First-hand accounts from the Missional Discipleship Initiative
“The Missional Discipleship Initiative has helped me to focus on my purpose and mission as a Christian instead of being busy and not accomplishing the ultimate goal … I realized that many people have a lot of questions and barely anyone is available to listen or share [with them]. “What I appreciate about the Initiative […]
Discipleship Groups Help Christians Grow
Most of us know that Jesus was called the Master Teacher. He showed His followers how to guide others in being kingdom children. Jesus involved those He was guiding in hands-on actions and experiences. He accepted the call of God to serve, knowing there was a price to pay. He prayed that His work would […]
Discipleship and Mission: An Encouragement and a Caution
September 8, 2015—Charles Spurgeon said, "Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor." As disciples of Jesus, we are simultaneously sent to live on mission. Living on mission is part of what it means to be a disciple. Biblically, there is no such thing as a disciple who does not live on mission. As […]
Become a Service Adventure leader
Cynthia and Roger Neufeld Smith share about their experience of being Service Adventure leaders in Jackson, Mississippi. Anyone ages 24+ may apply. Service Adventure leadership is a great opportunity for those who are ready to live out their faith in a unique, intentional setting that is structured for authentic Christian discipleship and living. Contact Susan […]
The gift of teaching
The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher,that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.Morning by morning he wakens— wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. Photo by Linda Shelly. Graphic design by Cynthia Friesen Coyle.
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 […]
Jesus models mission
In a post-Resurrection appearance, John reports that Jesus offered God’s peace to the group of terrified and fearful disciples locked behind closed doors (John 20:21). Jesus adds to his benediction an important elaboration: "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." Jesus makes it clear that God’s mission of restoration and reclaiming the […]
The arena of God’s love
When I was a child, I learned a song that was as memorable for the peculiarity of singing the scriptural citation—First John Four Seven and Eight–as for the poetry of its King James prose—and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. Decades later, as a Mennonite Mission Network worker in South Africa, […]
Marks of a Movement
Marks of a Movement calls us back to the disciple-making mandate of the church through the timeless wisdom of John Wesley and the Methodist movement. With a love for history and a passion for today’s church, Winfield helps us reimagine church multiplication in a way that focuses on making and multiplying disciples for the twenty-first century. […]
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 […]