wfn.org | Bylers extend healing and hope in Spain

[Beth Hawn]

Microsoft Mail v3.0 (MAPI 1.0 Transport) IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note
To:  'Worldwide Faith News'
Date: 1998-08-19 13:34
Priority: 3
Message ID: B01960203C37D211AAB0006008075ABF
Conversation ID: Bylers extend healing and hope in Spain

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August 19, 1998
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
219-294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

Bylers extend healing and hope through ministry in Spain

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) - "The one thing I started out in life not to be was   
a
missionary," said Dennis Byler, the son of former Mennonite mission   
workers
in Argentina.

However, Dennis and Connie Byler moved to Burgos, Spain, in 1981 to be   
just
that. Today, 17 years later, the Mennonite Board of Missions workers   
can't
get enough of being missionaries. "As the years go by, our calling just   
gets
stronger," Dennis said as the couple began a North American assignment
this summer.

In the late 1970s, the young Byler family joined the Fellowship of Hope,   
an
intentional Christian community in Elkhart, Ind. The community received a   

visit from leaders of an intentional community in Burgos; the Spanish
Christians shared the need for discipleship and teaching among the   
rapidly
growing population of teen-age and young adult Christians in Burgos. For   
the
first time, Spain was experiencing a large measure of religious freedom   
from
formerly Catholic control.

The family took up the challenge presented by the Spanish Christians and
moved to Burgos. "They wanted an 'older family' to be there to be an   
example,"
Dennis said. "We were supposed to just live, to show the youth how to be   
a
Christian family." The family helped to form the Burgos Mennonite
Evangelical Church, in which they are still active.

Today, the Bylers are in many ways like a Spanish family. All four Byler
children, the three oldest of whom are 18 or older, still live at home   
with
their parents. According to Connie, Spanish children live at home until   
they
are married.  High unemployment also makes it difficult to live on their   
own.

The Bylers' church is also much like a family, in which Dennis and Connie   
often
take on the roles of mother and father - and friend. "For many years we   
didn't
like the word 'church.' We preferred 'community,'" Connie said. "Our   
homes
are open homes - we share our lifestyles. Our homes and our lives get   
mixed
up in our ministry."

Connie's role is one of ministry, compassion and friendship. She   
describes
it as "doing whatever needs done." According to Dennis, "just being
available as a warm human being is a huge part of her ministry."

In addition to fulfilling household responsibilities, Connie spends much
of her time with the women in the church and village. "Although I prefer   
to see
myself as an older sister, many women see me as a mother," Connie said.   
"I'm
excited about seeing them show spiritual motherhood to others. Being   
their
friend is so important."

In the 1980s, Dennis served as the pastor of the Burgos Mennonite Church   
and
trained local pastors. He now is in a "supervisory capacity as pastor to   
the
pastors," he said. Rather than participating fully in the preaching, he   
acts
as a mentor and resource to the pastors. "My concern is that Spanish   
people
learn to carry their own vision."

He also teaches part-time at the Seut-Sem, an acronym which translates
roughly as the United Evangelical Theological Seminary in Madrid.

According to Connie, Dennis is a "desk person," spending much of his time   
at
home writing. He has written several books discussing the Mennonite   
stance
on peace and justice, a position at the crux of the Burgos church's   
theology.

"There has been a very positive response to the Mennonite emphasis on   
peace
and love for enemies," Dennis said. "Our mission is evangelism, plus   
church
planting, plus peace, plus service."

The service aspect of the church's ministry revolves around the Accorema
drug rehabilitation center, a self-supported organization managed by the
church. The rehabilitation patients are fully integrated into the life of   

the congregation. "We just want them to live life in the context of a   
Christian
community," Dennis said. "They can see what life might look like if they
decided to follow this road."

The rehabilitation center, begun in the early 1980s, has expanded to also   

serve as a home for people with AIDS. Many people who successfully   
completed
the drug-rehabilitation program and joined the church were diagnosed in   
the
years following with AIDS. To the Bylers, people with AIDS aren't objects   
of
sympathy or curiosity, but friends that they know and love. "It's just
another fact of life," Connie said. "You have freckles - OK, I don't."

"People have considered us to be heroic because of our work with AIDS,   
but
there was no way out of it," Dennis said. "These were people that we'd   
grown to
love. We couldn't have avoided the problem - it would have been   
artificial
not to help."

The home is not really a hospice. "Our rehab center is more what they   
need than a hospice," Dennis said. "People don't only need a safe place   
to die from AIDS -
they need to learn how to live with it."

The Accorema center is staffed by former patients and members of the   
church.
In order to keep the feeling of community and family, "the center is very   
small
and has intentionally not grown larger," said Connie, who as a nurse   
oversees
 medicine distribution and medical counsel to the people with AIDS. Much   
of
the drug rehabilitation is carried out through peer mentoring, and
patients, once physically able, join a construction crew to "earn their
keep" as well as develop trade skills.

When the Bylers are not involved with work at the center, they spend much   
of
their time on the road visiting other Spanish congregations. They meet   
with
the leadership of various churches, listen to their needs and participate   
in
the Sunday-morning services. The Bylers maintain especially strong
contact with a Mennonite-affiliated church in Barcelona, where they as a
 couple support the pastor and his wife. Such traveling usually occupies   
two
weekends a month.

Although Dennis never thought he'd be a missionary, the Byler family is   
now
considering retirement in Spain in order to continue their missions work.   
"The
Lord is knitting our hearts and futures with Spain," Connie said. "It's   
an
exciting time in Spain - we don't know where it's going, but we want to   
be
 there."
* * *

Rachel Lewis        PHOTO AVAILABLE