MWR : Service groups aim to work together globally

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Sept. 6, 2010 issue

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Service groups aim to work together globally

By J. Lorne Peachey Mennonite World Conference

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Representatives from Anabaptist churches and organizations involved in service gathered here Aug. 6-9 to consider how to work together more effectively.

They proposed creating a Mennonite World Conference network or entity focused on service activities.

The consultation, the first of its kind for Anabaptist service groups worldwide, included 53 participants from 27 agencies, departments or committees of MWC member churches.

Groups from 18 countries spanning every continent represented more than 80 percent of the global Anabaptist community.

Pakisa Tshimika, MWC Global Church Advocate and consultation facilitator, said the consultation came out of previous conversations on diakonia (service) at the 2006 MWC General Council meeting in Pasadena, Calif.

At that time, the General Council approved a gathering of service entity representatives to explore working together on common questions, concerns and programs.

Participants in California called for “a space or entity under MWC auspices in which every member relates in an interdependent way in order to more effectively serve the church and the world.”

They also agreed to support the event with finances, personnel, gifts and skills.

While meeting in Ethiopia, participants discussed the future of local and global service connections, focusing on four models:

■ Process — continue to improve what we are already doing together, gradually growing into something better.

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