Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Conference News

Congregations encouraged to participate in MCC’s Abundant Life Campaign

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by Christina Warner

At West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship (WPMF), worshippers considered how personal choices such as shopping, career paths, debt and education affect God’s global community during an October service.

Earlier in the year, the congregation focused a worship service on health care and then took action on the issue. Now, WPMF is preparing to address the issue of housing.

WPMF is one of several dozen Mennonite congregations that have dedicated a Sunday worship service to learning and acting on issues of poverty and economic justice.

These congregations are participating in Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) U.S. Washington Office’s Abundant Life: Economic Justice for All campaign, meant to raise awareness and encourage action on U.S. public policy. They used a variety of easily accessible resources from the Washington Office to help in planning for worship, discussion and action.

The campaign centers around four U.S. policy issues that have the potential to create greater economic justice across the globe: health care, international debt relief, housing and trade. Dates of specific Sundays are suggested as days to concentrate on each topic.

Two more Sundays for prayer and action are coming up, focused on housing (Jan. 31) and trade (April 25). Congregations are invited and encouraged to participate.

At WPMF, 70 to 80 people participated in the worship service with the health care theme on July 19. The service led to a response time during which congregants shared their own stories as health care professionals struggling with the current health care system. Afterward, the congregation sent 40 letters to government representatives, expressing their concerns and desires for future policy.

At College Mennonite Church in Goshen, Ind., the July health care service drew more than 100 participants for a discussion with Anne Krabill Hershberger, retired associate professor of nursing at Goshen College, and Don Yost, of Maple City Health Care Center in Goshen.

“The Abundant Life campaign provides an opportunity for congregations to learn about current economic justice issues and then to respond by making their perspective known to policymakers,” said Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach, director of the Washington Office.

For more information on the campaign and to sign up for resources, visit the Washington Office website at washington.mcc.org/life.

In addition, the “Washington Memo,” published quarterly by the Washington Office, includes articles and analysis about U.S. policies from an Anabaptist perspective.

Campaign resources in the Washington Memo include worship resources, reflections and prayer, as well as a sample letter to representatives. Featured articles are from both Washington Office staff and other MCC workers who see the direct effect public policies have on MCC partners and their work.

Christina Warner is the legislative assistant for Domestic Affairs at the MCC U.S. Washington Office.

MCC asks for relief kits, comforters, sheets for Haiti

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by Linda Espenshade

In addition to donations of money, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is asking the public to supply 20,000 relief kits, 10,000 heavy comforters and 10,000 sheets to be sent to Haitian earthquake survivors.

The supplies will help relieve the discomfort and suffering of Haitians who are sleeping on streets and open areas because their homes are destroyed or because they don’t trust the safety of the buildings that remain.

MCC’s staff in Haiti and the initial support response team that arrived there Saturday are requesting these supplies as one way MCC can respond to the needs they see around them.

Relief kits include personal hygiene supplies, laundry soap, towels and bandages. People who donate kits are asked to provide complete kits with only the specific items on the list of relief kit supplies that can be found at mcc.org/kits.

The relief kits can be packed in a box or bag and delivered to any of the drop-off locations in Canada or the United States listed at mcc.org/kits/dropofflocations by Feb. 28. MCC will then repackage the kits in new, five-gallon buckets.

Heavy comforters and sheets also are being accepted at any drop-off location until Feb. 28.

MCC asks that the comforters be new and filled with quilt batting or a blanket for extra warmth. Twin-size comforters are preferred, but double/full-size comforters are accepted. Specific requirements are online at mcc.org/kits.

Flat sheets, which also will be used as mosquito netting, can be double-, queen- or king- size. Sheets, with at least a 300-thread count, should be new, cotton and light-colored, which is not as attractive to mosquitoes.

MCC is grateful for the generous financial gifts that people have given to MCC for the people of Haiti, starting just hours after the 7.0 earthquake devastated the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Some of those funds are already at work in Haiti, being used to purchase food and supplies that are available there. MCC is airlifting 70,000 pounds or 31,750 kg of canned meat and 1,000 water filters into Haiti as soon as possible. Another shipment of at least the same amount of meat, probably more, will be sent by sea. MCC is also purchasing thousands of tents and tarps.

MCC is planning a multi-million dollar response over a number of years, focusing on rebuilding homes and livelihoods.

Donations to MCC’s response in Haiti are welcome. They should be designated Haiti Earthquake. Donations can be made online at www.mcc.org or by telephone, toll free, 1-888-563-4676 (U.S.). By mail, donations may be sent to MCC and MCC U.S., P.O. Box 500, Akron, PA 17501.

Shared statements a major step as MCC reshapes its future

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by Gladys Terichow

It was a historic moment when the delegate body at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada’s annual meeting held here in November endorsed seven foundational statements to guide the work of MCC, the final of the 12 MCC entities to do so.

Arli Klassen, executive director of MCC binational (Canada and the U.S.), said the statements represent the first time these 12 entities have expressed a shared vision. “It is a sense of coming together in unity and affirmation of what God calls us to do. The statements bring new clarity that will inspire MCC’s work in the name of Christ. That is powerful, very powerful,” said Klassen.

The statements, also referred to as the “new wine,” were developed through a re-visioning and restructuring process called New Wine/New Wineskins: Reshaping MCC for the 21st Century. They articulate MCC’s identity, purpose, vision, priorities, approaches, values and convictions. The recommendations for the “new wineskins” – a new structure for MCC – are still in the development stages.

New Wine/New Wineskins was a listening and consultation process that involved more than 2,000 people from 50 countries participating in 60 meetings.

One of the core statements is MCC’s purpose – “MCC endeavors to share God’s love and compassion for all in the name of Christ by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice.”

“This is the statement that people should memorize,” said Klassen. “This is what we believe God has called MCC to do in its history and in the future. Now we have found shared words to express it.”

Klassen points to two key elements of the purpose statement – that the motivation for MCC’s mission is to share God’s love and compassion for all in the name of Christ, and that MCC intentionally works both to meet basic needs and for peace and justice. She notes that for the first time the words “in the name of Christ,” which have expressed MCC’s Christian witness for decades, are incorporated in its foundational statements.

MCC priorities identified through the New Wine/New Wineskins process are justice and peace-building, disaster relief and sustainable community development. The new statements, explained Klassen, both reflect MCC’s historic commitment to relief, development and peace and clearly state that peace cannot be built without addressing injustice.

MCC does its work in partnership with churches and other partner agencies and builds bridges to connect people and ideas across cultural, political and economic divides. “We don’t do our work just by giving out financial grants – we work at building relationships,” Klassen said.

MCC’s identity as a worldwide ministry of Anabaptist churches is strengthened through including in the statements the “Shared Convictions” of global Anabaptists as adopted by the Mennonite World Conference General Council in March 2006.

This is the first time MCC has had a statement of faith, Klassen said, noting that it has always drawn theology from the churches to which it is accountable. Many churches, she said, expressed strong affirmation for MCC including these shared Christian faith convictions in its foundational statements.

The MCC statements were developed by an Inquiry Task Force of 34 people that was given the task of engaging, listening to and representing the various MCC constituencies through summits and regional meetings. The group synthesized what it heard and offered recommendations. The recommendations were endorsed by a group of 95 people, representing the 12 MCCs and the church denominations they are accountable to in June 2009. The next step in the process was endorsement by the 12 MCC boards, MCC Canada’s annual meeting being the last scheduled.

Klassen said the MCC system-wide endorsement of the “new wine” foundational statements is encouragement for the next step in the process – consensus on a revised structure. The “new wineskins” recommendations are expected to be endorsed in 2011 and fully implemented in 2012.

“There were points of despair or frustration in this re-visioning process, but there also was always a sense of commitment to listen to God through the voices of the faith community. I believe the Holy Spirit has been at work, leading MCC,” Klassen said.

The full MCC foundational statements are at newwineskins.mcc.org.