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German Mennonite Conference Offers Hope for the Future

KARLSRUHE, Germany — Hope and a future. These words of promise from Jeremiah 29:11 stood at the center of the Mennonite gathering here, May 17-20. More than 400 Mennonites came together for the Germany-wide conference which is held every three or four years.

The conference brought together Mennonites from the 55 churches that make up the AMG — Associated Mennonite Churches in Germany.

Each morning speakers focused on biblical texts that both challenge resignation and encourage hopeful awareness of where God is at work in the world. Digging into texts from both the Old and New Testaments, they spoke of hope and renewal, themes that also shaped the afternoon workshops.

Drawing parallels from the dry bones that received new life in Ezekial 37, Corinna Schmidt and Frieder Boller spoke of God breathing fresh hope into churches today. Schmidt is pastor of the Mennonite churches in Lübeck and Hamburg and Boller is pastor of Ingolstadt Mennonite Church and newly appointed chairman of AMG. They challenged listeners to look beyond the number of attendees or the amount of activity in a congregation and instead seek genuine life and renewal, measured by God’s standards.

With examples from their work in European Mennonite circles outside of Germany, Henk Leegte, pastor of the Mennonite Church in Amsterdam, and Madeleine Bähler, supervisor and ‘coach’ active in the Swiss Mennonite Church, examined the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They noted its relevance for churches in today’s pluralistic society. They encouraged churches to look honestly at their present state and role in their communities, developing a sensitivity to recognize the paths where God is leading.

“Conflicts are often brought on by a fear of change,” Bähler said, commenting that courage is fear transformed by prayer.

International guests enriched the conference. Mennonites from other European countries as well as Christian brothers and sisters from North and South America and the Middle East shared from experiences in their home settings, finding ways to remain hopeful despite challenges and frustrations.

On the first evening, fitting to the theme of hope and a future, Paraguayan Mennonite Ernst Weichselberger extended an invitation to German Mennonites to attend the Mennonite World Conference Assembly in Asuncion, Paraguay, in July 2009. Weichselberger is the national coordinator for Assembly 15.

Also among the international guests was Daoud Nassar, a Palestinian Christian from the organization Tent of Nations in Bethlehem. He visited Germany as the German Mennonite Peace Committee’s 2007 Michael Sattler Peace Award recipient. Sharing during an afternoon workshop about his family’s vision of a meeting place for people of varied nationalities and religions, Nassar demonstrated by the example of the Tent of Nations the importance of offering hope for the future. The organization sees a particular need to help young people realize that a hopeful future is more than an illusion.

“It’s an encouraging experience being with people from different places. We all bring something from the journey we’re walking,” said Peter Scheffler-Kroeker, pastor of the Mennonite church in Möckmühl.

Rosi Giesbrecht from Paraguay, in Germany for a year of voluntary service with Christliche Dienste, attended the German Mennonite conference for the first time. “What I’ve noticed is that the problems and conflicts are the same everywhere. That’s what I heard again and again this weekend. I take with me hope that change can take place and can begin first of all in small ways within me.”

During the final gathering Sunday morning, Doris Hege, pastor of the Mennonite church in Frankfurt, acknowledged in summary, “We’ve considered the promise that God wants to give us a future and hope. Trusting God, may we take this hope into our churches, our families, our society and our world.”

— Megan Rutt