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Mennonite World Conference General Council Charts Direction for Future of Global Organization

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — Mennonite World Conference (MWC) reconfirmed a direction for the future when its General Council, meeting here August 7-9 and 16-17, adopted a new model for operations. The Council also added a subtitle to its name.

Dubbed the "communion / community model," the operational plan calls for MWC member churches to become mutually accountable to each other and grow in common identity. MWC is to facilitate this process by helping member churches develop a common set of core convictions and common ways of living out these convictions.

At a meeting in Guatemala City, Guatemala, in 2000, the MWC General Council had authorized an International Planning Commission (IPC) to make recommendations for the future of the organization. Out of four options the IPC offered, General Council chose the communion / community model — one which "confirms a direction that MWC has already been taking," according to Larry Miller, MWC executive secretary.

Herman Bontrager, IPC consultant from North America, says the model calls for MWC churches to act as a worldwide body, not just as independent churches doing things together. "It moves us from just encouraging mutual accountability to actually practicing it," says Bontrager. For example, member churches will be encouraged to intentionally submit to the scrutiny of other MWC churches to learn how what they do might affect other members.

But if General Council delegates could agree quite readily on a direction for the future, it took much more discussion to decide whether or not to add a subtitle to the name of the organization. The IPC had proposed retaining the name, Mennonite World Conference, but adding a subtitle: either "a communion of Anabaptist-related churches" or "a community of Anabaptist-related churches." However, some delegates wanted to change the name to Mennonite World Communion, others to Mennonite World Community. Still others wanted to keep things as they are.

"Why do we need to change?" asked Shintaro Okazaki, delegate from Japan. "Adding a line just complicates things for those of us who don't speak European languages."

The question of name and subtitle continued in discussions on August 17, following six days of worship and fellowship at MWC's 14th General Assembly. In a final session, delegates agreed to retain the name Mennonite World Conference but add a description subtitle to the organization's designation: "a community of Anabaptist-related churches."

Generating even more discussion than a name change was a report on Mennonite-Catholic dialogue in which MWC has participated over the past five years. While delegates did not yet have access to a final report, they did have a recommendation with four parts. One part called for similar consultations to take place in different regions, another for MWC to accept an invitation for a delegation to visit the Pontifical Council of the Catholic Church in Rome.

The report and recommendation were especially troubling to Latin American delegates, who spoke of intimidation and abuses by the Catholic Church in their countries. "We need to take care of what we have received from God, and I believe dialogue with Catholics will weaken our identity as an Anabaptist church," said Oscar Luis Peralta Aguero from Paraguay.

Juan Sieber from Argentina asked, "Is this a step toward looking for institutional unity?" — to which the answer was: no; the dialogue deals with hurts of the past and learning to know one another in the present, not organizational unity in the future.

"The dialogue should continue," said Nicholas Largaespada Alvarez from Nicaragua and a member of the MWC executive committee. "But our representatives need to stand true to our interpretation of God's word."

In the end, Latin American delegates joined those from other continents in approving all parts of the recommendation on Mennonite-Catholic dialogue.

General Council also heard pleas from several African women theologians for more equality in how they are treated as leaders in the church. They told of preferential treatment for male leaders in such things as educational scholarships and church positions and asked MWC to make the treatment of women leaders a priority for its work in the future. The General Council agreed to do so.

Council members also received the first of a five-volume set to be produced by the MWC Global History Project, which aims to produce a volume of history of the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Church in each continent that has MWC member churches-written from the perspective of these churches. The first volume, appropriately, is the history of the African Anabaptist church.

In other business, Council members approved an Assembly 14 "message to the churches" and statements on the situation in Zimbabwe, on shared theological convictions for study by MWC member churches, and on Biblical virtues that undergird peacemaking as well as practices that form Christian peacemakers. The Council voted nearly unanimously in favor of the formation of a Global Mission Fellowship (GMF), facilitated by MWC, then participated in the GMF inaugural meetings, August 10-11 and 16.

Larry Miller, Strasbourg, France, MWC executive secretary, was reappointed to another three-year term with the possibility of yet another three-year term, during which the Council will look for a successor. Council also agree to provide Miller with a sabbatical of four months or more during the first three-year term.

Brethren in Christ Bishop Danisa Ndlovu of Bulawayo was named MWC vice-president. Elected to the executive committee were Fimbo Ganvunze (Congo) and Joshua Okello (Kenya) for Africa, Joren Basumata (India) and Eddy Sutjipto (Indonesia) for Asia, David Villalta Benavides (Costa Rica) and Peter Stucky (Colombia) for Central, South America and the Carribean; Markus Rediger (Switzerland) and Thijn Thijink (Netherlands) for Europe and Naomi Unger (Canada) and David Wiebe (Canada) for North America. The term for all is six years, 2003-2009.

The Council accepted 10 churches into membership (groups with more than 500 members) or associate membership (less than 500 members): Angola-Igreja Evangelica Menonitas em Angola; Ecuador-Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Ecuatoriana; India-Brethren in Christ Church, Orissa; Malawi-Brethren in Christ Church; Bolivia-La Inglesia Evangélica Anabautista en Bolivia; Peru-Iglesia Evangélica de los Hermanos Menonitas del Perú; Peru-Iglesia Evangélica Menonita del Perú; South Korea-Jesus Village Church; Venezuela-Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Shalom; Eriterea-Meseretes Kristos Church.

--An MWC release

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