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.)

The Canadian Conference of MB Churches Board of Faith and Life requested that MB Herald carry the following letter.

—editors

January 31, 2005

The Right Honourable Paul Martin
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa ON K1A 0A2 Canada

Dear Mr. Martin,

As the Mennonite Brethren Conference of Churches in Canada, with 36,000 members and more than 50,000 weekly participants in our 250 congregations, we wish to affirm to you, head of our government, our view of marriage. We believe marriage was instituted by God as part of His creative design for men and women. Marriage is a covenant relationship between a husband and wife.

We were heartened when in 1999 and then again in 2000 you and your Cabinet colleagues upheld the traditional definition of marriage. We also realize that since then various courts have ruled in favour of affording same-sex relationships the status of marriage.

We respectfully request that the legislation of the government of Canada continue to affirm marriage as a term applicable only to the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

Thank you for giving attention to our concerns. May God grant you wisdom in the weeks and months ahead. The Bible urges Christian citizens to pray for their governments. Be assured, Mr. Prime Minister, you are in our prayers.

Sincerely yours,

Willy Reimer, Moderator,
David Wiebe, Executive Director,
Walter Unger, Chair of the Board of Faith and Life,

The Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches

Concern for society

I raise a couple of questions about “Letter to prime minister” concerning the Conference executive’s letter to the Canadian government on the bill to redefine marriage (Letters, Apr. 29).

Eagle probably missed the fact that the Conference letter does not ask the government for legislation that “reflect[s] our particular religious beliefs.” Their letter states our belief, but asks the government to reaffirm what it itself affirmed a half dozen years ago. Many other faiths – one could say the overwhelming majority of those other faiths referred to in his letter – also hold the position that marriage should be understood as the union of two persons of the opposite sex. Does Eagle mean we should say nothing on public policy questions in which people hold differing positions?

Eagle also suggests our Conference executive’s letter should have included something along the line of, “We believe that God created everyone in His image,” and then adds that while there may be lifestyle choices with which we might disagree, we should have been clear in expressing support for homosexuals and protection of their rights. Is he saying with this that God created persons homosexual, as many believe? That appears to be the implication, or is it not?

Most of us, I think, would agree that we should support legal protection for those who may make lifestyle choices that differ from what we believe is good for them or society. But these protections already exist in abundance for gay and lesbian couples. Our concern is that where government moves in a direction with public policy implications that appear to seriously undermine the foundations of the family, do we not have every reason to argue against it as strongly as possible? That is not asking for favours for ourselves. That is speaking for what we should know is for the health of society.

Harold Jantz,
Winnipeg, Man.

Kudos

I much appreciated the April 29 edition of the Herald. In particular, I want to commend you for the series on Mennonite history. It’s a welcome presentation. The inclusion of David Eagle’s letter in Letters was most appropriate. And your story on Isaac Tiessen is a timely reminder that we must take a broader view of the faith if we want to be good stewards of the gospel.

Dave Hubert,
Edmonton, Alta.

Actions not widespread

In “Undoing a long-standing practice” (Apr. 29), the author begins by stating that in 1986 the MB Conference offered an apology “for the long-standing practice of refusing membership” to people from the Conference of Mennonites in Canada. In fact, the practice of refusing membership extended not only to the Conference of Mennonites but to all believers who had been baptized by a form other than immersion, since for most of their history Mennonite Brethren believed that immersion was the biblical form of believers baptism. The refusal of membership to non-immersed believers began to be lifted in 1960, and in the decades that followed the restrictions placed on non-immersed members were lifted, one by one. We now consider other questions related to baptism and church membership such as whether people who were baptized as infants and confirmed as believers can become members, whether non-members can fully participate in the work of the local church, and whether baptism must be followed by church membership.

Actually, the 1986 apology dealt exclusively with the MB practice of excommunicating those MB members whose only “fault” was that they had married a member of the General Conference, as that church was commonly referred to for many years. The article suggests that this had been a “general practice” in Mennonite Brethren churches. But the MB Herald report on this 1986 convention item (July 25, 1986), is more tentative and begins with the words “It seems that certain churches . . .” and then adds that “. . . the practice was not widespread.”

In 1986 I asked my father, who had been involved in MB local church and conference affairs for many decades, about the practice. He insisted that under his watch no one had ever been excommunicated simply for marrying a member of the General Conference. Nor was he aware of it having ever happened in any MB congregation. “But,” he added, “Isaac Tiessen seems to know of a few cases.” He did, however, explain that those who had married unbelievers had been excommunicated. (That, of course, was no longer an issue in 1986, since in 1975 the Canadian MB Conference had passed a resolution stating that churches should no longer excommunicate those members who married unbelievers unless the marriage was accompanied by a spiritual condition that warranted such action on scriptural grounds.) Here, too, we have by now largely moved on to consider other questions related to church discipline and church membership such as whether church membership and accountability should be linked, and whether accountability should be left up to the individual since, as the article reminds us, “none of us knows the full truth.” A pollster announced recently that John 3:16 has been replaced by Matthew 7:1 as the favourite verse of Christian young people.

Ed Lenzmann,
Winnipeg, Man.

Misconception

“Alberta tackles camp question” (Apr. 29) speaks of four fears voiced by the speaker at the Alberta Conference convention. I quote the second: “A second cultural memory is that of being conditioned not to proselytize. When Catherine the Great invited Mennonites to settle Ukraine, they agreed not to evangelize.”

Let me quote from A History of the MB Church by J.A. Toews: “. . . a popular misconception should be pointed out. The Mennonites of Russia have often been accused of having promised not to evangelize among the Russian people. ‘Such a promise,’ Gerhard Lohrenz claims, ‘was never made.’ ” The same disclaimer can be found in First Mennonite Villages in Russia, by N.J. Kroeker, as well as other sources. It may be of interest to note that in the invitation to come to Ukraine, Catherine the Great made many promises, one of which was to encourage “missionary activity among Moslems and non-Christians,” an aspect and challenge that seemed to be forgotten (see Mennonite Exodus Frank H. Epp).

Jake Martens,
Abbotsford, B.C.

True church

I just read “Walking more like God intended” (Feb. 25), regarding JoAnne Kehler and the fundraiser that Jane Payment organized for the cost of her new leg. How refreshing to hear how the church community got involved in this “act of kindness.” In the past we have been reluctant to get involved financially the way service groups like Rotary or Lions clubs do for individual people’s needs. Thank you, Jane, for getting involved – that is true church.

Fritz Warkentin,
Winnipeg, Man.