The Olympic dream of a unified Korea
NAMYANGJU, SOUTH KOREA (Korea Peacebuilding Institute) – If you watched the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, you witnessed athletes from both Koreas walking together under the Korean Unification Flag. The people of Korea, and the international community, melted the tension and fear that had just peaked a month before. In that moment, it was hard […]
Reconciliation after half-century of betrayal, remorse
ELKHART, Indiana (AIMM/Mennonite Mission Network) – The community lined the sides of the road to welcome six vehicles rolling in from an arduous 500-mile journey from Kinshasa, the capital city of Democratic Republic of the Congo. More than 30 Congolese Mennonite church leaders and mission representatives accepted the Kandale congregation’s invitation to attend a reconciliation […]
New building strengthens Mennonite community in Quito
ELKHART, Indiana (Mennonite Mission Network) – Quito Mennonite Church’s diverse people, including eight nationalities, gathered to dedicate a new church building in Quito on Jan. 28, 2018. The building for Iglesia Cristiana Anabautista Menonita de Ecuador (ICAME) embodied the apostle Paul’s description of unity in Christ. According to UNHCR – the UN Refugee Agency article […]
Campaign to support Academia Menonita Betania in Puerto Rico raises $94,000
(Mennonite Church USA/Mennonite Education Agency/Mennonite Mission Network) — Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) and Mennonite Mission Network have nearly reached their $100,000 fundraising goal to aid in Academia Menonita Betania’s recovery from hurricane Maria. At the recent Mennonite Educators Conference on Feb. 1-3, 2018, Carlos Romero, executive director of MEA, presented a check for $94,000 raised […]
Jollof rice recipe
Rev. Dr. Thomas Oduro, president of Good News Theological Seminary in Accra, Ghana says that according to his family, "Jollof rice is nutritious to the body when one takes into consideration the various things that are used to prepare. It is also tasty and can last long when properly preserved. Therefore, it is meal for both […]
Mission worker known for reaching across boundaries and for teamwork in India
NEWTON, KS (Mennonite Mission Network) – Matilda Jantzen, who served as a long-term mission worker in India, died Dec. 15, 2017 at Showalter Villa in Hesston, Kansas. She was 99. Matilda (who went by "Tillie") and her husband, Lubin, served in mission work in India for 35 years through Commission on Overseas Mission, a predecessor […]
Ecuador, a food story
Food seems to be the recurrent theme in my life these last couple of months. Sharing a meal with others bring gifts of conversation and relationship. Cooking for others is a way to share appreciation as the cook puts in energy, resources, thought, and detail into a special meal. I’ve spent several hours recently celebrating […]
Three generations of mission within a lifetime
ELKHART, Indiana (Mennonite Mission Network) – Connie and Dennis Byler, serving with Mennonite Mission Network, watched Anabaptism take root in Spain in their 37 years of ministry there. They helped tuck seeds into the ground tilled by the Catholic renewal movement of the 1970s. They tended the young growth of church plants. And now they rejoice […]
Mission Network helps equip congregations for reentry ministry
ELKHART, Indiana (Mennonite Mission Network) – Yanette Freeman is an Indiana Department of Corrections officer "with a heart" said Don French, the main presenter at a Dec. 16 workshop on reentry organized by Mennonite Mission Network in collaboration with Center for Community Justice based in Elkhart, Indiana. "With all I have done, I should be […]
Mennonites respond to partners in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria
Update: December 20 marked the three-month anniversary of Hurricane Maria hitting Puerto Rico. In those three months, recovery efforts have been slow, with many people still without power, adequate shelter, or proper medical care. Carolyn Holderread Heggen, PhD, recently returned from Puerto Rico on an assessment trip sponsored by Mennonite Health Services (MHS) and in cooperation […]
A radical text for our times
Heading to the airport for an early morning flight, I grabbed the most radical, subversive, counter-cultural peace book I own to read on the plane. What was it? How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie, of course. Hear me out – Yes, How to win friends … was first published in 1936, […]
Be involved, be the Gospel
God invites us, Jesus sends us, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to discover and share the message of reconciliation around the world.