{"id":124666,"date":"2026-03-08T22:53:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T22:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/?p=124666"},"modified":"2026-03-18T10:46:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:46:46","slug":"unity-you-can-hear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/unity-you-can-hear\/","title":{"rendered":"Unity you can hear\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Inspiration and reflection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Worshipping together, particularly singing together, is often cited as a highlight of Mennonite World Conference Assemblies. After all, there is nothing quite like singing in a gathering of several thousand people as siblings in Christ. Even when not everyone speaks the same language, music has a way of unifying that other experiences do not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song is announced, and the screen fills with words many in the room do not speak fluently, or at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The melody may feel unfamiliar, the rhythm slightly different from what the body expects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A choir from around the world helps to start the sound. Then, gradually, the communal sound takes shape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of voices carrying different accents, vowel shapes and musical instincts begin to sound together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Mennonite World Conference Assemblies<\/a>, unity is something you can hear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sound is never perfectly polished. Some words are mispronounced. Some harmonies blur. Yet something unmistakable happens in these moments. People who worship differently, who hold different perspectives, and who come from vastly different contexts commit to the same song at the same time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one sings alone. No one sings exactly the same way. A deeper truth is illuminated: unity in a global church is not discovered by erasing difference, but by learning how to hold it together in sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of this article is to explore how music has functioned across a century of MWC Assemblies, how it has changed as the Mennonite communion has become increasingly global, and how singing together continues to shape a lived sense of unity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first gathering of Mennonite World Conference took place in 1925 in Basel, Switzerland, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Anabaptist Reformation. As the global church has now marked the 500th anniversary, this seems an appropriate moment to reflect on the assemblies of the past century, through the particular lens of music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way to trace what has been sung at MWC Assemblies is through the songbooks created for each gathering. While no songbook captures everything that is sung or heard (and some songs printed are never used) they offer a tangible window into how the global church has understood itself, its unity, and whose voices are invited into communal worship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Assembly 7, 1962, Kitchener (Canada)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Singing our faith together: why music matters <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Singing together asks something of us that few other communal practices do. It requires vulnerability and trust, and it cannot be done privately in a crowd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voices are exposed, breath is shared and tempo is negotiated in real time. To sing together is to listen as much as it is to sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a global communion like Mennonite World Conference, this matters deeply. Unity within MWC has not meant complete uniformity of belief, practice or perspective. The fellowship spans continents, cultures and histories shaped by vastly different social and political realities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet again and again, the church gathers and chooses to worship. In doing so, it practices a form of unity that does not depend on resolving every difference, but on committing to shared convictions, even as these convictions are embodied in diverse ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At MWC Assemblies, this unity is often carried through what might be called heartsongs: songs held dear by particular communities and bearing their stories of faith, suffering, hope and joy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These songs do not necessarily mean the same thing to everyone who sings them. Instead, they invite awareness of different musical styles, theological emphases, textual languages and worship practices. Singing one another\u2019s heartsongs becomes a way of learning who we are together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is risk in this practice. Words may be mispronounced or misunderstood. Musical forms may feel unfamiliar or unsettling. Yet this vulnerability is precisely where music does its most important work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unity that costs nothing asks little of us. Singing across difference, by contrast, trains the church to listen before leading, to follow before shaping and to allow deeply held assumptions about worship and music to be stretched. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Assembly 10, 1978, Wichita (USA)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Songbooks, and a turning point: 1967\u20131972 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Songbooks are not neutral collections. Every inclusion and omission reflects a set of values: whose theology is named, whose language is heard and whose musical forms are considered singable by a global community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Mennonite World Conference has become more global, its songbooks have carried increasing complexity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proceedings of the first MWC Assembly in 1925 note choirs and cantors, but the first songbook printed specifically for an Assembly dates to 1936 during the gathering in Amsterdam and Elspeet, Netherlands. Prior to that, congregations likely sang from existing hymnals available in worship spaces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These early Assembly songbooks contained exclusively European and North American hymns, typically in English, German, French and\/or Dutch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As representation within MWC grew more diverse, particularly with significant expansion in the Global South, this musical landscape began to feel increasingly incongruent. By the 1967 Assembly in Amsterdam, with delegates from more than 30 countries, participants became more acutely aware that the Mennonite communion was changing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity of culture, language and skin colour was no longer peripheral to the gathering; it was present in the room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This moment marked a turning point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following Assembly held in 1972 in Curitiba, Brazil was the first MWC Assembly in the southern hemisphere. Historian Cornelius Dyck captured the challenge facing the church with a probing question: \u201cWhat kind of unity is possible, and desirable, in a world brotherhood in which every congregation is ultimately responsible only to itself?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Assembly in Brazil took place amid significant challenges, including political repression under military rule and difficulties with translation and language access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the proceedings speak especially positively of music. Communal singing was met with enthusiastic applause, and, for the first time, performing groups from South America were featured. Only one-third of participants came from Europe and North America. A working group on music recognized the need for songs from many periods, genres and cultures in order to better reflect the global church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizational changes also followed. General Council meetings began to take place in the Global South, regional conferences began meeting and mission networks grew to more than 50 countries where churches were often growing more rapidly than those in the North. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mennonite World Conference clarified its purpose as a \u201cchannel of fellowship and witness,\u201d emphasizing communication, mutual encouragement and shared responsibility. They also later established a paid General Secretary role, shifting from MWC being led more by historians to those with experience in mission leadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Assembly 14, 2003, Bulawayo (Zimbabwe)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What we learn when we sing together <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From the 1970s onward, MWC Assemblies continued to grow in size and diversity. International Songbooks with intentional global representation were developed, beginning with the 1978 Assembly in Wichita. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More languages appeared on the page and in worship, sometimes supported by simultaneous translation. Starting in this collection, heartsongs from each continent were prioritized. Women played increasingly visible leadership roles in music, including figures such as Mary Oyer as song leader. The President was someone outside of USA and Germany for the first time as well (Ethiopia). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the 1984 Assembly in Strasbourg, the shape of the modern MWC Assembly had begun to take form: a program committee; music and worship subcommittee; a thematic structure with daily rhythms; and music woven throughout the life of the gathering. Musicians from around the world performed, showing that unity takes intention and practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unity formed through song at MWC Assemblies is not permanent. When the final song fades, participants return to their home contexts, carrying different questions, convictions and challenges. Yet something lingers: the memory of having sung together reshapes how difference is carried afterward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Assembly 17, 2022, Indonesia<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Music teaches the global church that unity does not require the resolution of every disagreement. It requires presence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In singing, the church practices staying with one another in real time, listening closely, adjusting as needed and committing to a shared act even when it stretches us. Unity, in this sense, is not an abstract ideal but a practised discipline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MWC Assemblies function as rehearsal spaces for this kind of belonging. They offer a glimpse of what is possible when diversity is not managed or minimized, but welcomed into a shared rhythm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each voice matters precisely because it is distinct. And in the shared act of singing, the global church learns again what it means to belong together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Benjamin\u00a0Bergey<\/em>\u00a0associate professor of music at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA, where he directs the choirs and orchestra,\u00a0teaches courses on music theory, conducting, and music & peacebuilding.\u00a0He was music coordinator for the 2022 Assembly in Indonesia, and he conducts the EMU Chamber Singers who\u00a0performed\u00a0at the 500th anniversary commemoration day in Zurich.\u00a0Benjamin Bergey\u00a0also served\u00a0as music editor for\u00a0<\/em>Voices Together, a hymnal for the Mennonite Church in USA and Canada.\u00a0He is a member of\u00a0Harrisonburg Mennonite Church.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Unity in a global church
is not discovered
by erasing difference,
but by learning how to hold it together in sound.<\/strong><\/p>Benjamin Bergey<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Brief Historical Timeline <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

#1 \u2013 1925 Basel and Zurich <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n