With country in crisis, Venezuelans request prayer

Apr 8, 2019 by and

Inspired by Mennonite World Conference, people of the Mennonite church in the El Paraíso neighborhood of Caracas celebrate World Fellowship Sunday. — ​Linda Shelly/MMN

With economic and political conditions in Venezuela deteriorating, Mennonite leaders are asking for prayers for peace for their nation as their churches sow seeds of peace in their communities. “The news...

[read more]

LMC breaks new ground

Mar 25, 2019 by and

Keith Weaver, moderator of LMC, greets Nancy and Carlos Rodriguez-Lora, welcoming their congregation, True Vine Tabernacle in Elkhart, Ind., as a member of LMC. Nancy Rodriguez-Lora is the senior pastor. — Jonathan Charles for MWR

NEW HOLLAND, Pa. — Leaving Mennonite Church USA on Dec. 31, 2017, brought one of the biggest changes LMC (formerly Lancaster Mennonite Conference) had undergone in dec­ades. Now the Anabaptist fellowship of...

[read more]

Denver church an intercultural effort

Mar 11, 2019 by and

Denver church an intercultural effort

A Denver area congregation’s efforts to be intercultural go far beyond being merely multicultural. Rather than a collection of cultures and identities tolerating each other but lacking mutual roots...

[read more]

Dancing in the street, Africans celebrate God’s faithfulness

Mar 4, 2019 by and

Mennonites march to their 40th anniversary celebration in Orodara, Burkina Faso. — James R. Krabill/MMN

More Mennonites worship in Africa than on any other continent. In this epicenter of Ana­baptist witness, Mennonites in Nigeria and Burkina Faso celebrated anniversaries last fall. Mennonite Church Nigeria...

[read more]

Congo violence diminishes; international aid continues

Dec 17, 2018 by , and

​Innoncente Ngandu, a widow, and her family fled from their home due to violence. They recovered health after receiving help from the Inter-Mennonite Kasaï Relief Project. — Joseph Nkongolo

TSHIKAPA, Congo — Violence in the Kasaï region has diminished during the past year, but the economic struggles that inspired the fighting persist. An alliance of international Anabaptist organizations...

[read more]

EMM leader’s termination leaves unanswered questions

Dec 5, 2018 by and

Nelson Okanya, then-president of Eastern Mennonite Missions, speaks at the Church and Post-Christian Culture conference in 2014 at Carlisle (Pa.) Brethren in Christ Church. — Kelli Yoder/MWR

Eastern Mennonite Missions “separated employment with President Nelson Okanya” on Nov. 16, the organization announced in a statement, leaving unanswered questions about what warranted the move and...

[read more]

U.K. Anabaptists celebrate mission worker’s legacy

May 21, 2018 by and

At the U.K. Anabaptist Theology Forum honoring the late Mennonite Mission Network worker Alan Kreider, Eastern Mennonite Missions worker Carol Wert, left, presents her paper to participants, including, from left, Lloyd Pietersen, Eleanor Kreider, Sian Murray Williams, Fran Porter, Linda Wilson and Ian Wilson. — Alan Wert

BROMSGROVE, England — Participants at the Anabaptist Theology Forum applauded when Eleanor Kreider walked into the room. Some considered her a spiritual mentor or close friend. Others had never met her but...

[read more]

Beekeepers learn about caring for creation, community

Mar 19, 2018 by and

Ryan Goertzen-Regier captures a wild honeybee swarm to add to Sugargrove Apiaries’ hives of bees. — Anthony Esau

NEWTON, Kan. — Two co-workers at Mennonite Mission Network have discovered that even with a full-time “city job,” beekeeping is a great way to keep the boy on the farm. Several years ago, when former...

[read more]

Couple retire after decades of mission work in Spain

Jan 15, 2018 by and

Dennis Byler, left, teaches a Greek New Testament class at the El Escorial seminary. — Ryan Miller/MMN

ELKHART, Ind. — Connie and Dennis Byler, serving with Mennonite Mission Network, watched Anabaptism take root in Spain in their 37 years of ministry there. They helped tuck seeds into the ground tilled by...

[read more]

Workers build peace in South Korea, piece by piece

Dec 18, 2017 by and

​Jae Young Lee leads a restorative discipline class at an elementary school in Seoul. Students directly involved in bullying sit in the middle circle. Other classmates sit in the outside circle. — Korea Peacebuilding Institute

As tensions between nations rise and world leaders threaten war, peacemakers all over the world work to make peace on Earth a reality. Jae Young Lee and Karen Spicher, Mennonite Mission Network mission...

[read more]

Hopi school is left in disarray

Oct 9, 2017 by and

Washers and dryers, along with beds, were removed from Hopi Mission School apartments. Ed Diller — Mennonite Education Agency

Disheveled classrooms and missing equipment are some of the challenges facing Mennonite Education Agency as it discerns how to get Hopi Mission School up and running again. Mennonite Church...

[read more]

Violence escalates in Congo

Aug 7, 2017 by , and

​Mennonite Church of Congo leaders head the graduation procession at Kalonda Bible Institute in 2012: Joly Birakara, vice president; Adolphe Komuesa, president; and Marcelin Mbalo, Komuesa’s wife. Classes had to be suspended this year due to violence. — James Krabill/MMN

KIKWIT, Democratic Republic of Congo — Violence continues to leave suffering and destruction in its wake in Congo’s three Kasaï provinces where most of the Mennonite churches are located. The situation...

[read more]

Kreider lit Anabaptist fire in U.K.

May 12, 2017 by , , and

Alan Kreider, AMBS professor emeritus of church history and mission, greets AMBS President Sara Wenger Shenk while bidding farewell to his church family at Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Ind., in late April. — J. Nelson Kraybill

Alan F. Kreider, a mission worker, scholar and speaker who ignited contemporary Anabaptism in the United Kingdom and beyond, died May 8 at his home in Goshen, Ind. He was 75 and had been diagnosed with...

[read more]

Workers seek to improve interfaith engagement

Mar 27, 2017 by and

Anabaptist interfaith workers met to improve interfaith engagement approaches in their agencies and beyond. Back, from left: Trina Trotter Nussbaum, John Kampen, Jonathan Bornman, David Shenk, Alain Epp Weaver. Front: Jason Boone, Rebekah Simmerman, James Krabill. Not pictured: Jonathan Brenneman. — Jonathan Brenneman/MC USA

AKRON, Pa. — As religious hostility, Islamophobia and anti-Semitic acts surge, a group of interfaith, peacemaking and mission workers from six Anabaptist agencies met to explore ways to improve interfaith...

[read more]

Opinion: Evangelism — faithful or offensive?

Feb 13, 2017 by

Anne and Daniel Garber Kompaoré: “Most missionaries and evangelists these days are the Africans themselves, who are much more vocal about their faith than most North Americans.” — Mennonite Mission Network

When Anne and Daniel Garber Kompaoré talk of their work in North America, they are often met with questions. Anne works as a Bible translation consultant with Mennonite Mission Network and has lived in...

[read more]

Service unit leader, 26, dies in car accident

Jan 20, 2017 by and

mmn service adventure-001

Hannah Hochstetler, co-leader of the Mennonite Mission Network Service Adventure unit in Jackson, Miss., died Jan. 19 in a car accident near Roanoke, Va. She was 26. She and her husband, Caleb, 25, were...

[read more]

Bearing good fruit

Sep 12, 2016 by

Thank you for “Gay and Welcome” by JB Miller (At the Table, Aug. 29). I affirm that the gospel soil at Covenant Mennonite Fellowship in Sarasota, Fla., is producing good fruit. That is the criteria that...

[read more]

Mennonite Mission Network donation supports racial justice education work

Aug 29, 2016 by and

Donna and Leroy​​​​ Barber cofounded The Voices Project,​ which trains black leaders. — Peter Graber/MMN

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Joining other Christian denominations that support the anti­racism goals of the Black Lives Matter movement, Mennonite Mission Network will give $10,000 to partner with The Voices Project...

[read more]

Organizations respond to Ecuador earthquake

May 9, 2016 by

People from the Mennonite church of Guayaquil, Ecuador, load relief materials on a truck to take to Manta for those affected by recent earthquakes. — Mennonite Mission Network

Local Mennonites and mission agencies responded after a powerful earthquake struck the Pacific coast of Ecuador April 16, followed by a second quake four days later. At least 570 people were killed, and more...

[read more]

Hmong in Thailand make an Anabaptist relationship official

Apr 25, 2016 by and

Church of Christ Thailand executive secretary Surapong Mitrakul and chair Thawesak Mahachavaroj present a set of teacups and saucers to Mennonite Mission Network executive director Stanley W. Green and Asia and Middle East director John Lapp. Green and Lapp in return offered two copies of the book Fully Engaged: Missional Church in an Anabaptist Voice. This exchange of gifts commemorated the signing of a ministry and support agreement for the Hmong ethnic group in Thailand. — Mennonite Mission Network

The Mennonite family can now add Hmong to the growing number of ethnic groups embracing Anabaptism in Asia. A group of Hmong churches in Thailand and Mennonite Church USA have agreed to make official a...

[read more]

Following Jesus leads to finding refuge in Spain

Jan 18, 2016 by and

Maryam, Connie Byler and Koroush enjoy tea at the Byler home. Once living comfortable lives in Iran, Maryam and her son, Koroush, now are following Jesus with a Mennonite community in Spain. — Dennis Byler/MMN

Koroush and his mother, Maryam — refugees from Iran now living in Spain — lost everything but believe they have what they need with Jesus. “I saw the Jesus miracles with my own eyes,” Koroush said. (To...

[read more]

Book review: ‘Mennonites Encounter Hinduism’

Dec 7, 2015 by

Mennonites Encounter Hinduism

Fifty years ago there was little public discussion of interfaith or inter-religious dialogue in Mennonite circles or in the Christian community generally. Some academic specialists and missiologists were...

[read more]

Mennonites in France pray for Muslims

Nov 20, 2015 by and

Warning sign found on the door of Lamorlaye Mennonite Church. — Linda Oyer/MMN

None of Mennonite Mission Network’s five international personnel in or near Paris was hurt in the Nov. 13 terrorist bombings, although each has been affected by them. “It took a little while to confirm...

[read more]

Pastors in Northern Ireland cut church to the core

Aug 31, 2015 by and

Gordon McDade and Karen Sethuraman

Pastoral colleagues Karen Sethuraman and Gordon McDade thought they were doing everything right. Their traditional church in Ballynahinch, Northern Ireland, had lots of people, programs and a strong community...

[read more]

The great (de)commission

Aug 12, 2015 by

Those impacted by the Evansville MVS unit during its run from 1988-2015 gathered Aug. 1 for a decommissioning service.

Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and...

[read more]