Representatives from about 50 mission agencies of Anabaptist churches will meet together with the MWC General Council at the Global Anabaptist Missions Consultation in Guatemala, July 12-16, to seek a vision for Anabaptist mission for the new millennium.
     Based on a survey sent to Anabaptist church groups around the world, 30 of the "newer" Anabaptist churches in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe are engaged in cross-cultural evangelism. They are deploying numerous workers within their own countries and beyond. These churches include those planted by missionaries or emigrant movements from the historic Mennonite churches in Europe and North America in the past century. Many are members of the Mennonite World Conference, some are not.
     One example is the Brethren in Christ Church in Malawi. It was planted in 1983 by the Brethren in Christ Church in Zimbabwe and its North American partners. In the past year the Brethren in Christ Malawi Conference, with a membership of approximately 2,500, has planted six churches, primarily in remote parts of the country where most of the people are Muslims. The Malawi Conference is now considering an outreach to neighboring Mozambique. It will do this together with Brethren in Christ World Mission, which is based in North America. An Anabaptist group from Brazil, the Evangelical Mennonite Association, is also ministering in Mozambique.
     The Global Anabaptist Mission Consultation (GAMCo) in Guatemala in July will be a forum where Anabaptists engaged in cross-cultural evangelism and church planting will confer about mission theology, goals and cooperation on a global level. They will also dialogue about specific mission efforts, such as the ones being started in Mozambique. MWC and the Council of International Ministries (CIM), an association of Canadian and US Mennonite and Brethren in Christ agencies, are the co-sponsors of GAMCo, which will be held prior to the MWC General Council meeting in Guatemala City.
     There have been a number of smaller consultations on mission held in conjunction with Mennonite World Conference gatherings since 1975, but this meeting will bring together the full membership of the MWC General Council and about 100 representatives from mission agencies around the world. There will be a larger representation from the missions endeavors of churches in Asia, Africa and Latin America at this forum than there has been at any previous meeting.
     The theme chosen for this consultation is, "Seeking Vision for the New Millennium," and the motto will be, "Pray that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ" (based on Colossians 4:3).
     The program plans include plenary addresses by three speakers from within the global Anabaptist family: Eloises Meneses (USA), Nzash Lumeya (Congo), and Johannes Reimer (Germany); and two leaders from broader mission networks: Phill Butler of InterDev and Luis Bush of the AD 2000 & Beyond Movement.
     The mission efforts in each continent, whether by churches based within or outside that region, will be reported in "regional mission groups." The participants will also confer in small discussion groups, in workshops on the theology of mission and cooperation in mission, and in continental caucuses.
     A Vision Discernment Team will gather key issues and present its findings and possibly recommendations at the closing plenary session. Worship, Bible studies, prayer and testimonies on, "How the Gospel came to my People," will undergird the program.
     The planning committee for the Global Anabaptist Mission Consultation includes Mesach Krisetya, Bedru Hussein and Larry Miller from MWC and Stanley Green, Richard Showalter and Harold Ens from CIM. Peter Rempel, executive secretary of CIM, is the program coordinator. A reference council consisting of two persons from each continent was also consulted on the planning.
     From the opening session on Wednesday evening, July 12, until the closing worship on Sunday, July 16, with the Mennonites of Guatemala, this gathering holds the promise of finding a new vision for global mission by Anabaptists.