History and Mission go arm in arm at conference

View more photos on the Flickr account for the conference

“Mirror on the Globalization of Mennonite Witness,” a two-and-a-half-day event, brought together mission thinkers and historians from the Global South, Europe and North America to explore themes within the volumes of the Global Mennonite History Series, a project of Mennonite World Conference (MWC).

The conference, held October 27-29, 2011 at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), became a lively discussion about how awareness of history can—and should—inform mission planning and action. Participants in the event examined how Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches have emerged and flourished or faced challenges around the world.

The conference was prompted by two occurrences: one, the release of the book, Churches Engage Asian Traditions, Volume 4 in the Global Mennonite History Series; and two, the 2011 Shenk Mission Lectureship, held biennially at AMBS to explore themes, strategies and activities among Mennonites in mission.

By collaborating on the event, MWC and AMBS brought their particular strengths to the occasion. Mennonite World Conference provided a neutral space for mutual conversation and piercing questions. The seminary gave its campus and members of its faculty, including former professor Wilbert Shenk, who convened the 1995 consultation at AMBS out of which the Global History Series grew.

The conference program was developed by John A. Lapp, historian and Co-general editor of the History Series, and Walter Sawatsky, professor of church history and mission and director of the Mission Studies Center at AMBS. More than 170 participants included missiologists and historians, some of the writers and editors of the five volumes of the Global Mennonite History Series, doctoral students in mission and history, and seminary students, professors, and administrators.

Jaime Prieto of Costa Rica, and writer of Mission and Migration, the Latin America volume of the Global Mennonite History Series, brought themes of history and mission together in his address to the conference: “Writing a history of a church is an apostolic calling. It is recording stories of faith; it is extending the call of Jesus. In fact, we hear the stories of Jesus through the church’s stories. Every time you collect a story of a church, you collect a story of Jesus.”

John A. Lapp, who has shepherded the writing of the Global Histories since the project was launched some 16 years ago, explained the reasoning behind it. “In 1994, we discovered a tipping point: Africa, Asia and Latin America held 51 percent of the members of Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches. As Jim Juhnke said in the Global History Organizing Conference that year, ‘We need a new global history to explain what this means; ideally, several volumes of stories to stir hope.’

“As the proposal became refined, MWC stipulated that the histories would be written by the new majority members in the South, and that they would be more story than analysis.

“With the release of these four volumes of history, by writers from each respective continent—Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, and the pending publication of Volume 5, North America in 2012—a new Mennonite narrative has been created. These books accent survival rather than triumph. They give a more diversified accounting of who we are as a church than we’ve ever had before.”

The conference program encouraged the sharing of difficult facts. Adhi Dharma of Indonesia, and a contributor to the newly released Asia volume, Churches Engage Asian Traditions, observed that “Christianity arrived through colonialism” in many parts of the Southern hemisphere. And further, that “politics and mysticism are two forces in religious expression in Indonesia, including Christianity.”

Barbara Nkala of Zimbabwe, one of the writers of the Africa history, commented about a prevalent Western missionary attitude: “Africans can only become Christians by becoming more European.”

Juan Martínez, a theologian based in southern California, urged U.S. Mennonites to learn from migrant Mennonites who are increasingly peopling their country. “Are they ‘our’ people? Do we want to become ‘their’ people? Are we still in the center?! How do the center and the periphery relate? Can we possibly work together?”

Questions threaded through each session. “I find it amazing how varied are our expressions of our faith,” reflected historian C. Arnold Snyder of Canada, and Co-general editor of the Global History Series. “How can Africans’ view of the Gospel, for example, help us all become more Christian?”

Getu Abiche of the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) in Ethiopia seemed to oblige in his presentation when he noted that, “MKC takes disciplinary action with its members by restoring, preventing infection and seeking holiness, but this doesn’t seem to be true in North America. And in MKC, we seek God’s face by fasting and praying, but I don’t see this here.”

Henk Stenvers, of Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit (ADS) in the Netherlands, was a voice for a church with a long past. “Having a lot of history feels like a big burden. If history stands in the way of renewal, history is a burden. Together, we in the North and South must find our witness. Can we become interdependent? Then we can see our differences as an enrichment. We can be a whole church in our brokenness.”

Several participants emphasized the impact of the Global History Series on the communities whose stories are included and who are continuing their exploration of their own history and identity. For example, Mennonites in the Congo are recording oral history interviews, assisted by Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission. In Colombia, Elizabeth Miller, AMBS student who presented at the conference, serves as an Anabaptist history and identity promoter at the request of the Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren churches there.

Shenk extended a challenge to the group: “I am deeply concerned that all members of our churches around the world have access to this series. I believe these books will help point us to a basis for identity that we need. I profoundly believe this is a crucial matter. My hope and dream and prayer is that this project will be a major resource in furthering that objective.”

John A. Lapp highlighted the significance of the Global Histories in his comments: “I believe these volumes, and the process that brought them together, represent the beginnings of new ways to think about the world Mennonite/Brethren in Christ movement.

“Semarang is now essential to Amsterdam. Shamshabad is now life-giving to Hillsboro and vice versa.

“Kinshasa now partners with Berne and Steinbach, and vice versa.

“Managua now addresses Ephrata and New Hamburg.

“Through these churches here, there, and everywhere, the story goes on.”

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Phyllis Pellman Good, Lancaster, Pa., is a communications consultant with Mennonite World Conference
Mary E. Klassen of AMBS contributed to this report.
Photos by Mary E. Klassen and Merle Good
November 2011

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Writers, editors and translators pictured above: Adhi Dharma from Indonesia; Ken Shenk from U.S.A., translator of Japanese contributions; I.P. Asheervadam from India; Luke Martin from U.S.A.; Chiou-Lang (Paulus) Pan from Taiwan;Steve Nolt from U.S.A., Jaime Prieto Valladares from Costa Rica; and C. Arnold Snyder from Canada.