March 8, 2010 issue
Urban leaders want a global network
Philadelphia group visits South Korea
By Linda Espenshade Mennonite Central CommitteePage:
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AKRON, Pa. — Person by person, a new network of urban Anabaptist leaders is growing.
Mennonite Central Committee is facilitating the network, in which members share the commonality of engaging life in the city as Anabaptists.
The formation of the network is based on one founding principle: Anabaptist leaders committed to caring for the cities they live in can benefit from relating to urban Anabaptists from all parts of the world.
Once connected, they hope to better understand how they can support each other’s efforts.
“We have Korean Anabaptists longing to be in relationship with other urban Anabaptists,” said Joe Manickam, MCC Asia director. “We have urban Anabaptists in London who are longing to be in relationship with other urban Anabaptists.
“The same can be said for Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and the list goes on. So this initiative is here to give credence to this voice coming out of the city.”
Manickam formed the idea together with Leonard Dow, pastor of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church in Philadelphia and vice chair of the MCC U.S. board of directors. MCC’s role is to connect the urban voices.
“We want it to remain very organic,” said Manickam. “We want it to evolve as the people want it to evolve without outside pressures telling it what it should be.”
The network’s first steps took place in August when a group of urban leaders, most from Philadelphia, flew to Seoul, South Korea, where they were hosted by the Korea Anabaptist Center.
Starting with these two groups was logical because the center participates in MCC’s exchange programs and was interested in more interaction, and Philadelphia is home to the largest group of MCC urban constituents on the East Coast.
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