Prayers of gratitude and intercession

Some months ago I had the privilege of visiting our churches in Malawi. There we were, along with delegates of several local Brethren in Christ (BIC) congregations, gathered under a tree in order to worship God and speak about our global communion. After a vibrant time of worship I had the opportunity of speaking about following Christ in our worldwide Anabaptist family. Then a pastor raised his hand and asked: How can we follow Christ in contexts of poverty, economic inequality and intense financial needs?

That was a hard question. What could I say – as a comparatively wealthy Latin American – to my brothers and sisters facing such a difficult context? In Malawi there are around 4,500 baptized members in about 46 local congregations. All of them face low life expectancy, high infant mortality, increasing statistics of HIV/AIDS and lack of financial resources.

All these facts, plus the images of the immense financial resources that we have in other parts of our global family, came to my mind when I considered how to respond. After leaving our meeting a clear thought came to my mind: This church already had the response to the pastor’s question. Generosity that balances economic inequalities brings hope and practical ways of overcoming this inequality. Some days before our service under the tree I attended another service in Blantyre, one of the main cities of Malawi. I was amazed when there was the time of offering. Every member (children included) got out of their chairs and went to the front to deposit their donation. Not a single person stayed seated! The joy and hope expressed in worship that followed that time of offering amazed me. Generosity, I thought – generosity of resources, and generosity of spirit in worship to God – is the answer to the pastor’s question.

Generosity is an action that transcends economic inequalities to bear fruit as hope. Generosity proves that the immediate situation can be overcome. This is one of the reasons why these two topics (hope and economic inequality) are related in this issue of Courier/Correo/Courrier. Through generosity, our global community can find hope in the midst of our economic inequalities. How could this happen?

First, we could follow the words of the German theologian Jürgen Moltmann, writing in his book Ethics of Hope (Fortress Press, 2012): “Perceive things not just as they have become and now exist but also in the different ways they could be.” Our life needs to be eschatologically oriented. We can look to the future that is revealed by God – a future without economic inequality – and, in this light, denounce, criticize and look for ways of changing current circumstances that contradict such a future. As Johannes Baptist Metz and James Matthew Ashley claim in their book Faith in History and Society (Crossroads Publishers, 2007), the imminent coming of a final point in history – a point in which justice and restoration will be a present reality – brings hope and strength in order to transform current realities of injustice, suffering, and oppression.

Second, we need to be set free from the world around us, and resist its pressures. Consumerism and identity based on materialism are modern idols that feed inequalities. We can destroy them through the practice of generosity. Moltmann affirms: “People who expect God’s justice and righteousness no longer accept the so-called normative force of what is fact, because they know that a better world is possible and that changes in the present are necessary. Being able to wait means resisting the threats and seductions of the present, not letting oneself be brought into line, and not conforming.”

Third, we must find a new identity and fellowship. This new identity must be more important for us than the old one. “We are Christians first of all, and only after that are we members of our own particular country,” concludes Moltmann. This means we should develop a Kingdom of God mentality instead of a nationalistic mentality. Let’s start to think as citizens of a new nation in which there is not a gap between rich and poor, but where economic equality exists between all people. Let’s start to experience the reality of this new Kingdom among us today. Our church is called to be a foretaste of this kingdom. Let us live it here and now!

César García, MWC general secretary, works out of the head office in Bogotá, Colombia 

Oita, Japan – On Japanese Constitution Memorial Day, 03 May, fourteen Japanese Mennonite and Brethren in Christ leaders issued a call against proposed amendments to the Japanese constitution, particularly to article 9, the so-called “peace article.”

On the same day, national newspapers released polls showing that proposed amendments to the constitution are gaining support.

Under article 9 of the constitution, drafted in 1947 by Allied occupation forces and adopted by the national Diet with extensive support of the nation, the “Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.”

Further, article 96 of the constitution states that amendments must pass both national governing bodies with a two-thirds majority and must gain majority support in a national referendum.

The governing Liberal Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is proposing to relax the amendment approval process in article 96. Further, the government is advocating for changes in article 9 – changes which would create a National Defense Force with fuller military powers than those of the existing Self-Defense Force.

“With these developments at a time of unprecedented tensions,” wrote the church leaders, “we as Anabaptists/Mennonites who have opposed all wars and have experienced martyrdom among more than a few members must acknowledge that we are being put to the test. As an historical peace church, now is not the time to close our mouths and keep silent. It is time to stand up by the power of our Lord Jesus and say that war is the greatest of sins and that we must not open up any path that would cause our country to engage in war again.”

The church leaders sent their message to Protestant periodicals in Japan and also to periodicals of Anabaptist/Mennonite churches in North America. (Click here for the full text of the message.)

MWC release

How God uses relationships to build the church

The global Mennonite church is diverse and vibrant! We grieve that parts of this faith family live in areas plagued with poverty, violence or religious conflict. But the most important message Christians bring to a suffering world is hope: God cares, the followers of Jesus care and the Spirit brings healing to the nations. Already God’s salvation is beginning to transform individuals and communities, and the Mennonite church is part of that redemption project.

Diversity, suffering and hope describe the neighborhood around my congregation in Elkhart, Indiana, USA. Thousands of white, middle-class people moved away from this part of the city a generation or two ago. Into this area moved African Americans (blacks from southern parts of the United States), Latinos (immigrants from Central or South America) and other ethnic groups. There is wonderful energy in the restaurants, grocery stores, churches and music styles of the various cultural groups. But Elkhart also struggles with gangs, violence and prejudice.

Building community between blacks, whites and Latinos has not been easy – and Mennonites all over the world minister in the midst of similar ethnic and cultural diversity. New arrivals to Elkhart often come with few economic resources, modest education or limited English-language ability. Many Latinos come illegally without visas, seeking opportunity and fleeing violence or poverty in their homelands. Some live in fear of being discovered, arrested and deported. The household income of people in this part of the city is low. Public schools struggle with high turnover of students and strained budgets.

In places of suffering or fear, the church declares, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). God’s love became visible when a peasant girl named Mary gave birth and poor shepherds visited. Jesus came offering living water to a Samaritan woman, forgiving Roman soldiers, healing lepers and otherwise crossing ethnic, political and social boundaries.  

Reaching across boundaries

Prairie Street Mennonite Church is a mostly white congregation with a few Latinos and blacks. We want to become more diverse and better represent the breadth of the Kingdom of God.

So it has been life-giving for our congregation to open our doors recently to a small new Latino congregation to use our building for worship. Pastor Ruben Santos and his wife Morela are from Venezuela and recently became citizens of the United States. On Friday evenings they worship in our building with twenty-five other Spanish-speakers. My wife Ellen and I, and several others from our congregation who speak Spanish join this Restauración (Restoration) group for worship.

Pastor Santos was schooled in another denomination, but is eager to learn from Anabaptists. I want to learn from his congregation about evangelism, worship and prayer. My background of carefully planned and controlled worship is different from the Pentecostal style of Restauración. Our music styles are different. But in these new brothers and sisters I sense a gracious spirit and big vision. We do not know exactly what will happen with the meeting of our two congregations. But God is up to something, and it includes the hope and joy of reaching across cultural and linguistic boundaries and finding ways to collaborate. In both of our congregations we welcome people who are homeless, single parents or undocumented.

Responding to suffering

What does it mean for the global Mennonite church to say that if “one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26)? One response to suffering is for persons with skills or money to share directly with those in need. When Christians in Elkhart realized that the family of a recent shooting victim did not have money for the funeral, we gathered several thousand dollars for the burial.

Mennonite churches around the world similarly share money and resources through some kind of local mutual aid fund. In Elkhart Mennonites have paid rent or medical bills for people who are unemployed. We helped an undocumented immigrant family buy and renovate a house. Some members have opened their homes to women who seek safety from an abusive marriage relationship.

Jesus speaks to the causes of suffering

Such direct aid is important and necessary, but it is not enough. Those with greater wealth are tempted to continue to control, for their own benefit, the economic or political systems that created the gulf between rich and poor. If unjust economic or political patterns persist in society, an occasional gift to those in need might make the giver feel good without changing the causes of poverty.

Jesus came to save all humankind, including the wealthy. But he was born in a stable, among the poor, in a country plagued with violence. His mother Mary praised God who “brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly,” who “filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:52, 53). Jesus launched his ministry by declaring that God sent him “to bring good news to the poor . . . and recovery of sight to the blind” (Luke 4:18). In other words, Jesus became flesh to proclaim hope in the midst of society’s brokenness.

Can the fellowship and sharing that happen through Mennonite World Conference be good news both for parts of the church where there is poverty and where there is material abundance? Through our global interaction, can persons blessed with material resources recover sight to see the great gulf between rich and poor? Might we also see the opportunity this gulf creates for God to change our hearts and build a stronger global church?

The Mennonite world has changed

In recent decades the momentum of Mennonite spiritual and numerical growth has shifted from Europe and North   America – where Mennonites first flourished – to Africa, Latin America and Asia. God’s activity often is most evident in places where there is not material abundance. Persons at the political or economic margins of the world are more likely to receive and live into the gospel than those who feel secure at the centers of economic power.

MWC provides a way to respond

There are at least three ways that MWC can help me and other North American Mennonites respond to suffering or economic injustice at home and elsewhere in the world.

First, MWC builds understanding through relationships that cross political, racial and economic barriers. When we know and love people who are in very different life circumstances, we can pray with empathy. The spiritual vitality and vision for mission in economically or politically stressed parts of the church can inspire Mennonites elsewhere.

Some of us will meet face-to-face at a MWC Assembly, or when Mennonites travel to visit another country. Such interaction is most productive when all participants expect to learn from the other rather than simply impart something. How does the witness of Christians in another part of the world challenge me to grow and change?

Second, understanding motivates us to act. When we know and love someone who suffers, we want to help. The twenty-one year-old nephew of an immigrant woman in my congregation died recently in the desert in southeastern United States, trying to cross the border without documents. That tragedy motivates me to speak and act for a change in immigration laws in my country. It makes me want to speak up about corporations that move their factories to Central or South America where they can pay unethically low wages.

Third, and finally, action can inspire us to invest in the church. Anabaptists emphasize that Christians are citizens of the Kingdom of God above any other national or ethnic loyalty. Being part of MWC reminds me of this allegiance, and gives a way to put it into practice. Even Mennonites in a distant country are no “longer strangers and aliens, but . . . citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). My highest priority is to invest time and resources in the church of Jesus Christ. Because it is my spiritual home, I especially want to connect to the Mennonite Church.

Stay connected through MWC

Go to the MWC website and learn about the International Missions Association, a group of twenty-two Anabaptist mission groups whose representatives met recently in Singapore. Learn about Mennonites from several continents who are collaborating with Mennonites in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso to promote sustainable agriculture projects. See a video about Mennonites in Paraguay providing childcare for single mothers so they can seek employment.     

Consider establishing a sister relationship with a Mennonite congregation elsewhere in the world. Plan to attend the MWC Assembly in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA, in 2015, or give money to help someone else attend. Contribute your proportionate share to MWC so this networking organization can remain strong. Above all, pray for sisters and brothers in other parts of the world. In this small but vibrant Mennonite part of the Kingdom of God, we get a foretaste of the salvation, freedom and justice that someday will cover the earth. God is using MWC to strengthen the global church.

Nelson Kraybill is lead pastor at Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana, USA, and president-elect of Mennonite World Conference.

Goshen, Indiana, USA – From an early age, Myrl Nofziger, a real estate developer from Goshen, Indiana, USA, learned life-shaping lessons about philanthropy, benefiting many Mennonite organizations, including Mennonite World Conference.

“My father talked and lived giving every day,” says Nofziger. “For him, giving included not only one’s money but also one’s intellect, feelings, volunteerism and ethics. Tithing was just the beginning, not the end, of giving.

“Recessions had no impact on his giving. He would even borrow from the bank in order to give to the church or an organization in need of funds.”

Myrl said he and his wife Phyllis – as well as his first wife Ardith, who passed away in 1988 – have lived with the same values that giving includes one’s whole self, and goes way beyond tithing.

They also feel strongly about encouraging their children and grandchildren to live by similar values. Myrl has prepared not only a will but also his “testament” that spells out his hopes and expectations for the next generations.

The testament includes the following statement: “In my Will there are stipulations that money be given at certain times to each of you, only if you have been faithful to a holistic lifestyle. We know that we cannot force a certain lifestyle on you; we only hope that we have been good role models for you.

“It is important that you think ‘globally’ and not just locally or about yourself,” Myrl writes in his testament. “Issues such as immigration, persons of different ethnic backgrounds, how you treat the poor, people who are or have been incarcerated, peace and justice issues; the list goes on and will change from time to time.”

In 1948, Myrl’s father brought the whole family all the way from Ohio to Goshen – a long trip by car in those days – to participate in the fourth MWC Assembly – the first to be held in North America.

Myrl became more directly involved in MWC by being solicited to help provide funds after the 1967 Assembly in Amsterdam and again after the 1990 Assembly in Winnipeg. He and Phyllis also created an MWC endowment fund in the late 1990s.

In addition to his family’s attendance in 1948 he has attended the last four assemblies: Winnipeg (1990), India (1997), Zimbabwe (2003) and Paraguay (2009, with Phyllis).

Each Assembly, starting in 1948, has broadened his understanding of what it means to be a Mennonite Christian, going beyond the rules and restrictions that seemed to define a Mennonite when he was growing up. 

“Watching Africans dancing, watching worship styles from different parts of the world, and observing different lifestyles, I have come to see that there is far more to Christianity than my own limited understanding and my own experience,” says Myrl.

When asked why he thinks everyone should support MWC, Myrl comments: “MWC provides the structure that permits us to interact at a world level. We in North America hold much of the world’s wealth, and it is our responsibility to share our resources.

“Today’s church is much bigger than one’s own congregation or even one’s own city.  Our congregations used to be self-contained communities, but now we live in a world community, which means we all need to expand our practice of benevolence.”

Democratic Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso – Five Mennonite World Conference member churches recently collaborated on a project intended to build self-sustainable church programs within African Mennonite communities.

Communauté Evangélique Mennonite (Evangelical Mennonite Church) of DR Congo and Église Évangélique Mennonite du Burkina Faso (Evangelical Mennonite Church of Burkina Faso) partnered with Mennonite Church Canada, the Evangelical Mennonite Conference (Canada), and Association des Églises Évangéliques Mennonite de France (French Mennonite Church) to send two African Mennonite young people for training in entrepreneurship and small-scale agriculture.

Other project partners included Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission and Mennonite Mission Network.

Jean Mbuabua from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Arouna Sourabie from Burkina Faso were selected by their respective national Mennonite churches as the recipients for this program. Together, they will receive necessary training at the Songhaï Center in Porto Novo, the capital city of Benin.

The Songhaï Centre is a zero emissions–model research farm that also educates students in ecologically sustainable farming practices in the context of an African environment. The centre is gaining worldwide recognition for its advances in ecologically sustainable agriculture in the African context. Songhaï specializes in training young agricultural entrepreneurs and equips them to embrace new sustainable economic opportunities using natural resources that are found in their own communities in Africa.

At the end of their training, Mbuabua and Sourabie will return to their home countries to launch small-scale farming activities. Their new skills will help them earn an income for themselves and for their church programs. They will also train others who can then carry on this work elsewhere.

“This program has enormous potential for everyone involved,” says Hippolyto Tshimanga, Mennonite Church Canada Director for Africa Ministry. “The best way [to build the global church] is to equip people to meet their basic needs and the needs of their local congregations.” This program, he hopes, will do just that.

Adapted from a Mennonite Church Canada news release by Deborah Froese

Kinshasa, DR Congo – The Francophone Mennonite Network, working under the auspices of Mennonite World Conference, attempts to foster relationships and projects among French-speaking Mennonites from three continents. The first consultation on theological education among francophone Mennonites was held at the “Centre Universitaire de Missiologie” in Kinshasa (26-28 February 2014).

Forty-five participants came from nine different countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Canada (Quebec), Chad, Congo, France, Ivory Coast, Switzerland and the United States. Opening and closing worship services were attended by representatives from the numerous Mennonite congregations in Kinshasa.

Informal conversations within the network have often focused on the importance of theological education in relation to Mennonite identity. In Africa, the Congolese Mennonites sponsor several Bible Institutes, and in Europe, the French-language department at the Bienenberg Theological School in Switzerland offers the equivalent of one year of seminary-level classes in its continuing education program.

This means that no French-language Mennonite theological school offers the possibility of a seminary degree, and that many pastors, preachers and elders are trained in interdenominational Evangelical institutions in Africa, Canada or Europe. For this reason, representatives from seminaries or schools where Mennonites study or teach (Montreal, Paris, Kinshasa, Abidjan, Ndjaména,and Cotonou) were invited to take part in the consultation. 

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the only country with a large number of French-speaking Mennonites (235,000).  Otherwise, French-speaking Mennonites are usually quite small minorities in their countries. Through the efforts of the network, francophone Mennonites are beginning to develop cooperative relationships.  Nevertheless, most of the people present at the consultation had never met each other and an important part of the consultation was used for participants to get to know each other and their respective contexts in relation to theological education.  This was done by each context responding to several questions:

Each morning of the consultation included a presentation for consideration and discussion. 

The consultation was effective in helping participants to envisage the potential of the Francophone network.  Those present were already aware of the need for collaboration and discussion to help discern concrete possibilities.  The importance of theological education in a Mennonite perspective was strongly affirmed, for the good of the church and her mission within the world.  The non-Mennonite schools all expressed positive interest in having a Mennonite perspective more present in their curricula. The sociopolitical context of several countries represented contributes to actively seeking a theology that puts peace, reconciliation and forgiveness at the centre of a curriculum. These schools invited Mennonites to help make such a perspective part of their teaching programs. 

A continuation committee and four working groups were put into place to explore different avenues of collaboration: the development of on-line courses, upgrading libraries, the development and publication of French-language resources and materials, teacher exchanges, etc.  Another consultation will be planned for 2016 somewhere in Africa.  If possible, participants who will be at the MWC gathering in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (July 2015) will plan a gathering.

The consultation was also an expression of international Mennonite sharing and reciprocity. Congolese Mennonites furnished major administrative and logistical leg-work, a place to meet, good meals, fellowship and wonderful hospitality.  Various organizations contributed financially to make the gathering possible: Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission, Eastern Mennonite Missions, the Swiss and French Mennonite mission agencies, Mennonite Mission Network, Witness Canada, MCC, Shalom Foundation, participating schools and churches, as well as individual participants.

Article by Neal Blough

Mundedi Badia Ngundu (left) of DR Congo, presided at the final communion service, assisted by Richard Lougheed of Canada and Max Wiedmer of Switzerland