Displacement
The legacy of boundary-crossing colonial mission includes massive displacement—of native peoples from their homelands in Africa and the Americas, and of the produce of many lands, such as sugar, tobacco, and opium, for imperial purposes. The coerced movement and violent destruction of bodies and goods entails further displacements of psyches and families, cultures and languages. […]
Mission Sunday reflection
The Repentance that Leads to Life Jonah 3:1-10 For Mission Sunday 2020, Joe Sawatzky, Church Relations Representative at Mennonite Mission Network, shares insights on repentance from the story of Jonah and today’s global context. It is through our own repentance that we can experience the forgiveness and life that God offers.
We have sinned
Both we and our ancestors have sinned; we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly. Graphic design by Cynthia Friesen Coyle.
Love one another
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong […]
Responding to a renewed peace commitment
When they launched the Brooklyn Peace Church and Center in New York City this past January, Jason and Vonetta Storbakken and Ruth Yoder Wenger did not know that two months later a pandemic and protests would threaten to stop them in their tracks. Rather than stopping them, however, the COVID-19 lockdown and protests over the […]
En respuesta a un compromiso renovado con la paz
Cuando en enero inauguraron la Iglesia y el Centro de Paz de Brooklyn en la ciudad de Nueva York, Jason y Vonetta Storbakken y Ruth Yoder Wenger no sabían que dos meses después una pandemia y múltiples protestas repentinamente amenazarían con inmovilizarlos. Sin embargo, en lugar de paralizarlos, la cuarentena por el COVID-19 y las […]
A conversation with Karen Spicher and Jae Young Lee
Mike Sherrill, director of Asia and the Middle East for Mennonite Mission Network, interviews Karen Spicher and Jae Young Lee about their work in South Korea, their sabbatical here in the United States, and their experience during this time of COVID-19. Karen Spicher serves as the communications coordinator for Northeast Asia Regional Peace Building Institute […]
Omnibus Edition
The image on the cover of this issue of Anabaptist Witness is a painting by our designer, Matt Veith, of a medieval church in Italy from a travel advertisement. The architecture—with the colonial-era buildings that bear resemblance to styles elsewhere in the world, particularly in the Americas—reminds me of a form of Christianity, and of Christian mission, […]
Migration, empathy and welcome
In his Pulitzer Prize-winning epic, Grapes of Wrath (1939), John Steinbeck recounts the harshness of the Great Depression and gives us a glimpse into the struggles of migrant farmworkers. In it, he tells the heart-rending stories of people who loaded up their vehicles with all they could fit and moved from a devastated and ravaged […]
Peace volunteers bring hope to volatile campus
The Angel gave Mary God’s promise: "The Lord is with you. Have no fear." We know that the son she awaited was to be the Good News on Earth, the Christ. Through the arrival of this small child, God’s promise extends to all people around the world. During this Christmas season, let’s celebrate all that […]
Show hospitality to strangers
1 Let mutual love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Photo by Jon Carlson. Graphic design by Cynthia Friesen Coyle.
Journey forward—peacemaking
As minister of peace and justice for Mennonite Mission Network, I was honored to work with Sue Park Hur of Mennonite Church USA and Jes Stoltzfus Buller of Mennonite Central Committee on organizing Journey Forward: Peacemaking, a peace gathering before the start of MennoCon19 in Kansas City. It had been many years since peacemakers […]