DearMBchurch.ca

Does Peace Detract From the Gospel? -- Dave Hubert

           The MB Church began in the Ukraine in 1860 as a renewal movement. The early MB’s considered the state of the “Grosse Gemeinde” (Big Church) to be formal, static and worldly—moribund. The vitality and vigor of this new movement quickly attracted many from the Grosse Gemeinde, and the new church quickly gained many adherents among the less that 100,000 Mennonites that then lived in the Russian Empire.
            From the beginning the MB’s were powerfully influenced by ideas from Germany and people like Eduard Wuest, and the German Pietists. This influence led to a dynamic missionary movement, both within Russia and overseas. Initially, MB missionaries served with Baptist missions, but soon they established their own missions agencies. This missionary mindedness followed the MBs as many migrated to the New World, beginning in the 1870’s.
            This missions movement led to vibrant churches in India, the Congo, Panama, Columbia, Indonesia and other parts of the world. These churches, with Mission Board support, eventually became self supporting and are characterized by both evangelism and community service. Both the Great Commission (Matthew 28—Go ye therefore and preach the gospel to every nation…) and the Great Command (Matthew 5—Let your light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven) are taught and practiced.
           Leaders in the international MB movement have now organized ICOMB—the International Community of Mennonite Brethren Churches and this speaks to the continuing vitality of the MB movement among churches established in the developing world. Cesar Garcia, an MB from Columbia, is now the President of Mennonite World Conference, and this is a manifestation of the continuing importance of the international witness of the MB’s.
           An interesting event occurred in the 1960’s in the Africa at one of the first inter-Mennonite meetings there. When the Congolese MB’s met with other Mennos they learned that Mennonites are committed to the Gospel of Peace. Apparently some MB missionaries had given peace a secondary emphasis. At the time, and also later, there were MB’s who thought the emphasis on peace might detract from the “central” thrust of the Gospel and hinder evangelism. When the Congolese MB leaders learned that Mennonites were peace people and their Church a peace church, they asked their missionary mentors, “Why did you not declare to us the full counsel of God?”
            This question pinpoints one of the significant issues that North American MB’s continue to wrestle with. More of this in the next blog that I will write.

Dave Hubert, Lendrum MB Church, Edmonton

Taking That Cloud of Witnesses Seriously

DearMBchurch.ca:
           There have been twenty-one centuries of Christians, and the Holy Spirit gave each century its own insights. 
            One of the ways we remember and learn from the faithful of previous centuries is through singing their songs. I’ve noticed in the MB tradition that both when words are projected, and when we look at our hymnal, there are no dates next to the author who composed the song. I think that’s unfortunate and here’s why.
            When we just write an author’s name next to a song, we are saying, “Context doesn’t matter. We are all individuals connecting to one God.” This approach assumes it is immaterial whether the words were written in the 1400s, the 1800s or last year. It flattens church theology, and simplistically assumes that we are all reading the Bible the same way.  Yet the Christian tradition bears witness to a flowering of faithfulness that is incredibly diverse.
            In the 1600s Martin Rinkart wrote a hymn called “Now Thank We All Our God”. One phrase remembers God as someone “who wondrous things has done”. He is referring to God’s hand ending the Thirty Years War, a war that had reduced the population of the German states by 25-40%. Rinkart, a Lutheran clergyman, was performing 50 funerals a day. "And keep us in your grace, and guide us when perplexed,” was a plea not just of an individual but of a church that had sinned deeply: the Thirty Years War was a religious war.
            “Amazing grace, how sweet the song” was written by slave trader John Newton, who in the 1700s participated in the murder of thousands of enslaved black people. His words of repentance were a personal expression of a giant change in church life as white churches began to accept Africans as real people worthy of respect. Newton was an evangelical preacher. But preaching the gospel wasn’t just about making sure people got to heaven, it was about changing how people lived together. It meant rejecting injustice and advocating for social and political change.
            The compilers of our MB hymnal have paid attention to these voices from different eras of the church; in our hymnal we have lyrics by St. Patrick, Martin Luther, Fanny Crosby, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, each speaking out of the struggles of their time. Singing the songs of different centuries is important.
            For a time, praise and worship music projected on the wall tended to be mostly modern, but I’ve noticed that there is a trend towards occasionally using lyrics from older hymns. I am glad to see that!
            However the absence of dates next to the authors impoverishes our worship. It focuses the attention only on us, singing here in this room, instead of pointing us to the reality that we are joining our voices with faithful Christians from all ages.
            Today our denomination has declared that church planting is our number one priority and reason for existence. That would have been a very foreign concept to Martin Rinkart and John Newton. As we define our own church’s mission, we can learn from how the church in previous centuries engaged the gospel.
            Learning from history is a powerful gift that God gives us, providing course correction if we become centred on our own narrow interpretations of the gospel. The cloud of witnesses is singing us towards faithfulness, will we listen?

Love, Carol Penner, Lendrum MB Church, Edmonton

Who are the "Least Reached"?

DearMBchurch.ca:
           As pastor of my church, I recently filled out a survey from the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. It’s called the MB Church Transformation Survey. One question reads: “Please indicate if your church ministries will be focused on any of the following cultural, religious or other least-reached people groups: Aboriginal Peoples, Francophones, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists.”
            First off, some statistics I’ve read from Census Canada suggest that 2 out of 3 Canadian Aboriginal people are Christians. That seems like a large number, hardly the “least reached”. Except, perhaps, if you remove the 40% of Aboriginal Christians who are Catholics. Are we basically calling Catholics non-Christians? I already had a blog post about that problem in the MB church: "Sawing Off Our Own Legs".
           But more to the point, in my view, I think you could argue that Inuit and First Nations in Canada have been one of the most reached cultures in terms of Christian evangelism. And this has been tragic.
            Today we are reaping the very bitter fruit of the evangelism done to these peoples. Beginning in the 1600s and continuing until today (to this very survey question), most evangelists assume that First Nations know nothing about God. As Christians we came in and told them they had to forget everything they knew about spirituality because it was evil and adopt everything about our religion. This has been disastrous! Cultural genocide happened at the hands of our missionaries.
            What is it saying about God, to assume that God was unable to reach or communicate with a whole continent of people for thousands of years? Is God that powerless, that uncaring? I think God has always been active in Aboriginal cultures. To call Aboriginal Peoples a “least reached group” is simply bad theology.
            And to label Aboriginal Peoples this way reflects a very dangerous colonial and racist attitude. It assumes a position of power over: “We have the knowledge about God, you are lost unless we share it with you.” In 2016, why are we still referring to Aboriginal Peoples as “the least reached”? Have we learned nothing from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission meetings?
            Can we share about Jesus? Absolutely! And with joy! But can we do this with humility, trusting that God has been active in every culture?
            Speaking as a white person, I think we have so much to learn from Inuit and First Nations spiritualities. Aboriginal people I have met are way more in tune with God’s presence in creation than almost every white person I know. We need to be reached by them! We need to learn from them how to truly revere God by respecting creation.|
            So if we have to talk about “least reached people groups”, maybe we should put white people at the top of the list. Maybe God is trying to reach white people through the wisdom of Aboriginal spiritualities.
            The question I quoted at the beginning of this post was from a “Transformation Survey”. I think that the MB church needs transformation. I think God is calling the MB church, and every church in Canada, to repent of our theological pride and our racist past that continues even to this day.

Love, Carol Penner, Lendrum MB Church

What I love about the MB Church

            One of the things that I love about the MB church is that it is not culturally bound to Mennonitism. From the very beginning of the MB tradition there has been an openness to learning and growing and co-operating with other denominational traditions.
            I heartily agree with the ecumenical nature of the C2C program. I am glad we are part of ecumenical organizations. We need to be working together with other churches to bring good news to the world. If we all just try to do the work of Jesus in our own little denominational silos, this is going to limit the impact of the gospel.
            I see this openness reflected in my own congregation. We have people worshiping with us who come from the Catholic tradition, the Baptist tradition, the Pentecostal tradition and from no tradition at all. And we don’t say, “Leave that tradition at the door, you have to become Mennonite like us!” I think we have learned from the wisdom these people all bring to us. Our worship style reflects these ecumenical gifts. I think that co-operation does not mean losing your identity. It means, though, that you are opening up yourself to change.
            Here at Lendrum, there is an Anglican church two blocks from us, but for decades we have had very little to do with each other. Now in this past year we have worshipped together at a joint choir concert, and we have worked together sponsoring a refugee family from Syria. I know that we can have a stronger witness to God in our community if we work together.
            Studies show that denominational loyalty is not a characteristic of young believers, they will try many different churches in their lifetime. And pastors are moving from denomination to denomination too. It’s hard to predict what the church in Canada will look like in 20 years time.            
            I believe that the Holy Spirit is at work “mixing up” the churches in the best sense of the word. As in someone cooking up something delicious. I am glad that the MB church focuses first on Jesus, who unites us all.

Sawing Off Our Own Legs

DearMBchurch.ca:
            My experience in the Mennonite Brethren tradition has been very important in my life. I have learned so much and grown a lot being a part of an MB congregation. But dear MB church, you are not the only part of the church. I have felt God’s spirit moving in so many other churches; Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Baptist, Quaker, and even Mennonite Church Canada.
            What I don’t understand is why at every MB conference I go to, I hear leaders give statistics about the number of Christians in Canada that exclude the vast majority of the body of Christ. It’s like we are standing up there and saying to our lower torso, you’re not part of my body.
            At the last conference I was at, I heard a speaker from C2C say that he wants to belong to an evangelical church because those are the only churches where the gospel is proclaimed and scripture is read. This is not a true statement. Because in actual fact, there are no non-bible-reading churches in Canada. Every church in Canada reads the Bible in their services. The Lord’s Supper is served in every single church in Canada (except for a few Quaker churches). Who are we to say that Jesus is not present at those tables?
            Yes, there are differences. Yes, we talk about Jesus differently. But we all believe in Jesus. Jesus is proclaimed in all churches.
            When people make statements like these from the platform at MB conferences, what kind of witness is this to newcomers to the church, to people who are not Christian? They come into the church and see the church gnawing on its hands, or trying to saw off its legs. Tearing down other parts of the church is simply gruesome! It’s not a good news message that draws people to Jesus, it turns people away from the church.
            I love you dear MB church, and I love the evangelical church. But we are just one part of the body of Christ. I hope I can hear that from the platform at the next national MB Gathering in Toronto.

Love, Carol Penner, Lendrum MB Church, Edmonton