Mennonite Weekly Review

STRASBOURG, France — Mennonite World Conference leaders are engaging work in mission and youth involvement.

Mission Commission and Youth Task Force members brainstorm together. From left are Agus Mayanto, Mission Commission member from Indonesia; Elina Ciptadi-Perkins, MWC staff person from Singapore, and Ayub Omondi Awich, Youth Task Force member from Kenya. — Photo provided by MWC

The MWC General Council Mission Commission’s work — launched in Paraguay in July — began to take shape at its meeting at the end of February.

The commission’s subcommittee — the Global Mission Fellowship, or GMF, planning group — also met, and the new MWC Youth Task Force joined the commission for some sessions.

“We look forward to working together to stimulate global, continental, regional and local partnerships in outreach among Anabaptist-related church and mission groups everywhere, especially in places where people have not yet had opportunity to meet Jesus,” said Richard Showalter, chair of the commission and of the subcommittee. “As a new team, we bonded in Christ, working together with transparency, trust and love.”

The new commission is facilitating and supporting regional gatherings: African mission leaders plan to gather in August, and the Europeans will meet in November.

The commission is not creating new structures but is connecting with existing groups engaged in mission and outreach, Showalter said.

The commission is developing a Mission Commission section of the MWC Web site beginning in mid-April. The site will have information on mission events and provide a way for groups in all countries to stay in touch with each other. The GMF will have a subsection of the Mission Commission part of the Web site.

The GMF is laying plans for its next meeting, in 2013 in Asia.

The Mission Commission members represent each continental region and include General Council members. César Garcia of Colombia began serving as Mission Commission secretary.

In Paraguay last summer, the GMF, which has operated since 2003, agreed to move into the MWC structure as a subcommittee of the new Mission Commission. Most GMF members already were MWC member churches or agencies related to MWC members.

The new MWC Youth Task Force succeeds the young adult team AMIGOS. It consists of one representative from each of five continental regions. Elina Ciptadi-Perkins of Singapore, who chaired AMIGOS, is the MWC staff person for the task force.