Prayers of gratitude and intercession

Bogotá, Colombia – Mennonite and Brethren health care leaders from around the world are developing a network to foster collaboration and support among related organizations. The leaders of the emerging Global Anabaptist Health Network (GAHN), a Mennonite World Conference (MWC) supported group, are issuing a survey and a global call. GAHN invites Anabaptist health organization leaders and individual health professionals from Mennonite World Conference churches to participate.

Building on the foundations of a 2003 meeting in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, more than 90 health care leaders from 18 countries met 19–20 July 2015, preceding PA 2015, to worship, learn from each other and think creatively about how Anabaptist-related health care organizations and those working in this field might cooperate. This group drafted a document calling for development of a Global Anabaptist Health Network.

“It is essential that GAHN be built upon the capacities, expectations, values and consensus of its future members,” says GAHN coordinator and former associate general secretary Pakisa Tshimika.

The task force formed at that meeting invites Anabaptist health care professionals to complete a survey (see link below) to help them gauge interest, identify priorities and expand the web of partners as they work to develop the vision, mission, structure and membership of this emerging network.

“MWC is looking forward to the emergence of this new network,” says MWC general secretary César García. “We celebrate every effort that encourages cross-cultural interdependency and the sharing of gifts in our global family of faith. Service is easier and stronger when we do it together.”

For Tshimika, the network is the fulfilment of a decades-long dream for “a space where Anabaptist health professionals and institutions from around the globe could meet to share and exchange on subjects of common interest.” Click here to participate in the survey.

—Mennonite World Conference release, with files from Larry Guengerich

Global Anabaptist Health Network envisioned by summit participants

Harrisburg Pennsylvania, USA – More than 90 health care leaders from 18 countries met 19–20 July 2015, preceding PA 2015. They gathered to worship, learn from each other and think creatively about how Anabaptist-related health care organizations and those working in this field might cooperate more fully in the future.

A major focus was consideration of a draft document calling for development of a Global Anabaptist Health Network. The draft was crafted by a group with strong support from Mennonite World Conference through César Garcia and others.

Rick Stiffney, a contributor to the document, led consideration of the draft. Stiffney is president and CEO of MHS Alliance, a not-for-profit organization that supports Mennonite and other Anabaptist faith-grounded health and human service providers in their leadership and strategic direction.

Pakisa Tshimika, former associate general secretary of Mennonite World Conference and founder of the Mama Makeka House of Hope, has long championed this idea.

“For many decades, I dreamed of a space where Anabaptist health professionals and institutions from around the globe could meet to share and exchange on subjects of common interest,” he says.

“Clearly, there is interest among us to lean into some new kinds of connections,” says Stiffney. Participants share a commitment to engaging in health ministries in a way that is shaped by an Anabaptist Christian perspective.”

A coordinating group representing the breadth of Mennonite World Conference will advance the summit’s ideas over the next three years, says Stiffney. They will develop a database, facilitate peer-peer exchanges and lay groundwork for a second leadership summit.

Tshimika hopes this is the first step on a journey toward a space where the North, South, East, and West will meet on a regular basis.

Summit moderator Karen Baillie, CEO of Menno Place, a community of care in Abbotsford, B.C., Canada, says the summit reaffirmed the mission to serve as Anabaptists who value loving our neighbours, peace and justice. “Our decision to commit to each other and create a global network reinforces our vision of community and allows us to serve others better,” she says.

“We have long ways to go,” says Tshimika. Yet, Tshimika is excited about what the future holds for the emerging Global Anabaptist Health Network.

Larry Guengerich lives in East Petersburg, Pennsylvania, USA and serves as director of Communications and Church Relations for Landis Communities.