Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday 2026
MWC invites a special offering to be taken for the global Anabaptist church community on World Fellowship Sunday. One way to think about this offering is to invite every member to contribute the value of one lunch in their own community to support the networks and resources of our global Anabaptist church family. Sacrificing one lunch is our humble way of giving thanks to God and supporting the on-going ministry of God through the church.
This gift of “one lunch” per person once a year is something that all MWC members can do. Some people have resources to give much more than this and can be encouraged to do so. Others with more scarce resources could consider giving the monetary value of one item that they would normally include in a meal.
Here are some ideas on how to plan for an offering in your congregation.
- Plan for One Lunch offerings to be put into a special basket at the front or in culturally appropriate lunch bags/container during the worship service as a separate offering from the normal offering.
- Plan for a shared congregational meal together before or after worship on Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday.
- This could be “potluck”, with each family bringing big dishes of food to share, with an offering basket for MWC with the meal.
- Have each family bring a prepared packed lunch. These packed lunches are then available for auction or for purchase or donation by everyone to take home, or to eat together after worship.
- Plan for a time of shared fasting and praying for the global church during a mealtime before or after worship on Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday, and include an offering for MWC during that time, an offering that would be at least the value of the meal that is not being eaten.
Funds that are gathered through this special offering in each congregation can be sent directly to Mennonite World Conference using the various mechanisms shown on our website (mwc-cmm.org/donate).
Or, these funds can be sent to your conference office, clearly marked as designated for Mennonite World Conference and indicated as an Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday offering, and you can ask that they pass the funds on to MWC.
How offerings are collected in the Netherlands
In Doopsgezind (Mennonite) congregations in the Netherlands, the offering is collected by passing around the collectezakken. People drop coins or cash into the cloth offering bags. The bags are either attached to a short wooden handle and passed from hand to hand, or attached to the end of long poles that an usher extends to the congregation.
One bag is usually designated for the local congregation while the other collects for a ministry beyond the walls. For the second bag, all the Mennonite churches in the country often collect for the same organization each Sunday.
Today, most congregation also post a QR and a bank number so people can also donate electronically.
Donations above a certain amount are eligible for a tax deduction from the government at the end of the year.