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Constant prayer in Pennsylvania 2015
The same heart for God unites across language and culture At the Mennonite World Conference Assembly, prayer was constant. A room – open all day long – was set aside where people could pray for different prayer requests. A 40-foot x by 24-foot world map, courtesy of the Rosedale Mennonite Mission, was displayed in the
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How to celebrate 500 years
Faith and Life Commission workshop explores how to observe 2025 Mennonite World Conference held its first assembly in 1925 – the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the Anabaptist movement. With the 500th anniversary only 10 years away, many people are wondering how MWC plans to commemorate it. A workshop 24 July 2015 at the
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Unexpected blessing
PA 2015 stories Friendship group gives financial gift to Kenyan pastor In his friendship group at the Mennonite World Conference assembly, Francis Ojwang found that getting to know fellow believers from distant places brought an unexpected blessing. The Kenyan pastor had hoped that his wife, Everline Achieng, could travel with him to PA 2015. But,
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The family speaks together
Friendship groups at PA 2015 facilitate small group conversation By Karla Braun Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA – “You can witness young to very old people [talking with each other]. And we’ve become intimate friends,” says Omondi Samson from Kenya as he takes a picture of his new “mom and dad” from the USA. Samson participated in
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Walking with God through art
Images in MWC art exhibit communicate at a deeper level By Byron Rempel-Burkholder Mennonite World Conference assemblies are often remembered as festivals of words: stories, songs, sermons and conversations. But what about visual art? “There has been a surge of interest in art in the Anabaptist world,” says Geoff Isley, PA 2015 visual arts planning
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Half-day tours extend the Assembly experience
Bus trips take guests to points of interest throughout central PennsylvaniaBy Matthew Hahn Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA – All week, 33 different half-day tours have extended the PA 2015 experience beyond the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg to numerous sites of interest and significance throughout central Pennsylvania. On the busiest days, more than 20 coach buses
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Doing something about faith
MDS house build at Mennonite World Conference Assembly erects homes in 5 days Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA – Pounding nails may be the last activity one might expect at an international church convention, but for many at the Mennonite World Conference’s PA 2015, it was a perfect fit. Every afternoon, just outside the air-conditioned halls of
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At MWC assembly, MCC cans vegetables for first time
International participants can beans in Pennsylvania heat By Tim Huber Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA – Mennonite Central Committee’s mobile meat canner went vegan for Mennonite World Conference PA 2015, switching for one week from pork, beef and turkey to green beans. Slipping out a back door into a parking lot, attendees donned hairnets, a few beard
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Music brings unity at world conference
International songs draw participants into worship despite unfamiliarity By Laura Kraybill Worship rises to the rafters as Mennonites and Brethren and Christ join their voices in music from around the world at PA 2015 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Differences exist in theology and culture, yet music is a unifier at world conference, even when it stretches
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Stitching for global connections
Quilting and comforter activities link participants to MCC’s work By Byron Rempel-Burkholder Sushant Nand looks up from one of the Bernini sewing machines at the section of the hall devoted to quilt and comforter-making. A passerby is asking him if he is a tailor by trade. He smiles. “No, I just wanted to learn about
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Shuttles bring people together
Transportation network makes friends from strangers By Karla Braun Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA – “All I see is smiles,” says Brenda Burkholder, volunteer at the homestay shuttle information table. Many of the more than 7,200 guests from 56 countries registered for Pennsylvania 2015 travel between their overnight lodging and the Farm Show Complex each day via
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PA congregations to host final day of PA 2015; 26 July worship resources available to all
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA – Attendees of PA 2015, the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Assembly, will spend 26 July, the final day of the event, with Mennonite and Brethren in Christ congregations within a two-hour radius of the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. “Since there are so many Anabaptist-related congregations close by, we asked if they
