Michael J. Sharp, a Mennonite worker with the United Nations who was killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2017, was awarded the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Medal on June 1 in New York City in...
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The story of the Democratic Republic of Congo casts a long, disturbing shadow. The legacy of colonialism thrusts malevolent roots into the kingdoms of the Congo basin, which sustains the second largest country...
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“Fill me with your love, O Lord,” I say to myself as I breathe in. “And free me from fear,” I think on the exhale. I’m sitting in a black van, parked on the side of the highway in Syria. As I look...
[read more]When James H. Cone, a leading founder of the black theology movement, died last month, I felt the loss personally. Cone’s book God of the Oppressed changed my theological career. Early on, I knew Mennonites...
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Imagine the pain of losing a child to war, compounded by not having a safe space to express grief. This is Claudia Antonovna Ushakova’s story. Her son, a soldier in the Ukrainian army, died in combat at the...
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Agnès Ntumba remembers the day her husband and seven children fled the violence that took over their village in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. “I saw people being killed. They were...
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A few years ago I learned that a Native American coffee shop was opening near my church. A native business other than a casino got my attention. I found this place to be one of the friendliest social gathering...
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The community lined the sides of the road to welcome six vehicles rolling in from an arduous 500-mile journey from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 30 Congolese Mennonite leaders and mission...
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The other day, I was watching over my wife’s shoulder at a video on Facebook. It was a bunch of celebrities speaking up for gun control in the aftermath of the Florida shootings. Ho hum. These sorts of...
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KIKWIT, Democratic Republic of Congo — Loving the generous people of the Democratic Republic of Congo is not difficult, but evil happening in the rural Kasaï region of that lush country is hard to...
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“As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” — Prov. 26:11 We find ourselves, again, in a place of sadness, anger and pain in the aftermath of a mass shooting. A teacher and 17 students...
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What good is it if you say you have faith but do not have works? James’ question in chapter 2 doesn’t so much pit faith and works against each other, as two opposing beliefs about the path to salvation, as...
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Another suspect in the killing of a Mennonite United Nations investigator in the Democratic Republic of Congo was arrested Dec. 29, but an understanding of who killed Michael J. Sharp — and why — continues...
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While North American Mennonites sped the pace of change in their church structures, Mennonites in the Democratic Republic of Congo dealt with matters of life and death. Ethnic and political violence drove at...
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Displaced people who recently received food and shelter supplies distributed by Mennonite churches in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo have seen unimaginable horrors. Innoncente Ngandu...
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Imagine with me — it’s a beautiful Thursday afternoon. The leaves are fallen; the air is cool and crisp. Families everywhere have gathered together for their annual Thanksgiving celebrations. Suddenly, out...
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There is a gap in Mennonite response to mass shootings. After a shooting, when secular headlines buzz with gory details and harrowing survivals, Mennonite news outlets often continue posting business-as-usual...
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Woe is me, that I am an alien in Meshech, that I must live among the tents of Kedar. Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war. — Psalm...
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There may be nothing more unsettling to the (post)modern mind than zeal. Faith’s OK, many suppose, so long as it’s small and well-behaved, trotted out on a short leash at the odd moments — like birth...
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Here on the 10th floor of the Church Center for the United Nations building, a handful of Mennonite Central Committee staff and volunteers seek to be an Anabaptist voice to the nations of the world. Not long...
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It all began with a squash plant, a Pennsylvania Dutch crookneck, to be exact. Like all winter squash, it needs room to grow and many weeks to mature. Too late, I realized I had only ever grown winter squash...
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Mennonite Central Committee is a worldwide ministry of Anabaptist churches that shares God’s love and compassion for all in the name of Christ by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and...
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Where do you locate evil? In the aftermath of the deadly white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Va., it’s easy to point to places where evil was active: evil was marching down the streets, under...
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A collaborative Anabaptist response will soon reach some of the 1.4 million people displaced by armed conflict in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo with food, household items and shelter...
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In the wake of violent clashes surrounding a white nationalist rally that turned deadly Aug. 12-13 in Charlottesville, Va., individuals and groups connected to the weekend’s events are finding varied ways to...
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