“Gathering” has become a bigger idea. Two years of changing pandemic restrictions taught people to be together virtually. Mennonite World Conference’s global Assembly benefits from this Zoom savvy. MWC’s event is open for anyone around the world to register to participate in these five days of fellowship from wherever they are. Additionally, recordings on the online Assembly Hub will be available until 30 September 2022.
Those watching from home limit the carbon footprint of their travel. MWC has taken steps to reduce the footprint for those in attendance as well. A compost company removes and processes all organic wastes for optimal nutrient cycling. And all participants receive a drinking receptable.
Photo: Preshit Rao
For the local participants from Indonesia who may attend only one day out of five there are bamboo cups.
Deforestation in Indonesia can lead to landslides, erosion and flooding. Bamboo is a fast-growing tree that is native to Indonesia. Bamboo plantations not only help with forestation issues, but also provide raw material for local industry.
MWC ordered 2 000 cups from two local merchants, Carang Pakang in Jepara and dAb’c craft & furniture in Yogyakarta. These will displace plastic bottles for drinking, will provide a souvenir of MWC and will decompose back into natural ingredients after their useful life has been fulfilled.
“We want to be good stewards,” says Liesa Unger, MWC chief international events officer. “We pay attention to these details for sustainable Assembly planning. And we were glad to work with local craftspersons here to support their livelihoods in green industry.”
GYS: Life in the Spirit: Learn, Serve, Worship
“What a unique opportunity to ask, observe and listen more than we speak,” says Christen Kong, Mennonite Church Canada delegate for the Global Youth Summit (GYS), 1-4 July 2022 in Salatiga, Indonesia.
“I am looking forward to meeting other Mennonite youth and documenting the ways they live out their faith. We don’t often get a chance to hear what being a Mennonite means to those far from us. I’m also eager to worship in many different languages!” she says.
Since its inception at the Assembly in Zimbabwe in 2003, the Global Youth Summit (GYS), has given Anabaptist-Mennonite youth from around the world the chance to come together, representing their diverse, local communities and connecting as a single family: one body, the church.
Each GYS delegate represents their national church. Their assignment is to conduct surveys among the young people in their national church. Delegates ask what challenges they are facing, what solutions they suggest to issues, and how they are involved in their church. They also ask questions relating to the theme: Life in the Spirit: Learn, Serve, Worship.
Christen Kong
Mennonite Church (MC) Canada selected five representatives: one from each of Mennonite Church Canada’s regional churches. Christen Kong, MC Eastern Canada representative, serves as the official national delegate.
The five MC representatives are supported by a mentor who has previously attended GYS. The mentor helps with collecting information, organizing church visits and guides the delegate to prepare emotionally for the joys and difficulties that can arise by sharing with a large, diverse group of youth delegates. The team worked hard to develop a survey that would collect different voices.
“Youth voices need to be heard by asking them directly,” says Christen Kong.
“Many quotes we gathered from youth expressed not being asked or heard – despite them being in leadership positions – about decisions made in the church. There is a larger discussion about how the Mennonite church can foster more effective approaches to inter-generational dialogue in discovering ways to mentor and inspire youth.”
After arriving to Indonesia, participants at GYS will learn through teaching, interacting, worshipping and playing alongside youth from different cultures and contexts. Days will include worship, workshops, games, music from different countries and time for fellowship with young people from around the world.
“GYS provides one with the opportunity to really open our eyes to the fact that behind all those countries that appear on the map there are brothers and sisters in faith living in diverse social, economic and political contexts. These contexts are the backdrop for specific challenges in each region to which God is responding in unique ways,” says Karina Bogarin, a member of Maranata de los Hermanos Menonitas, Paraguay, and GYS attendee in 2015.
For more information about GYS, visit mwc-cmm.org/yabs. Follow the YABs on Instagram and Facebook for videos, livestreaming and updates during Indonesia 2022.
To see all Assembly Gathered proceedings, register at indonesia2022.mwc-cmm.org.
We would like to invite you to be part of our upcoming Global Anabaptist Peace Network online gathering on June 27-29, 2022. We are looking forward to meeting all of you. On each of these days, we are planning to meet for 3 hours, starting at 8.00 (Winnipeg/Bogotá), 9.00 (Harrisonburg/La Paz), 15.00 (Johannesburg/Berlin), 20.00 (Jakarta/Bangkok).
The topic for our GAPN gathering will be “Do I stay, or do I go?”. This topic is inspired by the words coming from many in contexts of war struggling with the dilemma of staying or leaving their homes. Each decision, as difficult as it is, holds integrity for hanging on to life and relationships. Many people and communities are challenged with situations of conflict and violence that necessitate difficult decision-making.
Our gathering will include: (1) spaces to introduce and get to know each other; (2) contributions from different guest speakers, including Isaac Villegas and Erica Littlewolf (North America) and Lakan Sumulong and Tala Alngag Bautista (Philippines), that will explore this topic, focusing on the challenges and opportunities they identify in their own context and realities in relation to it; (3) spaces for group conversations; (4) devotional times that will include prayer requests. Organizing a virtual gathering poses some challenges, including the differences in time zones and the exposure and energy required to stay tuned in during the different sessions. That’s why we have decided to combine online and offline segments (which will help us to have more detailed introductions), so that there are more and alternative opportunities to exchange, learn from one another, and engage in dialogue. More detailed information will be available soon.
Both June 27 and 28 will focus on exploring our theme. June 29 will focus mainly on discernment and decision making regarding the consolidation and next steps of the GAPN. We have proposed this schedule in order to open the invitation to different people and interested organizations to join in the conversations of the first two days but that might not yet be members of the GAPN, while the third day will be for the members of the GAPN.We encourage you to invite your colleagues to join us for the first two days.
For more information and to register, please send an email to
AndresPachecoLozano@mwc-cmm.org
“Are you going to MWC?” It’s a trick question: Mennonite World Conference is not an event, but a family. Nevertheless, Indonesia 2022 – the well-known Assembly event that gathers Anabaptist-Mennonites from around the world – starts on 5 July 2022. There is much to prepare for the first-ever fully hybrid event for both on-site and online participants.
The Executive Committee met on Zoom in May to finalize the agenda for General Council meetings which take place every three years, attached to Assembly every second time.
In another first, there is a proposal for a name change for Mennonite World Conference. This global community of faith includes the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) in Ethiopia, Amor Viviente in Honduras, Jemaat Kristen Indonesia in Asia, Algemene Doopsgezinde Societeit in the Netherlands and the Brethren in Christ in the Americas and Africa. Many members do not call themselves “Mennonite.”
The Executive Committee asked the Faith and Life Commission to explore how MWC’s name could best reflect the vision, mission and members. After consultation, study and discernment, the Commission presented a proposal. The Executive Committee offers two of those options to the General Council: new name “Anabaptist Mennonite World Communion” or no change.
“The added or changed words ‘Anabaptist’ and ‘communion’ convey significant theological meaning,” says J. Nelson Kraybill, MWC president. “’Anabaptist’ speaks to our spiritual heritage and ‘communion’ accents the depth of fellowship we experience as the body of Christ. Our name should communicate that we are a church, not just a business meeting or educational enterprise.”
“This name does justice to the transformation of our global family,” says Executive Committee member Carlos Martínez-García of Mexico. He notes that within Mexico, some groups choose “Mennonite” and others who don’t. “’Anabaptist’ is wider, more inclusive,” he says.
After discussion, the General Council members will bring the proposal back to their congregations and leadership. The General Council will reconvene to decide on the name in MWC’s centenary year in 2025.
The General Council is also set to approve additional members, personnel changes on the Executive Committee and Commissions, and to approve the placement of emerging networks in the MWC structure: Global Anabaptist Higher Education Network and Global Anabaptist Primary and Secondary Education Network, Global Anabaptist Health Network, and Global Anabaptist Peace Network.
Although the General Council will meet in person in Indonesia, the networks will convene on Zoom in the weeks before and after. However, several will offer workshops at Assembly that can be attended online by Assembly registrants.
Since February 2022, Rebekah Doerksen serves in a part-time capacity as coordinator for the networks. She assists the chairs in administrative work and communicating with network members. She is a member of Crossroads Mennonite Brethren Church, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Bruce Campbell-Janz joined the MWC staff team in April 2022 as development executive. After Assembly, he will transition into the role of Chief Development Officer as J Ron Byler’s interim commitment draws to an end. Bruce Campbell-Janz is a member of East Chestnut Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA.
Gratitude to God and the global Anabaptist church fill my heart as I complete my term as MWC president. This planet-wide church has become my home, and the assembly in Indonesia will be a reunion, a gathering of siblings. In a world fractured by war and pandemic, I long to bond with peacemaking and generous people from fifty-eight countries.
Christians are “aliens and exiles,” says the letter of 1 Peter. That brings to mind refugees and displaced persons from parts of the world where Anabaptists live today – including Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela. Elsewhere, Anabaptists and other Christians face abuse and church buildings burn. Early Anabaptists suffered martyrdom in Europe, and today martyrdom continues.
Responding to these crises, Anabaptists in multiple countries open their homes and wallets to assist persons seeking refuge. “Living hope,” as Peter calls it, inspires such love. Compassion modelled by Anabaptist sisters and brothers around the world inspires me to help receive refugees who are arriving in my homeland.
Joy abounds in 1 Peter, because building community among suffering people brings hope. “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people,” the author rejoices. Peter wrote his letter because Christians need the strength we find in fellowship, especially in hardship. Anabaptists today need to learn from and support each other.
Come to assembly in Indonesia in person or online! Join MWC online prayer gatherings! Contribute financially!
MWC involvement has been life-giving for me, reminding me that my deepest loyalty is not with nation or tribe, but with a global communion of people who know Jesus. Our citizenship is in the New Jerusalem, with people who follow the Lamb.
Thank you, sisters and brothers, for being family to each other. As Peter writes to “exiles of the Dispersion,” may God “restore, support, strengthen and establish” you.
—J. Nelson Kraybill is president of MWC (2015–2022). He lives in Indiana, USA.
You can access all content until 30 September 2022 as long as you register.
Anabaptists and Pentecostals
The Global Anabaptist Project* says: “Pentecostalism is the most rapidly growing expression of Christianity in the world, and Anabaptists are not foreigners to this reality.”
Anabaptists around the world experience this by practicing an expression of faith that César García, general secretary of Mennonite World Conference, calls “Mennocostal.”
Many Anabaptist-Mennonites today combine Christ-centred theology and emphasis on peacemaking with a spontaneous Spirit-led approach that is often associated with Pentecostalism and charismatic movements.
However, the vibrancy of these rapidly growing churches can also cause discomfort when their expansion seems to come at the expense of one’s own family.
What does the growth of Pentecostalism mean for Anabaptists?
“Pentecostalism is in our century the closest parallel to what Anabaptism was in the 16th century,” wrote C. Arnold Snyder in Anabaptist History and Theology
Anabaptism has been shaped and reshaped by waves of renewal. There were the passionate and risk-taking re-baptizers of the sixteenth century; Pietist revivals among Mennonites in what is now Ukraine; the influence of the East Africa Revival of the 1930s on Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania and Kenya Mennonite Church; the birth of JKI (Jemaat Kristen Indonesia) within a youth prayer movement; the flourishing of Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia in the 1980s despite political persecution.
“Pentecostal movements, charismatic renewals make a similar experience as we did as AnabaptistMennonites. Fresh reading of the Bible together, being inspired, the freedom, the joy,” says Bernhard Ott, retired dean of Bienenberg, a Mennonite Bible institute in Switzerland.
But “openness to what God is doing is also linked to uncertainty and lack of control,” he says. A process of institutionalization challenges spontaneity for better or worse. The waves of Anabaptist renewal developed theology, training, critical reflection, and lost some openness in the process.
“The Anabaptist movement… started losing the enthusiasm that accompanied it at the beginning,” says Pedro Calix, a Mennonite pastor from Honduras.
What opportunities does the burgeoning Pentecostal movement hold for Anabaptists?
“It is a great opportunity to rethink the idea of returning to our charismatic roots and open ourselves to what the Holy Spirit wants to do within our faith communities while not losing our Anabaptist identity,” says Pedro Calix.
Neal Blough observes how worship in a Pentecostal style connects with those from the Majority World more than the rational forms of Swiss or Russian streams of Anabaptism. Professor emeritus of church history at Faculte Libre de theologie Evangelique in France, he worships with an urban congregation located in Europe but influenced by members from the rest of the world. “How much is it theological and how much is it cultural?” he asks. “Pentecostal and charismatic worship is more bodily, corporal, expressive, lively, joyful, and that corresponds to what I know of people from the Global South.”
For the Mennonite Brethren church in Brazil, the departure of congregations from the plateaued Anabaptist conference to rapidly growing Pentecostal movements caused leaders to realize an opportunity.
“We can see in Scriptures that the early church was led by the Holy Spirit. We value the Word of God. Yet, we didn’t know what it means to be led by Holy Spirit,” says Rodrigo Justino, a Mennonite Brethren pastor from Brazil, now studying theology in Canada. As both movements encountered each other in learning, the Mennonite Brethren in Brazil now “are not Pentecostal. But we’re not only Anabaptist. We’re a mix of both.
“Pentecostals bring in pathos; it’s not only emotion in a cheap way, but it’s the affections. Pentecostals bring back a spiritual dimension [to orthopraxy]: it’s the power of God, the power of the Spirit that transforms us; we don’t just do it ourselves,” says Bernhard Ott. “We can learn much from that.”
Anabaptist-Mennonites are known for theological focus on living (orthopraxy).
Ethics can become a burden without the power of the Holy Spirit; we require “spiritual power for the Anabaptist vision,” says Bernhard Ott. Pentecostal perspectives can help remind AnabaptistMennonites of our theology of the reign of God which is “already-and-not-yet. God’s power is breaking now, not just in the future.”
To the extent that the church is a place of societal transformation and a promoter of peace and justice, it is a sign of the reign of God.
What are the challenges?
Anabaptist-Mennonite churches in Latin America have many influences from Pentecostalism.
Among the negative effects are “that the liturgy often uses Biblical texts out of context, which can be seen in some of the songs that place a lot of emphasis on spiritual warfare or the prosperity gospel,” says Pedro Calix.
Rodrigo Justino notes that in Brazil, Pentecostals “don’t focus on criteria for authority – they focus on gifts. They can’t deny the woman has pastoral gifts: a prophetess, an evangelist.” However, the “top” leadership of the churches still skews male.
Pentecostal churches often rely on the spirituality of the founder; a dynasty is built. “There can be a problem of holding on to power,” says Rodrigo Justino.
In Indonesia, JKI founder’s passion for prayerful, Spirit-directed service has permeated the movement; his Mennonite roots are less evident, says Rony Kristanto, a pastor in the “Mennocostal” JKI synod.
Rapid growth can drive this problem of theological grounding. Pentecostal movements can grow “as vast as the ocean but as shallow as a puddle,” says Rodrigo Justino. “They can become prey to other movements. We [Anabaptists] can help in terms of theology. They can help us discern voice of the Spirit, what it means to live by faith. To start something, you don’t need to have money, structure; you only need faith, courage to preach. Everything else the Lord will do among us. This is a huge lesson.”
Pentecostalism is still characterized in some ways by the first-generation experience of newness and signs and wonders.
“Every Protestant movement has had this cyclical process,” says Neal Blough. Those in new movements need to think theologically, realize they are not the first Christians, observe how others have navigated the shift to become more structured and learn from them.
Unlimited Fire youth conference, 2018. Photo: Ebenzer Mondez
What gifts might Anabaptists – now a mature movement – and the still-young and developing Pentecostal movement hold for each other?
“The gifts of service, solidarity, discipleship, and teaching,” says Pedro Calix.
“We all want to bring God’s reign to come to this world,” says Rony Kristanto.
“Pentecostals try to materialize and manifest salvation through healing and salvation and physical blessing… [something that] happens here and now.
This testimony of salvation, this good news, is not in heaven, in the future, it is now. “A problem in Indonesia is people don’t have social security, so physical healing is very important for them.”
The early members of JKI followed this example. “It started with prayer. Every time before they went to a [ministry] area they were praying for this area,” Rony Kristanto says.
“Social engagement cannot be separated from charismatic experience of Holy Spirit,” he says. Mennonites also work with the poor and oppressed, but Pentecostals minster “not only as social work but due to vision, prayer,…spiritual warfare.”
“We need to sing each other’s songs,” says Neal Blough, referencing the work of Janie Blough who studies and teaches worship. “We need to sing each other, not draw into only one stream.”
The vibrance of Pentecostal worship has lessons of vitality for Mennonites, but the Anabaptist tradition offers the insight that forming disciples is a deeper process than emotional music and a sermon
“Anabaptist-Mennonites have something to offer regarding humility and community,” says Neal Blough. Discipleship and ethics are also helpful correctives to a movement that tends to be too individualistic.
He observes increasing ecumenical engagement from Pentecostals where they are seeking other church’s experience in becoming more structured as a maturing movement.
Anabaptist Mennonites can be corrective to Pentecostals to not only look at wonder and power, but to look at ethics – how you live; the peace witness, says Bernhard Ott. “Word and works has always been with Anabaptist-Mennonite theology and practice. The Pentecostal movement brings in experiencing the power of God. This is a good challenge…. Mennonites can speak to Pentecostals if it becomes too one sided.”
Retired theology professor Claude Baecher observes an interest in Anabaptist history and theology in his region in France.
“Being close, present, even fraternal to these churches seems to me as important as our involvement in ecumenical circles. This has to be done with a strong Christcentered biblical approach.
“We should avoid too rapid (spiritual) judgment and be present with teaching tools: Anabaptist history, exegesis, ethics, practical theology, peace-centred theology, dialogue,” he says.
And with humility.
In Brazil, struggling with a potential church schism between the older, conservative Mennonite Brethren churches and new churches following a Spiritled path, church leaders found a way through by learning humility together. “We struggled with our pride, our resentment [about members leaving]. We were grasping opportunities and protecting ourselves from threats,” says Rodrigo Justino.
“It’s about what God is doing in terms of grace,” says Rodrigo Justino. Follow Jesus in humility. “When you decide to do this, you have beauty. It’s different than you and me, us and them, it starts to be us. We work together.”
—Karla Braun is editor of Courier and writer for Mennonite World Conference. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada.
* Global Anabaptist Profile (GAP), an extensive three-year survey of 24 member conferences of Mennonite World Conference (MWC). Learn more: https://mwc-cmm.org/courier/stories/uniqueopportunity-greater-unity
“What’s exciting and inspiring about the workshops and meetings at MWC’s Assembly are the learnings that one receives from hearing new experiences and different teachings for following Jesus Christ,” says Pablo Stucky, Mennonite World Conference regional representative for Latin America.
At an in-person event, registrants must choose one from a slate of compelling but competing workshop options. However, at this year’s online Assembly, registered participants will have access to videos of all workshops and plenary sessions for one month after the conclusion of Indonesia 2022.
In your choice from 50 workshops, learn about…
peace building and witness in the context of hostility with Joseph K. Ngollah and Moses Munyoki from Eastleigh Fellowship in Kenya;
peace work and the environment from David Lapp-Jost of Community Peacemakers Team;
evangelical faith and the land of Israel from Bethlehem Bible College professor Alex Awad;
Mennonite songs from Voice Together, the new Mennonite Church USA and Canada hymnal with Benjamin Bergey and Anneli Loepp Thiessen;
adapting leadership and programs during COVID-19 by Arpit Kumar Kachhap and Jyothi Monalisa Bakhla of Bihar Mennonite Mandli of India;
caring for refugees and migrants from Cesar Flores, Lizette Miranda and Bonnie Klassen of Mennonite Central Committee in Latin America;
the emerging Global Anabaptist Peace Network with Andres Pacheco Lozano;
…and more
One of the biggest advantages of signing up for Assembly online is flexibility. Participants can use the workshops as a space for personal growth and learning and can also use the recorded workshops to facilitate
“Growing collectively as a global community of Anabaptists requires us to join together in prayer, dialogue and spaces for learning,” says Michael Darby, Assembly marketing & communications coordinator. “We hope to share with you in online workshops at Assembly.”
At this year’s Assembly, your registration not only gives you an all-access pass to the plenary speakers beamed to you from 5 different sites in Indonesia, the international choir singing old favourites and new hits, workshops with scholars and practitioners in the Anabaptist-Mennonite family but also video activities from the children and teen/youth program, a small group chat room to encounter new and old friends from around the world.
“What if we could develop a shelf of books on subjects key to Anabaptist-Mennonites around the world, written by authors from many different countries, translated into and published in as many as possible of the main languages used by our peoples around the world?”
This dream came to Merle and Phyllis Good while participating in the Mennonite World Conference General Council meetings in Paraguay in 1987. Decades later, this vision has taken the form of eight the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Shelf of Literature titles and five Global Mennonite History Series volumes in as many as 16 languages.
“The vision was to have pastors, leaders and key lay persons read the same books so they could have a common language and understanding to facilitate better international communication and to deepen our global faith,” says Merle Good.
Today, 13 books are available as PDFs on the MWC website (in English) to download and read at no cost. Sharing Gifts in the Global Family of Faith to God’s People in Mission discuss Anabaptist perspectives on mission, the Holy Spirit, peace, stewardship and mission.
The five history books offer a glimpse into the planting and growth of Anabaptist-Mennonite churches in continental region. Although these volumes are more than a decade old, the stories can still instruct and inspire.
“We’re excited that these resources for the global Anabaptist church are available for everyone to download for free. Reading these volumes together will help us grow and be challenged within the Mennonite World Conference family of churches,” says Kristina Toews, MWC chief communications officer. “We are very grateful to the donors whose generous gifts enabled this collection to be available for free.”
Click the links below to download and read one or more of these volumes.
“The entire assembly is an opportunity to meet people from other countries,” says Jessica Mondal, coordinator of the Global Church Village. “But at the Global Church Village, we can see, touch and taste things from other cultures.”
Displays and presentations teach about cultural and ecclesial practices in other regions. Storytelling puts faces to stories the news media covered – or left out.
“We are all part of the same global church,” says Jessica Mondal. “Hearing from others broadens our horizons and helps to understand.”
The Global Church Village stage features live performances of song, poetry, drama, dance and storytelling in 30-minute blocks; booths display artefacts and activities from around the world.
Livestream from the stage will be posted to the Assembly Hub for watching in the moment or at a later time. Vlogs (video blogs) uploaded to the Hub will share the experience from GCV through interviews and descriptions.
“Anyone can present: we’re not looking for professionals,” says Jessica Mondal. “This is a more relaxed atmosphere for people to share something from home. Participants can just enjoy: hear my language, my music, my stories; taste my food and touch my fabrics.”
All on-site registrants may bring something to share about their culture.
Common artefacts at past Assemblies include snacks and cultural specialities, traditional clothing and jewelry, flags, maps, banners, posters and charts explaining Anabaptist-Mennonite history and relationships, and liturgical items.
Indonesian participants are preparing a coffee display. “Maybe participants from Ethiopia will also teach us about coffee, and those from Paraguay about terere/maté?” says Jessica Mondal.
Global Church Village has been part of Assembly since the Kolkata Assembly in 1997 where teenaged Jessica Mondal was volunteer youth steward. A vivid memory she cherishes is the quilt making session: “North Americans cut out pieces of fabric that participants could stitch together in the GCV hut. At the end, it made an HIV-AIDS quilt that went around to several countries, raising awareness.”
The GCV stage livestream (noon to 17:30 Semarang time*) will be available in the Assembly Hub. Online participants can join the contests and scavenger hunts and chat spaces.
“Do I participate alone at my computer, or will groups emerge to share what is typically a communal event?” Ray Brubacher, former event planner for Mennonite World Conference, didn’t wait until July to decide. Unable to attend the event in person, he is organizing watch parties for Anabaptist-Mennonites in his region to attend the hybrid Assembly together.
Mennonite World Conference’s Assembly will take place in Indonesia 5–10 July 2022 both on-site and online. The event features 10 worship services across six days with inspiring speakers from the global Anabaptist-Mennonite family.
On-site attendance is limited due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the hybrid event enables everyone to participate from wherever they are. Plenary sessions, workshops and Global Church Village stage will be livestreamed and recorded.
Online registrants enter the Assembly Hub to join conversation spaces with other participants from around the world, attend workshops and view photos and videos from the live event.
“We encourage local congregations to register for the Assembly,” says Jardely Martinez, Assembly communications coordinator. “You can view the livestream in real time with Indonesia or host a watch party at a time of your convenience.”
The Anabaptist-Mennonite pastors and leaders group in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, is planning two viewing sessions from Wednesday to Saturday.
“I learned in Zimbabwe to keep it simple,” says Ray Brubacher.
Likely hosted at a Mennonite Church Canada congregation, these watch parties will be open to all Anabaptist-Mennonites from the region. Ray Brubacher is especially keen to see newer Anabaptist-Mennonite congregations attend, especially those on the margins of dominant culture in Canada.
Assembly videos will be available for one month after the event.
“You can relieve your pastor of sermon duties this summer by screening one or several of the Assembly plenary speakers,” says Jardely Martínez. “Your worship band can learn new songs from the international ensemble or take a break by airing the Assembly worship singing video.
Experts from the global Anabaptist-Mennonite family will share their knowledge in workshops. Some will be livestreamed from onsite while others will be held in a webinar format. “Workshops may be used in Sunday school classes or provide material for discussion in week-day studies or youth groups,” says Rianna Isaak-Krauß, Assembly assistant.
This world-wide gathering only happens every six or seven years.
“Mennocostal” – Pentecostal Mennonites – may be the best characterization of most Anabaptists in Mennonite World Conference today. The influence of Pentecostalism in Mennonite congregations worldwide is an overwhelming reality. In their study of Mennonite World Conference churches, Conrad Kanagy, Elizabeth Miller, and John D. Roth conclude, “One of the defining differences between MWC members in the Global North and the Global South is their experience of the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit, with Europeans and North Americans much less likely to identify with these experiences… Pentecostalism is the most rapidly growing expression of Christianity in the world, and Anabaptists are not foreigners to this reality.”1
Pentecostalism’s influence in our lives has pushed many of us towards an internal dialogue between the Anabaptist tradition and the new Pentecostal tendencies that emerge in some parts of the world. In my faith journey, that dialogue looks like the following so far:
Do I believe in miracles and the gifts of the Spirit such as prophecy and tongues?
Yes, I do. I have experienced them.
I also think, as Encanto (a recent movie about Colombia) says, people themselves are God’s miracles. People are more important than the gifts they bring to the table. In Jesus’ words, at the end of the Sermon of the Mount, you can do all sorts of supernatural things, but if you do not do what he says, you do not know him (Matthew 7:21-23).
I also believe illness and suffering are everyday human experiences that God may transform for our wellbeing and growth. God does not promise to remove those experiences from our lives. Instead, God promises to walk with us through them.
Do I believe that God wants us to prosper?
Yes, I do. Financial prosperity is one of the many things in which followers of Jesus may thrive.
However, such economic prosperity is not the result of a special prayer technic. It is not related to an individualistic consumerist desire, and it is not a reward God gives to those who provide their tithes to force God’s hand.
Financial prosperity results from a simple lifestyle, the consequence of living a life that cares for creation and is aware of our responsibility on the environmental crisis.
We communally experience financial prosperity. It happens when followers of Christ share their possessions and needs. Anabaptists understand that according to the Book of Acts, a consequence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is financial sharing in the community of the Spirit (Acts 2:44).
In addition to prophecy, miracles, and other mystical experiences, a life of generosity and sharing of wealth has to be a fruit of the Spirit. Only God’s presence can overcome the natural human tendency toward egocentrism and self-satisfaction. Only God’s presence overcomes consumerism and materialism, creating an alternative community to the society.
Do I believe that God empowers leaders with the Holy Spirit? Yes, I do.
When the Holy Spirit fills a leader, they serve others and do not look for recognition, honour or positions of power. A leader that serves in God’s Spirit solves conflicts in the way of Jesus and never takes the initiative to fragment Christ’s body. Divisions and power struggles never are a path of a leader that follows God’s Spirit.
Do I believe in peacemaking and reconciliation? Yes, I do.
Life in the Spirit is a life of peacemaking and restorative justice. It is possible to be an activist that promotes justice and peace without following Jesus. However, to be so in the way of Jesus, we need to depend on the Holy Spirit and have a solid personal relationship with the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.
Those are some of my internal, personal thoughts about my commitment to follow Jesus in the Anabaptist tradition and my experience of doing so in the context of modern Pentecostalisms in the Americas. But of course, these opinions may change because following Christ implies movement and growth. So, likewise, they may change when tested and submitted to the community of Christ’s followers, the church. As vital as they are, individual beliefs are never enough to witness a life fulfilled with the Spirit. Only a life submitted to the community of believers bears witness to God’s presence in our lives.
In this issue of Courier, internal dialogues open the way to intercultural, inter-Anabaptist conversations about the influence of Pentecostalism in our global communion and our experience of life in the Spirit according to our Anabaptist tradition.
May the Spirit of God guide us to continue discovering in practice the implications of following Jesus in the power of God’s Spirit!
—Cesar Garcia, General Secretary, Mennonite World Conference
“GYS provides one with the opportunity to really open our eyes to the fact that behind all those countries that appear on the map there are brothers and sisters in faith living in diverse social, economic and political contexts. These contexts are the backdrop for specific challenges in each region to which God is responding in unique ways,” says Karina Bogarin, a member of Maranata de los Hermanos Menonitas, Paraguay, and GYS attendee in 2015. 
