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Many Words of Thanks Spoken as Assembly 14 Ends

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — When someone gives you a chicken, don't weigh it.

That African proverb, affirming the value of all gifts, put a colorful spin on the Mennonite World Conference assembly's emphasis on giving and receiving.

It was quoted by Siaka Traore of Burkina Faso, who gave the evening sermon Aug. 16.

"Brothers and sisters, we ask you to accept our chicken, without weighing it, without judging it, without despising it."

It was among many thankful statements on the assembly's last two days.

The speakers put into words the feeling that everyone - from the poorest Zimbabweans, who piled their dinner plates high with food, grateful for a good meal, to the foreigners who carried big stacks of the inflation-devalued local currency - was both a giver and a receiver.

"Of all the gifts we have received here, God's best gift to us is you," said Larry Miller, MWC executive secretary, expressing the gratitude of international visitors.

"You have received us with joy in the midst of your suffering. You have moved our spirits. You have touched our hearts. We will not forget you," he said to the Sunday morning crowd marked by row upon row of African Brethren in Christ women in white hats.

Danisa Ndlovu, bishop of the BIC Church in Zimbabwe and newly elected vice president of MWC, voiced his people's gratitude.

"This indeed has been a foretaste of heaven.... Thank you for listening to our joys and heartaches.... This has broadened our world view. We will never be the same again."

Traore pointed out that all this sharing of gifts and gratitude could not have happened without the gifts brought by Mennonite and BIC missionaries to Africa, beginning in the 1890s.

"We want to thank you for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to us in Africa," he said. He asked the audience to stand for a moment of silent prayer in memory of the missionaries who died and were buried on African soil.

Now, Africans hope to return the blessing they received.

"Our vision today is to go to your lands and share the gospel with your people," Traore said. "We, Mennonites of Africa, affirm with force that we are the legitimate inheritors of the faith and values of the Mennonite family.

"God has given us the gift of spiritual vitality, and I think many of you have been blessed by that," he said.

He commended international visitors for attending the assembly despite concerns about Zimbabwe's political and economic problems.

"By coming here to Bulawayo we have proved that love is more powerful than fear," he said.