Prayers of gratitude and intercession

The organizers of this conference were so gracious that they did not impose a topic, rather respectfully provided me an opportunity to select from a range of themes. As you all know, making choices from choices is a difficult choice, but not this time.

Without doubt, I picked “Walking with Doubt and Conviction.” Choosing doubt without doubt, even if seems an irony, that was the truth. You might be curious and ask, “What made this topic that interesting for me?” Part of the answer is because the topic is so close to my heart, because it depicts my life. In a way, my life exhibited a seemingly contradictory ideals, doubt and conviction.

Please continue to bear patiently with me as I expound my understanding.

Of course, the weight of doubt and conviction is not always similar. At times, I experience both together and at other times, either of the two become stronger than the other: I feel as though I am walking a mountain of strong conviction or finding myself at the depths of the pit of doubt.

I presume that my journey is not uniquely of mine. Many young people share the same struggles in my hometown Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the larger world including Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe. I think this is our life. Especially living in such a postmodern age, where everything has the right to be on the table, where everything is correct and everyone is a thorn remover, it is common to find young people in my church, in your church, in her church, in his church, in their church who are living in doubt and conviction. Please bear with me while I’m responding with a first-person metaphor that can be able to represent the young people in our global faith community.

Faith is like walking with doubt and conviction. I deeply cherish the African tradition that we heard. We young people are facing many wild animals and poisonous reptiles called doubt as we walk the journey with God. Indeed, despite our wishes and various clever attempts, it is impossible that as a traveller we succeed to escape thorns.

On the metaphor of walking the thorny journey, I would also add a positive dimension. I would join with Timothy Keller who wrote in his book The Reason for God: “Faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it.” Doubt is thus; even if we do not actively seek it in our life, it is also a key to deepen our conviction in our walk with God. Such a statement is in no way a denial that doubt could push us to an edge where our conviction would be replaced with unbelief, which is an antithesis to faith.

Of course, the line between unbelief and doubt is not always that clear. In the following section, I will attempt briefly to outline the sources of my doubt.

“What is my source of doubt?” As you all know, there are always significant others in our life. In our spiritual journey, we have forefathers and foremothers. At a given time, faith feels it is not that worthy to be pursued passionately. It is equated with religion. I feel that it is not my choice, rather an unworthy inheritance. The ever-decreasing committed membership in the North and increasing members in the South (who fall short of quality of life in Christ) sow doubt in my heart. Such a doubt is negative, as it drifts me away from conviction rather than sharpening it.

Again, apart from the fact that faith has turned into religion, there are also contextual factors. Quite unfortunately, it seems that no one cares enough both to protect and nurture the faith seed in my heart. My context is also not that gracious to me. Rather, it is quite antagonistic. The season I’m living is different both qualitatively and quantitatively from my fathers and mothers. Our worldview is changing dramatically. Now, we all are becoming or already postmodern. The governing thought of the time intimidates me each day. Preaching the gospel, for example, is increasingly perceived as imposition of my views upon others. The world is increasingly holding religious pluralism, a worldview that teaches that all ways are equally valid despite the fact that at times they have a logical contradictory views. My inner being, thus, is continually bombarded with such voices of doubt.

You might be asking the role of the church in my faith journey. Let me briefly share my story.

I grew up in the church and I am the third generation. What makes my life a bit different from my African brothers is that I had no idea about colonization since we in Ethiopia have never been colonized. While I was in second year in the campus, however, I read a book and got the quote of Jomo Kenyatta regarding prayer and the Bible: “When the whites came, they had the bible and we had our land… But they taught us how to pray by closing our eyes, and when we opened our eyes, they had our land and we had their Bible.” I was completely shocked. No one had inoculated me earlier. I felt doubt as a virus in my cells, progressively eating me up.

This was a point where I started to explore my faith. Most of my friends, who are Orthodox Christians, right away judged me and pointed that my faith is an import and more so a mischievous fabrication of colonizers. I was confused and ran to my mom and started to ask and explore. Even though, the case was not that way in my country, this is one of the doubts that was able to stick in my mind for long.

My identity was not also that clear. There is an imprint of different mission agencies and uncritical contextualization of Christianity that has given me a bizarre kind of identity. At times, I ponder various questions: Am I an Ethiopian Christian? Can I refer myself like that? If that is the case, did I lose many of my tradition which are good? Many more questions haunt me. In my Christian tradition, I can’t express my culture because I’m a Christian, I can’t have fun and hang out with friends, because I’m told that I’m a Christian… Okay, where is life then without my identity? —Oh, church…. Okay, then… I’m anyways at the church…Again, I was raised with religious practices: my baptism, conversion etc. I’m not really sure if all those things make sense.

Regardless of all the issues, however, I’m still in the church with all my doubts. One thing is clear: I don’t want my doubts to drive me crazy and lead me away from my walk with the Lord. It is also equally clear that as a young person, so many things hover my mind. At times, the doubts that I have feel so strong that I feel they are on the verge of taking me down or have succeeded doing so. I feel completely powerless.

In the midst of these all experiences, however, there is a glimpse of hope: the person of Jesus. Jesus Christ who is the starter and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). I want to know him and teach us about jakolkudho—the thorn remover. Thus, I plead the body of Christ to show us his work in your life, so that I could truly emulate and experience it in my life.

Jesus is Emanuel—God with us, walking with us in all the ups and downs. How can I turn these cognitive proposition into life conviction that surpass my doubts? I ask the Lord. He is there to help and share my struggles. As I grow in him, “Lord, help my unbelief” has become my earnest request of my heart more than ever.

Now, I realized that doubt is doubt but its result could be positive or negative. In our context, I mean the young people, it is common to have doubt regarding the content of our belief. As we heard, we need to call upon our jakolkudho. We can get an answer for our doubt or we can learn to live with our doubt in our walk with God. The point is that Christ is beyond our culture, our inherited religion and also our understanding of our faith. Doubt, if properly handled with the help of the community of faith and our allegiance with Christ, helps in seeking understanding and deepening our faith.

Yet, we should discern our destructive doubts, doubts that emanate from our fleshly desire of indulgence of our fallen nature. Sometimes, doubt could be an excuse to disobedience, a means of intentionally rejecting the demands of the Word of God. In such instances, I should wake up. I always check myself that the Word of God remains always a means through which I would sift my doubts, a doubt that sharpens my conviction or a doubt that drags me into unbelief.

Let this week be a time to share our doubts, whether we are from the Global North, where abundance becomes a reason to doubt our faith or from Global South, where lack and instability become a reason for doubt. Let’s share our conviction with each other before the Lord Jesus that can be able to surpass our doubt. As we strengthen our relationship with him with the help of the faith community, doubt will sharpen our convictions.

As a summary: walking in doubt and conviction is like riding a bicycle. One pedal is doubt and the other one is conviction. Without both, the journey of faith can’t be possible.

God bless you and God bless our time.

—Tigist Tesfaye Gelagle serves her church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has served as an MWC intern at Mennonite Central Committee’s New York United Nations Office, and in Ethiopia with Mennonite Economic Development Associates and Compassion International.

 

Ephesians 4:1–7

On behalf of our brothers and sisters from Integrated Mennonite Church in the Philippines, as well as churches across Southeast Asia which I represent as a YAB speaker, I’d like to greet you a hearty, “Good morning!”

It was also in July, 10 years ago, when I said good-bye to this country where I have lived for one year as an IVEP participant: nine months here in Pennsylvania and almost three months in Colorado. I consider this country as my second home as this is the only country where I have lived outside of my home country. So, I would like meet again and say hello to those of you who are from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, especially for those from Shalom Christian Academy where I worked as a volunteer in 2004. I’d also like to greet those who are from Marion Mennonite Church where I attended for a few months with my first host family.

By mid-May of 2015 I flew to Divide, Colorado, and worked at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp for almost three months before I finished my IVEP year. So, if you were one of those who had a summer job at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp in 2005, or were one of the campers that summer, we have probably crossed paths already and I’d like to say hello and meet you again during this conference.

My awe-inspiring, life-changing IVEP experience ameliorated my worldviews and perspectives on a lot of international issues such as cultural diversities and religious practices. It was during IVEP that I attended a lot of different churches including non-Mennonite churches of the Christian faith. It was in IVEP, as well as the Assembly Gathered of MWC in Paraguay in 2009 that I got to witness and experience how to worship God in spirit and in truth and yet in different styles highly influenced by one’s geo-cultural background: from European’s harmonious hymns to Asia’s upbeat music; from South Americans’ luau-like music party to Africa’s energetic dancing. Not one is wrong, they’re just different from each other. Blend them all together and God must be smiling from up above as God savours the sweet aroma of worship, rising to his throne, offered by his children all over the globe.

Thus, I wonder: does God weep when the very same children who cannot walk together in peace? What does God think when he sees us walking in conflict, struggling for reconciliation, and too often, choosing to part ways because it is the best option?

The text from the Word where I would like to base my response to the previous speech is found in Ephesians 4:1–7.

Introduction

Too often, the church wallows at the idea of being a sheep, resting in green pastures with a gentle stream by the side. When other flocks get in the way, they often flee to the other side of the fence where the pasture looks “greener”.  How about painting another picture of the church, as a battalion in the army of the living God as pictured in the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers”?

It is sobering that in many Christians today do not behave like soldiers but act like children—brawling, debating, fighting, living in conflict in the church—and resorting to splitting as the only resolution to their problems. And instead of multiplying through church planting, they spread around through church “splanting” (a hybrid name for a church that has been planted because somebody split up with another church).

What happened to the body of Christ who stands united in one hope, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism that worships and serves that one God and Father of all? What happened to the eagerness to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? Allow me to discuss three points why church conflict happens. First, it happens when the body of Christ becomes self-conceited, mirroring the “selfie” culture and narcissistic trend of today’s fad; albeit, treating minor issues as major and the major issues as minor. The church experiences conflict when it loses grip of the very foundation on which it is built, or worse, out of pride, builds its own foundation. Last of all, church conflict happens when the soldiers of God lay down their full armour, giving up the fight.

#1: Selfie Culture

In Ephesians 6:10–18, the Apostle Paul admonished the churches in Ephesus to put on the whole armour of God in order to fight the wiles of the devil. Christian soldiers are called in the army of the living God to fight in a spiritual warfare. The problem is, the enemy disguises itself so beguilingly that many Christians do not recognize it to the point that the same Christian soldier ends up attacking not the enemy, but another comrade.

#2: Jesus, our Foundation

For the church to live in the bond of peace, it must not lose grip of the foundation in which it is built: “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Sometimes, the church thinks that including Jesus (the very foundation of our faith) in its structure will not be cool for the younger generation. Jesus will only cause disharmony with those who subscribe to other faiths, and a bold mention of his name will preempt church growth. Thus, the church puts Jesus at the backstage and warns him to stay in the shadows amid the flurry of activities and other religious rituals. Since the pivotal focus and sole reason as to why the church exists has been put aside, it is not surprising when individuals start having their own agenda which eventually leads to conflict.

Jesus is not after religion. All he ever wanted was a relationship with the church he died for. Unless the church goes back to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and his saving power, it will continue to live powerless in conflict and in pain. Remember that, “…the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18, KJV).

#3: The Full Armour of God

Ephesians 6:11 says “put on” the whole armour of God. Sometimes the armour can be burdensome, prompting Christian soldiers to lay it aside to “rest”. But the battle is not against flesh and blood but against cosmic powers and spiritual forces of evil. A true Christian soldier is always clad with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. They do not fight to cause conflict but fight against conflict to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Jesus gives peace, not like the peace the world gives. He has called for war, but not to the war the world creates. Jesus called us to battle against injustices, conflicts and doubts. The good news is that the battle has been won at the cross 2,000 years ago when Jesus died and rose again. He has defeated the enemy by conquering death and hell: resurrecting back to life for the church to live in victory. Can Jesus not much more so, win these battles of conflict for us?

Conclusion

Church, stop dreaming of a perfect and ideal church. To all Christian soldiers out there, sound the battle cry of the church that Christ has redeemed: the church saved by grace through faith and not by works; the church, living not with its own agenda that promotes religion but rather, a relationship with the Saviour.

Let me end with a short story of a girl from the Philippines named Lenlen.

Lenlen’s parents met the first Mennonite missionaries in the 1970s. In fact, it was in a small Bible school where her parents first met and married later on.

The funny thing was that two groups of Mennonite missionaries with bifurcated beliefs and practices came at about the same time and planted separate churches. The first one [with the Bible school] was known as “liberal” because the women did not wear cape dresses and head covering and they sang contemporary songs. The other one, “conservative,” led a modest lifestyle very much the same as the way they lived in North America, and they sang hymns.

Lenlen’s parents as well as most of her maternal and paternal grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins decided to join the conservatives when she was two years-old. Growing up in this church, she thought it was the most perfect church and the only one that obeys exactly what the Bible says in it minutest detail: the conservative clothes, the head covering, the holy kiss, etc.

However, something terrible happened that changed her life and perceptions about this “perfect” church.

Her maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins left the church due to irreconcilable differences. It was a huge exodus—a bitter one at that! There were about9 children and most of them were married, have families of their own and were active members of the church!

This tipped Lenlen’s world upside down. She had eavesdropped secretly on how adults talk about other adults from the church and was bewildered as she wondered why they were so mad and upset at other church people, most especially the white missionaries! This was tragic because it affected their relationship with each other as a family.

A few more years rolled by, and it was her parents including the whole family of her paternal grandparents who decided to leave the conservative Mennonites. Her father, who was an ordained deacon of the church, led out the family. One of the major reasons was because in a few more years, Lenlen was about to go to college but the conservative Mennonites will not allow that! This time, her already upside-down world was totally crushed.

This decision to separate from the conservative Mennonite church brutally severed her relationships with her closest friends and one and only best friend. She wasn’t allowed to attend youth camps anymore, and that order came from the church leaders which made it even more painful. Their reason for this, which she could not understand, was because she might influence others to leave the church also. This rejection angered her because she did not understand what the matter was about and she could not comprehend why the same church leaders who said they wanted the whole family back would ostracize her by not allowing her to mingle and have fellowship with her friends.

What made it even more painful for Lenlen was because the only place her world revolved in was in that church—for even her school was in the “church”! In fact, she had no distinction between the church and the school at all! So when her family left the church, her world was not only crushed. It disappeared and she found herself floating in a bubble!

That bubble she floated in survived the new school and the home church she found herself transplanted in. She was weak, confused and withdrawn. It was the darkest, saddest, most heart-breaking period of her life. She regarded it as her “valley of the shadow of death”. She cried a lot, suppressed, silently and at the deepest part of the night when everyone else in the house was fast asleep.

With God’s grace, after several years, her family returned to the “liberal” Mennonites where her parents were members before. Slowly, she had moved on from her separation anxiety with her friends from the conservative Mennonites. She began to embrace and love the new church where her family transferred and made new church friends. But it took her six years to be finally happy in a church again.

Sadly, the case is not the same with some of her uncles and aunts and other friends she knows who have left the church. Today, some of her relatives are “churchless” people and have no desire to join a church again. What’s even sadder is: they have heard of Jesus but have no relationship with Him.

With this story, I’d like to appeal to the church leaders who are in the forefront of church conflict battles. You have big responsibilities and you cannot win these battles if 1) you will stick to your own agenda, 2) forget to focus your eyes on Jesus, and 3) if you will lay down the full armour of God because you are too tired. Remember that there are children and young people who are trapped in the midst of church conflict. Usually, they are the ones who grow up as church-haters. Is it any wonder, why we’re losing our young people in the church?

For those of you, especially the young people here, who are currently trapped in the midst of church conflict, I want you to know that God’s love is persistent, nurturing and pursuing. Abide in God’s love, surrender to God, and never lose sight of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Always remember the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus has already won the victory over our sins and issues. Our leaders are also human beings. They need our prayers and perhaps even our forgiveness.

Let us not dwell only in the death of Jesus, but let us also bask in the victory of his glorious resurrection. Let us keep our eyes on him, from whom we can find healing. He is the author and finisher of our faith. Fight a good fight of faith by being bold and valiant soldiers.

You see, my friends? I was a casualty of church conflict and separation, too. I was that girl. My nickname is Lenlen.

—Remilyn G. Mondez is assistant professor in English and a doctoral student in communication. She participated in Mennonite Central Committee’s IVEP experience in 2004 and was the Philippine delegate to MWC’s Global Youth Summit in Paraguay 2009.

 

Greetings to my Anabaptist brothers and sisters. Thank you for having me and thank you for coming. It is a righteous joy to be together. I live only 45 minutes from here in a city called Lancaster, which some of you may have heard of and many of you may even be staying this week. I truly feel like I am able to say “Welcome!” and I mean it. I am so pleased that this has happened in my community. I remember going to Zimbabwean 2003 for Mennonite World Conference Assembly and the joy of being around such a diverse group of believers. It felt as a family reunion for me.

I am the son of Dale Ressler and Dorca Kisare who were both raised in the homes of Mennonite pastors, my father in the state of Ohio in the USA and my mother in the North Mara region of Tanzania. They met when my father was a missionary to Tanzania. I am not only biracial but binational. While they never have this category for me on the census, I would love some day to have a box to check that says: “Suba-Luo-Swiss-German-Tanzanian-American-Anabaptist-Mennonite.” What I want you to notice is that I put Mennonite in there. Some like to use this term “ethnic Mennonite” by which they mean those of biological descent from the area in Europe where Anabaptism first gained attention. While my father’s side does trace back there my mother’s does not. Yet I am ethnic Mennonite on both sides.

For all the racial and cultural difference in a Suba-Luo-Swiss-German-Tanzanian-American-Anabaptist-Mennonite background, mine is unified not just in Christ but in a particular influenced understanding of Christ and the call to Christ. In that way I am unicultural. As Shant already spoke to this morning, there are many people from many places here this morning. I want to say that we have many father’s names and many mother’s places but we all share one thing and that is an Anabaptist history and thought. We are all ethnically Anabaptist for we carry that version of Christ with us wherever we go to visit or live, and that Anabaptism becomes our new core identity.

I am grateful to have had the MWC Deacons Commission invite me to speak on this day because it is so important that we focus on this theme in today’s world. Walking in autonomy and community is not an easy task. Around the world, Christianity faces many challenges. Some places, people are killed and harassed for faith in Jesus. Other places, churches are splitting apart because they cannot agree with fellow believers. In some places, doors are closing as believers grow smaller and older. I am interested in how the Anabaptist church can regain its confidence and become boldly prophetic again.

This morning, I have meditated on Matthew 23:1–29 (NRSV).

“‘But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!…’ (v.13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29). ‘Woe to you, blind guides,…’ (v.16).”

This is today’s church, brothers and sisters. Many of us have become Pharisees and scribes so well versed in the Bible’s scriptures that we have words without meaning. For instance, being a Christian in the United States today is more about image than substance. One must hold the right (popular) views. One must act the correct (popular) ways. One must say they believe the right (popular) things. What ends up happening is that we protect ourselves and our power and our privilege by creating an us-versus-them. We do not let in newness and we water down our own uniqueness.

Many Mennonites have abandoned their pacifism in the United States, wanting to fit in with American Christianity. So we remain silent even though we are the world’s biggest dealer of weapons with the largest military and the most destructive economic, environmental and foreign policies. The inside of the cup is dirty. Yet, what you see spoken about in pulpits and in the news is the sins of others, how someone else’s cup outside is dirtier than our own.

In our lust for comfort and power, we have made the church about individuals over God’s Kingdom. We have forgotten how sin is not just an individual thing but one of the whole community as well. Woe unto us for we have chosen to take the power of Jesus Christ and selfishly used it for our own gain to keep out others who are different from us, so we can feel more righteous.

It is the role of the Deacon’s Commission to help our churches support one another. I believe the church can best accomplish this through vulnerability. We must support one another not by pointing out the other’s sins but by acknowledging our own. This is difficult and unnatural without Jesus Christ calling us to it. I would like to demonstrate and invite you to join me. Repenting is not just apologizing, though, or seeking forgiveness. Repentance is acknowledging that I have done wrong, I have sinned, and choosing to turn away from that action, that lifestyle.

The communal sins I share by being American are different than those I share by being Tanzanian. I cannot apologize for anyone but myself, so I invite you to think of how you have unfairly gained.

I invite you to join when I say these words “We repent and seek forgiveness. Lord, lead us forward.”

Jesus, I confess that capitalism has benefit me more than others and too often I have neglected your call for me to share my abundance with those who have less. I confess that this is only for material gain without concern for those who suffer.

We repent and seek forgiveness. Lord, lead us forward.

Jesus, I confess that we have chosen destruction over construction, bombs over bread. I have remained silent to violence by the state and by my neighbours against one another for fear of discomfort.

We repent and seek forgiveness. Lord, lead us forward.

Jesus, I confess that the church has benefit me by rejecting to welcome others. This only weakens the Kingdom when there are those who want to be a part of it. We have chosen comfort over choosing Christ’s children.

We repent and seek forgiveness. Lord, lead us forward.

Jesus, I confess that the Bible and prayer is too often used as a weapon to narrow the gate instead of widening the path. We make those with difficult questions wait too long and ignore for too long those who you send to bring us better understanding.

We repent and seek forgiveness. Lord, lead us forward.

The world is rapidly changing. Technology moves at a speed we cannot believe. The countries which were once powerful are not so powerful anymore. The systems of justice and the systems of economy have seen the cracks they were built with becoming canyons. Too often, the Christian church at large has only seen leadership as gaining political power and then forced its beliefs on others. This caused many sins which the church participated, greatest perhaps in the last century was colonialism. As we move into this new century, we must learn to listen to one another. We must see the value in the missioned as much as the missionary. We must learn to grow together. I look forward to how the church will grow together as peers instead of planters and plants, unequal in power and influence.

It is always a challenge to balance autonomy and community. At times, it feels more natural to say autonomy versus community. But we grow through our diversity. Although we only know our autonomy, seeing how we are different from the larger community, there is no value in autonomy if we do not suspend our individual prioritization to benefit the community with our uniqueness. This is true both of us as individual peoples in our church societies and our individual churches in this world conference.

Thank you for having me to speak this morning; Asante Sana. Munguatubariki, which is Swahili for thank you, and may God bless us.

—Kevin Ressler is a bi-cultural/bi-racial individual with a Tanzanian mother, American father. He has an MDiv and a degree in justice, peace and conflict studies.

 

Dear friends, brothers and sisters, good morning and Namaste.

In this Assembly 16 of Mennonite World Conference Pennsylvania 2015, we are again celebrating our common Anabaptist/Mennonite faith and life in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So on this occasion wishing you “All the best” on behalf of the MWC Deacons Commission and also on behalf of the Anabaptist/Mennonite Churches and people in India, I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I express my thanks to the MWC Deacons Commission for inviting me to address this Assembly on this Deacons Commission day.

For today’s meditation, the Scriptural text is Galatians 5:13–14: “For you, brethren (sisters included), have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’”

These verses, as I see them, aptly summarize our expected life together in the community of faith, and provide a fitting base for our meditation’s theme “Walking in Autonomy and Community,” under the overall theme of this Assembly, “Walking with God.” So, I invite you all to join with me in this meditation. Please note, all biblical quotations in this meditation are from NKJV of the Bible.

Meditation

In these two verses of Galatians 5, there are three phrases that correspond with the three words of the theme of this meditation. Let us focus our attention to these three phrases.

The first phrase is “called to liberty,” and this spells autonomy. The God of the Bible, the Father of our Lord, is a wonderful God. It is his will and plan that those who are in Christ Jesus be liberated from all bondages, including the bondages under the “guardians and stewards” and “the elements of the world” (Galatians 4:2–3). That is, in Christ Jesus we are liberated from bondages of all human social, religious, ethical, spiritual and political rules and regulations of this world.

In fact, in Christ Jesus we are liberated for that freedom which God himself enjoys, because in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we are called to be God’s children (Galatians 4:4–7). This is the autonomy, that is, the freedom to self-rule and self-determination, that any person or any community is called to enjoy having been in Christ Jesus.

The second phrase is “through love serve,” and this defines walking. The God who has liberated us in Jesus Christ for godly freedom is a God of love. This God in Jesus Christ, because of his love, became a slave to serve us humans, and died on the cross (Philippians 2:6–9) to free us for the godly freedom. So walking with God, that is, walking as children of God, is walking in love, committing oneself freely into the services of others as Jesus our Lord did.

It is worth noting that the Greek word used in noun form translated “bondservant,” that is, “slave” for our Lord, in Philippians 2:7 is used here in verb form and translated “serve.” In Mark 10:44, using the same word in noun form, Jesus our Lord has admonished us Christian leaders to be “slave” of all.

The Leviticus 19:18 command: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (v.14) is foundational for the phrase “through love serve.” The love of this Old Testament law, called “royal law” in James 2:8, is explained by our Lord in Matthew 5:43–44 as not only reaching to the people belonging to the community of faith, but as reaching out to the enemies also.

The faculty at Theological Seminary Bienenberg (in an October 15, 2014 release that appeared on the MWC website) declared that “Islamic State terror does not render pacifism obsolete.” This means no terror can force us to resort to violence, nor can stop us from loving and doing good to others, even to those who terrorise us. This is our walking.

The third phrase is “one another,” and this indicates community. The phrase spells mutuality; it means a community of togetherness. God calls individual people to faith in Christ Jesus and joins them into a new humanity, the body of Christ Jesus, which is the church, the community of faith. The admonition: “through love serve one another” means that, in spite of our godly freedom in Jesus Christ, we all, belonging to this community of faith, stand in need of one another’s loving services; and that we all have gifts and abilities to give loving services to one another.

Just as our Lord is incomplete without his body the church, and needs it for his ministry in the world (Ephesians 1:23), so also we are incomplete without one another’s life and we need one another’s contributions in our worldwide community of faith for our joint Christian life, witness and ministry in the world.

Thus the community of faith is shared lives of people freed in Christ Jesus and joined together to serving one another through love. This freedom is not only to serve one another, but also to serve and do good to people outside the community of faith, and even to those who hate us. This is the divine, royal lifestyle we are called to live out both individually and jointly, which is our walking in autonomy and community.

The challenge

The challenge now is to “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free” (Galatians. 5:1). This overarching Galatians challenge is to live in the freedom of the Spirit and to daily crucify the flesh. In Christ Jesus, having been freed to a life of autonomy and joined together in a community of faith, our walking, both individually and jointly, is through love to freely serving both friends and enemies alike (Matthew 5:43–48).

In this epistle to the Galatians, I see four areas of challenge where we need to stand fast in the liberty of our individual and community lives:

Through love, we “are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Mennonite World Conference is a worldwide fellowship of more than 1.3 million baptized members spread over six continents, living in several countries and belonging to more than 100 national churches that bring together thousands of local congregations. We are bound to be different from one another. This diversity and uniqueness are assets enriching our worldwide community of faith for its life and ministry in the world.

Like the New Jerusalem, to be adorned by “the glory and the honour of the nations” in the future (Revelation 21:24–26), this global community today is richer by our diversity and uniqueness. Let us therefore accept, appreciate, enjoy and cherish one another’s uniqueness, diversity, gifts and services in our community.

Through love “let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). Instead of indulging in fleshly works listed in Galatians 5:19–21, we are urged to bear the fruit of the Spirit in personal and community lives. The fruit of the Spirit, a characteristic spectrum of the Spirit-filled life: “love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” is to be characteristic of the life of the people and the community of faith visible to others.

Our early Anabaptist/Mennonite forefathers and -mothers, wherever they went, were recognized by their honesty, hard work, peacefulness, service, biblical morality and close community life. About the early Christians it used to be said, “Behold, how they love one-another.”

The Mennonite churches in Taiwan, under the umbrella of the Fellowship of Mennonite Churches in Taiwan (FOMCIT), “are seeking new insight from their theological origins, hoping to show the world a sample of life under the lordship of Christ.” Let us, especially those of us who are leaders, endeavour to develop in ourselves and in our communities the lifestyle that reflects the godly life in Jesus Christ our Lord, bringing praises to our heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16).

Through love, “Bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). We belong to a worldwide community of faith. Hence, it is almost impossible for many individual churches and conferences to directly relate with fellow churches and conferences in other countries and continents. MWC, with its commissions, especially the Deacons Commission, is our forum and channel for this relationship.

On the MWC website, it read that “The Deacons Commission promotes the attitude and practice of service among member Churches by means of visits, teaching and materials.” Practice the spirit of equality and interdependency, admonishes 2 Corinthians 8:14, that “your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack.”

About the Bihar Mennonite Mandali, India, it is told: “The Mennonite World Conference’s Global Sharing Fund was a blessing for the church: with the money Minj secured from this fund he was able to start new programs for the church.” In a personal conversation, Rev. Emmanuel Minj told that the fund has been used to equip the pastors and leaders for church ministry and to train the youth for evangelistic outreach. Let us use MWC Deacons Commission as our channel to mutually share gifts and talents with one another in the worldwide community of faith, showing our love for one another.

Through love, “let us do good to all” (Galatians 6:10). The command, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” called the “royal law” (James 2:8), is interpreted by our Lord that the love of this command reaches out even to those who hate and persecute us.

In many places of the world, Christians are facing hatred and persecutions. This hatred and persecution faced is witnessed sporadically even in today’s India. Moreover, many churches often suffer internal disunity and divisions because of selfish ambitions and personality clashes among the members and leaders. These internal maladies weaken the life and witness of the church.

My own conference, Mennonite Church in India, suffered a six-year division from 1984 to 1990 because of internal conflicts. But love for one another prevailed and the unity was restored. The same had been experienced in Bharatiya (Indian) General Conference Mennonite Church. The Conference remained divided for 10 years; but here also at last, love for one another prevailed. This divine royal law of twin commands: “through love serve one another” as voluntary slave and “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” is the only remedy to churches ’internal maladies and the only Christian fortification against external hatred and persecutions.

Let us all of us here resolve in our hearts and minds that, as members of the Anabaptist/Mennonite Christian faith community, we will practice this divine royal law of loving and serving in our individual and joint lives, no matter what the cost.

Moreover, considering Jesus’ resoluteness: “He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51); his comment: “the sons of this world are more shrewd…than the sons of light” (Luke 16:8); his command: “be wise as serpents” (Matthew 10:16) and similar teachings, we are mandated to be prepared to face persecutions and terrorism.

Therefore, I urge the local churches, conferences and Mennonite World Conference to develop practical guidelines for ways to lovingly and peacefully relate both individually and jointly with friends and also with persecutors and terrorists.

Closing

Friends, we are liberated in Jesus Christ for a divine royal lifestyle of love and service. The freedom in Jesus Christ spells a freedom that invites us to demonstrate in our personal and community lives the character of God in Jesus Christ; and to mutually share our gifts and talents, that is, to share our lives with one another in loving services. This is a freedom that reaches out with loving services to our neighbours and even to those who hate and mean to harm us. This is our walking with God in autonomy and community.

Once again on this occasion of MWC Assembly 16, Pennsylvania2015 celebrations, I wish you “All the best.” Thank you all. Jai Masihki! (Victory/Praise to Christ).

—Shantkumar S. Kunjam has pastored several congregations in the Mennonite Church in India Conference and was ordained bishop.

 

Our brother Hippolyto has reminded us of something we must never forget: mission is holistic, and thus, evangelism is comprehensive. In specific terms, we understand that this means that the good news must be proclaimed regarding all areas of human need. And perhaps this is to say that God’s Kingdom will not be complete until each aspect of human suffering is healed, reconciled and transformed. This is why we say it is “now, but not yet,” because while the Lord completes his Kingdom, our task is to continue serving, healing, reconciling and transforming.

So then, it is necessary to emphasize that to evangelize and do mission, we need to talk about a complete project, since talking about the Kingdom of God means talking about the here and now, about providing a spiritual, material, social, economic response to the world (“Repent, because the Kingdom of God—God’s project of a new humanity—has come near!” Mark 1:15).

We also understand that to belong to the Kingdom involves a call that cannot only be based on theory but is basically action: going from “chair” theology to “road” theology. Our role as builders of the Kingdom is here and now; it is meaningless unless it responds to specific needs at the specific time in which we live. The Scriptures clearly show us this: our Lord Jesus was aware of the specific needs of a worn-out society. 

And this is the point. There are many things that persist in social and historic processes, but at the same time, societies are changing. As a church, we face new problems that didn’t exist before, and quite frankly, sometimes overwhelm us. It is something complex, and as young people we wonder how we can put into practice all that has been said.

Perhaps our concern has to do with a very particular question: What’s the use of our theology, however well formulated, if it doesn’t become a practice of the gospel, if it doesn’t help us embody the teachings of Jesus?

And then we recall something that some pastors have taught us: we must add praxis to doxa. Jesus has taught us that it involves a lifestyle (ethics-practice) that includes a renewal of the mind (doxa). If we want to follow the Teacher’s footsteps in our daily life, our practice must be here and now. And here and now means having an active faith, but how?

We believe that Matthew 10:7–8 is a key text: “As you go, proclaim this message: the kingdom of heaven has come near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give” (NIV). What must be done seems clear: simply be willing to give without receiving anything in return. But, how can we give if we don’t know what is needed? When we give, are we previously transformed by our own need? Does our mission become incarnate or do we come as if we owned the truth, imposing programs, objectives, structures, budgets?

Our brother referred to being careful not to succumb to or continue to practice a gospel based on an ideology of imposition. This is to say, a gospel that doesn’t pay attention to the context, the concrete needs, the concrete suffering, pain or the search for concrete hopes. And once again, in light of the Teacher’s example, it was not a coincidence that Jesus moved on the fringes of society, where there is plenty of suffering, but also where hope flourishes.

That is why our key question is also a fundamental one: Who are our lepers now? Who are the men and women that the society considers lepers? Does our convenience hinder us from seeing them?

Now, we can at least say that our lepers are all those who break traditional patterns, who make us leave our purely theological or doctrinal comfort zone, reminding us that what needs to be done is not only to believe in the Kingdom but precisely to make the Kingdom happen.

Now, our lepers are those who make us feel uncomfortable, those who force us to make a paradigm shift, those who compel us return to the gospel (always new!), men and women whom it is hard for us to imagine sitting next to us in a “normal” worship service. 

There will be many uncomfortable questions to which the world expects answers from us. And believe me, we won’t always have the answers for everything. But what is true is that our roots as Anabaptists and disciples of Jesus will not allow us to promote, justify or sanction situations that create discrimination, exclusion, violence, or even death of any man or woman on the basis of his or her origin, ethnic group, social economic condition, gender, marital status, sexual orientation or any other form of exclusion.

But if we are able to look, and above all to listen, we will realize that it is precisely there where revival comes from. Thus, as Jesus didn’t come to the healthy but to the sick; and came to listen to the dispossessed and give hope to who had lost it, so must we accompany those who are like sheep without a shepherd, and then become, as a church, the first to love those who no one wants to love, those who have lost all hope.

And this isn’t theory. It can only come about by doing it, since it is what the Lord demands of us as disciples; the commandment says: Love your neighbour as yourself; honour your neighbour the same way that God has honoured you.

Last year, we had the opportunity to travel to Colombia and visit one of the villages, called San Nicolás, where many displaced people live. In that place there is a community of believers who understand that it is in practice that everything takes on its true meaning. In this community, all kinds of people are embraced, people that have been marginalized from the rest of society—even people who have committed crimes or are described as violent or as scum—and are accepted regardless of their past. Without expecting anything in return, their transformed lives have begun to break into a violent system, the visible signs of a new humanity. And these are the fruits of action.

In this regard, we take for granted that mission is holistic. And as Jesus said, you will ALWAYS have the poor among you (Matthew 26:11), thus each one of us surely has someone that we find hard to work with. But it is precisely here, following the Teacher’s steps, that God asks us to reach out to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God. And this leads us to think in a radical way that the grace that was bestowed on us vertically is the same grace that we must bestow on others horizontally, expecting nothing in return, perhaps taking the risk to love someone who doesn’t want to love us.

Now, we understand quite well what has to be done. And if we lose focus, we just need to take a glimpse at the history of our struggle to keep faithful to the gospel of Christ. But we believe the Lord also constantly summons our creativity when posing this question: How will you make mission concrete? Perhaps breaking all those institutional barriers that the ossified churches have inherited, going beyond agencies and programs, not defining all mission in terms of plans, budgets and numbers, but rather by something more practical that will require all our creativity: an openness to the context of each place and person. And indeed, overcoming the spectre of the Western-economic mission; often money isn’t even necessary where the Holy Spirit works through us. 

Perhaps the only thing we have to do is just be able to listen to the distressed. By listening, we are already giving. By listening, we are honouring others, and at the same time, we are honouring ourselves, or in other words, we are transformed while offering the gospel of peace. 

We cannot just simply come with banners reading “God loves you,” because not being able to listen to the needs of those who are suffering would lead us to commit the sin of wanting to impose evangelization. It is perhaps a “passive” evangelization, but at the same time it bears witness in a radical way; through our actions we engage people in our lifestyle. It is an evangelization based on receptiveness, as when Jesus asked: “What do you want me do for you?” (Mark 10:51).

We shall conclude with a passage that exemplifies how our mission should be:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‚ÄòCome, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ Then these righteous ones will reply, ‚ÄòLord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will say, ‚ÄòI tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ (Matthew 25:34–40).

May the Lord continue among us and encourage us daily. 

—Marc Pasqu√©s was born and raised in Barcelona, Spain, then moved to Australia as a young adult where he connects values with marketing decisions. Marc is a member of MWC’s YABs committee. Rodrigo Pedroza is a writer and illustrator of children’s stories and fantasy, Rodrigo also serves as pastor in Mexico and a member of the conflict resolution team in his conference as well as a member of MWC’s YABs committee.

Since the Bangkok World Missionary Conference which took place at the turn of the years 1972/1973, in Thailand, there has been a feeling of uneasiness regarding “mission” within the churches in the Western World. At Bangkok, representatives of the newly decolonized countries had accused Western missionaries of having linked the proclamation of the gospel with the spread of Western civilization, which had destroyed indigenous cultures in the name of evangelization. In order to make it possible for the local churches in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific to set their own priorities in mission, the proposal was made for a temporary “moratorium” on sending money and missionaries from the North. The delegates at that conference acknowledged the role of culture in shaping contextualized theologies. It was also at Bangkok that the delegates emphasized that the gospel must be proclaimed in holistic terms—including spiritual, socio-economic and political aspects in equal measure.

After almost 43 years, since Bangkok, one would believe that the debate on mission is definitely behind us, but the truth is that it is not. The hullabaloo on mission and the uneasiness that it stirs up still disturbs the church.

This is certainly the case in my own church, Mennonite Church Canada. Now and then, I am invited to speak about my work in our congregations. Sometimes, I am approached by people who ask why we are still doing mission in foreign lands. Sometimes the issue of respect for foreign cultures and religions is raised. Some Mennonites wonder, “Who are we to evangelize other people? “What makes these questions even more excruciating and difficult to deal with is our own national history of how our White-dominated government and the Christian churches have dealt with our Canadian indigenous people.

Another difficulty that we face when we speak about mission is related to the very concept of mission. The main question asked is, what should mission workers be doing, evangelism or service? That controversy, started with the Dutch missiologist Johannes Christiaan Hoekendijkin the aftermath of the Bangkok Conference, still divides the so-called “evangelical” and “ecumenical” to this day.

As for the people in our Mennonite church pews, in North America, they are generally open and supportive of relief, service and development in the name of Christ. But “evangelism” and “church planting” are seen as an imposition with a controlling agenda. A good friend of mine, a Mennonite church leader, recently shared with us he is allergic to words like “church planting, etc.” At the Mennonite Church USA delegate sessions four years ago, Andre Gingrich Stoner remarked that “Mennonites love service, flirt with peace, and are allergic to evangelism.”

When faced with this attitude against the sharing our faith verbally and enthusiastically, I am troubled. However, I can’t help but think on the advice given in the first letter of Peter: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15, NIV). And as I ponder on that advice, I find no better answer than taking a fresh look at what Jesus, the founder of the church, said and did about this institution that I am part of. What did he intend when he sent the Twelve to the lost sheep of the House of Israel? What did Jesus ultimately mean when he gave his disciples the so-called Great Commission?

The New Testament narratives give testimony that Jesus first introduced himself and his teaching saying: “The Spirit of the Lord is in me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord” (Luke 4:18–19). The Gospels used the Greek word ????????ov. The prefix “??” found in that the Greek word could be rendered in English by the word “good,” and the root word “??????ov” by the word “message”. No matter how we translate this, we should always remember that not only is God speaking, but God is addressing us a good message. The gospel of Jesus Messiah is good news of great joy, just as the announcement of his birth by the angels was: “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will come to all people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11). As a matter of fact, joy is the keyword. With Jesus’ proclamation of the good news, our joy is that God is offering us to be partakers in his Kingdom.

Matthew’s Gospel tells us that after that temptation, when he heard that John had been arrested, Jesus withdrew to Galilee and settled in Capernaum and from then onwards, he began to proclaim his message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand” (Matthew 4:17).The Gospel of Mark has Jesus identifying the proclamation of the good news—“????????ov”—of the Kingdom of God as the reason for his coming to this world, saying: “That is why I came” (Mark 1:38) The Gospel of Luke has him emphasizing: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do” (Luke 4: 43).

According to the New Testament narratives, Jesus did not proclaim the kingdom alone; he had gathered a group of friends and invited them to partake in this mission. The New Testament writers tell us that he called them using expressions such as “come after me,” or “follow me” as in Matthew 4:19; 9:9: “Come after me and I will make you fishers of people.” The verb ???????? (to follow) appears 56 times in the Synoptics and 14 times in John’s Gospel. In most cases, it is associated with disciple (???????) making. For one to become a disciple, one must follow a master; sit at his feet, to learn from him in order to put into practice all that he or she has learned.

It is no accident that Matthew’s Gospel has arranged Jesus’ ministry journey beginning with the temptation in the desert where Jesus affirms the Kingship of God and God alone. After the temptation, we see Matthew’s Gospel drawing us into the teachings of the ethics of the Kingdom, which is found in discourse on the mountain of beatitudes. (Matthew 3–7). Matthew makes it clear that we understand that Jesus was making disciples. The Gospel says, “Seeing the crowd, he went into the mountain. And when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak.

Jesus began his proclamation saying: “Repent!” or “metanoei/te!” This ???????? is about a change in allegiance and a total returning to God as the centre of all our values. Even today, we too, as Jesus’ church need to we need ????????, we need a “change of our mind, so that we may see this world as Jesus, the founder of the church saw it. Gospel writers bear testimony that Jesus looked at this world with compassion (rachamim). In the image of the Compassionate God (Ha’ Rachaman) who sent him, Jesus fed the hungry (Matthew 15:32), and because of the same compassion, he proclaimed the good news to the crowds, made disciples and entrusted them with a mission: “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few, therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:35–38). It is because of that very compassion that Jesus sent his church to make disciples of all nations. And he promised to accompany the church in this task to the end of time” (Matthew 28:18–20).

Mission was in Jesus’ DNA and mission is in church’s DNA. There can’t be a church without mission. We must do mission, and we must do it Jesus’ way, pledging our obedience to God and God alone, and denouncing any other principality or power that frightens human lives.

Brothers and sisters, do not take lightly the Great Commission. Do not water down Jesus’ command, and do not replace his last command to his church with your individual theological inclinations. At the example of our Lord and Master Jesus of Nazareth, let us preach the good news of the Kingdom of God, and let us preach it to the full, speaking the word and serving the world.

If we do not enthuse ourselves with the Great Commission, in its double sense of evangelism and service, we may cease to be a church. A church cannot choose whether or not to do mission; the church is missional by nature.

Conclusion

Jesus’ offer for us to partake in his kingdom is a gift that we should welcome with gratitude. And gratitude (“hakarat ha’tov” as the Hebrew language translates), refers to awakening to the good we have been given and to give thanks for it. Let us be grateful to God, for the offer of his kingdom, for gratitude is contagious. Let us be grateful to God, because as the Jewish Chassidic teacher Rebbe Nachman of Breslov said, “Gratitude rejoices with her sister joy, and is always ready to light a candle and have a party.”

—Hippolyto Tshimanga is director of ministry in Africa, Europe and Latin America for Mennonite Church Canada. 

 

 

Paulus Hartono, Indonesia

Being a part of the throngs at PA 2015 made Paulus Hartono of Indonesia reflect on his early life and how unlikely it is that he found his way to this place. Now a Mennonite pastor and highly active in peace work in Solo (Surakarta) Central Java, Indonesia, with its strong Muslim community, Hartono grew up in a Buddhist family. “In elementary school, I learned about Islam. My friends went to the mosque, so I went, too, and eventually I became an imam. I realize now that I was feeling the call to be a pastor, but I didn’t know Jesus.” When he became a Christian and was baptized in 1984, “I took the name ‘Paulus.’”

Commitment to peace

From the beginning of his life as a pastor, Hartono’s commitment has been clear. “We started our congregation in 1994 with 40 members and the vision of being a peace church.” Several North American Mennonite agencies gave him inspiration for putting his vision into practice. “In 1997, I learned about Mennonite Central Committee’s relief, service, and development work. And at the same time, I was influenced by Eastern Mennonite Missions’ cultivation of witness and global missions.

“In 2002, I learned about Mennonite Disaster Service. In 2005, soon after the tsunami hit Indonesia, we started Indonesia MDS: Mennonite Diakonia Service. We combine witness, relief, development and conflict transformation in that work by our church.

“In 2007, I attended Eastern Mennonite University’s Conflict Transformation and Trauma Healing trainings. We’ve adapted those ideas for Indonesia and combined them with our witness and development efforts.”

Writing the gospel with our lives

“Now in 2015, we have two Mennonite churches in Solo, with a total of 400 members. Our Mennonite churches are actively helping to bring reconciliation between Muslims and Christians. We have many relationships with our Muslim neighbours, including a radical Muslim group who are participating in a special class we’re offering on conflict transformation and disaster relief.

“The President of Indonesia is right now seeking reconciliation with Papua, a part of our country where the Mennonites have a program for conflict transformation and trauma healing. He has asked our help in working with Papua in peaceful ways.

“I believe that the church must make relationships with Muslims so they can read the gospel from our lives.”

Paulus led two workshops during PA 2015: “Walking in Tragedy: The Global Church in Disaster Response” and “Interfaith Peace Dialogue and Practice in Indonesia.”

“Being here with many pastors and in this atmosphere of spirituality has given me much courage,” Hartono reflected quietly.

Barbara Hege-Galle, Germany

Barbara Hege-Galle of Bammental, Germany, first attended a Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Assembly in 1984 in Strasbourg, France, where she led the children’s program. But she was so tied up with her duties that she got only a small taste of the adult part of the global event.

“I decided to go to the next Assembly in 1990 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, so I could participate – and after that, I knew it would not be the last MWC Assembly for me!”

Since then, Hege-Galle has been part of MWC in many ways: as a member of the General Council, of the Deacons Commission, of the coordination committee of the Service Network, and now as a member of the Missions Commission.

In her day job, Hege-Galle is the executive director of Christliche Dienst, the Mennonite Voluntary Service program sponsored by the Mennonite churches in Germany. And she is on the leadership team of the Bammental Mennonite Church, where she is ordained as a lay preacher.

A view beyond congregations

Why does she not want to miss an MWC Assembly? “Because this global get-together gives us a view beyond the little space of a Mennonite congregation. This gathering motivates me.

“I got really inspired to focus on our Anabaptist specifics this time. Not because of any of our particular traditions, but because of what we believe. We have a strong sense of peace in Jesus. If Jesus gives people like Paulus Hartono strength and courage, we can each do more than just be part of a quiet, peaceful congregation.

“In my work, I now have partners in other countries – and I meet them here. We in Germany are working with these sisters and brothers as I assign 18–20-year-olds to service projects in their countries.”

Communal spirituality

What will Hege-Galle take home with her from PA 2015? “When I have a sermon to give, my experiences here will be part of it in some way. I’m not sure how yet. We have teachings in our congregation, and this will be part of them, too.

“One of our leaders is very deeply committed to practicing and teaching meditation, with a focus on what God is telling you. But some say that’s too individualistic an approach, that we need something more communal.

“Here at PA 2015, I’m beginning to glimpse some of what we might need. It’s just an idea at this point, and not fully formed. I like this emphasis on meditation, but it’s not the only way of spirituality. I was reminded of that here.”

Mthokozisi Ncube and Morgen Moyo, Zimbabwe

Two Brethren in Christ high school administrators from Zimbabwe were first-time MWC Assembly-goers at PA 2015.

Mthokozisi Ncube, from the Eiluphileni Bible School, came for “fellowship and to learn what others are doing. I’m not only Zimbabwean,” he commented. “I’m an Anabaptist and part of an international family. I wanted to sit down with my brothers and sisters and learn about their experiences and how God is working in their lives.

“The Friendship Groups [which met every day following the morning worship service] are a good way to learn to know people. We’ve made friends. We’ve exchanged email addresses. We’re hoping to extend this fellowship.

“I’ve been encouraged to become more involved in mission, and to be at peace with myself and my family, the people I live with. That’s what I’m taking home.

“Oh, and I’ve been reminded that doubt is not always negative. It can be healthy.” [Walking in doubt and conviction was the theme on 22 July 2015.]

Interacting and learning

Morgen Moyo is the principal of Mtshabezi High School. He’s been deeply blessed by the singing at PA 2015. “I’ve had a desire to find out how other people worship. I want to learn from them. I’ve had that opportunity here in our Friendship Group. I’m interacting and learning.”

Said Ncube, “And I have really appreciated the young speakers during the morning and evening worship services. We will take that idea home.

Oneness of spirit

“I discovered something else. When we walked the streets in Harrisburg, no one greeted us. But whenever we walked into the dining area at PA 2015, people always looked up, smiled and welcomed us. Always. I never felt different. There is a oneness here.

“In fact, one thing I haven’t liked is walking into the restrooms here at the Farm Show Complex and seeing myself in the big mirrors. Then I see that I am different. I hadn’t felt it otherwise!”

Celebrate differences

Moyo has a suggestion for future Assemblies. “Why not offer food from different cultures throughout the week? On Africa Day have African food, and so on. It might be hard to do, but why not?!

“There’s been lots of good planning and organization for this event. We especially like the lack of emphasis on glamour.”

But then the world’s inequities surfaced for Ncube as he thought of returning to the realities of home. “Of course, emails often don’t reach us. Not all communication gets through. Out in the countryside, it’s hard to get messages. We hope our new friendships and connections endure anyway.”

Todd Friesen, USA

Todd Friesen is pastor of East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. A month after PA 2015, he reflected on the experience of attending the Assembly for a full week.

“What would our churches – and our youth – be like without these glimpses of the global body of Christ, and the experience of being part of something much larger than just our local congregation?

“A week like this breaks our provincialism and our sense of American exceptionalism. This event is kind of an immunization against those attitudes, although we’re still susceptible to them.”

Impact on youth

“We can’t minimize the huge formational impact of these Assemblies on our young people. I attended the Assembly in Strasbourg in 1984 as a 20-year-old. The singing and worship left a major impression on me. I am so grateful that our congregation made the investment to have our youth group participate in PA 2015. It was such a positive experience for them.”

A brush with eternal realities

“I love how we travelled from continent to continent through the morning and evening worship services. Heaven will be more rich and more diverse than we imagine. We got brushed by eternal realities through this experience with the global church.

“For those of us who went to Kansas City [site of the 2015 Mennonite Church USA Assembly], too, why did PA 2015 feel so different? At PA 2015, the focus was on worship, our shared stories, fellowship, and service. We were there simply to be together around our centre in Christ.

“And I learned that in the middle of our great diversity, it’s probably best to start by worshipping God together, serving others and telling our stories rather than focusing on our differences or debating the things we disagree about.”

Ongoing echoes in the mind

“The voices of the young speakers in the morning worship services will stay with me.

“I heard new and rich insights into particular passages of Scripture.

“We were so blessed to welcome international guests into our congregation on Sunday, the final day of PA 2015. Then we all –including those who hadn’t attended Assembly Gathered – could experience that every believer has precious insights to share and serious blind spots to overcome.”

An enduring gift

“My fellowship with these global believers has made them my spiritual and emotional conversation partners, even though I’m not talking with them. I often have a sense of what they think, of what they would say or do, and I can draw upon that.”

Phyllis Pellman Good is a writer and editor for Mennonite World Conference.

Photos of Paulus, Barbara, Mthokozisi and Morgen by Merle Good. Photo of Todd Friesen by Marilyn High.

This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier October 2015

 

 

Piring bukan beling: Hospitality not hostility

Indonesians are famous for their hospitality. If you visit their home, they will serve you food and drink. In the villages, the housewife will cook the family’s only chicken to serve a guest.

I learned hospitality from my parents. I grew up in a big family with nine children in a small home with only three small bedrooms. We were not rich, but our family helped our cousins and our friends who needed housing and food. They often stayed with us so they could continue their studies. Our small home was like an oasis for everyone who needed love and care. My father and mother became parents to them all.

My mother and father taught us to love, care, understand, help and support each other. We shared what we had with others, not just thinking about ourselves. My parents also taught us to respect everyone regardless of their status, faith or tribe. For example, my cousin is Buddhist, my brother’s friend (of Arab descent) is Muslim, my sister’s friends included a Catholic Christian from Java and a Hindu believer from Bali – and all were warmly welcomed into our home. My parent also taught us about equality, to treat and respect everyone as human beings. The woman who served as our maid became a part of our family; she sat and ate with us in the same table at the same time.

After a time away (I went to the USA 1995–2001), I came back to Indonesia where the situation had become completely different. I was surprised to see Muslim women wearing long dresses, blouses with long sleeves and hijab (head coverings); in the old days, they weren’t recognizably different by their clothing. Some clerics were teaching it is haram (forbidden) for Muslim to greet Christians with “Merry Christmas” and for a Muslim to visit Christian worship. I was so sad; I remembered in the old days when we really had a good relationship and respected each other. We sent food and visited our Muslim neighbours for Idul Fitri (Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan) and our Muslim neighbours visited us at Christmas. The tradition to visit and celebrate, to spend our respective joyous time together, is gone. I was sad to learn that in Maluku and Poso, Sulawesi, where Christians and Muslims used to live peacefully side by side, they have come into conflict and even killed each other.

Violent conflicts have been causing displaced people and refugees in many areas of the world. We as the Anabaptist communion worldwide would like to think about what it means to welcome the stranger, especially when those strangers hold a different religious belief than us. What should we do?

Let’s learn and be inspired from 3 stories.

Elijah and a widow from Zarephath (1 King 17:8–16)

Elijah is fleeing from Jezebel who is trying to kill him. The brook has dried up but God promised to supply Elijah’s need. The word of the Lord comes to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you” (NASB).  

Elijah does not move until there is communion with God. He waits until he has direction from the Lord: “Go to Zarephath.” The Hebrew word halak, used here for “go” it carries the idea of travelling or journeying through hardships and danger. And the first command “arise” means to wake up.

It is interesting that Elijah goes to Zarephath which belongs to the land of Jezebel who wants to kill Elijah. God provides for Elijah through a Gentile woman, a woman outside the circle of God’s own people. She is a poor, destitute, depressed widow facing starvation.

It is interesting too, that widow is willing to give the one and the only one meal she has. The widow is willing to share her resources/food in her scarcity. She opens her door for Elijah to stay at her house. She gets to know God from Elijah.

Hizbullah & Mennonites (Yogyakarta)

The 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake (also known as the Bantul earthquake) occurred at 05:54 local time on 27 May 2006 with a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale and a maximum intensity of IX (Destructive) on the Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karnik scale. The shock occurred on the southern coast of Java near the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, and caused more than 5,700 deaths and 37,000 injuries, and financial losses of 29.1 trillion Indonesian Rupiah (US$3.1 billion).

The earthquake toppled down all the building and houses. Almost all the homes of those from our outpost Mennonite church in Pundong (GKMI Yogyakarta Cabang Pundong) were ruined by the earthquake.

What was the Mennonite church do? Amid our condition, we built tents, a community kitchen, community bathrooms, a health clinic. With assistance from Mennonite Central Committee and other NGOs, we helped everyone in need, regardless of their faith. We shared electricity with the community.

Volunteers from different backgrounds and faiths worked together with us. Hizbullah soldiers (Sunan Bonang division) guarded our logistics truck (because of the scarcity, there was a lot of robbery). The Mennonites and Hizbullah’s carpenter worked together to build houses. After all the houses were done, then we built the church and the community building.

Outpouring of provision

Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that continued from late October 2010 into November. Seismic activity around the volcano increased from mid-September onwards, culminating in repeated outbursts of lava and ashes. Large eruption columns formed, causing numerous pyroclastic flows down the heavily populated slopes of the volcano. Authorities said Merapi’s eruption was the largest since the 1870s.

More than 350,000 people were evacuated from the affected area. However, many remained behind or returned to their homes while the eruptions were continuing. During the eruptions, 353 people were killed. The ash plumes from the volcano also caused major disruption to aviation across Java. On 3 December 2010, the official alert status was reduced to level 3 from level 4, as the eruptive activity had subsided.

The church also suffered when the Mount Merapi erupted. More than 350,000 people were evacuated to the stadium, school, church, village yard. They were hungry.

What should we Mennonites do? We are a small congregation (100–150 members); most are poor. But we wanted to do something. We asked God’s blessing; with Rp 3,000,000 (approximately US$300) that we collected, we made a community kitchen in the church. We cooked and sent 1,500 boxes of food every day to the relief location.

God is great! God sent people – some who we didn’t know at all – to help and support. Like the widow at Zarephath, we had supplies to the end. When we all were too tired, God sent people to help us, so we had strength to cook again. We did this ministry until done.

Food, not fragments

Piring Bukan Beling. This is a Javanese illustration about relationships. (Piring = plate, beling = a sharp broken glass.) Beling is like a bottle with its bottom broken off to hurt another person in a drunken fight. It is also the word for the sharp fragments embedded in a high wall surrounding a house to harm a robber who tries to climb the wall. So piring bukan beling is like this: it is useless to build the high wall; you are still not safe because it makes a boundary between you and your neighbour. Don’t be hostile to the others or hurt them. It will be better if you show hospitality; give piring – a plate with good food to your neighbour. Then your enemy may become your friend. You can work together and help each other. Offer hospitality, not hostility.

The events of life are tools and agents of God. The same events that test us often become the means by which God is able to use us in ministry to others. In other words, our trials often become vehicles for ministry, opportunities to manifest the life of Jesus Christ and the power and love of God. In the same way that Elijah’s request became a means of meeting needs in the lives of the widow and her son, our inadequacies may became the means of meeting another’s need.

Through the disasters that happen to us, God reminds us again that we are not here for ourselves, even in our pain and need. God cares for us, but we are not alone. God cares for others too, and often ministers to the people around us through the character changes God is bringing about via our own suffering or want.

Hospitality means that even in our pain and scarcity, we are to think of others and help them. This goes totally against the self-centred society focused on what is best for me regardless of what it could mean to others.

Hospitality means opening the door and being willing to share what we have, even when that is the last and the only resource.

Never fix your eyes on the conditions. Look beyond the instruments to the real source of supply – the Lord. Never judge or measure God’s supply by what we can see. God is the One who does exceeding abundantly beyond all we can ask or think – like the provision the Mennonite church experienced when Mount Merapi erupted.

We need to walk by faith not by sight. Don’t count only money but count God’s blessings. Do God’s work with love and compassion. Start from what we have, don’t wait until we think that’s enough. We know that by sharing our blessings with others, our giving will not be our lack.

Hospitality is opening the door (welcoming), being open so the other will get to know us and know our God. We must open the door even for the enemy and serve the enemy with food and kindness. Hospitality also means to enter the open door, to enter relationship with another, being humble to receive love from the others, even from someone that we consider weaker. We must open our eyes, choose to live side-by-side and learn to understand each other.

Hospitality means to treat the others as equals, regardless of faith, people, tribe, organization or church. Don’t be prejudiced. Treat others as friends/family. Respect the others. Remember that we all belong to the world community. We are God’s creation.

Hospitality means that we are open to God’s way. We need to ask God for the compassion and love to reach out to others with God’s power and love.

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:33–34, ESV).

Janti Diredja Widjaja is a pastor with one of the Mennonite conferences, Gereja Kristen Muria Indonesia (GKMI) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She has served on the MWC Faith and Life Commission (2009–2015) and is currently studying psychology at Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

This article first appeared in Courier/Correo/Courrier April 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Families in Pennsylvania opened their homes to guests from around the world during Mennonite World Conference’s Assembly 16 in July 2015. Photo by Liesa Unger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colombian Mennonite churches share the love of Christ though Pan Y Paz on Peace Sunday by giving out bread to strangers on the street. Photo courtesy of Iglesia Cristiana Menonita de Ciudad Berna, Bogot√°, Colombia.

Click on the photos to see the high resolution version.