Prayers of gratitude and intercession

  • Sang-Min Lee freed after 15 months in jail for refusing mandatory military conscription

    Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA – Sang-Min Lee, a South Korean Mennonite conscientious objector (CO) has been released from prison. Lee was sentenced to 18 months in prison for refusing, on the basis of his faith, to complete the government’s mandatory military service.

    According to a report from Kyong-Jung Kim, Lee was freed on 30 July 2015, after serving only 15 months of his sentence. Kim is Mennonite World Conference Northeast Asia representative and director of the Korea Anabaptist Center, a ministry of the Anabaptist churches of South Korea.

    “It was the power of our prayers that enabled Sang-Min to endure the hardship of his prison life,” said Kim in an email correspondence announcing Lee’s release.

    Kim explained that Lee was released three months early because of his service work while in prison. “He worked as a barber,” Kim said. “He was relatively well treated by others because of his work but, more importantly, he was in our prayers all the time.”

    Robert (Jack) Suderman, secretary of the MWC Peace Commission, expressed gratitude for Lee’s faithful witness in the midst of a difficult situation. “His story was an inspiration at the MWC Assembly in Pennsylvania this year,” Suderman said.

    Global Youth Summit participants were particularly inspired and reportedly filled a book of encouragement notes for Lee.

    Kim notes that although Lee is no longer imprisoned, his refusal to accept the South Korean government’s military service will have lingering consequences. Lee now has a criminal record, which will prevent him from finding employment at many businesses and in government-related offices.

    In addition, he faces the challenge of rejection by those who do not support conscientious objection, which includes many Korean Christians, who do not see military service as incompatible with their faith.

    Because of its strictly enforced mandatory military service with no option for alternate service for COs, South Korea has the highest CO imprisonment rate in the world. In 2013, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council reported that 92.5 percent of the world’s imprisoned COs are in South Korea.

    Most South Korean COs are Jehovah’s Witnesses; Lee is the first Mennonite CO in the country.

    “Please continue to remember the rest of COs who are in prison,” urged Kim, “and pray for the Korean churches’ active participation in non-violence and the peace movement.”

    – Devin Manzullo-Thomas

  • Bogotá, Colombia – Mennonite World Conference’s (MWC) 16th Assembly in Pennsylvania, USA, connected Anabaptists from around the world, in person and electronically.

    A new statistics poster released by MWC illustrates the final numbers from PA 2015. There are many interesting facts, for example: 75 percent of visa applications were accepted and 4.25 tons of waste were composted.

    More people participated electronically than at any previous MWC Assembly: more than 21,700 viewed the live stream and more than 250,000 engaged with MWC’s Facebook page.

    MWC invites all our congregations to continue celebrating the theme from PA 2015, “Walking with God,” by joining us for World Fellowship Sunday celebrations on 24 January 2016.

    Click here to see the PA 2015 Statistics Poster.

    Click here to see the PA 2015 Statistics Map (This could be used in a bulletin)

    Click here to see World Fellowship Sunday resources.

    —MWC Release

     

     

     

  • HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – After six years of training and preparation, the Vietnam Mennonite Church (VMC), a Mennonite World Conference member, ordained 26 pastors in Ho Chi Minh City on 5 December 2015.

    Pastor Nguyen Quang Trung, president of VMC, officiated at the ordination service for 26 Mennonite pastors who had come from provinces and cities all over Vietnam. Approximately 120 Mennonite leaders and believers joined the festivities.

    Trung, who celebrated 50 years of ministry in the Mennonite church in Vietnam this year, was keenly aware of and grateful for God’s blessing on the church throughout years of both hardship and opportunity.

    In the ordination service, Trung charged the 26 pastors, most of whom had gained their Ministry Certificates and were serving in pastoral positions in Mennonite churches, to share the gospel with godly passion, take care of the people, be a role model, and carry on the work of the church.

    The Ministry Certification Program was taught by VMC pastors, Gerry Keener – a non-resident missionary with Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM) – and Dr. Palmer Becker. Three of the ordained persons were 2014 graduates of the Bachelor of Theology class.

    One by one the pastors knelt to receive a blessing and charge as Trung, Keener, and pastors Tuyen Nguyen (Philadelphia, Pa.), Lee, Hong An, Nghia and Khoa commissioned them with the laying on of hands and prayer.

    Following the service Trung said, “This event is very meaningful for the Mennonite church; it is an additional opportunity for the church to continue to push forward and develop the Lord’s work in all parts of Vietnam.”

    Pastor Minh Dang reminisced about his own ordination five years earlier in March 2010, when he was one of 26 pastors ordained at that time. He reported that since then the VMC has established 25 new places of worship. There are now 52 ordained pastors and about 6,000 new believers.

    Among the ordained people were three Kor, two Bahnar and 10 Stieng pastors – all from minority tribal churches. Eleven pastors were from Kinh or ethnic Vietnamese churches.

    When asked what significance this occasion has for him, Pastor Chien from Hai Phong declared, “I am happy to commit myself to a lifetime of service because of His great love!”

    Pastor Minh Dang, when asked what pressing needs the church has, said, “We need more leaders and unity.”

    -Article by Emily Jones and Gerry Keener, News Release from Eastern Mennonite Missions.

     

  • At one of the breakout sessions in MWC Assembly Gathered 2015 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, last July, former and present MWC workers exchanged coffee from their respective countries during their reunion. Unbeknownst to many, one special brand traded that day is not just another coffee.

    Coffee for Peace from the Philippines is JUST coffee.

    The story of this peace and justice coffee is deeply rooted in the midst of conflict and unrest in the heart of Mindanao.

    The COFFEE FOR PEACE Story

    Dann and Joji Pantoja migrated to Canada to raise their family during the 1980s when the Philippines was at the peak of its turmoil against a dictatorial regime. In 2006, they felt led by the Lord to serve in their home country again; but this time, in a province at the southern part of the Philippines where neither of their families is from. They chose to establish their peacebuilding mission in Davao City. While Davao City is beautiful and generally peaceful, it is surrounded by the conflict-ridden Mindanao uplands.

    The couple lost no time working out their passion for peacebuilding. Soon, Dann established Peacebuilders Community, Inc., while his wife Joji founded Coffee for Peace, Inc., an inclusive business community committed to protect and enhance the environment, journey with farmers toward improvements, and support peacebuilders working on the ground.

    Coffee for Peace has a simple and yet elegant coffee shop in Davao City. A visitor to this coffee shop can see the advocacy for promoting coffee produced by the locals. But upon a closer examination, one will realize that this is not just promotion of the local coffee, but that it advocates peace and justice through fair trade. In fact, this coffee shop is a visual representation of the hard work and tough journey behind Joji’s accolades, recognized even by the United Nations Development Programme.

    When the couple first visited the upper regions in Mindanao, they engaged in dialogue among groups whose problems and conflict were mainly rooted in land ownership. The fights, unrest, and conflicts were all due to injustices when migrants with land titles would flock to the ancestral lands of the indigenous residents who have no title to show legal proof of ownership. Furthermore, these poor coffee farmers get almost nothing from their high-quality coffee beans because large corporations can bargain for their product at a very cheap price.

    In these dialogues and peace talks, the couple observed that coffee was the main beverage being served. When the people drink coffee together, they seem to be more calm and agreeable. Thus, the inspiration of working with the local coffee farmers to encourage collaboration among conflicting groups to instigate peacebuilding began.

    Joji trained coffee farmers, teaching them their importance in the cycle of coffee production and the real monetary value of their product. From planting and production to trading, Joji was relentless in establishing this peacebuilding advocacy among the coffee farmers in Mindanao. Using her own networks and resources, she was able to tap into international markets who were willing to trade fairly for the farmers’ coffee.

    To date, Coffee for Peace is trading with international markets in Canada, USA, and soon also in Australia and New Zealand. The peace advocacy of Coffee for Peace is also expanding not only in the southern part of the Philippines but also to the Cordillera region in the north where similar stories of conflict exist.

    Coffee for Peace was one of six winners of the United Nations Development Programme’s IIX N-Peace Innovation Challenge for a “sustainable, scalable, inclusive peacebuilding that has long-term and transformative impact.” The award was presented on 23 October 23, 2015 in New York City to Joji Pantoja, the founder and CEO of Coffee for Peace. Almost as if it were a prelude to this award, in July 2015, Joji was appointed as chair of the Peace Commission of Mennonite World Conference.

    Truly, justice and peace work together and they are attainable even through a small means – like JUST coffee.

    Remilyn Mondez (Philippines) is an assistant professor at Malayan Colleges Laguna and is currently taking her doctoral degree in communication. She was one of the YAB speakers at PA 2015 and a delegate at GYS 2009.

    UPDATE 2020

    MWC Peace Commission chair Joji Pantoja is a 2020 recipient of the Oslo Business for Peace Award. Honourees are selected by an independent committee of Nobel Prize Laureates in Peace and in Economics after a global nomination process. The award recognizes global business leaders who “ethically create economic value that also creates value for society.”

    Learn more: https://businessforpeace.no/award/2020-honourees/

  • GOSHEN, Indiana, USA — When 27-year-old SangMin Lee, a Mennonite conscientious objector from South Korea, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, the global Mennonite church community provided support in the form of letters and prayers. In early December 2015, Lee spoke with supporters at the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism and Goshen College and at College Mennonite Church, Goshen, Indiana, USA.

    Lee, who was released from prison in July, said being a conscientious objector in South Korea helped him to understand and practice peace “in a more concrete and tangible way.”

    Lee spoke in Korean, with translation by Goshen resident SeongHan Kim.

    After growing up in a Christian home and attending a Christian college, Lee came across conscientious objection in an article in 2007.

    “The article talked about how God so loved the world,” said Lee, “but then I asked myself, ‘How can we care for each other in the name of God?’

    “I began to ask myself, ‘Can I kill someone?’

    “In South Korea, it’s military or prison,” says Lee. The only alternative service option requires weeks of military training and service in the reserves.

    Some 660 conscientious objectors– nearly 93 percent of imprisoned COs worldwide – are jailed each year in South Korea.

    It took seven years for Lee to go through the conviction process after refusing military service. He needed Christian support to continue in his struggle, so in 2009, Lee transferred to Grace and Peace Mennonite Church, Seoul, South Korea, who eventually reached out to the global community for support.

    MWC Commission members John D. Roth (Faith & Life) and Jenny Neme (Peace), directors of the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism (which runs the Bearing Witness Stories Project) and Justapaz (a Colombian Mennonite peace and human rights organization), respectively, organized a letter-writing campaign.

    In the months leading up to his trial, Mennonite World Conference circulated Lee’s story, and letters came rushing in.

    The letters that meant the most to Lee were the ones sent to him through Justapaz from conscientious objectors in Colombia.

    “Receiving their support and encouragement was very moving,” Lee said.

    A ‘simple answer’

    On 30 July 2015, Lee was released three months earlier than planned. However, his prison conviction has closed off professional pathways. Lee studied childhood education but will not be able to find work as a teacher. He hopes to find work as a mechanic at a bike shop in Seoul.

    “The relationship with my parents has been the most difficult,”?Lee said. “In Korean culture, the relationship between kids and parents is very strong. My parents expressed anger and harsh words at first, but they have come to better understand and appreciate my view on what it means to follow Christ.”

    “I’m trying to live a normal life, find a more simple answer to how to live,” he said. “I try to be thankful for every day and make each day as important as the last.”

    —by Madeline Birky, originally published in the Mennonite World Review. Used with permission.

  • Bogota, Colombia – Five new young adults have been appointed to represent young people from their continental regions in Mennonite World Conference (MWC) on the Young AnaBaptists (YABs) Committee.

    Makadunyiswe Doublejoy Ngulube (Zimbabwe), Ebenezer Mondez (Philippines), Jantine Huisman (Netherlands), Dominik Bergen Klassen (Paraguay), and Larissa Swartz (USA) will have their first meeting as the new YABs committee from 12-19 February 2016 alongside the MWC Executive Committee meeting in Indonesia.

    The YABs Committee consists of five continental representatives chosen primarily from the most recent GYS delegates. The committee member terms start after the Global Youth Summit (GYS) 2015 and go until the next GYS in 2021 with the possibility of midway replacement due to relocation, study, family or work commitments.

    The previous YABs committee, who finished their term after GYS 2015, consisted of Tigist Tesfaye Gelagle (Ethiopia), Sumana Basumata (India), Marc Pasqués (Spain), Rodrigo Pedroza García (Mexico), Lani Prunés (United States), and Ayub Omondi (Kenya) as the YABs mentor.

    Tigist Gelagle will be transitioning to the role of YABs mentor, guiding the new committee as they begin their service. “I’m looking forward to work with the new YABs committee,” says Gelagle. She’s excited “to help them by sharing my YABs experience and also to support them in their work of the Kingdom of God by making the blueprint (the YABs guiding document) reality.”

    The YABs committee represents the YABs Network, which includes all young people in Anabaptist churches. The committee works to strengthen Anabaptist identity among young people and to build and develop connections among youth and young adult groups in the global family through social media. The YABs committee will also plan GYS 2021 in Indonesia.

    The YABs committee and network build on the work of an earlier MWC youth committee called AMIGOS, which worked from 2004 to 2009 and planned the 2009 Global Youth Summit. Based on this experience, a Youth Task Force was formed to develop a blueprint for formal youth involvement in MWC. This was adopted by the MWC Executive Committee in 2010 and the Youth Task Force was replaced by the first Young Anabaptist (YABs) Committee.

    Click here to see the Blueprint for Young Anabaptist Network in MWC.

    —MWC Release

     

  • Bogotá, Colombia – For Keila Viana, seeing how art can heal wounds deepened her understanding of God and his love during her international service in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

    “I believe that during this time God worked a lot in my life,” says Viana, a 22-year-old young adult from the Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Camino de Santidad, in Honduras.

    Twenty-two young people, including Viana, participated in the YAMEN program August 2014 to July 2015.

    YAMEN, a joint program between Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and Mennonite World Conference, is for young adults, ages 18–30, who are not Canadian or U.S. citizens. The participants must attend an Anabaptist church in their own country or serve an Anabaptist organization.

    Viana worked with Let Us Create, an organization that uses art to invite children at risk to heal the wounds that have marked their little hearts.

    She focused on teaching art and violin lessons, though at times she also taught English and assisted with preparing a festival event. A paint brush and a musical instrument helped to draw smiles of hope from adults and children and together carried on a tune for a better tomorrow.

    “God taught me to rely solely on him, and his love is more than enough,” says Viana. “Now I am not afraid of whatever may come in the future because I know it is God who directs my steps and gives me the strength to keep going even in the midst of trials.”

    Not only her life changed, but also her thinking; Viana has learned to see God as a being full of love and mercy. Now she is getting ready to continue her studies and to fulfill the great commission in her country.

    Viana has decided to use the tools she acquired through YAMEN in her church. She will use her free time to help children in her country, teaching them English and music. “I have learned to love with the love that Jesus Christ has put in me.”

    Just as Viana’s life changed, many young people who have dared to make a difference in this program have stories to tell about the satisfaction one can find in serving God and others.

    Let us pray for the lives of the 20 young people who are carrying the message of peace to 13 different countries in 2015–2016. As a church, we send them our love and support. God needs workers willing to serve in the name of Christ and be a reflection of his perfect love.

    A Mennonite World Conference and Mennonite Central Committee joint release. Article by Aharón González

     

    One of the pieces created in the art classes Viana taught for her YAMEN assignment in Cambodia.

    Click on the photo to see the high resolution version. 

     

  • Colombian peace and justice organizations call for prayer for the La Esperanza community

    Bogotá, Colombia – “We know that in many places throughout the world there is war, violence and hunger.” With this acknowledgement, Mennonite partners working for peace and justice in Colombia call on Anabaptist-related brothers and sisters around the world to pray for La Esperanza community in Colombia – and “that God’s salvation and peace become a reality throughout the world.”

    On 13 April 2015, a FARC guerrilla commando entered the Colombian town of La Esperanza and attacked members of the Colombian army.

    The incident, in which 11 soldiers were killed and 23 wounded, nearly halted peace negotiations between the government and the FARC. It introduced a new level of uncertainty and stigmatization for the members of the Mennonite Brethren congregation in town, some of whom live next to the site of violence.

    The Mennonite Brethren church of the Cauca & Valle region of Colombia and three Anabaptist organizations working for justice, peace and reconciliation in Colombia request Anabaptist congregations circulate this letter and prayer for hope. (“La Esperanza” means “hope” in Spanish).

    “We thank you, loving God, because [our Mennonite Brethren brothers and sisters] continue with their social action and uphold the vision of encouraging and collaborating with the wider community in overcoming the problems that affect their lives. At the same time, they emphasize the encouragement they receive from knowing that there are brothers and sisters elsewhere in Colombia and throughout the world who remember them and pray for them.”

    Click here to download the complete letter and psalm.

    “We think it very important that the larger community of faith in Colombia and throughout the world be informed and surround these sisters and brothers in prayer,” write leaders Francisco Mosquera (Mennonite Brethren Church, Valle and Cauca Region of Colombia), Ricardo Pinzón (Fundación Mencoldes), Jenny Neme (Justapaz), Pablo Stucky (CEAS). They also invite letters of encouragement and solidarity.

    —MWC release

    People from the town of La Esperanza, Colombia, enjoying their community sports arena that in April 2015 was occupied by the Colombian Army which was then attacked by the FARC guerrilla.

    Click on the photo to see the high resolution version. 

     

  • Assembly prayer network connected Anabaptist body to each other and God

    Winnipeg, Canada – “When people came together in the prayer room, many times no words were needed,” says Joanne H. Dietzel, Lancaster Mennonite conference coordinator. “A prayer, a touch, offering a tissue for tears, a smile – all transcend language barriers and build up the body of Christ.”

    Mennonite World Conference is a worldwide network of churches whose major face-to-face meeting occurs once every six years. Along with a yearly celebration of World Fellowship Sunday each January, prayer is another way its members connect in the interim.

    “It is sometimes hard to understand all the dynamics of what is happening in other parts of the world; however, as we share in prayer, we become one body,” says Dietzel.

    Dietzel coordinated the prayer network for Mennonite World Conference’s Assembly PA 2015 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. A year before the event, she recruited a team of seven others, plus MWC staff Lynn Roth and Rebecca Pereverzoff, who met monthly to plan and to pray.

    They coordinated a prayer room during Assembly (sequestered upstairs between the quilt exhibit and Maclay Street friendship group hall) at the Farm Show Complex, and developed a worldwide network of praying Anabaptists to prepare for the event and support each other in spirit.

    Some 250 people from around the world signed up to receive email prompts, including a dozen each requesting correspondence in Spanish and French.

    Themes were assigned to each month (e.g., registration, visas and World Fellowship Sunday) and day of the week (e.g., hospitality/fellowship, safety/travel/health, Global Youth Summit/youth/children, and wisdom and discernment). Dietzel circulated prayer items collected from MWC staff and coordinators, but also received petitions from those on the list, often for travel mercies or healing from illness.

    During Assembly, the prayer room offered a restful place “off from the noise and bustle of the rest of the Assembly,” says Dietzel.

    People of all ages stopped by for moments or hours. “I was blessed with the number of young adults who came,” says Dietzel, noting many of the attendees at the daily morning prayer were young adults.

    Volunteers were available to pray with those who requested. Visitors engaged one of the six activity stations that offered creative ways to pray (e.g., colouring) or tools for meditation and contemplation (e.g. a small fountain).

    Many left prayers and lit a battery-operated candle on the 24’ X 40’ (7.3m X 12m) world map (loaned by Rosedale Bible Missions) that covered the floor. They prayed for Christian unity, named friends in need of healing or a transformative encounter with Jesus, asked for healing from colonialism, violence or corruption in specific regions, addressed issues like climate change and sexual abuse – and more.

    “One group of children came one afternoon and wrote beautiful, short, prayers and placed them on the map,” says Dietzel.

    Some 161 visitors left their names on the guest registry in the prayer room, but many came and went without signing in.

    “We here in North America could learn a lot from our global brothers and sisters about prayer,” says Dietzel. She recalls several women from Indonesia who came daily and prayed loudly on their knees.

    “I was truly blessed by the connections made through spending time together with global brothers and sisters in the prayer room. While we could not always understand each other, we came together at the foot of the cross knowing we are all in need of God’s grace and mercy.”

    —MWC release by Karla Braun

    Click here to download World Fellowship Sunday materials, another way to transcend language and distance to connect with Anabaptist brothers and sisters and God through prayer and worship.

     

    Samples of prayers left on the world map

    Drip down, O Heavens, from above and let the clouds pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit and righteousness spring up with it.

    Lord of hosts, you destroy the swords of the mighty and beat them into plowshares. You call on your people to do the same.

    Mother God, your children are vibrant, glowing, creative, bursting. They are your image. Let your light shine in the hearts, minds and bodies of your children.

     

    Six activity stations in the prayer room at Assembly offered visitors creative ways to become quiet before God. Photos: Kristina Toews

     

     

     

     

     

     

    “Drip down, O Heavens, from above and let the clouds pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit and righteousness spring up with it.” On a large map in the prayer room at Assembly, visitors left written prayers like the one above along with a battery operated candle. Photo: Kristina Toews

    Click here to see a high resolution version of the cover photo. Click on the other photos to see the high resolution versions. 

     

  • Bogota, Colombia – Assembly PA 2015, the once-every-six-years gathering of Mennonite World Conference, closed financially at break-even, that is, without a deficit.

    The MWC operations team continuously made adjustments, maintaining priorities of environmental sustainability and financial stewardship despite unexpected developments.

    The net total income of $3,300,000 USD from registrations and donations (adjusted for transfers to Global Youth Summit and General Council Travel Fund) matched the total expenses of $3,300,000. (See pie chart for breakdown.)

    “We thank all those who attended as they were able,” says chief operating officer Len Rempel. “We are confident that God’s Spirit moved among us and has continued to do so as we have returned to our homes.”

    Registration revenues were 25 percent less than budgeted due in part to a greater number of part-time participants and fewer full-time registrants; however, that also meant some expenses were lower than budgeted.

    Strong fundraising efforts surpassed the goal by 15 percent. The offering taken daily at Assembly evening services collected $77,000 for operating funds, for the four commissions and MWC “where needed most.”

    “The action of giving transcends economic inequalities to bear fruit as hope,” says general secretary César García. “Through generosity, the idols of consumerism, individualism and materialism are defeated to give way to the possibility of a new beginning for our global community. Generosity is a way of worshiping God.”

    “I am very encouraged when I hear individuals, congregations and member churches telling me that they will send what they can, and they wish they could do more,” says Arli Klassen, chief development officer.

    A world-wide communion of Anabaptist related churches, Mennonite World Conference supports the global body of Christ and is supported by contributions from member churches and donations from individuals.

    -MWC news release

  • World Fellowship Sunday is a celebration that brings us close to our roots and allows us to get together with our family of faith to give thanks to God and to worship.

    This is a date when we encourage Anabaptist related churches around the world to worship around a common theme the closest Sunday to January 21, which generally falls on the fourth Sunday of January. In the last 2015 celebration, numerous churches responded to the call and we joined in one voice to sing, to worship and to fellowship.

    Reports from numerous churches from different parts of the world were received telling us how their celebration was and what made that day special. Alissa Bender, from Ontario, Canada, said that “…between songs and a congregational potluck they had a very special Sunday at her church …” Hamilton Mennonite Church, with music from different continents, fabrics from different parts of the world to brighten up our worship space, a preacher, MWC staff member and a lunch offering for MWC.

    All together as one body marked this date in our calendars and decided to get together in spirit to remember our common roots and to celebrate our koinonia around the world.  

    “We thank God for one more year He allows us to get together again and celebrate His faithfulness. This activity also helps us to affirm our identity and to remember that we are part of a global community,” said Sandra Campos, President of the Asociación de Iglesias Menonitas de Costa Rica (Association of Mennonite Churches in Costa Rica.

    Something exciting and significant happened in the Netherlands. Three Mennonite churches got together and celebrated World Fellowship Sunday. They sang and shared the bread together and remembered that as Anabaptists we should give our back to violence. “Symbolically, we have given our back to violence. And in doing so we have given our back to violent people. May be we should yet learn to resist violence from face to face,” said IJke Aalders.

    In Colombia that day was celebrated in a different way The MB church Iglesia Torre Fuerte in Bogota, decorated with fabrics from different parts of the world. And with different symbols such as a towel and a washbowl representing service to others and bread and grapes reflecting our responsibility of feeding the needy. “People wore cloth sashes with principles of the Kingdom of God on. We prayed together for our churches in North America and around the world,” said Pastor Sandra Báez.

    World Fellowship Sunday gives us the opportunity to meet with God and at the same time with our roots. It reminds us where we come from and where we are heading to. It is a special time to hear about the needs of our brothers and sisters and to walk together.

    A series of materials have been made available to the church for enrichment and to give an idea of what this celebration can include. Click here to access the material for 2016.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    As part of remembering our peace principles, brothers and sisters of the Iglesia Menonita de Aibonito of Puerto Rico decorated their congregation this way. 

     

  • A glimpse of Assembly 2015, a glimpse of God’s intention to bring peoples together, a calling for one multicultural congregation

    “We should do this again!” commented a Hmong young adult, a sentiment heard often after Kitchener First Mennonite Church’s Assembly Scattered weekend in early October 2015.

    Nearly 60 youth, children and adults from the congregation were privileged to gather with almost 8,000 Anabaptist believers from 77 countries in July at the Mennonite World Conference assembly in Harrisburg, Pa. Those who went wanted to share the experience with the home crowd.

    With the support of many volunteers and a generous estate gift, the rest of the congregation got to experience a bit of that multicultural worship, service, play and sharing food together with guests from other congregations, including Hmong, Eritrean and South Sudanese brothers and sisters in Christ.

    During the afternoon of Oct. 3, First’s space buzzed with Hmong and Swiss and Russian Mennonite men and women comforter-knotting together. South Asian women did henna artistry on the hands of Colombian girls. Eritrean girls served Hmong spring rolls. Central Americans and long-time Canadians of European heritage packed 406 hygiene kits for Mennonite Central Committee. A diversity of children enjoyed craft activities. At a nearby school, players braved the rain for a local version of the “Anabaptist World Cup.” A world feast included main dishes prepared by Hmong, Eritrean, Colombian and South Sudanese participants, accompanied by potluck sharing by all. As at the precedent-setting “green” assembly, meals were served on fully compostable dinnerware.

    The assembly experience was also shared at First Mennonite through photos and videos, well-attended story-telling sessions from a variety of ages and perspectives, and singing.

    After the potluck supper, the worship space filled with music from around the world and people from at least a half-dozen countries joined in heartfelt praise to God in a variety of languages and took up an offering for Mennonite World Conference.

    The morning worship on Oct. 4 echoed the assembly format by including music from the global church, greetings from other denominations (Mennonite Brethren and Brethren in Christ), and a pairing of older and younger adults of two different cultures for the message on community and autonomy, one of the assembly’s themes.

    This originally appeared in Canadian Mennonite, and was posted here on 18 November 2015: http://www.canadianmennonite.org/stories/%E2%80%98we-should-do-again%E2%…

    By Rebecca Yoder Neufeld, First Mennonite Church, Ontario, Canada

    *Join with the global Anabaptist family as we continue to celebrate the PA 2015 theme, Walking with God, through World Fellowship Sunday in January, 2016. Click here to see resources for your congregation.

    Noramy Gonzalía, right, paints the face of Yiseth Sierra at Kitchener First Mennonite Church’s Assembly Scattered celebration on Oct. 3. (Photo by Dennis Burkhardt)