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Dutch Mennonites Affirm Going to Zimbabwe

ELSPEET, The Netherlands — The Dutch Mennonite Conference has decided to take part in the Mennonite World Conference assembly in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe in August 2003. At the biannual meeting of its highest decision-making body, held here in November, representatives from 90 congregations approved the action by a 77 percent vote.

Official support for holding the assembly in Zimbabwe had been in some doubt. The chief concern among Dutch Mennonites was whether going to Zimbabwe would be understood as support for a government which violates human rights.

The Dutch also questioned if they could speak out on their concerns while in Zimbabwe without endangering their hosts, said Henk Stenvers, general secretary of the Mennonite Church in the Netherlands. Another concern, according to Stenvers, was the food shortage. Personal safety was much less a concern.

Church leaders and congregations had wrestled with these issues during the past year. The conference executive committee met twice with Larry Miller, MWC executive secretary, at their initiative, once travelling to Strasbourg, France. They also invited MWC to send an officer to the Elspeet meeting. Ray Brubacher, an associate secretary, attended.

"Ray's contribution to the discussion was very important," said Stenvers. "He showed our members that MWC takes the concerns seriously and how carefully MWC monitors the situation in Zimbabwe.... The disappointment of the hosts if we would not accept their invitation was important in the decision."

Brubacher was able to explain that MWC's presence as a church gathering, not a political one, should not be construed as endorsing Mugabe's government. Even though Westerners are free to criticize the government in their own country, he advised that it is important for internationals "to behave as guests" while in Zimbabwe. He acknowledged that food shortages are acute, but boycotting the assembly would not alleviate that situation.

Some congregations directed their representatives how to vote. Others asked their delegates to report their concerns but allowed them to vote freely after listening to the discussion at the meeting. Leaders had agreed to let the conference delegates make the decision.

The vote was not binding. Had the action been defeated, some Dutch Mennonites would have gone to Zimbabwe anyway, said Brubacher, but the positive vote means that the conference will fund official delegates, and the strength of the decision, after serious consideration by both congregations and leaders, is significant.