Prayers of gratitude and intercession

  • Introducing the global family 

    Iglesia Evangélica Unida- Hermanos Menonitas de Panamá (IEU) 

    ICOMB and MWC member conference 

    IEU has 16 local churches. Serving the churches, due to the distance between them, is a bit difficult for the conference. For this reason, the conference in Panama works by region. They have five regions and each region has one or two coordinators. Their purpose is to monitor the work assigned by the Assembly. The focus is to disciple the membership, and the leaders and coordinate the work among the churches of the region. 

    Ministries 
    In addition to the ministries that each local church carries out, there are three general ministries to meet the specific needs of each group. 

    Women 
    We have been able to meet with all the women and have held workshops on specific topics, such as intimacy with God and other related topics. Now, each leader reproduces these workshops in her local church.  

    The sisters share impressive testimonies of how they have overcome and strengthened their faith. In the future, they will continue to develop topics according to their needs until they understand what it is to live out their faith in Jesus among their sisters and brothers until they all reach the fullness of Christ. 

    Youth  
    The Youth ministry was created under the direction of Giovany and Aurita Peña with plans called Ruta Josué, which to date is what is being developed. This ministry continues its course until it achieves its objective of training young people to reach the unconverted youth. We need many prayers for this ministry. 

    Children 
    Recently a new children’s ministry has been created. Several groups of leaders have been trained by forming teams through a youth group from the Canadian church. It is under the general direction of Girlesa Zuluaga. 

    Yaviza discipleship 
    It began under Einer Zuluaga with only students of the IEU. With time, many of the Guna people (Wounaan and Latino brothers from Colombia), and the Rama (from Nicaragua) wanted to participate in the discipleship and train their leaders.  

    The interest is due to the living testimony of the graduates that they share in their churches since the focus of the school is to disciple with basic biblical foundations with an emphasis on the formation of Christian character and with real practice. In 2021, they closed due to COVID-19. In 2022, they resumed it. Let us pray for this ministry now under the direction of Pastor Dalecio Osorio. 

    Stewardship of finances 
    The IEU has two projects that are developing under the direction of Obdulio Isarama, called Casa Del Sembrador and Camp Yaviza. These offer social assistance in shelters for leaders of the IEU, leaders of different ethnic groups of the Comarca at the national level, and also to leaders of our partners at the international level, at the same time generate income for the proclamation of the gospel, open new churches, and other related works. Most of all for the self-sustainability of the IEU. 

    Missionaries & missions 
    Einer and Girlesa Zuluaga (Colombia) have been a blessing to the church through pastoral accompaniment, training and good advice. Lavern Pratt (Canada) has also begun to support the conference. We thank God for these missionaries. 

    Now the IEU focuses its vision and mission on the Embera population under the general coordination of Pastor Ricardo Membache. They have selected a very remote region called Jaqué under the direction of a national missionary couple, Clemente and Narsi Donisabe. As a result, they already have an established church.  

    In another area called Bajo Lepe, the construction of a chapel has already begun, since there are many attendees and a space to congregate is needed. There are other areas within the Comarca where they are starting with missionary work. It is in a region where they will be exploring new fields to establish churches. 

    In addition, they are also working with the Wounaan brothers in Colombia, where the situation is more complicated because the culture has very strong ancestral roots. The progress is very slow. But they trust that sooner or later God will open doors in all these regions. God is already sending leaders to Yaviza UIS Discipleship School, Panama. Pray for Colombia. 

    COVID-19 
    For the IEU, especially for the five churches in the city, the years of the pandemic were very difficult. Anguish reigned in the country, jobs were paralyzed and members worried about how to cope during this time. Many members, leaders, and pastors passed away during this time. Thanks are to God through the brethren of the churches in Canada and the Mennonite World Conference who extended their hands to help during this time. The local churches in the countryside, which had some calmer years in terms of covid, helped with agricultural products. This year the situation has changed a bit. It has all been because of the goodness and mercy of our God who made us survive. To him be the glory. 

    Let us pray for the conference in Panama, that God will give them the strength and health to continue in the works that have been entrusted to them. Churches that wish to participate in the above-mentioned works, whether in prayer or finances, are welcome. 

    ICOMB
    The International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB) is made up of 22 national churches in 19 countries. ICOMB also has associate members in more than 20 countries, all at different points along the pathway to full membership. ICOMB exists to facilitate relationships and ministries to enhance the witness and discipleship of its member national churches – connecting, strengthening and expanding.

  • “Jesus is our hope: even if we go through the valley of the shadow of death, he is by our side.” 

    In the Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday materials for 2023, meet the Christian believer in Burkina Faso who declares this faith despite challenges – and more.  

    MWC creates worship resource materials three times a year for member churches: Peace Sunday (18 September, 2022), YABs (Young AnaBaptists) Fellowship Week (3rd week of June) and for Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday (22 January 2023).  

    “Each year for Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday, we encourage Anabaptist-related churches across the globe to use a common theme in a worship service to connect with our global Anabaptist family,” says César García.  

    Many congregations celebrate on the Sunday closest to 21 January, the date of the first Anabaptist baptism in 1525.   

    “Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday is an opportunity to remind our communities of faith that we are all part of one body made up of many tribes, languages and nations (Revelation 7:9),” says César García, MWC general secretary.  

    “In 2022, many of us were able to gather with joy, in person and online, for our MWC’s global Assembly in Indonesia, but that is a small portion of our global faith family. Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday makes it possible for every local congregation to join in shared worship, in spirit, in their own time, own place, and in their own way,” says Arli Klassen, regional representatives coordinator.  

    Churches may use as much or as little of the worship package as is useful to them. It contains preaching resources on the lectionary texts, four testimonies, cultural context and suggestions for offering from Africa, a children’s story and multimedia resources.  

    Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday is an opportunity to cross barriers: worship with another local MWC member church; invite an MWC speaker from the speakers’ bureau; host a communal meal – or a communal time of fasting – and take up an offering for the work of MWC connecting the Anabaptist-Mennonite family of faith.  

    “The calendar date isn’t important; you can use these resources to ponder living out peace in your congregation any time of year,” says Andrew Suderman, Peace Commission secretary. 

    MWC would like to hear about you! How did you use the worship package and add your own creativity to observe these events.  

    Tell us how you used these prayers, activities, testimonies or teaching resources in your congregation. Please send photos and reports to photo@mwc-cmm.org to share with other members of our global faith family. 

    For Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday, send us your congregation name so we can drop a pin on our celebration map.  

    Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday 2023

     

  • India

    The missionaries from USA started Mennonite mission work in central India, presently Chhattisgarh state in November 1899. They began with philanthropic works, providing relief to the drought-stricken people. The first baptism of 43 new converts was in December 1900. At the beginning, membership grew very rapidly. In 1949, when the Mission Work Golden Jubilee was celebrated, baptized membership was 1 579.

    During the years following, MCI was not growing numerically as was hoped. Early MCI Indian leaders made some attempts to start new churches in new areas. Overall, however, having been satisfied with maintaining the status quo, MCI did no self-evaluation.

    Possibly God was not satisfied with this maintenance of the status quo, and thus emerged the Pentecostal movement.

    The coming of Pentecostals in MCI conference area

    Before the 1970s, I remember some Pentecostal preachers were invited to preach at special occasions by local churches and also by the MCI Conference. They were mostly such preachers who could stir people emotionally.

    In early 70s, Pentecostal presence was felt more in some urban Mennonite churches where membership was mixed from other denominations. In the main Mennonite church, Pentecostal worship services started in a private house in the mid-70s. Especially, the Mennonite youth who were not in the forefront of MCI activities started meeting for worship and fellowship in private houses. Non-Christians also started attending those Pentecostal house meetings.

    The meetings were marked for their lively and emotionally charged singing and praying. Slowly the movement picked up momentum. New birth, immersion baptism, tithing and speaking in tongues were emphasized. People were encouraged to shout “Alleluia”, “Amen” and “Praise the Lord” during preaching. In worship services people were encouraged to share what the Lord had done in their lives during the previous week. At times, simple foods were freely served after worship services.

    During weekdays, Pentecostal pastors regularly made house visitations, even in Mennonite houses. Praying for sick was boldly done. The pastors sought every opportunity to make their presence noted, like at funerals. They would often befriend well-off MCI members who were not very active in MCI churches. Slowly, Pentecostal house churches increased in numbers. They rapidly spread to more and more cities and villages and grew in numbers. The enthusiastic lay leaders were encouraged to attend Pentecostal Bible schools, and after completions they would be given congregations to serve.

    It seems, there was not much institutionalized system. The pastors were the decision makers in all matters and free in running the local congregations.

    MCI churches and Pentecostal presence

    At first, though the church leaders invited distant Pentecostal preachers for preaching, the local Pentecostals were discouraged. Mennonite members who had joined Pentecostal movement were forced to leave Mennonite churches. But the persistent presence and increasing number of Pentecostals have changed the MCI thinking tacitly. Also many of MCI members married Pentecostal-background wives who have become active in the MCI churches.

    Now the presence of Pentecostal churches and leaders are acknowledged and accepted. There is no more open rivalry between the two. In fact, the MCI has accepted changes in its own worship patterns. There is more singing in worship and people are invited to share what the Lord has been doing in their lives during the past week.

    The Pentecostal pastors are accepted with due respect. Mennonite pastors are encouraged to pray for the non-Christians attending worship services afterwards. Prayer requests asked by the non-Christian are included in the pastoral prayers, and they are also allowed to share their testimonies in Sunday worship services.

    This has encouraged unaffiliated village Pentecostal groups to seek MCI leadership. MCI on its part establishes those groups first as prayer centres and supporting the leaders there, and then, with certain conditions met, recognizes them as fullfledged MCI unit churches.

    Some other attempts are also being made in MCI to rejuvenate members for evangelistic ministry.

    Suggestions for relations with Pentecostals

    1. Since this Pentecostal movement is a global phenomenon, we should accept it as God’s doing. We will do right to accept Jewish law teacher Professor Gamaliel’s advice mentioned in Acts 5:33-39.

    2. We need to do self-evaluation, why God has raised the Pentecostalism in spite of the presence of the established churches. It is like the early 16th-century rise of the Anabaptist/Mennonite movement.

    3. We should be able to rejoice in what God has been doing, bringing more and more people to Jesus Christ’s fold through the ministries of the Pentecostals.

    4. The established churches should find ways to develop working relationships with the Pentecostals and other churches.

    5. We should accept inadequacy of any one church denomination, including of MCI denomination, in not being alone able to proclaim the “manifold wisdom of God” (Ephesians 3:9-11). We need unity of spirit with and co-operations of churches for this calling.

    — Shantkumar Kunjam is bishop of Mennonite Church in India Conference, and lives in Rajnandgaon, Chhatisgarh, India.

    This article first appeared in Courier / Correo / Courrier, April 2022

  • “We want our regional representatives to develop deep relationships with each member church in their region,” says Arli Klassen, regional representatives coordinator. 

    MWC’s regional representatives are part-time volunteers who develop and support relationships with MWC member, associate-member and potential-member churches; local congregations; and MWC-related agencies and partners.  

    A new region was created in 2022 by splitting the Southern Cone into two: “ABCU” is Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Chile. “BP” is Brazil and Paraguay.  

    “There are many members churches in this region,” says Arli Klassen. “We are grateful to bring on another regional representative to help foster these relationships” 

    Freddy Barron, pastor and national church leader in Bolivia, represents Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay.  

    Cynthia Dück from Paraguay represents the new region consisting of Brazil and Paraguay (Latin America – Cono Sur-BP). She previously worked for the MWC from 2007-2009 organizing local lodging for Assembly 15 in Paraguay. Cynthia Dück is a member of the Concordia Mennonite Brethren Church. She serves on the church council, is a deacon to members over age 65 and helps administrate the Mennonite retirement home in Asunción.  

    Siaka Traoré represents Central West Africa. He served MWC as chair of the Deacons Commission (2015-2022). Siaka Traoré also mentors and nurtures leaders in Eglise Evangelique Mennonite de Burkina Faso, supporting both theological development and social entrepreneurship.  

    Danisa Ndlovu represents Southern Africa. He served MWC as president (2009–2015). Danisa Ndlovu is a bishop in the Brethren in Christ Church of Zimbabwe and serves as executive director of FaithWalk Ministries International.  

    After a long service to MWC including serving on the Executive Committee, Francisca Ibanda (known as “Maman Cisca”) and Barbara Nkala have completed their terms as regional representatives in West and Central Africa and Southern Africa, respectively.  

    “We are so grateful for the work of Cisca and Barbara. Both women brought such depth of leadership: they are well known and respected in their regions and have many relationships around the world,” says Arli Klassen.  

  • Testimonies from Africa

    When we receive the life of Jesus, a living hope is born in us, with our desires turned toward what does not perish: eternal life with God. This new life is constantly being tested in various ways. This is the story of a young Fula (a person from the semi-nomadic Fulbe people) from Burkina Faso who converted from Islam to Christianity.

    This happened at the start of terrorism in a Fulbe village in northern Burkina Faso. The muezzin (the person who calls people to prayer) of the mosque gave his life to Jesus to obtain salvation. The imam and all the Muslim community were not happy with his decision. They accused him of treason.

    One day, the imam summoned the muezzin before several Muslim followers. He was placed in the middle of the circle, and the imam asked the audience, “If one of your oxen gets lost from the herd, and you find it, what do you do?” The Muslim faithful answered firmly, “we bring him back and we tie him well so that he does not get lost again.”

    The new convert asked for the floor to give the answer he had in his heart. “In my humble opinion, if your ox goes astray and you find it in a green pasture grazing fresh grass, you leave it there, and with a happy heart you go to lead the rest of the herd to him so that all your oxen may also benefit from this green pasture.”

    The imam and his retinue became angry and withdrew.

    A few days later, unidentified gunmen broke in the new believer’s home in the night. Because of the heat, he and his family slept in the yard outside the house on mats. The attackers kicked him awake and ordered him to follow them. He obeyed without flinching. As they moved through the dark night, one of the attackers fired a shotgun at him but did not hit him.

    In a spirit of survival, the new believer fled and hid in a friend’s kitchen until dawn. Sensing the danger had passed, he came out of his hiding place and showed himself to his friend. The friend went home discreetly to check if his family was well, and to bring him some clothes. The new believer left the village to save his life.

    Jesus is our hope: even if we go through the valley of the shadow of death, he is by our side.

    Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday 2023

     

  • *updated on September 2023

    Anabaptist historical context

    Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday is an annual event for MWC member congregations around the world, worshipping together in spirit using the same worship resources, knowing that we belong to each other in this global family of faith.

    Anabaptism is a Christian movement that traces its origins to the Radical Reformation. The most widely accepted date for the establishment of Anabaptism is 21 January 1525, when Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock in Felix Manz’s house in Zurich, Switzerland. George Blaurock immediately baptized several others on confession of their faith. These baptisms were the first “re-baptisms” known in the movement.

    Anabaptism developed into several groups in Europe during the 1500s – including the Mennonites (named after Menno Simons from the Netherlands) – and spread in multiple locations. Members of this movement continued to move and grow in numbers around the world in the centuries to follow.

    Mennonite World Conference began in 1925 as a way of bringing together the many churches from different streams of Anabaptism. Today MWC has member churches in 58 countries, each with their own story of how they began and came to be part of our Anabaptist communion.

    The Anabaptist movement began as part of a renewal movement within the Catholic Church in Europe in the early 16th century. Some of its inspiration comes from the Catholic tradition: the strong sense of discipline and community found in monasticism, for example, the attentiveness to the Holy Spirit that could be found in Catholic mysticism, or the emphasis on following Jesus in daily life in The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis. Anabaptism also owes a debt to Martin Luther and the early Reformation movement, particularly Luther’s emphasis on the authority of Scripture and his emphasis on the freedom of the Christian conscience. And the movement was shaped by deep social and economic unrest of their time that exploded in the Peasants’ War of 1524-1525. The Anabaptists themselves, however, would have said that they were simply trying to be faithful followers of the teachings of Jesus and the example of the Early Church.

    Historian John D. Roth explains Anabaptist history at the Grossmünster in Zurich, Switzerland. Photo: Henk Stenvers

    Although dates can be somewhat arbitrary, the Anabaptist movement “officially” began on 21 January 1525 when a small group of Christian reformers gathered for a secret worship service in Zurich, Switzerland. The group was frustrated by the hesitance of their leader, Ulrich Zwingli, to enact the changes to Catholic rituals that they agreed Scripture demanded, especially regarding the Mass and the practice of infant baptism. In their reading of Scripture, true Christian baptism assumed a conscious commitment to follow Jesus – something no infant could do. So on 21 January 1525, this small group agreed to baptize each other as adults. Although it would be some time before the full meaning of baptism came into focus, the early Anabaptists understood this act to symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit in the gift of God’s grace, a commitment to a life of daily discipleship, and membership in a new community of God’s people.

    Members of the movement generally referred to themselves as “Brethren” (Brüder)—or later by the more descriptive term “Baptismminded” (Taufgesinnten). Their opponents labeled them Anabaptists (= re-baptizers), in part because “rebaptism” was a criminal offense in the Holy Roman Empire, punishable by death. At first, the group resisted the term “Anabaptist” since in their minds they were not rebaptizing, but rather baptizing correctly for the first time. But over time, the name persisted. Today, Anabaptist is an accepted English term for all Reformation groups who practiced believers (rather than infant) baptism, and the denominations descended from them such as the Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites.

    Over time, however, a coherent movement emerged. Its identity was forged, in part at least, from the need to respond to several basic challenges. First, in response to accusations of heresy by religious and political authorities in the first half of the 16th century, Anabaptists were quick to define themselves as faithful, Biblebelieving Christians. Second, militant voices within their number who were ready to impose social and religious change with violence forced Anabaptists to clarify their identity as peaceful, law-abiding, nonresistant Christians whose only weapon was love. And finally, in the face of spiritualist dissenters who favored an internal religious experience that could avoid theological disputations and go undetected by authorities, Anabaptists were compelled to defend the public and visible nature of the church.

    Despite the diversity of theology and practice evident in the first generation of Anabaptists, three coherent groups had emerged by the 1540s: the Swiss Brethren in the Germanspeaking territories; the Hutterites in Moravia; and the Mennonites of the Netherlands and North Germany who were organized around the leadership of Menno Simons. Although these groups differed in important ways, they nonetheless recognized each other as members of the same religious tradition, so that their internal disagreements often took the form of a family quarrel.

    Over the next 500 years Anabaptism spread to many different countries around the world, each with their own origin story. Mennonite World Conference began in 1925 to bring different Anabaptist groups together for fellowship, worship, witness and service. 

    —Excerpts from Stories: How Mennonites Came to Be, by John D. Roth, Herald Press, 2006. Adapted and used with permission.

     

    AWFS 2024

  • Choose texts that work in your context.

    Old Testament: Isaiah 40:28-31

    • Jesus Christ our hope is a theme that comes at the right time, an appropriate theme in the aftermath of crossing zones of turbulence in our world and in our lives in particular. Hope is a pure and disinterested confidence in the future. Don’t we say that we have no hope when there is no life? To have hope is to have faith, to continue to put one’s trust in God, even if everything does not go as we want. In our context of insecurity, aggravated by the COVID-19 crisis and many other evils that rage around us, hope presents itself as the breath of life.
    • The children of Israel at one time also went through such disappointments and moments of crisis. According to them, they felt they no longer were important in the eyes of God. Many of them may have the same feeling of being not counted by God. This is common when we are going through uncertain times. God knows this, and knows our fears and our worries. Despite the uncertainty, God speaks to us saying, “Give hope to my people!”
    • Although not everything is as we were used to before, God is faithful to God’s promises. God remains God and has not changed. God asks you to place your trust, your hope in God. In Isaiah 40, God says over and over “Raise your eyes up and look! Who created these things? Who makes their army march in order? He calls them all by name.” God says in Jeremiah 29:11: “Yes, I the LORD, know the plans I have for you. I declare it, these are not projects of misfortune but projects of happiness. I want to give you a figure full of hope.”
    • God wants to give you hope when you think that nothing is going well in your family life, your health, your work, or your relationships with others. God asks you to look up to God. Like God, God wants you not to be tired, nor to get bored. When you think nothing is right, God tells you to take flight like an eagle. God wants you to put your trust in God. Do not see everything as a failure, but count the benefits God put before you. You will see that in worship, the blessings of God are great.
    • Hope in God will increase our strength to serve the Lord.

    Psalm: Psalm 62:1-6

    • David exhorts himself to continue to wait on God. We must persevere in the good we do and strive to do more and more.
    • Everyone has been confronted with the actions of some ill-intentioned people and irritated by others. But God allows these things. Of course, they are difficult to deal with, but they also give the opportunity to develop more virtuous behaviours.
    • The more faith is exercised, the more active it becomes. The more we meditate on the perfections of God, on God’s promises and our experience, the more we overcome our fears and are kept in peace (Isaiah 26:3). In the same way that David’s faith rises to unshakable certainty, his joy will turn into holy triumph.

    Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday 2023

    Gospel: Luke 18:35-43

    • Jesus is the hope of the marginalized. Jesus is the one who can hear the voice of the voiceless. Let us open our ears, our eyes, to hear and see those who are marginalized in order to give them hope.
    • This blind and desperate man was depending on the generosity of people of good will. It was a generosity that certainly did not meet all of his needs. This man wanted to be independent. He must have heard of Jesus, and he put his hope, his faith, in Jesus without having seen him. This man said to himself that the day when Jesus would pass by him, he would not miss the opportunity to challenge him. His hope was in Jesus.
    • This day is a day of grace for the blind man. He hears the noise of a crowd, he inquires and learns it is Jesus of Nazareth who is passing by. He says to himself, “my hope is fulfilled”. Then, louder than all the noise by the crowd, they hear “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The crowd, out of contempt, say to him “Shut up”. It is then that he cries louder and louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus, the hope of the hopeless, pays attention to him, and makes him the most beautiful offer, “What do you want me to do?” Some versions say, “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus, I would like to hear you ask me such a question every day of my life, because you are my hope.
    • Just like the young King Solomon, the blind man asks for what is essential and necessary, and what men have failed to give him, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” The Lord answers him. He is fulfilled and is the happiest man on earth that day.
    • Certainly, this man was marginalized because of his physical disability. Jesus was his deliverance and his hope. It may be that we are not the victim of a physical handicap, but of some kind of handicap that cannot be seen by the human eye. We too must make this cry to Jesus every day, saying “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”. Thus, Jesus will heal our physical and spiritual handicaps. In return, we turn to him in gratitude and ask him, like Saul did on the road to Damascus, saying “Lord, what do you want me to do?” (Acts 9:6)
    • Hoping in Christ can bring healing to our lives.
    • What situation is so hard for you that it is hard to have hope? Who is trying to silence you? Fix your eyes on Jesus. Do not allow anyone to silence your hope in Christ. Cry out even more! Call upon Jesus, and he will respond. Jesus gives attention when you call out to him, with hope.

    New Testament: 1 Peter 1:3-6

    • Jesus made it clear to his disciples what the price is to pay for following him. Jesus did not promise us mountains and marvels. On the contrary, he told us if we want to follow him, we must take up our cross, the symbol of suffering and perseverance. What is reassuring to us about this kingdom reality is that Jesus has promised to be with us in good times and bad.
    • Jesus is our hope in this present life, and Jesus is also our living hope for all time. We put our trust in Jesus for eternity. No matter what is going on for you, and what is not going well, put your trust in Jesus. Don’t give up on Jesus, your spiritual life. Rise up and put your hope once again in Jesus.

    Sermon content provided by:

    • Siaka Traoré, pastor, Eglise Evangélique Mennonite du Burkina Faso
    • Seliselwe Sibanda of Brethren in Christ Church, Zimbabwe
    • Pastor Absalom Sibanda, Evangelist, Brethren in Christ Church, Zimbabwe

  • Gathering/Call to worship

    (loudly)

    Leader: Give me a J
    People: J
    Leader: Give me an E
    People: E
    Leader: Give me an S
    People: S
    Leader: Give me a U
    People: U
    Leader: Give me an S
    People: S
    Leader: What do we have?
    People: Jesus!
    Leader: What do we have?
    People: Jesus!
    Leader: There is HOPE in the name of
    People: Jesus!
    Leader: There is HOPE in the name of
    People: Jesus!

    A Mennonite Church Uganda congregation greets the global family during then-Deacons chair Henk Stenvers’ visit in 2019. Photo: Henk Stenvers

    Benediction:

    Leader: God is good
    People: All the time
    Leader: All the time
    People: God is good
    Leader: All the time
    People: God is good
    Leader: God is good
    People: All the time

    Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday 2023

     

  • The offering time is as important as the sermon. Often someone will give a testimony and Scripture on the theme of giving.

    The pastor often asks one of the ushers to pray, to bless the givers and also that those who are not giving may be blessed to give.

    Sometimes the ushers take the baskets around, and at other times members come up to the front to put their offering into a basket. In many places, the people sing and dance because giving is accompanied with much joy.

    MWC invites a special offering to be taken for the global Anabaptist church community on Anabaptist 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 should be encouraged to do so. Others with more scarce resources might be encouraged to hear that the Executive Committee of the Mennonite World Conference, with members from every continent, is confident that most adults all around the world can give the equivalent of one lunch per year for the work of the global church.

    Here are some ideas on how to plan for an offering in your congregation.

    • Plan for One Lunch offerings to be given in a special basket at the front, or culturally appropriate lunch containers during the worship service.
    • 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, including an offering basket for MWC with the meal.
      • Each family could bring a prepared packed lunch. These packed lunches are then available for auction or for purchase or donation to take home or 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, for 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 (find ways to give at mwc-cmm.org/donate). Or, these funds can be sent to your national church office, clearly designated for Mennonite World Conference and indicated as an Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday offering. You can ask that they pass the funds on to MWC.

    Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday 2023

     

    • Check with Africans in your own community about incorporating their own worship traditions.
    • The first hour of worship in Ethiopia is dedicated to prayer, including Scripture texts and songs guiding the hearts and minds of those who are praying, often on their knees
    • Many traditional hymns are adapted to an African rhythm, and will include dancing, clapping, ululating, and whistling. These are actions that are used in praise to God. Drumming enhances the beauty of each song.
    • Often church members are all encouraged to come up to the front to put their offering into a basket. In many places, people sing and dance while giving their offering, because giving is accompanied with much joy.
    • Many people in Africa wear beautiful traditional clothing, or a church uniform when they go to worship. Worship is a time to bring out one’s very best in praise to God.
    • In Ethiopia, right before the sermon, the leader calls on children to come forward who have memorized Scripture or are ready to sing a song. There is a rush as the children push to get ahead of each other. If a child is to sing, the congregation joins as an encouragement to the child. Even children who cannot yet read will recite memorized Scripture and receive cheering and clapping from the congregation.
    • In some congregations in Africa, at the end of the service, every person greets every other person with a handshake or hug. This is done by people forming a line inside the building and greeting the first person at the door to the outside. One by one, people inside the building go through the door, joining the line on the outside of the building after greeting everyone who is already in the line outside. Everyone greeting everyone on their way out of the church building strengthens the experience of community for all.
      Church members greet each other in Burkina Faso in 2020. Photo: Siaka Traoré

      Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday 2023

       

  • Canada

    It was 20 years ago when my husband and I were mourning the messy demise of our church, which had destabilized during the renewalism of the 1990s.

    I felt both cynical and yet wistful, regarding the charismatic. In search of sanity, stability and solid teaching, a nearby Mennonite Brethren church caught our attention. Could this be home?

    Inwardly, I winced. I did not want to give up the adventurous rush of the prophetic, the ecstatic peaks of worship, the intensely personal encounters in prayer ministry. The fun.

    Some of my peers made their way to the nearest Pentecostal church, only to complain about the lack of sound teaching. Others went mainstream evangelical, only to complain about the lack of Spirit-infused life. Were we doomed to join some secretly seething remnant of disgruntled spiritual elitists who did nothing but complain in whatever church they found themselves?

    We prayed, we took a deep breath, we went MB.

    It was not what I expected.

    Charismatic Anabaptists

    That first Sunday I saw hands raised in worship, elders offering prayer and a strong community focus that challenged my self-absorption. The pastor had also just returned from a YWAM experience with a desire to see the Holy Spirit move in his church. Closet Pentecostal? Nope. Mennonite Brethren.

    The Mennonite Brethren church was birthed 155 years ago, offspring of an unlikely marriage between a staunch Mennonite ‘mother’ and a more charismatic ‘father’ (a hybrid of German Baptist and passionate Lutheran Pietism); their union produced an unwieldy lovechild prone to literal jumping for joy.

    Early Brethren were an evangelistic force to be reckoned with, focused upon an intensely personal experience of God.

    ‘Menno Mom’ was a little taken aback. She waited to see what would happen; when sensuality and sin emerged, she clamped down on excess emotionalism with a heavy hand. Since then, her jumping child has been significantly more restrained.

    But in Canada, some MB toes are twitching. What gives?

    Spirit-filled diversity

    It was only in the late 19th century that Canada actively encouraged immigration from outside the sphere of white, Englishspeaking Europeans. A post-WWII economic boom then led to broadening the palette of acceptable immigrant hue to include Asians, Sub-Saharan Africans, and South Americans. The Canadian MB church – having sent missionaries abroad for years – began to engage the diaspora on their doorstep, resulting in ethnic ministries within churches and the planting of ethnospecific churches.

    Metaphorically, the ecclesial potluck had theological dim sum, papadum, and tortilla added to the farmer sausage and platz.

    Despite long-held misgivings regarding traditional Pentecostalism, atrophied MB “jumping” muscles flexed under the subtle but increasing influence of those from the Global South, where Pentecostalism is a dominant expression of Protestant Christianity. Today, that charismatic influence is like a sparking flint in search of well-laid logs, and within the wistfully warm but solidly constructed MB hearth lie embers of the fire that once birthed us.

    Some churches ignite, some – like ours – do a slow burn.

    Twenty years have passed since our first MB Sunday. Recently, the current lead pastor confessed his longing for renewal. He identified the missing element in his life – already rich in prayer, the Word, and community – as risk. In fall of 2021, he launched a sermon series on the gift of the Holy Spirit, catalyzing us toward charismatic expressions that would honour MB theology and values.

    What does that look like?

    Imagine: dynamic contemporary worship with carefully chosen lyrics that express ancient truths; subjective spiritual insights discerned through a community hermeneutic; diverse stances on theological non-essentials meeting with neither hostility nor avoidance; radical social justice initiatives championed by radical peacemakers; the Word preached boldly but with humble acknowledgement of Scriptural ambiguities; prayer that is audacious yet eschews transactional agendas; spiritual gifts caught and taught through intentional training, and space for personal encounters with God through prayer ministry.

    When the brightest and best of global Pentecostalism merges with brightest and best of MB heritage, hopes should soar. What better context in which to become a people who will not only engage in renewal, but pastor it well?

    —Nikki White is a writer with MULTIPLY (the international Mennonite Brethren sending agency), and author of Identity in Exodus. She attends North Langley Community Church in B.C., Canada, where she oversees curriculum development and training for prayer ministry.

    This article first appeared in Courier / Correo / Courrier, April 2022

  • Zimbabwe

    Pentecostalism has become the most rapidly growing expression of Christianity in the world today. Anabaptists in the African context are not foreigners to this reality. The desire to break free from missionary control, or better put ‘a quest for spiritual liberty’, has seen an impetus in the Pentecostal expression within Anabaptist domains.

    In Southern African over the last 20 years, the spiritual climate is more inclined toward Pentecostalism and away from Anabaptist and other traditional/mainline churches. Much of the character, thought and practice of the African church is being patterned against or mimics that of Pentecostal movements. Traditional churches are struggling to compete for numbers with Pentecostal churches whose spiritual fervency connects with African traditional religion.

    How does this affect the Anabaptist churches in Africa?

    Anabaptists need to embrace the growth of Pentecostalism within the African context. It is not something that Anabaptist churches can do away with because it is here to stay.

    Over time, the highest expression of spirituality in African churches has been idealized as Pentecostal spirituality. The key being its fervency. Many African Christians see the traditional churches, with style of faith, worship and practice taught by the missionaries as lacking spiritual fervency. Now, African believers seek a passionate expression of faith and spirituality, and Pentecostalism is offering that.

    Offering that fervency, the Anabaptist church is seeing believers either leaving their congregation or infiltrating it within practices from Pentecostalism. The dramatic sermons, the fervent prayers, the singing, the dancing, the casting out of demons, the calling out to the Holy Spirit, the infilling moments, and all other Pentecostal expressions are more appealing to many African believers today, than are the sombre and subtle expressions of worship commonly seen within the Anabaptist churches. These characteristics connect well with the average African, making Pentecostalism seem more African than foreign.

    The opportunity that Pentecostalism seems to offer is a truly African expression of faith in the Triune God. Unlike African Traditional Churches, Pentecostalism has firm belief in most fundamental truths that conservative Christians adhere to, but is at times guilty in application. The opportunity for the Anabaptist church is to relate these Scriptural and theological truths into more meaningful expressions that are relevant to African believers.

    But, the downside of this Pentecostal movement is the creation of splinter church movements. The African climate is saturated with Pentecostal movements that have translated into so many charismatic movements from which even other Pentecostal churches are divorcing themselves. These splinter-churches have become a threat to the stability of Christianity within the Southern African region. Opponents to the Christian faith with our region are blaming Pentecostalism of creating counterfeit pastors, prophets, Man-of-God and the prosperity gospel.

    It is critical for dialogue to exist between Pentecostalism and Anabaptism. The key is to identify points of confluence and points of divergence. To develop a more effective and fervent Christian context, dialogue must exist between camps. Pentecostalism must be strengthened with the fundamentals of Christian doctrine, thought and practice, rather than just feeling, expression and experience.

    Ecumenical relations are now initiating dialogue, seminars, trainings and workshops on best ways to communicate an African Christian expression that is not contrary to biblical teaching. Churches are now coming together to critique certain splinter movements that seek to convey a Biblical message of Christian expression that is not in line with Christian doctrine, thought and practice. Leaders and teachers are collaborating from both Pentecostal and missionary churches to produce and publish articles and literature that will educate the Christian masses on the proper Christian values and practice. Television and radio dialogues are broadcast with pastors, leaders and teachers from various church backgrounds to debate true Christian teachings.

    Anabaptists now need to realize the need for dialogue with Pentecostal movements. In our African context, the desire is to experience a truly African Christian Spirituality. Yet, Anabaptist teaching on properly and effectively handling biblical texts is also crucial. If we are not communicating the most effective African Spirituality that embraces the best from both Anabaptism and Pentecostalism, then African believers will be swayed by misconstrued spiritual expressions.

    —Mfakazi Ndlovu has a Bachelor of Arts in Theology, a Postgraduate Diploma in corporate governance, and a Master of Business Administration. He served as lecturer and academic dean at Ekuphileni Bible Institute, a Brethren In Christ Church (BICC) Bible college in Zimbabwe, as adjunct lecturer with the Theological College of Zimbabwe, and has served BICC Zimbabwe as an administrative clerk.

    This article first appeared in Courier / Correo / Courrier, April 2022