For The Record

Submit birth, marriage and obituary records online.

Personal Ads

Meet new friends today!

Advertising

Put your message in front of 19,000 readers.

PDF documents on this site require the free Adobe Reader:

Get Adobe Reader

2012-02-01 issue:

MWC meetings mean 'end of the beginning'

New structure established for fellowship, collaboration among African churches

by Tim Lind of Mennonite World Conference Congo

Print Article

Two separate meetings of Mennonite World Conference Africa representatives occurred on successive weekends at the end of October and early November 2011 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Together they marked the “end of the beginning” of a five-year-long process to put into place a new structure for fellowship and collaboration among MWC member churches in Africa.

MWC Africa Caucus Executive Committee participants (from left): Danisa Ndlovu, Toss Mukwa, Tigist Gelagle, Francisca Mawangu, Thuma Hamukang’andu, Rebecca Osiro, Emelia Amexo, Timothy Lind and Beatrice Kalaki. Photo provided.

The first gathering was a workshop of Central African MWC General Council delegates, while the second was the annual meeting of the Africa Caucus Executive Committee.

The new caucus process began in March 2006 at the MWC General Council meetings in Pasadena, Calif., where delegates of African Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches agreed that the MWC Africa Caucus would serve as the continental conference for Anabaptist churches in Africa. MWC staff developed an implementation plan, and the caucus approved it in July 2009 at the Paraguay assembly. Key elements of the plan were regional training workshops for African General Council delegates and the creation of a caucus executive committee.

Regional workshops were subsequently held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for Eastern African churches (August 2010), in Accra, Ghana, for West African churches (February 2011) and in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (March 2011), for Southern African churches. The Kinshasa gathering in October 2011 for Central African churches completed the regional trainings.

A combined total of 65 people participated in the workshops, including 35 of the 37 Africa Caucus members. During the workshops, caucus members learned about MWC history and mission and the expectations of General Council delegates. Workshop participants also debated the newly developed statutes for the Africa caucus item by item, with each region making proposals for modifications.

Another key activity of the workshops was sharing the gifts and challenges of each church and each region. Many expressed the need for more exchanges among the Anabaptist-related churches of a given region. 

“Even though we’re not far from Kinshasa, we feel very isolated from other Mennonites,” said Garcia Pedro Domingos, president of the Igreja da Comunidade Menonita em Angola (Community Mennonite Church of Angola). “It is only when we go to MWC assemblies that we meet our Mennonite brothers and sisters next door.”

This sense of isolation and desire for more regional fellowship was expressed in every region. Theophilus Tetteh Akoso of the Ghana Mennonite Church gave voice to many when he stressed that “as a caucus we must find ways to strengthen our connections and sharing at every level.”

Africa Caucus Executive Committee members were glad to be able to meet in DRC, home to one of the largest bodies of Mennonites in the world. The primary agenda of the committee was to review the feedback coming from the four regional training workshops and to prepare an agenda for the Africa Caucus meeting in May in Switzerland. After studying the proposed changes to the caucus structure coming from each regional group, the committee edited a revised constitution to be presented to the full caucus in May.

On Nov. 6, 2011, a special inter-Mennonite service was planned at the Mopulu congregation of the Communauté Mennonite au Congo (Congo Mennonite Community—CMCo). Mennonite congregations from throughout the city, and from all three Congo Mennonite conferences, as well as official conference representatives were invited to a joint worship and welcome service.

MWC president Danisa Ndlovu gave a sermon based on Ephesians 4:17 and following, in which he implored Anabaptists to embrace unity and turn away from all manner of falsehood and corruption. Rev. Joly Birakara, vice president of CMCo, invited MWC to return in 2012 to participate in the events planned to celebrate 100 years of relationships between North American Mennonites and Congolese.

“We want you to be with us not only when we are experiencing difficulties, but also on occasions of joy and celebration,” Birakara said.