DownloadJune 21 issue
Paraguayans share gift from MWC
Eight conferences split surplus from ’09 world assembly
By Ferne Burkhardt Mennonite World ConferencePresidents of the eight conferences that hosted the 2009 Mennonite World Conference assembly have decided to share equally a $50,000 gift from MWC.
MWC officers decided last October to use part of a positive fund balance after the global assembly to express gratitude to the Paraguayans for their hospitality.
Danisa Ndlovu of Zimbabwe, MWC president, and Larry Miller of France, MWC general secretary, sent a letter to the presidents of each conference to inform them of the $50,000 gift, giving the conferences the freedom to decide how to use it.
The people who had worked together to plan the assembly had finished their work, so it became the responsibility of the conference leaders to decide how to use the money.
Ernst Bergen, MWC treasurer from Asunción, asked Theodor Unruh to initiate contact with the other leaders.
“It was not very easy to come to a common accord, but we tried to do it in the best way possible,” Unruh said. “Each conference leader talked about the gift and its use in his respective conference board.”
The eight leaders, from diverse conferences, had different ideas. They did not meet, but there were many calls and a lot of talking among them, Unruh said. In the end, they agreed to split the money equally, with each conference receiving $6,250.
Five of the conferences decided to use half of their share for their own projects and pool the other half to support Rancho Alegre, a camp about 50 kilometers east of Asunción. It is the one institution the five conferences own jointly.
They use the camp for retreats for schools, youth, other church groups and Christian institutions. Spanish-speaking churches in East Paraguay use the camp a lot.
Each of the three participating indigenous conferences will use their $6,250 for projects yet to be announced.
“We want to say thank you for the good gesture of MWC for sending this gift to the Paraguayan conferences,” Unruh said. “It is a recognition for the work and effort that the churches and conferences put into planning and preparing for the [global] assembly.”
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