International family matters

My husband and I just returned from a trip to Florida. For ten days we soaked up endless sunshine, felt the sand between our toes, and enjoyed deep-fried alligator tail (“tastes like chicken!”). As global citizens, we didn’t think much about getting on a plane and exploring another country.

And we weren’t alone. Stats Canada reports that in 2006 Canadians made a record 6.7 million overnight trips to overseas countries and worldwide receipts from international tourism reached US$733 billion.¹ The world has indeed become a global village and many of us enjoy the privileges and perks that come with it.

But things were quite different 150 years ago. Take, for example, the story of Peter Wedel, one of the first Mennonite Brethren foreign missionaries who longed to travel overseas:

At the 1884 General Conference in South Dakota, Wedel shared with the delegates his growing burden for unreached people in other lands. The conference pleaded with Wedel to continue his evangelistic ministry rather than go to the Cameroons, a country known as a westerner’s graveyard because of its treacherous climate and raging black fever. Wedel spent the night walking the cornfields and seeking an answer from God. Wet with the morning dew, he announced to the convention, “Obedience supersedes all other opportunities. I cannot but go to the Cameroons.” Within a year of his departure, Wedel was dead, a victim of black fever. His death sparked a dramatic movement . . . Wedel’s act of obedience became a cornerstone of MB foreign missions.²

It’s hard to imagine the fear and trepidation, courage and conviction of this early traveller who propelled our Mennonite Brethren movement into motion as he embarked on an incredible journey.

From that early beginning, we’ve become a denomination with some 290,000 members in more than 20 countries. And now, thanks to communication that takes nanoseconds and travel that’s reasonably safe and affordable, there are very few barriers between us and our brothers and sisters around the globe. Our worldwide MB family is literally moments away.

Global responsibility

But now we’re faced with the question of responsibility. Have we taken advantage of our global citizenship in order to strengthen, encourage, and support our MB community around the world? Or has our increased awareness about other countries caused us to become complacent? Are we using the connections available to us, or are we taking them for granted and using them for our own pleasure rather than to build up the church? Are we moved to action by the stories we read in the Herald about MB churches in Congo, India, or Thailand? Or do we find these news reports commonplace, mildly entertaining, and rather unremarkable? As Neil Postman says, “all that has happened is that the public has . . . been amused into indifference.”³

Conquering indifference

This issue of the Herald seeks to address that indifference. This month, we’re focusing on the International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB) in an attempt to put the world news we publish into a larger context. ICOMB isn’t a decision-making body – it’s one that attempts to provide communication and unity among MBs around the world. And, in that spirit, we worked together with our sister publication from the U.S., the Christian Leader, to publish articles we hope will inspire and inform.

Our Canadian conference is one part of a much larger story. From the very first missionaries in the late 1800s, there are now 18 Mennonite Brethren conferences in various countries around the world. Gone are the days of Western imperialism. Our sister conferences have grown up and now sit at the table as equal partners in our work of evangelism, education, theology, and leadership.

So, we must not allow global consciousness to turn into mere global curiosity. When we read stories about pastors being thrown into jail, congregations meeting in secret, churches existing in abject poverty, and members facing malnutrition or AIDS, let’s remind ourselves of the gravity – and the reality – of the situation.

The plea of our brothers and sisters can be heard over and over again, “Please don’t forget us!” (Today, it’s coming from countries such as Congo and Zimbabwe). It’s a call to action, just as Israel’s cry, “Remember your servants!” set the Lord’s hand into motion (see Exodus 32:13; Judges 16:28; 1 Samuel 1:11). We must take seriously the imperative to “do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10).

We can exercise our global responsibility in myriad ways:

• Form an international friendship with a congregation in a different country.
• Send visitors to another part of the world, perhaps to the upcoming 2009 Mennonite World Conference assembly in Paraguay.
• Pray specifically and intentionally for another MB conference around the globe.
• Ask how we might help an international student or pastor.
• Listen to stories from global brothers and sisters, and allow them to inform our political involvement, spending habits, Bible reading, etc.
• Share our resources – time, money, labour – with our MB family around the globe.

If we do just one or two of these things, our Mennonite Brethren church will be strengthened and enriched, and we’ll take a small step towards fulfilling our responsibility as global citizens.

1. International Travel, Stats Canada, 2006.
2. Family Matters: Discovering the Mennonite Brethren, Lynn Jost and Connie Faber (Kindred, 2002), p. 56.
3. Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman (Penguin, 1985), p. 100.