Mennonite World Conference

Partnership solution developed to make PA 2015 attendance possible

October 8, 2014 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Phyllis Pellman Good, Mennonite World Conference

Harrisburg, PA – “What a sad irony it would be if we welcomed the world to PA 2015 but we failed to find a way for our U.S. and Canadian sisters and brothers who belong to immigrant congregations, and to congregations who need financial support, to attend MWC’s Assembly next summer,” reflects Lynn Roth, Mennonite World Conference’s lead North American staff person.

“We have a rich diversity of nationalities within our 1400-plus congregations in the U.S. We worship in at least 20 languages – Indonesian, Amharic, and Karen, to name just a few. Many of the members of these congregations are fairly recent immigrants. Many of them have limited incomes. They want very much to attend PA 2015. But many cannot afford the registration fee, nor can they afford to take time off from work to attend.

“Yet we believe it is essential for people from these congregations to experience the global church and to be strongly represented at the Assembly to be held July 21-26, 2015 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“Their presence at PA 2015 will help all of us more fully grasp the wonderful variety within the North American church,” says Roth. “And having had this experience, we won’t be content to live so separately in the future.”

A partnership solution

“We’ve put together a plan that shares responsibility for solving this dilemma,” explains Roth. “Regional and area conferences, together with local congregations and church organizations with resources to share, are invited to partner with Mennonite World Conference, and with these congregations with limited financial resources.” (See below for details.)

“We urge all congregations and area conferences across North America to join us in this effort – both those who need financial support and those who have funds to share. Please keep this opportunity to ‘care for those in our household of faith’ in mind as you plan your 2015 budget,” suggests Roth.

“Email registrations@mwc-cmm.org for instructions about how a conference or congregation can become a partner by sending funds to MWC for their portion of the registration, and how the persons receiving the subsidy should register.”

A gift that keeps on giving

“Think of this as an investment in our ongoing life together as a North American church,” says Roth. “PA 2015 gives us a rare chance to learn to know our neighbouring churches – our sisters and brothers from other cultures and language groups, and with different economic status – as partners.

“We want to continue our shared life together when the last guest has gone home from PA 2015,” reflects Roth. “As a North American church, we want to more fully experience being part of a global faith family as a result of preparing for and hosting the Assembly.”

Here’s how the partnership solution will work:

The registration fee for a North American adult for PA 2015 (including the full meal plan) is $575.

Mennonite World Conference will subsidize $150 of that cost.
MWC invites the congregation’s regional conference or a partnering congregation to donate $150.
The participating individual (or his/her congregation) pays the balance of $275.
In addition, these persons will be given priority to stay in private homes for $25 per night (totaling $125 to $150).
An additional cost for which creative funding must be found is transportation to and from PA 2015.

Celebrations kick off 2015 Mennonite World Conference assembly

July 31, 2014 by Conference Office

by Phyllis Pellman Good, Mennonite World Conference

Mennonites and Brethren in Christ in eastern Pennsylvania enthusiastically welcomed Mennonite World Conference leaders on Sunday, July 20 at two kick-off celebrations, exactly one year in advance of the opening of the July 2015 Mennonite World Conference assembly. The 2015 assembly will be held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

One of the kick-off events was held on the morning of July 20 at Harrisburg Brethren in Christ Church. The afternoon event, held on the same day, took place at Mount Joy Mennonite Church.

MWC leaders join in the kick-off celebration. Left to right: Vikal P. Rao of India, assembly program committee; Liesa Unger of Germany, MWC chief international events officer; and César García of Colombia, MWC general secretary. Photo by Merle Good.

At both events, MWC General Secretary César García introduced the assembly theme, “Walking with God.” He noted it is drawn from the story of the disciples walking the road to Emmaus, in Luke 24. The disciples seem to be in a contentious discussion, but they still walk side by side.

“Only when they were seated at the table, communing together, did they discover who Jesus was,” said García. “When we are together in communion, we see with different eyes. And we discover Jesus in a new way.”

Songwriters Frances Crowhill Miller and Daryl Snider and song leader Marcy Hostetler led the afternoon audience of some 300 in rousing international singing.

Vikal P. Rao of India, a member of the assembly program committee, gave the audience a glimpse of the Global Church Village. The village will be a performance area within the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, where assembly will be held.

“Every afternoon during the assembly, our stage will be filled with storytelling, drama, and music. We will celebrate our diversity within the unity of MWC,” he told the crowd.

Joanne Dietzel introduced the prayer network.

“We face two pressing concerns as hosts of Pennsylvania 2015,” she said. “Will all of our sisters and brothers from the Global South who want to join the assembly be able to get visas to enter the U.S.? And will those of us who live in North America be willing to offer hospitality of the heart to our guests? Will we step out of our overly-busy lives and fully join the week of worship, fellowship, and service, from July 21-26 next year?”

For more information about the 2015 MWC Assembly, go to mwc-cmm.org/pa2015. Franconia Conference provides communication support for Pennsylvania 2015.

Police attack Mennonite church gathering in Vietnam

July 29, 2014 by Conference Office

by Luke Martin, Vietnamese Gospel Mennonite Church

In June, security police attacked a Mennonite church gathering in Vietnam, where pastors and theological students were gathered for a conference and graduation ceremony. The event took place north of Ho Chi Minh City, at the Evangelical Mennonite Church, a congregation not officially registered in Vietnam. This past week, members of that church arrived as refugees in Allentown.

Luke Martin (left) and Vietnamese Mennonite pastor Nguyen Quang Trung at the November 2012 celebration of the Vietnam Mennonite Church. — Luke Martin (left) and Vietnamese Mennonite Pastor Nguyen Quang Trung at the November 2012 celebration of the Vietnam Mennonite Church.

Police arrived at the church at 11 p.m. local time, after attendees were asleep on mats laid out on the floor. Police called for two people to open the door for an “administrative investigation,” and a few minutes later, they broke down the door, turned on the lights, and stormed the building, assaulting students and church leaders. Those attending—76 in total—were led to waiting trucks, taken to the local police station, and booked, though no arrest warrants were produced nor any reason given for the beatings and arrests. Police searched the premises, destroying some property in the process, and there are reports that police incited onlookers to throw stones at the church, breaking windows and roof tiles. Church leaders estimated the size of the crowd was around 300 people.

All of those arrested were released by the next morning, but attacks on the building—throwing bricks, stones and rotten eggs—continued for several days, and those coming to the center were searched and had property confiscated. Electricity and water were cut in the area, affecting other neighbors as well. One pastor was charged with resisting administrative investigation and local disorderly conduct.

Church leaders are petitioning authorities and have laid five charges against the local police.

Incidents like this were more common in Vietnam as recently as ten years ago, but Vietnam’s government, wanting better international relations, has improved its record on human rights and religious freedom. One of the two groups that make up Vietnam’s Mennonite community was granted official status in 2008; it became an official member of Mennonite World Conference in 2009. Both groups have around 5,000 members each and have adopted the Mennonite Confession of Faith.

Still, stories of arrests, beatings, destruction of property, and other violence against Mennonites have been common. In 2004, one pastor was arrested and convicted on charges of preventing a police office from carrying out activities, a common charge used against religious leaders. That pastor was sentenced to three years in prison bur released after 14 months after an international appeal for his release.

And receiving official status as a church in Vietnam isn’t easy: churches must have been in existence for 20 years before they can request legal status, meaning churches must function illegally for some time. New congregations can request permission from local authorities to meet; sometimes they get it, sometimes not. When local authorities aren’t pleased with leaders or the activities of churches—whether registered or unregistered—they often resort to harassment.

The family that came to Allentown has been recognized as refugees by the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees. Nhan Thanh Nguyen, his wife Ngoc Ha Than and their daughter, who celebrated her sixth birthday last week, are members of the Evangelical Mennonite Church, where Nhan Thanh Nguyen took courses on the Bible and theology, led the youth group, and preached. He was repeatedly arrested and harassed, and he and his family fled to Thailand in 2011 where they were granted refugee status, and where Nhan Thanh Nguyen continued to minister and preach to Christian refugees in Bangkok.

Pastor Hien Truong, of Vietnamese Gospel Mennonite Church in Allentown, sponsored the family to come to the United States, through Lutheran Children & Family Services of Allentown.

Parts of this article were first published by Mennonite World Conference, and you can read the full article here. Reposted with permission.

Local churches to offer hospitality for 2015 MWC Assembly

February 26, 2014 by Emily Ralph Servant

Mennonite World Conference Staff

Gahira sat on the street, resting from her one-mile walk into the city.

Cheryl (United States) had met Gahira on the plane into Axum, Ethiopia. After using gestures and drawings to get to know one another, Gahira made it clear that she wanted to serve Cheryl coffee, an Ethiopian act of hospitality.

When they had parted at the airport, Cheryl wasn’t sure if she would ever see the Ethiopian woman again. But here Gahira was, a woven basket of injera and a carafe of coffee in hand. Cheryl gathered coffee cups from the hotel and sat on the patio with Gahira and her son, an interpreter, and the other members of Cheryl’s touring party.

“Together we celebrated our presence in this place,” Cheryl reflected later. “This place made holy by the warm, loving gesture of Gahira.” (read the full story)

Cheryl and her companions were just some of the hundreds who participated in Assembly Scattered in 2003, where they encountered the people, ministries, and stories of Anabaptist churches in an urban area or community while traveling to or from the Mennonite World Conference Assembly Gathered in Zimbabwe.

In 2015, Assembly Scattered will take place in communities across North America immediately before and after the Assembly Gathered in Harrisburg, PA, USA on July 21-26, 2015. These visits provide opportunities for Anabaptist brothers and sisters from around the world to get a taste of the church in North America and for hosts to experience the wonderful diversity of the global family of faith.

“After 20-some hours on planes, with my body clock six hours off, I finally arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe, eager for rest and sleep,” remembers Daniel (United States). It was dark when he arrived at his hosts’ home, but the evening meal was ready. “[Canaan and Listei] had me sit down in the living room in front of a coffee table arrayed with food.”

Listei washed his hands in a Zimbabwean gesture of welcome. “She apologized that she couldn’t kneel before me because her knees were stiff,” says Daniel. “We older people understand each other on a subject like this.” (read the full story)

The 2015 Assembly Scattered will open doors for building new relationships with Anabaptists from around the world. Each location will include partnerships among local congregations and ministries to introduce participants to a specific context of Anabaptism in North America. Although the participants are responsible for their own travel arrangements and paying for their own lodging and food for the 1-3 day trip, local communities are encouraged to offer hospitality.

“Despite the additional work involved, it was a great privilege to serve borscht [soup] to so many visitors,” says the main cook at the KM 81 Mennonite Leprosy Hospital in Paraguay, which hosted an Assembly Scattered group in 2009. “I dare say that most enjoyed the food and showed their appreciation by singing beautiful hymns.” (read the full story)

Groups of North American churches are invited to submit applications to host an Assembly Scattered in their community. Go online at www.mwc-cmm.org/pa2015 and click on “Assembly Scattered” for more information and registration forms.

“I’m looking forward to working with North American churches that are eager to extend hospitality to guests in their communities,” says Evanna Hess, the newly appointed Assembly Scattered coordinator from central Pennsylvania. “It will be exciting to see the friendships that develop as a result of their hospitality.”

The deadline for submitting proposals is June 1, 2014.

Walking together while speaking different languages

November 21, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

MWC Program Oversight Committee — Marius van Hoogstraten takes notes as the Program Oversight Committee plans Assembly 2015’s subthemes. Photo by Emily Ralph.

by Emily Ralph, for Mennonite World Conference

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – “Isn’t English your first language?” Marius van Hoogstraten (The Netherlands) asked Don McNiven (USA), after a laughter-filled conversation about the proper spelling of the English word “future.”

Both men are members of Mennonite World Conference’s Program Oversight Committee, which met in October to further plan the upcoming Assembly at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on July 21-26, 2015.

The committee members represent churches from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America and each speak at least two languages. In order to communicate for their planning sessions, they use the one language they have in common: English.

While all committee members speak English fluently, they discovered that translating their conversation into the languages of their homelands was not always as easy.

“When looking for a theme we had wanted to use the word ‘story’ in the title,” reflected Liesa Unger (Germany), Chief International Events Officer for Mennonite World Conference. What they discovered, however, was that the English word “story” would translate into “history” in many languages and the idea of “history” was not what the team was trying to say. So they settled instead on the theme of “Walking with God.”

One of the committee’s tasks during their October visit to Pennsylvania was to plan the subthemes for each day of Assembly. This task was more difficult than it seemed: how would they find simple, memorable words to describe the theme of each day that mean the same thing in all of Mennonite World Conference’s worshiping languages?

They encountered their first problem in deciding on a word to use to describe the work of evangelism and social justice: words that translated well into Ndbele, the language spoken by committee member Thobekile Ncube (Zimbabwe), or French and Spanish didn’t have direct translations into modern German, for instance. Other words described only speaking the good news of Jesus without including caring for the poor or working for justice as part of evangelism.

Why so much effort for clear communication? Because communication is an essential value for Mennonite World Conference, said César García, Mennonite World Conference General Secretary, in a recent article. “Communication has the same root as other important words in Mennonite World Conference’s mission and vision: communion and community. It is not possible to have real communion with those with whom we do not communicate.”

And so the work for clear communication continues for an event that will include as many as 10,000 people from 85 different countries. Fiona Neufeld (Paraguay), one of Assembly 2015’s interpretation coordinators, joined the Program Oversight Committee to plan translation for the event, which will be available for all worship services in Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Yet the Assembly planners are also aware of a challenging reality: for many of those traveling to the United States in 2015, these “common languages” are still not their first language. The team plans to honor and celebrate this diversity by using other languages as part of the morning and evening worship services.

Mennonite World Conference’s diversity of language and culture will also be celebrated through the Global Village, which, under the direction of Vikal Rao (India), will provide space for congregations from each continent to share their culture, food, worship practices, and way of life with the global church. The Global Village will include a stage for performances of music and dance from around the world.

“You get to know other cultures and worldviews through their language, which allows you to get to know other people and their realities,” reflected Egon Sawatsky (Paraguay), youth program coordinator. “Getting to know these people from around the world and their stories shows how great God is, and how diverse his creation is. Sometimes we think we [alone] have the image of God, but then we realize that his ways and his thoughts are way higher than ours.”

Franconia Conference is partnering with Mennonite World Conference to provide communication support in preparation for the Global Assembly in Harrisburg, Pa, in 2015. To find out more about joining the volunteer team, head to Mennonite World Conference’s website: http://www.mwc-cmm.org/.

MWC executive secretary preaches in Philadelphia

February 9, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Adrian Suryajaya, adrian_190192@hotmail.com

[singlepic id=3024 w=320 h=240 float=right]”There is not one culture that fully knows who Jesus is. That is why we need another culture to complete the character of Jesus.” That is the heart of the message Mennonite World Conference’s new executive secretary Cesar Garcia gave the congregation at Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC).

On January 29, Garcia made his Franconia Conference debut at PPC–a growing multiethnic and multilingual congregation in South Philadelphia that worships in English, Indonesian and Spanish. “I am amused to see the little print on the bulletin that says ‘Multiethnic Church’,” said Garcia. “By being a multicultural church, you can be an example to other churches in North America.”

His message, affirming the call of multiethnic congregations, became a form of confirmation for the congregation according to Aldo Siahaan, PPC’s lead pastor. “As a pastor of a multiethnic church, I felt that Pastor Garcia’s message was an affirmation of what the church has been doing and it will always be a vision of Philadelphia Praise Center,” he said. “It is not easy and each culture needs to learn from one another. However, this will not become a hindrance because we believe that this is God’s plan for the church.”

Garcia offered God’s vision in Revelation 7:16-17 about what could happen if the church heeds God’s calling and remains faithful. “We will find consolation and satisfaction in God,” he said. “There will be no more emptiness in our life as long as we are faithful to heed his calling.”

Lindy Backues, a member of the congregation’s elder team, also felt the resonance of God’s plan for Philadelphia Praise Center through Pastor Garcia’s message. “I am very, very, very enthusiastic about the message!” Backues said. “Cross-cultural congregations are very rare [and] relevant today because it forces us out of our comfort zone. . . . It is easy to love people from the same culture. However, if we can reach out and love our brothers and sisters from other cultures, then the love that Jesus speaks about is fulfilled.”

Garcia, born in Colombia, is the first executive secretary for Mennonite World Conference who is a native of the 2/3rds world. He began this position this spring and recently completed graduate studies in California. Garcia and his family, along with the main offices of Mennonite World Conference, are now relocating to Bogata.

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On flattening the Mennonite world: a view from Singapore

June 24, 2011 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Steve Kriss
skriss@mosaicmennonites.org

New York Times writer Thomas Friedman suggested in the World is Flat that flourishing businesses would need to be both global and local in the emerging interconnected age. It’s a comment that I’ve taken pretty seriously as a pastoral leader trying to imagine how local congregations might flourish and thrive in this time as well. In my work over the past five years in Franconia Conference, it’s been easy to see lively connections that link our largely Pennsylvania-based congregations to far flung places like Jakarta, Mexico City, London and the Mekong Delta. Sometimes, the conversations I’ve had in those places are as pertinent and relevant to congregational life in the States as what happens at the Conference Center in Harleysville.

As part of my Franconia Conference position focusing on leadership cultivation, Biblical Seminary contracts with a portion of my time to build on the foundations of our global relationships to help in the formation of their students toward missional leadership. Several times over the last three years, I’ve had the privilege to travel for 10 days with a group of about a dozen students, most of whom aren’t Mennonite, and to offer an Anabaptist way of engaging the world. We traveled this year to Vietnam and Cambodia.

On the way back, I stopped in Singapore—a glistening, overly perfected city/nation/island on the straits between Malaysia and Indonesia. It’s safe, clean and tightly controlled but with a fascinating cultural mix that represents both the west and the east. I was energized by the city despite its Truman Show-like (un)reality. While there, I met with two young Mennonite leaders who give a hopeful and thoughtful glimpse of future church leadership. Both embody the face and soul of global Anabaptist movement with savvy, integrity and intelligence. It was a gift to spend time with Elina and Wilson—these cosmopolitan business leaders who travel between their Singapore residences, their respective native lands (Indonesia and China), and the United States.

One conversation that lingers for me was a request to understand where the upcoming Mennonite World Conference gathering would be, an attempt to understand the significance and importance of meeting in Harrisburg (which I said is close to Philadelphia and in the one of the world’s largest concentrations of Anabaptists and had to clarify again that it’s “close to New York”). What I heard in this question was a desire to understand the US American church as a partner, not a parent. For global Mennonite leaders, Harrisburg and Philadelphia are just another Bulawayo or Ascunsion. In these questions, though, I sensed a hope that the American church would understand how costly and potentially difficult this decision to meet in Pennsylvania will be for the global church community.

One thing that I’ve learned is that incarnation and making things real is costly and complicated. After my Singapore conversations (where we also talked about partnerships to initiate new Indonesian-speaking Anabaptist congregations on the Arabian peninsula), I’ve realized that the global church is set to come to Pennsylvania not because it holds us in esteem—but because it wants to help the church here to understand a global reality. This upcoming gathering can help the us begin to grasp how deep, how wide, how long, how far the message of the Good News has spread and rooted. It’s an opportunity to invite US American Anabaptists to situate ourselves in this new space—not as the center of activity or authority–rather as part of a global and local movement called to be wise as serpents, innocent as doves and a glimpse of the Real Eternal One in the midst of a flattening world.

Reconciled Communities in Christ

May 13, 2011 by Emily Ralph Servant

By Rev. Sue Lang, with Pastor Emily Ralph
(May 6, 2011)

Franconia, PA — Lutherans and Mennonites stood side by side at the communion table to receive the bread and the wine. Together, they then went out into the congregation to distribute the elements to those present at the 2011 assembly of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The unity observed at the table was further acknowledged during a time of reconciliation at the start of the assembly. Bishop Claire Burkat, representing the Lutherans, apologized to Pastor Charles Ness, a Franconia Mennonite Conference pastor who has been involved in the global Anabaptist reconciliation movement, for the sins of 16th century Lutherans who persecuted and murdered Anabaptists during the Reformation because of doctrinal differences.

“Lutherans, by and large, developed a historical amnesia about this shameful part of our Reformation heritage,” said Burkat.

In 2006, The Declaration of the ELCA on Condemnation of the Anabaptists stated the following: “No church should use the state to impose its own beliefs and practices on others. We [therefore] express our deep and abiding sorrow and regret for the persecution and suffering visited upon the Anabaptists during the religious disputes.”

Bishop Burkat made an emotional apology to Pastor Ness on behalf of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod who has held their assembly at Franconia Mennonite Church since 1997. She then presented him with a pitcher, basin, and towel representing the washing away of past sins through Jesus Christ. The towel was embroidered with the symbols of both the Mennonite Church USA and the ELCA.

In his own emotional acceptance of the gifts, Pastor Ness quoted the President of the Mennonite World Conference, Danisa Ndlovu, who responded to a similar apology from the Lutheran World Federation last summer in Stuttgart, Germany. Ndlovu said: “Today in this place, we together—Lutherans and Anabaptist Mennonites—are fulfilling the rule of Christ. We cannot bring ourselves to this table with heads held high. We can only come bowed down in great humility and in fear of the Lord.”

Ness then presented Bishop Burkat with a painting depicting the story of Dirk Willems, a Dutch Mennonite who successfully escaped across a frozen canal but returned to save his captor who had fallen through the ice. Willems was later put to death for heresy.

“These words and actions today point to the truth that the Kingdom of God is more than denominational labels and distinctions,” said Ness. “Through these confessions I believe that Christ will heal the wounds of history and free us to become whole persons and spiritually renewed churches.”

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Read Emily’s blog about this event or watch the reconciliation (begins around 15:00):

Video streaming by Ustream

Mennonite World Conference

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