Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday Scripture passages read in English, Bodo, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Portuguese and Spanish with subtitles in English, Spanish and French
Worship is a time when church members come together to pray, sing, read Scripture, share with each other, and give praise to God. It can be a time of fellowship, restoration, comfort, celebration, or a call for renewed action. Believers can worship in a church building, in a home, or in a boat – worship can happen anywhere!
“Worship” from Let the Children Come to Me: Nurturing Anabaptist Faith within Families by Lisa Weaver and Elizabeth Miller; Design by Judith Rempel Smucker. Cascadia Publishing House (2019). Used with permission.
Mennonite World Conference (MWC) gathers and equips member churches and local congregations to be the body of Christ together.
Here are some blessings leaders and congregations receive through MWC:
1. A mosaic of a growing church: As we meet international Anabaptist sisters and brothers from other traditions and locations, we are inspired by their maturity and energy, and reminded of the scope and strength of God’s kingdom. We see the fruit of those who plant seeds of the gospel far from home Ð in the past and today. Revelation 7:9Ð10.
Read Courier magazine for perspectives and teaching on how faithful expressions of Anabaptist Christian discipleship (baptism, ordination, membership, relationship to the state, etc.) are carried out differently in local contexts. mwc-cmm.org/courier
Be encouraged that Anabaptist churches are thriving around the world.
2. Sharing gifts in the global family of faith: Every church has gifts to share, and every church has gifts to receive, whether biblical perspectives, faith experiences, witness, music, practical skills or money. MWC provides a structure for a post-colonial global community of faith where Western and Southern churches are brother and sisters in the faith with relational and financial resources to share. Hebrews 10:24Ð25.
Develop a mutual support relationship with a congregation in another country.
Share in the financial support of MWC on an equitable basis with other congregations around the world. It gives us perspective on congregational budget decisions.
Read Sharing Gifts in the Global Family of Faith to learn how to receive as well as how to give.
3. MWC Prayer Network (six times a year): Stories/news from other Anabaptists around the world help us remember that our struggles and successes are not unique. MWC members who are struggling with issues of faith and life, ministering to congregations under persecution and serving alongside different groups gives us a larger picture of the kingdom of God. Through prayer, we share each other’s burdens and encourage each other. Colossians 1:9Ð11.
4. Global relationships: Churches in the Global South understand their need to cultivate relationship with other parts of the body of Christ. We are enriched by the diversity of gifts from local congregations around the world. 1 Corinthians 12:20Ð23.
Use MWC’s resources (like the Peace Sunday package).
Meet us in conversations on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or comment on stories at mwc-cmm.org.
Take advantage of opportunities to meet MWC leaders on local visits.
Subscribe to the monthly e-newsletter Info to receive news and testimonies from the global family. mwc-cmm.org/signup
5. Dialogue with other global Christian groups: Through interactions with Christians from other traditions, we better understand our own identity as Anabaptist Christians. Through MWC, we participate in international interchurch conversations with Lutherans, Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists and other global communions. Ephesians 2:14Ð16.
Take inspiration and lessons from these high-level conversations to engage with other Christian congregations in your local communities.
6. Learning opportunities for youth/young adults: Young adults have opportunity to learn and grow skills for church and vocation in cross-cultural settings through the Young Anabaptists (YABs) network, Global Youth Summits and YAMEN! (international exchange program). 1 Timothy 4:12.
Participate in a cultural exchange program for a year or to attend a Summit.
Join with the YABs network to develop relationships with young people across cultures.
7. Worshipping with the global church: MWC provides opportunities to worship collectively in person or in spirit. 1 Chronicles 16:23Ð25.
Participate in a life-transforming experience of fellowship, worship, service and learning at a global Assembly, held on a different continent every six years.
Participate in Renewal 2027 when a worship event comes to your local area and read testimonies of Anabaptist leaders of the past and present.
Affirm the MWC Shared Convictions by using these liturgical readings in your worship serviceand displaying the Shared Convictions poster,available in English, Spanish, French, German, Korean, Japanese, Chinese
On a table at the front, place five candles of different colours for each continent on top of a map of the world (or beside a globe) along with a white candle as the Christ candle in the middle.
At the start of the worship service, name each continent as its candle is lit, acknowledging brothers and sisters in each continent.
Light the Christ candle last (or first) as the source of light for the church everywhere.
Call to worship
Use this call to worship based on Psalm 133 near the start of the service.
Though we may be inclined to brag, let us come together with humility. How good a thing it is when all of God’s people live together in unity.
Though we may be tempted to use harsh words, let us come together with gentleness. How good a thing it is when all of God’s people live together in unity.
Though we may want everything to happen quickly, let us come together with patience. How good a thing it is when all of God’s people live together in unity.
Though the world around often encourages hate, let us come together in love. How good a thing it is when all of God’s people live together in unity.
In humility, gentleness, patience, love, and unity, Let us worship the God who has called us together.
—written by Reverend Joanna Harader, a Mennonite pastor in Kansas, USA
Commission
Use this commission & benediction based on 1 John 4:7-21 at the end of the service.
Go now, to love the world and all who inhabit it, because love is from God.
Proclaim God’s salvation to every people.
Remain in Jesus Christ, and like plants in a garden, draw your life from God.
And may God, the Creator, tend you and make you flourish;
May Christ Jesus abide in you and give you life;
And may the Holy Spirit cast out all fear and fill you with God’s love.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
…In the name of Christ. Amen.
—written by Reverend Gerald Hildebrand, a Mennonite pastor in Manitoba, Canada
Benediction
Use this call and response from Africa as a benediction at the end of the service.
Our sense of smell is one of the most interesting senses we have. Smell can bring pleasant memories of a meal you loved as a child, and unpleasant odours can elicit disgust.
Church unity is like your sense of smell: it fills you with hope and strength when you experience it, or it makes you want to disengage and run away when poorly managed conflicts make it evaporate.
This is what Psalm 133 is all about.
Literary context
Psalm 133 is part of a group of 15 psalms referred to as“songs of ascents”.
The first psalm in the collection, Psalm 120, expresses the pain of discord and hostility while Psalm 133, at the end of the collection, responds to the question asked in Psalm 120: How can we speak about peace in the midst of a society that chooses war?
Historical context
It’s possible that the pilgrims who had lived through the exile used the songs of ascent when they would go to Jerusalem to celebrate a major festival. These are brief psalms that, when sung, reinforce beliefs and fundamental values that remind us of oppressive contexts and suffering like that of the Israelites in exile.
A study of the passage
The visible reality of unity
Even though some versions do not translate the first word following the title, hinneh, or “look”, is very significant. The invitation in the text to “look” indicates that the unity of God’s people is not merely something spiritual or something we only enjoy after death. The unity of God’s people is a tangible reality that can be seen and experienced in the here and now.
In the second century, Tertullian said, “Look how they love one another”.
The drawing reality of unity
Unity is a blessing that brings more blessings; it is a lengthy and abundant life; it is the aroma that spreads; it is the dew that soaks.
Just as a pleasant smell draws people, the unity of God’s people is something that everyone longs to experience and becomes irresistible when it is found. It is like when you are very hungry and pass by a restaurant that emits the aroma of your favourite dish.
In the same way, when you find unity in the middle of a sea of discord and conflict, you don’t want to let go of it.
The received reality of unity
The passage speaks of oil and dew that descend. The oil flows to the collar of the priest’s vestments where the precious stones on his chest symbolize the tribes of Israel. The dew brings coolness and fertility from Mount Hermon to Mount Zion.
This is what characterises the unity of the Israelites: It’s given by God and received by God’s people.
True unity is not built or reached through human agreements about doctrine and practice; it is a gift from God.
Application
Psalm 133 describes the reality of unity without explaining how to receive it in practice. Colossians 3:14 affirms that love makes unity possible. 1 John 4:7-21 explains that love is the only evidence that we know God. Divisions in the body of Christ are like a stench that repels others.
Meanwhile, church unity attracts others through the evidence of a supernatural love that unites disciples in harmony despite their differences.
We pray that the next 500 years in the history of the Anabaptist movement are marked with the love, reconciliation, and the gift of unity that draws those who are weary of a destructive world full of division, nationalism, political polarization and interminable wars.
—César García is general secretary of Mennonite World Conference. Originally from Colombia, he lives in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, with his wife Sandra Baez.
September 2023
To: All Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Anabaptist-related churches in the world
Dear brothers and sisters,
It is with great joy that we share the materials for Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday (AWFS) with all of you. MWC creates worship resource materials three times a year for member churches: Peace Sunday (17 September 2023), YABs (Young AnaBaptists) Fellowship Week (3rd week of June) and for Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday (21 January 2024).
Each year for AWFS, we encourage Anabaptist-related churches across the globe to use a common theme in a worship service to connect with our global Anabaptist family. Many churches choose to celebrate on the Sunday closest to 21 January, although some choose Pentecost Sunday or other alternate dates. On 21 January 1525, the first Anabaptist baptism took place in Zurich, Switzerland.
AWFS is an opportunity to remind our communities of faith that we are all part of one body made up of many tribes, languages and nations (Revelation 7:9).
It is proclamation that there is no discrimination among us on any basis (Galatians 3:28).
It is a demonstration that we are following Jesus as new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17) who mutually support one another, walk with those who suffer, serve the world and interdependently learn together.
On this day, we celebrate that by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ has overcome the cultural and national boundaries that separate us.
AWFS makes it possible for every local congregation to join in shared worship, in spirit, in their own time, own place and in their own way.
Each year, a different part of our global communion assembles worship resources for AWFS. The theme for AWFS 2024 is ÒMosaic: becoming a part of God’s bigger pictureÓ, with the worship resources coming from our Latin American sisters and brothers.
The materials contain biblical texts, prayers, song suggestions, sermon ideas, stories and videos and a special poster.
Worship leaders and pastors can select a little or a lot to celebrate AWFS in whatever way they desire. We hope all local congregations will acknowledge belonging to this global faith family in some form in January 2024.
Please note that MWC has a Speakers’ Bureau where you can invite MWC leaders to share virtually in local congregations.
At MWC, we welcome your comments, photos and reflections about AWFS to share with other members of our global faith family.
Send photos and stories via email to photos@mwc-cmm.org.
Offerings received on this day and shared with MWC contribute toward each member church’s Fair Share contributions and help our global community to continue as a foreshadowing of the kingdom of God in the midst of our society.
Grace and peace,
César García, General Secretary Arli Klassen, Regional Representatives Coordinator
Mennonite World Conference has many members, each one different from the others, and yet together the members create a beautiful picture of the body of Christ.
