wfn.org | Celebrants commemorate mission pioneer’s life

[BethAH@mbm.org]

December 13, 2000
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

December 13, 2000

Celebrants commemorate mission pioneer’s life

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) – Even long after his death, J. D. Graber –
the man credited with changing the face of Mennonite Church
missions – continues to inspire people with his “extraordinary
typical-ness.”

Mennonite Board of Missions honored Graber on Nov. 30 with a
100th birthday party.  Graber, who died in 1978, was born on Oct.
18, 1900.  He led MBM as general secretary for 23 years.

A central figure at the celebration was Chad Bauman, a Princeton
University PhD student currently researching Graber’s life to
track the missiological shifts during Graber’s lifetime.

Graber’s friends, coworkers and children recalled how his work on
the mission field in India and from MBM’s Elkhart office
continues to challenge them.

“J. D. Graber was the first missionary administrator with
long-term overseas experience prior to his assignment,” Dorsa
Mishler told the crowd of more than 150.  “He became a leader in
mission expansion and a pioneer in mission thought.”

When Graber became general secretary of MBM in 1944, the
organization had 55 missionaries in India and Argentina.  Eight
years later, the missions outreach had expanded to China, Japan
and Belgium, with 97 full-time and 30 short-term missionaries.
By the time he retired in 1967, MBM was active in 15 countries
with 216 missionaries.

Colleagues credited the expansion to Graber’s leadership in
changing mission work from a colonial, compound style to one of
relying on the indigenous churches.

“His phrase was ‘partnership in mission,’” Mishler recalled.
“The work rests not on the missionary, but in the national church
itself.  The missionary works with the national church, not as
its ruler.”

Graber also championed the idea of North American churches
becoming active in mission work.  His slogan, “A local mission
outpost for every congregation,” became famous among Mennonite
churches.

Bauman said Graber exhibited “extraordinary typical-ness” in his
life.

“He was typical in that he was a man of his time and his thoughts
reflected the thoughts of the time,” he said.  “But he was
extraordinary in that he had the ability to understand and
respond to the changes going on around him.

“He was not an original thinker, but a reflective thinker,”
Bauman said.  “He gleaned insights from his experience, from the
movement of world history, from scriptures and from the work of
scholars, then forged those insights into a coherent vision that
he encapsulated in ways that inspired others.”

Yet in the midst of his inspirational service, Graber remained a
humble man who enjoyed trees, grew his own vegetables, loved to
sing, and was always ready with a joke.

“I never heard a snide remark about people,” said his son, Ron
Graber.  “I never heard him criticize anyone.”

Graber’s daughter, Eleanor Kreider, said her father also
deflected criticism from others.
“Dad said you assume they didn’t mean it,” she recalled.  “He was
very positive, optimistic and hopeful.”

Graber went into the mission field in India in 1925, shortly
after marrying Minnie Ruth Swartzendruber.  They remained there
until 1942.

His first assignment was at a leprosarium, where he came to enjoy
medicine.  When Ron became a doctor and Eleanor a musician, his
children embodied two of his loves.

Although Graber came to be known as “Mr. Mission,” he had the
ability to work with local congregations.  He focused on helping
North American churches develop a mission outlook.

“He gave voice to the idea that every congregation could be – and
should be – a church in mission,” said Simon Gingerich.  “He
said, ‘A church exists in mission as a fire exists in burning.’”

Gingerich added that saving souls wasn’t the ultimate goal in
Graber’s mission philosophy.
“He said that those saved must become the body of Christ in a
local, viable congregation,” Gingerich said.

Following the planned speakers, several members of the audience,
mostly friends and colleagues of Graber, spoke briefly about
their remembrances of him.  Afterward, people enjoyed two of
Graber’s favorite foods – popcorn and root beer floats.

* * *

Gary Kauffman for MBM      PHOTOS AVAILABLE