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Emilia Navarrete Sevilla holds her daughter Neidi Areli in the courtyard of the family home in Teticic, Mexico. The cistern in the background is one of 110 cisterns Mennonite Central Committee has helped build in the semi-arid Mexican state of Guerrero, where less than an inch of rain falls between November and May. Emilia and her husband Deramona say the cistern, which stores water during the rainy season for use during the dry season, has greatly reduced their burden of searching for water.
Historic votes in Ethiopia: The Meserete Kristos Church, meeting in general assembly in Addis Ababa in October, set new policy on two “boundary issues.” Delegates approved a recommendation in favour of women holding congregational office, including evangelist, teacher, pastor, deacon, and elder, on the basis of giftedness and election. They also approved a recommendation in favour of baptizing polygamous converts, but restricting them from leadership positions. A priority for evangelism played a role in the decision, as polygamy is common throughout Africa and requiring polygamists to divorce multiple wives often causes suffering for the affected women and children. Monogamous marriage continues to be the teaching position of the church.
—Mennonite World Conference
Ken and Kathryn Seitz |
Winter rains came early in Lebanon, further dampening the spirits of people struggling to cope with family deaths and destruction caused by the recent war, says MCC worker Ken Seitz, who along with his wife Kathryn returned to the country in late October. The couple was evacuated in July just as the war began. While the fatalities and damage have “pretty well been dropped from the news,” life in Lebanon is not normal, says Seitz. “We discovered quickly that internally the country is embroiled in tensions that can and could easily spill over.”
—MCC
Forgiveness and healing: The driver responsible for the deaths of a conservative Mennonite couple’s 5 children in 2005 said he can hardly understand their compassion and acceptance, but it has deeply blessed him. Jeff and Carolyn Schrock publicly forgave and eventually befriended Clifford Helm, 56, who crossed a grassy median on a highway north of Spokane, Wash., hitting the pickup driven by Jeff Schrock. Helm faces prison if convicted of vehicular homicide. “It’s taught us a lot about trusting God and God’s sovereignty,” Jeff Schrock said. The couple is now in Belize on a mission assignment; a daughter was born to them soon after the tragedy.
—Mennonite Weekly Review
Citizens for Public Justice, whose mission is to promote “policies and practices which reflect God’s call for love, justice, and stewardship,” will relocate its national offices to Ottawa from Toronto. “The fact is, CPJ needs to be in Ottawa at his time,” Harry Kits, executive director, told members in CPJ’s newsletter, the Catalyst. “I go so far as to say that CPJ is called to be in Ottawa at his time,” he said. “CPJ will bring our particular understanding of Jesus’ gospel of love and compassion.”
—CPJ
Kudos to the PM: The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada’s (EFC) Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) applauded Prime Minister Harper for his stance on religious freedom issues in China and Vietnam. Spokesperson Janet Epp Buckingham said the religious persecution of Christians in those countries is of specific concern and the RLC monitors them closely for human rights abuses. The U.S. State Department dropped Vietnam from this year’s list of countries of “particular concern” for violating religious freedom, however, although China remains on it.
—EFC, Evangelical Press News
Reminiscing: A group of former Mennonite Central Committee voluntary service (VS) workers at Twillingate, Newfoundland met for a 50th anniversary reunion near Washington, Iowa in September. Ten of the 15 nurses and teachers who served in the community for one to three years during 1956–59 attended. Close friendships developed between the VS workers, which have been further bonded by 8 reunions. Professionally, socially, and spiritually, Twillingate was a growing and stretching experience, they say.
—Agatha E. Klassen
Every 7 seconds, on average, one “baby boomer” retires in the U.S. One organization tailoring its programs with this in mind is Wycliffe Associates, which provides volunteer services and support for translators. Athough the boomer generation has been self-centred and individualistic, “many are experiencing a deepening desire to give back,” comments Todd Johnson at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In Canada, Reginald Bibby’s latest research on the eight million Canadians born between 1946 and 1965 shows that faith is on the rise.
—Wycliffe release, Anglican Journal
The “absolutely most important thing” that happened at the Global Mission Fellowship (GMF) meetings in Kazakhstan (see MBH Nov. 3), according to Mennonite Church Canada’s Janet Plenert and Jack Suderman, was the “almost hidden” moment when 91 Mennonite and Brethren in Christ church and mission leaders voted unanimously to recommend that GMF become structurally part of Mennonite World Conference. It leaves behind “assumptions that North America is the primary mover in global mission” and affirms that “church and mission belong together.”
—Canadian Mennonite
Fastest growing: The fastest growing religious group in America is not Mormons or some trendy evangelical church but the Old Order Mennonites, also known as “horse-and-buggy” or “Wenger” Mennonites. Begun with a split of 200 families in 1927, the group has grown to a population of 18,000 in 9 U.S. states, according to sociologists Donald B. Kraybill and James P. Hurd, and is doubling every 18 years because of a high birth rate (8.3 children average per family) and success at retaining their youth (90 percent join the church).
—Mennonite Weekly Review
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