C\u00e9sar Garc\u00eda of Colombia, MWC general secretary, preached the opening sermon on the Assembly theme, \u201cWalking with God.\u201d MWC Vice President Janet Plenert translated. Photo by Jonathan Charles<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A \u2013 The 16th Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Assembly opened July 21, 2015 in Harrisburg, Pa., with a parade of Mennonites from across the globe, confession of past treatment of Native Americans in Pennsylvania, music and calls to walk with God together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A group of Native Americans from Pennsylvania marched in, led by a man drumming and singing. Jessica McPherson and Barry Lee recounted some of the history of Native people in Pennsylvania losing their land to whites. Mennonites later profited from this confiscation of land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a ceremony in 2010, Native representatives offered forgiveness to Mennonites who had confessed their regret for how their ancestors had treated Native people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe invite you in peace,\u201d Lee said. \u201cWhat is past is past; let\u2019s move on together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diverse representatives of the four hosting Anabaptist conferences (Mennonite Church USA, U.S. Mennonite Brethren, Brethren in Christ Church in the U.S., and Conservative Mennonite Conference) also welcomed attendees. More than 7,200 people from 56 countries registered for the gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Danisa Ndlovu of Zimbabwe, president of MWC since 2009, said this assembly is the result of many prayers offered worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a time of great upheaval and change,\u201d he said. Drawing from the book of Revelation, Ndlovu said, \u201cThe urgent need of our world today is for [our church] to be one body from many nations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n C\u00e9sar Garc\u00eda of Colombia, MWC general secretary, presented the sermon, based on Luke 24:13\u201335. He recalled himself at age 17, a soldier in the Colombian army. Military service was obligatory and he did not have Anabaptist convictions at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it possible, Garc\u00eda asked, to walk together if we are not in agreement? He noted that in Luke 24, the disciples did not agree with each other and carried doubts following Jesus\u2019 death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWalking,\u201d Garc\u00eda said, means a continuous action, leaving behind our fears and opening our hearts and being involved in the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith God\u201d speaks of communion with God and with each other, Garc\u00eda said. We will have moments of doubt and conflicts and prefer to walk by ourselves. But \u201cwe will recognize our need to walk together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was able to confess to his captain that he was a Christian and could not kill, he said, because four others his age had already confessed the same and been beaten. \u201cI had found a new community with these four friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And with them he could walk with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Gordon Houser<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gordon Houser iseditor of The Mennonite, the publication of Mennonite Church USA. He is part of the Meetinghouse team of editors reporting on the plenary sessions at Assembly 16 <\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Assembly 16: PA 2015 International attendees urged to find unity in diversity while \u201cwalking with God\u201d C\u00e9sar Garc\u00eda of Colombia, MWC general secretary, preached the opening sermon on the Assembly theme, \u201cWalking with God.\u201d MWC Vice President Janet Plenert translated. Photo by Jonathan Charles Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A \u2013 The 16th Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Assembly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1561,1712],"tags":[1804,189,198,1754,1805,1806,1796,1758,1736,1807,1718,1763,1567,1568,1808,1809],"network":[],"eventcategory":[299],"class_list":["post-596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs","category-tomigrate","tag-21-july","tag-assembly","tag-cesar-garcia","tag-danisa-ndlovu","tag-day-1","tag-first-nations","tag-gordon-houser","tag-janet-plenert","tag-meetinghouse","tag-opening-ceremony","tag-pa2015","tag-pa2015-worship-services","tag-pennsylvania","tag-tomigrate","tag-tuesday","tag-walking-with-god","eventcategory-assembly"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n