worship services afterwards. Prayer requests asked by the non-Christian are included in the pastoral prayers, and they are also allowed to share their testimonies in Sunday worship services.

This has encouraged unaffiliated village Pentecostal groups to seek MCI leadership. MCI on its part establishes those groups first as prayer centres and supporting the leaders there, and then, with certain conditions met, recognizes them as fullfledged MCI unit churches.

Some other attempts are also being made in MCI to rejuvenate members for evangelistic ministry.

Suggestions for relations with Pentecostals

1. Since this Pentecostal movement is a global phenomenon, we should accept it as God’s doing. We will do right to accept Jewish law teacher Professor Gamaliel’s advice mentioned in Acts 5:33-39.

2. We need to do self-evaluation, why God has raised the Pentecostalism in spite of the presence of the established churches. It is like the early 16th-century rise of the Anabaptist/Mennonite movement.

3. We should be able to rejoice in what God has been doing, bringing more and more people to Jesus Christ’s fold through the ministries of the Pentecostals.

4. The established churches should find ways to develop working relationships with the Pentecostals and other churches.

5. We should accept inadequacy of any one church denomination, including of MCI denomination, in not being alone able to proclaim the “manifold wisdom of God” (Ephesians 3:9-11). We need unity of spirit with and co-operations of churches for this calling.

— Shantkumar Kunjam is bishop of Mennonite Church in India Conference, and lives in Rajnandgaon, Chhatisgarh, India.

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This article first appeared in Courier / Correo / Courrier, April 2022

Canada

It was 20 years ago when my husband and I were mourning the messy demise of our church, which had destabilized during the renewalism of the 1990s.

I felt both cynical and yet wistful, regarding the charismatic. In search of sanity, stability and solid teaching, a nearby Mennonite Brethren church caught our attention. Could this be home?

Inwardly, I winced. I did not want to give up the adventurous rush of the prophetic, the ecstatic peaks of worship, the intensely personal encounters in prayer ministry. The fun.

Some of my peers made their way to the nearest Pentecostal church, only to complain about the lack of sound teaching. Others went mainstream evangelical, only to complain about the lack of Spirit-infused life. Were we doomed to join some secretly seething remnant of disgruntled spiritual elitists who did nothing but complain in whatever church they found themselves?

We prayed, we took a deep breath, we went MB.

It was not what I expected.

Charismatic Anabaptists

That first Sunday I saw hands raised in worship, elders offering prayer and a strong community focus that challenged my self-absorption. The pastor had also just returned from a YWAM experience with a desire to see the Holy Spirit move in his church. Closet Pentecostal? Nope. Mennonite Brethren.

The Mennonite Brethren church was birthed 155 years ago, offspring of an unlikely marriage between a staunch Mennonite ‘mother’ and a more charismatic ‘father’ (a hybrid of German Baptist and passionate Lutheran Pietism); their union produced an unwieldy lovechild prone to literal jumping for joy.

Early Brethren were an evangelistic force to be reckoned with, focused upon an intensely personal experience of God.

‘Menno Mom’ was a little taken aback. She waited to see what would happen; when sensuality and sin emerged, she clamped down on excess emotionalism with a heavy hand. Since then, her jumping child has been significantly more restrained.

But in Canada, some MB toes are twitching. What gives?

Spirit-filled diversity

It was only in the late 19th century that Canada actively encouraged immigration from outside the sphere of white, Englishspeaking Europeans. A post-WWII economic boom then led to broadening the palette of acceptable immigrant hue to include Asians, Sub-Saharan Africans, and South Americans. The Canadian MB church – having sent missionaries abroad for years – began to engage the diaspora on their doorstep, resulting in ethnic ministries within churches and the planting of ethnospecific churches.

Metaphorically, the ecclesial potluck had theological dim sum, papadum, and tortilla added to the farmer sausage and platz.

Despite long-held misgivings regarding traditional Pentecostalism, atrophied MB “jumping” muscles flexed under the subtle but increasing influence of those from the Global South, where Pentecostalism is a dominant expression of Protestant Christianity. Today, that charismatic influence is like a sparking flint in search of well-laid logs, and within the wistfully warm but solidly constructed MB hearth lie embers of the fire that once birthed us.

Some churches ignite, some – like ours – do a slow burn.

Twenty years have passed since our first MB Sunday. Recently, the current lead pastor confessed his longing for renewal. He identified the missing element in his life – already rich in prayer, the Word, and community – as risk. In fall of 2021, he launched a sermon series on the gift of the Holy Spirit, catalyzing us toward charismatic expressions that would honour MB theology and values.

What does that look like?

Imagine: dynamic contemporary worship with carefully chosen lyrics that express ancient truths; subjective spiritual insights discerned through a community hermeneutic; diverse stances on theological non-essentials meeting with neither hostility nor avoidance; radical social justice initiatives championed by radical peacemakers; the Word preached boldly but with humble acknowledgement of Scriptural ambiguities; prayer that is audacious yet eschews transactional agendas; spiritual gifts caught and taught through intentional training, and space for personal encounters with God through prayer ministry.

When the brightest and best of global Pentecostalism merges with brightest and best of MB heritage, hopes should soar. What better context in which to become a people who will not only engage in renewal, but pastor it well?

—Nikki White is a writer with MULTIPLY (the international Mennonite Brethren sending agency), and author of Identity in Exodus. She attends North Langley Community Church in B.C., Canada, where she oversees curriculum development and training for prayer ministry.

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This article first appeared in Courier / Correo / Courrier, April 2022

Zimbabwe

Pentecostalism has become the most rapidly growing expression of Christianity in the world today. Anabaptists in the African context are not foreigners to this reality. The desire to break free from missionary control, or better put ‘a quest for spiritual liberty’, has seen an impetus in the Pentecostal expression within Anabaptist domains.

In Southern African over the last 20 years, the spiritual climate is more inclined toward Pentecostalism and away from Anabaptist and other traditional/mainline churches. Much of the character, thought and practice of the African church is being patterned against or mimics that of Pentecostal movements. Traditional churches are struggling to compete for numbers with Pentecostal churches whose spiritual fervency connects with African traditional religion.

How does this affect the Anabaptist churches in Africa?

Anabaptists need to embrace the growth of Pentecostalism within the African context. It is not something that Anabaptist churches can do away with because it is here to stay.

Over time, the highest expression of spirituality in African churches has been idealized as Pentecostal spirituality. The key being its fervency. Many African Christians see the traditional churches, with style of faith, worship and practice taught by the missionaries as lacking spiritual fervency. Now, African believers seek a passionate expression of faith and spirituality, and Pentecostalism is offering that.

Offering that fervency, the Anabaptist church is seeing believers either leaving their congregation or infiltrating it within practices from Pentecostalism. The dramatic sermons, the fervent prayers, the singing, the dancing, the casting out of demons, the calling out to the Holy Spirit, the infilling moments, and all other Pentecostal expressions are more appealing to many African believers today, than are the sombre and subtle expressions of worship commonly seen within the Anabaptist churches. These characteristics connect well with the average African, making Pentecostalism seem more African than foreign.

The opportunity that Pentecostalism seems to offer is a truly African expression of faith in the Triune God. Unlike African Traditional Churches, Pentecostalism has firm belief in most fundamental truths that conservative Christians adhere to, but is at times guilty in application. The opportunity for the Anabaptist church is to relate these Scriptural and theological truths into more meaningful expressions that are relevant to African believers.

But, the downside of this Pentecostal movement is the creation of splinter church movements. The African climate is saturated with Pentecostal movements that have translated into so many charismatic movements from which even other Pentecostal churches are divorcing themselves. These splinter-churches have become a threat to the stability of Christianity within the Southern African region. Opponents to the Christian faith with our region are blaming Pentecostalism of creating counterfeit pastors, prophets, Man-of-God and the prosperity gospel.

It is critical for dialogue to exist between Pentecostalism and Anabaptism. The key is to identify points of confluence and points of divergence. To develop a more effective and fervent Christian context, dialogue must exist between camps. Pentecostalism must be strengthened with the fundamentals of Christian doctrine, thought and practice, rather than just feeling, expression and experience.

Ecumenical relations are now initiating dialogue, seminars, trainings and workshops on best ways to communicate an African Christian expression that is not contrary to biblical teaching. Churches are now coming together to critique certain splinter movements that seek to convey a Biblical message of Christian expression that is not in line with Christian doctrine, thought and practice. Leaders and teachers are collaborating from both Pentecostal and missionary churches to produce and publish articles and literature that will educate the Christian masses on the proper Christian values and practice. Television and radio dialogues are broadcast with pastors, leaders and teachers from various church backgrounds to debate true Christian teachings.

Anabaptists now need to realize the need for dialogue with Pentecostal movements. In our African context, the desire is to experience a truly African Christian Spirituality. Yet, Anabaptist teaching on properly and effectively handling biblical texts is also crucial. If we are not communicating the most effective African Spirituality that embraces the best from both Anabaptism and Pentecostalism, then African believers will be swayed by misconstrued spiritual expressions.

—Mfakazi Ndlovu has a Bachelor of Arts in Theology, a Postgraduate Diploma in corporate governance, and a Master of Business Administration. He served as lecturer and academic dean at Ekuphileni Bible Institute, a Brethren In Christ Church (BICC) Bible college in Zimbabwe, as adjunct lecturer with the Theological College of Zimbabwe, and has served BICC Zimbabwe as an administrative clerk.

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This article first appeared in Courier / Correo / Courrier, April 2022

Brazil

For many Brazilian evangelicals, Pentecost is not a one-time event of the past. There is a clear awareness of the Spirit in daily life. About 70 percent of evangelical churches in Brazil are Pentecostal and the others are influenced by the Pentecostal movement.

Factors that influence our view of Pentecost

We don’t have a tradition of critical thinking in Brazil. We live with the expectation that God will change my life through a wonderful work of the Holy Spirit, as evidenced through the first outpouring at Pentecost.

Another factor that influences us is Spiritism. With influences from the practices of Umbanda, when supernatural manifestation occurs, Brazilians tend to accept what is going on without questioning or discerning if we are dealing with the Holy Spirit or other spirits.

When we hear reports of supernatural manifestations in a church, we want to see it with our own eyes to experience what God is doing today. We often read without historical awareness. In Acts 2, we skip past the wind and the proclamation aspect: the “real thing” is tongues – proof that God is at work and that we are his special people. If it happened in those days, it could and should happen again to us today (Mark 16:17–18).

This perception is so strong that those who are not of the Pentecostal camp feel they are missing something. Often, as some ask themselves why these supernatural manifestations do not occur to them or in their church today, they blame themselves for not being open for the Spirit. Others become defensive, asking if the manifestations (tongues, healing, prophecy) really change the lives of those who claim to have these gifts.

Seeking the Holy Spirit

However, neither response helps us to understand what Luke was trying to tell us.Our reading then becomes not a search for the meaning in the text, but a meaning “for me.”

When we talk about the Holy Spirit, we are often not really concerned with the Holy Spirit, but what the Spirit can give us: power.

The same worldview dominates our reading of the Gospels. There is no concern with the crucial question the Gospel writers try to get across: “Who in the world is this Jesus?” Our reading is: “What can this Jesus do for me?”

What scares us is that this question already appears in the Gospels when Jewish leaders wanted Jesus to perform a miracle before them (Matthew 12:39), or Herod, when he wished to be entertained with a miracle (Luke 23:8–9). The answer Jesus gave the Jewish leaders was the sign of Jonah, and to Herod, Jesus did not speak a word.

In our pragmatic search for the power of the Spirit, we look for personal benefits from the Spirit instead of authentic worship. In this sense, we need to hear the words of A.W. Tozer: “Whoever seeks God as a means toward desired ends will not find God.” This raises an intimidating question: If these people don’t find God, whom or what are they finding?

The work of the Spirit as transformation

Nevertheless, God’s grace is beyond our shortcomings. Even though we all read the Bible with our presuppositions, God reaches out and changes lives. Those who are open to the work of the Spirit, through the Word, personal conversations, daily situations, even supernatural manifestations, and try to discern what God is doing are being transformed. Often, we would hope this growing in faith would be much faster, however the maturing process is slow.

We are not easily changed from our view that God is at our disposal to satisfy our needs. We must learn what the Bible teaches about the Christian life, accompanied by people who model this lifestyle. We don’t need heroes; we need everyday Christians who defy the success models and have Jesus as their model.

I rejoice at the fact that as my fellow Brazilians – both Pentecostals and Mennonites – open themselves to the work of the Spirit in their lives, they are convinced of their sins (John 16:8) and guided by the Spirit to all truth (John 16:13).

We know that the work of the Spirit is far from finished in our own lives and pray that the transformation process may go on till “we become in every way like Christ” (Ephesians 4:15, New Living Translation). This might take more than a generation. We are called to model our lives according to Jesus and influence those around us. Only God can change the world.

—Arthur Duck is on faculty at Faculdade Fidelis, a Mennonite Brethren-affiliated Bible school in Curitiba, Brazil. A version of this article appeared in the MB Herald, 1 June 2011.

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This article first appeared in Courier / Correo / Courrier, April 2022