Letters to the editor

Mennonite Brethren Herald welcomes your letters on issues relevant to the Mennonite Brethren Church, especially in response to material published in the Herald. Please keep your letters courteous, brief and about one subject only. We will edit letters for length and clarity. We will not publish letters sent anonymously, although we may withhold names from publication at the request of the letter writer and at our discretion. Publication is also subject to space limitations. Because the Letters column is a free forum for discussion, it should be understood that letters represent the position of the letter writer, not necessarily the position of the Herald or the Mennonite Brethren Church. Send letters to: Letters, MB Herald 1310 Taylor Ave. Winnipeg, Man.  R3M 3Z6 or send via e-mail. (Please ensure that your postal address is included in your e-mail correspondence.)

Peace

Re the editorial, “Talking about peace” (Nov. 5). Along with our responsibility to our neighbours, family and co-workers (which may be the most difficult area to practice peacemaking), we need the big picture. In my recent re-reading of the Gospels it becomes clear that Jesus, while predicting a global family of believers, does not foresee an end to conflict and persecution for His followers until He returns.

He does not promote the alliances by Christians with power bases that have been part of western civilization since Constantine. The early Anabaptists, willing to give their lives, set an example followed by others in separation of church and state, baptism of believers and costly discipleship. Maybe when we truly learn to “not fear those who kill the body” (Matthew 10:28), another step will be taken, and Christians globally will find themselves using only spiritual weapons instead of carnal ones.

While some of the Roman military referred to in the New Testament (especially centurions) are highly regarded, you can comb the New Testament without finding anything to promote Christian armies or leaders of armies. That was not the direction Jesus was going, in direct contrast to the later practices of Mohammed.

David Juan Esau,
Spain

MCC and churches need greater partnership

George Epp comments in “The myth and the blessing of MCC” (Letters, Jan. 7) that “too many have been getting a free ride on MCC’s positive reputation,” and wonders “about the health of MCC within the psyche of B.C. Mennonites.”

During a recent worship service in the MB church we attend, the Asia tsunami disaster, which had struck a week earlier, was identified with the help of a map and some facts. I was pleased that there was a time of guided prayer and that those attending services were invited to respond monetarily, specifically through MCC.

There is no doubt that the monetary response to MCC, designated for this unprecedented disaster, will exceed all targets set by MCC as responses to disasters in the past. It is also true that Mennonite churches have been benefiting enormously over the years, as Epp suggests, from the strongly positive global image of MCC.

Nevertheless, one troubling reality is the tendency to separate such acts of Christian kindness and generosity from what is deemed to be the essence of Christian witness, as part of the mission of the church, or the failure to integrate the two. George regarded the MCC BC AGM as “a great missionary conference.” If his suggestion that churches tend not to embrace MCC has validity (and it likely does), the responsibility rests with both MCC and its constituent churches. Given the absence of pastors at the AGM as one index, there is a serious need for a greater emphasis on intentional partnerships with, and nurturing of the churches, by MCC, and fostering understanding and cooperation, particularly with church leadership, bringing to realization a stronger partnership of mutual benefit and accountability, for the cause of the Kingdom of God. Above all, MCC is first and foremost a sound, Christian, church-based organization.

Bill Thiessen,
Abbotsford, B.C.

Keep the good

I read the article, “Why are Mennonite Brethren joining liturgical churches?” and though I am not a Mennonite, I can relate to the desire of some to move toward Anglicanism. I am a Protestant and belong to an Anglican religious order in an attempt to counterbalance what I’m exposed to in our current church.

I have looked at the Mennonite Church a number of times, and every time decided against it. I am attracted to its concept of mutual aid. My exposure to this was via a text called The Compassionate Community. I have never read a book so solidly biblical on Christian stewardship and koinonia. This mutual aid concept, a true explanation of James 2, is untouched by the writings of any other denomination. So why won’t I become a Mennonite? Because, like the rest of the Protestants, they’ve turned to trusting, not in Romans 10:17, but in modern gimmicks, modern worship, flesh appeal, services that are seemingly beyond informal.

I go to worship for the reason the church has traditionally taught as found in Revelation 4–5. This scene on the Lord’s Day is a vision of corporate worship. However, we no longer offer much in the way of corporate worship on Sundays because we are too busy trying to get more people attracted to the club.

People in many denominations are fleeing to the Anglican or Anglican-type churches because they are discerning that we are leaving God out of our worship, our ministries, our methods.

I encourage Mennonites to run to where worship is still worship, and the Word is still considered the catalyst of faith and the standard of morals. But, take with you the other side of the coin, the heritage that only the Mennonites can offer: the Anabaptist view of koinonia and mutual aid, both taught and practiced beyond anything others have been able to offer. Don’t become an Anglican at the expense of Mennonite koinonia.

Christopher Alsruhe,
Baltimore, MD

Respond to call

I heard a missionary statesman say, “If you want a healthy church, put it on a missionary diet.” I enjoyed reading MBMSI Witness in a recent MB Herald. It is refreshing to read how God called various family members into missions, according to their gifts. The bottom line in each story was, “When God calls, how do I respond?” God called Moses, Abraham and Paul personally. We were reminded that whether short-term or long-term ministries, being sensitive to God’s direction and making the most of every opportunity to point others to Christ is God’s missional call to all of us.

Lydia Dyck,
Steinbach, Man.