Love
"Love like Jesus." — Reuben Mgodeli Coordinator of Mennonite Bible School in South Africa Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash. Graphic design by Cynthia Friesen Coyle.
Life’s purpose
"The whole purpose of my life is to love people into God’s kingdom." — Irene Weaver, mission worker in India and Africa from 1935-1978 Photo by Angela Rempel. Graphic design by Cynthia Friesen Coyle.
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.
A Christmas message: The Spirit of the Lord is on me
Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
Episode 06: You Must Remember This
How do the stories of mission become the history of mission? Anicka Fast shares about why some stories get preserved and remembered, while others become forgotten. Plus, Rod Hollinger-Janzen gives insight into how AIMM (Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission) worked with Fast to unearth forgotten narratives from a century ago. To learn more about Anicka Fast’s ministry, […]
Episode 05: Where’s this mission from, anyway?
Does Christianity change a culture, or is it the other way around? A conversation with James Krabill on the Biblical impetus for mission, and what North American churches can learn from mission practiced around the world. Krabill is a co-author of the new book, Unless A Grain of Wheat: A Story of Friendship between African Independent […]
Episode 04: Parts and Service
When does service become mission? Marisa Smucker and Andrea Sawyer-Kirksey weigh in on how their experiences leading MVS (Mennonite Voluntary Service) and DOOR(Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection) have informed the way they see the connection between service and mission. ‘MissionWary?’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and anywhere you listen to podcasts.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]