{"id":17265,"date":"2023-11-19T17:39:33","date_gmt":"2023-11-19T17:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/resources\/courier-2023-4-october\/"},"modified":"2025-02-07T22:06:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T22:06:49","slug":"courier-2023-4-october","status":"publish","type":"mwcresource","link":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/resources\/courier-2023-4-october\/","title":{"rendered":"Courier 2023 \/ 38.4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Inspiration and reflection<a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/sites\/default\/files\/resource-uploads\/38.4_en_fin_rgb_rev.pdf\"><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/conflict-church-lessons-acts-15\">Conflict in the church: Lessons from Acts 15<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Perspectives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/division-unification\">From division to unification<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/dealing-difference\">Dealing with difference<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/prayer-unity\">Prayer for unity<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/jar-clay-gods-hands\">A jar of clay in God\u2019s hands<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/desire-renewal-leads-split\">Desire for renewal leads to split<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Country Profile<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/gospel-two-hands-physical-and-spiritual-development\">Malawi<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Resources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/resources\/anabaptist-world-fellowship-sunday-2024\">Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday\u00a02024<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/we-need-one-another\">From our Leaders<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/we-start-what-we-have\">We start with what we have\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/anabaptists-streets-zurich\">Anabaptists on the streets of Zurich<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/new-tagline-reinforces-mwc-vision-and-mission-statements\">New tagline reinforces MWC Vision and Mission Statements<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">General Secretary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/how-i-envy-you\">How I envy you!<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Word from the editor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Making space and time for conflict<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>We don\u2019t like to talk about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unity of Christ seems to be easier to maintain separately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our tradition as Mennonite peacemakers results from a split from the wider church, and our plurality today \u2013 with its strengths and weaknesses \u2013 was the result in many cases of a disagreement that was not resolved. Our personal histories may also contain memories of ill-managed conflict: relationships broken; leaders ostracized; churches divided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This issue of&nbsp;<em>Courier&nbsp;<\/em>attempts to talk about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/conflict-church-lessons-acts-15\">In our feature article, Daniel Schipani enters into the story of the Jerusalem council in Acts 15.<\/a>&nbsp;It\u2019s a multicultural context for a disagreement on matters of spiritual importance. This was more than a question of whether to sing old songs or new!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But they sat down to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Early in the formation of the church, in the face of a crucially important matter, the leaders \u2013 and the factions \u2013 faced their fears and discerned together. The unity of the church could persist despite diversity because it is a gift of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe unity in Christ that God is creating reaches to the edges of space and time and beyond \u2013 and includes us all even when we don\u2019t include each other!\u201d says Larry Miller, former general secretary of MWC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his address to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/resources\/mwc-communion\">MWC\u2019s General Council, Larry Miller<\/a>&nbsp;offered three practices that could help us approach conflict in the church and come out with unity on the other side, without necessarily being uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a.\u00a0<em>Recognize Christ in one another.<\/em>\u00a0Even when the other seems wrong on points of theology and practice, can we acknowledge each other\u2019s love for Christ and desire to follow him?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>b.\u00a0<em>Learning receptively from each other.<\/em>\u00a0Just as I think I have something to teach you about what Jesus really meant, so you may have something to teach me about faithfulness.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>c.\u00a0<em>Coming together as local congregation.<\/em>\u00a0In some cases, this is where the conflict lies! But can we remember even in conflict that no one has everything; but everyone has something? Swiss Mennonite theologian Hanspeter Jecker says \u201cThis recognition requires that the gifts of the individual contribute to the wellbeing of the whole\u2026. Mutual encouragement and admonition are the foundations for\u2026becoming a forgiving \u2013 as well as a forgiven \u2013 community.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It won\u2019t be comfortable, it won\u2019t be quick and it will take courage. But instead of walking away from conflict, could we use these principles to walk toward conflict carrying the gift of unity, so that righteousness and peace may kiss?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014<em>Karla Braun is editor of Courier and writer for Mennonite World Conference. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada.<\/em><\/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\/38.4_en_fin_rgb_rev.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of 38.4_en_fin_rgb_rev.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-31f560fd-c1d1-4d40-8fd2-ec3d67fe60a9\" href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/38.4_en_fin_rgb_rev.pdf\">38.4_en_fin_rgb_rev<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/38.4_en_fin_rgb_rev.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-31f560fd-c1d1-4d40-8fd2-ec3d67fe60a9\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13004,"template":"","network":[302],"resourcetype":[381,308],"language":[165,168,167],"resourcecategory":[161,1375],"resourcetheme":[337],"eventcategory":[],"class_list":["post-17265","mwcresource","type-mwcresource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","network-courier","resourcetype-pdf","resourcetype-publication","language-en","language-es","language-fr","resourcecategory-courier","resourcecategory-publication-2","resourcetheme-discipleship"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Courier 2023 \/ 38.4 - Mennonite World Conference<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/resources\/courier-2023-4-october\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Courier 2023 \/ 38.4 - Mennonite World Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Inspiration and reflection Perspectives Country Profile Resources General Secretary Word from the editor Making space and time for conflict We don\u2019t like to talk about it. 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