MWR : Articles : April 11, 2011

Articles : April 11, 2011

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Congregations

Providing coffee as outreach

A cup of “Joe-To-Go!” was started in February. Every early Wednesday morning anyone driving by the church can “drive-through” the front car port for a free cup of coffee. This has been a great way to connect and share with the community.
Youth study church in China

Mission Expo at Hillsboro MB is an opportunity for youth from first to sixth grade to learn what Jesus meant when he told believers to go into all the world and share the gospel. This year the country the youth learned about was China. Geography, some history as it relates to the openness to Christianity, traditions and beliefs and home life are part of the presentations.
Stimulating ‘soul food’

“Soul Food” — food for the body, food for the soul, is an alternative worship service that began on Feb. 27. The informal, Taize style service is held Sunday afternoons and is led by Pastor Kathy Neufeld Dunn. Worship is experienced through music, Scripture, prayer and the Lord’s Supper. A light meal is served at the conclusion.

Editorial

The weight of another war

Faith in war to achieve high goals at low cost seems unshakable, despite its poor record. How else to explain that the United States has added a third war to its list of burdens?

Feature

Former Egypt educator sees results of democratic engagement

HARRISONBURG, Va. — Lee M. Yoder was astonished when he saw the Feb. 28, 2011, edition of Time.

Letters

Author of peace

Thanks to Gerald Mast for the C. Henry Smith Peace Lecture (“Professor: Evangelical Theology Challenges, Renews Peace Beliefs,” March 28). His argument, which is deeply faithful to 450 years of Mennonite teaching —and to the witness of the Gospels and of Paul — will be misunderstood in more than one way, sadly.
Japanese persevere

The March 28 editorial notes that the response of the Japanese people to the earthquake and tsunami can be described by the Japanese word gaman, meaning to endure. When one is a victim of an event over which one has little control, gaman is an appropriate term. However, one soon needs to move beyond being a victim. There is a word in Japanese, used much more than gaman, which is ganbaru (pronounced gambaru), meaning to persevere, to stick to the job, implying until one achieves success. I suggest that from now on the attitude of Japanese people will be one of ganbaru. They will ganbaru until they work through this terrible disaster.
Respecting Mormons

In reference to evangelicals treating Mormons with respect, and engaging them in dialogue rather than judgment, several examples come to mind. Evangelist Dwight L. Moody spoke in the Mormon Tabernacle in 1871 and again in 1899. More than 100 years later, in 2004, both Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, and Ravi Zacharias also preached there.
College injustice?

Darrin W. Snyder Belousek (Viewpoint, March 21) challenges church-related colleges, or CRCs, to pay the higher costs required to achieve “justice” for underpaid adjunct faculty members. He describes a labor situation that has been widely covered in the academic press over the past couple decades, and that I began to experience in the humanities starting in 1976.

News

Lancaster adds churches that looked for a home

LANCASTER, Pa. — Welcoming two churches into Lancaster Mennonite Conference on March 19 reflected the conference’s developing “2020 Vision” — and the surprises it might bring.