Prayers of gratitude and intercession

As the year draws to a close, MWC is finalizing the numbers on the Assembly in Indonesia.  

“We are very pleased to report that, as of publication time, we met the financial goal of breaking even,” says Chief Operating Officer Jeanette Bissoon. 

This was MWC’s first time hosting a hybrid event with in-person and online attendees. “There were many unknowns that made it challenging to budget for registration fees,” says Jeanette Bissoon.  

“Thanks to the careful planning and spending by Assembly staff, we were able to contain expenses, despite an additional year of commitments due to the postponement. Total expenses came in $285 000 less than budget. These savings made up for the shortfall in revenues,” says Jeanette Bissoon. 

The net impact of the variances in revenues and expenses, along with a transfer of $100 000 from general revenues that had been budgeted, resulted in a break-even position. 

“We are thankful to each person and organization that gave to make this result possible,” says Jeanette Bissoon. 

“We are also thankful for each person who attended Assembly,” says Chief International Events Officer Liesa Unger. “We thank those who joined online – at home on their computers or together with others at a local church – for joining us as we learned to run a hybrid event. We thank our Indonesian brothers and sisters who attended portions of the event in Salatiga, Semarang or at one of the satellite locations. We are confident that God’s Spirit moved among us and it is our prayer that the blessing we received in gathering will carry us forward.” 

See chart below for revenues and expenses. 

*(A positive Assembly 17 balance will be credited toward Assembly 18.) 

“Our duty is to bring peace and love.” These words, relayed from Indonesian by a translator at the closing worship service of Mennonite World Conference’s Assembly 17 in Indonesia, came not from one of the featured speakers but from the governor of Central Java. “Our founding fathers gave us this mission of peace,” said Ganjar Pranowo. “The truthfulness [of peace] has been embedded in every soul…. The choice depends on us.”

His message fit seamlessly into the event’s theme: “following Jesus together across barriers.”

Nearly a thousand participants – seated one chair apart in careful adherence to local health pandemic guidelines – attended the closing ceremony. Some 600 participants took part in the full event with some 400 locals attending one or more day.

Four groups of MWC leaders including a Global Youth Summit delegate spent four of the days with a local congregation. Each community – GITJ Jepara, GKMI Solo, GITJ Margokerto and JKI Ungaran – hosted one plenary speaker along with a dozen other MWC guests. The host congregations shared their life and ministry with their guests. Evening plenary worship was broadcast from these four congregations while the rest of participants gathered at STT Sangkakala in Salatiga and untold numbers watched online – live or later.

“Only by God’s grace”

There were plenty of barriers to cross.

Wi-Fi internet was consistently unreliable; the web-based translation app was difficult to use for on-site French- and Spanish-language participants.

Disruptions and distortions in the video feed, especially the first night, discouraged some online participants from tuning in again.

Logistical challenges frustrated guests as did a scourge of lost luggage and delayed or cancelled flights.

COVID-19 cases sent some participants into isolation. “Showing regard for each other’s health is an act of loving one’s neighbour, Jesus called us to do,” says Cynthia Dück, MWC regional representative and trained nurse, who supervised care. “We are grateful for our participants who sacrificially cared for each other whether through service or quarantining.”

The General Council meetings were truncated to prevent further spread and the registration process included a COVID test.

Members of the choir and the interpreter team were affected, requiring flexibility and grace from all the remaining volunteers.

“Only by God’s grace, we could finish from one service to another while clinging our hands to each other,” says Debra Prabu, international ensemble director. It was a masterclass in trust. “I learned to be more humble, to respect my worship partners, to set aside some of my time praying for them and to forgive more.”

Incoming guests were tested upon arrival. Some, to their surprise, tested positive and had to be quarantined, missing the bulk of the event.

“We learned to have changed plans and hope and pray something good would come out of it,” said newly invested president Henk Stenvers (2022-2028) at the closing worship. “We will work hard to make MWC a stronger communion…that works together for shalom.”

Barriers defeated

Thankfully – together – many barriers were crossed: from 58 countries around the world, Anabaptist-Mennonites came to worship and fellowship. Despite continued reverberations of the COVID-19 pandemic, friends – old and new – met face to face in Indonesia while many more joined online.

Participants cared for each other. They cheerfully complied with required mask wearing, although face coverings usually came off for photos.

Some volunteers became very familiar with the halls of the hotels, walking back and forth to deliver food to quarantined guests. “This service allowed me to share the love of Christ with people from different cultures, different languages and different ages,” says Gracia Felo from DR Congo.

The very identity of the church

A highlight of the plenaries for many was the 8-minute contemplative dance by Sufi dervishes to music by local church members at GITJ Jepara. The congregation works hard to build interfaith relationships that cultivate peace. “Relating to another faith or religion is not just a church method to make peace; it is a part of the very identity of the church, without which the church will not fulfill its own mission,” says pastor Danang Kristiawan.

Plenary speakers courageously named challenges for the church on mission.

Salome Haldemann reprised Ron Sider’s call to train – and practice – for active peace work and nonviolence (page 7).

Tigist Tesfaye Gelagle named the pain of racism and inequality (page 17).

Nindyo Sasongko challenged Anabaptists to address injustices in the world like colonial, racism, misogyny, climate change, sexual abuse (page 20).

Meet Indonesia

In this majority Muslim country, both hosts and guests shared stories and teaching in plenary sessions, workshops and conversations about interfaith friendships.

The hospitality of Indonesian hosts covered over the logistical blips with smiles, good food – and a lot of dancing. Numerous performances of traditional and collaborative styles of Indonesian music and dance demonstrated that Anabaptist-Mennonites not only know how to sing but also how to move.

“I am amazed at how things just fell into place in spite of everything and how our Indonesian brothers and sisters took care of everything, even going the extra mile to make sure things work out the way they should,” says Jessica Mondal, coordinator of the Global Church Village (page 32-33).

On half-day tours, participants encountered Indonesian history and culture (page 28-29). Learning continued in workshops on Bible study, creation care and interfaith dialogue (page 26-27).

Watch parties

For the first time, an MWC Assembly was fully hybrid. Participants could register for an online experience that included not only exclusive access to the full plenary sessions, but also a chance to join workshops on Zoom, view vlogs from the Global Church Village and satellite sites and chat spaces to interact with other participants.

“I think this type of “hybrid” connectedness has great potential for strengthening the communion of Mennonite-related churches around the world,” says Ray Brubacher. The former MWC event planner organized daily inter-Mennonite watch parties in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. A different church served as host for each event, sharing worship singing from their own community and streaming the plenary sessions on a large screen.

Return to Jesus

The closing service highlighted all aspects of the Assembly program, including the children’s & youth programs (page 30-31). The morning’s emcee pastor Lydia Adi called up “The most important people in MWC” to share songs they had learned in the children’s program.

John D. Roth of the Faith and Life Commission and Christen Kong, Mennonite Church Canada delegate from the Global Youth Summit (GYS) spoke on Renewal 2022 (marking 500 years of Anabaptism).

“I invite persistently people into God’s Spirit. Jesus calls us to suffer together, to carry burdens, to journey together in a return to Jesus,” said Christen Kong.

And all too soon, it was at an end. Host pastor at Holy Stadium, Tina Agung continued the challenge in her closing prayer for MWC to “Be a messenger of truth to all nation sand a bearer of truth to all the world.”

Amen.

—Karla Braun is editor of Courier and writer for Mennonite World Conference. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada.

This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

Thursday morning

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.” Psalm 133:1 is an affirmation of how the biblical David delighted in the company of his brothers. As a social species, humans need the fellowship of others. Through fellowship, we witness to and live out our faith; it is where we receive mutual support because we all depend on others in one way or another for material, emotional and spiritual support.

Fellowship, the opportunity to share life with others, is a gift from God. From birth, we seek acceptance from others and we depend upon the loving care of family. Sibling relationships and friendships encourage and guide us, making our lives easier, especially in those difficult moments we all must face.

Living in fellowship is God’s gift to us.

We were created as social beings to share with others; this is part of God’s plan for us – and God’s plans are good and perfect.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God’s plans for us are to prosper us and not to harm us. We can realize that living with others produces many benefits that we ignore and therefore sometimes we work against ourselves and others.

Research has proved that fellowship is good for our physical and mental health just as Ecclesiastes illustrates in chapter 4:9-12: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to the one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

In another example, when Jacob met Esau again after a lengthy separation due to their differences, his face displayed his joy of knowing that they could count on one another and he said: “… truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God” (Genesis 33:10). This anecdote is evidence that being able to count on one another is a gift from God.

According to the Apostle, Paul, this is a Christian obligation: Hebrews 13:16: “Do not neglect to do good and share what you have” … Sharing is an indispensable characteristic of living with or in fellowship and implicates other people with different ways of doing so.

We need to understand that as children of God, we are predestined to live well and we must do so while interacting with everyone else – in communion. This lifestyle that includes relationships with other people happens in a special way that overcomes all the barriers that can come between us. The Holy Spirit manifested powerfully during Pentecost when people were together in unity (Acts 2:1-2).

In the book of Mark 2:1-12 we find the story of the paralyzed man who benefited due to the efforts of friends, neighbours, siblings (I don’t know; there aren’t a lot of details). There were many barriers they faced, among them the great crowd that blocked the way, and they had to carry him.

We can identify the characteristics of these people (the paralytic’s friends) that enable effective fellowship – love, service, unity, empathy, kindness, patience and faith – without which it would not have been possible to attain the final victory for this man.

Throughout the Bible there are stories that help us identify the advantages of learning to practice healthy fellowship with others: the beautiful friendship between David and Jonathan; or Mary, Martha and Lazarus with Jesus.

It is important to note that time spent with friends, conversing about our projects, creates emotional bonds; improves our self-esteem; releases stress; is therapeutic. We laugh and this produces positive reactions within our body, we share our concerns which lightens the load, and people enjoy being sociable creating healthier lifestyles as a result.

It is important to highlight that we build life through life-giving messages and actions. A positive attitude makes us likeable, sought after, followed.

If we want to be peacemakers, a positive attitude should be part of our daily lifestyle. Our world needs these peacebuilding actions that create healthy fellowship, tolerance and solidarity. We need to commit ourselves to doing good, to the divine project of love and at times give more than is expected of us. As children of God, we must make manifest the divine plan of abundant life, seeing the face of God in the face of our neighbour.

These characteristics have to do with harmonious relationships, mutual support, sharing time, laughter, agreement and even disagreement. That is life.

What is the key to living this way? Approach others with empathy, love, solidarity, willingness and faith. It will always be necessary to know how much life we have to offer others, how connected we are to the well of life so that we can definitely transmit it to others.

—Adriana Belinda Rodriguez Velasquez is a psychologist, counsellor, wife and grandmother, and a member of MWC’s Peace Commission. She is a member of Caminando con Dios, part of the Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Hondureña.

This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

Thursday night

In April, I received an invitation of sharing on the topic “living together in the hostile environment.”

The title really stirred my heart. And I think one of the reasons of my invitation is that they know we Hong Kong people were living in a hostile environment in the past few years, an environment that was not favourable to us.

And the Scripture that caught my eyesight was 2 Corinthians 4:1.

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not” (KJV).

As a man of 60-some years, I grew up in a very good environment, I would say. Before all these changes, when people asked me how good Hong Kong is, I would say that Hong Kong is very good. If you live in Hong Kong, you’ll feel safe – let’s say you can walk on the street even at midnight; you’ll enjoy freedom of speech; good education system; good and low-priced hospitals; access to a job if you’re willing to work. And most of all, things work in Hong Kong.

However, it has changed. The Hong Kong I’m living in now is not the Hong Kong I used to know. Some people will say that it started in the year 2014. For me, the significant changes started in 2019.

On 4 June 2019, more than 180 000 people gathered at Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to commemorate 30 years since the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

On 9 June 2019, more than 1 000 000 people went out to the streets: they struck, they sang hymns.

It was basically a peaceful protest. However, one day after, there were clashes between police and antiextradition bill demonstrators.

On 12 June 2019, Hong Kong faced more protests against the extradition law change. This time, many church leaders came out and spoke to the government. Some brothers and sisters prayed and sang hymns in the spot. Christians were caring for peace and nonviolence in all the actions. Many people followed the Christians to sing the chorus: “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord” on the streets. This time, more than 2 000 000 people came out to protest for their freedom.

Since then, protest and demonstrations never ceased. As time goes on, both the police and the demonstrators have gotten more and more violent. I have never seen this since 1968.

The slogan of the demonstrators changed from “Hong Kong people: add oil” to “Hong Kong people: protest” to “Hong Kong people: revenge”

For some time, there were protest almost every day. By the end of 2019, more than 7 000 people had already been arrested by the police.

“Where should we stand?” People outside the church want to know the church’s position. People inside the church ask their church leaders on which side their churches are standing.

In fact, Hong Kong people are divided into the Blue and the Yellow. The Blue are those who are for the government and the police. The Yellow are those who are against them.

There are conflicts in this society, in the families and in the churches. There is no peace. Our challenge is that: how to be a peacemaker when others choose to be violent? And how to live together in a hostile environment?

What positions are the churches taking?

I will never forget this: On 12 June 2019, I was standing in the middle of the road next to the Hong Kong government headquarters. On my right hand, there were Christians singing hymns and praying for Hong Kong, while on my left hand, there were protesters trying hard to block the main road outside.

In Hong Kong, some churches choose to stand on the Yellow side, and some choose the Blue. However, we Mennonites, as a Peace Church, we choose standing on Jesus’s side. We want to be a bridge between the Yellow and the Blue, a bridge between the peaceful and the violent, a bridge between the people and the government, a bridge between the protesters and the police. We have the obligation to promote peace. We regard that this is a way to fellow Jesus and “Here we stand!”

Right now, people are leaving Hong Kong. In our church, Agape Mennonite Church, 10 percent of our members already gone, mainly immigrated to England. And people are still planning to leave Hong Kong, to seek for a place of freedom, a place of hope.

Many years ago, I wrote a song inspired by a poem.

The title is like this: “Running away from famine – 3 million refugees leaving their hometown painfully.”

The poem was written in the year 1933. It describes the situation and feeling of refugees who moved to the northeast of China from their motherland because they had nothing to eat.

However, by that time, the northeast of China was under the control of the Japanese army. For me, they were running away from a place of hopelessness to a place of hopelessness. It touched my heart, and so I wrote a 13-minute chorus.

For these people, they did not know what their fate will be. They would not know what would happen after they went to the northeast. One thing they did know was that if they didn’t leave they would die.

Many people describe the immigrants from Hong Kong as refugees. If you immigrate, you’ll make good plans. If you don’t have any plans or if it is not your plan to immigrate, then you are a refugee.

Why do they leave Hong Kong? They are afraid of tomorrow. They have lost their hearts for Hong Kong.

In 2 Corinthians 4:1, the apostle Paul encourages the church:

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.” (KJV)

Paul encourages them not to lose heart. Why? Paul says that it is because “we have this ministry.”

Brothers and sisters, I’m telling you now that I’m not going to leave Hong Kong. We pastors are at high risk. We are the ones who need to leave. But I’m not going to leave because I am called to stay and to build the Mennonite churches in Hong Kong until I have finished my task and until I receive a new call from my boss, my heavenly Father.

Brothers and sisters, if you are in time of darkness, if you are facing an unpredictable tomorrow, if you are disappointed with people, just look up to God and look back to your calling.

At the end, I would like to draw your attention to the prayer of apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:17-19.

Paul asks God to open the eyes of the Ephesians in order that they will see three things:

1. the hope of his calling,
2. the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
3. the exceeding greatness of his power.

May our heavenly Father open the eyes of the Hong Kong Christians.

May Jesus open the eyes of you and me.

May the Holy Spirit bless us all.

Because “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21, KJV).

—Jeremiah Choi serves as pastor of Agape Mennonite Church, Hong Kong, and as Mennonite World Conference regional representative for Northeast Asia. He is also trained as a composer.

This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.

Assembly activities

Connecting with people is at the heart of MWC Assemblies. Participating in local tourism and serving with local ministries provided another chance to connect.

“I get a lot of value and joy out of helping people,” says Daniel Beachy, who signed up for a service activity. “It was a lot of fun planting trees knowing that they will grow to feed future people that attend the seminary”

Others went to an orphanage where “Singing together with actions helped to bridge the language barrier,” says Gerald Neufeld. Participant Hakjoon Ko (“Joe Ko”) taught a Korean song with actions that urged children and volunteers to learn something new.

“I learned from young volunteers that whatever work is done, it has to be done happily. All of them were always smiling and discharging their responsibilities,” says Ranjana Nath.

Some tours encountered barriers in seeing the sites, but “We met new people from US and Canada and had a great feast together, sharing our views and culture,” says Arpan Nath of India.

Sharing Indonesian food in a little café with mothers and their children from India was “the best part of the trip” says Carla Rupp from the USA who was also attending with her son.

Felo Gracia from DR Congo crossed cultural barriers on the tours. “I was the only black person in the two trips, but I felt that I was among family,” he says.

“The tour helped me in bonding with new people,” says Subhashini Biswas. “It was really heart warming to feel the same devotion and blessings and love we have for each other even though we all belong to different culture and country. I was able to see the deep connection that people have with the Almighty even when the world in general is undergoing the hardships of war, pandemics and political turbulence.”

“The tastes of durian and selabi were totally new for me”, says Didier Bellefleur from France. “The tours helped me to better discover the culture, history and countryside of Indonesia.

“I take away a more observant and open mind to evaluate things, both in my national church and my local congregation,” says Clemens Rahn of Paraguay.

This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2022.