{"id":6566,"date":"2016-04-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/new-mwc-leaders-foster-relationships\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T20:24:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T20:24:25","slug":"new-mwc-leaders-foster-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/new-mwc-leaders-foster-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"New MWC leaders foster relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Regional representatives and treasurer introduced at Indonesia meetings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Bogot\u00e1, Colombia \u2013 When the church is suffering in a remote or politically sensitive part of the world, it is the regional representatives who convey the news to the global Anabaptist family. These servants share joys and sorrows, and connect their region with the resources of Mennonite World Conference. MWC has 12 positions in this role to foster relationship between local congregations and the world communion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MWC regional representatives are part-time volunteer staff responsible for developing and supporting relationships with MWC member, associate-member and potential-member churches; local congregations; and MWC-related partners and agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the MWC \u201cbody,\u201d Executive Committee members from the regions serve as the head, discerning and decision-making with the MWC officers while the regional representations are the hands and feet who visit churches to connect personally with leaders in their region. \u201cThis is about bringing MWC relationships closer to the members and their congregations,\u201d says Arli Klassen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New regional representatives Tesfatsion Dalellew of Ethiopia (Eastern Africa) and Peter and Gladys Siemens of Brazil (Latin America \u2013 Southern Cone) joined the team at the February 2016 Executive Committee meetings in Semarang, Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Klassen coordinates the regional representatives who also include Francisca Ibanda (Central\/West Africa), Kyong-Jung Kim (Northeast Asia), Cynthia Peacock (South Asia), Henk Stenvers (Europe), and Lynn Roth (North America).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MWC is in the process of seeking representatives for Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and three Latin America regions (Andean, Central America, Caribbean).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the Executive Committee appointed a new treasurer, Sunoko Lin. This change occurred at the committee meeting following Assembly to allow for a smoother transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lin, raised in Indonesia, moved to the United States to study accounting and, later, theology. He has served as a pastor at Maranatha Christian Fellowship in Northridge, California, since 2006. He also works as a CFO and is a licensed CPA and CMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ernst Bergen completed his term as treasurer (2009\u20132016), begun in 2009 at the General Council meetings at Assembly 15 in Asunci\u00f3n, Paraguay. A businessman from Paraguay who served as minister of industry and finance in the cabinet of the Duarte government 2005\u20132007, Bergen was the first MWC treasurer from the Global South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese church leaders who volunteer their time as leaders within MWC enable us to serve Anabaptists of the world on a small budget,\u201d says C\u00e9sar Garc\u00eda, general secretary. \u201cWe are so grateful for their work; many thanks, especially to Ernst who volunteered his considerable skills in a challenging portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2014Mennonite World Conference release<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:200\" class=\"taxonomy-post_tag has-link-color wp-elements-976e900845b7b45cd3d7ad390ef0d8c7 wp-block-post-terms has-text-color has-gray-color has-small-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/tag\/officers\/\" rel=\"tag\">Officers<\/a><span class=\"wp-block-post-terms__separator\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/tag\/regional-representatives\/\" rel=\"tag\">regional representatives<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Regional representatives and treasurer introduced at Indonesia meetings Bogot\u00e1, Colombia \u2013 When the church is suffering in a remote or politically sensitive part of the world, it is the regional representatives who convey the news to the global Anabaptist family. These servants share joys and sorrows, and connect their region with the resources of Mennonite [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":87883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1549,277],"network":[352],"eventcategory":[],"class_list":["post-6566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-officers","tag-regional-representatives","network-general-council"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New MWC leaders foster relationships - 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\/new-mwc-leaders-foster-relationships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New MWC leaders foster relationships - Mennonite World Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Regional representatives and treasurer introduced at Indonesia meetings Bogot\u00e1, Colombia \u2013 When the church is suffering in a remote or politically sensitive part of the world, it is the regional representatives who convey the news to the global Anabaptist family. 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