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Making Decisions by Consensus Guidelines
Strengths of Consensus (“becoming of one mind”) Decision-Making Consensus, a way of making decisions without voting, can enhance the participation of all members in General Council meetings, provide a collaborative and harmonious context for making decisions, and enable representatives to discern together the will of God (Eph. 5:17) for the church and for MWC. Steps…
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Koinonia – The Gift We Hold Together
A teaching resource from the Faith and Life Commission The word koinonia has rightly become a central term and concept for Mennonite World Conference. In addresses, publications and programmatic efforts, leaders have been nudging the global Anabaptist community to a deeper relationship with each other. Even when we don’t use the word koinonia itself, much…
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Making peace a way of life
During the past two years, MWC asked member conferences for accounts of experiences in peacemaking. MWC’s Peace Council considered these stories during two days of meeting in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in August 2003. The following summary was developed out of that discussion. 1. Continuum of peacemaking activities: All Christians are called to be peacemakers, but this…
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Identity and Ecumenicity: A Theology of Interchurch Hospitality and Denominational Identity
A teaching resource from the Faith & Life commission Mennonite World Conference embarked on the first formal dialogue process with the Baptist World Alliance in 1989. Since then, MWC has entered into conversations with Lutheran World Federation, Seventh Day Adventists, Catholics, and, most recently, a five-year trilateral dialogue with Lutherans and Catholics. Seeing the value…
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How have we dealt with conflict in the past?
Presented to the General Council of Mennonite World Conference Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA, July 2015By Alfred Neufeldof Paraguay
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History of MWC
The Anabaptist movement dates its formal beginnings to 21 January 1525, when a group of young people gathered in a home close to the Grossmnster cathedral in Zurich, Switzerland, to commit adult baptism, a subversive act at the time.
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Growing in faithfulness: Living out our baptism
Guide for study and reflection on Baptism and Incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church: The Report of the Trilateral Conversations between Lutherans, Mennonites and Catholics 2012-2017 by Thomas R Yoder Neufeld, on behalf of the Faith and Life Commission This study guide is an aid for member churches of the Mennonite World Conference to receive and process…
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God calls us to Christian unity
Biblical Foundations Our Situation Cooperative Efforts Present and Future Relationships Prayer for Renewal “Renew your church, O Lord, and make us instruments of your peace! “ Date Adopted: 22 July 1998Adopted By: MWC Executive Committee and MC-GC Interchurch Relations CommitteeLocation Adopted: Goshen, Indiana, USA
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General Council presentation on Communion and Leadership
Part 1: MWC & Communion Mennonite World Conference is called to be a communion (Koinonia) of Anabaptist-related churches linked to one another in a worldwide community of faith for fellowship, worship, service, and witness. Let’s keep in mind that, according to Paul, God’s unity plan is immeasurably bigger than the plan we might have in…
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Gathered into one
As presented to the Mennonite World Conference General Council, Limuru, Kenya, 24 April 2018 Part I “All things gathered in Christ” Part II “Unity of the Spirit – the creation of body and temple” Part III “Maintaining the Unity of the Spirit – when walking together is hard” At time of writing, Thomas R Yoder…
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Declaration of Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples – I
Indonesia 2022: workshop This three-part series explores the document that the Mennonite World Conference General Council approved in Kenya 2018. Presenters: Andrew Suderman is MWC Peace Commission secretary and a member of St. Jacob’s Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church Canada) and of Shalom Mennonite Congregation (Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA). Joji Pantoja is MWC Peace Commission chair, a…
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Declaration on Conscientious Objection
In the world today there are still some countries that have mandatory military conscription, and there is a wide variety of policies toward conscientious objectors. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 18) states that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In addition to the Christian foundation for exemption from military…
