{"id":17138,"date":"2009-11-19T17:39:20","date_gmt":"2009-11-19T17:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/resources\/a-heart-with-four-chambers-a-theological-foundation-for-the-work-of-mwcs-four-commissions\/"},"modified":"2025-02-19T20:45:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T20:45:45","slug":"heart-four-chambers-theological-foundation-work-mwcs-four-commissions","status":"publish","type":"mwcresource","link":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/resources\/heart-four-chambers-theological-foundation-work-mwcs-four-commissions\/","title":{"rendered":"A heart with four chambers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-left\" style=\"text-transform:none\">A theological foundation for the work of MWC\u2019s four commissions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-yellow-eyebrow\">A teaching resource from the Faith and Life Commission<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>What does it mean for member churches of Mennonite World Conference to share an Anabaptist identity? What is the value of Anabaptist \u201ctradition\u201d \u2013 and what does that word mean in a global context? What are our Anabaptist understandings of mission and fellowship?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>In 2009, the newly appointed Faith and Life Commission was asked to produce three papers that could be used in helping MWC communities reflect on such questions:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>\u201cA Holistic Understanding of Fellowship, Worship, Service, and Witness from an Anabaptist Perspective\u201d by Alfred Neufeld Friesen of Paraguay;<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>\u201cThe \u2018Anabaptist Tradition\u2019 \u2013 Reclaiming its Gifts, Heeding its Weaknesses\u201d by Hanspeter Jecker of Switzerland; and<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>\u201cKoinonia \u2013 The Gift We Hold Together\u201d by Tom Yoder Neufeld of Canada.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>All three papers were approved as a teaching resource by the MWC General Council in May 2012.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u201cAnabaptist tradition\u201d is a historical movement, rooted in the sixteenth century Radical Reformation, of contextualizing the Bible\u2019s apostolic and prophetic legacy as lived out by the early church. Tradition is a historic witness of moments of renewal and contextualization, a dynamic in need of permanent perpetuation&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/teaching_resource_neufeld_en.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of teaching_resource_neufeld_en.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-f00362d5-6ef0-4d08-b7a0-c58bd24a236d\" href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/teaching_resource_neufeld_en.pdf\">teaching_resource_neufeld_en<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/teaching_resource_neufeld_en.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-f00362d5-6ef0-4d08-b7a0-c58bd24a236d\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-yellow-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/commissions\/faith-and-life-commission\/\">Faith &amp; LIfe Commission<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","network":[360,144,155],"resourcetype":[381],"language":[165,168,167],"resourcecategory":[309,157],"resourcetheme":[327,315,354,311],"eventcategory":[],"class_list":["post-17138","mwcresource","type-mwcresource","status-publish","hentry","network-commissions","network-deacons-commission","network-faith-and-life-commission","resourcetype-pdf","language-en","language-es","language-fr","resourcecategory-resource-document","resourcecategory-teaching-resource","resourcetheme-identity","resourcetheme-mission","resourcetheme-service","resourcetheme-theology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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