We are all YABs, Young AnaBaptists!
This is to say that the term YABs refers to all young Anabaptists from MWC member churches. Though we have different faces, cultures, languages and ways of practicing our Anabaptist faith, all young people in the global Anabaptist family form part of YABs. What an extravagant gift.
Together we have much to share!
Just like the commissions and other groups of MWC, YABs also has a committee, the YABs Committee.
This committee represents all of us young people before the MWC General Council and works with the MWC Executive Committee.
The YABs committee is made up of a representative from each continent and a mentor. This committee changes every six years after the Global Youth Summit.
The YABs staff mentor for 2022-2028 is Ebenezer Mondez (Philippines).
The role of the continental representatives is to share the needs of young people in their continental regions with the YABs committee, and then to jointly discuss projects and themes related to young Anabaptists. The role of the mentor is to advise and monitor the work of the YABs committee.
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The YABs committee 2022-2028
North America representative
Felix Perez Diener
USA
Europe representative
Saskia Horsch
Germany
Latin America representative
Valentina Kunze
Uruguay
Asia representative
Kkotip Bae
South Korea
Africa representative
Isaac Nii Torgbor Gborbitey
Ghana
YABs staff mentor
Ebenezer Mondez
Philippines
History
The YABs network builds on the work of an earlier MWC youth committee called AMIGOS, which worked from 2004 to 2009 and planned a Global Youth Summit at the 2009 MWC Assembly in Paraguay. Based on this experience, a Youth Task Force was formed to develop a blueprint for the future. (See blueprint document.) The plan was formally adopted by the MWC Executive Committee in 2010 and the Youth Task Force was replaced by a Young Anabaptist (YABs) Committee with a representative from each of the five MWC continental regions.
This committee continues to work representing young people in MWC, facilitating connections and relationships among young people in the global church.
Learn more about YABs within the global church
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Comfort food across the world
Recipe: Ugali “Ugali is a maize-meal bread-like food mostly eaten alongside chicken or beef stew, Kenyan kale and cabbage or sometimes eggs fried with onions and tomatoes. All you need to make it is water and flour, though some people use salt to make it tasty. It’s consumed by almost everybody in Kenya: we call…
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A Kenyan’s journey into leadership
When I was 12 years old, I was charged with the duty of secretary to our parish youths office. From that time on, I served the church, locally, nationally and internationally. My engagement with Mennonite World Conference (MWC) has shaped who I have become as a church leader, husband and father, so I share my…
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Breakfast made with love
Recipe: Huevos pericos (Colombian scrambled eggs) Although I’m not good at cooking, I organized a typical Colombian breakfast to share with my host family. Guided by recipes my parents sent from Colombia, I discovered that things made with love are delicious. My host family loved this simple meal of huevos pericos (scrambled eggs with onion…
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A transformative year: YAMEN participants meet God and people
Bogotá, Colombia – “The gospel connects us all no matter where we are,” says Laurey Segura. She lived out this realization as a teacher and youth worker with the help of Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network (YAMEN), a joint Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and Mennonite World Conference (MWC) program which allowed the Costa Rican Mennonite…
