Ben and Laurel Woodward-Breckbill are eager to continue the ministry of the Paris (France) Mennonite Center. For more than half a century, the center has served as an Anabaptist witness to French communities and scholars from around the world.
The
Paris (France) Mennonite Center (PMC) has named
Ben and Laurel Woodward-Breckbill as their new co-directors pending final funding for the position. They are scheduled to begin their Mission Network assignment there in August.
PMC was established more than 50 years ago, as a collaboration between French Mennonites and Mennonite Board of Missions (MBM), one of Mission Network’s predecessor agencies. Originally a ministry to African students studying in Paris, the center has evolved over the decades to serve the changing needs of post-Christendom France.
French Mennonites and MBM created
Foyer Grebel (The Grebel Home) for students from former French colonies, who were studying in France. This welcoming space, where students lived and worshiped, eventually led to three multi-cultural Mennonite congregations in the Paris area.
As the need for student housing diminished, PMC responded to a growing need for Anabaptist scholarship, leadership training and ecumenical dialogue, with the help of MBM and Mission Network personnel.
Janie and Neal Blough led this transition at PMC from 1975-2020. They were followed by
Matthew and Toni Krabill from November 2019-February 2024, who are now serving in Ghana.
PMC continues to respond to the changing needs of society, and the Woodward-Breckbills’ gifts correspond to these needs.
Laurel Woodward-Breckbill is an experienced restorative justice practitioner, peacebuilder, nonprofit administrator and host. Ben Woodward-Breckbill is a pastor, who most recently served at
Shalom Mennonite Church in Newton, Kansas. His areas of special interest include theology, education and inter-religious dialogue. The Woodward-Breckbills previously worked with Mission Network in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in mediation and peacebuilding, from September 2016-September 2017, and Laurel Woodward-Breckbill participated in Mennonite Voluntary Service in Alamosa, Colorado, from 2013-2014.
"[Our] combination of gifts [fits] really well with what PMC is looking for, and we’re excited about the possibilities there," Ben Woodward-Breckbill said. "Our role at the Paris Mennonite Center will be to engage with its current partners to discover its next chapter in life."
One of the most important things that the Woodward-Breckbills said they learned during their year in Northern Ireland was the importance of humility when engaging cross-culturally. They are looking forward to deeper engagement with the culture in Paris.
"It’s important to enter with humility, with curiosity, knowing that it takes a long and slow effort to really get to know where we are, the culture that we’re a part of," Ben Woodward-Breckbill said.
Laurel Woodward-Breckbill will also be working outside of PMC, teaching at a bilingual Montessori school, where their children, Auden and Ludo, will attend.
The Woodward-Breckbills currently live in Newton, Kansas, and are members of Shalom Mennonite Church, where Ben Woodward-Breckbill has been the associate pastor since 2017. In addition to his focus on youth and children’s ministry and education at Shalom, he has been a part of Mennonite Church USA’s
Western District Conference executive board and anti-racism initiatives. He is a member of the
MC USA Safe Church advisory board.
Laurel Woodward-Breckbill most recently worked as the restorative schools initiative coordinator at the
Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution and, before that, was executive director of a restorative justice organization in Newton.
Ben Woodward-Breckbill grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Laurel Woodward-Breckbill grew up in Newton, Kansas. Both are graduates of
Goshen College. Ben Woodward-Breckbill’s Master of Divinity is from
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, in Elkhart, Indiana, and Laurel master’s degree in conflict transformation is from Irish School of Ecumenics – Trinity College Dublin in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The Woodward-Breckbill family invites prayer for PMC, as well as prayers that their presence may be an Anabaptist witness to God’s reign in interfaith Europe.
To contribute to funding of the Woodward-Breckbill family and the Paris Mennonite Center,
click here.
