SOOP opportunities at Pine Lake Fellowship Camp
Matt Graybill, Executive Director for Pine Lake Fellowship Camp, shares about Mission Network’s SOOP program at the camp. It is located just outside of Meridian, Mississippi. You can find out about the year-round service opportunities available there at this link.
Family to help sustain home for people living in exile
When Joseph and Rachel Givens contacted Mennonite Mission Network about the possibility of becoming mission workers, they came with a keen understanding of what they were not. They were not church planters. They were not pastors. They both knew, however, that they shared a strong calling to reach out to and walk alongside people living […]
Christian service and global citizenship
Technology brings information from all over the world into our lives around the clock. There is no doubt that each of us is becoming more and more globally connected. However, global connectivity is not the equivalent of global citizenship. At its heart, global citizenship is about active learning on a global scale and responding responsibly […]
Story 4: Missiology shaped by servanthood
In one of the most important collection of essays on mission and Anabaptism, the late Wilbert Shenk noted: "Amid the extremisms of the day and the erosions of the past, and the uncertainties of the future, the messianic community is privileged to bear witness … The fundamental missionary stance is that of the servant. […]
Story 3: Transforming Down Under
Mary, my spouse, and I were asked to lead a two-day online retreat for pastors in the middle of the COVID-19 outbreak, with the theme, "Pastoring In A Pandemic." Churches were experiencing lockdown conditions, and pastors were finding their way as leaders of congregations that were struggling with the changes. We began the retreat […]
Story 2: Building trust in shaky times
People thrive and grow in trusted and mutual relationships, which are essential during these difficult times. An example of these solid relationships involved my fellowship with Oxford Circle Mennonite Church (OCMC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the first Sunday of August — their first Sunday back in person after pandemic protocols loosened. OCMC is a diverse […]
Story 1: Broadening horizons at 71
Mission work in a post-modern, post-Christendom setting like Barcelona takes on many forms. Several hours each week I find myself across a table from a local person or neighbor desiring to learn English. As I’m not a formal teacher, we focus on "street English," incorporating idioms, slang, phrasal verbs and conversation practice. One of my […]
Looking up, looking around, looking forward
The reflections in this annual report sparked a memory about how transformation occurred in my life about 15 years ago. I had been traveling to Costa Rica with ministry groups, as well as on my own, for about 5 ½ years. I straddled these visits with a settled life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One day, near […]
Transforming into vulnerability
In Luke 10, Jesus commissions 70 new missionary disciples and sends them out ahead of him into the towns and settlements he will pass through on his way to Jerusalem. He instructs them to travel light, so that they will have to depend on whatever hospitality might be offered to them along the way. He […]
Story 5: All invited to the Lamb’s throne
"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs […]
Transforming for our time
The miracle we are becoming By Laurie Oswald Robinson The metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly has become an almost ho-hum symbol of transformation. And yet, there is nothing mundane about a belly-crawling bug that takes to the skies in a multicolored dance of wings. It is a true miracle when an […]
Remembering forward
Centennial festivities began in Argentina in 2017 to celebrate the arrival of the first Mennonite missionaries sent to Latin America. They were sent by Mennonite Board of Missions (MBM) — a predecessor agency of today’s Mennonite Mission Network. Two years later, in 2019, Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Argentina (IEMA, Argentina Mennonite Church) commemorated the centennial anniversary of its […]