“As a worldwide community of faith in the Anabaptist tradition, people in ministry are key to Mennonite World Conference,” says César García, MWC general secretary. After Assembly 17 and associated meetings, there are new people serving this global family of churches.
The General Council selected new continental representatives for the Executive Committee for 2022–2028:
- Sindah Ngulube, a bishop from Brethren in Christ Church of Zimbabwe (Africa);
- Amos Chin, a leader from Bible Missionary Church in Myanmar (Asia);
- Francis Peréz de Léon, a leader from Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Boliviana (Latin America);
- Doug Klassen, executive director of Mennonite Church Canada (North America).
Linda Dibble, moderator of Mennonite Church USA, will serve until 2025, finishing a term that was vacated. A representative for Europe will be appointed at the Executive Committee meetings in December, which will be held in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
The Executive Committee is elected from the General Council (GC) and meets annually. (During the coronavirus pandemic, these meetings took place over Zoom. Instead of several days in person, the Executive Committee met over two days several times throughout the year.)
Two members from each continental region are elected from the GC; a president and vice president are also elected by the GC. The treasurer and general secretary are also members of the Executive Committee.
At Assembly in Indonesia, the presidency of MWC transferred from J. Nelson Kraybill to president-elect Henk Stenvers from the Netherlands (2022-2028). Lisa Carr-Pries of Canada became vice president (2022-2025) to complete the term of Rebecca Osiro of Kenya, who stepped down for family reasons.
New chairs were appointed to two Commissions:
- Andi O. Santoso (GKMI – Gereja Kristen Muria Indonesia – pastor from Indonesia and now regional administrator for Asia with Mennonite Mission Network) becomes Deacons Commission chair;
- James Krabill (retired from Mennonite Mission Network) steps into the Mission chair (having served as Commission member 2009-2015).
At December meetings, the Executive Committee will confirm the following appointments: chair of the Peace Commission, new General Council appointments to the Commissions and new YABs Committee members.
“MWC is called to be a global communion,” declares the Mennonite World Conference Reference Notebook. “This implies that our focus is not only on the goals we want to achieve, but also on how we achieve them and what type of community we are as we move toward them.”