For Advent this year, the cover story for the December issue of The Mennonite asks how Mennonites should think of Mary as “model and mother.” A related article reflects on Mary’s Magnificat, and two poems portray the role of Joseph and Elizabeth in the drama of Jesus’ birth. Another article, by Bridgefolk board member Darrin Snyder Belousek, recounts his story of returning to faith through friendship with Roman Catholics. The Mennonite is the official denominational magazine of Mennonite Church USA.
Tag: Mennonite news
Global Christian Forum holds second international gathering
News Release
Mennonite World Conference
by Ron Rempel, MWC news editor
Manado, Indonesia (MWC) –Anabaptists were among the 287 participants in a diverse Christian gathering held here October 4-7, 2011. The meeting was the second international gathering of the Global Christian Forum (GCF). The first was held in Kenya in 2007.
Participants came from 65 countries and all continents and brought together many streams of the Christian faith: African Instituted, Anglican, Catholic, Charismatic, Evangelical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Protestant, mega churches and contemplative communities.
Leaders at the gathering came from 12 world Christian communions and nine global ecumenical organizations. Mennonite World Conference (MWC) was represented by Anne-Cathy Graber, MWC representative on the GCF Committee, Danisa Ndlovu, MWC president, and Larry Miller, MWC general secretary. Miller was introduced at the gathering as the new GCF secretary beginning January 2012. Continue reading “Global Christian Forum holds second international gathering”
Mennonite leaders reflect positively on Assisi day of prayer
News Release
Mennonite World Conference
by Ron Rempel, MWC news editor
Assisi, Italy (MWC) —Danisa Ndlovu, Mennonite World Conference (MWC) president, and Larry Miller, MWC general secretary, joined with leaders of many other religious communities and several humanist organizations October 27, 2011 for a day of reflection, dialogue and personal prayer in Assisi, Italy, the home of the 12th century Catholic friar and preacher, St. Francis, known for his commitment to peace. Continue reading “Mennonite leaders reflect positively on Assisi day of prayer”
Exploring Christian formation, post-Christendom
New book honors legacy of Alan & Eleanor Kreider
by Mary E. Klassen
News Release
Elkhart, Ind. (AMBS) – “For people who think being a Mennonite or Anabaptist is a disadvantage today, Alan and Eleanor Kreider prove it is not true,” James Krabill said at an event celebrating a new book that honors the mission-worker-and-educator team.
Krabill and Stuart Murray, a leader in the Anabaptist Network in England, hope to extend the Kreiders’ gracious and unapologetic approach to matters of faith with the book they have edited. Forming Christian Habits in Post-Christendom: The Legacy of Alan and Eleanor Kreider is a way to recognize their contributions and to expand on themes important to them, Krabill said.
Alan and Eleanor served in England with Mennonite Board of Missions for 26 years. In addition, they have traveled extensively inNorth Americaand many other countries in their ministry of teaching. More recently, Alan served on the faculty of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary from 2004 to 2009, and Eleanor was an adjunct instructor at AMBS in addition to being involved in Prairie Street Mennonite Church. They have participated regularly in Bridgefolk, often as conference speakers.
“The thing that has been most important,” Krabill emphasized, “is the balance in their approach to engaging people in conversations from a missional perspective. Alan and Eleanor have stayed in conversation with people in high-church groups, with Pentecostals, and with other believers, all with such a gracious spirit.” Continue reading “Exploring Christian formation, post-Christendom”
Herald Press devotional named “best of best”
by Steve Shenk
Mennonite Church Canada/MennoMedia joint release
WATERLOO, Ont. and HARRISONBURG, Va.—A Herald Press devotional book has been selected as Worship Leader magazine’s “best of the best” in the team devotionals category for 2011. The magazine published the winners list in its Oct. 7 issue.
The devotional is Take Our Moments and Our Days, Volume 2, published in 2010.
Worship Leader’s annual guide for the world of worship includes everything from the best music resources to the ultimate software, visual and presentation technology, worship training, musical instruments, apps, sound and recording equipment, books and devotionals to the leading products in lighting, screens, and projectors.
“The special annual issue has evolved from a general buyer’s guide and bonus issue to one of the year’s central issues for Worship Leader—and the most back-ordered,” said Daniele Kimes, vice president for sales and marketing.
Take Our Moments and Our Days, Volume 2 was compiled by Paul Boers, Barbara Nelson Gingerich, Eleanor Kreider, John Rempel, and Mary Schertz. It is subtitled An Anabaptist Prayer Book, Advent through Pentecost. The thick, hard-cover book is available for $40 in Canada and $34.99 in the U.S.
The devotional can be purchased at www.MennoMedia.org or 800-631-6535 (Canada) and 800-245-7894 (U.S).
Herald Press is the book imprint of MennoMedia, a ministry of Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA
Jesuit university partners with Mennonite congregation to aid homeless
Seattle University, a Catholic and Jesuit institution, has published an article in its quarterly journal that features an article on the partnership between its College of Nursing and Seattle Mennonite Church. The partnership contributes to the congregation’s ministry to people without homes. The article notes that “The emphasis on social justice and community outreach among Mennonites is not unlike SU’s Jesuit Catholic character and mission…” Weldon Nisly, co-founder of Bridgefolk and long-time board member, is pastor of Seattle Mennonite Church.
Nobel Prize winner connected to peace-church tradition
Harrisonburg, VA (EMU) — One of the three women receiving the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, Leymah Gbowee, is closely connected with the “peace-church tradition” of the Mennonites.
Gbowee, who shares the prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and women’s rights activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen, earned a master’s degree in conflict transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She attended CJP’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute in 2004 and completed its Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (known as “STAR”) program in 2005.
EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) was one of the first university graduate programs in conflict and peacebuilding field. CJP’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute, the first of its kind, has become a model for other peacebuilding institutions around the world.
Gbowee led a nationwide women’s movement that was instrumental in halting Liberia’s second civil war in 2003.
“Leymah Gbowee mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections,” noted the Norwegian Nobel Committee in making the award. “She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war.” Continue reading “Nobel Prize winner connected to peace-church tradition”
Latest issue of Vision on theme of baptism
The latest issue of Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology is dedicated to the theme of baptism. Vision is published at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Indiana and Canadian Mennonite University in Manitoba, and is edited by Bridgefolk board member Mary Schertz.
The theme of baptism is timely given that representatives of worldwide bodies of Mennonites, Catholics and Lutherans will soon be launching a trilateral dialogue on the theme.
Information and two sample articles from the issue are available at http://www.mennovision.org/Volume12-2.htm. One of the two sample articles, “Cultivating a congregational climate of discernment,” is by Bridgefolk co-chair Marlene Kropf.
New book interprets church apologies
In recent years, churches have repented for historical wrongs. In his new book, Ecclesial Repentance: The Churches Confront Their Sinful Pasts, Jeremy M. Bergen tells the story of these apologies and analyzes the theological issues they raise about the nature and mission of the church.
“In a context in which churches, as well as national governments, are increasingly offering public apologies for past acts of injustice and failure,” Bergen’s book, Ecclesial Repentance: The Churches Confront Their Sinful Pasts, “represents an important contribution.” In a review by Christopher Craig Brittain of the University of Aberdeen, Britton continues, “rather than seeing ecclesial repentance as undermining the Church’s reputation, or functioning as a self-serving public relations strategy, Bergen offers a theological account of how they help the Church be faithful to its mission. The result is a sensitive reflection on the complexities and perils of public apologies, as well as a thoughtful appreciation for their potential to facilitate the healing of past wounds.’ Continue reading “New book interprets church apologies”