February 2007

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9 THE CHANGING FACE OF GLOBAL MISSIONS by Mark D. Baker and Martin Hartwig Eitzen

The way the North American church goes about global missions changed when the center of gravity for the Christian church shifted south. Two Mennonite Brethren missiologists explain what's changed and how the global Mennonite Brethren church can benefit from these shifts.

12 SHORT ON TIME, LONG IN IMPACT by Randy Friesen

Short-term mission trips are a growing trend in missions today. Wanting to better understand how shortterm mission experiences impact participants, MBMS International general director Randy Friesen did some research. He shares his findings here.

14 MAKING IT PERSONAL by Dennis Fast

In one year Reedley (CaZif.) MB church sent IIS people on short-term mission trips. What prompts so many people from one congregation to spend their time and finances on these trips? How have shortterm mission trips impacted the congregation?

17 MAKING A GLOBAL FAMILY by Dalton Reimer

Much has changed over the past 20 years in the relationship between the two North American Mennonite Brethren conferences and the national conferences we helped to plant around the globe. We have taken some big steps that have the potential to transform the global MB faith community. What else needs to happen for these changes to continue?

> FiRST WORDS

(from the editor]

'fHANKFuL mOUGHTS OF A COZY HOME MAY BE WHY I HAVE been noticing stories about homes . Like the news story from Mennonite Central Committee about their work building 450 new homes for a fishing village required by the Indian government to relocate following the 2004 tsunami. I look down my street and each of the homes looks different from the one beside it, unlike this village with its row after row of identical cement homes. What a lot of space we need-or think we need.

Then there was the story in The Mennonite, a publication of Mennonite Church USA, about a Mennonite church that was aided in early December 2006 by ABC TV's "Extreme Home Makeover" show. The program featuring Raleigh (NC) Mennonite Church was aired Jan. 21. Members of Mennonite Brethren congregations have been part of this TV shows efforts to give a deserving family a new home, but I think this may be the first time a Mennonite church and family have been on the receiving end.

If you saw the show you know that Raleigh Mennonite Church received a new roof, refurbished worship space, kitchen appliances, exterior and interior paint, landscaping and a basketball court and the Riggins family, who lives across the street, has a new house. What Janelle Bitikofer highlights in her report are the opportunities the congregation had to give wimess to their faith thanks to the makeover-a "windfall of outreach opportunity," she calls it.

'We shared stories about the Riggins family and their faith: how God had worked an extreme makeover in Linda's life long ago, calling her and her husband, William, out of their own difficulties into a life of serving others in Jesus' name." They answered questions from the volunteer work crews, coworkers and individuals who visited the makeover site. They talked about the community services offered by Building Together Ministries, where Linda Riggins works and how the organization was started by people who attend the Mennonite church. They shared stories about Hope, the elementary school that reaches out to kids with tough backgrounds and helps them with academics and self-esteem.

Bitikofer says that many inquiries stemmed from the media rush while others were from individuals looking for more information about the church and its ministries. Some were looking for a church home while others wanted to know how to help the neighborhood or give to a worthy cause. "Only time will show how lives may be changed because of Raleigh's Extreme Home Makeover," writes Bitikofer. "But it is certain that God has planted seeds."

Whether my home is extravagant or simple, in need of a makeover or just fine the way it is. these two stories-for very different reasons-remind me that sometimes our houses-which I define as different from a home-can be a wimess. -CF

> QUOTABLE

'The $700 million per year Americans give to mission agencies is no more than they give for chewing gum. Americans pay as much for pet food every 52 days as they spend annually for foreign missions." from an article published in 1987 by Christian History & Biography called "Missions Movement: War-Time Lifestyle."

> UP & COMING

• March 16-17 -Southern District Conference Women's Retreat. Wichita. Kan

• March 31-April3. 2007 -National MB Youth Convention. Anaheim. Calif.

• July 5-9 -Central District Conference Convention. Rapid City. SD

• Aug. 3-5-Southern District Conference Convention. Hays. Kan

Connie Faber

EDITOR

Myra Holmes ASSISTANT EDITOR

E lain e Ewert GRAPHIC DESIGNER

MANDATE The Chris /ian Leader I\SSN 0009 5149) is published monthly by the U S Co nfere nce of Mennonite Brethren Ch urches The Chris/ian Leader seeks to inform Mennonite Brethren members and churches of th e events, activities, deci sion s and iss ues of their denomination , and to instruct inspire and initiate dialogue so members will aspire to be faithful di sci ples of Christ as understood in the evangelicaVAnabapti st theological tradition

EDITORIAL POLICY The views expressed in th is publi cation do not necessarily represent the position of the Christian Leader the U S Conference Leadership Board or the Mennonite Brethren Church Scripture references are from New International Version unless otherwise noted The editors invite freelance article submissions A SASE must accompany articles.

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CONNIE FABER

> CONFERENCE CALL

Making a list

Does it really help to write down the things we hope to achieve?

If you are at all like me you have recently flirted with the idea of making some New Years resolutions. You know the kind. The ones in which you promise yourself to lose the five pounds gained between

Thanksgiving and Christmas, be kinder to your husbandlwife/roommate/siblinglchildlneighborlcoworker (choose one!), exercise more faithfully, eat healthier or finally tackle that project you have been putting off.

by Valerie Rempel

surprise and sometimes amusement, many of the goals listed have been achieved in some fashion, though not necessarily in the ways I had planned!

When I told a friend about some of the unexpected ways my life had met those old goals, she quipped, 'Well, the moral of that story is 'be careful what you list' for!" There is probably some truth in what she implied-that simply by listing the goals I had set in motion the desire and actions that would make them a reality.

I'm fairly certain that's why I wrote the lists in the first place. I recall reading a book about the importance of setting goals. The author suggested that in order to achieve anything in life you had to set goals and insisted that simply writing the goals down would help accomplish them. My friend's response was a kind of warn-

ot things had the much younger me hoped to in Hie? Had I ac hieved ;.In\' of th em?

I generally try and sneak my resolutions past my conscious mind and into my subconscious. I don't write them down or talk about them I just think about them and hope they will take hold so that I will end the next year healthier, kinder and 10 pounds lighter!

In truth, I am not much of a list maker. Oh, I write the occasional "to do" list or scrawl a grocery list. But compared to the dedicated list maker who takes great pleasure in first creating the list and then gleefully scratching off the items one by one, I'm an amateur.

It was quite surprising then, when in an attempt to bring some much-needed order to my home office (a perpetual goal!) I sorted through some boxes of things I had collected over the years and discovered some old lists. They turned out to be lists of goals for my life, written back in my 20S and long forgotten. You can imagine my CUrIOSity. What kinds of things had the much younger me hoped to accomplish in life? Had I achieved any of them?

Some of the / goals were like New Year's resolutions. "Be nicer to my roommate," said one of them; "exercise" and "read my Bible more" showed up regularly. (Some things really do not change very much!) But others referred to larger life goals and had to do with career choices or other important life decisions. To my

ing, a sort of "be careful-they might come true!" But this author had argued that unless you actually start making the lists, very little would ever be achieved.

In the weeks following my discovery of those old lists I found the familiar words of Phil. 3:13-14 running through my mind. "One thing I do," writes the apostle Paul, "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

It seems to me that Paul knew something about this goal-setting business. According to the book of Philippians, the apostle's goal was to "gain Christ and be found in him," to "know Christ and the power of his resurrection," to be like Christ even "in his death." Talk about a singleness of purpose!

After his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road Paul oriented his entire life toward this goal of gaining Christ. In the same way that God had taken hold of Paul, the apostle determined to take hold of Christ. Whatever had happened before was only to be forgotten. Old goals were found lacking compared to the goal of sharing in Christ's resurrection.

In thinking about goals, I have decided that both my friend and the author of that book are right. If the goals that we intentionally set have the best chance of being met, it becomes really important that we set the right kind of goals.

So, I am planning to make a new list. It will probably still include something about exercise and healthy eating. I continue to care about the quality of my relationships with family, friends and coworkers. But this time, I want my goals to look more like the apostle Paul's. I, too, want to press on toward the goal of gaining Christ. And, just in case it helps, I think 111 write it down.

Valerie Rempel is a member of the U.S Conference Leadership Board She is a faculty member at MB Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Calif, and attends College Community Church in Clovis, Calif

MCC-funded houses a Agency helps Indian village move to safer site

years after a tsunami devastated communities around the Indian Ocean, Mennonite Central Committee continues to help build hundreds of houses for tsunami survivors in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.

In India's Tamil Nadu state, MCC helped build 450 houses in order to relocate the coastal village of Idinthakarai, which was declared uninhabitable after it was damaged by the tsunami. MCC provided an Indian partner organization, Church's Auxiliary for Social Action with about one-third of the funds for the $2 million construction project. The Canadian International Development Agency matched MCC's contribution.

The Idinthakarai houses, which cost approximately $4,500 each to build, were handed over to recipients Nov. 22. This was the largest of MCC's post-tsunami construction projects that have been completed to date . Several more large construction projects were recently completed or are underway, including an additional 287 houses in India, 181 in Sri Lanka and more than 300 in Indonesia.

The Idinthakarai project provided families with three-room, reinforced concrete houses that are resistant to earthquakes and other disasters. Additional funding partners included CASA and Canadian Presbyterian, and United Church of Canada organizations.

"For most people, it's a step-up," explains Ed Miller, an MCC India country representative, adding that the region's traditional construction materials are wood and bamboo. Finding the right site for the project was a challenge because of the village's reliance on fishing, Miller says. The Indian government required the village to be moved inland because of the danger of tsunamis and typhoons. The new site meets the government's safety requirements and still allows fishermen to walk to their boats.

According to Jeffrey Yoder, MCC's tsunami response coordinator in Aceh, Indonesia, providing houses to families whose homes were destroyed is a very significant way to help in the healing process. Many Acehnese tsunami survivors have lived in tents and <barracks" -small, multifamily dwellings-for the last two years.-MCC

Ministry Quest fall retreats a success

MB Biblical Seminary's Ministry Quest program recently completed its annual schedule of fall retreats with 36 students from the U.S and Canada participating in one of three six-day events on the seminary's Fresno campus in August, September and October. The fall retreats are part of the first stage of the one-year Ministry Quest program

According to reports from students, highlights included a student-led discussion on leadership, building new friendships, leadership games , eating new kinds of food, hearing from various MBBS professors and a day trip to Kings Canyon National Park.

" I have changed in that I have more confidence in myself as a student leader," reflects one Ministry Quest

participant. "I knew before that I had leadership qualities, but the things that were said and brought out on MQ allowed me to really see more of my potential and encouraged me to use my gifts more in my community."

Once home the participants continue the learning and growing process through ministry observations with their pastors, mentoring sessions and forum discussions on the Ministry Quest Web site In a recent entry on the forum one participant mites about starting a prayer closet with a friend; another entitled "the heaven question" ponders the faith versus works question

The spring retreat, to be held Feb 15-20 in British Columbia, launches the second half of the Ministry Quest program and brings together students from all three fall retreats who wish to continue in the program. MBBS is the North American MB denominational seminary for theological education. Ministry Quest (www.ministryquest.com) is a one -year leadership training program for high school students.-MBBS

Resolving differences in Darfur

Peacemakers are helping communities resolve differences and recover from violence in Sudan's Darfur region despite a devastating four-year-old war that has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and is continuing to escalate. The Sudan Council of Churches, a partner organization of Mennonite Central Committee, is organizing workshops on peacemaking to bring together communities that ohen view each other as enemies

Joseph Akwoc, Darfur project officer for the Sudan Council of Churches, recently led joint peacemaking workshops for five villages in southern Darfur. The villages included members of Arab and non-Arab ethnic groups that have been divided by the conflict between Sudan's predominantly Arab government and Darfur's rebels.

'1\11 are playing patt, are part and parcel, of the whole conflict, so we are training all of them," Akwoc says.

During the sessions, which lasted several days, participants bonded by attending workshops together and eating and sleeping in the same facilities '1t was very effective," Akwoc says. 'They said, thank you, SCC, because we were not able to come together (before). We did not know how to talk to one another."

MCC provided $122,700 to a partner organization, Darfur Emergency Response Organization, for peacemaking projects in Darfur last year. The Sudan Council of Churches works in Darfur with funding from Darfur Emergency Response Organization . The Sudan Council of Churches is also currently working with schoolteachers, women's groups and community leaders in Darfur to identify and care for traumatized children.

According to Akwoc, the situation in Darfur has deteriorated badly over the last year. Both sides of the conflict are committing human rights violations, relief workers are being attacked and the Sudanese government is preventing the deployment of international peacekeepers Akwoc says many people are afraid that relief workers will soon need to be evacuated from Darfur and chaos will reign. According to Akwoc, the only way to bring about peace in Darfur is to involve all of the region's communities in a dialogue about coexistence.

'This is the key to all the solutions," he says. "Because the Darfurians, unless they .. .express their opinion, their ideas about the solution of this problem, nothing good can be achieved "- Tim Shenk for MCC

Preschool keeps families together

While children enjoy their time at the Guarderia Moises preschool on the outskirts of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, what the facility truly provides is opportunity for families. Guarderia Moises began in 2001 when staff at Stansberry Children's Home, an orphanage long supported by Mennonite Central Ccommittee, noticed more and more children were being leh there because parents could not afford to provide care for them during the workday. Many families migrate to this area from other parts of Bolivia. In most families both parents must work to be able to afford housing, food and bus fare. But they have no extended family to care for the children.

Today, 140 children from 92 lowincome families come to the school, which serves students six months to six years old Children receive breakfast, lunch and two snacks each day. A nurse monitors their height and weight monthly and watches for

signs of malnutrition. Once every three months all the children are given medication to prevent parasites. A social worker is available to counsel and visit with families, and monthly workshops are offered for parents on topics such as relationships, communication and self-esteem

Mennonite Central Committee's Global Family program helps the center meet operating costs for hot water for bathing the children, an improvement center staff call a "wonderful blessing that truly helps to prevent many skin problems." Having hot water also helps assure proper food safety and hygiene practices. MCC funds also provide a salary for a health and hygiene worker and supplies and educational resources for kindergarten and prekindergarten programs . Two MCC workers in the one-year Serving and Learning Together program are also working at Guarderia Moises. - MCC

MWC PUBLISHES STEWARDSHIP BOOK

Mennonite World Conference has announced the release of its 2006 selection for the Global AnabaptistMennonite Shelf of literature. Stewardship for All? is authored by Bedru Hussein from Ethiopia and Lynn Miller from the U.S. Hussein initially wrote Part 1 for Ethiopia 's Meserete Kristos Church as it faced the need to fund its own ministries after the departure of North American missionaries. Miller wrote Part 2, reflecting on God's boundless generosity. Part 3 includes stories from fellowships and individuals in various parts of the world about their experiences of practicing stewardship today. Stewardship for All? is the fifth title in the MWC series and is available from Good Books at www.GoodBooks com. or by calling 800-762-7171.-MWC

LOBE SERVES MCC

Canadian Bert C. Lobe is serving for one year as interim executive director for Mennonite Central Committee. Lobe's appointment follows the October resignation of Robb Davis, who joined MCC as executive director in June 2005. Lowell Detweiler has served as acting director since October. Lobe has most recently worked with MCC to develop a program to more deliberately engage youth and young adults in the organization's mission. Lobe currently is vice chair of Conrad Grebel University College and moderator of the Waterloo Mennonite Church.-MCC

SOO HOO PROMOTED

Joel Soo Hoo has been promoted to vice president and treasurer of MB Foundation and MB Loan Fund, effective Jan. 1. Soo Hoo started as staff accountant March 2001 and assumed the position of treasurer in July 2003.-M8 Foundation

... that Toews and others to change following the worldwide 'Wv.a"v.a.a.a.".aa"JL.&.l.

' Fifty years ago, at the 1957 General Conference convention, delegates approved a document prepared by Toews that described a new way of doing MB missions. The goal of MB mission efforts would shift from ccsaving souls" to the development of local churches "responsible for its own expansion within its respective Outmoded paternalism was to give way to a new era of indigenization. In his 1995 autobiography JB: A TwentiethCentury Mennonite Pilgrim, Toews laments that ccnot much had been made in forming partnerships with national churches. Others have suggested that vision was far ahead of its time. I invite you to read the articles in this s feature section with the 1957 goals in mind. We may be further along in this process today than Toews suggested even 12 years ago. The face of global missions is changing and after 50 years, we'd better be ready for it.-CF

When the church's center shifted south it began a domino effect in missions

THE CENTER OF GRAVITY OF TIIE CHRISTIAN church has shifted south. The two largest Mennonite Brethren conferences are not the United States and Canada but India and Congo. The largest Mennonite conference is in Ethiopia. Other denominations have similar statistics. The mother church is no longer the largest. and the face of global mission has changed.

For most of the past 200 years missionaries flowed in one direction-from North America and Europe out to Africa. Asia and Latin America. Now a global map that tracks missionaries would display lines originating in all regions and heading in all directions. For instance. churches in Colombia send missionaries not only to other parts of Colombia but also to other countries in Latin America and other parts of the world including North America. African countries send almost as many missionaries as they receive. The U.S. still sends the most Protestant cross-cultural missionaries. but India and South Korea are close behind. Rather than listing specific implications of this shift we will simply observe that many of the other trends in this article stem directly or indirectly from this one.

TREND: SIBLINGS RATHER THAN PARENT AND PARlNERS RATHER THAN BOSS

Churches in other regions. missiologists and many missionaries have called for the North American church to change its perspective from parent or boss. to sibling and partner. This is a step beyond a previous approach that saw the final goal to be an independent self-sustaining national church. Advocates of partnership in mission argue that once a national church is strong enough to survive on its own. it should not be left alone but be invited to join the global mission task as a partner. This includes. for instance. working in partnership with the Congolese church not only in ongoing work in Congo but also in partnership with them in church planting efforts in other regions .

Implications and challenges:

• When going to a place where a national church already exists we should allow them to discern how they

Representatives to the International Committee of Mennonite Brethren 2006 gathering included these leaders from the DR Congo and Japan.

might benefit from receiving missionaries, and then work alongside them under their leadership.

• North America has 'abundant economic resources; too ofren money equals power. Equality, under these circumstances, is an illusion We must work deliberately to diminish the power our wealth gives us. The "weaker" partner is not seeking equality, but mutuality, comprehension of its different situation, and respect

• The cultural diversity of a mission team with members from different countries is strength, but also an added challenge .

involved directly in what mission is all about and are willing to spend time and money in order to be in direct touch with the mission field.

Implications and challenges:

• Short-term missions have increased the number of Christians who have had direct involvement with God's work in other cultures and thus potentially increases the number of people who can be motivated to support long-term mission efforts and to maintain relationships with Churches in other regions.

• STM clearly have a significant impact on those who go We must, however, more honestly evaluate the impact, positive and nega-

Now, however, as th e daughter churches become adults and MBMSI wants to move on to parent other new churches, the church in North America and churches in other parts of the world have the opportunity and the challenge of forging direct church-to-church relationships.

TREND: CHURCH-TO-CHURCH RELATIONS

When the center of Christianity was in North America and Western Europe and churches in other regions were seen as daughter churches growing under the guidance of missionaries sent from the North, mission agencies, like MBMS International, were viewed as the connection to the rest of the world. And churches in the rest of the world view mission agencies as the representative of the mother church. Mission agencies mediated the relationship both ways. Now, however, as the daughter churches become adults and MBMSI wants to move on to parent other new churches, the church in North America and churches in other parts of the world have the opportunity and the challenge of forging direct church-to-church relationships.

Implications and challenges:

• This allows church leaders from different conferences to relate directly to their peers in conferences in other countries and thus helps all to be viewed as siblings and spreads the richness of relating with the global family beyond missionaries. This same positive also has a negative as we may now have people with little cross-cultural training dealing with complex and important cross-cultural relationships.

• After years of the mission agency handling the relationship, including receiving and dispersing funds, the North American churches may not pick up this role, and conferences in other parts of the world may feel abandoned .

TREND: GROWTII OF SHORT-TERM MISSIONS

Over the last 15 years, the short-term missions movement has grown from about 22,000 in 1979 to 1.6 million "missionaries" that have traveled outside the U.S. in 2004 to do some kind of mission work. Many believers want to be

tive, on those on the receiving end When short termers from North America come to other parts of the world they must be aware that the Holy Spirit has gone before them, and that there are churches in many places with local leaders who should not be overrun by the enthusiastic and all-knowing "missionaries" from the North. The visitors should be willing to work under local leadership and respect the local agenda.

• Visitors must be aware that their one-week trip often uses more funds than the local church has in its annual budget. Within the existing economic disparities it is hard not to become paternalistic or to enter into a patron-client relationship.

• We have to ask the tough question if these trips are worth the rime and the money spent on them. Example: in 2005 one church from the U.S. spent almost $500,000 for a team of 200 persons to go to Lima, Peru for one week to do an evangelistic circus. That is more money spent on one activity than all theological educators from Peru earn in one year.

TREND: CONTEXTUALIZATION OF mE GOSPEL

To some degree missionaries have always worked at contextualizing the gospel-even if just at the level of working at a translation that people will readily understand . Over the last 50 years, however, more and more missionaries returned to an approach to contextualization practiced in the New Testament. The gospel is like a diamond with many faces. Rather than simply looking for culturally appropriate ways to communicate one face of the diamond in all places, missionaries committed to contextualization seek to discern what facets of the gospel will most connect with people in a given context and also what are ways they most need to be confronted by the gospel diamond. As the church in Asia, Africa and Larin America has grown and matured they have helped us see that all theology, not just gospel presentations, becomes richer and more relevant through contextualization.

Implications and challenges:

• Cross -cultural evangelism requires more than translating a gospel presentation from one language into another

• Theological understandings can be greatly enriched by conversing with Christians from different settings who may have seen different facets of the gospel.

TREND: A RETURN TO HOLISTIC OR INTEGRAL MISSIONS

Through practicing what was described in the previous paragraph in a context of extreme poverty a number of Latin American pastors and evangelists came to see the gospel as dealing not only with individual spiritual salvation but also offering salvation from physical, economic and social bondage and suffering. In 1974 they challenged those gathered at the Lausanne Conference on World Evangelism to return to the holistic gospel seen in the Bible. Although work remains in helping Christians understand, proclaim and live out a gospel that integrates spiritual, physical, economic and social aspects, the ripples from their challenge at that event have led to significant changes in the evangelical world. This holistic approach is, for instance, evident in MBMSI's new motto: "Holistic church planting that transforms communities among the least reached."

Implications and challenges:

• To be open to other things we might learn from Christians in other regions

• To continue to work at ways our mission efforts can be more holistic

TREND: NEW WAYS OF DOING MISSIONS

The last decades have seen an increase in new methods of doing mission. A century ago mission was done by a professional missionary on a mission compound in some isolated place on an exotic continent. Especially the countries with restraint access (such as many ruled by Muslim governments) have challenged the creativity of the new missionaries. For some time the bi-vocational missionary was the solution to evading the government's scrutiny. Many of these missionaries did not feel at ease pretending to come as a computer specialist or language teacher while the real goal was to do mission work. The bi-vocational missionary, still supported from his home country, "evolved" into the tent-maker movement.

Tentmakers are missionaries whose professional and commercial expertise is good enough to not depend on financial support from their home countries. They have more freedom in living in a different country and alongside their professional activities proclaim the gospel. One of the newest trends is the Business as Mission (BAM) movement that had the biggest group of participants at the Lausanne Conference in Pattaya (Thailand) in 2004. The goal of many Christian businesspeople around the world-not just from the North-is to establish a business with a holistic emphasis that is at the same time profitable. Employees and clients can be reached with the gospel, while the community, the country and the owner benefit from the business activity.

Implications and challenges:

• It is exciting to see businessmen and women around the world getting into a field that used to be reserved for professional missionaries. The BAM movement has the possibilities-much more than traditional mission models-to offer a holistic gospel to the people. It is able to provide jobs, economic growth and stability to a community while proclaiming the gospel.

• The BAM movement requires much less financial support from churches

• Because of not needing the financial support of churches, if those involved in BAM go independently of churches and mission agencies they will not receive training, or oversight, and their work may lack connection with other churches.

TREND: MISSIONS AS GOD'S MISSION

Building on theologian Karl Barth's work that articulated mission as an activity of God, over the last 50 years missiologists have come to understand mission as being derived from the nature of God. Rather than basing the biblical mandate of mission solely on the great commission in Matthew 28, we observe the missionary intent of God throughout the Bible. In relation to mission the church rather than being the sender is first and foremost the sent people of God. There is church because there is mission, not vice versa. The missionary activity of the church is therefore not just sending a group on a short-term trip, or supporting individual missionaries in another country, but for the church itself to be an instrument of God's mission.

Implications and challenges:

• Churches should evaluate and then act on ways they can be a corporate witness in their own setting.

• Missionaries need to work at planting churches that are not just a collection of converted individuals that will send some out to convert other individuals but a body of believers that witnesses through corporately being an alternative culture as well as evangelizing individually.

Mark D. Baker is associate professor of mission and theology at MB Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Calif He was a missionary in Honduras for 10 years and is a member of College Community Church of Clovis, Calif. Martin Hartwig Eitzen is Paraguayan. He graduated from MBBS and earned a doctorate in Intercultural Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He currently is the director of Instituto Biblico AsunciOn (the pastoral training school of the MB conferences of Paraguay) and a member of Iglesia Cristiana de la Paz (MB) in AsunciOn.

Short on rime, long In Impact

The challenge of the short-term missions movement is bringing about lasting transformation in the lives of participants

JASON IS DESCRIBING HIS EXPERIENCES AFfER a year selVing in Thailand with MBMS International's TREK program. "Probably the highlight for me was getting to know Amon. He showed up in my conversational English class the first week and we soon became good friends," says Jason.

'f\mon was trying to learn English to improve his business skills, but he soon realized that he was missing the peace that only God can give. He became a Christ follower after several months and then I had the privilege of participating in his baptism along with several other new Christians. I can't believe that God gave me that kind of friendship and opportunity to see someone's life transformed."

Jason wouldn't say he is a patticularly gifted communicator or that he has a deep knowledge of the Scriptures He loves God, his wife and people He's actually amazed that God could work through him on a short-term mission assignment.

As we debrief further with Jason we hear about the challenges he faced living for nine months with a teamwhile he was married. Issues came to the surface in his life that he would have rather avoided Accountability for attitudes, actions and speech took on a whole new meaning Life changing is what he would call it.

After hearing hundreds of stories like Jason's over IS years of selVice with short-term missions I was ready for some more empirical research on the impact of these experiences on participants. The research study I conducted focused on the impact that short-term missions, up to one year in length, has on beliefs, attitudes and behaviors of participants. It was a comparative study involving 116 participants from five different mission organizations with three data collections points in the pre-, post- and follow-up stages of their assignments. The results are fascinaring. A 2s-page summary of the data results and implications for churches, mission organizations and participants can be downloaded ftom http://www.mbmsLorglblogcategory/resources/electronic/.

Here are some of the findings and what we at MBMS International are doing with them.

I. Short-tenn mission (STM) participants with extensive pre-trip discipleship training experienced significandy higher change scores during their assignments in their beliefs, attitudes and behavior related to personal communication with God (prayer), the Bible as a guide for life, the value of

Photos for this article were supplied by MBMS International and were taken during a recent short-term mission trip to Thailand.

Christian community, relationship with the local church and evangelism when compared with participants who did not receive extensive pre-trip discipleship training.

The only concepts for which pre-trip discipleship training did not seem to have a significant impact were concepts in which participants had limited previous exposure and which required a personal experience rather than theoretical training. These concepts included the global church and compassion for human need. MBMS Intemational's focus on discipleship in mission is a significant value added when disceming an effective short-term mission program

ing program that provides the most in -depth training and team challenging assignments alongside long-term missionaryteams.

We are very encouraged that a number of our SOAR, ACTION and TREK alumni are now applying and training for long-term MBMSI mission assignments.

3. Short-tenn mission participants who serve on assignment as teams rather than as individuals experience significantly greater growth in their value of Christian community.

Participants who served on teams had an easier time processing their disappointments on their assignments related to the local church, ministry or culture

A longer mission program invested in intentional discipleship, community building and mission experiences can result in broader and longer lasting ch a nges to beliefs, attitudes and behavior.

2.. The longer an STM experience, the deeper and more lasting its impact on participants' beliefs, attitudes and behavior.

The Io-month TREK program had significantly higher change scores during the assignment phase related to service in the church, teamwork in ministry and the value of social justice when compared with the six-week ACfION program. TREK's longer program enabled participants to receive more extensive pre-trip discipleship training, take team relationships to a deeper level, experience a host culture more fully by living with a host family and serve in a significant ministry experience alongside a local church A longer mission program invested in intentional discipleship, community building and mission experiences can result in broader and longer lasting changes to beliefs, attitudes and behavior

MBMSI's short-tetm mission discipleship strategy begins with entry-level weekend urban mission exposure opportunities and moves participants through deeper levels of understanding and engagement in frontline mission. Our SOAR mission for teens and families mobilizes 600 participants each year for a very economical, accessible, groupbased mission experience in locations like Winnipeg, Montreal and Mexico

ACfION is focused on young adults aged 18 to 30 and involves a longer mission experience with a focused five-day training camp as well as a four-week mission assignment followed by a three-day debrief. NOMAD adventure based teams share the gospel through horseback and mountain biking expeditions in Mongolia and trekking in TIbet and Northem India TREK is our ten-month train -

that they were experiencing. Participants serving on assignments as individuals leamed independence and resilience, but their limited access to settings where they could open up their lives meant that difficulties sometimes resulted in ongoing frustration and unresolved conflict

We are committed to a team-based model for our longterm missionary assignments . Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs The disciples were a team on a mission Paul traveled with teams. Team ministry is healthier, more complete, more effective and more challenging. Maintaining healthy teams takes a lot of work. But, "if one falls down , his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up" (Eccles. 4:10).

4. Families and churches that strongly support short- term mission participants can have a significant positive impact on participants' value of purity and respect for other cultures once they return from missions.

Participants who viewed their families and home church as supportive of their short-term mission experience were less likely to experience a significant decline in their experience of personal purity. The support of a local church for short-term mission participants could indicate a broader interest in their personal development including areas like purity and cross-cultural sensitivity.

We value the essential role of the local church in the long-term discipleship of believers. The discemment of the local church is very important in our participant acceptance process as well as our ongoing mentoring strategy for each participant

5. Relationally focused (as compared to service focused) short-tenn mission assignments can have a significantly positive impact on participants' experience of Christian community, reconciliation and teamwork.

Participants who viewed their assignments as relationally focused experienced higher positive change scores while on assignment as compared to participants who viewed their assignments as service focused, in concepts related to Christian community and reconciliation between cultures. Those on relational assignments also retained significandy more of the positive change they had experienced related to teamwork in

Making it personal

ministry in the year following their return home from missions. We have mobilized many teams for construction and service projects around the world. However, our desire is to encourage relationship building in those settings. The one thing each of us can contribute that is totally unique is a current testimony of the impact of the gospel in our lives. Our desire is to encourage those opportunities to "give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" (I Pet. 3:15). The gospel must be both seen and heard in our lives.

6. A year after returning from their mission assignments, short-tenn mission alumni became more polarized in

Why Reedley MB sent 115 on short-term missions trips last year

Mission involvement at Reedley (Calif ) MB Church has taken a new turn and in 2006 we had 115 people involved in short-term missions trips . RMBC has a long history of sending and supporting missionaries. At our loo-year anniversary in 2005 we celebrated the early missionaries that were sent to China and Africa as well as the amazing work of the Women's Missionary Societies, one of which continues to the present. More recendy, in 2003 and again in 2004, we sent two sports teams to the Ukraine with Bob Hilts, one of our missionaries

In 2004 MBMS International offered churches a new funding model that is more relational, with the option of designating a large portion of the mission budget to individual missionaries and/or mission projects At that time RMBC elected to stay with the former model. We continue to contribute $100 per member for our 1300 member congregation to the MBMSI general budget, believing that a few of the churches need to provide a strong support base for administration and constituency relations aspects of the conference mission activity.

But as we celebrated 100 years of mission support it seemed that the time had also come for more personal involvement among the members . When we began to think of mission as the DNA of the church and began to talk about every person having an opportunity to experience mission in some way, especially on a shortterm basis, it seemed that our history and current opportunities converged into a new wave of activity

One other event seemed to give momentum to a new day in mission . Late in July of 2005 RMBC hosted Bruce Wilkinson. He began a ministry in Swaziland called "Dream for Africa" through which teams go to plant gardens of healthy vegetables for the thousands of AIDS orphans in the region That night z8 people, including one of our pastors, commirted to going to Africa on one of these teams

The commitment of those people seemed to be contagious, and teams began to spring up for the next six to nine months Before long young and old, whole families and small groups were signing up for ministry trips. A team of 25. including several families and one of the pastors went to South Texas to do hutricane relief A few weeks later another pastor and a team of 25. again including whole families, served a struggling church plant on the outskirts of Ensenada, Mexico. The youth group formed their annual spring servicehnission team and served nearby Orosi. Calif.• with vacation Bible school and Kids' Clubs. Fritz and Suzi Peters, former MBMSI missionaries to Thailand, had recently become part of our church. We leaned on their experience and expertise to form a mission commirtee and to draw up guidelines for discerning and supporting new mission opportunities Suzi continues a ministry in northern Thailand and soon formed a team of educators to minister in a school in Chaing Mai, Thailand This has now become one of the annual mission trips for the church and two teachers from Thailand visited us in tum this past October. Other couples and individuals joined teams that went to several Central American countries for one and two weeks at a time while others helped with Mennonite Disaster Service projects in southern California. Three men joined a Sports Ambassador team to play basketball and do evangelistic work in the Philippines.

One amazing aspect of God's grace and provision in all of this new mission activity has been in the area of financial stewardship The church was in the middle of a capital campaign when these new mission teams began forming. Church leaders feared the impact the support of all the mission trips would have on both the campaign as well as the church's budget giving.

We could have never imagined that God would provide so abundantly and that people would be so generous Several things have happened for which we praise God. In addition to our budgeted giving, well over $100,000 was conmbuted to provide for these mission trips .

their interest toward future full-time mission work.

A year after their return from short-term missions, alumni response to future full-time mission work was a perfect distribution graph with almost equal numbers moving away from an "average" response to either "great extent" or 'bardly." Discovering and following up with those short-term mission alumni who were moving toward stronger interest in future full-time mission work would be a critical task for our mission agency and local churches. Vocational mission isn't for everyone. However, we are very interested in walking alongside those God is calling to take the next steps.

While very few actual fund -raising events were held, individual's needs for participation on the mission teams were met in abundance The church also continued to give faithfully to the budget so that the receipts for fiscal year ZOOS-06 surpassed any previous year in the church's history.

And in the middle of all this, individuals continued to fulfill their pledges and more to the capital campaign Nov 19, 2.006, the church celebrated not only meeting but actually surpassing the capital campaign goal of $2..7 million The next Sunday we moved into the new C hildren's Center with approximately $800,000 of the campaign ready to be used in Phase 2. of the church's master plan

Currendy mission trips are being planned for northern and central Thailand, Ensenada, Mexico, as well as to some of our Pacific District Conference church plants Retired minister and former MB Biblical Seminary professor Larry Martens assisted us this fall in a strategic planning process, and early results indicate a deep commitment to short and long-term mission as well as increased efforts of local evangelism and church growth.

The past 12. months may have been a high point in a number of areas related to mission activity at RMBC, but short and long -term mission certainly is part of the DNA of this church RMBC currendy supports 14 long-term missionary units through prayer, communication and finances . Each Sunday we highlight one of these families on the sanctuary screens and pray for them While these families visit and speak to the church at various times throughout the year, November is a month in which mission is emphasized through a mission festival, missionary visit, a mission fair and a month of sermons around mission themes . C hildren are frequently reminded of God's love for the world and a portion of the children's Sunday school offerings goes to support an adopted orphan student in Africa.

Pastor Marlin Hiett, who led the team to east Texas

Members of a Reedley MB Church short-term educator's mission trip to Thailand

7. The more often participants serve on STM assignments. the more interested they are in future full-time mission work. The correlation between the number of short-term mission experiences and the degree of interest in future full-time mission work was very strong. This could be because short-term mission participants interested in future full-time mission work keep serving on short-term mission assignments or that short-term mission assignments are encouraging a growing interest for future full-time mission work. There could be elements of both of these explanations at work in this correlation between frequency of short-term assignments and interest in future full-time mission work.

says, 'The impact, mind- set and view of the world will never be the same for the 2.5 people that traveled to work on houses and churches in east Texas. Our involvement in life, culture and construction put us in places where the Lord opened doors to share his love . Out of our group experience came new friendships and deepened relationships " RMBC is looking ahead with great anticipation to God's mission being carried out through this church in surprising ways

Dennis Fast is the senior pastor at Reedley MB Church in Reedley, Calif , and has served on the MBMS International Board of Directors for the past 13 years

Some of our current long-term missions applicants have served on many short-term mission assignments. As they continued to follow God's call it led them to commit 10 years to helping start a church in a least reached region ofthe world.

8. Many participants experienced a significant decline in their personal purity, spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study in the year following their retumhome.

While pre and post change scores of most participants related to prayer and Scripture study went up, some participants seemed to go on a spiritual "vacation" in the year following their return home. The removal of a daily accountability structure and supportive relationships seemed to contribute to a decline in participants' spiritual disciplines.

Upon more reflection this statistic is less unusual than it appears at first glance. The impact of church services, camp experiences and other transformational events declines over time unless those changes are actively nurtured. Short-term missions are not unique in this regard. We are launching a local church-based mentoring program this year for STM participants based on the strengths of MB Biblical Seminaty's QUEST program. Retention of positive changes to beliefs, atritudes and behavior will take work. We're committed to building better support structures for those who don't want to do that work alone

9. Many participants experienced a significant decline in their relationship with the local church during the mission program as well as during the year following their return home.

The overall average of the mean scores for all 116 participants for all three stages of the study indicated a progressive

drop in the scores related to participants' relationship with the local church. This decline was consistent across all of the programs in the study except the ACTION program, a six-week program with pre-organized teams from local churches.

Participants' relationship with their home churches declined during their time away on missions and then continued to decline once they returned home from their mission assignments. This could have been because many of them subsequently left their home communities to attend college or to find employment. This decline could also be an indication that the experiences of participants while on missions were not processed upon their return home, leaving participants and the local church feeling disconnected.

Let's encourage retuming STM participants to share their stories. Let's take them out for lunch and listen. When pastors and mentors validate the spiritual growth steps of retuming mission participants it lets them know that what they learned on missions can be applied at home. The location might be different but the mission is the same.

There is nothing "short-term" about mission. Mission is a way of life that begins when we choose to follow Jesus. While there are many short-term mission assignments in life, they need to be connected to the bigger story that God is writing through our lives.

The Mennonite Brethren are a mission movement that has brought transformation to lives and communities around the world for almost 150 years. This story is not over. The recent short-term mission phenomenon has invited many more participants into the story. As we strengthen the quality of short-term missions and link them to our long-term mission strategy, our best chapters are ahead.

Randy Friesen is the general director for MBMS International and led the denominational short-term mission ministry prior to accepting this appointment.

.I ,.,' ,

"':,. THE Brethren school .in ,/ neatly alumni of the school slowly around them They were gatllering. as they do eaeft f ear, 'n November, to theMB missionaries i::eanlt Warkentin and my: great aunt Mary C, Wall , In 1003 my _ and were the guests of honor at this celebration. 'l/ For 2.4 years Wall, a nurse, served as to India, mostly in Devef'akonda Warkentin was a teacher and served for nearly as long And though both left India a half century ago in 1957 and since have died, their way of living and serving continues to be a model for those associated with this school.

So each November they gather to sing happy birthday to them, now majestically portrayed in an enlarged photo at the front of the room. And they gather more funds to add to an already impressive list of endowed scholarships so the poor and orphaned children of today can also gain an education , as they, because of these two, were able to in the past.

L TON REI MER

The Larg er pieces for a gLobaL Mennonite Brethren community of faith are in pLace. What eLse is needed?

think of how we might best relate to the established churches birthed during the missionary era of the century, we might well begin by joining our fellow befievers in places like India to celebrate the missionaries of the past. They plant'ed tNe scted which others have wateted and which God has blessed with repeated harvests (I Cor 3:6)

We should also celebrate the national church leaders who took over when the missionaries lefr "Indigenization "-turning the work over to national leaders - was the big word in post World War II missions . The independence movements of the post-war period accelerated the move to indigenization, sometimes leaving nationals ' in leadership positions and in charge of former mission properties overnight. They were not always well prepared to assume such responsibility, yet they courageously struggled to find their way They deserve our commendations, too many of whom regrettably are not generally known to those of us in North America.

So what now? In families, relationships change as children grow and mature. Some families slowly drift apart. Others become closer as parent-child relationships are transformed into adult relationships of equality and mutuality, the characteristics of friendship. That is the movement in the ministry of Jesus. As Jesus prepared to leave his mission field, he noted that his full disclosure of God's Word to his followers now enabled him to relate to them as friends rather than servants (John 15:15).

New structures

Changed relationships sometimes also call for new structures. So it has been in our global MB family. Like a large jigsaw puzzle that has taken almost two decades to put together, one can now begin to see the larger picture.

The International Committee of Mennonite Brethren, which was organized in

1988, has matured and is a large piece of the puzzle It is now the umbrella under which our 18 national churches gather as peers in our world family of churches.

The divestiture of the North American General Conference in favor of national conferences in the U.S. and Canada helped to equalize the relationship with other national conferences.

MBMS International, in still another piece added more recently, has narrowed its mission to church planting among the least reached. Though still in transition, MBMSI no longer serves as the more comprehensive foreign relations arm of the North American churches that it once was.

Foreign relations with our established sister churches is now part of the portfolio of our national leaders who represent their national conferences in ICOMB as well as in direct bilateral relationships between national churches.

With these large pieces in place, we might well ask what smaller pieces are needed to complete the puzzle?

To know and to be known

I was sitting one evening around the table with several North American colleagues and local Congolese MB church leaders on the beautiful hilltop of Kajiji, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo near the border of Angola. Our conversation turned to their pastoral concerns for such matters as the education of their children, having sufficient funds to live on when they got old and the like. They wanted to know how North American pastors and church leaders managed these things In tum, I asked how they managed, even now. One said he had a fish farm on the side. Another said he was also an accountant in the local hospital. And so we shared, no one insisting that anything depended on his particular way of doing something but mutually disclosing what we knew and had experienced and carefully listening to each other.

Woven into the fabric of the universe is a hunger for relationships. The wonderful African concept of ubuntu captures the importance of relationships well: "A person is a person by other people, a person is only a person with other people," or "I am because we are."

A current example of an initiative in church-to-church relationship building is happening in Congo this month, if all has gone according to plan. Growing out of conversations which began in 2003 at the Mennonite World Conference in Zimbabwe, Mennonite Church USA is sending a delegation to visit their counterpart Mennonite churches in Congo. This visit was cooperatively planned, not as a mission agency visit to a foreign mission field but as a direct church-to-church visit. This is a good first step toward possible longer-term church-to-church relationships .

As Mennonite Brethren we too can take such steps in building direct church-to-church relationships whether multilaterally under ICOMB or bilaterally between country and country But in the spirit of equality and mutuality, which the new MB arrangements are intended to embody, we must be wise and move forward cooperatively rather than unilaterally

Representatives of the 18 national Mennonite Brethren conferences meet annually.

Sharing resources, but for what?

Our largest MB national churches today are in India and Congo, each numbering in the neighborhood of 100,000 baptized members along with additional thousands of children and other attendees. These churches, and others, may be characterized as "people rich" and "materially poor."

Even though poor, most of the work of the church in these places is sustained by resources internal to the church and country. As Congolese Mennonite Brethren author Erik Kumedisa writes about Congo, among the poorest of the poor: "While different centrally administered programs and institutions do indeed struggle to survive with insufficient resources in extremely difficult economic and political conditions, local congregations, church districts and many regional programs have been and continue to be entirely self-sustaining." Indigenization. we may well conclude, has been successful.

Funding a church building, however, remains a major challenge for many growing and newer local congregations. This is no different than in North America. But the challenge is greater in places that are materially poor, have no access to loans or where the church is small, as in many of our national churches.

The building of churches often lags behind church growth, sometimes far behind as in India and Congo Yet a church building is one ingredient of continued local church growth, if for no other reason than people expect that Christians, if they are credible, will have a home like Muslims have a mosque and Hindus have a temple. One may plant a church, but it is difficult to grow a homeless church.

Need is great

North American MBs have long supported a modest church building program under MBMSI. With recent structural changes, however, the opportunity now exists to establish a more global church building ini-

tiative to provide homes for our many homeless churches in our sister national conferences. The need is great!

What about schools and hospitals? While local churches generally are self-sustaining, even in poorer countries, church schools of higher education and medical work are often not Eric Kumedisa has correctly observed regarding Congo that they "struggle to survive with insufficient resources in extremely difficult economic and political conditions ."

Many of these schools, medical clinics and hospitals were birthed during the 20th century missionary era as missionaries embraced the holistic ministry of Jesus succinctly summarized as teaching. preaching and healing (Matt 9:35).

The need for medical work today varies from country to country as medical services, in some cases, have become more readily available. In a country like Congo, however, faith communities continue to playa major role in providing health services to the general public. And so the MB hospital in Kajiji anchors a rural health zone that serves some 150,000 people There the need is beyond the capacity of the local and national church alone to support.

Alongside the church, the church school is sacred. It is the place where both pastoral and lay leadership for the church and society is grown. And so whether in Russia or North America or the former mission fields, Mennonites have established church schools.

As in medical work, adequate support for these schools in poorer societies is usually beyond the capacity of the local and national church to sustain alone. The challenges these institutions face is not unlike those faced by our North

American schools. Yet these institutions do not have the comparatively wealthier supporting constituencies, or, in the case of colleges and universities, the many other external sources of support such as major state scholarship programs and federal forms of financial assistance which make it possible for students to pay high tuitions that feed the institution's coffers.

For example, in 2005-06 only 55 percent of the students attending the Christian University of Kinshasa, sponsored by the Mennonite Brethren church of Congo along with five other denominational groups, were able to pay the full annual tuition of even $240 U.S. a year As a result, faculty and administrators were only paid 22 percent of their established salaries. Student scholarship programs and direct institutional support are much needed.

Today older mission agency models of support for these institutions are being phased out, sometimes before new models of support are in place thus creating great stress. The need is great for developing alternative models of support.

Sharing skills and experience

The day of sending long-term missionaries from North America to the established churches is generally over. But as I have visited our MB churches and institutions abroad, I have found a yearning for short-term teachers, doctors and others who can come alongside permanent staff and complement their work, add expertise where expertise is needed and assist in the further development of workers but then leave and not supplant those who are local. Understanding how to leave well is as important as understanding how to come well.

Professionals now exist in many countries, and so our need is for global cross-stitching rather than thinking of this only as North Americans serving abroad. This past fall, as an example, collaboration among people in at least three countries made it possible for Japanese MB pastor and teacher Hironori Minamino to teach at the Meserete Kristos (Mennonite) College in Ethiopia. That is as it should be .

Yes, major pieces of the puzzle are in place. The larger picture can be discerned. Yet smaller pieces are still needed to complete the picture and to truly become a global MB family.

I offer a final challenge to MB national church leaders. Given that you now represent your national church to ICOMB and so carry the portfolio of foreign relations for your national church, work cooperatively not only multilaterally under ICOMB. Work bilaterally to develop direct, country-to-country church relationships and other initiatives in areas of need. In this age of the Internet and world travel you will not be able to be the gatekeepers as were leaders in the past. As local members of our global family of churches, we still very much need guides and channels for building relationships and funneling our support for each other. Be our shepherds and lead us in paths across national borders in pursuit of mutual relationships and friendships as a global family of God.

In the past seven years Dalton Reimer, a member of College Community Church in Clovis, Calif, has taught and consulted in Mennonite Brethren and related institutions in seven countries around the globe. Reimer is faculty emeritus at Fresno Pacific University and is senior associate and coordinator of International Programs for the FPU Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies.

Fighting AIDS

Christians worldwide are mobilizing to stop AIDS

e world is witnessing unprecedented growth in efforts to stop the spread of AIDS and to care for people affected by the disease, says Sarah Adams, AIDS program coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee. International donors are giving more than ever for AIDS care and medical research while more and more churches and grassroots organizations are responding to AIDS in their communities.

The call for Christians to increase their commitment to HIV/AIDS ministry drew national attention late last year when potential zoo8 u.S. presidential rivals Senators Barack Ohama, DIll., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., each took an HIV test and encouraged others to do the same The senators took the test at Saddleback Church's Global Summit on AIDS and the Church held Nov. 30-Dec. I to coincide with World AIDS Day Dec. I. Saddleback pastoral couple Rick and Kay Warren hosted the summit.

' We believe the HIV/AIDS pandemic will never be eradicated without mobilizing and equipping the millions of local churches that already exist around the world," say the Warrens on their Web site, www .purposedriven.com. Rick Warren is Saddleback's founding and senior pastor and is the author of the bestseller The Purpose-Driven Life.

While few are complaining about the growing global commitment to battling HIV/AIDS, the disease is gaining ground. The World Health Organization estimates that 40 million people are now living with HN. Late last year WHO announced that within the next Z5 years, it expects AIDS to join heart disease and stroke as the top three causes of death worldwide. When global mortality projections were last calculated a decade ago, researchers had assumed the number of AIDS cases would be declining. Instead, it's on the rise.

While the HIV/AIDS rate is growing in Asia. Eastern Europe. Latin America, the

Caribbean and in other parts of Africa, countries in subSahara Africa account for more than 6z percent of the global population living with HIVIAIDS. In this region communities ' are being destroyed by , HIVIAIDS. Life expectancy has plummeted by zo years in some countries and the number of orphans is expected to more than double by ZOIO. Because AIDS kills people in the prime of their working and parenting lives, it represents a grave threat to development. In Swaziland, for example, nearly 40 percent of the adult population is HIV positive and decades of development are being reversed as society's most productive members die.

"Effectively tackling this endemic remains one of the world's most pressing public health challenges," said WHO acting director-general Ander Nordstrom in his zoo6 World AIDS Day message.

HIV/AIDS is a disease that started out in high-risk populations and is now quickly spreading to the general public. HIV-an acronym for Human Immunodeficiency Virus-must enter the bloodstream in order to infect an individual. Over a period of years, the average is 10, HIV weakens the body's immune system to the point where it can no longer fight infection, the stage known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS. The infections associated with AIDS are called "opportunistic" because they take advantage of the body's weakened immune system. It is the opportunistic infection and not the AIDS that causes death

MCC's Adams directs the agency's "Generations at Risk" initiative. "Generations at Risk" provides care for people living with HIVIAIDS and support for children orphaned by the disease, teaches prevention and addresses the poverty and injustices that perpetuate the spread of the disease. The program supports 60 partner organizations responding to HIV/AIDS around the world The program's Web site (www mcc.org/aids) provides infortnation about the disease as well as the agency' s HIV/AIDS ministries

MCC's Adams says that along with the increased efforts to combat HIVIAIDS has come a growing realization of the difficulty and complexity of stop-

"A person is created to live, not to die from AIDS," says Eliena, a 16-year-old Ukrainian who is attending an HIV/AIDS prevention program sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee. ·"Young people have to think of the consequences of the choices we make."

ping AIDS, which has killed more than 25 million people since it was first diagnosed in 1981.

"I think globally the world is owning up to the problem and also realizing that it's not an easy problem to solve," Adams says. "It's rooted in issues of poverty and gender issues and personal behavior and those aren't issues that are easily solved."

Although medications can now extend the life of someone with HIV for decades, the vast majority of pe0ple who need these medications do not receive them because of poverty, a lack of medical services or ignorance. In fact, health experts say only a tenth of people with HIV even know they're infected

Via its "Generations at Risk" program, MCC provides tens of thousands of rapid HIV tests that are administered free. "Tests are a big tool in stopping the spread of HIV," says Adams. HIV tests alert a person to the need for medical care and provide an opportunity for

counseling about behavioral changes necessary to avoid spreading HIV to others.

Adams believes there is a new willingness to talk about AIDS in churches in many countries despite sexual taboos. At a global AIDS convention last summer, Adams helped lead a workshop focusing on helpful and unhelpful responses to AIDS in churches. While churches have sometimes discouraged frank discussion of AIDS and stigmatized people with the disease, Adams believes many Christians are interested in being a part of the worldwide AIDS response.

"When you look at the numbers, there are 50 Christians in the world for everyone AIDS patient," says Adams " So if each of us could take care of 1/50 of the needs of one AIDS patient, the disease would be taken care of."-

Connie Faber with reports from M CC Communications

Fill an AIDS care kit

Mennonite Central Committee provides AIDS care kits to thousands of hom e care volunteers who provide comfort every day to people living with HIV/AIDS . AIDS care kit contents are listed below. The contents should be placed in a 16" by 2 2 " drawstring bag and dropped off at a MCC office or pick-up site listed at www.mcc orglkitsllocations/us M CC requests new items only

• I bar bath soap (4 - 5 oz; in wrapper)

• I bath towel (medium weight, bright color)

• I washcloth (bright color)

• 2 flat bed sheets (twin size)

• 2 pillowcases (standard size )

• 2 yards fabric (poly-cotton, bright color)

• I pair rubber gloves (large si ze, for household cleaning)

• I container petroleum jelly (approx 13 oz; sealed in plastic bag)

• I container medicated body powder (i.e Gold Bond; approx 10 oz)

• $100 to purchase medicines and Bibles for people living with AIDS , to train volunteers in basic home health care and to provide food and travel allowance s for volunteers . Make check payable to "MCC - AID S Care Kit" .

Living with AIDS

Two Christians living with AIDS share their stories

The two women whose stories are highlighted here would seem to have little in common, other than their age. Irina Anatolievna is a 41-year-old mother of three living in Eastern Europe. Shewareged Ayalkbet is 39 years old and lives in Africa. But should the two have the opportunity to meet, they would quickly find common ground. Both are HIV positive and rely on the strength of God and the encouragement of others to live with their illness. Both have benefited from programs supported by Mennonite Central Committee. - the editors

«Experiencing the miracle"

Too weak to walk, Irina Anatolievna crawled to Second Baptist Church located just a few meters from her house in Simferopol, Crimea, an Ukrainian city of about 360,000 people The day before she had been released from the women's prison in Crimea and sent home to die . Her drug addiction had not only resulted in a prison sentence; it had also given her HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Two years later, Anatolievna's zest for life inspires everyone who meets her. "I'm experiencing the miracle of God," says Anatolievna, as she relates how the Baptist congregation helped her find the spiritual, medical, physical and financial support that she so desperately needed. Mennonite Central Committee supports the Second Baptist Church program with a grant of $3,500 as well as material aid, such as health kits, school kits, secondhand clothing , soap and other hygiene supplies.

Recent changes in Anatolievna's life are having a poslt1ve impact on the lives of her two younger sons who are now also part of the church congregation. But her eldest

Irina Anatolievna, a mother of three sons and diagnosed with AIDS, supports a program that provides a holistic response to HIV/AID.

son has been in jail since he was 17 and remains at high risk of exposure to drug addiction and HIV infection.

The rapid spread of HIV is one of the most pressing social, economic and political issues facing Ukraine today. In the early J990S the World Health Organization estimated about 1,500 people in Ukraine were infected with HIv. This was one of the lowest infection rates in Europe.

According to the UN AIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, the reported number of cases in Ukraine is now over 400,000, about one percent of the adult population. HIV prevalence increases to seven percent in the prison population.

More awareness on HIV prevention is needed to reduce the spread of the virus, says Anatolievna, wishing that her son could have participated in the HIV prevention program run by the Second Baptist Church in a predetention institution for 60 young offendets, ages 14 to 18.

This project, supported by Mennonite Central Committee, does more than provide medical information about HIv. It also focuses on self-esteem, anger management, healthy relationships, the consequences of addictions and God's unconditional love. Many offendets come from families where parents have drug addictions, live with HIV or are serving prison sentences. Some of the offendets have been orphaned by AIDS. Although the young offendets are still teenagets, the crimes they commit are often the result of their own drug and alcohol addictions.

'We have to start the process with healing their minds and souls," says the program's medical consultant Elena Filipieva. 'We give them information about AIDS but that is just a small part of the whole program. We talk about the unconditional love of God so that they can love themselves and have healthy attitudes towards themselves and towards other membets of society."

It may be too late for Anatolievna's eldest son to leam about the risks of HIV infection through the church run program in the pre-detention center, but program volunteers are visiting him in prison and plan to assist him when he is released in 2 008.

«Jesus knows why"

Ethiopia is home to one of the world's

largest HIV-positive populations, with up to I million people infected. In the capital city of Addis Ababa, Shewareged Ayalkbet has been living with HIV for the last six yeats Ayalkbet was the first HIV-positive person to come forward within the Meserete Kristos Church and request support for hetself and othets like her . That was in 2000. 'When I think back, there was strong stigma and discrimination then. It was not like today," she says.

Ayalkbet learned of her HIV status five months after coming to Christ. 'When the nutse counselor told me my test result, I was at peace with the result," Ayalkbet says. "She said to me, J\re you crazy? I'm telling you that you are HIV-positive, and you are not upset.' I told her, 'I know. Whether negative or positive, Jesus is Lord. And Jesus knows why. Everything works out for good '"

Ayalkbet encouraged other people living with HIV and AIDS to form a fellowship. These days, membets of the fellowship do more than just support and encourage each other. They also provide education about HIV/AIDS to the wider church community. When some membets of the fellowship expressed a desire to sing songs as a form of ministry, the group organized a choir of people living with HIV/AIDS.

The choir's songs reflect the importance of their faith. 'We mostly sing about the Lord Jesus Christ and how he saved us and comes to our rescue when we are in need," Ayalkbet says The choir also sings songs about how it feels to live with HIV and AIDS . The choir's ministry is in high demand. The singers perform nearly every

Sunday, sometimes in up to four different churches in one day, and have had numerous requests to perform outside of Addis Ababa. Through songs and testimonies during Sunday services, the choir aims to reduce stigma and discrimination in the church .

Ayalkbet says choir members also benefit from the group's weekly Bible study. Ayalkbet has seen members make positive changes in their lives and grow in their faith.

Through her illnesses and struggles, Ayalkbet continues to provide strong leadetship to the church and the community. She is pleased with the active role of the Meserete Kristos Church in addressing AIDS and believes there is always more that can be done.

'Tm alive today because God has a purpose for my life," Ayalkbet says. "He wants me to support people living with HIV and AIDS. That's why I'm still breathing." - Stories by Gladys Terichow and Sarah Adams for MCC Communications

A choir of people living with HIV performs in churches in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

ministry reaches children, families

Church-run preschools teach more than the Three Rs

1:0 girls playa simple game at computer workstations in one comer of the brightly colored room. A brown-eyed boy enthusiastically introduces the class guinea pig to a guest. In another comer, two children busily build a house out of blocks. Colorful artwork made by little hands hangs on the walls and the sounds of young children fill the air One cheerful student spontaneously hugs the teacher, who has been faithfully working with children for years, not because of the paycheck, but because of these hugs

This could be a day at anyone of several preschools operated by Mennonite Brethren churches. Leader research shows that at least II congregations operate preschools, and there could be more From the outside, these church-run preschools don't look much like mission fields. Most were founded by members of the MB church with which they are associated, but are often run fairly independently. Most say they are financially independent of the church, with separate budgets, but have administrative input from the church via church-elected board members or similar arrangements. These church-run preschools typically

provide loving child care and quality preschool education for children somewhere in the two to five year-old range Children learn letters and numbers, exercise their gross motor skills and practice fine motor skills. They grow emotionally and socially as they learn to get along with classmates . They learn to function in a classroom setting and gain the academic skills they11 need to succeed in kindergarten and elementary school, just like at any other preschool program.

But these centers are an avenue of ministry when they teach children about Jesus and reach out to families. Many would contend that these preschools are a vital, if sometimes invisible, ministry of the church. Julie Wittich, director of Little Lambs Preschool, a ministry of First MB Church, Wichita, Kan., says that the preschool helps the church fulfill its mission to spread the gospel when it teaches children about Jesus through Bible stories, songs, programs, books - "through all of those early childhood things that can plant a

seed deeply in the heart of a child "

Some preschools use specific Christian curriculum so that learning the alphabet is interwoven with learning Scripture or learning about nature is interwoven with learning about the Creator. Even for those that don't use Christian curriculum, staff model Christian faith in everyday interactions with children. Ruby Berg, director of All God's Children preschool, associated with Cornerstone Community Church, Topeka, Kan., says that even something as simple as a dispute on the playground can become a teaching moment when Christian staff take the children aside and ask them how Jesus would want them to handle the conflict.

But that isn't where the potential ministry ends. 'We want to do more than educate the children in the Three Rs ," says Dave Froese, pastor at Heritage Bible Church in Bakersfield, Calif. which operates Readyland Preschool and Heritage Christian Schools 'We want to do more

These children attending All God's Children Preschool in Topeka, Kan., (this page) and Small World Preschool run by Butler MB Church, Fresno, Calif (next page) are among those kids who are educated and cared for by staff at 11 preschools run by Mennonite Brethren churches.

than even share Jesus with them. We want to make a difference in the families of the children. This is the mission field God's given us and we want to treat it that way."

The families that are drawn to these church-run preschools are not necessarily from the host church or even Christian. At Vinewood Preschool, for example, director Debi Hyzdu estimates that out of 80 children enrolled, only six come from their host church, Vinewood Community Church, Lodi, Calif., and about half have no church affiliation at all. Several Hindu families have chosen to enroll their children in All God's Children Preschool, Topeka.

That presents an exciting opportunity, says Brent Warkentin , pastor of First MB Church, Wichita, Kan , home of Litrle Lambs Preschool. "There's hardly any ministry of the church where you are guaranteed face-to-face contact with nonbelievers. And that's what a preschool is," he says. "Sure, it may be as short as saying

hello when they pick up their kids, but every day our church is ministering to nonbelievers. And that's really cool."

Churches that recognize that opportunity are making a concerted effort to connect with the families. Churches and preschools often exchange invitations to special events, like a holiday meal at the preschool or a program at the church . Church members might participate in fund raisers on behalf of the child care centers or volunteer their time . Preschool directors might give regular reports to church leadership to keep the lines of communication open. Some churches offer parenting classes or access to counseling services to further serve the families. It's not easy to make those connections. Sometimes. tensions develop between preschools and churches. One common source of tension is sharing facilities, '1ike sisters sharing a bedroom." says Cindy Severens. director of Reedley (Calif.) MB's Chapter One preschool. Church members may find it inconvenient to be unable to use certain parts of the facil-

ity during the week. Preschool teachers may be frustrated if those who used a room on Sunday don't clean up adequately.

As with those sisters sharing a room. clear communication and mutual effort can keep those concerns from becoming major tensions. Lana Lopez. director of Small World Preschool, a ministry of Butler Avenue MB Church. Fresno. Calif.. appreciates the church's extra effort to share facilities. 'They're not letting the building just sit there during the week with nothing happening and no outreach." she says. 'They're opening it up to have kids from the community come here. to have enrichment. to learn and grow."

Sometimes the obstacles are more serious. At Belleview Community Church, Littleton. Colo.. home of Belleview Acres Child Care. declining enrollment, personnel issues and differing goals have caused what board chair Larry Beaumont calls "a healthy debate" about the viability of the child care. A new board now dreams of being more intentional about outreach at the child care. At New Hope (Minn.) Church, declining attendance in the church led to a difficult vote to close or sell New Hope Pre -Kindergarten at the end of the current school year

Even the sheer invisibility of the ministry is an obstacle of sorts. Since the preschools typically operate during the week when church activities aren't in the building, church members are sometimes relatively unaware of the preschool activities.

Measurable results from a church-operated childcare center are tough to pin down. Pastors point to a few families that have come to their churches by way of the preschool, but not many. Children sometimes make first-time commitments to Christ, but not often.

For many churches, the outreach potential is worth the effort. Steve Brooks, pastor of New Hope (Minn.) MB Church, calls it "a sowing ministry." He says, ''You plant the seeds and by God's grace the seeds will grow and germinate."

For Dave Froese, pastor of Heritage Bible Church, where the church recently hired Mark Zeek as pastor to families and children in order to strengthen the connection between the church and its preschool and school, it's a matter of being faithful to the mission field they've been given. 'We're endeavoring to be faithful because there are lots of people who need Jesus," he says.

Besides , as Rod Suess, pastor of Vinewood Community Church, home of Vinewood Preschool, points out, 'There's nothing like having kids running around laughing." -by Myra Holmes

Reedley facility expands ministry to children

Reedley (Calif ) MB Church has built a new facility to expand their outreach to children The 14,ooo-square-foot Children's Center will house all of the church's children's programs, including Sunday school and midweek AWANA programs, as well as Chapter One, a preschool operated under the umbrella of Reedley MB, and Kingdom Kids, a before - and afterschool program. "It's going to get well -used," says Cindy Severens, director of C hapter One

Dennis Fast, pastor of Reedley MB, describes the facility as "a new door into our community " "People want to know that their children are safe and wellcared-for," says Fast. 'The building will signal our commitment to excellence in children's ministries through the programs we offer as well as through the improvement of the preschool as a top-notch facility with an excellent staff "

The new facility is in a high -visibility location near a neighborhood elementaty school and was designed with the needs of children's ministry in mind Preschool licensing regulations govern such details as number of sinks and toilets and square footage per child. In addition , the church considered safety issues, such as security cameras, and educational needs, such as computers, in the building design . Severens says such considerations added to the expense of the building but resulted in an attractive, welcoming center for children

She says the church 's willingness to invest in such a facility shows strong support for children's ministry and the preschool. "They've affirmed us, " says Severens

Reedley MB was able to build the facility without incurring debt, thanks to a successful capital campaign fund four years ago, and is already looking ahead to the next expansion to their ministry, a Family Life Center. The church hopes to hold an official grand opening and ribbon -cutting for the Children's Center this month .-MH

UM Fresno participants plunge into missions

MBMSI believes global missions begins locally

Wen Jesus outlined a mission strategy in Acts 1:8, he suggested starting locally-in Jerusalem, in the case of the disciples. In the case of nearly 100 Mennonite Brethren, starting locally meant taking to the streets of Fresno, Calif., Dec. 15-17, for the first Urban Mission Fresno, a short-term mission experience organized by MBMS International, the global mission agency of North American MBs.

Andi Baier, MBMSI's short-term mission coordinator for the West Coast, says UM Fresno is part of a new emphasis for MBMSI's short-tenn mission that flows from local service to global service. Fresno was a natural location choice for this local experience since the MBMSI West Coast office is located there. In addition, Fresno is home to over 70 people groups and has pockets of extreme poverty. "Basically, we began in Jerusalem," Baier says.

During the weekend, participants were challenged to "discover the nations in Fresno" through speakers and service. The theme came from Mark 8, in which Jesus gives sight to a blind man The hope, says Baier, was that participants would "gain new sight into God's kingdom work in the city of Fresno."

Speakers included Randy White, executive director of the Fresno Institute for Urban Leadership for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship; Jim Wesrgate, associate professor of practical studies at MB Biblical Seminary; and Sam Dick, MBMSI's regional mobilizer for Western Canada. Worship was led by Jon Wall of Mountain View Community Church, Fresno.

Participants came from all walks of life and age groups. Some came individually, while others came as youth groups, families or church teams. Many were college students . Some were pastors or former longterm missionaries. A few came from as far away as Brazil and Switzerland. 'There was a lot of diversity," Baier says.

Participants went out in teams of eight to IS on Saturday for handson service with various church and parachurch organizations throughout Fresno, such as the Rescue Mission, Fresno Inter-denominational Refugee Ministry, The Grove church plant, Light and Life Ministries, World Impact and

Mama Makeka's House of Hope. They did things like clean bathrooms, play sports, pass out Christmas gifts and survey neighborhoods. Teams returned to these ministry sites for crosscultural worship Sunday morning.

Baier points out that by connecting with ministries that are in Fresno for the long haul rather than trying to start something new in such a short time, teams were able to have a long-term impact in a short amount of time. 'We're kind of like a shot of vitamins," she says.

In many cases, teams made a long-term connection with the ministry site . A high school youth group that served with Bethany Inner City indicates that they will pursue longterm support for that ministry A team of older

adults who served with World Impact likewise hope to keep a long-term connection. A team that served with Habitat for Humanity established such a bond with a specific community that they made plans to return quarterly to continue service.

Logistical details of the weekend were designed to stretch participants. Meals featured a variety of ethnic foods, such as Brazilian specialties and Mennonite borscht. Sleeping accommodations were on classroom floors at MB Biblical Seminary. Organizers intentionally wanted participants to identify with the people they would serve and to get out of their comfort zone.

'We wanted to put them in a place where it wasn't easy," Baier says. "I think when you're in a place where it's not simple and comfortable you seek the Lord more, and we wanted to provide that environment."

Baier calls this first urban mission weekend in the U.S. a success, saying that participants responded as she had hoped. She says that at least half of the participants made a commitment to go, support or pray for missions on a long-term basis. "If they came expecting God to work in their lives and to use them in his mission, then they were changed," Baier says.

An equally important goal was to make a tangible difference in Fresno. Baier says that goal also was accomplished. She says the various ministry sites responded positively to the weekend, saying they too were 'blessed" and asking to be included in another such mission weekend.

And another such urban mission weekend is "absolutely" likely, according to Baier. She hopes to make UM Fresno an annual event and would like to see similar weekends in other U.S. cities. In the meantime, she and her volunteer mission discipleship team in Fresno are preparing for a youth-oriented short-term mission to Ensenada, Mexico, April 37, and for short-term ACTION teams heading to Peru, Thailand and South Africa this summer. It all goes back to that Acts 1:8 mission strategy: begin locally, then expand across the globe. 'That's the direction we're heading in short-term mission," Baier says.-by Myra Holmes

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Practice Pre",iew launch

Christ Community Church In Sioux Falls, SD, has a plan for getting started that Is a little bit different from other church plants. Typically a church plant first develops the core group and then proceeds directly to launch. But church plant pastor Rod Anderson sees the value of building slowly toward the "peakn of the launch Sunday. Its practice, preview, launch!

So during December the core ,roup of 40-50 dedicated people held two 'lJrartice" worship services at the gymnasium where they will condnue to meet. These services helped the group learn how to prepare for a myriad of things and most important of all t() begin to buIld COfllIllUnity. The group held their jim ·prevlew" service Jan. 7. These weekly Sunday services. are intended to build excitement and mom'entum leading to uLaunch Sunday" planned for Palm Sunday.

Christ Community Church Is a jolBt partnership project • of the Central District Conference and Mission USA. Please be in prayer for this ministry IS they develop the core group, serve together, reach out people in Sioux Falls and begin a new Mennonite Brethren church in this rapidly growing city.

This ministry is all about getting people to J'sus. Whether or not you live in the CDC, please help support this project by giving to Mission USA.

It's an investment in eternity/

NC mass choir tours East Coast

Experience with broader Mennonite community is life-changing

Twenty-eight southerners boarded a tour bus Oct. 6 and headed North on the first official tour of the North Carolina Mennonite Brethren Mass Choir. The tour was the brainchild of Lyn Roth, executive director of Mennonite Central Committee East Coast, who, after seeing the mass choir at the 2006 U.S. Conference convention in Boone, NC, insisted that the sound of the choir was too good to be kept in the South. He would do whatever he could to "take the sound of the South to the East Coast."

With Roth's resources on their side, choir directors Morris Hatton, pastor of Laytown MB Church, and Dianne Banner of the Bushtown MB Church in Lenoir brought the mass choir together again for this new opportunity.

The first stop on the tour was Harrisonburg, Va., where they sang at Eastern Mennonite University and the Virginia Relief Sale. Sister Dianne, as the choir calls her, was amazed that the weather could be so different just one day's drive to the north. In North Carolina a few snow flurries are enough to close down the roads. In Virginia the choir was singing outside on a stage with snow on the ground and their breath clearly visible in the crisp fall air.

Mennonite world Mennonites are rare in western North Carolina's sea of Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians In Virginia and Pennsylvania the choir toured Mennonite universities, high schools and entire areas where their denomination makes up the majority. Sister Dianne says the choir felt like, 'Where have we been all this time that we don't know about all ofthis." For the first time many choir members felt pan of the wider Mennonite community.

Hatton says he was amazed by the many different styles found in Mennonite churches They visited Crossroads Mennonite Church that has a rich African-American culture that the choir members describe as "really jamming." They also visited churches that were contemporary and ones that were very traditional.

As the choir toured the Virginia Relief Sale, MCC headquarters and the MCC Material Resource Center in Ephrata, Penn., they were impressed by MCC's extensive worldwide outreach with which they had been unfamiliar until the tour. Hatton says he is amazed at how a relatively small denomination can make such a huge difference. The feeling of pride in being a Mennonite grew in the choir members. '1\ lot of us had never seen anything like this," says Sister Dianne. 'The material resource center was a really big place; it was fascinating and impressive."

Another aspect that really impacted the group was their experience with the Amish. The NC choir was in Lancaster County one week after the school shootings. 'The funerals happened the day before we came, and we were praying that in some way we could minister to them in their time of pain," says Sister Dianne. "In their kindness and love, they were the ones that ministered to us." The integrity and faith of the Amish community was not lost on the choir members.

Escorted through the area by local residents Ken and Karen Sensenig, the whole choir was invited to spend a meal with the Eshes, an Amish family. That meal would be a life-changing event for many in the choir. As they sat around a huge table in a home that housed an entire generation of family members, their worldviews shifted. The group couldn't believe how good food tasted when it was homemade and homegrown. They were treated to ham loaf, chicken dumplings, fresh green peas, mashed potatoes, real butter, fresh rolls, fresh squeezed lemonade and apple and pumpkin pie for dessert. Choir members say they ate every roll in the house.

Sister Dianne says that when one choir member got home she cleaned out her whole house of unneeded possessions and brought truckloads to the Goodwill store in a desire to lead a simpler life. The simple but profound faith of the Esh family really changed people, says Sister Dianne. 'They were so different from the culture we're used to and their difference was good."

Choir members say that hospitality is the one thing that was present in all the different places they visited. 'The food was everywhere," says Sister Dianne. 'There was more food than we could eat everywhere we went. I've never seen such hospitality. When we departed it felt like we were better people. We had a better outlook on life. We felt more connected to our brothers and sisters of the broader Mennonite church."

The North Carolina MB Mass Choir brought their Southern style to the East as anticipated but ended up bringing a lot more back home than they expected. This experience left them ready to keep the mass choir going strong. They look forward to hitting the highways again as soon as possible.-by Chris Eides That frosty day statted an ongoing string of eye-opening experiences to the broader The NC District Mass Choir lunch at the home of an Amish family was a highlight of their East Coast tour this fall.

Rose Buschman

Three stories for 2007

Stories of people who changed their corner of the world

w men's lib has come to rural Ethiopia from an unlikely source: the outhouse," reads the opening sentence of an article in the March 5, 2005, edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Intrigued, I read on.

This feature article describes a latrine building project sponsored by the Atlanta-based Carter Center. Directed by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, this nonprofit organization promotes improving health standards, and, thereby decreasing disease in third world countries. One of the problems in many rural

to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat."

The bailiff collected $47.50 from everyone in that courtroom including the red-faced shopkeeper. The newspaper reported the next day that those in the courtroom gave the mayor a standing ovation as they paid their "fines."

Brennan Manning, in telling this story in The Ragamuffin Gospel, concludes by saying, "What an extraordinary moment of grace for everyone present in the areas is the need for proper disposal of human waste which, if not taken care of, can spread diseases such as cholera, dysentery and trachoma. Latrines are an inexpensive answer.

"Most of the 18 million people in Ethiopia's Amhara region, where trachoma is rampant, use

[ = , "r mgo in g to fin c cveryone in thi s co urtroomce nt s for livin g in J tow nwh c rc a person

t o st eal hr e"ld so th at her grandchildren C"ln eat. ,fields or woods as bathrooms," the article states. The project's goal was to eradicate trachoma from the region by building 10,000 latrines in the area. As the health workers went from village to village promoting the plan they saw the idea catch on like wildfire all over the area. To their delight and surprise in one year villagers had built more than 90,000 latrines!

When they investigated the reason for this unexpected high result they found that women were the big motivators in getting the latrines built. In that region of Ethiopia cultural rules allowed men to take care of their personal needs at any time of the day or night. Women were expected to wait until dark so that no one would see them. Building latrines gave the women equal access during the day. For the Carter Center it was a matter of disease prevention, but for the women in the region it meant equality. What an incredible outcome!

Then I read a story about Fiorello LaGuardia, mayor of New York City during the worst days of the depression. He was a colorful character who did all kinds of out-of-the-ordinary things like taking all the children in an orphanage to a baseball game.

One cold night in January 1935 he showed up at a night court in a poor section of the city, dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the court himself. Within a few minutes an old woman was brought before him accused of stealing a loaf of bread. Her defense was that her grandchildren were starving, their mother too sick and she, herself, too old to work. The shopkeeper insisted on pressing charges.

"It's a bad neighborhood, Your Honor," the man told the mayor. "She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson."

LaGuardia sighed and told the woman he had to fine her $10 or put her in jail for 10 days. As he talked he reached into his own pocket, pulled out a $10 bill and paid the fine himself. He then went on, ''I'm going to fine everyone in this courtroom 50 cents for living in a town where a person has

courtroom!" I was blessed by just reading about it.

In this last story from a Wycliffe Bible Translator's publication, a missionary in the Paraguayan Chaco traveled to a remote ranch and gave the workers there audiotapes with some portions of the Bible in their language. He planned to return in several months to follow up with more Christian teaching. He didn't have to wait that long.

Several weeks after his initial visit, the ranch owner showed up at his door saying, "I want to know what you've been doing with my people." The rancher described a profound change in his workers' behavior. Whereas in the past he had frequently received calls from the local police or hospital to pick up one or more of his workers charged with disorderly conduct, fighting or drunkenness, now suddenly these calls had stopped. On their day off he went to visit his workers in their homes to find out what was going on and found them drinking tea and singing worship songs to the Lord. They explained that they had listened to the tapes the missionary brought and decided to change how they lived.

The rancher told the missionary, 'They've stopped drinking and fighting on the weekends. They're getting along with each other, and their whole attitude has changed. You are responsible for this, since you brought the tapes. And now I want to know what I can do for you." After further discussion the two agreed that a small schoolhouse on the ranch could be used as a meeting place for the workers' church services.

What a great example of the power of the Word of God.

A question of timing

Why did God send Jesus to earth when he did?

of human religions and mystery gods flowed out of Egypt, Persia and Asia Minor.

Q WhY <tid Clum come when he did?

question, whose source I have mislaid, drew me to the passage in Galatians 4 :4: "But when the fullness of the time arne, God sent forth his son, born of a woman" (NASB). While it is not one of my habits, I "googled" this expression and found that several books have been written with the title In the Fullness of Time. I also found that there is a progressive power-metal band called Redemption, founded in California in 2000, that recorded a song titled The Fullness of Time and was named both CD of the month and CD of the year in 2005.

Not being familiar with that genre of music, I don't know the contents of the song but the band's title might indicate that this is a religious band

Another writer, Tim Brown, counters these assertions as basically speculative and writes that "what finally made the day of Jesus' birth 'the fullness of time' was the sovereign purpose of God. It was the right time because it was God's time ." I rather like that conclusion. God is sovereign and he can do as he wills and sees fit. Perhaps we can see a variety of world situations that created a time that had fully come when Jesus was born, but ultimately God can do what he wills and when he wills.

In their Christmas letter, Vernon and Ann Grounds

LJ I rather like that con cl usion . God i ... s()\'cre ign and he ca n do as he wilb and 'ic es tit.

Those who patronize "MySpace" on the Internet can enlighten me.

Upon pondering the question, I also remembered what John W. Shepard wrote in the textbook The Christ of the Gospels. I this text in a college "Life and Times of Jesus" course. Shepard rehearses a variety of circumstances in the world that made Jesus' birth most appropriate at the time he was born. John Barnett, who either had digested Shepard's views or came to many of the same conclusions, pointed out six reasons why the "fullness of time" had come at Jesus' birth.

I) God picked a time when there was global citizenship.

2) God picked a time when there was global language. Greek had become the trade language of the world.

3) God picked a time when there was global communication. In the market of "Rome the eternal," a golden monument erected by Augustus described the capital city as the heart of this giant, pulsating organism of peoples.

4) God picked a time when there was global peace. The Romans were the lords of the whole earth

5) God picked a time when there was global decadence, moral decline and degeneration. The whole world carried within itself the genu of death.

6) God picked a time when there was global expectancy. Rivers

Have a question about a Bible passage, doctrine, conference policy or other spiritual issue? Send your question to "Inquiring Minds," c/o Marvin Hein , 3036 East Magill Avenue, Fresno, CA 93710 or email Marvin at marvinhein @sbcglobal.net .

quote from Madeleine L'Engle. Her thoughts deserve some thought about why Jesus came when he did and applies that truth to our practical everyday lives

First Coming

He did not come till the world was ready.

Ttll men and nations were at peace

He came when the Heavens were unsteady. And prisoners cried out for release.

He did not wait for the perfect time.

He came when the need was deep and great.

He dined with sinners in all their grime. Turned water into wine. He did not wait

Till hearts were pure . In joy he came

To a tarnished world of sin and doubt.

To a world like ours, of anguished shame

He came, and his Light would not go out.

He came to a world that did not mesh.

To heal its tangles, shield its scam.

In the mystery of the Word made Flesh

The master of the stars was born.

We cannot wait till the world is sane

To raise our songs with joyful voice

For to share our grief, to touch our pain,

He came with Love.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

BAPTISM/MEMBERSHIP

Rapid City, SO IBible Fellowship)-Pro Thomas Ashmore, Rick, Bill and Rob Ward were baptized Dec. 31. Enid, Okla. - Shelley Mueller and D.J. Toelle were baptized and received as members Dec. 31. Betty Crouch, Jon and Natalie Marshall, Faith Matthews, Hope Matthews and Eric Schmidt were also received as members.

Weatherford, Okla. IPine Acres)-Emily Dick and Tristan Fite were baptized Dec 17 Larry Adler, Lindsey Fast. Scott and Tracy Fite, Mickey and Teresa Lockhart, Sunny and Amy Oliver and Rex and Lisa Outhier were received as members Dec 10

Com, Okla.-Heath and Angela Smith were received as members Nov. 19 Calvin and Pam Funk and Erin Funk were received as members Dec 17. Tim, Carla, Caleb, Nathan and Sarah Sandy were received as members Aug 13.

Bakersfield, Calif. ILaurelglen)-Greg and Tatum Balfanz, Mike and Robin Bartell, Christy Chance, Annah Chapman, Joel and Deborah Cooper, Amanda Cooper, Roland and Margaret Gerstung, Martyn and Sally Gross, Nicholas and Janelle Herndon, Ryan and Alison Hickman, Thomas and Melanie Mercer, Greg and Denise Reynen, Patricia Rolin, Mike and Nancy Rosengren, Phil and Bobbie Watson Shirley Wenske and Brian and Sharla Wind were received as members the weekend of Dec. 16-17.

FELLOWSHIP

Ferndale, Wash.IGood News)-A new group, called The Adventure Group iTAGI will meet two Saturdays a month for walking and hiking, beginning with short hikes in local parks and progressing to longer mountain hikes as weather permits The first hike took place Jan. 27.

Buhler, Kan.-Church women spent the evening Jan 16 sampling food and assembling meals for their freezers They advertised the event before Christmas and offered gift certificates for the meals as a gift idea

Edmond, Okla. IMemorial Road)-A women's ministry event Jan. 12 focused on the theme of gems, based on Ezek. 16:7. The women created a beaded bracelet as part of the event.

Denver, Colo. IGarden Parkl-Church members celebrated the New Year with a Game Carnival Dec 31 featuring a supper before the games.

Ferndale, Wash.IGood News)- A caroling party Dec 17 began with a soup supper.

Bakersfield, Calif.ILaurelglen)-A Christmas party for high school youth Dec 13 included a "tacky Christmas sweater " contest.

Marshall, Ark. IMartin Box) - The church won first place for a float they created for the community 's annual Christmas parade

Glendale, Ariz. ICopper Hills)- The church offered unique family entertainment Dec. 3 called FX: The Family Experience that included a free lunch, followed by an hour of music. drama, comedy, video and storytelling centered around a theme or virtue.

MINISTRY

Centennial, Colo. ITrailhead)-This church plant officially launched Jan. 14, and is now meeting weekly for Sunday worship in addition to weekly small groups. The core group for this church plant is about 60 people

Enid, Okla.-Church members sent care packages to college students in February.

Fresno, Calif IMountain View)-Church members "blessed" a local neighborhood Dec. 9 by passing out poinsettias and Starbuck 's cards

Hays, Kan. INorth Oak)-The church offers a study hall, staffed by volunteers, to help seventh and eighth grade students with homework on Wednesday afternoons before midweek activities.

Hillsboro, Kan.-Members brought rolls and coffee to the construction crew working on their new building for the morning coffee break Dec. 5 The church hoped to provide such coffee breaks for the crew regularly in appreciation for their hard work.

Buhler, Kan.-Women gathered Dec 4 to bake 7.130 cookies that were then distributed throughout the community to places such as a soup kitchen, police station , crisis pregnancy center, youth shelter, retirement home and hospital waiting rooms.

Visalia, Calif. INeighborhood)-Church members partnered with two local organizations to help homeless youth during the holiday season. They gathered supplies for backpacks filled with supplies such as shampoo, soap and deodorant and donated sleeping bags.

Freeman, SO ISalem)-The Christian Education Committee sponsored a service project for two local nursing homes during the Christmas season. Volunteers selected a card with a suggested gift from a tree and then donated gifts for one of 24 selected residents.

Ferndale, wash.IGood News)- The church recently gathered items for kitchen kits to be distributed to women in the community who are in need of everyday kitchen supplies

PROCLAMATION

Clovis, Calif.ICollege Community) - Danisa Ndlovu, president-elect of Mennonite World Conference and bishop of the Brethren in Christ Church in Zimbabwe , was the guest speaker for the morning service Jan. 7

Denver, Colo. IEthiopian Evangelicall - Evangelist Yared Tilahun was the guest speaker for a conference Dec. 29-Jan. 1.

Reedley, Calif.- The church presented four performances of a Christmas program, "Let Heaven and Nature Sing, " Dec. 8- 10. Attendance totaled 2,561 for the four performances

WORKERS

Bakersfield, Calif. IHeritage)-Mark Zeek began as pastor of children and family ministries Jan 1, This is a new pastoral staff position.

Wichita, Kan. IFirst)-Valerie Neslage began serving Jan. 1st as the part-time interim director of kids' ministry team.

Wichita, Kan.-Janice Fast has resigned as administrative assistant for the Southern District Conference and MBMS International as of Dec. 31.

WORSHIP

Ferndale, wash. IGood News)- The Sunday evening outreach service called "The Door" was discontinued in January. A Sunday evening ALPHA course for those interested in exploring Christianity began Feb 11.

Wichita, Kan.IFirst)- The church began a new worship schedule Jan. 7 with three Sunday morning services. The third Sunday service replaces a Saturday evening service that was discontinued in August.

Bakersfield, Calif. ILaurelglen)-Hospitality for services Dec 24 included a Parking Lot Ministry team-volunteers who smiled, waved and welcomed folks as they entered the parking lot.

Garden City, Kan. IGarden Valley)- The congregation began a new worship schedule Dec 24 with one worship service instead of two

DEATHS

ENNS, EUGENE PAUL, Shafter, Calif., a member of Shafter MB Church, was born Nov. 27, 1922, to Frank and Marie Enns in Reedley, Calif., and died Dec. 11, 2006, at the age of 84 On Oct. 24, 1943, he married Kathleen Edison, who predeceased him Jan. 6, 2004. He is survived by four sons, Bruce and wife Marian, Russel and wife Shirley, Michael and wife Kathy, and Rob and wife Lee Ann, nine grandchildren and one great - grandchild on the way.

GRUNAU, LARRY DON, Corn, Okla , of Corn MB Church, was born May 27, 1942, to Clifford and Pauline Grunau at Fairview Okla , and died Dec. 21, 2006, at the age of 64 On Aug 21, 1962, he married Jeanette Gossen, who survives. He is also survived by his parents of Perryton, Texas; one son, Daryl and wife Shana of Los Alamos, NM; one daughter, DeAnn and husband Tim Garrett of Greensburg. Kan two brothers, Warren and wife Martha of Oklahoma City Okla , and Clayton and wife

II. CHUR CH

GayLa of Perryton, Texas; one sister, Bobbi and husband WiLL Goossen of Arvada, CoLo.; four sisters-inLaw, Joan and husband Archie Franz, MariLyn and husband Dave Gerbrandt, CaroLyn and husband Ken Javorsky, and Margret and husband Ray Smith, and four grandchiLdren

NEUFELD, ANNA FRANZ, ReedLey, CaLif , of ReedLey MB Church, was born Dec. 29, 1912, to Jacob and Katherine Franz and died Dec 22, 2006, at the age of 93 On May 29, 1938, she married Herman NeufeLd , who predeceased her in June 1992. She is survived by one son, James, and two sibLings, Alice Peters of Medora, Kan., and JoeL Franz of Hillsboro, Kan

THESMAN, JACOB VERNON , Enid, OkLa , a member of Enid MB Church, was born Oct. 8, 1926, to Jacob J and Anna E Voth Thesman in Kremlin, OkLa , and died Dec. 3, 2006, at the age of 80. On Aug. 26, 1948, he married Leora RempeL, who survives He is also survived by one son, Bob Thesman of Shawnee, Kan ; two daughters, Jodi and husband Roger Gossen of KremLin, Okla , and Debbie and husband Jeff Wright of Riverside, CaLif ; two sisters, Bertha Ann Toews and GLadys Regehr, six grandchiLdren and one great-grandchiLd.

WARKENTIN, TINA, Dinuba, Calif., a member of Reedley (Calif.) MB Church, was born March 3, 1909, to Abram and Agatha Wiebe near Borden, Sask , and died Dec. 24, 2006, at the age of 97 She married Ben Warkentin, who predeceased her. She is survived by

six sons, Alvin of Reedley, Wilmer and wife Jacqueline of Dinuba, Ronald and wife Lillian of Riverside, Calif., Larry and wife Candace of Las Vegas, Nev., StanLey of Dinuba, and DaLe and wife Marjorie of Carman, Man ; four daughters, Marjorie and husband Ed Ratzlaff of Reedley, Clarice Johns of Sun Valley, Nev., Lucille and husband Wally Langeman of Bellevue, Wash , and Roselyn and husband Fred Lambert of Riverside, Calif.; one daughter-in-Law, Beverly Hedding of Hesperia, Calif.; one sister, Minnie RempeL of Wynndel, B.C ; two brothers-in-law, Henry and wife Frieda Warkentin of Reedley, and Elmer Warkentin of Bakersfield, CaLif., 25 grandchildren, 39 great-grandchildren and nine great-great-grandchildren.

WIEBE, ALICE, Enid, Okla., a member of Enid MB Church, was born Jan. 19, 1910, to Dan and Anna Just Martens near Fairview, Okla , and died Dec. 15, 2006, at the age of 96. On Oct. 16, 1932, she married Albert Wiebe, who predeceased her She is survived by two daughters, Carolyn and husband Orlan Frantz of Perryton, Texas, and Marlene and husband Loyd Ediger of Enid; two sisters, Inez and husband Herb Kliewer, and Mary Helen and husband Marvin Hein; brothers - and sisters-in-law, Sarah Toews, George and Mable Toews, Helen Hamm, Earnest Wiebe, MabeL Martens and VioLa Martens, five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchiLdren.

Cl ea ring HOUSE ...

Pastor: North Park Community Church, a smaLL, established congregation, is seeking a pastor who will help us grow. Eugene, Ore., is in the beautifuL WiLlamette Valley, one hour from the mountains and one hour from the coast. We are seeking a pastor who meets scriptural qualifications found, in part, in 1 Tim 3:2-7 and 1 Peter 5: 1-4. The pastor should be a person who continually seeks to put God first in his life through prayer and study of the Word. His primary responsibilities will include engaging and biblically based preaching and teaching, shepherding, encouraging church leaders and leading in outreach by example. Send resume to: Mrs. Maryn Glender, Chair, Pastor Search Team, 3492 \yood Avenue, Eugene, OR 97402

Director of Youth Ministry: First MB Church in Wichita, Kan , a suburban congregation of 750 plus people, is seeking a fuLL-time Youth Pastor. We are seeking an individual who is committed to Jesus Christ and ministry to youth The primary responsibility will be to lead a 100 plus student small-groupbased senior high ministry The Youth Pastor will also work with the junior high coordinator to oversee a 50 pLus student junior high ministry. PLease send your resume to: Youth Pastor Search Committee, Bill Henneberg, 8000 W. 21 st Street, Wichita, KS 67205 (3/31 CONT. P. 35

•

BETIIANf COWGE

Hepburn, Saskatchewan

Inrites appUeado. for a I.iIJrarian

Bethany COllege seeks a CuU.fune Librarian 10 join us in lul6lJing the COllege's mission of nurturing disciples and tr.Iinlng leaders 10 sene. Employment will be;nJuIy I, 2007 Bedwty'nislOIl for the Library Is 10 become a 5eMII1 to the Churdl by providing excellent academic resources in the areas ofbiblk:al and IheoIogicaI studies, v.ith a particular b:us on building our hoJdIngs in theareas of IlIdic:aI dIsdpIeship, peace and JUStice issues, thought and ley rapeasiIIiII1ie

1. Provide leadership for the Ieamlng resource services; wbidI includes continually improWIg the Ubrary's and senk:es; leading library and supenisq student workers and volunteers ;

2 Provide leadership for the physica1 renewal of the Library; Build upon e:dstq partnerships in the SaskaIoon area and eJpand OUt senk:es 10 surrounding communities;

4 PanicipaIe in the mission of the College by teaming and meot«ing studenu QuaIi8aItieos: Christian oommitment in hannony v.ith the College's swemeot of faith ; exceIJent relational and JdmlnistraIjye sIdIIs; theological perspective; Master's. in Library!1nformation Services or equMIIent; Master's . in the0logy or bibIk:aI studies is desirable.

Dekllkldjob tIescripIIon and anenI NI1rrny coIIecIion devB/QpmenI plan III!aiIaIJIe on request

The flrst review of candidaIes will be done by february 28, 2007

Please submit resume 10: DeaD, IIedIIIIIy College, Ilol: 168, BepIIura, 81_17.0 'tel: 866-772-2175 • ""7-:1175 • Fa: ""7-1239

The right kind of influence

How do we combat a culture that promotes superficiality and cynicism?

These days there is a lot of discussion about the bad role models out there, from pop starlets who party hardy after forgetting to get dressed, to pro athletes who do drugs and shoot people. I agree that the pop culture landscape is not a pretty sight. It can distract us from the fact that there are still plenty of solid citizens and positive influences around.

Part of the problem is the large amount of media attention given to the do badders. I heard about a study done on our state's TV news coverage during the recent election season. Apparently time given for substantive ·

new cooking guru," a sort of younger Martha Stewart type. But the article wasn't about Ray It covered the activities of law student Misty Lane, who runs a Web site with an interesting purpose. Lane's "web community" of thousands exists simply for the purpose of trashing Rachael Ray. For some reason Misty Lane and her web cohorts detest Ray and spend a lot of time telling each other about it.

This is both fascinating and troubling. Don't these folks

Certainly there Jre hetter influences out there, hut how do we find them?

election stories fell well short of Federal Communications Commission requirements for free television. What a surprise. People often complain about dwindling substance in TV news, but I wonder how much they mean it. Nothing pulls in ratings quite like showing the latest exploits of "pop tarts" like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. It occurs to me that I know more about Paris and Britney than I care to, even though I try to avoid such information What influence does pop culture have on those who don't try to ignore it? I would say it's significant.

I saw a couple of items that seem to exemplify the wrong kinds of mfluences our mass culture is offering

• There is a TV ad running right now that shows a deli full of lunch-goers. They are moving through the line in lively synchronization with the chefs, countermen and cashier. Someone steps up to pay and instead of sliding a check card like everyone else, he pulls out cash This gums up the whole works. While everyone looks on in disdain, the customer becomes embarrassed for throwing a monkey wrench in the machine.

I realize the card issuer is merely trying to persuade us to use its product. But the bigger message is unsettling. If you dare slow down the great machine of consumerism, you should be ashamed of yourself! This message is not good in an age when people accumulate way more stuff than they need including an overload of debt. Worse, there's a general sense in our culture that having things leads to happiness. But this isn't usually the case. People own more gadgets than ever yet on the whole experience less contentment in life I think that's because meaningful pursuits such as relationship-building and spiritual devotion take more time and effort than many are willing to give. Better to keep the consumer machine cranking out promises of instant gratification

• Recently I read an article referting to a celebrity I'd never heard of by the name of Rachael Ray. She was mentioned in the piece as "the

have anything better to do? Yet criticizing and complaining have become significant pastimes in our culture. And much of the grumbling doesn't seem to serve any real purpose. Well, maybe there's one purpose. As Misty Lane admitted regarding the popularity of her anti- Rachael Ray site, ''This is my 15 minutes of fame."

All of this reminds me that large segments of pop culture-advertising, entertainment, the Internet-tend to promote superficiality and cynicism. Certainly there are better influences out there, but how do we find them?

First, we need to be careful about the nature of news we take in. I try to stay informed primarily via the newspaper and trusted Web sites rather than through television or "top ten" web searches. Watching TV or browsing Yahoo, I'm going to learn all about Paris and Britney whether I want to or not. In the paper or by selective Internet usage, I can find reports and opinion pieces about issues somewhat weightier than which stars showed up at a movie premiere.

Second, we need to be consumers who are discerning rather than mindless. We don't really need every new gadget there is to be happy. All that stuff clogging up our lives can actually be a source of unhappiness. Those who are truly content rarely cite possessions as a reason for joy. They point to close relationships, meaningful work, charitable endeavors, spiritual growth and other positive contributions to society and their personal lives.

Third, we should emulate those who are encouragers and innovators. Too often we let ourselves get pulled down by the grumblers and discouragers who offer plenty of criticism but not much help for making things better. We don't want to be like that. We'd do well to seek out the right kinds of influences in our culture and better yet, become such influencers ourselves.

Are short-term missions worth it?

M'illions go, billions are spent, and that p rompts q u estions

Short-tenn missions, one trend in global mission work highlighted in this month's feature section, are big in mission work today. Big in tenns of dollars-some suggest several billion annually. Big in terms of people-data collected by one researcher suggests that 2 million 13- to I7-year olds go on such trips each year. Big in tenns of the response it stirs.

"Praises and critiques of the trend tend to be proportionately extreme, touting short-term missions either as miraculous recruiters of long-term missionaries or insidious sowers of third-world dependency," writes Abram Huyser Honing in the article, "Study questions whether short-term missions make a difference," published electronically in 2005 by Christianity Today Honing, by the way, describes short-term missions-STM for short-as the "biggest trend to hit the evangelical Christian outreach scene since vacation Bible school."

My own response to STM has been mixed. I mostly have questions. Given the emphasis on "short," can STM really help the local churches or ministries they selVe? STM is not a vacation with a spiritual twist, but what should it be? Should service be the goal? Should the focus be learning? Do STM have the long-tenn impact on participants that proponents claim? How do STM hosts-missionaries, local congregations and ministries-feel about their experience? Is the expense worth it for all parties involved? Do the outcomes usually justify the expense?

Given the popularity of STM, it is no surprise that the trend has prompted its share of research, and these studies provide some answers to the questions. One of the justifications for sending the people and spending the money is that participants will be changed forever . But are they, really? The article in this issue by MBMS International general director Randy Friesen outlines strategies that agencies can incorporate in STM programs to maximize the opportunity for positive and lasting change. Those of us looking for an STM experience-especially with an agency that we don't know much about-can use Randy's obselVations to form a checklist of things to look for. Are pre-trip training and post-trip debriefing offered? Will I selVe with a team or by myself? Will the trip emphasize service or relationships?

Even when the sending agency does everything it can to create a life-changing STM experience, it seems to me that the participant's atritude and commitment will significantly impact the outcome. STM can be a lot like other experiences that get us excited about a new direction in life We leave a conference or summer camp intending to make some changes, but our motivation wanes as we become immersed in daily life. STM participation does not come with the guarantee that I will become

a long -tenn missionary or devote considerable time praying for those who do, that I will increase my financial support for mission work or live on a spiritual high for the rest of my life The responsibility of transfonning good intentions into real change is mine.

As I said earlier, a strong motivation for STM is the idea that it will be a tra nsfonning experience for the participants. But what about the folks at the other end of the equation-the local missionary, congregation or ministry that hosts STMs? Shouldn't we be asking about their experience? Lots of energy has been spent looking at how STM impact the participants but little effort has gone into understanding how STM affects the communities they visit

Looking for an insider's viewpoint, I talked with Jon Pritchard, a former MBMS International missionary to Mexico City, a popular destination for STM teams . The Mexico City inter-Mennon ite church planting team of which Jon and his wife, Juana, were a part hosted STM teams from MBMSI's Youth Mission International as well as from Tabor College and North American churches Church plant team members had had their share of bad STM experiences in the past and Jon says they were determined to do what they could to addtess problem areas. For themselves, the church plant team decided to view STM as a component of their church-planting strategy rather than something to do on top of everything else. They worked at better preparing and debriefing those who came to selVe and they focused on preparing the people in their congregation to host their guests.

In Jon's evaluation, Peace Christian Church can trace several of its defining characteristics to the impact of STM teams . Jon has wonderful stories that illustrate how STM helped the congregation develop an international mind-set, a vision for mission that is local, national and international, and understanding that mission involves sacrifice and the willingness to make that sacrifice.

Talking with Jon reinforced much of what I read about ensuring the value of STM for participants and their hosts . Yet I continue to ponder: What does it means to be a good steward of financial resources when it comes to STM? What about our priorities? Too often it seems that STM is about us and not about others. The questions have prompted one conclusion : Short-tenn missions should be about making disciples Seeing ordinary Christians grow in their faith as they are given the opportunity to make a difference should be our bottom line And that statement is true of those who go and those who host. - CF

MPLOYMENT: CHURCH

Children's Pastor: First MB Church in Wichita, Kan., a suburban congregation of 750 plus people, is seeking a a full-time Children's Pastor. If you are interested in directing a ministry to children from birth through 6th grade [200 plus childrenl and have a vision for developing expanded family ministries, please submit a letter of introduction which presents your ministry passions and a resume to: Search Committee, jim Means, 8000 W. 21st Street, Wichita, KS 67205. [3/31

Family Life Pastor: The Fairview MB Church in Fairview, Okla., is seeking to begin a new ministry to families by hiring a Family Life Minister. This person should possess the following skills: ability to build traditional values and the family unit both in and outside the church; be an individual who enjoys interacting with young adults and middleaged families and who has a passion and compassion for families; be able to work in a team oriented setting and demonstrate self-initiative. For more information e-mail fairviewmbiCIfairviewmb.com. Resume can be sent to: Search Committee, Fairview MB Church, 1600 E. State Road, Fairview, OK 73737. [3/41

···Clearing HOUSE ···

Youth Pastor: The Fairview MB Church in Fairview, OK, is seeking a Youth Pastor. This person should possess the following qualifications: a strong leader who is passionate about working with youth, an individual who works well in a team setting [this person will be a part of a three-person pastoral team and will also work with youth leaders in both high school and junior highl, a college graduate with youth ministry training or comparable experience. For more information, please e-mail fairviewmbiCIfairviewmb.com. Resumes can be sent to: Search Committee at fairviewmbiCIfairviewmb.com or faxed to 580-227- 4347 or mailed to Fairview MB Church, 1600 E. State Rd., Fairview, OK. 73737. [3/41

MPLOYMENT: COLLEGE

Librarian: Bethany College of Hepburn, Sask , seeks a full-time Librarian to join us in fulfilling the college's mission of nurturing disciples and training leaders to serve Employment will begin july 1, 2007. Responsibilities include providing leadership for the college's learning resource services which includes

oversight of the library's holdings and services; library staff, student workers and volunteers; and participating in the mission of the college by teaching and mentoring students. Qualifications include a Christian commitment in harmony with the college's statement of faith; excellent relational and administrative skills; Anabaptist/Evangelical theological perspective; Master's degree in Library/Information Services or equivalent. A detailed job description and current library collection development plan is available on request. The first review of candidates will be done by February 28, 2007. Please submit resume to: Academic Dean, Bethany College, Box 160, Hepburn, SK SOK lZ0 Tel: 866-772-2175; Fax: 306-9474229; www.bethany.sk.ca Email: rmccorkindaleiCIbethany.sk.ca [2/21

Professor of Pastoral Ministries: MB Biblical Seminary seeks a Professor of Pastoral Ministries. join the team on our Fresno, Calif., campus as we inspire and equip men and women to live as disciples of Jesus Christ and to serve and lead in the church and in the

"As a pastor, my job will be to study the word of God and convey it to the congregation through preaching, teaching and acts of service without watering it down. Seminary gave me the tools to do that."

- Paul Bartel, seminary student and spring 2007 Moster of Divinity graduate ... a foundation for healthy, effective ministry.

world! The professor of pastoral ministries will give leadership to nurturing pastoral imagination in students and congregations; fostering an integrative ability to perceive, interpret, and engage the world with theological insight and practical wisdom; giving vision to the Master of Divinity curriculum; directing Pastoral Ministries education with primary focus in transformative pastoral leadership, preaching, pastoral care and counseling, supervised ministry experience and worship. Preference will be given to those who have a completed doctorate in a discipline related to pastoral ministries and successful pastoral experience. The successful candidate must be in agreement with the MB Biblical Seminary Mission and Identity statement and the MB Confession of Faith. Start date is September 2007. This is a continuing appointment with an initial two-year term with rank to be determined. Send resume to: Lynn Jost, Academic Dean, MB Biblical Seminary, 4824 E. Butler Ave., Fresno, CA 93727 For more information contact Lynn at 559-452-1791 or ljostiCImbseminary.edu. [1/21