Prayers of gratitude and intercession

  • A greeting from the Vietnam Mennonite Church to the world.

    Throughout its history, the people of the Vietnam Mennonite Church (VMC) have never failed to demonstrate their resilience and their commitment to live out the peaceful way of Christ.

    First established in 1964 in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), VMC went through many periods of hope, suffering, and then restoration. And we have a secret for this resilience. VMC always emphasizes the role of young people in the development of the church. Young people are steadfast in their belief. They have the energy, skills, and, with the right visions and guidance, they can contribute so much more.

    Understand that, we encourage young people to step up and take responsibility and lead the way. We take this Bible verse to heart:

    Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity (1 Timothy 4:12).

    We started doing that when the church was first established 50 years ago, and we continue today.

    When the US–Vietnam war came to an end in 1975, communication between the Vietnamese church and the Mennonite world community was mostly cut off. For four decades, we were considered an underground church.

    But in 2009, VMC received the legal status from the Vietnamese government to operate. Later that year, we became a member of the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) at the Assembly in Paraguay. We knew it was time for the church to reconnect with the Mennonite world community.

    One of the ways to do that is through volunteer exchange programs for young people, such as Mennonite Central Committee’s programs: IVEP and YAMEN (a joint program with MWC). We select the best candidates among young people in the church to participate in one year of voluntary service overseas.

    During their year of service, these young people are ambassadors for the church, and upon their return, they play a central role in generating friendship and collaboration between VMC and other member congregations of MWC.

    These young leaders will also make good use of the experience they learnt from MCC to help strengthen the church when they come back. I came to truly appreciate the MCC motto: relief, development and peace in the name of Christ.

    With that expectation and dedication, I was the third young person from Vietnam to serve with MCC. We all finished our terms ready to share great stories of friendship and hospitality received, and about how the experience broadens perspectives about the global Anabaptist community.

    During the war in Indochina, MCC came to Vietnam to do relief work and advocate for peace between the USA and the Vietnamese. After the war, other NGOs left with American troops, yet MCC remained to continue development work, helping the people of Vietnam. That model continues to be applied in North Korea, Iraq, Syria, DR Congo and other conflict zones. Regardless of people’s political or religious systems, MCC works with those who are willing to partner.

    The future is full of hope and anticipation, as young volunteers help the church stay connected with the Mennonite world community, and bring up new opportunities to do God’s work, in Vietnam and elsewhere.  

    A joint release of Mennonite World Conference and Mennonite Central Committee by Thien Phuoc Quang Tran, the son of a pastor in the Vietnam Mennonite Church (VMC) in Ho Chi Minh City, in the south of Vietnam. He served as the MWC IVEP intern at the United Nations in New York City, USA, 2017–2018.

    Young adult candidates from a Mennonite World Conference (MWC) member church in the Global South with a knowledge of international relations and a strong commitment to conflict resolution and peacebuilding are invited to apply for a one-year internship in the Mennonite Central Committee United Nations office in New York City, USA. Applications from Latin America / Caribbean are especially encouraged. 

    Click here for more information.

  • “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.”

    Indonesian pastor Danang Kristiawan who participated in MERK as a guest of the Dutch Mennonites meets Mennonite theologian Fernando Enns. Photo courtesy of Danang Kristiawan.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

  • The Bible tells stories of leadership transition: Moses walked with Joshua and prepared him to lead the Israelites; stories in the books of Kings tell of less wise approaches to the end of ministry.

    Healthy leadership transition is as necessary today as ever. There are several necessary elements: the call of God and a willingness and humility to serve and be served – on both the part of the upcoming leader and those transitioning out.

    At their annual leaders meeting 24–26 February 2018, the Anabaptist church in Spain (AMyHCE – Anabaptists, Mennonites and Brothers in Christ of Spain) discerned these 10 principles about Christ-like leadership and how to develop it in the next generation.

    1. We have to fight with ourselves to overcome our history and our tendency, and return to the life of the first disciples and the early church.
    2. It is important to know your own gifts (both natural and spiritual) and to be recognized by others, to allow it to grow.
    3. It is important to be models to each other and to convey the hope of serving God and not only the burden.
    4. It is fundamental to awaken the thirst of God in young people.
    5. In the New Testament, there were no pastors: we do not need great pastors but a lot of little servants eager to serve God.
    6. Young people need resources as they work their gifts, listen to God and launch themselves into service.
    7. Young people should never walk alone. There must be someone at their side to offer security, instruction, confidence and pick them up if they fall.
    8. It’s better to start changing together now, starting with empowering young people who are already serving in ministry.
    9. Discipleship is a process of journeying together with each other and with Jesus. It requires dedication and commitment, and an understanding of relationship (recognition of one’s authority and how to submit).
    10. Guidance is a gift that experienced people can give.

    “Dialogue is always good, and even more so when there is a shared goal in mind,” says Judit Menéndez Olalla, a young leader who participated in the event.

    “Experienced leaders should desire even more than the youth that the wheel turns and the torch is passed on. The fact that a number of youth were invited to participate in this retreat has been practical evidence that their desire to work and serve with us is real.

    “The greatest challenge is not actually in the generational handover, it is in learning to work together.”

    —A Mennonite World Conference release by Karla Braun

  • “My members are rapists, kidnappers, murders and fraudsters – all washed by the blood of Jesus our Lord,” says pastor Ignacio Chamorro Ramírez.

    Chamorro is director of an integrated transformation program and pastor of La Libertad (“freedom”) church in Paraguay’s overcrowded Tacumbú national penitentiary – but he was once a prisoner like the men he serves.

    Chamorro’s life is a testament to Holy Spirit transformation.

    His youth spent on the streets without supervision led to bad decisions. At age 19, Chamorro went to prison for robbery for 20 days. “It was a traumatic experience, but made no change in my life,” he says.

    A few years later, Chamorro was imprisoned “for a crime I didn’t commit. I wasn’t charged for the one I did.”

    Resentment and bitterness grew in his heart, but he rejected any invitation to church.

    One day, he went with friend to study math. “The person leading talked about God, but I had nothing else to do so I stayed,” he says. “There, God touched my heart. Something new began in my life.”

    That was his introduction to La Libertad: a church inside the prison. “I learned about benefit of discipleship,… was baptized, and began to do for others what they had done for me.”

    When he was released, he finished high school, studied theology at Instituto Bíblico Asunción, and has worked with La Libertad since 2012.

    Inmates in Asuncion’s infamous Tacumbu prison participate in La Libertad church, a ministry of the Mennonite Brethren church in Paraguay. Photo courtesy of Ignacio Chamorro Ramirez.Members of Mennoniten Brüder Gemeinde Concordia (Concordia Mennonite Brethren church) began a ministry in the prison in 1984. For more than a decade, the ministry of justice has had an agreement with the congregation to manage this area with 535 of the 3290 inmates in the prison. Some 130 are committed members of the church.

    The church-run program in the prison emphasizes spirituality and education. It offers literacy and work skills: “It provides opportunity to recover dignity, economic freedom,” says Chamorro, “and, most importantly, to grow and develop the person’s life in Christ, and to continue to journey in love.”

    “God has power. God changes people,” he says.

    Chamorro shared his story at the triennial meeting of the Global Mission Fellowship (GMF) and Global Anabaptist Service Network in Kenya in April 2018. The prison ministry is a part of GMF member Vereinigung der Mennoniten Brüder Gemeinden Paraguays. “I encourage you to have a church inside a penitentiary,” he told them. “It is a great honour.”

    —A Mennonite World Conference release by Karla Braun

  • The International Brethren in Christ Association (IBICA) is the common network for all national conferences of the Brethren in Christ church with the aim to facilitate communication, build trust and cooperation within our global community, and to establish common and mutual understanding through our set of core values. An associate member of MWC, IBICA has some 190,000 attendees in over 30 countries around the world representing dozens of national churches.

    Nepal and Canada partner for peace

    The Nepal PEACE Project (Providing Essential Assistance for Children’s Education) was created by the leaders in the BIC Church of Nepal and is designed to work within the pre-existing local education system and church community networks. The local BIC Nepal churches provide tutoring and mentorship support, and with support from Canadian Be In Christ (BIC) churches, provide school supplies as well for students in rural villages. Children enrolled in the project are able to continue to be a part of their local communities while also accessing support with school stationery, school fees, school uniform, tutoring, healthcare, enrolment in local faith-based organizations and spiritual mentorship. This is a wonderful opportunity for two national churches to connect, relate and support one another.

    —Doug Sider, executive director, Be In Christ, Canada

  • 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.

    Summit, 3–5 June 2018

    The leadership baton passed from David Wiebe to Rudi Plett. David presented Rudi with a plate given to ICOMB from Mennonite World Conference (MWC) leader Larry Miller as a symbol of ICOMB’s relationship to MWC. Rudi shared his vision for the future and the delegates gathered around to pray for him and commission him.

    Summit business

    We discussed the merger between MB Mission and C2C. This new entity will be called Multiply. ICOMB will become the mother (giving identity and a family) for national church conferences whereas Multiply will be like a midwife helping give birth to new networks and conferences.

    There are currently more than 30 networks of local churches at different stages of maturity and development.

    Vic Wiens received a new mandate from MB Mission to work with ICOMB. He will become Emerging Conference Coach and support conferences on the path to ICOMB membership, and help to build the education/training grid in all regions.

    Emerson Cardoso (Brazil), formerly ICOMB Secretary, was elected chair. Andreas Isaak (Germany VMBB), was elected secretary.

    —Rudi Plett, executive director

  • The Canadian Prairies can seem like a hard place to live. It gets very cold in wintertime. The growing season is short, and the crop options are limited.

    For Prairie dwellers in Canada, it’s possible to think the shift in weather patterns – year after year, winters are milder than we remember – as a good thing. Who wants to ride a bike over snow and ice when you could drive in a heated car instead? Why should we inconvenience ourselves to care about the earth?

    Scientists are sounding alarm bells about the state of the earth. Whatever you call it, whatever you think caused it, scientists agree that climate change is happening.

    For Anabaptist Christians centred on Jesus, community and reconciliation, caring for God’s creation is not a political action but a divine calling.

    In our worship of God, we pay attention to the physical surroundings where live. We thank God for his creative work, and uphold our responsibility as stewards. Our task of tending and caring is written throughout the Old Testament and the New, Ndunzi Muller writes in the feature article.

    Similarly, we love people, made in God’s image, whether they are nearby or far away.

    Climate change causes people to suffer: often those with fewest resources to adapt or recover are the most affected. Increased frequency and severity of extreme weather patterns means storms are more destructive, droughts last longer and floods are more severe. Destroyed homes and livelihoods, hunger, displacement, even deaths result.

    As Christians, we must be aware of how our actions have affected our neighbours on the other side of the world, and begin to take different actions, large or small, to help rather than harm the environment.

    In rural areas in the Philippines, Anabaptist-rooted organization Coffee for Peace teaches that the earth does not need to suffer for human to make a living. They train farmers to work at peace with the land – and at peace with their neighbours and God.

    Rebecca Froese in Germany has the opportunity to act on a large scale. A participant in the World Council of Churches, she attended the Paris climate accords to call for justice. And she also takes action in her local congregation with recycling and solar initiatives.

    Similarly, José Antonio Vaca Bello acts in both ways in Colombia. He works with all kinds of allies to urge for moderation and better practices to halt environmental degradation from resource exploitation in his city. But he also acts within his local church, teaching that simple measures can make a difference.

    Based in the USA, Mennonite Creation Care Network provides resources for learning and for worship that can be downloaded from their website. Evangelical Christian and climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe posts videos on YouTube and Facebook to teach about the issues. From the grassroots, Carole Suderman writes tips on simple living for her local congregation, Boulder Mennonite in Colorado. Over 20 years, she has written nearly 1,000 suggestions for household practices, seasonal activities or advocacy. All these little steps are rooted in her Mennonite convictions of simplicity, responsibility to God’s task for us, and love for people.

    It’s easy to feel hopeless or fatalistic when we consider the complexity of God’s creation, and the changes it is undergoing due to human actions. Our calling to participate in the upside-down

    kingdom Jesus ushered in will not allow us to do nothing. The God who saves us also invites us to do his work on earth.

    —Karla Braun is editor of Courier and writer for Mennonite World Conference. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada.

    This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier April 2018.

  • 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.

    Expansion and reconciliation

    Convenção Brasileira das Igrejas Evangélicas Irmãos Menonitas (COBIM – the Mennonite Brethren church in Brazil) held a conference in October. They experienced the presence of God for new structures and refining their commitment to mission. Here is a picture of Pastor Reginaldo Valim leading the church in prayer. Years of prayer for repentance and renewal have resulted in a great move of God. The conference was held under the topic “Expansion and Reconciliation.” God is providing growth in COBIM. Members were called to be open for this expansion and for the work of reconciliation between people and God, and people and others.

    —David Wiebe, executive director

  • 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.

    Angola: “COMEX” meeting: 7–8 December 2017

    God was moving in our church in Angola through a meeting of church leaders from all regions (“COMEX”). President Jean Claude Ambeke reports that good leaders were put into place who will guide the churches in their regions. Some leaders were removed because they fell to the sin of corruption (taking bribes for election to office). This is a time of cleansing for our sister conference in Angola. Please pray for Jean Claude: physical strength, courage in face of opposition, wisdom to make hard choices.

    —David Wiebe, executive director

  • 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.

    Big news

    I have informed ICOMB that I will retire on June 30, 2018. Please pray for our future leader, structure and finances.

    I continue to be amazed at the power and flexibility of the gospel. It really “works” in every culture! But we must be careful when we seek to apply it. The community of Christ must covenant to live in love and contextualize the gospel together.

    It has been a tremendous blessing to serve ICOMB. I have been deeply enriched through the leaders and churches all over the world. And thank you for supporting me in prayer.

    —David Wiebe, executive director

  • 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.

    Executive Committee Meeting (9–10 February 2018) was a great blessing. Thank you for praying. We experienced the joy of the Lord in so many ways. We refined our mission statement to “Healthy, Missional Conferences Making Disciples.” We will present this to ICOMB Summit in June. It means that ICOMB’s work will continue to concentrate on helping our national conferences achieve their potential, and healthy conferences provide identity and community as a foundation for sustained mission work. We have asked Rudi Plett of Paraguay (ICOMB associate director) to consider replacing David Wiebe on 1 July 2018. David is retiring. We also have asked all national conference leaders to submit other nominations for the executive to consider. We will finalize our choice on 15 April 2018 as executive.

    —David Wiebe, executive director