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Ministry partner update: ICOMB – June 2019
The International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB) is made up of 21 national churches in 19 countries with approximately 450,000 members. ICOMB exists to facilitate relationships and ministries to enhance the witness and discipleship of its member national churches – connecting, strengthening and expanding. ICOMB is gathering at the Matthew Training Center outside of Guadalajara,…
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Mennonite and Reformed reconciliation in a global perspective
“Reformed and Anabaptist are branches from the same tree,” said Hanspeter Jecker, a Mennonite theologian from Switzerland. “Anabaptist convictions that once were controversial – such as the voluntary nature of church membership and rejection of capital punishment – are now accepted by many Christian groups. Centuries of opposition have turned to reconciliation.” Five centuries after…
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Nurturing peace in children
In this issue, we have examples of how members of the Anabaptist Mennonite family are making a place for children in their local churches around the world. The Peace, Integrity and Lifeskills Clubs (PILLS) are values education-based clubs for the Brethren in Christ Church that help learners in 13 pilot junior and high schools with…
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Salt and light: Young Anabaptists pray
How can we be salt and light in the world? Young Anabaptists are exploring this question together through the YABs Fellowship Week worship resources. Pray with young people about the Anabaptist church around the world: Kenya (Wycliff Ochieng): Remember us in prayers: Currently, we are experiencing drought in some parts of the country and people…
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A transformed spirit of answered prayer
At Renewal 2027 – The Holy Spirit Transforming Us in Kisumu, Kenya, 21 April 2018,several people shared a testimony of experiencing the Spirit’s work changing people in the church. The columns in this section have been adapted from their presentations. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and…
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World Fellowship Sunday: a communion of 500 years
Every year on the Sunday closest to 21 January, Mennonite World Conference invites its 107 member churches to join in a celebration of World Fellowship Sunday. The worship themes vary from year to year, but the rationale for the timing of the event has remained constant – on 21 January 1525, a small group of…
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Learning global Anabaptist faith through MWC’s Shared Convictions
A quiz on global Christianity and Anabaptism (including MWC statistics) prepared participants from Nihon Menonaito Kirisuto Kyokai Kyogikai (Japan Mennonite Christian Church Conference) for a discussion of the Shared Convictions of Global Anabaptists. For the annual Peace Missions Centre seminar 15–16 July 2018 at Fukuzumi Mennonite Center in Sapporo, Japan, the group from Japan Mennonite…
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10 principles of leadership transition
The Bible tells stories of leadership transition: Moses walked with Joshua and prepared him to lead the Israelites; stories in the books of Kings tell of less wise approaches to the end of ministry. Healthy leadership transition is as necessary today as ever. There are several necessary elements: the call of God and a willingness…
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YABs Fellowship Week 2018
This year, we will celebrate our third annual YABs Fellowship Week June 17–24, 2018. The theme is “Called to be Free,” centred on Galatians 5:13–15. We encourage each everyone to choose and adapt these materials in a way that will be useful to your context, translate them where necessary, share and distribute them to all…
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Joy in the Spirit
Songs, testimonies and biblical reflection celebrate the Holy Spirit at Renewal 2027 As a local band played “You are the most high God,” international guests from the global Anabaptist family swayed and sang at this year’s Renewal 2027 “The Holy Spirit transforming us” event at Nyamasaria Primary School’s auditorium in Kisumu, Kenya, and headquarters of…
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Ministry partner update: IBICA – November 2017
The International Brethren in Christ Association (IBICA) is the common network for all national conferences of the Brethren in Christ church with the aim to facilitate communication, build trust and cooperation within our global community, and to establish common and mutual understanding through our set of core values. An associate member of MWC, IBICA has some…
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Still transforming
A rediscovery of Scripture was both a root and a fruit of the Reformation, the movement out of which Anabaptism grew. Not that the Bible had been lost, but it was not accessible to the average person. Nor did many people who understood themselves to be Christian have the conviction that the Bible has something…
