Prayers of gratitude and intercession

“Beautiful friendships! and a better understanding of Anabaptism.” Lois Friesen from Towanda, Kansas, USA, has no doubt about what she receives through connection with the global family.  

“As Anabaptists we believe in community. You need people to cheer you on, people who will undergird you; you have to have somebody’s shoulder to cry on,” she says. “If you’re not supported, community falls apart. We need to gather around as a whole.” 

Web of relationships 

Life experiences have shaped Lois Friesen into a gatherer and a giver, interconnected with the global family. From past Assemblies to service experiences and travel, her web of relationships connects Europe, South Asia – and even Canada – to her local congregation, Zion Mennonite Church in Elbing, Kansas, USA. 

As a Goshen College graduate in the 1960s, she worked on restoring a war-damaged farmhouse in France that was to become an orphanage.  

As an MCC service worker in Akron, Pennsylvania, USA, she and her new husband gathered family, friends and an overseas relative to attend the 1962 MWC Assembly in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.  

When Assembly was “in her backyard” in Wichita, Kansas, USA, in 1978, she helped with the artists’ reception and hosted relatives who camped on the property. Hosts and guests went in many different directions during the Assembly, “so we had a ‘conference’ after the conference to catch up,” she says. 

For the Paraguay Assembly in 2009, she didn’t travel. Instead, under the leadership of then-Deacons Commission secretary Bert Lobe, she took part in a local committee that hosted Cynthia Peacock from India and other MWC leaders on a speaking tour in the USA.  

“Cynthia Peacock really brought home for me the great responsibility of the MWC Global Deacons,” Lois Friesen says. “When I heard her talk about her duties and still maintaining a home… All I could say is there is no reason not to support MWC. Look at the outreach and the support the Deacons offer to keep us connected, to keep the centre of Anabaptism alive.”  

Before the Harrisburg Assembly in 2015, she facilitated then-MWC chief development officer Arli Klassen’s trips in the Kansas region.  

Part of being the church 

For Lois Friesen, giving uses all her gifts – financial and relational. “I think of being willing to talk to people, willing to host people, travelling as necessary. People have all kinds of skills to give. Think about it and give what you are able.”  

Watching her father give by tithing provided early lessons in generosity. “My dad didn’t talk about it very much, but we knew that was part of being the church.”  

The church also encouraged the children to tend a plot for a mission project. “We were reminded of the need to give.”  

Refugee stories also motivate Lois Friesen to give. The Scriptural calls to take care of orphans and widows has a personal connection. Her husband Joachim (Joe) came to the USA from Germany with his widowed mother, sisters and grandmother after six years of displacement during and after World War II. “You have a calling to offer comfort – physical and spiritual – to those in need.” 

Supporting the MWC family, Lois Friesen is guided by Micah 6:8: What does the Lord require of you: do justice, love kindness and walk humbly.’ “Wherever” that takes you,” she says. 

*Currently, Arli Klassen serves as regional representatives coordinator for MWC. Cynthia Peacock currently serves as the regional representative for South Asia. 

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Sharing Gifts in the Global Family of Faith

 

October 2023

At a time of increasing bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians, with mounting tension between nations of the Middle East and beyond, leaders of Mennonite World Conference make three urgent appeals:

1. That member churches of Mennonite World Conference pray and act for an end to the spiral of violence and injustice1 in the Middle East, recognizing that favouring one nation or ethnicity to the detriment of another harms the gospel2 and humanity;
2. That Palestinian militants cease their assault on Israelis, release hostages, and seek nonviolent ways to address their just concerns;
3. That Israeli government cease their current assault on Gaza and the West Bank and begin to redress the decades of occupation and dispossession perpetuated upon Palestinian people.

Caring for both Israelis and Palestinians

We as Christians are the “wild olive shoot” grafted into a Jewish root (Romans 11:17). Thus, we honour Judaism and respect the modern nation of Israel when it governs justly and treats all peoples equally. Likewise, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their need to live in safety and dignity in their own land. We grieve and protest the massacre of Israelis recently committed by Hamas. We also grieve and protest the constant loss and humiliation that Palestinians have suffered over the last seventy-five years of Israeli occupation.

We call on Christians, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to embody the wide embrace of the gospel (Matthew 28:19, 20) in which there is “neither Jew nor Gentile” (Galatians 3:28). Promises of land possession that God made to the biblical patriarchs have long been fulfilled (Joshua 21:43–45). The gospel is no longer good news if it means that Palestinians must sacrifice their lives and hopes for the well-being of Jewish people displacing them.

Modern Israel and ancient promises

Although we condemn antisemitism and support the need for Jewish people to live in safety today, we underscore that it is inappropriate to view the modern state of Israel simply as a continuation of ancient Israel. God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ equally embraces Jews and Palestinians. Christians place our hope for the future in the global New Jerusalem (Revelation 21, 22), not in any sequence of eschatological events focused specifically on the Middle East.

We remind Christians who do view the modern state as a continuation of biblical Israel that divine promises about the land have a condition: God’s people must obey covenant (Leviticus. 18:26–29; Deuteronomy 28:15). Remembering their own suffering in Egypt, Israelites were to treat vulnerable people fairly (Deuteronomy 24:16–22). Jesus’ last words before the Ascension were a warning against his followers doing end-times speculation about the future of Israel (Acts 1:7, 8; see also Mark 13:32). Instead, Jesus said, proclaim the gospel to all peoples of the earth.

Although they are a small minority today, there is an indigenous Christian presence in Palestine with roots reaching back to the apostolic church. These Christians suffer when fellow believers elsewhere in the world give uncritical support to Israel.3

Jesus embodies a global justice vision

When Jesus approached Jerusalem on the week of his Passion, he wept over the city saying, “If you only had known on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:42). Jesus also acted: he entered the courts of religious and political power to confront those who abused their power. God intended the temple to be a “house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17). Jesus embodied the prophecy of Isaiah that all nations would stream to Jerusalem, that peoples of the world will beat swords into plowshares and not learn war any more (Isaiah 2:2–4). Today we remain committed to that reconciling vision for Israelis and Palestinians, and for peoples in conflict anywhere in the world.

We will speak to governments and religious leaders throughout the world, urging them to seek justice for both Palestinians and Israelis and not simply support one side or the other. We ask nations of the world to stop supplying arms to the warring parties, and to work with the community of nations to seek a just peace.

In the end it will be God who brings healing to the nations. We live into that hope by praying, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – and by following the nonviolent way of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Until then we cry out “God, have mercy!”

Henk Stenvers, MWC President
César García, MWC General Secretary

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1 Some scholars speak about three forms of violence that perpetuate the “spiral of violence”: Systemic Violence (Violence #1), Revolt (Violence #2), and Repression (Violence #3).

2 “Gospel” refers to a holistic, all-encompassing, liberating message of God’s peaceable (and, therefore, justice-filled) kingdom made known and visible in the world. This message overturns the logic of death and its different manifestations, including violence, oppression, injustice, and death itself, into that of life in abundance.

3 See “A Call for Repentance: An Open Letter from Palestinian Christians to Western Church Leaders and Theologians”

“The way to address inequality is treating people differently – not the same,” says Arli Klassen, MWC regional representatives coordinator.  

Mennonite World Conference is an organization made of members. However, financial resources vary widely within its global membership. Fair Share is MWC’s way to for all national member churches to contribute based on their ability and needs. 

“When you become part of MWC, you become part of giving, not only receiving,” says Cynthia Peacock, MWC regional representative for Southern Asia.  

“Even when you have little, out of that little, you share,” she says. “When we are in need, others are giving to us.” 

In 1984, the executive secretary suggested a shift from the standard per-member figure to a negotiated amount. National economic indicators would be part of the new funding formula. The General Council approved the Fair Share Funding Formula in 2000.  

Every three years, the regional representatives approach the General Council delegates to discuss their membership contribution and to sign the Mutual Expectations Covenant.  

“MWC’s Fair Share acknowledges relative wealth (through assessment). Through negotiation, it acknowledges there is more diversity than hard numbers reflect. It makes space for conversation based on the principle that every member church can contribute something to the global body of Christ,” says Arli Klassen. 

Negotiation 

“Because I am one of them [a church leader from Southern Africa], I am not ignorant of the needs,” says Danisa Ndlovu, MWC regional representative for Southern Africa. “But all of us have something to contribute to the body of Christ. In the end, it is the body that benefits.”  

Cynthia Peacock points out that churches can receive grants from the Global Church Sharing Fund. “Leadership understand that conferences are benefiting – not only financially but also in other ways.”  

A basket for giving and receiving 

In Southern Africa, “the impression we have been given is that we can always carry a basket to receive,” says Danisa Ndlovu. He encourages leaders to see that “everyone is in need, and everyone needs help.  

“In the midst of the challenges we have, we must also appreciate that God is blessing us in some way. It is important for us to also be a blessing to the rest of the body – and ourselves as part of the body,” says Danisa Ndlovu.  

The regional representative want the message to permeate even to the congregations where many languages are spoken. Cynthia Peacock translates MWC articles, worship resources, videos and Mutal Expectations into Hindi, Bengali, Odiya and Tamil to make them widely accessible.  

“Once leaders are convinced about what I share, they invite me to visit them again to learn and to be connected with the global church and be strengthened,” says Cynthia Peacock. 

One Lunch 

The worship events (Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday, Peace Sunday) provide an opportunity for One Lunch giving. If each baptized congregation member would give the equivalent cost of one lunch a year, the assessed Fair Share amount would be met.  

“Sometimes members spend Rs.100 (Indian Rupees) or more a month for recharging mobiles; therefore, giving Rs.20 per year toward Fair Share is not impossible.”, says Cynthia Peacock. 

One Lunch is a more challenging concept in rural Africa, says Danisa Ndlovu, where some people may only eat one meal a day.  

Yet, “God is not calling us to give out of what we don’t have but out of the little that we have,” he says. “God calls us to be joyous in doing that (2 Corinthians 9:7).” 

Challenges 

“National member churches on every continent say they can’t give the full assessed amount, so we start conversations,” says Arli Klassen. “The cultural differences come out clearly” as Fair Share is negotiated around the world.  

“The responsibility to contribute to the common good is well understood in Africa,” says Arli Klassen. “In most of the Global South, leaders readily enter into conversation about amounts, saying ‘we need help’.”  

There is a strong commitment to paying taxes to help the whole community in Europe. There, assessed amount is taken very seriously. In North America, there is a reticence to negotiate.  

“We want member church to come up with a proposal of what is fair for them. My personal goal is that relationships are strengthened. The financial commitment reflects commitment to the global Anabaptist communion,” says Arli Klassen. “Every church can contribute something. That’s part of what it means to be a member.”  

“To the new generation, a reminder and a challenge is that through the efforts of many missionaries we received much. Leaders have strived to maintain the vision with which the churches were established,” says Cynthia Peacock.  

“Now we have much in terms of houses, cars, good jobs and therefore, with a thankful heart, it is time to give more to the local and global church to make our churches holistically strong,” she says. “For this, we need to build healthy relationships to listen to each other and live out unity as disciples of Christ.” 

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Mosaics are beautiful pictures made from colorful tiles of different shapes and sizes. Help children make an inspiring piece of art that they can share with family and friends with this mosaic activity. 

Explain the meaning of this mosaic to the children at the start of the activity, and again at the end of the activity:  

This heart is made of many different little pieces, and it is like our church. There are lots of different people, and they all look differently and act differently and think differently, and yet together we are one church where God’s love is shared by all.  

Materials:

• Pencil or marker to draw the heart
• Various kinds of colourful paper (e.g., construction paper, wrapping paper, old greeting cards, magazines, fabric, etc.)
• Scissors
• Glue 

1. Have each child draw a large heart on one solid colour piece of paper. Or, provide paper with the hearts already drawn on the paper for each child. 

2. Provide colourful paper for the children to cut into small pieces. They could all be the same size and shape and colour, but if they are in different sizes and shapes and colours it would help illustrate the diversity of MWC. Help the children to plan or design for what they will put into the heart. 

3. Have the children put glue on the back of each little piece of paper, and glue them to the heart and all over the paper, in whatever plan or design the child wants.  

4. Read Galatians 3:28 and show a map of the world or the MWC map (interactive: mwc-cmm.org/map OR Anabaptists around the world map 2022).

a. Talk together about the different kinds of people in the world and in MWC. 

b. Talk together about what it would be like if the world were only made up of children, or only of adults. Do you know people who are different from you? Why is it sometimes hard to get along with people who have different ways of doing things or different ideas from yours? Have you ever felt left out? How did that feel? Have you ever reached out to someone who was alone or not participating?  

c. Talk about what the Galatians verse means when he says that we are all one in Christ. Explain about MWC and how it brings together people who are very different to all worship God and learn together how to follow Jesus. 

A Mennonite perspective on religious freedom in 3 parts 

“We, nosotros, we saved Colombia from being handed over to communists!” Those were the words of a celebrity pastor from a Colombian mega-church, spoken to a cheering crowd in California. That pastor referred to the recent success of a “No” campaign in the popular referendum that voted against implementing a peace agreement in my country. The government and the insurgent rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed that agreement in 2016.1

Some years before that referendum, a Catholic priest said to me: “It is so interesting to see all these evangelical pastors looking for more political power and religious privileges while some of us as Catholics want to take distance from a close relationship with the Colombian government and all the damage and corruption it has brought to our church.” 

The search for political power and privileges is increasing among evangelicals in Latin America. The close connection between some pastors and partisan politics concerns some of us as Mennonites, especially when religious Christian leaders try to impose their values on others. 

How the Mennonite tradition emerged may help us understand our concerns. 

Mennonite beginnings 

In the shadow of the Grossmünster cathedral, the main Catholic church in Zurich, a group of young people gathered in a house to commit an act of subversion: adult baptism. 

Their study of the Bible had led them to different understandings than the state church. As they understood it, baptism symbolized their conscious decision to submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ and follow his example in life – a commitment only an adult could make. That decision challenged the millennial-old practice in the Catholic Church of baptizing infants. 

This radical act on January 1525 marked the symbolic beginning of what would become known as the Anabaptist (“re-baptizer”) movement. Years later, many of them were known as Mennonites. 

For the Mennonites of the 16th century, the response of faith led immediately to fellowship in a community of believers through baptism. Mennonites demonstrated their voluntary, free decision to follow Christ through baptism, which at the same time was the point of entrance into the church. That, of course, implied that the church consisted of believers who had decided in a voluntary way to form a new community. 

This way of understanding Christian faith and church requires the freedom to choose – your confession of faith, your values, the ethics that will characterize your life, the education you want for your children and your lifestyle as a Christian.  

It also implied that there would be people who would choose differently from those who decide to follow Christ. And even those who follow Christ may choose to do it differently from one another.  

To ensure the existence of a voluntary church, there must be freedom and the possibility of saying ‘no’ to Christian faith, Christian values and Christian lifestyle. Without liberty and a guarantee of freely living out decisions about religion and ethics, there won’t be a real church. 

In the words of the historian William Estep: “The Anabaptists were not interested in constructing a church through coercion, either by infant baptism or by the power of the magistrate… They were concerned with gathering a church of believers who had freely responded to the proclamation of the gospel.” 2

This way of thinking rejects the idea of depending on human governments to promote the Christian faith, its values or its way of living. Indeed, looking for ways of getting legal, religious privileges over other faiths is fundamentally incompatible with this perspective.  

So, how do Mennonites understand the state and their relationship with it? 

Watch next month for the next article in this series. 

—This three-part article is adapted from a speech MWC general secretary César García gave as a featured speaker at the 9th World Congress of International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA). 

Footnotes:
1) Rebecca Bartel. “Underestimating the force of the New Evangelicals in the Public Sphere: Lessons from Colombia, South America.” The Immanent Frame, November 15, 2016, (accessed December 4, 2016). http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2016/11/15/underestimating-the-force-of-the-new-evangelicals-in-the- public-sphere-lessons-from-colombia-south-america/ 
‚Äã2) William Roscoe Estep, The Anabaptist Story: An Introduction to Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 1996), 245. 

Beloved sisters and brothers:

Over the weekend the world was shaken by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israeli lives. This crisis quickly escalated with air raids, land battles, random killings, kidnappings and war propaganda. 

No one is more disadvantaged by this escalating situation than the civilians who just wish to live a normal life without fearing for their lives and livelihoods. This peaceful and quiet life is a reality many of us take for granted, but it remains a distant dream for them. 

While the Anabaptist-Mennonite community does not have church presence in Israeli and Palestinian territories, this is a land that pays homage to multiple faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. As followers of the Prince of peace, as people who do not put trust in earthly rulers, we refuse to take sides with political interests, but mourn with all who suffer.

In a seemingly unending conflict in a place with connection to many people of faith, I want to call the global Anabaptist-Mennonite communion to remember:  

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword.
(Matthew 26:52, NRSVUE)

He shall judge between the nations
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
    neither shall they learn war any more.
(Isaiah 2:4, NRSVUE)

We ask churches and individuals to pray that the violence will end and that conciliation can begin.

• Pray for the hostages to return safely to their homes and families.
• Pray for those who mourn to be surrounded by loved ones as they grieve.
• And pray that peace workers, negotiators and government staff will put people’s lives and human dignity above political or military gains.   

Although this conflict has been going on for decades, let us unite in asking our God to have mercy on Israel and Palestine, and for a just, peaceful and sustainable resolution to this crisis. 

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
In the name of Jesus, Prince of Peace, amen.

Henk Stenvers, MWC president