Prayers of gratitude and intercession

“Stand up if you are weary, worn down by the cares of ministry.” From Portuguese-speaking countries on either side of the ocean, a Brazilian pastor crossed to embrace an Angolan pastor who stood in response to the Deacons Commission’s calls to prayer during the evening devotional time at the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) General Council meetings. Throughout the room, huddles of delegates surrounded leaders, easing burdens with prayers of encouragement.

Much of the time, MWC’s mission to create space for the Anabaptist family to meet together is fulfilled virtually, on social media or through email connections across continents, but once every three years, it occurs in person as the General Council (one to three delegates from each member church), commissions, and networks (Global Mission Fellowship, Global Anabaptist Service Network) meet. Representatives from up to 107 national churches from 58 countries gathered for triennial meetings 23–26 April 2018 in Limuru, Kenya. They discerned decisions, learned from teaching – and ate together and shared their hearts.

General Council meetings are about “making connections, meeting beautiful brothers from here in Kenya, all parts of Africa, Indonesia, Japan, China, and from different parts of the world,” says Juan C. Colón of Convención de las Iglesias Menonitas de Puerto Rico, Inc. “Learning from them, seeing how they pray, learning from the humility that they show… – it has been a rewarding experience for me.”

“We learn it’s not only in Congo we have problems that affect the life of the church; problems are everywhere, but each corner has its own. I was moved by the hardships of the church in Panama who have been displaced from their own land,” says Alphonse Komuesa of Communauté Mennonite au Congo. “The fact that we have shared these experiences together gives us an opportunity to comfort each other.”

“We have space to be able to talk and get to know each other,” says Colón.

A space to share prayer

During a prayer time, Komuesa shared about the difficulties in DR Congo where a violent military group has displaced many of the Mennonite church’s members, resulting in deaths, separated families and poverty.

From Germany, Alexander Neufeld of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Mennonitischer Brüdergemeinden in Deutschland said the many Middle Eastern refugees making a new home in the country challenge the church to learn and grow.

Delegates from Nicaragua shared their concern about the government suppression of student-led protests happening during the meetings.

The small church of 1 000 members in Nepal has been affected by flooding and earthquake in the past few years, and is restricted by anti-conversion laws, yet it continues to grow, said Hanna Soren of Nepal BIC Church/Brethren in Community Welfare Society.

A space to learn

Gathered in a rainbow striped tent that was both a metaphor for the diversity of the gathering and a real tabernacle for God’s people, delegates approved the Program Plan and financial projections 2018–2021, and reviewed Fair Share 2016–2021, and had lively discussion around Commissions Proposals. Strategic goals for the triennial: live out anabaptist identity, interdependent relationships, reconciliation and hope.

“The unity of the spirit is the reason we walk together, not the result of walking well together,” said Thomas Yoder Neufeld, Bible scholar, new Faith and Life Commission chair, and speaker at three plenary teaching sessions.

“God is to blame for the diversity in our unity,” he said. “This is a permanent problem we do not want God to solve for us.”

The imagery of breaking down boundaries show how costly peace is, he said.

A space to wrestle

Delegates experienced pain when disagreement surfaced over the Faith and Life Commission’s guideline on responding to controversial issues.

Yoder Neufeld’s teaching – patience, suffering, forgiveness, seeing in each other the face of God are the ways to walk in unity – were put to test. The General Council did not reach consensus on accepting the document which means that MWC continues without a clear process on how to discuss controversial issues.

Two other Commission documents received delegate approval: a statement of solidarity with Indigenous peoples and a teaching resource “Identity and Ecumenicity: A Theology of Interchurch Hospitality and Denominational Identity.”

Delegates ratified new national church members approved by the Executive Committee since the previous General Council and new members in 2018: Lancaster Mennonite Conference (full member); and Iglesia Misionera Anabautista, Bolivia (associate members).

Henk Stenvers was elected President Elect, to assume presidency at Assembly in Indonesia in 6–11 July 2021. Currently serving vice president Rebecca Osiro was affirmed to serve a six-year term.

New Commission members and Executive Committee members were approved (see chart).

Prior to the General Council, delegates and representatives of Anabaptist service and mission agencies travelled to western Kenya to participate in Renewal 2027, a day long celebration of the Holy Spirit in the history and life of the nearly 500-year-old Anabaptist church (see “Joy in the Spirit”). The next day, they worshipped in local churches in the Kisumu area.

Osiro described it as a great honour for Kenya Mennonite Church to host the gathering of Anabaptist leaders worldwide. “We feel encouraged and strengthened that we come to this reality,” she said. “Where the roads are not defined clearly…, You bear with us and forgive us,” she said. “How nice, how pleasant and good that we stay together in unity.”

—a Mennonite World Conference release 

 

New Members:

Executive Committee 

• Samson Omondi (Kenya)
• MZ Ichsanudin (Indonesia)
• Wieteke van der Molen (Netherlands)
• Carlos Martínez García (Mexico)
• Juan Silverio Verón Aquino (Paraguay)
• Bill Braun (USA)

Commissions 

Peace

• Neal Blough (France/USA)
• Adriana B. Rodriguez (Honduras)
• Wendy Kroeker (Canada)

Mission

• Nelson Okanya (USA/Kenya)
• Eladio Mondez (Philippines)
• José Rutilio Rivas Dominguez (Colombia)

Faith & Life

• Nzuzi Mukawa (DR Congo)
• Lydia Adi Sidharta (Indonesia)
• Rebecca Gonzales (Mexico)
• Thomas Yoder Neufeld, Chair (Canada)

Deacons

• Angela Opimi (Bolivia)
• Ephraim Disi (Malawi)
• Vikal Pravin Rao (India)

The International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB) is made up of 21 national churches in 19 countries with approximately 450,000 members. ICOMB exists to facilitate relationships and ministries to enhance the witness and discipleship of its member national churches – connecting, strengthening and expanding.

Colombia women’s retreat, 30 June 30–2 July 2018

The national assembly of Christian women of the Mennonite Brethren, held every other year, was this time in Pradera Valle, Colombia. 240 women gathered from different parts of Colombia, Panama and Paraguay. The topics included “A Resilient Woman,” “The Church as a Social Transformation,” “Reconciliation as the Centre of our Task,” and “Woman of Peace.”

Testimony from participant Stella Villareal after the retreat: “’Sometimes God gives us dreams in order for us to awaken them in other people,’ this phrase is now key to my life… I was able to take a weight off my life…I had frustration at not having achieved some of my dreams, but now I understand many things and I know what God is doing with me.”

Luz Estella Mosquera, retreat leader, said, “We have seen that women are so willing to be in the hands of God, for which they have been called. Their capacities allow them to carry the gospel of God out of their different contexts. Women are called to lead with faith, hope, love and justice. They are called to stand up to current challenges and act out of the guidance of the Holy Spirit…”

Latin American Mennonite Brethren leaders meeting, 26–28 July 2018

“Growing toward a missional church.”

With this motto, we developed the first MB leaders meeting in Latin America and inaugurated a very intentional regional movement. 68 Leaders from 10 countries were present listening and discussing “what is a mature missional church,” “how can we work together so that we all grow toward it” and “how do we work together, so that the gifts of one conference supplies the need of others.”

The main areas we reflected on were discipleship and education, mission and conference leadership. The intention was not to have only information sessions, but rather build relationships and commit to a stronger joint vision. In planned meetings and also in spontaneous conversations, there have been encouraging commitments toward this outcome, some even with fixed dates.

We praise God for making this happen and we thank MB Mission/Multiply and both MB Conferences in Paraguay for all the support that enabled this meeting.

—Rudi Plett, executive director

The Constitutional Court of Korea brought an end to 70 years of imprisoning conscientious objectors (COs) when it ruled 28 June 2018 that it is unconstitutional for South Korea not to offer alternative service options for COs.

An alternative does exist, but it requires four to six weeks of military training, and participants who finish it are considered reserves in the military. Men who go to jail rather than the military are barred from many professions, such as working in the education field.

Korean Mennonites celebrated the ruling. KyongJung Kim, Mennonite World Conference regional representative for Northeast Asia, said he had been longing for this moment ever since he began taking seriously the implications of the gospel of peace.

“I have paid close attention to the recent peace process between North and South Korea. I feel that things are falling into place one after another,” he said. “We may have a long way to go…[but] we have seen many signs of the light already.”

Kim began working for such a societal change in 2001 at the Korea Anabaptist Center in South Korea.

The Korea Anabaptist Center provides Anabaptist resources, translates materials and organizes lectures to promote the gospel of peace from a theological perspective. Representatives visit COs in jail, sharing their stories so others can also pray for them.

South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh reported six out of nine justices agreed the Military Service Act should list alternative options of service for COs. The ruling requires a revision to the military service law listing such options must be submitted by 31 December 2019.

KyongJung Kim believes as space opens up in the public sphere for more widespread discussion of CO issues, Mennonite churches will have greater opportunities to address peace and justice issues in society.

“CO suffering may be over in one sense, but there will be some other challenges,” he said. “Church life is not supposed to be comfortable, but challenging.”

The typical jail sentence for refusing military conscription in South Korea is 18 months. Those who cite religious objection tend to be Jehovah’s Witnesses or Buddhists.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights estimated in 2013 that 93 percent of the world’s imprisoned COs are South Koreans. About 660 are jailed each year.

SangMin Lee is believed to be the only Korean Mennonite to choose jail over military service. A member of Grace and Peace Mennonite Church in Seoul, he was released 30 July 2015.

—A Mennonite World Conference reprint by Tim Huber of Mennonite World Review. Used with permission.

Kenya, over the last several years, has been a flashpoint for Christian-Muslim conflict in East Africa, with the militant group al-Shabab’s lethal attacks in Nairobi, Garissa, and elsewhere. With each incident of terror the tension increases.

But Kenyan Mennonites are finding hope in small incidents of transformation. A major part of the challenge is that Kenya has received waves of refugees from Somalia over the last quarter century. Many of these people land in the largest refugee camp in the world (Dadaab) – or in the Eastleigh neighbourhood of Nairobi. There, at the Mennonite-initiated Eastleigh Fellowship Center, Christians and Muslims interact in many different ways.

Yusuf, a Kenyan Mennonite who teaches English in Eastleigh, has regular discussions about faith with young Somali men in the neighbourhood. One day, one of his conversation partners became very angry and slapped him hard across the face.

“I prayed to God that I would not be angry,” Yusuf says. “And I just continued the discussion.

“Later, the other guys who were there came to me to say that they were sorry, and that they were surprised that I was not fighting. I said to them, ‘You don’t know how much Christ has forgiven me, and he called us to forgive.’

“It became clear to me at that point that peace is the best witness,” Yusuf says. “And from that time my relationship changed with those men.”

A woman who pastors a Mennonite church in Eastleigh confesses how hard it is to stay when so many other churches have left the area. There was a series of bombings in 2014, and tension can be very high at times.

But she worked for many years in Eastleigh, teaching at the fellowship centre and helping young Somalis with immigration issues. Now those Somalis have children of their own and bring them to the centre, and they still refer to her as “Mama Rebecca.”

There is hope that these sorts of transformative relationships are spreading, even as violent incidents dominate the news.

Occasionally the fruit of these loving friendships blossoms in astonishing ways. One such incident occurred when al-Shabaab militants stopped a bus in northern Kenya, and ordered the Muslims and Christians to separate. The passengers refused. The Muslim passengers protected their Christian neighbours, and one Muslim man even lost his life in the attack.

This new paradigm for neighbourliness reflects the best in both faith traditions – to love and obey God, and to love and protect one’s neighbour.

Migrant prophets

This new paradigm of neighbourliness, which is ultimately a practice of welcoming strangers – refugees, displaced persons, immigrants – may be one of the most important interfaith issues in our world. Welcoming vulnerable strangers is one of the deepest commonalities we share as Muslims and Christians.

Central to our faiths are two prophets – Jesus and Muhammad – who were both displaced people. To these we might also add the prophet Moses, who was a castaway as a result of genocide.

We can notice three things about Jesus and welcoming strangers.

First, Jesus was born into a covenant that was revealed in the context of migration, beginning with the prophet Abraham and climaxing in the central event of the Old Testament, the Exodus from slavery.

According to the Bible, immigration is a covenant between God and humans. This covenant was a gift and a responsibility; it reflected God’s goodness to them but also called them to respond to strangers in the same way that God responded to them in their slavery: “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19).

Second, Jesus was himself a refugee, fleeing from a murderous king into the land of Egypt. What a stunning reversal of the Exodus story! The land that held the children of Israel in slavery for 400 years became the land that received the vulnerable refugee Jesus the Messiah.

Third, Jesus’ experience as a refugee surely impacted his view of the world. As someone who had been an outsider and a stranger, he spent his life challenging the divisions that kept people on the outside.

In his life and ministry, Jesus went beyond borders of all sorts – clean/unclean, saints and sinners, rich and poor. Jesus’ life was about calling into being a community of generosity that would reflect God’s unlimited love for all people.

This central teaching of Jesus is captured well in Matthew 25: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (vs. 35–36). Jesus fulfills the original calling on God’s people, to follow God’s example as deliverer and provider for our fellow humans.

Prophet Muhammad, an orphan, joined a long line of prophets whose obedience to God resulted in hijra, the qur’anic term for migration. He identified as a migrant, saying that he is like a traveller who stays for a short time to rest under the shade of a tree and then continues on his journey.

The Qur’an speaks on behalf of the oppressed and weak people on earth, saying, “Was not the earth of God spacious enough for you to flee for refuge?” (4:97). In other words, God owns the land, and those who have authority should take care of refugees.

In the sixth year of the Muhammad’s prophethood, he sent 83 members of his community to find refuge from the Meccans in the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia). When the Meccans asked King Negus to deliver the migrants over to them, the king protected the Muslim immigrants. His kindness is praised in several qur’anic verses. This incident is an important example of mutual love between Muslims and Christians.

Our central prophets – Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad – were displaced persons. Our Scriptures tell us of God’s special concern for people who have been marginalized. We must recognize that caring for immigrants is central to living out our faith.

—Peter Sensenig, along with his spouse Christy and two children, works with Mennonite Board in Eastern Africa in a majority-Muslim area of Tanzania, teaching peace studies in an interfaith centre at a university. He also has the opportunity to take part in Muslim-Christian dialogues in different parts of the East Africa. The above reflections emerge from such dialogues.

This testimony is part of the Peace Sunday worship resource for 2018. Click here to see more: www.mwc-cmm.org/peacesunday

“We can’t keep our story. We must share.” That’s the message Danang Kristiawan brought home after attending MERK, the European Mennonite Conference (EMC, CME 2018) 10–13 May, 2018.

The gathering of European Mennonites that occurs every six years was bigger than ever with a total of 2 300 people attending some part of the program.

There was multilingual singing, a multimedia retelling of the Anabaptist story, testimonies from numerous countries, sermons, art exhibits and relief work activities.

Cross-generational representatives from nine conferences contributed to planning and attendees included Russian German Mennonites and emerging Anabaptist groups in Italy, the UK, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Serbia and Albania, in addition to Anabaptist national churches in France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Portugal and Spain.

MERK is one of the few possibilities to meet Anabaptists across borders in such a great number, says Vicky van der Linden, a student from Doopsgezinde Gemeente Groningen, who is retraining from historian to theologian. “It makes me feel like I’m part of a bigger family that understands and respects each other’s views on life and living in the spirit of Christ.”

The Dutch Mennonites also brought four young Indonesian church leaders with them as special guests to the conference.

“It was nice to see that there were participants from outside Europe,” van der Linden says. “That’s valuable, because they can share what they have seen and heard at home.”

Kristiawan did just that. His first Sunday back, he gave a sermon tying the conference theme “transmission” to the essential work of the Holy Spirit started at Pentecost.

“Transmission is needed at two levels: to the next generation and to other communities,” he says. This message was particularly on point in Indonesia where a recent church bombing had been carried out by a family.

“If terrorists transmit hatred and violence, as a Mennonite community, we must be more serious to transmit love and peace, starting with the family,” he says.

Through the conference proceedings, MERK transmitted love, unity amid diversity, and learning.

“The best part of MERK was seeing how smoothly brothers and sisters of the Mennonite family could interact with each other and feel like one big family,” says van der Linden. “This was especially during the meals, and the MCC school kit project.”

From his experiences in Indonesia where Christians are the minority, Kristiawan was able to transmit another perspective to the discussion on showing hospitality to strangers. “The church also needs to perceive our identity as a guest, a guest who offers and engages peace to the host.”

“Gospel transmission from the church to the world is sometime obstructed because of our failure to be sensitive to the context where we live,” he says. “As the church, we need to incarnate the gospel in our changing context.”

Van der Linden was also inspired by the theme of transmission. She returns home eager “to see if it could give my personal faith a revival while sharing it with others.”

—Mennonite World Conference release

I come from a people called the Banyamulenge. We are cattle herders and live in the high mountains of Eastern Congo overlooking Lake Tanganyika.

Over the years, my people have been forced from one area to another in search of green pastures for our livestock. When the Belgians ruled this part of Africa, we lived in what is now Rwanda. However, a severe famine forced us from our land and eventually we moved to the mountain slopes of Mulenge in DR Congo.

After years of peace there, my people began to feel the effects of racial and political conflicts in the region and we were mistreated because of our ethnic background. In the past 20 years, many of the Banyamulenge have been targeted and killed. My people are unloved and unwanted.

In my own home, my father was a pastor, and I was the leader of the church choir. I loved training the young people to sing, but one day I had a dream and God spoke to me: “Your time in this church is over.”

I told my father about my dream and he released me to go. So I walked into the nearest town and I was directed to a Mennonite church. I immediately knew that this was my new home.

Eventually, I began to lead the choir and to train young people. It was among these Mennonites that I also learned the importance of forgiveness and the work of peace and reconciliation.

I knew that this would be a part of my future ministry.

During this time, it was not easy for me as a Banyamulenge. My people continued to be mistreated. My own life was threatened many times.

Then, in 2003, while my parents were fleeing from their home, they were murdered. I decided that it was time for me to leave also, so I fled to Burundi, where I lived for three years in a refugee camp.

After that, I returned to Congo for six months, to see if the atmosphere had changed toward my people. But it was too difficult, so this time I fled to Malawi, where again I made my home in a refugee camp.

In Malawi, the refugee camp was full of conflict and hopelessness. Even among the Christians, there was much division and strife. People of different ethnic groups kept to themselves. Witchcraft was predominant.

Among these refugees, I began to exercise my gift as an evangelist. And people began to respond.

During my first year in the camp, I started a church. With a small group of disciples, we would go door to door throughout the camp, inviting people to follow Jesus.

I often shared from Ezekiel, where the prophet talks about how God had driven his people from their land and dispersed them among the nations because they had forsaken him, but that he also would offer them forgiveness: “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (36:26).

So the new church was a gathering of soft hearts, and we became very focused on Jesus’ teaching of forgiveness and loving our enemies. Our message was simple: because God loves us, we must love one another.

During this time, a man joined our church. He was also a refugee from Congo. When he first arrived into the camp, I received this man into my home. After some time, I learned that he was the one who had murdered my parents in Congo.

I knew that my own teaching – the teaching of Jesus – was being put to the test. It was my desire to be a part of a church that took Scripture seriously and was based on peace and reconciliation. If God forgave me, I had to forgive others.

So, I forgave this man for what he had done to my family.

Today, our church is built on this foundation of the peace and forgiveness of Christ.

We are preaching this gospel and God is blessing us. Now there are 11 more churches in this area. I love what God is doing here. It brings my heart so much joy to see these churches thriving.

To God be the glory!

—Originally published by MB Mission in Witness (Winter 2017). Used with permission.

This testimony is part of the Peace Sunday worship resource for 2018. Click here to see more: www.mwc-cmm.org/peacesunday