Articles : March 21, 2011
Congregations
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Anticipating crises
On Feb. 24, the message was brought by David Heusinkveld. His sermon came from the story of Naomi and Ruth. Heusinkveld is the new executive director at Pleasantview Home, the local retirement community. He reminded West Union that we were one of the area churches that helped to found Pleasantview Home more than 50 years ago, and urged us to claim our ownership in it and find ways to be involved in Pleasantview’s ministry.
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A dangerous baptism
On Jan. 9, Pastor Michael Dean’s sermon was titled “A Dangerous Baptism.” In the evening we saw an illustration of a dangerous baptism as we watched the movie The Radicals, the story of the beginning of the Anabaptist movement in the 16th century.
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Church eats at Chinese restaurant
On Jan. 9, the congregation ate at the Chinese restaurant in the Lima Mall. Two members of our congregation have been working with the owners, one providing the family with Chinese Bibles and the other helping them obtain food licenses for the restaurant. The owners delighted in serving the church family.
Editorial
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Women’s progress toward equality
Equality is the cornerstone of Mennonite World Conference. The rich and the poor, members of old churches and new ones, stand on level ground under its banner.
Feature
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Publisher looks back on 50 years
NEWTON, Kan. — When he was 14, Robert M. Schrag — soon to retire after a long career with Mennonite Weekly Review — got his first taste of the global Mennonite world. He’s been serving that world as a journalist for 50 years.
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Do we worship the same God?
Christianity and Islam are prospering side-by-side in the global South, and many Mennonites see opportunities for relationship-building, though some consider Islam a threat to Christianity.
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Was that a call to ministry or just a tap on the shoulder?
In 1999, Sharon Kennel of Shickley, Neb., laughed when two people approached her about becoming a conference minister in what was then Iowa-Nebraska Conference of the Mennonite Church.
Letters
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Unfair to Mormons
“MBs Plant Churches in Mormon Country” (Feb. 28), a reprint from the Mennonite Brethren magazine Christian Leader, lacked balanced, fair reporting. There wasn’t any evidence to support the pastors’ allegations about Mormons, nor was a Mormon representative given an opportunity to respond. The pastors who are planting churches in Utah spoke of Mormons lying, distorting and misrepresenting God, and of the Mormon church operating a propaganda machine. Though the reporter was not the one who made these anti-Mormon comments, in my opinion there was a failure both professionally and ethically on the part of Christian Leader and MWR to be fair to the Mormons in Utah.
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Americans’ image
I can empathize with the sorrow of Robert Kreider at Mennonite Central Committee’s “divorce” (Viewpoint, March 7). Ninety years of working together on both sides of the 49th parallel is incredible. We have cherished our Canadian co-workers.
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Don’t persecute
Regarding “MBs Plant Churches in Mormon County” (Feb. 28): Our daughter married a man with a Mormon background. They were befriended by members of the Mormon church, and both have been active in the church. They have two daughters, whose husbands both volunteered two years to missionary service. We now have six great-grandchildren. When I see how the parents are teaching them the Christian faith and rearing them, what more could we ask for?
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