![\"Indonesian](\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/merk-danang-fernando.png\")
The Dutch Mennonites also brought four young Indonesian church leaders with them as special guests to the conference.<\/p>\n\u201cWe can\u2019t keep our story. We must share.\u201d That\u2019s the message Danang Kristiawan brought home after attending MERK, the European Mennonite Conference (EMC, CME 2018) 10\u201313 May, 2018.<\/p>\n
The gathering of European Mennonites that occurs every six years was bigger than ever with a total of 2 300 people attending some part of the program.<\/p>\n
There was multilingual singing, a multimedia retelling of the Anabaptist story, testimonies from numerous countries, sermons, art exhibits and relief work activities.<\/p>\n
Cross-generational representatives from nine conferences contributed to planning and attendees included Russian German Mennonites and emerging Anabaptist groups in Italy, the UK, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Serbia and Albania, in addition to Anabaptist national churches in France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Portugal and Spain.<\/p>\n
MERK is one of the few possibilities to meet Anabaptists across borders in such a great number, says Vicky van der Linden, a student from Doopsgezinde Gemeente Groningen, who is retraining from historian to theologian. \u201cIt makes me feel like I\u2019m part of a bigger family that understands and respects each other\u2019s views on life and living in the spirit of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dutch Mennonites also brought four young Indonesian church leaders with them as special guests to the conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was nice to see that there were participants from outside Europe,\u201d van der Linden says. \u201cThat\u2019s valuable, because they can share what they have seen and heard at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kristiawan did just that. His first Sunday back, he gave a sermon tying the conference theme \u201ctransmission\u201d to the essential work of the Holy Spirit started at Pentecost.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransmission is needed at two levels: to the next generation and to other communities,\u201d he says. This message was particularly on point in Indonesia where a recent church bombing had been carried out by a family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf terrorists transmit hatred and violence, as a Mennonite community, we must be more serious to transmit love and peace, starting with the family,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Through the conference proceedings, MERK transmitted love, unity amid diversity, and learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best part of MERK was seeing how smoothly brothers and sisters of the Mennonite family could interact with each other and feel like one big family,\u201d says van der Linden. \u201cThis was especially during the meals, and the MCC school kit project.”<\/p>\n
From his experiences in Indonesia where Christians are the minority, Kristiawan was able to transmit another perspective to the discussion on showing hospitality to strangers. \u201cThe church also needs to perceive our identity as a guest, a guest who offers and engages peace to the host.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGospel transmission from the church to the world is sometime obstructed because of our failure to be sensitive to the context where we live,\u201d he says. \u201cAs the church, we need to incarnate the gospel in our changing context.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van der Linden was also inspired by the theme of transmission. She returns home eager \u201cto see if it could give my personal faith a revival while sharing it with others.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Mennonite World Conference release <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWe can\u2019t keep our story. We must share.\u201d That\u2019s the message Danang Kristiawan brought home after attending MERK, the European Mennonite Conference (EMC, CME 2018) 10\u201313 May, 2018. The gathering of European Mennonites that occurs every six years was bigger than ever with a total of 2 300 people attending some part of the program. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"network":[],"eventcategory":[],"class_list":["post-6747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n