Prayers of gratitude and intercession

A brand-new Courier brings Kenya to you while World Fellowship Sunday tells migration stories from Latin America and Indonesia comes to the Bogota office.

New ways Mennonite World Conference is connecting churches worldwide:

• A hopeless church planter, powerful women on mission and a conscientious objector in Colombia: Courier October 2018 has stories of the Holy Spirit Transforming Us today and in the past. Courier includes testimonies and reports from the Renewal 2027 event and General Council meetings in Kenya

• “José, a refugee, a poet and politician, arrived at our door from Puerto Tejada with his entire family… His joy has become a blessing that spreads and that gladdens our meetings.” —Iglesia Cristiana Menonita de Quito, Ecuador.

?Anabaptist Christians today are called to follow Jesus in his ministry of justice making. In Latin America, Anabaptist churches are composed of both those who have been migrants, and those who welcome migrants. God is faithful in the midst of these stories of uprootedness and change.

For 2019, Justice on the Journey: Migration and the Anabaptist- Mennonite Story is the theme of the World Fellowship Sunday worship resources, prepared by the regional representatives of Latin America.

Find sermon resources and more testimonies like José’s in the WFS worship resources.

Click here for more information.

• 

  The face behind Facebook: Alexandro Daniel Marthin is the web communications worker for 2018/2019. YAMEN is the joint MWC-MCC exchange program for young adults. Alex is a member of JKI (Jemaat Kristen Indonesia). At home in Indonesia, Alex studies communication, specializing in public relations. He enjoys movies and country music.

• The organizing team of the second Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival in Elspeet, the Netherlands, 27-30 June 2019, released a Call for Proposals. This event is the result of a close dialogue with the emerging Global Anabaptist Peace Network (GAPN), in connection with the Peace Commission of Mennonite World Conference (MWC). Exploring how Mennonites around the globe walk in the ways of peace and peacebuilding, proposals may be individual contributions, workshop pitches and artistic expressions. Click here for more information.

—Mennonite World Conference release

The International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB) is made up of 21 national churches in 19 countries with approximately 450,000 members. ICOMB exists to facilitate relationships and ministries to enhance the witness and discipleship of its member national churches – connecting, strengthening and expanding.

“All our members thank the community of ICOMB who joins us in prayer with the hope of changing the situation by ensuring conciliation and peace. God is acting one way or another. The church lives. The mission continues. During the month of August I visited the churches to the south of the country. We ordained some pastors and did training on church management. Parish members attended the seminar for three days. We had a discourse with members who speak the Yaka language in two of our churches, Tambunseke and Panzi, explaining the Bible translation project. It will be translated for the first time into the Yaka language. It was truly a divine visit with these people.”

— Gérard Mambakila Kabemba, President of Communauté des Églises des Frères Mennonites au Congo (CEFMC)

The International Brethren in Christ Association (IBICA) is the common network for all national conferences of the Brethren in Christ church with the aim to facilitate communication, build trust and cooperation within our global community, and to establish common and mutual understanding through our set of core values. An associate member of MWC, IBICA has some 190 000 attendees in over 30 countries around the world representing dozens of national churches.

Building on the ongoing relationship between Be in Christ Church of Canada (formerly named the Brethren in Christ) and the Nicaraguan Brethren in Christ Church, Doug Sider (executive director) and Trevor Main (area director for Central/South America) visited with national church president German Garcia (Associación Misión Evangélica de los Hermanos en Cristo en Nicaragua) in Managua, Nicaragua.

Since April 2018, Nicaragua has experienced protests, violence and the interruption of normal living.

The visit’s purpose was to listen to sisters and brothers in Nicaragua, to encourage them and to affirm that they are not alone.

Pray for

• the peace of Christ to triumph over violence,
• wisdom for the government as they lead through this season of turmoil,
• the prophetic voice of the church of Jesus Christ to be heard as a message of peace and reconciliation.

—Doug Sider, executive director, Be In Christ, Canada

Ten-yea-old Kanku Ngalamulume fled from his home in the village of Senge after armed groups beheaded his mother and father and his siblings too.

He was among 1.4 million people in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who have been forced from their homes as violence among local militias and the Congolese military erupted in August 2016.

Through tears, Kanku told MCC’s representative Mulanda Juma that after his family’s death, he ran with other villagers into the bush. They traveled on foot for five hours to reach the city of Tshikapa, where Mama Agnès, another displaced person, has been taking care of him.

In February, when he spoke with Juma, Kanku said he felt hopeless.

“We eat only once a day in the evening. I have no hope, for any reason.”

This was before three local Anabaptist churches distributed food with the support of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and other Anabaptist groups (see list at the end of the story). From April to June, churches distributed flour, beans, oil and salt to 830 households and hygiene supplies to 1,000 women and girls.

The local churches include MWC members Communauté des Eglises de Frères Mennonites au Congo (CEFMC; Mennonite Brethren Church of Congo) working in Kikwit; Communauté Evangélique Mennonite (CEM; Evangelical Mennonite Church) in Kabwela; and Communauté Mennonite au Congo (CMCo; Mennonite Church of Congo) in Tshikapa.

In July, Kanku and Kapinga Ntumba, a 12-year-old girl who fled Kamonya village in April 2017, told MCC program manager Matthieu Abwe Luhangela that they were happy to receive the food distribution, but that more would be needed for the months ahead.

Kapinga also is an orphan who is trying to find her way after armed men killed her father and mother.

“I am taken care of by a lady whose name is Mary. We are living in a church down there in Tshikapa. I was at school before I left. I need to go to school,” Kaping told Juma in February.

The churches are responding to the need for education by paying school fees for more than 500 students. When school starts in September, the children also will have uniforms to wear and school supplies to use.

They will have more food too because the churches are supplying 1,180 households in Kabwela, Kikwit and Tshikapa with a five-month supply of food in August. The food, which is funded with $528,000 from MCC’s account at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, will cover a gap in food consumption while households with access to land can prepare fields, plant and harvest crops.

Today, the number of displaced people from the Kasai region has decreased to about 900,000 people, but the conflict there has caused severe food insecurity in the area, affecting as many as 3.2 million people. According to UNICEF, as many as 400,000 children are at risk of dying from malnutrition.

The churches are working with MCC to develop plans for livelihood recovery initiatives to support families who are able to return home and for those who remain displaced. In addition, planning for peacebuilding and trauma healing is underway.

“Glory and honor to God for having, by his Holy Spirit, placed in you this sentiment of love which is an expression of active fellowship. My thanks and all of my gratitude go to our partners, who deliberately chose to feel the misfortune of the Congolese by bringing food aid,” says Jean Felix Cimbalanga Wa Mpoyi, president of CEM. “Your prayers always have a very positive impact in the life of our churches.”

Anabaptist organizations supporting these food and education distributions include Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission; Caisse de Secours (French Mennonite development arm); International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB); MB Mission; Mennonite Church Canada Witness; Mennonite Mission Network; Mennonite World Conference; and Konferenz der Mennoniten der Schweiz/Conférence Mennonite Suisse (Swiss Mennonite Conference).

—MWC release with files from MCC

Click here to support the ongoing response in Kasai 

Renewal 2027 testimony: Anabaptists today

Renewal 2027 is a 10-year series of events organized by Mennonite World Conference’s Faith and Life Commission to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement. This series highlights leaders in the movement from history to the present.

He is quiet and unassuming, gentle and humble in disposition. But, when he is addressing the church, he commands attention. He sings and dances with vigour and energy that belies his nearly 60 years.

This is Laston Bissani Mitambo, an evangelist who has planted many churches in the Palombe District in Malawi and in the Zambezia Province of Mozambique.

Bissani was born in Malawi in 1959. While he was in primary school, he enjoyed looking at the tailors creating garments on their machines. When he completed schooling, he immediately went to training as a tailor

He married Eniles in 1979. Eventually, the family moved to Blantyre, where he worked as a tailor.

That is where he received Christ 11 January 1986 during a street-preaching episode. He learned about the love of Jesus, little by little, until he was moved to repentance and salvation.

His brother who attended a Brethren in Christ Church introduced Bissani to this church. He grew in faith there, and served as treasurer.

“But, I was also itching to share the message of God’s love. I shared the gospel whenever and wherever I could.”

In 1990, BICC Malawi appointed Bissani as national evangelist.

“I love for other people to know this same Saviour who gave me a new and beautiful life. I find much joy in bringing people together who have come to know Christ, so that they start worshipping together.”

After Bissani’s studies at the Evangelical Bible College of Malawi, BIC Malawi sent the newly ordained reverend to Mozambique in 2003 to grow the Malawian church in the Zambezia Province.

“It is not always easy to reach some of the areas,” says Bissani, who has slept on the streets or in the bush on his evangelistic travels. “I have lost some of my belongings to thieves.”

He travels alone or with an assistant. “We spend three or four days doing door-to-door visits, then a crusade. We leave someone leading the preaching point and follow up whenever we can.”

But one day Malawi BIC had no more funds to support church planting work. What would Bissani do back home? His heart wanted to carry on evangelising in Mozambique.

He remembered that the Apostle Paul was a tent maker. Using his skills as a tailor, Bissani could support his family while he did the work the Lord had called him to do.

Bissani now receives a quarterly allowance from BICWM that complements what he gets from his tailoring business.

Eniles died of cancer in 2009. Bissani married Carlotta, who was with the BICC in Beira, in 2010.

A recent graduate of a four-year Theological Education by Extension (TEE) course, Carlotta “has been a great wife and partner in ministry.” Bissani and Carlotta have one son together in addition to his eight children with Eniles.

Bissani’s dream is to start a Bible school in the northern region in Mozambique to train many leaders “so that it will be easy to pass the baton.”

Currently, with support from the BICC administrator in Mozambique, Bissani trains church leaders who come to Milange for seminars on leadership, salvation, the Holy Spirit, Christian life, evangelism, church planting and ecclesiology.

The spirit of evangelism is a fire shut up in Bissani’s bones. His face in animated when he speaks about his work as an evangelist. After 16 years of sharing the gospel and planting churches in Malawi, and another 15 years in Mozambique, does he have plans for retirement? “I will stop this work when God says, ‘Laston, stop’!”

—A Mennonite World Conference release by Barbara Nkala. Barbara is the MWC regional representative for Southern Africa.

 

Laston Bissani helped to plant multiple congregations in:

• Milange
• Nyasa
• Moloque
• Mocuba
• Zambezia province
• Mulanje
• Zomba
• Chikwawa
• Palombe

Renewal 2027 testimony: Anabaptists today

Renewal 2027 is a 10-year series of events to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement. This series highlights leaders in the movement from history to the present.

“With the grace of God, I escaped many deaths throughout my journey in Christ,” says Tigist Alamirew. Born to an Orthodox family in Finote Selam, she now serves as distance education director at Meserete Kristos College in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia.

“While I was a teenager, one of my friends witnessed to me about the love of Jesus. My heart was opened, and I received Christ as my personal Saviour,” she says.

Displeased with her “new religion,” her parents chased Alamirew from their home. Her aunt led a community effort to scare the “demon” from her. They beat her with rubber and burned her face, arms and legs in a fire.

“During that time, I saw a vision of Jesus Christ’s suffering, and I did not feel the beating. When I saw Jesus rise up from his burial, I jumped up rejoicing, and said, ‘Hallelujah, Jesus Christ is risen!’”

Meserete Kristos Church brought Alamirew to Addis Ababa where they helped pay for her medical treatment. She got a job at the church office. Generous donors helped her go to the USA for plastic surgery to remove the scars on her face.

“I never thought of revenge for my perpetrators. I have fasted and prayed for them, hoping that they would come to know the love of Jesus Christ,” she says.

It’s time

As a new Christian, Alamirew dedicated herself to God’s service. Daily, she prayed and read Scripture. “God kept speaking me: ‘My child, I need you. It’s time to get ready for ministry.’ Looking at my busy schedule of ministry, I replied, ‘Lord, don’t you know that I am serving you?’”

Alamirew transferred to work for MK College as secretary, cashier and librarian. As she related with the students and teachers, “The voice of the Lord came to me again: ‘Time to get ready,’ and something burned in me,” she says.

She began with evening classes in theology. With financial aid from Jacob and Grace Leichty from Ohio, she was able to take a year of absence to finish her degree.

Theology was only the beginning. “Ministry should be holistic: since we serve the whole being, we have to address the wholeness of humankind,” she says.

Alamirew earned a second degree in community development.

Inspirational learning

People was warned Alamirew that studying theology would lead to “a spiritual cemetery,” but for her, “Every class session was devotional and inspirational.

“My studies do not make me dry; instead they give clarity to discern truth from untruth.”

Education has been a gift “not only my church ministry, but also my spiritual life and work,” says Alamirew. She is also vice chairperson and secretary of the elders’ board at her local church.

“I encourage those who would live and serve Christ to study with expectation and commitment. Instructors should equip students to be passionately committed Christ-like servants through their own exemplary life.”

The gospel for the family

Although a member of the Meserete Kristos family, Alamirew did not forget to pray for and witness to her family of origin.

“My goal is to reach unreached relatives and build a church,” she says. “Sixteen years ago, I started a fellowship with just three family members who received Christ as their Saviour. Now this fellowship has more than 20 members.”

“I express my gratitude to God and those who invested in me. All the glory to Almighty God.”

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At the graduation ceremony in May, MK College dedicated the nearly completed new dormitory building for up to 258 female students. The modern facility includes lounges, kitchenettes and a large meeting room. “The completion of women’s dorm gives me great joy, because more women leaders and ministers will get a chance to study,” says Alamirew.

—A Mennonite World Conference release by Karla Braun

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A quiz on global Christianity and Anabaptism (including MWC statistics) prepared participants from Nihon Menonaito Kirisuto Kyokai Kyogikai (Japan Mennonite Christian Church Conference) for a discussion of the Shared Convictions of Global Anabaptists.

For the annual Peace Missions Centre seminar 15–16 July 2018 at Fukuzumi Mennonite Center in Sapporo, Japan, the group from Japan Mennonite Church used Mennonite World Conference’s Shared Convictions to reflect on faith and practice in the context of global Anabaptists.

Although this Mennonite national church on the island of Hokkaido has its own confession of faith, “we join our Mennonite brothers and sisters in confessing the ‘Shared Convictions’ statement,” the document states, “express[ing] the faith that unites Anabaptist/Mennonites who walk in the path of disciples in today’s world.”

“It was a profound encouragement to find out that the Shared Convictions were a powerful tool for reflection, exploration and learning in our Mennonite koinonia,” says Atsuhiro Katano, MWC General Council member for Japan.

Facilitator Katano designed the program using a workshop method called “world café.” Participants explored the Shared Convictions in casual manner by visiting seven tables with one article at the centre. They reflected on and raised questions about each statement, then wrote their impressions on a big sheet of paper on the table.

The workshop was comprised of seven 15-minute rounds, so that each participant could visit each table. After the world cafe, participants shared their reflections in small groups.

Most of the 23 participants agreed that the Shared Convictions express the distinctive characteristics of Anabaptist tradition dear to them, such as Christo-centric discipleship and emphasis on communal acts of church.

Some expressed bewilderment when they were exposed to the description of human fallenness/sinfulness and nonconformity to the powers of evil without explicit mention on God’s love.

Other questions were raised on the terms used for translation, lack of articulated dogmas and on readability to non-Christians. This demonstrated how diverse the participants were in terms of what they expect from a statement of faith.

The seminar closed with all participants sitting in a circle to share their experiences as they passed a Ryukyu Temari (a traditional handball from Okinawa) as the talking piece. Some participants shared that the style of the workshop showed them that it is possible to create a safe space that is both respectful to various opinions and focused on a particular theme.

—a Mennonite World Conference release by Atsuhiro Katano, a church leader in Nihon Menonaito Kirisuto Kyokai Kyogikai.

 

From a boat on the Sea of Galilee, a fisherman demonstrates the ancient art of casting a circular net. Weights along the outer edge sink rapidly, pulling the web around any living thing below. Waters next to Jesus’ ministry base at Capernaum teemed with tilapia, carp, and sardines when his first disciples plied their trade.

Fishing was a significant part of the regional economy in the first century, evidenced by names of nearby towns: Bethsaida (“house of fishing”) was hometown to Peter, Andrew and Philip; Tariacheae (“pickled fish town,” called Magdala in Hebrew) probably was home to Mary Magdalene. Disciples of Jesus appear in the Gospels variously mending nets, fishing all night, counting fish, extracting a coin from the mouth of a fish, and eating seafood breakfast on the beach with the risen Christ.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind,” Jesus told his followers. “When it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire” (Matthew 13:47–50).

At a time when some Christian denominations excommunicate or divide over contested matters, Jesus’ fishing parable is instructive. Galilean fishermen typically used nets, not hooks, to harvest their catch. Evangelism and church discipline, according to this imagery, are broad and inclusive. Nobody gets hooked individually by ruse or violence. Rather, the wide embrace of a net draws in a motley and diverse catch. At the end of the age, these get sorted – not by you and me, but by angels.

How tempted I am to start sorting now!

Toss out fish whose politics irritate me.

Discard those not to my taste.

Get rid of any whose views don’t seem biblical according to how I interpret the Bible.

But instead of putting you and me into the sorting business, Jesus implies that we are to cast a wide net. “Follow me, and I will make you [net] fish for people,” he said (Matthew 4:19).

Other biblical images likewise suggest that Jesus advocated an inclusive people-gathering. The kingdom of heaven is like a farmer’s field with both wheat and weeds, he taught. These grow side by side until harvest, then reapers (angels?) sort them and destroy the worthless plants (Matthew 13:24–30).

In John’s Apocalypse, it is Christ who can remove lampstands (congregations), not the churches themselves (Revelation 2:5).

Our Lord did not suggest that belief and behaviour are irrelevant to salvation. There are consequences for those who do not measure up. When God brings harvest at the end of the age, weeds will go up in smoke and bad fish end up in the furnace, “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” We do well to learn, practice and teach what God requires for holy living.

But thank God, we can focus on net-casting and let God do the sorting.

– A Mennonite World Conference release by MWC president J. Nelson Kraybill. Adapted from “Holy Land Peace Pilgrim” (May 5, 2018, http://peace-pilgrim.com).