{"id":7960,"date":"2022-06-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/joy-in-the-midst-of-suffering\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T17:15:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T17:15:47","slug":"joy-midst-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy in the midst of suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gratitude to God and the global Anabaptist church fill my heart as I complete my term as MWC president. This planet-wide church has become my home, and the assembly in Indonesia will be a reunion, a gathering of siblings. In a world fractured by war and pandemic, I long to bond with peacemaking and generous people from fifty-eight countries.<\/p>\n<p>Christians are \u201caliens and exiles,\u201d says the letter of 1 Peter. That brings to mind refugees and displaced persons from parts of the world where Anabaptists live today \u2013 including Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela. Elsewhere, Anabaptists and other Christians face abuse and church buildings burn. Early Anabaptists suffered martyrdom in Europe, and today martyrdom continues.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to these crises, Anabaptists in multiple countries open their homes and wallets to assist persons seeking refuge. \u201cLiving hope,\u201d as Peter calls it, inspires such love. Compassion modelled by Anabaptist sisters and brothers around the world inspires me to help receive refugees who are arriving in my homeland.<\/p>\n<p>Joy abounds in 1 Peter, because building community among suffering people brings hope. \u201cOnce you were not a people, but now you are God\u2019s people,\u201d the author rejoices. Peter wrote his letter because Christians need the strength we find in fellowship, especially in hardship. Anabaptists today need to learn from and support each other.<\/p>\n<p>Come to assembly in Indonesia in person or online! Join MWC online prayer gatherings! Contribute financially!<\/p>\n<p>MWC involvement has been life-giving for me, reminding me that my deepest loyalty is not with nation or tribe, but with a global communion of people who know Jesus. Our citizenship is in the New Jerusalem, with people who follow the Lamb.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, sisters and brothers, for being family to each other. As Peter writes to \u201cexiles of the Dispersion,\u201d may God \u201crestore, support, strengthen and establish\u201d you.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014J. Nelson Kraybill is president of MWC (2015\u20132022). He lives in Indiana, USA.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h5>This article first appeared in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/resources\/courier-2022-1-april\"><em>Courier \/ Correo \/ Courrier, April 2022<\/em><\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gratitude to God and the global Anabaptist church fill my heart as I complete my term as MWC president. This planet-wide church has become my home, and the assembly in Indonesia will be a reunion, a gathering of siblings. In a world fractured by war and pandemic, I long to bond with peacemaking and generous [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95134,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"network":[302],"eventcategory":[],"class_list":["post-7960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","network-courier"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Joy in the midst of suffering - 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\/joy-midst-suffering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joy in the midst of suffering - Mennonite World Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gratitude to God and the global Anabaptist church fill my heart as I complete my term as MWC president. This planet-wide church has become my home, and the assembly in Indonesia will be a reunion, a gathering of siblings. In a world fractured by war and pandemic, I long to bond with peacemaking and generous [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mennonite World Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MennoniteWorldConference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-16T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-09T17:15:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20150721_joncarlson_0062-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mennworldcon\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"mennworldcon\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/11f6ae0d7d1868ba20a1cc27f067c836\"},\"headline\":\"Joy in the midst of suffering\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-16T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-09T17:15:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/\"},\"wordCount\":331,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20150721_joncarlson_0062-scaled.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/\",\"name\":\"Joy in the midst of suffering - Mennonite World Conference\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20150721_joncarlson_0062-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-16T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-09T17:15:47+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20150721_joncarlson_0062-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20150721_joncarlson_0062-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Joy in the midst of suffering\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Mennonite World Conference\",\"description\":\"A communion of Anabaptist-related churches\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"MWC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Mennonite World Conference\",\"alternateName\":\"MWC\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MWC_Sig_Blue_Horiz_webheader1-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MWC_Sig_Blue_Horiz_webheader1-logo.svg\",\"width\":786,\"height\":82,\"caption\":\"Mennonite World Conference\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MennoniteWorldConference\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/mennonite-world-conference-mwc\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/mwcmm\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/mwccmm\",\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/mwcmm.bsky.social\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/11f6ae0d7d1868ba20a1cc27f067c836\",\"name\":\"mennworldcon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06fdc0dc81c157dfdb82ec42f252178a22307808988d22c043f9eb96f1e0fe80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06fdc0dc81c157dfdb82ec42f252178a22307808988d22c043f9eb96f1e0fe80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06fdc0dc81c157dfdb82ec42f252178a22307808988d22c043f9eb96f1e0fe80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mennworldcon\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/author\/mennworldcon\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Joy in the midst of suffering - Mennonite World Conference","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Joy in the midst of suffering - Mennonite World Conference","og_description":"Gratitude to God and the global Anabaptist church fill my heart as I complete my term as MWC president. This planet-wide church has become my home, and the assembly in Indonesia will be a reunion, a gathering of siblings. In a world fractured by war and pandemic, I long to bond with peacemaking and generous [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/","og_site_name":"Mennonite World Conference","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MennoniteWorldConference","article_published_time":"2022-06-16T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-09T17:15:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20150721_joncarlson_0062-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"mennworldcon","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/"},"author":{"name":"mennworldcon","@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/11f6ae0d7d1868ba20a1cc27f067c836"},"headline":"Joy in the midst of suffering","datePublished":"2022-06-16T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-09T17:15:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/"},"wordCount":331,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20150721_joncarlson_0062-scaled.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/","url":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/","name":"Joy in the midst of suffering - Mennonite World Conference","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20150721_joncarlson_0062-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2022-06-16T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-09T17:15:47+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20150721_joncarlson_0062-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/20150721_joncarlson_0062-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/joy-midst-suffering\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Joy in the midst of suffering"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/","name":"Mennonite World Conference","description":"A communion of Anabaptist-related churches","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#organization"},"alternateName":"MWC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#organization","name":"Mennonite World Conference","alternateName":"MWC","url":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MWC_Sig_Blue_Horiz_webheader1-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MWC_Sig_Blue_Horiz_webheader1-logo.svg","width":786,"height":82,"caption":"Mennonite World Conference"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MennoniteWorldConference","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/mennonite-world-conference-mwc\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/mwcmm\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/mwccmm","https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/mwcmm.bsky.social"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/11f6ae0d7d1868ba20a1cc27f067c836","name":"mennworldcon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06fdc0dc81c157dfdb82ec42f252178a22307808988d22c043f9eb96f1e0fe80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06fdc0dc81c157dfdb82ec42f252178a22307808988d22c043f9eb96f1e0fe80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/06fdc0dc81c157dfdb82ec42f252178a22307808988d22c043f9eb96f1e0fe80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mennworldcon"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org"],"url":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/author\/mennworldcon\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7960"},{"taxonomy":"network","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/network?post=7960"},{"taxonomy":"eventcategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/eventcategory?post=7960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}