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New staff build on foundation
Mennonite World Conference lives out unity through relationships. There have been some changes to the faces that help develop these relationships, through regional representatives and communications. Regional representative coordinator Janet Plenert has taken on the half-time role of regional representative coordinator beginning in July 2024. An experienced global leader, Janet Plenert was part of the…
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Courageous choirs sing of love in Zurich
Anabaptist Christians in a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood of 137 000 residents in Nairobi practice “The Courage to Love” on a daily basis. “Our modest Anabaptist congregation faces acceptance, evangelism and cultural fusion difficulties,” says George Ochieng, director of Eastleigh Fellowship Centre (EFC) Mennonite Church Choir. “Even so, we have been summoned to exhibit courage through…
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MWC general secretary joins urgent call for peace
MWC general secretary César García joined more than 200 global Christian leaders to sign a letter calling “with heartfelt insistence, for a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire, for the return of hostages, and the release of Palestinian prisoners held without due process.” The letter acknowledges the loss of Israeli lives on 7 October 2023 and the…
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God so loved the cosmos…
The environmental crisis and our mandate to care for creation A word of encouragement from the MWC Faith & Life Commission and the Creation Care Task Force. Part 1 of 2 “Creation care” is taking on ever-increasing urgency. The news reminds us daily of alarming changes in our climate. As the Creation Care Task Force’s…
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Reflections on Kintsukuroi
Brokenness into glory Clay in God’s hands Brokenness into glory Kintsukuroi, a traditional Japanese technique, involves repairing ceramics with lacquer and gold, embracing damage as part of an object’s history instead of concealing or discarding it. This process entails identifying broken areas and delicately mending them with precious gold, resulting in unique pieces that blend…
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500: The courage to love
Commemorating 500 years of Anabaptism on Thursday, 29 May 2025 (Ascension Day) in Zurich, Switzerland.
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Angola church supports women
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). Igreja Evangelica Menonita Em Angola (IEMA) has taken this to heart with a lending project to promote small business for widows and abandoned women in their community. During a meeting of IEMA’s…
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In Memoriam: Bijoy Kumar Roul (1950-2024)
Dr. Bijoy Kumar Roul, founder and chair of the Brethren in Christ (BIC) Church, Cuttack, Odisha, India, died 12 July 2024. He represented BIC Odisha on Mennonite World Conference’s General Council since the church became a member in 2003. “I had known Bishop Bijoy Roul to be a leader with a deep commitment to live out…
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We know God better through the global family
“Through Mennonite World Conference (MWC), I learn what it means to be a global citizen, and that the church is much bigger than my own local congregation,” says Agus Mayanto (Southeast Asia). “We are all brothers and sisters and not strangers anymore.” A Mennonite pastor from Indonesia, Agus Mayanto, is one of MWC’s regional representatives. …
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Life-extending gifts to Myanmar
Even civil war doesn’t stop the global family from supporting one another. For the Indonesia 2022 Assembly, Amos Chin from Bible Missionary Church, Mennonite (BMC), came to participate in the MWC General Council. A military coup followed by civil war had broken out in his country a year earlier, destroying the livelihoods of people there. …
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The mosaic of Scripture and of the church
Peace Sunday 2024 Teaching resource Reading Scripture has always been at the heart of the church’s life, but from early on, different ways of reading and understanding have led to conflict and division. What is Scripture? Already in the early centuries several movements arose with differing claims about the meaning of the Gospel and how…
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Peace Sunday 2024 – Activities
2 Corinthians 4:7 describes the gospel as a “treasure” in “clay jars.” These humble vessels bring to mind the Japanese tradition of kintsukuroi that creates (or recreates) pottery from broken pieces. Damaged vessels are put back together, often with gold binding, to create a useful object once again. The new piece tells a story about…
