IT'S EASY TO GET CAUGHT UP in our every day lives and forget that we have a specific purpose-to serve God and be his ministers. It takes a different mind set, a change of perspective to see our jobs, families, communities and the world at large as places rich with opportunities for service, healing, witnessing-places where we can be used by God and bring him glory.
Often, we limit the words "missionary" and "minister" to those in a "professional" role. When we do so, we harm both those who work in full time Christian service roles and our own witness.
In our first article, Naomi Gaede Penner recognizes the need for a missionary mindset. As she explores why people of different generations support missionaries, she reminds us that we are all part of the same team-those of us not onsite with the missionaries are part of "home base."
In another article, Eddy Hall and Gary Morsch explode four myths that keep us from seeing ourselves as ministers and missionaries for God no matter what profession we are in. If every church member realized they were ministers of Christ, there would be a revolution at hand.
Our last article reminds us that God doesn't just call adults to be his servants--children can serve him too. Rebecca Totilo gives us some ideas on how to help our children gain a missionary mindset early on in life.
Also in this issue, we profile Immanuel Evangelical Slavic Church as our second in a series of church profiles examining how individual churches in our conference challenge the rest of us to be better servants of God. Be sure to take time to read through the BodyLife section and discover some of the challenges and successes our ministries and brothers and sisters are experiencing in thethe U.S. and around the world.
Blessings. -GA
COMING
-JULY 27-30 - Biennial U.S. Conference convention, Denver, Colo.
OCTOBER 26-29 - Central District Conference convention, Huron, S.D.
NOVEMBER 10-11- Pacific District Conference convention
EDDY HALL AND GARY MORSCH
DEPARTMENTS
VOLUME
63, NUMBER 3
EDITOR
Carmen Andres
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Connie Faber
BOARD OF COMMUNICATIONS: Kathy Heinrichs Wiest, chair; Peggy Goertzen, Phil Neufeld, Dalton Reimer, Herb Schroeder.
The Christian Leader (ISSN 0009-5149) is published monthly by the U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, 315 S. Lincoln, Hillsboro, KS 67063. The Christian Leader seeks to inform Mennonite Brethren members and churches of the events, activities, decisions and issues of their denomination, and to instruct, inspire and initiate dialog so members will aspire to be faithful disciples of Christ as understood in the evangelical/Anabaptist theological However, the views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Christian Leader, the Board of Communications or the Mennonite Brethren Church.
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begetting missionary-mindedness in a new generation
BY
NAOMI GAEDE PENNER
ICTURES OF MISSIONARIES CLUSTER on my 20-something daughter's refrigeratornot the geay-haired veteran missionaries of my generation but young adults she grew up with in youth groups and college classes. One day I asked her why she supported them. Why did she choose to direct a portion of her paycheck to missions rather than use it exclusively for cae payments, ski vacations, Bronco football games and quilting classes?
I thought I already knew the answer. I'm a second-generation missionary supporter, and Nicole was raised in a Christian home where those values were clearly communicated. Also, I've seen her take concepts of sound investing from her work in finalices and transfer them to her charitable giving.
}Jut her answer surprised me. She didn't reply from either of these perspectives. Her motivation was simple.
"I know them," she answered. There is a difference between why my parents and I endorsed missions and why my daughter and her generation give to missions. For my generation, there was a mandate. For Nicole, Telationships are the primary appeal.
After hearing Nicole'sanswer, I began to wonder just how people acquire an a passion-for missions. How can we beget missionary-mindedness in a new generation? , .
Shew me
My parents' generation has one answer.
When I was sqeI\"Yeatll old, my parents-Elmer and Ruby Gaede-moved us to the Athabascan Indian village of
Tanana along the Yukon River in Alaska, where my physician father took up a medical practice. Our family immediately joined with the Arctic Mission family in communicating biblical truths to villagers. My parents sang, played accordion and pump organ, taught Sunday school class and JOY club. Their involvement could have happened in any setting, but watching their support of missionaries showed me-rather than just the importance of supporting missions.
My father's medical practice included 22 other villages along the Yukon River. He contacted these places once a day via two-way radio through the assistance of teachers or missionaries in the villages. In emergencies, villagers were flown to the Tanana hospital. When missionary wives were three weeks from a pregnancy due date, my father would fly out to bring them back-to stay at our house. Often, they would arrive with their children. The four of us Gaede children developed friendships with them by jumping on the beds, throwing raw eggs from our food storage room and making mud pies. These missionaries weren't just names on a list to us.
I watched my parents pack for our trips downriver to visit the missionaries. My father's Family Cruiser airplane had limited space, so my mother carefully selected items for the families to cram in every nook and cranny. Freshly baked cinnamon rolls were a treat, as their villages--like ours--did not have restaurants or coffee shops. There were no bookstores, so a used book, children's puzzle or record found its way into the suitcase. We typically ordered our clothes from Sears and Roebuck, so Mother would tuck in an extra or outgrown sweater or jacket. When the plane was packed, we flew to our destinations in minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit weather in a five-hour window of winter daylight. Once there, we made ourselves at home in the cramped log cabins, with wood stoves for heat and outhouse bathroom facilities.
We weren't told about missionary life-we were shown.
After my parents moved to a less remote area of Alaska, they sustained a passion for missionaries. They did this not only because they believed it was appropriate Christian behavior and were familiar with the rigors of living in such isolated conditions, but also because they'd grown firsthand friendships with a number of missionaries.
As a result, my mother served on the missions committee at our church. Each year they prepared boxes with ingredients for a complete holiday meal along with individual gifts to be flown into the vil· lages. Doc and Ruby's homestead developed a reputation for hospitality to missionaries, with a cabin dedicated to short-term lodging and "mothers-in-
waiting still waiting."
By the time I was a young adult, missionary participation was a way of life. There was no "us-them" mentality. I'd acquired a sense of teamwork, with everyone working toward a common goal despite continent and time zone differences.
When I became a parent, I wanted to pass on this conviction. A missionary bulletin board wasn't enough. When missionaries were in the area for home leave, my family helped them find a place to stay and a car to drive. We sat with them on our back deck eating hamburgers and ice cream sundaes and invited them to join us at the zoo. Our children got to know them as real people and real children, not just smiling pictures on the refrigerator or dots on a map.
Ten years ago, my husband and I took our children-then teenagers--to Austria. This wasn't a typical vacation. We decided to blend our family vacation with a missionary journey. We flew to Vienna and spent time with missionary friends we'd become acquainted with while they attended seminary and our church. We practiced our various levels of the German language, toured the mission office and went to church with them. As a n;sult, Nicole and our son, Aaron, had a more personal interest when it came time to select Christmas gifts for this family.
After my husband died, I continued my quest to go on-site and spend time with miSsionaries I supported. One time, after returning home from a trip to Europe, I was asked where I'd toured. Certainly there were sites in Lisbon and Madrid, but my primary interest was a missionary family. I missed noteworthy castles, but I saw where their children attended school, what had been major adjustments, what wasn't available in grocery stores, who was in their Bible studies and how a Sunday service was formatted. That Christmas, I knew to send potato peelers, spatulas, American calendars, chocolate chips, craft kits and Christmas cassettes or CDs in English.
As an adult, I learned that partnering with missionaries is a worthy investment-not only in a financial sense but also in a personal way as well. A man in my church heard of one of my trips and read the resulting column in the church newsletter about ideas for missionary participation. "They're lucky if they get a check from me," he growled. This businessman was a wise investor, but he couldn't see that this spiritual commodity-not susceptible to moths, rust or Y2K incompatibility-was an opportunity to diversify his spiritual portfolio.
A shift In perspective
My parents taught me through their actions the value of supporting missionaries. So when I first heard Nicole's answer to my question, I wondered if
There is a difference between why my parents and I endorsed missions and why my daughter and her generation give to missions. For my generation, there was a mandate. For Nicole, relationships are the primary appeal.
Penner learned early what missionary life was like. When she was a child. her father moved the family to a small town in Alaska. where his medical practice included missionary families. Her father would take the family to visit missionaries in his Family Cruiser airplane (below. the Gaede family poses with the airplane in 1958). Penner (inset. center) strove to pass on her missionarymindedness to her son. Aaron (left). and daughter. Nicole (right).
my modeling had influenced her in the way my parents' support had me. Up until then, I believed that missionary-mindedness was simply taught, caught and passed on through generations. But Nicole's motivation seemed different.
So, I sought answers. I talked with missionaries Nicole and I supported and staff at MBMS International and the Denver Seminary, where I'd taught.
I learned that for this new generation, the motivation was not necessarily hinged on parents, the church or specific missions' programs but to a cultural shift in paradigms. The 60-plus Builders'tend to dutifully write checks to missions out of loyalty to their denomination. And, they give long-term. The 40 to 50 year-old Boomers tend to be project-oriented. Whereas the Builders do not question missionary support, the Boomers ask, "What kind of van does the missionary need?" The appeal of a project motivates them and they reach into their pockets. The 20- and 30-something Gen Xers are not necessarily moved by these appeals. They step back and ask, "Why? Why is a van necessary? Would something else work better? And, why now?"
To understand this shift, Dr. Larry Lindquist, professor of Youth and Family at Denver Seminary, explains, "Their world is visually-oriented. To reach their hearts, they must see the need. Their world is experience-based. they need to get their hands dirty, serve in a soup kitchen, teach computer skills at a rescue mission, build houses. Denominations and Christian "shoulds" don't push them. Their reluctance, although possibly interpreted as aloof or
lacking in spirituality, is indeed very, very spiritual."
A Gen Xer on staff at the MBMSI office comments about her generational history of missionary support, "Unlike my parents and grandparents, I want to find my own understanding of what's best or true."
A natural way for Gen Xers to find out and see what is needed is through those they know-thus Nicole's support for those in the photos on her refrigerator. However, Gen Xers are not the only generation motivated by relationship. In as much as missionary-minded ness can be categorized by age segments, every generation is motivated to some extent by relationship. In fact, when I pressed the issue of age correlation with missionary support, many resisted the exclusiveness.
"Our supporters range from 35 to 92. None are Gen Xers, yet the common thread is that they are all friends from childhood, college, Inter-Varsity, churches we've attended," shared a midlife missionary in Austria.
A Gen Xer in Romania concluded that age seems irrelevant. "Of 225 supporters, about 16 are peers but all have seen us minister, understand our hearts and know our relationship to the Lord."
Begetting missionary supporters
Regardless of Generation X, Y or Z, developing a personal relationship is what turns dots on maps into real people-and parents can still beget missionary supporters.
However, rather than just modeling their own commitment, parents will need to strategically structure face-to-face interaction between their children and missionaries-breaking down the barriers of "us-them."
So, what can we do to beget missionary supporters in our children?
• Invite missionary families with children of similar ages to join a typical family activity like a picnic, hike, camp-out, game night or sports event.
• Keep missionary kids overnight so parents can get away-and your children can have extended time with theirs.
• Continue contact using e-mail or letters.
• Plan family missionary journeys or combine a vacation with visiting a missionary family.
• Many MB Vacation Bible Schools have a giving project with mission emphasis, which can inspire interest.
• Refer to the daily newspaper. Compare/contrast the weather in the missionary's location. Discuss news events in that country.
• Learn missionary children's interests, involvements or concerns. Pray for them specifically around the dinner table or at bedtime.
Later, when birthday cards and care packages are mailed to missionaries, children will remember who is represented by the dot on the map.
There are other methods and strategies to keep in mind with young adults and those in their 20s and 30s.
• When approached by adult children of my peers to support them in either short-term or fullterm missions, I forward these requests to my adult children. In many cases, they already know them and an interest is already established.
• Encourage church leadership to allow time in Sunday school classes for missionaries to have more personal interaction with this age group.
• Host a missionary evening and specifically invite the 20 to 30-something age group for pizza or ice cream sundaes. Encourage and provide for multimedia "show-and-tell" with video of the missionary. Even if this has been done in a church service, this age group may not have attended.
• One new generation missionary couple told me that even when, the initial commitment is on a "prayer letter" level, often-times financial support develops down the road.
• Another new generation missionary told me that the concept of partnership is powerful-it is just that the missionaries are on-site whereas we are at home base, participating by praying or sending money, cards or supplies.
• Parents supporting their teens or peer teens in Youth Mission International programs (a division of MBMSI) can also awaken mission curiosity.
All in all, I think I've begotten a missionary supporter. Regardless of our reason for supporting missionaries, Nicole and I still have a common focus. We agree that we'll probably never learn another language, live in a developing country or go out raising financial support. We like hot showers and dislike cockroaches. But we are eager to identify a place for our family to take a vacation aka missionary journey. We want to know how our missionaries live and what they do in the field. We want to know what they need and how we can help. For us, missionaries are more than dots on a map or pictures on the refrigerator, for we are all part of the same team-we just live at home base .•
Naomi Gaede Penner is a teacher and writer. Her book, Prescription for Adventure: Bush Pilot Doctor, details her father's flying, hunting and medical adventures. Penner is a Tabor College alumnus and holds a masters degree in counselingfrom Denver Seminary. She is returning to Colorado after spending time on the family homestead outside of Soldotna,Alaska.
MBMSI strives to meet a new generation
Today's 20 and 30-something generation tends to think in terms of relationships rather than mandates when it comes to missions. This has spurred MBMS International to look for ways to help motivate people to become missionary supporters.
"It is all about relationships with this new generation," says Ron Penner, personnel services director at MBMSI, the mission agency for North American MB churches. "So, we have begun to change how we do things here at MBMSI."
In the past, MB churches sent money to missions in general. "The people in the churches felt a loyalty to MBMSI based ona sense of ownership and pride in the missions program we had," says Penner.
Recently, MBMSI shifted its strategy to develop a more personalized approach between the missionary and supporter, says Dale Warkentin, director for constituency ministries.
Today, MBMSI offers a number of services in order to help build support from the current generation. Some of these include:
• Challenging churches and individuals to adopt a specific missionary through Missionary Options. This program gives churches and individual supporters a chance to involve themselves more personally in the lives of missionaries. Prayer needs are shared. Visits are exchanged. Missionariesspend additional time at the church that adopted them, and some churches send representatives to visit missionaries on-site. Churches designate a portion of their M8MSI donations to support their adopted missionary.
• Giving people the option to give designated gifts for specific projects, countries or missionaries.
• Encouraging people to communicate with missionaries bye-mail.
• Encouraging people to visit the missionaries on-site.
• Doubling missionaries' "Ministry in North America" from two months to four months every three years during what used to be referred to as "furlough" so they can build more and stronger relationships.
• Offering more short-term opportunities for youth and retirees. Penner reports that those who have been with Youth Mission International (short-term mission program for youth operated through MBMSI) or some short-term ministry tend to be open to future ministry. "Of the seven potential candidates for Team 2000 (see below), six have been with YMI and the other did a short-term assignment with MBMSI."
• Team 2000, an upcoming MBMSllong-term mission team to Thailand made up of people in their 20s and 30s, is being uniquely designed to involve the younger North American generation intimately in the life of the team of missionaries through ongoing relationships via e-mail, letters, video updates and personalized prayer and financial support.
• Hiring regional Mission Mobilizers who form relationships with the pastors and leaders of local churches and put a personal face on MBMSI in their region. Their work also enables missionaries10 spend more time ministering overseas.-NGP
There's a revolution afoot. Today, many are realizing that every person-man, woman and child-is a minister of Christ. Has the revolution reached your church yet?
BY EDDY HALL AND GARY MORSCH
In the 19508, Elton Trueblood wrote in Your Other Vocation, "If the average church should suddenly take seriously the notion that every laymember-man or woman-is really a minister of Christ, we could have something like a revolution in a ·very short time." Today a growing number of churches are experiencing this revolution. But in most churches, many members still don't see themselves as ministers.
What is keeping Trueblood's revolution from sweeping through all our churches?
For centuries, the church has divided Christians into two distinct groups-the ministers (clergy) and those ministered to (laity). This division has been maintained by four ministry myths-unbiblical
t· "....
.."",
beliefs about ministry that have shaped how
most Christians approach ministry. Before the revolution can come to your church, these ministry myths must be exposed and .... corrected . •
Ml'TH #1: MINISTRY IS JUST FOR
"MINISTERS."
God calls certain people to church leadership, and their role is essential. But, in describing the call of leaders, Scripture doesn't single them out as the "ministers." Rather, it emphasizes the ministry of all believers: "The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Eph. 4:11-12).
Our friend Mark knew that all Christians were called to minister, but he bought into the version of this myth that says that God can best use those in professional \ ,ffilnl'ttr. Wandng Goo', best, he qnit
his job, went to seminary, then joined a church staff.
In his new job, Mark quickly discovered that his gift was not administration. "I'm most effective in one-on-one ministry," he explains. "And rather than coordinating existing ministries, I'd rather be bringing new people in. I thought joining a church staff would give me more freedom, but in reality it limited how much time I could spend doing what I do best." Even though he knew some people would think he was settling for "God's second best," Mark resigned from the church staff and went into insurance"
"Though I didn't realize it when I started," Mark says, "insurance is a perfect job for someone who wants to work with hurting people. Whenever a client loses a spouse, I get a phone call. When any of my clients divorce, they come to me to change their insurance papers. And whenever one of them has a car accident, a fire or a serious illness covered by insurance, the client comes to see me. Just a few weeks ago I told my wife that I've never before felt God using me in ministry like I have lately."
Only when Mark understood that God could use him more effectively in the business world than on church staff was God able to put Mark's ministry gifts to fullest use.
MYTH #2: MINISTRY REFERS ONLY TO MEETING SI)IRITUAL NEEDS.
When I (Eddy) was in college, sometimes on Sunday afternoons I would go to a park with a few friends and we would approach strangers with The Four Spiritual Laws, a booklet that explains how to become a Christian. A half dozen or so of the people I talked to prayed the sinner's prayer. One even came to church afterward for a few months.
In time, however, I grew uneasy with this coldturkey witnessing. For one thing, I saw little evidence that it was leading to changed lives. But part of my discomfort, I believe, grew out of my own changing relationship with God. Nurtured by my pastor's sermons, I was seeing God less as a stern judge and more as a loving Father. I was beginning to realize that God was not only concerned about my getting to heaven; he also cared about my joys and pains, my hopes and fears. God didn't care only about my soul-he cared about me.
The more I experienced God's love, the clearer it became that I was not treating the people in the park the way God treated me. I was treating them as objects-as trophies to be won-not as people to be loved.
Somehow I had gotten the idea that ministry involved meeting only-or at least primarily-spiritual needs. Witnessing, preaching, Bible teaching, leading worship-this was ministry. But feeding the
hungry? Visiting the sick? They were nice things to do, I would have said, but hardly ministry.
But as love replaced law as my motivation for ministry, I started seeing people through new eyes. I became less concerned with persuading others to do the right thing and more interested in helping them. Ministry, I realized, had to be concerned not just with spiritual needs, but with the needs of the whole person. Love doesn't limit itself to caring about one kind of need.
When people believe ministry is restricted to meeting spiritual needs, those God has called to meet physical or social needs may feel like they have no ministry. When this myth is exploded, these people can find their places in the body of Christ.
MYTH #3: MOST MINISTRY 'UKES PLACE WHEN THE CHURCH IS GATHERED.
In some ways the church is like a sales team. When the team meets, its members may celebrate accomplishments. Sales managers may inspire and motivate the team, give them a vision of what is possible, and provide training. Group members encourage one another. Now what would you think of that sales team if, upon leaving the meeting, the members make little effort to sell? Would you suspect they missed the point of the meeting?
We in the church are not a sales team but a ministry team, yet we gather for many of the same reasons--to celebrate, to expand our vision, to be inspired to fulfill our mission, to give and receive encouragement, and to become equipped for ministry. If then, at the end of our gathering, we go out into the world but make little attempt to minister, what does that suggest?
Unless we minister as the church scattered the rest of the week, we've missed one of the main points of coming together. As we heard one pastor say, "The church is most the church when the sanctuary is empty."
MYTH #4: SOME CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED TO DO SECULAR WORK.
Precision Histology is a medical laboratory in Oklahoma City which prepares microscope slides of tissues from which doctors diagnose patients' illnesses. As the world measures success, Precision Histology has not made much of a splash. For the first few years, owner Jan Lundy had to reinvest all her earnings into the company to buy equipment. Today she earns only a modest wage, but that's okay with Jan because Precision Histology is succeeding at what it was created to do.
"From the beginning, our main purpose has been to help people," Jan explains. This happens in vari-
IF GO)) DIRECTS SOMEONE
TO BE AN AUTO IIECDANIC, IT IS OODCAN BElTER USE TDA'r TO HEE'r NEEDS AS ANAUTO IIECDANIC TDAN ASA PASTOIlOR IIISSIONAllY.
ous ways. Jan hired lab technicians with little technical skill and gave them on-the-job training. Often these were mothers from low-income families who lacked the resources to pay for formal training. One technician she hired was already trained but recovering from drug addiction and physically unable to go back to work in the hospital. Jan made it possible for employees to keep their children with them at work by providing a play area and, when necessary, hiring a child-care worker at no cost to the mothers.
The lab has prepared slides at no charge for three local nonprofit clinics serving low-income patients. But, at its most basic, the lab ministers through the services it is paid to provide. As the company name implies, Jan insists upon work of the highest quality. "I treat each slide as though it is for a member of my own family," Jan says. "After all, each one is for somebody's mother, brother, or sister. Doctors need to be able to interpret slides easily and accurately. If my slides enable them to do that, I am ministering to the patients whether they know it or not."
The world says there are two kinds of worksacred and secular. The dictionary defines secular as "not holy" or "not sacred." But the Bible tells us that we are to do everything-even eating and drinking-to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). For the Christian, every activity is to be sacred.
H God directs someone to be an auto mechanic, it is because God can better use that person to meet needs as an auto mechanic than as a pastor or missionary. Every Christian is called to full-time Christian ministry. Any Christian can transform a legitimate "secular" job into a ministry by approaching that job with a commitment to meeting people's needs as an expression of God's love.
God doesn't call anyone to do "secular" (unholy) work. He calls us all to bring honor to God and to
minister to people's needs through whatever work we do.
READY TO JOIN?
Once our understanding of ministry is broad enough, we can discover which particular part of Christ's mission God is calling us to do. Two invaluable clues to that call are pain and joy:
• Pain: where do you mourn with Jesus for the pain in the world?
• Joy: what would bring you joy in that painful situation?
When you can answer those questions, you have probably found your call. In Wishful1binking: A 1beological ABC, Frederick Buechner says, "The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."
Once the church explodes these four ministry myths, helps members identify their calls to ministry and then supports them in creatively fulfilling those calls, we will-as Trueblood predicted-experience something like a revolution in a very short time.
In fact, the revolution has already begun. Has it come to your church yet?
•
Adapted with permission from The Lay Ministry Revolution: How You Can Join by Eddy Hall and Gary Morsch (Baker Books), a tool for implementing these concepts in congregations. Eddy Hall of Goessel, Kan., is a church consultant who helps churches maximize their ministries through integrated strategic planning of ministries, staffing, facilities, and finances. Gary Morsch, MD., of Olathe, Kan., is chairman of Heart to Heart International, a volunteer organization that mobilizes community resources to alleviate world suffering.
We believe the good news of God's salvation in Jesus Christ is for all people. Christ commands the church to make disciples of all nations by calling people to repent, and by baptizing and teaching them to obey Jesus. Jesus teaches that disciples are to love God and neighbor by telling the good news and by doing acts of love and compassion
The Holy Spirit empowers every Christian to witness to God's salvation. The church as a body witnesses to God's reign in the world. By its life as a redeemed and separated community the church reveals God's saving purposes to the world. If you would like a copy of the Confession of Faith of the General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, see www.mbconf.calfaithlifelconfessionl or contactKindred Productions at www.mbconf.orglkindred.htm or 1-800-545-7322.
helping kids become agents of God's love 4iii
THERE I WAS, just a young girl sitting in the back seat of a 1970 Plymouth Duster, leaning forward to eavesdrop on my older sister's conversation in the front seat.
I strained to hear every word as my sister's friend, Janet, described missionary life. Tales of smuggling Bibles in suitcases behind the Iron Curtain and being arrested by the KGB sounded more like an espionage movie than missionary work. Sign me up! I thought. But then another thought followed: I'm just a kid. I can't do anything now. I'll have to wait. I was wrong.
We tend to underestimate the spiritual abilities of children. And who can blame us? In an age where kids go from watching Barney to piercing their bellybuttons, we wonder how God can possibly use children to spread the Good News.
It's even harder to imagine our own children as "called" or "anointed" to do God's work when we can't even get them to sit still for nightly prayers. But God does not limit his calling to adults.
In Scripture, God has used children to fulfill his plans. Samuel as a young boy was trained to hear and obey God's voice. While sleeping in the temple, he hears God speak to him in the night. God entrusts Samuel to tell Eli-the man he loved like a father-that, since he did not correct his sons, they would die, and Samuel would become the leader. What a message to entrust to a child, but God did just that.
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the children began praising him. The Pharisees wanted them
MISSIONS
Missions secret servaids can accomplish
As secret servants, kids begin to unlock the gifts God has deposited in them and discover the action and excitement of being a Christian. Here are some ways children can serve from home.
• Surprise a neighbor on a snowy day-shovel their sidewalks.
• Gather unused toys and old c10tbes to have a yard sale. Give all proceeds to a missionary from your church.
•Make soup for a sick friend or family member.
• Adopt-your-block by picking up litter and cleaning any graffiti off walls and signs.
• If you have a computer with a connection to the Internet, sign on to a chat room for kids and tell others about Jesus.
• In the fall, rake the leaves in a neighbor's yard. "leaf" a neighborfeeling "special."
• Organize a minifood drive inyour neighborhood. Collect canned and dried foods for a local food bank.
• Take pictures of friends and hang them on the refrigerator. Each time you open the door, pray for them.
• Teach a young child to read using a beginner's Bible.
• Penny for your thoughts? Place a bowl in the center of the table where your family eats. Ask everyone in the family to contribute a penny (or more) each time they wanNQ talk during the meal. At the end of the week, take your collection of .coins to church to give as an offering for missions.
• Have a dessert night for a missionary from your church. Invite frjends, family and neighbors to come and learn about missions. serve ice cream or "makeyour-own-sundae" and share with your friends how they can become involved in fulfilling the Great Commission. Take up an offering during the evening and give it to the missionary.
• Offer to clean a neighbor's car windows for any donation (Be sure to have your neighbor's permission before starting.) Give the money you collect to a charity.
• Have a slumber party with your friends from school. Play Christian music and videos for fun. Share with them about your faith in God.
• Use holidays as an opportunity to share the Good News:
'" On Valentine's Day, give valentine cards away signed "love, God."
'" In March, find some three leaf clovers to describe God as the trinity (three persons in one).
'" At Easter, have a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Hide plastic eggs filled with candy and Scriptures written on small slips of paper.
'" Give candy canes out at Christmas time. Tell friends and neighbors the shape" J" stands for Jesus. The red color candy represents the blood of Jesus, while the white is how it cleanses our sins away.-RT
kept quiet, but Jesus said, "Have you never read, 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?" (Matt. 21:15-17). The Holy Spirit revealed to the children that Jesus was the Messiah. Today, our children might not be ready to smuggle Bibles into closed countries, but they are more than ready to act as missionaries in their own communities. I know because I've seen my own children reach out to their friends and neighbors with a confidence and purity not often seen in even the most spiritually mature adults. And they've done it byacting as God's very own secret servants.
Spies like us
Our family lives in an apartment, so we see lots of people each day. When we first moved in, the kids and I realized that there were all kinds of ways we could reach out to our neighbors. But we didn't want to just go knocking on doors. Instead we want-
ed to find ways to really help people and meet their needs. This meant conducting a little spy work.
First, the children got our neighbors' names off the mailboxes and prayed for them. Then we watched and listened. Who had small children or babies? Who lived alone? Which people listened to rock music or watched sports? What languages did they speak (several nations were represented in our building)? Knowing these things helped us to know how to minister to each person.
For example, one family had a new baby. Everyone in the building knew this, since the baby cried all the time. On my next trip to the grocery store, I picked up a can of baby formula to give to the mother. When the kids and I delivered the formula, the mother was extremely grateful that someone cared. We made a point of occasionally giving her baby food. Through this small gesture, she knew we cared about her.
When visiting a Christian bookstore, the children found a Bible tract and gift to suit a single man living upstairs who loved sports. (We heard every sports broadcast through the screened windows.) Other neighbors who didn't speak English received Bible tracts in Spanish or Creole. For families with children, we bought small toys. In prayer, we sensed God directing us in each step.
Mission accomplished.
While ministering in our neighborhood, God taught our family some important lessons.
• Neighbors were more open to our gifts and words when our children offered them. Taking a Bible tract from a child's hand was less threatening. In fact, no one refused it. (Who can say no to such sweet faces?)
• The children spoke the truth without fear of what others might think. Let's face it, children tell it like it is. Most of us have experienced an embarrassing moment at one time or another-when little Amanda announces that Aunt Bessie's teeth are falling out or that Uncle Ernie's breath stinks. But on the flip side of those moments are the times when children's lack of pretense makes them the perfect messengers for God's truth. In offering tracts or other gifts of a spiritual nature, our children shared the Gospel without hesitation.
ful to God for it .
• The simplicity and purity of the children's prayers proved that God can use children to fulfill his Great Commission. Without the fancy words, my children prayed daily for our neighbors and our community and souls were saved as a result.
Children don't have to wait until adulthood to answer God's call. And they don't have to travel around the world to act as missionaries. People in need aren't only hidden behind walls of stone and barbed wire, but are living behind the chain-link fences of our neighborhoods. God is ready to use the unique gifts he's given our children. It's up to us to help them find ways to do just that .•
Rebecca Totilo is a former missionary as well as an author and homeschooling mother offour. She lives with her family in Miami, Florida. This article first appeared in Christian Parenting Today.
• Our children developed a deeper love for God through serving others and discovered a world of needs far greater than their own. When they made sandwiches and fed the homeless people on the street corners, they were confronted with physical evidence of how much they had. My children realized how blessed they were and, in turn, were grateOur children developed deeper love for God through serving others and discovered a of need far greater than their
My "dream house"
BY ESTHER JOST
DUring a discussion in our Sunday school class, we were asked to describe our vision of the ideal church in9uding the description of the building and the people with whom we would share our "dream house." Our lesson, based on Luke 2:22-40, told about Simeon and Anna's faithfulness to the covenant with God enabling them to recognize God's new revelation in Jesus. Because of their joy in God's salvation, they were eager to share the covenant and promise with everyone.
The discussion began with the sharing of our earliest memories of church experiences. My memories were of a loving motherly Sunday school teacher at the Gnadenau Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Church, a little country church where I worshiped the first 21 years of my life. Built in 1874 by Russian immigrants from Crimea under the leadership of my great uncle Jacob Wiebe, it was one of the first buildings in the Gnadenau Village. When as an adolescent I accepted Christ as my Savior and asked for baptism, the warmth and love of the congregation engulfed me as they welcomed me as a member of the church.
Yet all was not perfect. Although love for Christ and others was of prime importance and practiced by the church, those who were handicapped in various ways or lacked talents in certain areas felt excluded at times from activities. We were also a church of mainly rural "white" people, and stories of other races and nationalities came to us only through missionaries. I don't know what our feelings would have been if people of color had lived among us and asked to become members of our church.
After college and marriage, I joined the Mennonite Brethren church. New assignments and joys took my husband and me to various parts of the country,
Forum is a column of opinion and comment on contemporary issues facing the Mennonite Brethren Church. Manuscripts expressing an opinion for Forum should aim for a length of 800 words. Authors must sign articles, identify their church home and vocation, and include a clear photo of themselves.
Esther Jost is a member of the Reedley Mennonite Brethren Church, where she served as a historian. When she and her late husband, Arthur Jost, retired, they moved to Ohio and became associate members of the Columbus Mennonite Church. The two served with Mennonite Central Committee and various other Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren organizations. Esther also served as editor for 75 Years of Fellowship, a publication of the Pacific District Conference.
and we worshiped in other churches, eventually getting back to the communi· ty and church where we were members. Some of the same issues that brought uneasiness to me as an adolescent also were present there. Issues of gender, race and aging also began to surface. Although progress has been made to rectify some of the problems, many of these same issues are contemporary and need to be addressed today by our MB churches as well as churches of other denominations.
Breaking the age barrier
In the church where I was a member during my youth, there were relatively few persons who reached the age of 70. We were a stable farming community, and when necessary, extended families shared their homes.
When people began to move to towns and dties, living conditions often became cramped so that there was room only for one family. During the early 1940s, several of our churches addressed the aging issue by building "homes for the aged" and later retirement villages and care homes. Although necessary and welcome, these facilities were conven· ient for the church and often caused the church to sever ties with the older generation. The elderly were well taken care of and could have their own "church services" where they resided.
The Statistical Abstract of the U. S. 1998 shows there are approximately 18.5 million people from ages 65-74 and 11.7 million from ages 75-84 in the U.S. Many older persons have retired from responsible positions and continue to have gifts to share that could benefit the church, the conference and the community. Agipg is an issue which needs and is getting attention by various organizations including the church.
In my "dream church," I visualize many
intergenerational activities including Sunday school classes, Bible studies, small group clusters, recreational activities and volunteering services both in the home church and in the conference. Although in many situations partidpation in group activities needs to be defined by age, several elective Sunday school classes could be offered where young and old together could explore Bible passages. The older person could hear the concerns of the high school student, and the younger person could gain insight about the problems facing the elderly.
Small groups could include a young married couple, a "baby boomer" cou· pIe, another couple past retirement age and several single persons. This group could meet once or twice a month for a meal and fellowship discussing current issues including those church-related. Communication is a good leveler of age, race and gender.
Volunteering for church, conference or community organizations is another area where younger and older persons could work together. This is happening to some extent with various Mennonite Central Committee projects (including the thrift and gift shops), disaster services and church and conference outreach projects. More could be done in this area as our concern and love for our neighbor becomes a way of life for us. Breaking the age barrier and working together seems to be more easily attained in the small church where each one is needed to carry on the ministry.
In my "dream house" I see the gifts of each member being used to their fullest potential. Like Simeon and Anna, our faithfulness to the covenant with God would enable us to recognize God's new revelation in Jesus. Because of our joy in God's salvation, we would be eager to share the covenant and the promise with everyone .•
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Mennonite Brethren Foundation Staff: (front row, left to right) Kim Kroeker, shawna Vogt, Donna Sullivan; (back row) Lynford Becker, Ross Merritt, Jon Wiebe, Dale Regier
BY PHILIP WIEBE
Where's the joy?
Devotional endeavors can seem more painful than joyful these days. Of course, hard work is involved, but if there's no JoY something is seriously amiss.
Asa writer who has tended to specialize in humorous articles and stories over the years, I have a long history of admonishing others to "lighten up." Unfortunately I haven't always taken my own advice. While encouraging readers to smile through life's messes and stresses, I've done my own share of frowning. Apparently this isn't uncommon among humorist-types. In trying to help others laugh a little, we also address the gloomy tendencies in ourselves.
I've been thinking about this in view of a recent chaUenge to lighten up in my spiritual life. Not to take it less seriously, I mean, but to rediscover the joy in it. Like many believers, I tend at times to think of daily devotions as a duty or even a chore. And while it's good to approach devotions dutifully, as an essential need and responsibility, it's not so good to merely go through the motions. Something would surely be wrong, for instance, if I considered relating to my wife as primarily a burden rather than a privilege. The same goes for knowing God and growing in faithfulness. Of course hard work is involved, but if there's no joy, something is seriously amiss.
There are several reasons that devotional endeavors can often seem more painful than joyful these days. First, it can simply be hard to make time. With all the pressing work, family, church, and other responsibilities, creating meaningful space for daily reflection and prayer can seem like the ultimate challenge. In our age of distractions, it's hard to find time to focus undistractedly on God.
That leads to a second difficulty of modem devotions-they take patience and dedication in a culture that is
decidedly short on these qualities. Dwelling in Scripture, listening for God's voice, and praying for others demand long-term commitment and perseverance. These aren't easy characteristics to develop in a society with a short attention span.
A third obstacle to a joyful devotional life is the modem definition of happiness. All the media messages tell us that happiness is found in leisure, luxury, wealth, freedom from responsibility. This sounds quite the opposite of Paul's urging to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (phil. 2:12) or Jesus' invitation to "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me" (Matt. 11:29).
Yet both of these statements point to joyful results. "It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose," Paul adds in his words to the Philippian church (2:13). In his invitation to learn and grow, Jesus continues, "for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matt 11:29).
Other words of Scripture testify to the joy of devotion. The psalmists routinely expressed pleasure in the keeping of God's words and ways: "Happy are those who fear the Lord, who greatly delight in his commandments" (112: 1). Jesus echoed this when telling his disciples, "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:10-11). In his first letter to the early believers, John gave this reason for admonishing them to live holy lives in faithfulness to God: "We write this to
make our joy complete" (1:4). These words have challenged me to find more joy in my devotional life, as have some sparkling reflections I recently came across from Francis de Sales, a Jesuit of the late 16th to early 17th century. He speaks of devotion in terms of seeking God and serving others: seeking through prayer, fasting, simplicity of lifestyle, enduring in persecution; serving with gifts to the poor, care for the sick, denial of self, love for enemies. One doesn't automatically think of these as "happy" things to do. Francis writes, in fact, that the world (not to mention many Christians) might describe such behavior as "gloomy" and "sullen" and "rigorous." Yet Francis claims, rather astonishingly, that "heartfelt inward devotion renders all such actions as pleasant, sweet, and easy for it removes bitterness from discipline and anything harmful from our consolations. From the poor it takes away discontent, care from the rich, grief from the oppressed, pride from the exalted, melancholy from the solitary, and fracturedness from those who live in society. It serves with equal benefit as fire in winter and dew in summer. It knows how to use prosperity and how to endure want. It makes both honor and contempt useful to us.It accepts pleasure and pain with a heart that is nearly always the same, and it fills us with a marvelous sweetness."
Quite honestly, this is not the kind of joy I normally find in my morning devotions or daily devotion. So this month I'm going to take a break from encouraging readers to lighten up, smile, see the bright side, enjoy serving God and others. First I need to take some time to do these things myself.
INQLlJRING MINDS
BY MARVIN HEIN
QWas there ever an occasion where the apostle Paul admitted he was wrong? Did he indeed not do wrong or make mistakes? (Minnesota)
AThis Minnesota inquirer wrote, "I have never read in scripture that the apostle Paul ever admitted he was wrong once he was a believer. Why might that be?" My first response is to think that even the apostle wasn't any keener to catalog his faults than most of us. I doubt that an absence of admissions of wrongdoing necessarily means that Paul lived a perfect life after his conversion. With his aggressive nature, which he didn't lose when he had the Damascus road experience, he surely committed sins both of omission and commission.
Upon further reflection, I recall that in 2 Tim. 4:11 Paul told his friend, Timothy, that he should send Mark to him. "Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me." I would think that in an indirect way Paul is admitting he had made a mistake in the past. In Acts 15 we read about Paul's plan to revisit cities where he had previously preached the word of the Lord, and then we read, "Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not shared in their work. Their disagreement over this was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus. Paul chose Silas " (37-40).
It does not seem to me to be a stretch of the imagination to conclude from these words that, whereas Paul found Mark unuseful at one time, he had changed his mind and now figured Mark could be quite beneficial to his ministry. That certainly smacks of a change of mind that admits an error of judgment earlier.
I think we would be in error if we concluded from an absence of many detailed failures on Paul's part that he
never sinned after conversion. He was, indeed, a man of passion, a leader who made many decisions and, at times, must have regretted times of poor judgment and/or actions.
In any event, that would not nullify nor negate my high esteem for the apostle. My personal view is that the more responsibility thrust upon believers asleaders, the more the possibilities for error. This must be why the Bible is so careful in detailing the requirements of good character for those who assume Christian leadership in the church. But even those with sterling characters will sin. I'm confident Paul was no exception.
QWhat are we to conclude when a biblical writer tells us he doesn't have a wordfrom the Lord, but he voices his personal opinion nevertheless? (Kansas)
AThe question posed here comes from passages like the one in 1 Cor. 7 where Paul says: "Now, for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband" (10). Then just two verses later he writes: "Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a Christian man has an unbeliever " (12).
The questions behind the inquirer's question probably are: "Are all of Paul's words inspired? Are some not inspired but purely private opinions? Are some words of Paul more inspired than others?"
An admittedly quick perusal of a good many commentaries reveals that more often than not the scholars avoid the question at hand. Clarence Tucker, an eminent New Testament scholar in the past, said in the Interpreter's Bible: "Paul, unlike others in his day and certainly since then, is ever careful not to invoke the authority of Jesus for what he feels is an expression of his own personal point of view."
Have a question about a Bible passage, doctrine, conference poltcy, or other spiritual issue? E-mail Marvin at mhein1@fresno.edu or send your question to "Inquiring Minds," c/o Marvin Hein, 4812 E. Butler, Fresno, CA 93727.
But does this mean his personal expression is less inspired than others?
Paul lived in a day when the words of Jesus were not readily available. There was no "red letter" edition of the Bible to indicate which words were direct quotes of Jesus. In fact, there was no Bible. There may have been some writings floating around among the churches, but for the most part Jesus' teachings were passed on by what we call "oral tradition." Believers just kept passing on what they had heard Jesus say. After some time, of course, they had to repeat what they had heard others say Jesus said.
I'm frankly not bothered by Paul distinguishing between Christ's commands and his own personal opinions. Obviously Paul had some ideas that came directly from Jesus. In other cases, he did not. But I believe that the Word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit. And if that is so, then I can also believe that ifwe have the words of 1 Cor. 7, it makes little difference if Paul could quote Jesus' words or if he uttered his own. The Holy Spirit would not bring into the sacred writings words that are not inspired. The totality of the Word has been given to us by the divine working of the Holy Spirit. I will not seek to separate what might be "second-class" inspiration from what is most genuine. If the words were not inspired, the Holy Spirit would have prevented them from coming into the Bible.
BY ROSE BUSCHMAN
Ever heard of Pokemon?
Is it just another craze? Or is there something we should be worried about?
Ever heard of Pokemon? If you are "with it" or if you have elementary age children you probably have. However, if you have never heard the word before or are very vague about it, don't feel bad. You are just where I was several months ago.
I was in a store one day looking for some puzzles that I could use in the after school program I volunteer at, when I came upon a Pokemon puzzle. Knowing that elementary school kids are into Pokemon, I bought one. However, after taking a good look at the piehue, I became suspicious and started asking questions. What is Pokemon? What's behind it? Is it good, evil or just innocent fun? The adults I asked didn't seem to know.
Then Time magazine did a cover story (Nov. 22, 1999) announcing, "Pokemon! For many kids it's now an addiction: cards, video games, toys, a new movie. Is it bad for them?" A friend e-mailed me a copy of Chuck Colson's Breakpoint Commentary (Dec. 9, 1999) entitled "Gotta Catch Em All!: The Pokemon Craze."
Next, I searched the Internet and found more Web sites than I'd ever want to visit, containing everything from codes for various Pokemon games, cheating hints, tips, shopping sites (with over 6,700 Pokemon listings) and computer auctions (with over 43,000 Pokemon collectibles) to places where I could play the new games. Eventually I logged on to Focus on the Family's "Plugged In" section and printed out a six page synopsis of their thoughts about Pokemon.
Local newspaper ads let me know that I could buy Pokemon valentine cards, key chains, necklaces, pendants, coloring books, video games and even a Pokemon monopoly game. In a local
department store I found Pokemon fabric and patterns for making tote bags, floor pillows, game caddies and wall hangings. Just today I saw some Pokemon bubble gum.
For those of you who are not yet initiated into the phenomenon, the word Pokemon comes from the Japanese and means "pocket monster". The game is full of electronic creatures, more than 150 of them, which have cute names but do violent acts such as: "Pikachu" who electrocutes his opponents, "Rattata" uses his fangs as weapons and "Ghastly" is a smoke plume that gasses his rivals. These electronic monsters are captured and trained to fight by Pokemon trainers who compete with each other to become masters. With the right kind of manipulation these creatures evolve into higher forms. They never die. When they lose a battle, they just faint and are out of play.
Pokemon has only been around for three years, but due to aggressive marketing-bypassing parents and aiming directly at the kids-is now a five billion dollar industry. More than 12 million video games were sold in 1999. It started out in Japan as a Game Boy game and spread quickly worldwide to video games, a movie, a 1V series, trading cards and everything else.
Is the Pokemon craze just an innocent fad? Some claim it is educational and encourages reading (the cards), critical thinking and problem solving (how to beat your enemy) and social interaction (trading the cards). Others wonder if there is something more negative about it. Time calls it an addiction. So does Chuck Colson. Because it contains mild violence some worry that this can lead to more violent games. Some have raised the question of whether there are
occult connections. Children do play with supernatural powers. A real concern appears to be that the Pokemon obsession can become a stepping stone to games which do contain demonic possession, sorcery and black magic. Some children have become violent in their efforts to get prized trading cards. There are newspaper reports of students attacking other students, numerous robberies and even a stabbing-all in an effort to get certain cards. For the record, not all children are into this craze. I have talked to some who say the whole thing is crazy and they want no part of it.
I am very concerned with the theology children are learning. Children who are into this are exposed to covetousness in a big way. The whole point of Pokemon fever is to get more and more stuff. Focus on the Family tells the story of one mother who said that while her young son saved his own money to buy a Game Boy, they soon realized that they were spending $200 a week on trading cards and other collectibles. The Bible says, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:21). This doesn't just apply to adults. It also applies to children.
What kind of theology is it when children learn that evil triumphs- over good? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Or what about the special powers these monsters have? Do they overshadow the power of God? Or what about children learning to cheat in order to win?
Frankly, I'm not convinced that this craze is just an innocent fad.
What is a Christian parent to do? My advice is to begin by listening to your children. Ask questions. Have them tell you what the monsters mean and what they can do. See for yourself what your children are into. Focus on the Family suggests that parents watch for obsessive behavior which is a sign of addiction. Chuck Colson suggests that parents limit the amount of time and money children on Pokemon. Together parentS"and children need to look at what is happening to them. It is from these kinds of stories and activities that children develop the moral values they will live by as adults.
Opening church doors in a new country
• Slavic MB pastor talks about the challenges a congregation of recent immigrants to America face-from finding a church building to living holy and biblical lives.
"0ur church is led by the Holy Spirit. We are Spirit-filled and Spirit-led," says Nikolay Gelis, pastor of Immanuel Evangelical Slavic Church located in the Sacramento area of California. Though Gelis' soft-spoken Russian is translated through interpreter and son-in-law Alex Pekun, his conviction is clear and unmistakable.
Finding a home in Sacramento Gelis' description of Immanuel Evangelical is right on the mark.
Spirit-filled describes the four-hour Jan. 16 service to dedicate the congregation's newly acquired facilities. Immanuel was officially accepted into the Pacific District Conference dUring the district convention last November.
Over 600 men, women and children filled the sanctuary, spilling out the back doors of the church and standing in the aisles and doorways. Most were Russian immigrants, both from Sacramento as well as other Slavic congregations throughout the Pacific Northwest. Hands were lifted to heaven and a sea of voices reverberated through the building with prayers and praises raised to God. A choir filled the sanctuary with songs sung in Russian-from reverent requiems to foot-tapping folk.
Spirit-led is a good description of the congregation's search for this permanent meeting place.
Immanuel Evangelical had its start in December 1996 with just 30 people. They met in homes for six months until they grew large enough to rent a facility. Today, Sunday morning attendance has grown to 400 including children, says Gelis.
Almost all of those attending Immanuel Evangelical are recent immigrants-most have lived in the U.S. for only three or four
Glittering silver letters strung across a mural painted on the wall at the front of the church declare in Russian, "Lord, have your eyes upon this church
years. The majority are in their 405 and 50s, though there are many elderly and young people, says Gelis.
The congregation was only three years old when it decided to purchase a building-which was a struggle.
The difficulties stemmed from funds, says Gelis. ''We don't have much money," he explains through Pekun. "But we had a revelation from God that it was his will to have this church. We had the faith."
Another Slavic congregation previouslyowned the $1.2 million North Highlands property. Gelis' congregation raised the money for the down payment in a few months, but they couldn't see how they would raise the rest. "The bank wouldn't loan us the money," says Gelis, explaining that the congregation did not have any credit.
''We kept on in prayer," says Gelis. ''We did not see a bright future It looked like it was impossible to accomplish."
Then they started working with Loyal Funk, minister for the U.S. Conference and director of Integrated Ministries,
which has been instrumental in planting and integrating over 50 congregations into the conference. The ministry works primarily with new immigrant groups, including Slavic, Ethiopian and Asian congregations.
Through Funk, Gelis and the congregation ended up securing a loan through the MB Foundation.
"God worked through the Mennonite Brethren," says Gelis with conviction. ''We strongly believe the Mennonite Brethren were the will of God for us. He showed us the way. He led us to join them." Gelis then smiles. "The congregation is very happy."
WhyMB?
Gelis first heard of MBs in 1994 from an old friend he knew in Russia-Nicolay Michalchuk, pastor of the Slavic Evangelical Church, an MB church in Fairview, Ore. ''We heard many good reports," says Gelis.
Picking a denomination was a serious decision for the congregation, and the opinion of other churches was impor-
SPECIAL FEKfURE: A CLOSER LOOK
Choir members (left) sang in celebration and several Slavic preachers-such as the church pastor Nikolay Gelis (right)-spoke during the Jan. 16 service to dedicate the facilities of the Immanuel Evangelical Slavic Church.
The primary language spoken during the four hour dedication service, like the church services, was Russian. Most of those attending were members of Immanuel Evangelical and other Slavic MB churches in the Pacific Northwest. though English-speaking representatives from local and West Coast MB churches attended as well. At one point, Alex Pekun (left) translated into English the words of thanks and praise spoken in Russian by pastor Nikolay Gelis (right)
tanto "There are a whole lot of denominations in America," says Gelis. "Some, they preach the biblical lifestyle. Others aren't so biblical. We were afraid to be involved with those kinds."
The Immanuel Evangelical congregation values the lifestyle, strong organization, doctrine and the way the gospel is preached by MBs.
"Most of the Slavic congregations were independent churches looking for accountability," says Funk. "They have a warm affinity for the MB denomination They like our confession of faith."
The fact that MBs got their start in the Ukraine in the late 1800s didn't hurt either. "That was an attraction," says Gelis, smiling.
To live holy lives
Members of Immanuel Evangelical face the normal struggles of immigrants-learning a new language, finding housing and jobs, etc. Many are working while attending school. Most have a high school education and are now seeking higher education.
(Below) The dedication service was marked by prayer and celebration. Music ranged from reverent requiems to gospel and modern Christian songs. Members stood, kneeled, or raised their hands to heaven as they spoke individual prayers out loud at the same time during prayer.
But they also face spiritual challenges.
"Our biggest challenge is to be separated from the world. I don't mean to live as separate communities," Gelis says, shaking his head. "I mean to live in the cities but to separate ourselves biblically."
That struggle is not so different from other North American congregations. But Gelis and his congregation see that struggle from a different perspective.
"In Russia, the problem was lack of freedom. Here, we have the problem of freedom itself," Gelis says.
"Russia had its difficulties. We did not have the freedom to preach, worship or get together. We could not express our teachings, faith and beliefs. We could not have higher education because we were Christians. We could not establish Bible schools."
Gelis' life in Russia illustrates the difficulties they faced. In Krimea (a province of the Ukraine), he was a "jack of all trades"-working as a mechanic, construction worker, driver and farmerwhile being a pastor.
In America, this newfound freedom presents a temptation, especially to the young.
"In Russia, children helped their parents from childhood," explains Pekun. "They learned from their parents how to live and work. Then we came here, where there is an abundance of everything. They don't have to work so hard. It is very easy to make money. This influences them in a negative way and they start to depart from biblical principles in their morals and living."
Slavic immigrants are not alone in this struggle. Gelis and Pekun point out that the world seems to have crept into many American churches, as well. This has a negative effect on those congregations.
"For example, I have a son who is 14 years old who has a computer and plays computer games," says Gelis. "Some of the games are educational, but some have an element of violence. I can see the effect of the violence-it affects his opinions and behavior. It is the same with Christianity. When we allow something from the world in, it affects our opinions, the way we act and live and the way we worship."
"It even affects the way we understand God," adds Pekun, who is a deacon at Slavic Trinity Church in Sacramento and has been in the U.S. for nine years. As an example, he points to the tendency of some people to use verses about God's love and forgiveness to jus-
tify their sinful actions or lifestyles and reject the need for repentance and a biblical lifestyle.
In the face of these challenges, the congregation works proactively. The congregation gathers throughout the week for worship, fellowship and Bible study. They have services on Sunday morning and evening as well as Wednesday and Friday evenings--all services heavily attended, says Gelis. On Saturdays, the congregation conducts a Russian children's "school," where their children learn the Russian language and history. They also have choir practice on Saturdays.
In addition, they are training their young people in the ministry-and they appear to have no shortage of up and coming leaders. Unlike American churches where one pastor generally
delivers most of the morning sermons, Slavic churches have many preachers.
"We have many young people preach in the church," says Pekun, who preaches himself. "The pastor leads and teaches, and we raise leaders that way."
The future
After just acquiring a new building, it might seem too soon to ask what the congregation's plans are for the future. But Gelis doesn't hesitate when asked.
''We want to grow big," he says. "We want to send lots of missionaries all over the world. And we want to prepare the Christians in the church-to teach and work with them to be mature Christians."
Immanuel Evangelical is one of three MB churches in the Sacramento area, two of which are Slavic. -GA
MEDA works
It isn't easy to get aloan in the developing world. Banks won't lend to you, and forget about credit cards. Where can you go if you need money for your small business?
Tanzanian restauranteur Mselem Ally turned to MEDA. His loan of $1,300 enabled him to buy food in bulk, qualifying him for discounts. Now his profits have increased by 50 percent; he dreams of leaving athriVing family business for his children.
Helping the poor get access to credit is a goal of MEDA. MEDA works to show that the poor are bankable. Each year we lend over $6 million U.S. to 8,000 clients around the world.
The Face of Church Planting
It's 6:00 p.m. Saturday night and the storage room is opened to begin "unpacking" for the weekend service 10 large storage carts are wheeled out and distributed around the elementary/middle school campus. Auditorium and lobby floors are mopped, bathrooms cleaned and 150 metal folding chairs are wheeled into the auditorium and a team goes to work setting them up. Three thousand feet of cables are uncoiled and snaked to where they belong. Four speakers are taken out of protective cases and set in place. A IOxl2 screen is erected along with a carefully placed projection unit. Monitors, microphones, instruments, mixer, amplifiers, are all given a home. Spotlights are turned on and adjusted. Decks and chairs are rearranged in three classrooms while children's books, Bibles, toys, puppets and games are unpacked and a Children's Ministry area begins to emerge. A coffee bar, information center, home group info center, and registration tables are set up and' made ready for the next morning. Four 16x5 banners, directional signs and parking signs are put out and hung up. Two hours later a fmal check is done and the Set-up Team goes home but many will be back by 8: 30 tomorrow morning to serve in another ministry area.
Why do we do this week in and week out?
Because...
+test driver at the local proving ground of an automobile manufacturer discovers through Spirit-led people in this church that real adventure isn't in a high performance car but in a high grace relationship with Jesus. Through his radically changed life his family comes to Jesus as well.
yhrough the faithful verbal testimony and authentic life model of a colleague at work, an electrician gives his life to Jesus on a construction site at the top of an 8-foot ladder. His wife sees the change in her husband and gives her life to Jesus as well.
• young couple who have minimal interest in Jesus surrender their lives to Him after a vibrant Christian couple befriend them. Over 2 years this Christian couple demonstrate and talk about Jesus in ways that compel this young family to come to church and to follow Jesus.
+n 18-year-old young man whose life is dominated by fear, experiences the peace that passes human understanding the day He invites Jesus to lead His life.
So why do we do this each weekend? We do it, to do whatever it ra lr!"§ to win some.
Brad Klassen
Phoenix Church Planter
MISSION USA BOARD:
Ed Boschman, Phoenix, AZ.
Chuck Buller, Visalia, CA
Phil Glanzer, New Hope, MN
Joe Johns, Weatherford, OK
Loretta Jost, Aurora, NE
Brad Klassen, Glendale, AZ.
Nancy Laverty, Jones, OK
Fred Leonard, Clovis, CA
Stephen Reimer, Shafter, CA
Randy Steinert, Bakersfield, CA
Tim Sullivan, Hillsboro, KS
Gary Wall, Lodi, CA
Ex Officio Members:
Henry Dick, Fresno, CA
Clinton Grenz, Bismark, N.D.
Bruce Porter, Fresno, CA
Roland Reimer, Wichita, KS
Clint Seibel, Hillsboro, KS
Jim Westgate, Fresno, CA
East Hall, a five-story residence, classroom building and office building, opened in the fall of 1998. It is one of the three major facilities constructed in the last five years.
FPU faces growth spurt-and pains
• Enrollment increases and university structure bring both joys and pains to the Mennonite Brethren university
If Fresno Pacific University was a youngster, one might say it's enjoying a growth spurt-and dealing with some growing pains.
This fall, undergraduate enrollment at the Mennonite Brethren university grew by one-third over three years agofrom a full-time equivalency in 1996 of 580 to 761. The professional studies program has continued to expand and during the past five years, Significant growth in the graduate program has created perpetual facility space problems.
University model adopted
In 1997, this numeric growth was highlighted when the institution shifted from a college to a university structure. Three schools were established: Fresno Pacific College (undergraduate), Fresno Pacific Graduate School and Fresno Pacific Graduate School of Professional Studies.
Provost Howard Loewen, who is responsible for the day to day internal operations of the institution, says learning to function as a university is a long
process. "It's not just a decision to change the name. That's the easy part," says Loewen. "The more challenging part is to now learn to work in the new structure. "
Loewen says the university's growth has strengthened the institution's character. "When you go through this much
change you mature in the ability to handle change," says Loewen. "I would say that overallthis community has handled significant change with aplomb."
Growing pains
Managing the growth process and foreseeing potential pitfalls have been a
The Unconcert. featuring dramatizations of popular tunes, is one of many cultural events sponsored by the university.
challenge for FPU. And for the most part, the growing pains have been minimal or manageable.
But this academic year, it became clear that the internal financial management of the university had not kept pace with the other changes.
"The university structure started working quite well initially," says Loewen. "But one of the things we didn't do is restructure simultaneously the whole budget formation process. It did not keep pace with the change of the infrastructure of the university."
Corrective measures are being taken to address financial practices. A new budget formation process and a five-year financial plan currently being developed are important keys to long-term financial health.
"I expect the five-year document might be painful in certain ways as there will be a strategic allocation of resources," says Larry Perryman, interim vice president for business affairs. "But I think it's necessary for the long-term health of the organization."
Cash flow challenges
These changes, however, came too late to prevent significant budget cuts for the current fiscal year. More than $1 million has been trimmed from the budget primarily through a freeze on nonessential spending and by canceling a salary increase scheduled to go into effect]an. 1.
"Cuts are not unusual but these are pretty big cuts," says President Allen Carden.
"Nobody was happy with the news," says Perryman. "But (employees) have been very supportive in our attempts to rectify the problem, even though it's painful."
Perryman says three factors contributed to the university's current cash flow difficulties: an operating deficit from the previous year, lower enrollment than projected and short-term loans.
The 1998-1999 operating deficit "should not have happened," says Carden. "(The budget deficit) means that we need to repay ourselves because we have relied on our line of credit with the banks to carry us through that deficit."
Perryman says, "When you run a deficit in a school like ours, with very small endowments and reserves, you repair that deficit through the budgeting process-that's the only source we have."
In addition to the extra expense of deficit payments, projected revenues did
The Sun bird volleyball team celebrates a victory on its way to a second-place finish in the national NAJA tournament, hosted by FPU.
not materialize when the graduate school enrollment fell below the projected budget level.
"We were in a growth mode," says Perryman. "We were used to growth and we expected growth to continue. So decisions were made that probably were the wrong decisions."
Carden says, "Our financial difficulties this year have not resulted from over expenditures, but under realization of revenue."
Long-tenn projects, short-tenn loans
The university's practice of borrowing funds for capital expansion, while not an unusual practice, has also contributed to its current financial woes. In the past, long-term capital projects were built with short-term loans, says Perryman.
In some situations, facility expansion was undertaken with the assumption that selling gifts of property and other assets would cover the short-term loans, says Carden.
For example, the university took out a loan four years ago to fund the facilities management building. Plans were to sell a piece ofland worth about $1 million to payoff the loan. The land still has not sold which has left the university with loan payments it did not expect.
''We're finding out how difficult it is to convert some of these gifts into spendable cash," says Carden.
The university is hoping to remedy the situation and to address its cash flow shortage by restructuring about $7.6 million ofits $10,566,000 debt through a bond issue.
"It's taken us several years to get into this position," says Carden, "but I think restructuring our debt with a bond issued at a lower interest rate is a major first step."
Carden and Perryman consider the university's current debt load to be acceptable for a private institution with a $22 to $23 million annual budget. But the debt is higher than the institution would like for it to be.
Like many of its Christian college counterparts across the country, FPU does not have a significant endowment nor does it enjoy "deep pockets." Rather, the institution depends on enrollment income, charitable contributions and its own entrepreneurial ability to generate funds.
Financial challenges are "part of the territory," says Carden. "But we have had more of it this year than we would like to."
While college personnel admit the current financial situation is serious, they
are also grateful it is being addressed now. "When things are growing you tend not to pay much attention to the financial base," says faculty chair Greg Camp. "Not all the financial decisions have been the wisest. But that's only something you can say in retrospect.
"I think we caught ourselves before we got too far down the track," says Camp. "Whatever troubles we've had, I'm looking at them as a blessing."
Governance issues addressed
While internal financial matters took center stage this year, considerable ener· gy has been given the last few years to restructuring the overall internal governance of the institution.
"What really drove the need to become a university was the fact that we had outgrown the structure that had served us reasonably well for decades-a college with a couple of divisions to it," says Loewen.
FPU has adopted what's called a "strong dean's model" in which the
English professor Wilfred Martens stands with poet Julia Kasdorf at a reading honoring the retirement of Martens and English professor Loretta Reimer. Martens, Reimer, Robert Enns, sociology, and Wilbert Reimer, mathematics, are four long-time faculty members retiring at the end of this academic year.
deans of the three schools take major responsibility for their college.
''We have three strong units in the schools," says Loewen. "In their own right they are doing well and are healthy."
While Carden, Loewen and others agree this model seems to be working well, other governance issues still need to be addressed.
Balancing the strength of the colleges with a strong central administrative structure is a priority for Loewen.
"When you decentralize and provide a certain kind of empowerment to the schools, you have to have a corresponding strengthening of the center-all the way from the preSident's cabinet to president to board," says Loewen.
''We have done better in strengthening the parts than the center," he says. ''We have to work at creating a balance between the two so that there's coordination between the parts and the whole."
FPU has been successful, says Loewen, because of its leaders.
"The success of the organization is always the right people at the right place at the right time and that's part of the reason we have been successful," says Loewen.
The current financial situation also reflects on the university'sleaders, says Loewen.
"Ultimately we, the collective leadership-the board, the president, the president's cabinet-need to take responsibility for this. The budgetary problems are derivative of what leadership is or isn't doing."
Addressing the issue of how the Board of Trustees should be structured in light of the shift to a university model was on the board's agenda this academic year, says chair Eugene Enos. But the resignation of President Carden earlier in 2000 has shifted the focus of the board to the presidential search and has temporarily stalled exploring the gover· nance question.
"It's probably going to be necessary for us to take this step with the new preSident," says Enos.
Growth and relationships
While FPU personnel agree the shift from college to university has most directly affected internal governance, a related issue that frequently comes to the surface is relationships-relationships between faculty and students, between faculty members and the institution and between FPU and the constituency.
On a practical note, faculty members who have seen FPU grow numerically com· ment on the impact of sheer numbers.
"For all of us there are increasing numbers of people we don't know," says Paul Toews, director of the Center for MB Studies and FPU history professor. "Not too many years ago I would have known all the faculty and staff who work here and would have known a lot of the students. Increasingly, one knows fewer in both categories."
As the institution grows, maintaining a high degree of student-faculty interaction is important, says Toews. "We want to remain a college that's known for its personableness. FPU has become a community of multiple smaller communities, and maintaining a campus wide ethos between all of the subgroups becomes a greater task."
Sociology professor Robert Enos has found that more students bring a greater diversity of ideas to the classroom. ''You can't take for granted the common back-
ground that you once could and address issues that were of uniform interest to people in the class," says Enns. "But on the other hand, it makes for far more interesting discussions and conversations between people who do not share common backgrounds and world views."
Enns has also found that as the institution has grown from one undergraduate institution into three distinct colleges, the focus of the institution has diversified and become more complex.
"There has been a loss of cohesive consensus in terms of identity and mission," says Enns. "When you have a clear center and mission it's going to be narrower. When you want to make it broader you give up something but you gain the advantage of providing a broader range of services to a broader range of people."
Enns considers this shift a natural consequence of growth. "The loss of a focused center is inevitable with the increase just in numerical size," he says. "Certainly also with the increasing diversity of program, students, faculty and constituencies to which we're linked."
Loewen agrees that living with diversity is a necessity.
"It's true that at one level we are more structurally divided," he says. "But at another level we're simply learning to live with greater diversity amongst us."
Growth has brought new life to the campus, says English professor Wilfred Martens.
"The abstract notion of change itself brings energy and vitality to an institution," says Martens. "Growth itself is exciting and brings challenges that are fun to respond to. More practically, growth has opened up new resources, new constituencies, new ways of reaching students and new faculty who want to be part of an institution like this."
Martens and Enns are two of four long-time faculty members who are retiring at the end of this academic year. Camp believes the departure of people like Martens signals that the university has grown older.
"A generation is retiring and as new faculty come in, alumni will no longer find those familiar faces and names," says Camp. "That may give a sense of distance. The intimacy that comes from growing up with people is very powerful and we were that very much."
Camp says the key to maintaining loyalty and trust is building personal relationships between faculty and constituen-
Seminary appoints new professor
• Kevin Reimer will teach in marriage, family areas
Kevin Reimer of Salinas, Calif., has been appointed Assistant Professor of Marriage, Family and Child Counseling at MB Biblical Seminary, effective June 1,2000.
Reimer is a doctoral candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. His current research focuses on moral and spiritual identity in development, adolescent violence, psycholinguistics and ecology of the family. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Regent College in Vancouver, B.C., and a bachelor of arts degree in biological sciences and English from the University of California Davis.
He also has a wide variety of church administrative experiences, including a full-time position as minister of children's and family ministries at Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena and currently in a part-time position as director of Christian education at Northminster Presbyterian Church in Salinas.
''You have been affirmed," President Henry J. Schmidt wrote to Reimer, "for your giftedness in teaching, your admin-
cies. He cites as yaluable the involvement of newer faculty members in local Mennonite Brethren congregations.
FPU is owned by the Pacific District Conference, and faculty and administrators believe the relationship between the university and the MB constituency is a positive one. Remaining connected to one another is key, say FPU personnel.
"We need the churches because we want to remain church connected," says Loewen.
FPU's growth has been guided by a vision statement written by former Fresno Pacific president Edmund Janzen in 1983 entitled "Broadening the Base." The document called for growth in enrollment and finances by developing new links with non-MB evangelical constituencies.
As the university's enrollment base
Kevin Reimer, a doctoral candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary, will bring a wide variety of church administrative experience to his classroom.
istrative ability and experience in the church, your commitment to an Anabaptist/Mennonite Brethren theological perspective, your passion for Christ, his kingdom and leadership development."
Schmidt and other MBBS administrators also affirmed Reimer for his relational skills, heart for the church and competence in psychology, theology and ethics.
Reimer said that he and his wife, Lynn, a public school teacher, and daughters Naomi (7) and Danielle (4) "have a sense of entering into a community of Kingdom ministry, where men and women are together being shaped by God into His image I very much look forward to sharing with you in God's work of transformation as it extends to the Mennonite Brethren denomination and the wider church represented in our student body." -MBBS press release
has grown dramatically in the last 17 years, many are asking what kind of institution FPU will become in the next decades.
For Wilfred Martens, the need to articulate a vision to guide FPU's development is a top priority.
"We have grown faster than we have articulated a vision," he says. "When one is growing it is important to be visionary. But growth in itself forces one to become very practical and sometimes survival precludes visionary talk."
While Martens will retire at the end of this academic year, he is eager to see how FPU will develop in the future.
"My three grandchildren will be students here in less than 20 years," says Martens. "I would like to see them in a place that has an exciting vision." -CF
Speaking Nanerige no simple task for MBMSI missionary
• Missionary in Burkino Faso recounts his journey of learning a new language in order to share the Good News.
Editor's Note: After years of hard work, Phil Bergen is finally able to do something most people take for granted -enjoy a conversation with his neighbors and friends in their own language. Bergen, his wife Carol and their two children are missionaries in Burkino Faso under Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission, jointly supported by MBMS International and the Council of Overseas Ministries of the General Conference Mennonite Church. Their assignment is to help translate the Gospel for the 65,000 unreached Nanertge people. Bergen reports that as long as the subject matter is simple, day to day stuff and people don't talk too fast, he is able to bold conversations in the Nanertge language.
"These are the first Nanerige people to understand what God did for us all through Christ," says missionary Phil Bergen of the elders from Silorala. "They have gladly welcomed this message and committed themselves to following the teachings of Christ."
Here, Bergen shares his experience in learning this difficult tonal language and the ministry opportunities made possible by his new knowledge.
Afew weeks back, a friend came over and we talked for about 10 minutes before I realized that we weren't using any]ula (the local trade language). We were speaking only in Nanerige. When the realization struck, it was like a tremendous weight was lifted
Mastering the "music" of Nanerige
Here is a written representation of a sentence I heard last week spoken by a four year old boy: "Uh uh ah ahah uh ahah."
There is nothing here really but syllables, almost no consonants, almost nothing left of the vowels. But there is just enough there to support what really matters: the tone, the music of the language. His parents understood him just fine.
How can I represent the music of this sentence for you on paper so that you can hear it?
I can't really. The main thing that is happening in this language is the tone, the music.
See if you can understand this sentence: "Bbbs bnm nglshclss."
Now say this one: "Boobe ees i bay on moy unglush c1uss."
What I'm trying to say is "Bobby is a boy in my English class."
The first nonsense sentence could be compared to me speaking Nanerige with no consideration whatever for the tone. The importance of tone can be compared to the importance of vowels in English. Having an incorrect tone is like removing all the vowelspeople just stare at you.
The second phrase Is closer now to the way I speak-some consideration for tone, therefore some proximity to understandable language, but far from perfect.-PB
off my heart and life started flowing freely through my body again after a very, very long time. I was so overcome with relief that after my friend left, I just went into the house and lay down.
We arrived in Burkina Faso in September 1990, and except for two furloughs we've been here ever since. We came to help an evangelist couple by taking over the translation work from them, freeing them for further language learning. Our goal is to share the Gospel with the Nanerige people in their own language.
I started learning Nanerige by tackling the tone first. After having already learned ]ula, another tonal language, the importance of hitting the hardest part first was clear. To do this I tried to memorize huge lists of words tonally correct. This did very little for my fluency and I made no progress at actually forming new sentences, but it did teach my ears to hear something completely new, the music of Nanerige.
In the Nanerige tongue, when you put words together to make sentences the music of each word changes, because it is affected by the other words in the sentence. Getting a feel for these changes is the hardest part of the learning task. Trying to do it without getting a sense of the underlying tones of the words before they are put together into sentences would have been overwhelming.
After work on tone, I decided to learn to speak this language by creating a situation in which a native speaker could just talk to me at length on a lot of different
subjects, and I would "just pick up" the language the way that children do.
I constructed a toy village with people, animals and objects. I started by moving the people, animals and objects around and instructing my language helper to "just tell me what is going on as it happens." It didn't take long to learn to understand what he was saying as I moved the stuff. Then I told him to take the lead, talk and see if I could move the things around to match what he said, sticking closely to what he knew I already knew. After a while I would give him scenarios (in French) and while speaking Nanerige, enjoy watching how the scenario played itself out.
I gathered oral texts like this on cassette and listened to them over and over. I put little emphasis on actually speaking the language until the last few months here. Language learning people call this time of listening with understanding before you can actually say much, the "silent period" when we learn so much, but say very little.
It was after working like this for a good part of three years (after having spent two years memorizing words and phrases first) that the big breakthrough came. I could both understand what people were saying in certain contexts and then put together sentences that they would understand.
Now that I have the ability to speak simple Nanerige, I can take over the work of fellow missionary Dan Petersen. While we were in Ouagadougou at a grammar workshop earlier this year, I took and passed the language test that the Summer Institute of Linguistics gives its students to clear them to do translation. Now I'm ready to go to work.
Dan and Maliki, our Nanerige translator, have played the cassettes of the Scriptures that have already been translated-covering main points from Genesis through Pentecost-for the elders in Maliki's home village. They started but did not finish playing the tapes for the elders of N'Dorola before the Petersens left for furlough.
In both cases, enthusiasm was expressed for the Word of God and for hearing more. In Maliki's village, nine of the elders who heard the tapes accepted the message. In N'Dorola we are free to "teach" the Scriptures, having received permission from the elders even though they have not heard the whole message yet. This is a culture where print is not used in sharing important truth. As the gospel is shared here and a church is born, it will be done by word of mouth. I am often amazed at how well people here, in an oral culture, process and retain what they hear.
In February I began explaining the meaning of additional scriptures for Maliki, the translator, so that he can translate them into the Nanerige language. Our goal is to translate Scriptures needed to teach new believers about how to actually follow "The Way." -Phil Bergen
Inter-Mennonite cooperation benefits mission work
Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission (AIMM) is the agency that administers all Mennonite mission work in Africa with one exception, which is MBMS International's work in Congo done directly in partnership with the Congo MB Conference. In addition to the Bergens in Burkina Faso, AIMM has MBMSI workers Bryan and Teresa Born in Botswana.
AIMM is one of several inter-Men-
noni.ta cooperative efforts around the world. for example, MBMSI is a partner in a mission work in Mexico City that Me" General Conference Mennonitfi and others working alongside MexIcan Anabaptists to plant churches and dev,lop an Anabaptist church conference in Mexico City. Four MB missionarJon and Juana Pritchard and Gord and Dora isaak, are involved in that effort.-MBMSI
IN BRIEF
BUCKm: Mennonite Central Committee is hoping to send 23,000 relief buckets to communities in Venezuela affected by Dec. 15 landslides that took the lives of nearly 30,000 people. Tens of thousands of Venezuelans continue to suffer the consequences of the massive flooding and landslides that wiped away entire communities and buried the homes of an estimated 300,000. Over the next six months, MCC and its partners in the region will work to provide relief by providing: $30,000 for local purchase of food, toys and basic supplies; 10,000 health kits; and 23,000 relief buckets. To donate funds or materials, contact your regional office. (MCC)
HONORED: Readings by guest poet Julia Kasdorf Feb. 11, honored the careers of two long-time Fresno Pacific University English faculty members, Luetta Reimer and Wilfred Martens. Kasdorf has published two collections of poetry and is a faculty member at Messiah College in Grantham, Penn. Reimer began her career at FPU in 1968. She has a bachelor's degree from Fresno Pacific and a master's from Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind. Martens joined the faculty in 1965. He holds a bachelor's degree from Tabor College (Kan.), master's from California State University, Los Angeles, and a doctorate from the University of Wales. Reimer and Martens will be retiring this spring. (FPU)
PREMIER: Larry Warkentin, composer, pianist and teacher at Fresno Pacific University, has written a major piano work in honor of his native town, Reedley, Calif. The four movement work titled "Sonata No.2, Reflections on Reedley at mid-century" premiered Feb. 18. Pianist John Mortensen performed the sO'1ata as part of a full-length recital. Each mbvement of the composition makes use of hymn tune that was sung in Reedley, where Warkentin served as a church pianist around 1950. (FPU)
HIRED: Dave Oyck, most recently acting general director of MBMS International, has been hired as executive director for Mennonite Central Committee Canada for an 18-month term. Oyck will head up MCC Canada's work from March 2000 until August 2001 when Don Peters will become the executive director. Peters and his wife are members of River East M8 Church in Winnipeg. (MCC)
Phil, Maria, John-Mark and tarol Bergen.
New programs added to YMI roster for 2000
• Youth mission agency expands on programs
As Youth Mission International begins the new millennium, SOAR, ACTION, and TREK programs are expanding and organizers anticipate great things in the future.
The various programs were very successful in 1999 attracting over 400 participants. Pleased with last year's results, YMI executive director Randy Friesen says, "We are praising God for the many lives that have been impacted and changed through their involvement as participants. "
YMI continues to strengthen its numbers by offering new programs in 2000.
SOAR, YMI's high school age program, had a one-time program added to the roster in 1999-S0AR Pan Am. This program coincided with the Pan Am Games held in Winnipeg, Man., in late July and early August. The high school students volunteered their cleaning and maintenance services at numerous Games events as well as hosted children's care sites throughout Winnipeg. They also participated at several outreach agencies such as inner-city shelters and young offender facilities.
Because of national youth conventions, the SOAR Easter program was not offered. But, SOAR teams were located in Northeast, Midwest and Pacific areas throughout 1999. Friesen says, "We are deeply grateful for the opportunity that the SOAR program allows us to disciple, train and minister to youth and youth pastors."
SOAR's fifth and newest regional program is scheduled for this month and is expected to attract 200-250 participants. Amy Klassen, a youth worker from Yarrow (B.c.) MB Church and a YMI alumnus, is the coordinator for this program serving the Pacific Northwest. The ministry asSignments are located within a short radius of Vancouver.
Along with SOAR, the ACTION program is also adding new sites. The ACTION program is designed for high school graduates through college and career age people who desire a greater
Winter Aa'ON team member Julie Egy, a Tabor College student, is pictured with Kendra, the daughter of her host family, outside of the Mexico City school where the team worked.
challenge in short-tenn missions.
Three ACTION programs are currently being planned for 2000. May ACTION, the third and most recent program, includes assignments in Latin America, Asia and Europe. Jeanine Janzen, YMI alumnus and fonner Esengo Choir participant, is the coordinator.
For the younger participants, a Summer ACTION program is provided. This program has been pushed back to later in the summer and shortened to 6 weeks instead of 2 months allowing high school graduates to participate. Current plans for Summer ACTION teams include the U.S., Canada, Kenya, the Middle East and Peru.
In 1999, the Winter ACTION teams served MB churches in Leon, Guadalajara and Mexico City, experiencing culture, language and outreach through living in homes and working alongside the Mexican people. Winter ACTION 2000 teams again served in Leon and Mexico City as well as with Mennonite Central Committee on disaster relief projects in Honduras.
Summer ACTION teams taught English in China and encouraged believers in many churches in Amman, Jordan. They increased community awareness of new church plants in the U.S. and ministered with drama, puppets and numerous outreaches in Russia.
Friesen says that "God proved faithful in every circumstance as teams experienced a wide range of cultural diversi-
ty and spiritual challenge on these assignments. "
Year 2000 assignments for TREK teams, YMI's most extended program, currently include Peru, the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and Africa. TREK is designed for individuals who are ready for a longer tenn of service in missions, intense discipleship and who may be seriously considering a full-time commitment to missions or vocational ministry. This program has a two month training period in British Columbia and a six to eight month field assignment.
Current TREK teams include a mobilization team serving across North America and on-site teams in Calgary, Alta., Mexico City, Paraguay and Colombia. The TREK program runs from September to May for North American assignments and September to July for international teams.
In 1999, over 75 MB churches from every region in North America participated in YMI by either sending participants or hosting a team.
In addition to program changes, YMI is also shifting its administrative structure. Starting in September 1999, YMI began the transition process of coming under the governance umbrella of MBMS International. Friesen says, "We continue to believe God will do great things as we partner together in vision and purpose for worldwide missions."Ibis report was prepared by staff writer Tami]ons from a YMI report.
BRM exec secretary resigns IN BRIEF
Michael Dick, executive secretary for the General (North American) MB Conference Board of Resource Ministries, has announced his resignation, effective Aug. 31, 2000. He has accepted the invitation to serve as senior pastor of Bakerview MB Church in Abbotsford, B.C., beginning Sept. 5.
Dick has worked as BRM executive secretary for the past six years. He has traveled throughout Canada and the U.S. promoting the resources that have been developed specifically for MB congregations. Some of Dick's key initiatives were in curriculum development-the Faith Family Focus curriculum for adults and youth, and the Word Wise Bible study curriculum for adults (to be released this fall).
Other Significant projects during Dick's tenure include the publication of the leadership manual Following the Call, the publication of adult and youth member-
ship manuals and the introduction of a youth devotional series called ''Y-River''.
"The Board of Resource Ministries acknowledges with gratitude the significant contributions made by Michael Dick in curriculum development and the promotion of resources for the MB churches of North America," says David Dick, BRM chair. "We also commend him for his involvement in the negotiations leading to the transfer of Resource Ministries to the Canadian and U.S. national MB conferences. We accept his resignation with a sense of regret, yet share in his joy as he moves back into the pastorate."
Prior to his work in publications, Dick served for almost 10 years as associate pastor at South Langley MB Church in Langley, B.C. He has a B.A. from Providence College in Otterburne, Man., and an M.T.S from Regent College in Vancouver. He and his wife Eleanor have two sons, Andrew, 15, and Brendan, 13. --General Conference press release
Canada appoints exec director
David Wiebe has been appointed to the newly created position of executive director of the Canadian Conference of MB Churches effective Sept. 1. Wiebe's appointment will be presented to Canadian Conference convention delegates in July. The apPointment was made during Executive Board meetings Jan. 26-29.
The Executive Board has changed the job description of the executive minister, prompting the position title change. In this new position, Wiebe will be responsible for the overall direction of the ministries of the Canadian Conference. He will coordinate the ministries of the program boards and their staff and enhance the relationship between the national and provincial Mennonite Brethren conferences. Wiebe will be accountable to the Executive Board.
Wiebe has served as the executive director for the Canadian Conference Board of Christian Education Ministries for the last 11 years. He has also been serving as interim executive minister for the conference since the resignation of
Reuben Pauls in the summer of 1999.
Wiebe will complete his service with Christian Education Ministries this summer. He will continue to serve as interim executive minister until he begins his fulltime assignment as executive director.
In other business, the board approved a request from the Board of Christian Education Ministries to appoint a half-time youth ministry director, subject to approval by the delegation at the Canadian Conference convention inJuly.
The Executive Board also supported the Board of Evangelism's recommendation that Toronto be designated the next city in the Key Cities project.
Plans were fine-tuned for the Canadian Conference July convention to be held in Hepburn, Sask. Christian Schwarz will be the keynote speaker. Schwarz will also speak at a preconvention Leadership Development Conference hosted by the Board of Faith and Life. -From a Canadian Conference news release
CONCERT: The Tabor College Concert Choir performed a portion of the Feb. 25 premier concert for the 2000 Kansas Music Education Association State Convention. The annual, two day convention drew over 1,000 music educators and 500 of the best high school musicians in the state of Kansas. The Tabor choir has been singled out as a top university-level choir and performed in the convention's major concert-an honor which normally goes to one of the state university choirs. (TC)
LAB: Tabor College has built a new computer laboratory for its network administration major through a grant provided by the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation of Little Rock, Ark. The new lab contains 10 student work stations and one teaching station complete with new computers, software, desks and chairs. It also houses a new netware server, data projector and printer. The lab has its own isolated network, allowing students to disassemble machines and participate in other handson applications that will not affect the greater Tabor network. (TC)
AID: Mennonite Disaster Service Arkansas Unit and MDS Region III leaders are assisting Arkansas poultry farmers affected by a powerful January 27 snowstorm. The storm dumped 16 inches of heavy wet snow in the Nashville, Ark., area and led to the collapse of 200 chicken houses and the loss of tens of thousands of chickens. Eighteen chicken houses owned by members of Mineral Springs Amish Mennonite Church were completely destroyed. "This is a great economic loss," says Quill Hostetler of the Arkansas Unit. "It will cost almost $2 million for the farmers from Mineral Springs to rebuild their chicken houses." (MDS)
SEMINAR: The Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office will offer its annual Spring Seminar, "Race and Public Policy: Exploring an Anabaptist Approach," April 9-11, 2000. The seminar seeks to examine the public policy aspects of the antiracism work many Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches and institutions have engaged through MCC's Damascus Road program. Information regarding costs and scholarship money is available from the MCC Washington Office (phone: 202-5446564; e-mail: mccwash@mcc.org). (MCC)
NEWS FROM OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES
Baptism/membership
VISALIA, Calif. (Neighborhoocl)-Laura Adams, Sally Shriver, April Davis, Alyssa McClure, Cassie Landers, Megan Creegan, Amy Miller, Courtney Kunkleman, Brianna Hakanson, Candace Wiest, Brianna Dillard, Manny Camacho, Cari Camacho, Joyce Lipscomb, Mike Rogers, Jeanne Rogers and Richelle Falvy were baptized and received into membership Feb. 13. Jennifer Mobley, Bill Wieland, Carla Wieland, Gabor Falvy, Wendy Nicholson, Steve Harms, Laura Harms, Craig Walker and Lori Walker were also received into membership Feb. 13.
MOUNTAIN LAKE, Minn.-Brigitta Fast was received as a new member Jan. 30.
LITTLETON, Colo. (Belleview Acres)-Three people were baptized and received into membership Jan. 23.
DINUBA, Calif.-Kevin, Amanda, Melanie and Scott Riddle were baptized and received into membership Jan. 9. Ann Riddle was also received into membership Jan. 9.
MINOT, N.D. (Bible Fellowship)-Tauni Crawford and Nick Holden were baptized and received into membership Jan. 9. Tymerie Crawford was received into membership Jan. 9, and Ray Johnson was received into membership Dec. 5.
RAPID OTY, S.D. (Bible Fellowship)-Sarah Garland, Charissa Johnson, Jim Vahrenkamp, Victoria Garland, Amanda Katzenberger, Autumn Johnson and Gregory Logue were recently baptized.
Fellowship
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Uncoln Hills Bible)-A banquet was held Feb. 6 with special speaker Tony Randall, pastor of Silver Lake Church of Freeman, S.D.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (Laurelglen)-An evening of worship was held Jan. 23 with song writer John Chisum accompanied by the LBC choir and worship team. The theme was "Let Your KingdomCome."
ENID, Okla.-A time capsule was prepared to I;le opened in the year 2022 for the congregation's 125th anniversary. Items included in the capsule were to reflect the congregation's faith and Christian legacy and included family photos, meaningful verses, testimonies, statements concerning dreams for the church and things that have impacted people through the ministry of this congregation. The capsule was sealed at the congregational meeting Jan. 16.
Ministry
REEDLEY, Calif.-An urban plunge to San Francisco was organized for families Feb. 25-27. Two tracks were offered depending on the age of the children. Families stayed at the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Center.
EDMOND, Olda. (Memorial Road)-The congregation hosted a Share Your Heart Sunday Feb. 13 to encourage people to bring friends to the worship service. Refreshments were served following the service.
RAPID OTY, S.D. (Bible Fellowship)-A commis-
I
sioning service was held for Maynard and Dorothy Seaman Jan. 16. They are helping to train medical workers in Tsethang, Tibet.
WICHITA, Kan.-Southern District congregations were invited to collect Mennonite Central Committee school kit supplies as part of the annual SOC Women's Retreat held Feb. 25-26 in Wichita. MCC has a goal of collecting 100,000 kits next year and the retreat organizers were hoping to supply 500.
SURPRISE. Ariz.-1n January the Pacific District Conference Home Missions Board accepted the Sun City Grand Bible Church as a nonfunded project. This emerging congregation is led by pastoral couple Ed and Bonnie Toews and is targeted at adults living in this retirement community.
TeachingINurture
ENID, Okla.-During the month of February, Wednesday evening marriage enrichment classes were held. Doug and Amy Stouffer led the John Maxwell video series.
BELLINGHAM, Wash.-A care giving conference was held February 4-6 for area MB congregations with guest speakers Vernon and Genevieve Janzen, pastoral couple from Neighborhood Church in Visalia, Calif. Deacons, elders and others were invited to attend.
YALE, S.D. (Bethel)-A Sunday school rally and teacher training seminar were held Jan. 30-31 with guest speaker, Lorraine Dick of the South Langley MB Church in Langley, B.C. The rally focused on "Our Goal as Christian EducatorsLeading our Students to Maturity in Christ." The training class themes focused on spiritual dimensions of children and lesson preparation.
HILLSBORO, Kan. (Ebenfeld)-A family cash flow financial seminar was held Jan. 22. The seminar was led by Diane Claassen, a local accountant who is a member of the congregation.
SALEM, Ore. (Kingwood Bible)-Jon Wiebe, president of the MB Foundation, led the church leadership in a Giving Project diagnostic seminar Feb. 4-6. He also spoke in the morning worship service Feb. 6.
DALLAS, Ore.-Ross Merritt of the MB Foundation talked about stewardship principles during the Sunday school hour Feb. 6.
NEWTON, Kan. (Koerner Heights)-Jon Wiebe, president of the MB Foundation, presented a Giving Project diagnostic seminar Jan. 14-16. Five action plans were selected for implementation under the direction of KHC stewardship chair Lowell Martens.
Workers
SHAFTER, Calif.-Senior pastor Dave Gerbrandt has resigned effective March 31. He is open to other pastoral work.
DENVER. Colo. (Garden Park)-Steve Johnson and his wife Cathy recently began serving the congregation as pastoralcouple. Johnson and Glenn Balzer share the pastoral duties.
HENDERSON, Neb.- Joe and Verna Agee are
serving as interim pastoral couple.
BUHLER, Kan.--Chuck and Carol Taylor were installed as youth pastoral couple Jan. 2.
WEATHERFORD, Okla. (Pine Acres)-Don and Jean Roberts were recognized for 41 years of ministerial service Jan. 9.
WICHITA, Kan. (United at the Cross)-Marlene Ewert and Cliff Dick have joined the staff in a supportive role in ministries. They have already begun their ministry.
Deaths
FADENRECHT, BENNIE J., Mechanicsburg, Pa., a former MBMSI missionary to Colombia, was born Aug. 12, 1913, to John and Lizzie Enns Fadenrecht at Munich, N.D., and died Jan. 14, 2000, at the age of 86. On June 12, 1944, he was married to Ruth Zook, who survives. He is also survived by two sons, B. Dwight of East Berlin, Pa., and Ronald of St. Thomas, Pa.; three daughters, Rosalyn Huntoon and Annabeth Rotz, both of York Springs, Pa., and Herta Morgan of Mapelton Depot, Pa.; two brothers, John of Munich, N.D., and Edwin of Hillsboro, Kan.; one sister, Minnie Neufeld of Salem, Ore., and eight grandchildren.
GIESBRECHT. SUSIE KLEIN, Hillsboro, Kan., a member of Hillsboro MB Church, was born March 20, 1907, to Jacob and Grace Franzen Klein at Peabody, Kan., and died Jan. 15, 2000, at the age of 92. On June 16, 1935, she was married to Daniel GieSbrecht, who predeceased her in 1976. She is survived by two daughters, Beulah Smith of Houston, Tex., and Carrol and husband Duane Pettipiece of Spokane, Wash.; seven grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.
GOOSSEN. HENRY A •• Henderson, Neb., a member of Henderson MB Church, was born Sept. 5, 1917, to Abraham J. and Agnes Kliewer Goossen, and died Jan. 16, 2000, at the age of 82. In 1956. he was married to Hulda Ehmann, who survives. He is survived by two brothers, Dan and wife Lucille and Walt and wife Darlene, all of Henderson; one sister, Esther and husband Ed Ediger of Hampton, Neb.; nine nephews and eight nieces.
HENRY. ELEANOR FREY, Newton, Kan., of Koerner Heights Church, Newton, was born August 24, 1909, to John and Sarah Unruh Frey in Marion County, Kan., and died January 1, 2000. at the age of 90. She was married to George Robert Henry, who predeceased her. She is survived by one son, David; two brothers, Harold and wife Elizabeth, and Kenneth and wife Verna; one sister, Dorothea and husband Ford Burkhardt, and three grandchildren.
HIEBERT. AUCE E.. Hillsboro, Kan., of Ebenfeld MB Church, was born April 10, 1911, to Peter P. and Margaret Claassen Hiebert at Hillsboro, and died Dec. 26, 1999, at the age of 88. She is survived by three brothers, Pete, Otto, and Louis, all of Hillsboro; one sister, Lillian Entz of Newton, Kan.; and nieces and nephews.
HIEBERT. ARNOLD ROBERT, Reedley, Calif., a member of the Reedley MB Church, was born March 14, 1905, to David K. and Katherine Warkentine Hiebert near Corn, Okla., and died
Jan. 20, 2000. On Aug. 21, 1927, he was married to Elizabeth Siemens, who predeceased him in 1993. He is survived by one son, Robert and wife Juanita of Shafter, Calif.; one daughter, Marilyn and husband Karl Jost of Hillsboro, Kan.; one daughter-in-law, Laverne Hiebert of Shafter; one sister, Hulda Nogy of Santa Ana, Calif.; 11 grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandchild.
KLIEWER, HELEN, Salem, Ore., a member of Dallas MB Church, Dallas, Ore., was born Nov. 15, 1911, to Frank and Marie Reimer at Kirk, Colo., and died Dec. 15, 1999, at the age of 88. In 1931, she was married to Ted H. Kliewer, who predeceased her in 1984. She is survived by one son, Allen of Salem, three daughters, Donna Polivka, of Salem, Marylin Kliewer of Tacoma, Wash., and Esther and husband Les Riffel of Madera, Calif.; five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
KROEKER, LUELLA MAE, Corn, Okla., a member of Corn MB Church, was born Aug. 27, 1922, to Sam P. and Marie Balzer Kliewer near Corn, and died Oct. 14, 1999, at the age of 77. On Jan. 11, 1942, she was married to Elmer Kroeker, who survives. She is survived by one son, Wally and wife Marlene of Hillsboro, Kan.; one daughter, Charlene and husband Marvin Epp of Broken Arrow, Okla.; three brothers, Harvey and wife Martha Ann of Corn, Gene and wife Norma of Balko, Okla., and Ronnie and wife JoEtta of Hollister, Mo.; three sisters, Esther and husband Alvin Penner of Balko, Okla., Willye Hinz of Newton, Kan., and Ruby Hamm of Wichita, Kan.;
five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
LEPP, MATILDA REIMER, Orland, Calif., a member of Country Bible Church of Orland was born Nov. 27, 1911, to Jacob and Caroline Reimer at Corn, Okla, and died Dec. 22, 1999, at the age of 88. On Sept. 13, 1931, she was married to Frank Lepp, who predeceased her in 1985. She is survived by three sons, Alvin and wife Iva of Shafter, Calif., Frank and wife June of Orland, and John of Orland; five daughters, Corrina and husband Delbert Reimer of Chico, Calif., Caroline and husband Burton Harms of Surprise, Ariz., Mary Jane and husband Bill Cummings of Shafter, Shirley and husband David Friesen of Fresno, and Sharon and husband Ken Uffelman of Fresno; 19 grandchildren, 23 great grandchildren and one great great grandchild.
LEWIS. DONNA EILEEN, Bakersfield, Calif., a member of Laurelglen Bible Church, was born Feb. 4, 1947, to Clarence and Florence Westlund, and died Feb. 5, 2000, at the age of 53. She was married to Richard Lewis, who survives. She is also survived by her father; one son, Jordan of the home; one daughter, Ashley of the home; one aunt, Alice Westlund; and a cousin, Anita Cattleman.
LOEWEN, EUGENE -GENE.· Fresno, Calif., a member of North Fresno Church, was born July 30, 1928, to Cornelius l. and Bertha Reddig Loewen at Peabody, Kan., and died Jan. 15, 2000. On Feb. 10, 1951, he was married to Leola Engel, who survives. He is also survived by three sons, Chuck and wife Sheryl of Wash., Bruce and
wife Peggy of Fresno, and Jeff of Bakersfield, Calif.; one daughter, Suzann and husband Jeff Tolladay of Fresno; one brother, Carl and wife Jane of Fresno; two sisters, Lavada and husband Albert Brandt of Reedley, Calif., and Vonne Huebert of Fresno; and nine grandchildren.
NIKKEL, LORENA JUUANNA KLIEWER, Reedley, Calif., a member of Reedley MB Church, was born Feb. 11, 1913, to Benjamin B. and Flora Moritz Kliewer at Reedley, and died Jan; 11, 2000, at the age of 86. In 1934, she was married to Ernest Nikkel, who survives. She is survived by two sons, Stanley and Dennis; two daughters, Marlene and her husband, and Jolene and her husband; and two nephews.
PENLEY. ALTA, Reedley, Calif., a member of Reedley MB Church, was born July 19, 1919, to Robert and Ethel Spurlock Fleetwood at little Sweden, Mo., and died Jan. 1, 2000, at the age of 80. She was married to Sherman Penley. She is survived by three daughters, Nel, Lorraine, and Penny Watamura; six grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
WALl., GLENABELLE. Reedley, Calif., of Reedley MB Church, was born April 1, 1919, to John J. and Anna Buller Groening at Lehigh, Kan., and died Jan. 7, 2000, at the age of BO. On Oct. 15, 1938, she was married to Milferd R. Wall, who predeceased her in 1962. She is survived by one son, Gerald and wife Rita of West Hills, Calif.; one daughter, Glorabelle and husband David Kope of Reedley; one brother-in-law John Wall and wife Elsie of Reedley and five grandchildren.•
THIS FALL, STUDY THE BIBLE WITH A NEW CURRICULUM SERIES ••• Be transformed by the truth of the Word
Designed for adult
• SUlilday School Classes
• Small GrolJPs
• I?ersonal study
As you study, you will •••
• get into the Word and be challenged to integrate
the truth of Scripture with
your daily life
• get to know and experienqe the of salvafion history
• equipped through Bible-based spiritual formation
Clearinghouse
Have a position to fill? Looking for a new employment or ministry opportunity? Have a gathering or celebration to promote? Reach U.S. Mennonite Brethren through a Clearinghouse classified ad. The charge is 40 cents per word. with a $1S minimum. Withhold payment until an invoice is received. MB institutions advertising vacancies or position announcements may be eligible for a no-cost ad. Contact the editor for more information.
EMPLOYMENT-CHURCH
MusicIWorship Staff Position
Buhler (KS) Mennonite Brethren Church, a visionary, growing church of over 400, located in an active, rural community 45 miles NW of Wichita, is looking for a Director of Worship and Music.
is accepting applications for
PLANNED GIVING ADVISOR
This full-time position is responsible for activity in the midwest and would be based in Hillsboro, Kansas.
To encourage and assist Christians throughout the U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches in faithful stewardship. Specific responsibilities include planned giving, charitable estate planning, individual counseling, stewardship education and other Foundation-related activity.
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Demonstrated ability to communicate
• Aptitude for detail work
• Willingness to learn
• Christian commitment and desire to promote the work of the Mennonite Brethren
This position includes planning services, directing the choir, and rehearsing the worship team. Applicants should be able to blend both traditional and contemporary music and demonstrate a vibrant spirit in leading worship. A music degree or equivalent experience is preferred. Submit resume with references to Buhler Mennonite Brethren Church, do Director of Worship and Music Search Committee, 415 N. West St., P.O. Box 347, Buhler, KS 67522; fax: (316) 5432470; e-mail: buhlermb@ourtownusa.com
Director of Programming Position
Buhler MB Church is also seeking a Director of Programming. This position includes overseeing the Christian Education and Family Life Center ministries of the church. Applicants should be gifted administratively and have a visionary ministry outlook. Submit resumes with references to Buhler Mennonite Brethren Church, do Director of Programming search Committee, 415 N. West St., P.O. Box 347, Buhler, KS 67522; fax: (316) 5432470; e-mail: buhlermb@ourtownusa.com
Registrar Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary is seeking candidates for the 314-time position of Registrar.
Responsible for maintaining student records, course registration/records, and data collection/analysis for required internal and external reporting. Qualifications: Bachelor's degree plus experience in an educational institution preferred. Must possess thorough knowledge and skill in database management. Proven ability to work well with others and demonstrate professionalism while dealing with sensitive and confidential material. Belief consistent with Mennonite Brethren Church. Contact by March 15, 2000: linda Bowman, CFO, MBBS; 4824 E. Butler Ave., Fresno, CA 93727; fax: (559) 452-1763; email: lindabow@fresno.edu. MBBS is an equal opportunity employer.
FOR SALE-BOOKS
Zoar KMB Church history book
Remember the Zoar KMB Church? Relive its history in From the Prairie to the Town-The Pilgrimage of the Zoar Church from 1879-1999. This 143 page book has 200 pictures, It may be purchased for $20 or just $17 each when ordering three or more. Price includes postage and handling. Please send check or money order to Zoar MB Church, Box 126, Inman, Kans. 67546 .•
"Solid biblical exposition in accessible language and a reader-friendly format. Erland Waltner and J. Daryl Charles offer careful, detailed, and widely-researched analysis of 1-2 Peter and Jude."-Dorothy Jean Weaver, Eastern Mennonite Seminary Paper, 336 pages, $21.99; in Canada $32.79
"Written in a clear and unadorned style, Terry L. Brensingershows the true significance of the tragedies of the period of the Judges. With this foundation he then is able to explain the enduring theological value of these ancient stories. " -John N. Oswalt, Wesley Biblical Seminary Paper, 272 pages, $21.99; in Canada $32.79
LET'S TALK ABOuT IT
A GUIDE FOR GROUP INTERACTION
SESSION 1: More than dots on a map
Based on "More than dots on a map, " page 4
GET READY-Getting started
• Who is pictured on your refrigerator?
GET SET-Examining the issues
1. What does the article suggest is the difference in support of missionaries of the previous generation and the present one?
2. How does one change the motivation for mission interest and support from obligation to privilege?
3. How does 1 Cor. 12 relate to the statement, "we are all part of the same team-we just live at home base"?
GO-Applying ideas to the way we live
1. What were your experiences in "knowing" missionaries as you grew up? How are you passing mission interest on to your children?
2. Which of the things MBMSI is doing to meet the new generation have you seen in action in your congregation?
3. What is one specific step you and your family could take toward developing a personal relationship with a missionary?
SESSION 2: Lay ministry revolution
Based on "Join the lay ministry revolution, " page 8
GET READY-Getting started
• How would you define the term "lay ministry"?
GET SET-Examining the issues
1. For what reasons could each ministry myth be labeled "unbiblical"?
2. Why might some minister more effectively in the business world than in a church staff position?
3. What is suggested as the reason for treating people more like objects than as people to be loved?
4. What are the two clues to God's call to mission? What evidence of them have you seen or experienced?
GO-Applying ideas to the way we live
1. How would you define your area of ministry?
2. What would you say to someone who thinks they are of less value to God because they aren't in "full time ministry"?
3. In what ways does your church function as a "sales team"? What improvements could be made?
4. Should there be a separation of "secular" and "spiritual" for the believer? If not, how can we move toward seeing all of life as holy?
SESSION 3: Secret servants
Based on "Secret servants, " page 11
GET READY-Getting started
• Name a child servant you know.
GET SET-Examining the issues
1. Identify examples from Scripture of children who served the lord. What are some of the characteristics of their ministry?
2. Why is it sometimes assumed that children are not ready to minister?
3. What lessons were learned by the Totilo family as they served God and others? To which Biblical instructions are they related?
GO-Applying ideas to the way we live
1. Of the suggestions given for service by children, which ones would interest the children you know?
2. How are children celebrated and encouraged to serve in your congregation?
3. Make a commitment to encourage or pray for a specific child's servant ministry this week.
SESSION 4: Where's the joy)
Based on Phil Wiebe's
GET READY-Getting started
16
• Identify one experience this week to which you responded with a frown and one through which you smiled.
1. What does Wiebe mean by "lighten up in my spiritual life"? Would you agree more people need to do this?
2. After skimming through Philippians, what do you discover it has to say about the source and expression of true joy?
3. How is it possible that the disciplines of Francis de Sales lead to joy?
GO-Applying ideas to the way we live
1. Which things in your spiritual life are burdens and which are privileges? What makes them one or the other?
2. How would you describe the joy of your personal life? How could it be enhanced?
3. What, for you, is the most important idea in the article?
"Ph'lip Side" column, page
Commission. Questions by Nadine Friesen.
Tuning out-and tuning in
Last month, during a visit to my husband's family in Fresno, I slipped away one evening to see Anna and the King with a girlfriend. This is a rare treat for me. Being a wife, mother of a toddler and having a full-time job leaves little time for a luxury that my husband and I used to enjoy every other weekend. Now I'm lucky if I see a movie once every other month.
Anyway, my friend and I slipped into the theater just as the film began. After we settled in with our popcorn and sodas, I noticed a small commotion across the aisle. Two mothers were juggling three young children between them, trying to get them comfortable in their seats. The kids were squirming and talking-they were too young to really know how to whisper. I immediately felt a kinship to the mothers who, like myself, probably had not seen a movie in months.
I turned back to the movie and forgot about them for the most part. A few times, I glanced over sympathetically when the children were giving their mothers a particularly hard time.
As we left the theater, however, one of my friend's first comments was on the children. "I was about to get an usher to escort them out of the theater," she said, exasperated.
It dawned on me that I had completely tuned out the children's noisiness. Having a young daughter at home, I've learned to work and converse while my daughter scampers around my feet talking to who knows whom. My ears are subconsciously tuned in to notice the difference between her playful chatter or end-of-the-day fussiness, which can serve as background noise during a phone call. and an honest request for help or need. which gets my immediate attention and focus. It is an essential survival skill for parents.
By being able to tune out the natural fussiness and chatter of a child, I could enjoy the movie. However, that same noise was almost unbearably distracting and frustrating to others.
I learned something valuable in that movie theater that I can apply to my experience at church.
Often, we expect the church and her members to be perfect, and we're distracted by people who do not measure up to our standards of perfection. They're not spiritual enough or they are "too spiritual." They want to sing those "boring" hymns or they want to sing those "silly" choruses. Their walk doesn't match their talk. The pastor is too bold or not aggressive enough. The sermon wasn't biblical enough or the sermon didn't address the right topic. There are few of us who have not made comments like these at one time or another.
But when I talk like this, my perception of the church is warped. The purpose of the church is not to fulfill my needs, though meeting needs is integral. First and foremost, I am there to fill the needs of the church. When I realize this, church
becomes a place where I go to serve rather than be served. This strikes at the heart of comments like, "I just didn't get anything out of the service."
Also, none is perfect. Psalm 119:96 says "Nothing is perfect except (God's) Word" (LB). People sin and make mistakes. And people grow-which means that each of us is always at a place where we need to learn something.
Scripture tells us how to respond to mistakes and imperfections in our brothers and sisters. "Love forgets mistakes; nagging about them parts the best of friends" (prov. 17:9 LB). "Love is patient, love is kind" (1 Cor. 13:4 NlV). "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Col. 3:12-13 NIV). And, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins" (1 Pet. 4:8 NlV).
I am not perfect, either. ''We all stumble in many ways" Oames 3:2 NlV). Jesus knew this when he said "first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (Matt. 7:5 NIV).
In some ways, then, I am to tune out the imperfections of others and tum my eyes back to Christ just as I tuned out the chatter and fussiness of those children in the theater and focused on the movie.
I'm not saying that we should ignore all the imperfections and problems in the church. After all, Scripture does tell m., "Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48NIV).
After I heard my girlfriend's comments about the children in the movie theater, I realized that themothers probably shouldn't have brought their children, especially to a film shown in the evening attended mostly by adults. Also, when the children were noisy, it would have been prudent to take them out of the theater in respect for others who wanted to watch the film.
In the same way, as a community of disciples of Christ we must vigilantly examine ourselves to make sure we are not acting in a way that will make others justifiably skeptical of the church. We are mandated to act and live as disciples of Christto live our lives as Jesus did. That's a high standard to live up to. Scripture provides guidance on what to do when we find that others or ourselves are not living up to that standard. How we respond to those times is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. We are a community of brothers and sisters, and we act in love.
So, a little tuning out can be helpful. Tuning in a bit moreespecially to my own actions--wouldn't hurt either. --GA
