{"id":120776,"date":"2025-11-17T06:25:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T06:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/?p=120776"},"modified":"2025-11-21T06:23:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T06:23:57","slug":"who-are-my-brothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/who-are-my-brothers\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWho are my brothers?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The President\u2019s Corner<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It was a few years ago that we had a Commissions meeting in the Netherlands. With others I picked up people from the airport. We were at the evening meal when my phone rang. It was someone calling on behalf of a Commission member from Angola whose flight had been delayed. The caller relayed the message that the Angolan man was ready for his brother to pick him up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I arrived at the meeting point, the person who called was still there. I will never forget the surprise on his face when he realized that I was the \u201cbrother\u201d of this African man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We did not fit into what he imagined when he thought about brothers. My Angolan brother and I did not fit into the stereotype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t that what being Christians and especially Anabaptists is about in the world of today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this world, people hate others because they look different, because they have different political ideas, because they speak a different language, because\u2026 because\u2026. There are so many reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"diversity
Past and present MWC leaders celebrate 100 years of MWC (l\u2013r): Sandra B\u00e1ez, C\u00e9sar Garc\u00eda, Henk Stenvers, Larry Miller, Eleanor Miller, Janet Plenert and Danisa Ndlovu. <\/sub><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We need courage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If we want to follow Christ, who taught us to love the other as ourselves, we need courage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage to say NO to hate and yes to love, even if goes against our own interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage to love, even if others do not love us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage to not fit in, but to show a different way, a way that leads to peace instead of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need the courage that people showed 500 years ago in Z\u00fcrich, when they defied the powers of that time because they wanted to be true followers of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope and pray for many more surprised faces like that man in the airport, when we as a communion of followers of Christ, show love for each other, live out our unity despite differences and so spread a message of peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Henk Stenvers is president of Mennonite World Conference (2022-2028). He lives in the Netherlands.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n
This article first appeared in
Courier \/ Correo \/ Courrier, volume 40, number 2-3<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
500<\/a>, <\/span>Courier<\/a>, <\/span>Henk Stenvers<\/a>, <\/span>president<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The President\u2019s Corner It was a few years ago that we had a Commissions meeting in the Netherlands. With others I picked up people from the airport. We were at the evening meal when my phone rang. It was someone calling on behalf of a Commission member from Angola whose flight had been delayed. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":120900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1181],"tags":[476,208,235,390],"network":[302,1306,1307,1308,1309,1310,1311,1312,1313],"eventcategory":[],"class_list":["post-120776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courier","tag-476","tag-courier","tag-henk-stenvers","tag-president","network-courier","network-courier-es","network-courier-fr","network-courier-ja","network-courier-zh-hant","network-courier-hi","network-courier-nl","network-courier-id","network-courier-de"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cWho are my brothers?\u201d - 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\/stories\/who-are-my-brothers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cWho are my brothers?\u201d - Mennonite World Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The President\u2019s Corner It was a few years ago that we had a Commissions meeting in the Netherlands. 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