Amidst a world pandemic, the work of God continues
The COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the world, prompting both isolationist practices and panic as the world attempts to quell the virus. The world is changing before our eyes. Places of worship lay empty as congregations meet in the virtual world. Without active clientele, small businesses close, unable to maintain their expenses in the wake […]
Mixing it up in Mississippi
NEWTON, Kansas (Mennonite Mission Network) — Gerald Freyenberger, 81, and Risa Fukaya, 21, represent distinct generations and ethnic backgrounds. Yet they found commonality during a Mennonite Mission Network-sponsored alumni and friends service-learning tour to Mississippi this past March. During the civil rights movement-inspired tour, Freyenberger, an alum of PAX, an alternative service program for conscientious […]
Helpers bring hope to Latin America
NEWTON, Kansas (Mennonite Mission Network) ⸺ The former Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood television program for children seems remote from today’s coronavirus pandemic. Yet, his wisdom about "looking for the helpers" has evoked some hopeful storytelling from Mennonite Mission Network’s international service workers in Latin America. Linda Shelly, Mission Network’s director for Latin America, gleaned the phrase […]
Love Across Four Continents – The Ministry of La Casa Grande
The rhythm of La Casa Grande, a Christian home for children in Benin, Africa, brings people together both to give and to receive. Join Mission Network partners Diana Cruz and Felipe Preciado for an overview of some of the ministries of La Casa Grande. Pentecost reminds us that we are all sent out into the world […]
“Mission In A Non-Traditional Way:” La Casa Grande’s Agricultural and Animal Projects
Join Felipe Preciado for a tour of La Casa Grande’s agriculture and animal projects! La Casa Grande is a Christian home for children in Benin, Africa, and Felipe’s work bridges ministry, creation care, and entrepreneurial business. Diana Cruz and Felipe Preciado are Mission Network partners sent by Iglesia Cristiana Menonita de Colombia (IMCOL).
Transforming bags of groceries into bread of God
NEWTON, Kansas (Mennonite Mission Network) — In early February, Jaden Hostetter began serving with Mennonite Mission Network in the ministries of the Iglesia Cristiana Anabautista Menonita de Ecuador (Quito Mennonite Church). When the coronavirus pandemic hit in mid-March, he said no one would have been surprised if he had returned to the States. Hostetter surprised […]
Bringing home a gift too big for a suitcase
HESSTON, Kansas (Mennonite Mission Network) — As mission workers DeeDee and Mark Landes and their three children came home from Colombia to self-quarantine in Kansas during the coronavirus pandemic, they unwrapped a gift that was far too big to fit into a suitcase. This gift was the forging of stronger family bonds and newly gained cultural […]
Service Adventure unit’s online community outlasts coronavirus shutdown
NEWTON, Kansas (Mennonite Mission Network) — In mid-March, the plans of the Service Adventure unit in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, fell apart like a jigsaw puzzle thrown off the table of their shared life. The togetherness they planned on enjoying until mid-June shattered when the coronavirus pandemic required Mennonite Mission Network to shutter some residential sites for […]
Honoring Christ in actions and words – Interview with Megan Campbell
Susan: Hello, this is Susan Nisly and I am here with Megan Campbell who is a former Service Adventure unit leader from Jackson, Mississippi. So, Megan I’m wondering if you could tell me about something that you learned during your experience with service Adventure. Megan: Something I think that I learned over the year was […]
Lesson 6: Deepening our peace roots
Objective To acknowledge that military veterans can help us deepen our understanding of and commitment to peace. Download Returning Veterans curriculum pdf. Story From 2003 to early 2004, Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq were physically and sexually abused, humiliated, tortured, raped and killed. In the aftermath of this scandal, a young U.S. soldier […]
Seeing the world through Cofán eyes
In the midst of lockdowns, social distancing, and closed borders, COVID-19 reminds us how interconnected our world is and how our lives are unavoidably intertwined. While there are challenges that come with living in such a world, this interconnection enriches our lives socially, economically and spiritually — a lesson I learned while spending a week […]
Hispanic peace church birth brings good tidings to established congregation
NEWTON, Kansas (Mennonite Mission Network) — Last summer, Naun Cerrato, a participant in Mennonite Mission Network’s Sent Network church-planting training, was primed to launch Iglesia Menonita Piedra Vida (Living Stone Mennonite Church), a new Hispanic peace congregation in Elkhart, Indiana. But where, since they had no rental finances? About the same time, Sunnyside Mennonite […]