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Spanish speaking YAMENers face unique challenges in Latin American placements
Serving in an area of the world relatively close to your home country where the dominant language is the same as your own might seem relatively easy. But Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network (YAMEN) participants who hail from Latin American countries and are serving in other countries in the same region are seeing differences first-hand.…
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Angolan Mennonites welcome refugees
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada – “The situation is very serious,” says Francisca Ibanda, Mennonite World Conference regional representative for Central/West Africa. The UN expects more than 50,000 people from DR Congo to become refugees in Angola in 2017, fleeing violent attacks in the central region. From 1,000 people in March to 20,000 in May, the number…
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MWC – new on the web: Building bridges with Peace Sunday
Mennonite World Conference weaves a web of connections within the Anabaptist Mennonite family around the world through website, emails, social media, publishing and relations with other organizations. Several new connecting points are emerging over the past half year. “A renewed peace church builds bridges” is the theme of this year’s Peace Sunday worship package. It…
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Eun Hunki: Choosing to follow the way of Jesus
His life was not easy, but he never failed to carry the spirit of Jesus that the Mennonites taught him through his vocational school years in 1950–60s. After graduation, he studied dairy farming and finally moved to Hokkaido, Japan, to live with his family.
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Ministry partner update: IBICA – August 2017
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…
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Ministry partner update: ICOMB – August 2017
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. Now is the time “After praying and fasting, I was convinced…
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Elsbeth and Balthasar Hubmaier
What was it like for a Christian who defends the state’s use of force to have the force used against him? Or for a wife, after her husband’s imprisonment and torture, to watch as he is burned at the stake? Or, three days later, for her to be tied to a large stone and dropped…
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MWC has beauty to be shared
Bogota, Colombia – “MWC is a global family through which we experience our participation in the body of Christ,” says general secretary César García. Social media is one place we participate with each other across geographical boundaries. “We are a meeting place for the Anabaptist family,” says Chief Communications Officer Kristina Toews. “Through MWC’s online platforms,…
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New bishops in Tanzania plan for revival
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada – The church in Tanzania underwent revival in the 1940s–1980s and the leaders of Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania (KMT) are ready to welcome it again. The newly elected bishops have cast a vision to expand the Mennonite church in Tanzania by one million people. In January 2017, several retirements caused turnover of…
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When mental illness arrives in the pews
Ben’s parents were mystified and deeply concerned. They had received a call that their 22-year-old son was being taken for a psychiatric exam at the hospital. He had been a regular kid who was bright, creative, fun-loving and caring. Now he was acting in ways that were unusual for him – making wild accusations, seeming…
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Churches as healing communities
How should the church think about mental health? Our mental state is connected to body and spirit, and, like them, can be in a state of unhealthiness. In this perspectives section, leaders and health practitioners from Anabaptist-related congregations around the world address how their church has a role in caring for the mental health of…
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Churches and psychiatry: “it’s complicated”
How should the church think about mental health ? Our mental state is connected to body and spirit, and, like them, can be in a state of unhealthiness. In this perspectives section, leaders and health practitioners from Anabaptist-related congregations around the world address how their church has a role in caring for the mental health…