Laurel Woodward-Breckbill’s desire to align her work with her values has returned her to Mennonite Mission Network for the third time.
In August 2024, Ben and Laurel Woodward-Breckbill became co-directors of the Paris (France) Mennonite Center (PMC). They are serving through Mennonite Mission Network to join in writing the newest chapter in the center’s storied half-century history as a missional, Anabaptist presence in secular Europe.
Ben is a pastor, most recently at Shalom Mennonite Church in Newton, Kansas, and specializes in theology, education and inter-religious dialog. Laurel is an experienced restorative justice practitioner, peacebuilder, nonprofit administrator and host.
Their placement is built on a foundation of existing experience with Mission Network. The couple first served as Mission Network workers in 2016, when they were sent by the agency to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to work in mediation and peacebuilding for a year. During that time, Laurel was studying conflict resolution and reconciliation for her master’s degree — following a passion that she had kindled in college and then put into real-world practice through a year of Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) in Alamosa, Colorado, 2013-14.
“I am still doing the type of work [today] that I was doing in MVS, so it did make a big impression on me, and it really motivated me to continue doing that work,” Laurel reflected. Coming out of college, she knew she was drawn to the idea of restorative justice and community building, but “didn’t know the full potential of that type of work.”
Laurel’s service placement as a project coordinator with the Center for Restorative Programs transformed her curiosity into a calling. While there, she helped establish a juvenile diversion program for youth navigating the court system and worked in the area schools, leading peer mediation training and other programs to build conflict resolution and leadership skills.
“I loved my placement,” she said. “I really felt like I learned a lot about the local Alamosa community in a very short amount of time.”
Laurel acknowledged that her opportunity to test drive a vocation and engage in a supportive faith community isn’t possible for everyone. Her experience was a testament to both the support of her family and home congregation, as well as her financial privilege to not require an income for a year. While her service term was positive, she also knew people whose volunteer experiences were challenging, or even painful, depending on the location, community, or organization they served with.
“Life can be difficult in different ways for different people,” she said. That sentiment has stuck with her, well beyond the context of service.
Part of what has drawn Laurel back to service with Mission Network again (and again) is her “drive to work in ways that align with my values … to foster community and dialog around how we can make our local communities stronger and vibrant and healthy.”
Through her MVS experience, Laurel learned to critically examine what living in community with others can look like. A person can build community in a way that feels easy and comfortable, or they can do it in a way that may feel uncomfortable and vulnerable.
“If it’s easy to build community, then you’re probably not doing it right,” Laurel said. “It’s a good challenge for me to stay engaged with the people that I’m around, even if it’s a little uncomfortable.”
