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Global MB Educators Gather for Historic Consultation

FRESNO, California (USA) — Mennonite Brethren (MB) institutions of higher education around the globe are significantly closer because of a historic gathering here of their leaders, June 4 to 9.

Entitled “Shaping Mennonite Higher Education for the 21st Century,” the first ever consultation brought together representatives from 23 MB schools worldwide plus several related schools not directly affiliated with the denomination.

They came from as far apart as Africa and South America. They ranged from the old (Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas, USA, founded in 1908, and MB Centenary Bible College in Shamshabad, India, founded in 1920) to the very young (Faculdade Biblica Paulistana in Sao Paulo, Brazil). Some were liberal arts universities while others taught trades or trained pastors.

The International Committee of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB) sponsored the consultation, held on the adjoining campuses of the MB Biblical Seminary and Fresno Pacific University.

The purpose was to bring the global educators together to address questions of identity many MB schools are facing and to explore the changing face of global education.

Each day contained worship, plenary sessions on foundational issues of Christian higher education, discussion groups and workshops on practical concerns such as finances and curriculum.

ICOMB executive secretary Victor Wall of Paraguay opened with a seven-point call to MB academic leadership to:

1. Center education in kingdom politics (allegiance to God’s reign);
2. Engage in mission-motivated and mission-motivating education (as a consequence of being centered in God’s kingdom);
3. Build up leaders in Jesus’ terms (rather than contemporary leadership gurus);
4. Seek, learn and teach truthful knowledge (embodied in life);
5. Become faithful stewards of resources (“making space for knowledge” in relating to each other and the world);
6. Practice international solidarity (putting the global church high on the agenda);
7. Become high-tech Anabaptists (not fearing but using the tools God has provided for this generation).

Plenary speaker I.P. Asheervadam, professor at MB Centenary Bible College, traced a specifically Anabaptist view of education. Calling Anabaptism both a spiritual and social movement, he drew parallels between its rise within the peasant classes of 16th century Europe and the missionary movement’s emphasis on education that empowered India’s Dalits (a term for communities marginalized and dehumanized by the caste system). He outlined 11 core beliefs of Anabaptism and urged MB schools to embrace them and offer them to the wider kingdom of God.

In his paper, Alfred Neufeld, dean of the faculties of theology and of education and social work at the Evangelical University of Paraguay, defined the challenge of Christian higher education in terms of the ability to have faith in the church. “If the church is the body of Christ, then all we do in the name of Jesus, we do in the name of the church,” he said.

Ideally, Neufeld added, church and school should be interdependent, “but in times of crisis, church leadership must prevail.”

Ensuing discussion of that statement underlined occasional unease between church and school. What if, some asked, church or conference leaders have little understanding for higher education? Could a school be both submissive and prophetic?

Despite differences in size, scale and geography, a strong sense of connectedness emerged at the consultation.

“The world has gotten smaller,” said Ernst Janzen, professor at Faculdade Fidelis in Curitiba, Brazil.

“I’ve seen a level of humility and belonging I had somehow not expected,” said Johann Matthies, who represented both Lithuania Christian College and St. Petersburg Christian University. “It makes me hopeful — that we can grow and support one another.”

Outside observers commented on the degree of personal as well as school-to-school interaction that occurred, even among those who had never met previously.

“There was a lot of exchanging of ideas and stories,” said Ken Reddig, executive director of the Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies in Winnipeg, Canada. “Some who were struggling got a real shot in the arm by sharing with others. There was a strong sense that we are all part of something bigger. We’re not alone.”

If the consultation demonstrated the continuing maturation of ICOMB as the body that connects the global Mennonite Brethren family, it also revealed some gaps. The transition from relationship as North American mission agency (MBMSI) with mission “fields” to relationship as a body of equal conferences is still in process, especially when it comes to the financial struggles of mission-established institutions in some Majority World conferences.

An “economic missiologist” is needed “ to help us deal with the disparities,” said Dalton Reimer, professor emeritus of FPU and a consultation organizer.

Highly ranked priorities included meeting again (perhaps in 2010 or every five years), faculty exchanges, scholarships for students from developing countries, globalizing FPU’s Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies, and wide sharing of resources such as books, fund-raising ideas and online library access.

Videos of the worship and plenary sessions can be seen at www.fresno.edu/icomb. Plenary papers will be published in Direction, the Mennonite Brethren academic journal.

— From a report by Dora Dueck, Mennonite Brethren Herald