Last summer I spent two weeks teaching at the Meserete Kristos Church’s seminary in Bishoftu, Ethiopia. While in Ethiopia I learned of the denomination’s growth plans, which involve attracting thousands of new members and initiating many new congregations. I also visited what I was told was a “small” church with a few hundred attendees (among them dozens of children) and a larger church that had around two thousand congregants present. In conversations about differences between the Meserete Kristos Church (MKC) and North American Mennonites, I often heard a variation on the line, “We understand that you Mennonites focus on discipleship rather than growth.”
I took that statement in part as a sign of respect and in part as a transparent acknowledgment of difference. My students were strongly committed to discipleship and eager to engage Mennonites in a process of mutual learning about following Jesus. At the same time, they expressed a contrast between their own priorities and those I represented as a North American Mennonite. This contrast was typically articulated in response to discussion of the obvious numerical facts about the global Mennonite church: growth in Ethiopia, decline in North America.
In the next issue of Anabaptist Witness, guest editors Henok Mekonin (Global Leadership Collaborative Specialist, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) and Abenezer Shimeles (MDiv student, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) will present articles on “Mission and Peace in Ethiopia.” That issue promises to advance our collective understanding of how commitments to peace, justice, and new communities might coalesce. I hope that these two issues together will help us Mennonites learn how to focus on discipleship and growth.