wfn.org | leadership links women

[Beth Hawn <bethah@mbm.org>]

Mennonite Board of Missions
<News@MBM.org>
December 26, 2001

Call to leadership links women across three generations

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) - From inside the blessed coolness of the 
bungalow with high ceilings, Irene Lehman Weaver heard the 
village women, who had come to Dondi to market their lentils and 
rice, whispering together in tones of awe, "To live in a house 
like this must be heaven."

Weaver, who had lived in villages without modern amenities and 
survived the horrors of a war-time Atlantic crossing on a crowded 
cargo ship with her three malnourished children, might have been 
justified in thinking, "I deserve a bit of comfort."  Instead, 
she vowed inwardly, "We must do this differently."

Born in India, Weaver was the first child of MBM workers to 
return to overseas service with MBM in 1935.  Irene and her 
husband, Ed, spoke out strongly in support of the Indian church's 
need to be autonomous.  In 1952, the mission agency stepped back 
to allow the Mennonite Church of India the right of self-government.

"We learned the struggle that has to go on until the church finds 
itself," Weaver said.  "It was like we had put Saul's armor on 
David.  The church couldn't move with our way of doing things, 
with the trappings that we had brought.  ... Finally, they shook 
off our trappings and found their strength.  The church began to 
grow when we were out of the way.  The mission was there to lay 
foundations, but we could have saved the Indian church a lot of 
heartache."

In 1959, when MBM called upon the Weavers to do a pioneering work 
in West Africa, their combined 42 years' experience of life in 
India informed the mission strategy they developed.  In response 
to African-initiated churches' thirst for Bible teaching and a 
request made to MBM for leadership training, the Weavers lived 
out a new way of doing mission.

 From the mud-brick courtyard of a Nigerian chief to the beaches 
of Ghana, the couple allowed the direction of their ministry to 
be shaped by the people they had come to serve.  "In the end, it 
was hard to determine who was the teacher and who was the 
learner," Weaver said.  "We were conscious of not being in the 
way of the AICs, but also not being out of their way.  We wanted 
meaningful fellowship, but not dependency.  We didn't want the 
AICs to feel that they possessed us or that we possessed them."

Working relationally at a grass-roots level with churches that 
don't compartmentalize people, the Weavers laid the groundwork 
for the holistic, interdenominational ministry that continues to 
flourish today.  Academics visited the Weavers, who were 
practicing a new missiology even as it was being dreamed up in 
European ivory towers.

In Benin, a tiny fist of a nation nestled beside Nigeria, MBM 
workers continue the legacy left by the Weavers.  Since 1987, in 
response to an invitation given by a 30-member council of 
churches, there has been a small but constant MBM presence in the 
country.

Acting as catalysts and promoting church unity, MBM workers 
enabled the Beninese churches to tackle some of the enormous 
problems in the society around them.  A nationally respected 
health center that seeks to serve the society's most marginalized 
people has been totally autonomous since 1993.  Six church-based 
health and development programs empower communities in a variety 
of ways.  They provide training, encourage literacy, work at 
environmental issues, and assist small enterprises through 
micro-loans.

Benin Bible Institute, a second generation of MBM Bible teaching 
in West Africa, trains leaders of 50 denominations and has 270 of 
its alumni ministering in Benin and neighboring countries. 
Though the school's administration is Beninese, MBM continues to 
play a supportive role through Nancy Frey.

Frey feels that God "tricked" her into becoming an MBM intern in 
1995.  She left Canada with a negative view of missionaries, yet 
from the moment she stepped off the plane in Benin, a feeling of 
peace and joy enveloped her.  This sense of being in the right 
place increased as her gifts were used to enhance 
African-initiated ministries.  Frey prolonged her yearlong 
internship by three months.  She returned to Benin in 2000 with 
her husband, her infant son, and a long-term commitment.

"I liked MBM's philosophy and approach in West Africa, a vision 
that Irene and Ed were key in developing," Frey said.  "I felt 
comfortable with the type of work that MBM was doing here ... the 
approach of working with partners in collaboration on projects 
the partners felt were needed, the desire to resource and equip 
Christians and churches rather than founding new churches, the 
willingness to receive counsel from local leaders.  ... The 
relationships I developed in Benin helped encourage me to come 
back here."

Frey struggles with ministering in a context where few women hold 
positions of church leadership, so one of her tasks brings her 
great joy:  that of assisting Christel Djidjoho Akloubou to 
enroll in a program of pastoral counseling at the master's level.

Akloubou graduated at the top of her Benin Bible Institute class 
in 2000, one of nine women in a class of 140.  A year after her 
conversion in 1994, Akloubou sensed that God was pointing her to 
a ministry in the church.  During the next four years, Akloubou 
searched for the specifics of what God desired of her.  It was 
during a pastoral counseling class that she recognized her call.

The call coincided with a decision by the institute's board of 
directors to begin a cutting-edge program in pastoral counseling. 
  The three-pronged vision anticipates a teaching component, 
counseling services for students, and research that will 
harmonize Western psychological principles with traditional 
African practices.

"My most ardent hope is that God will use the pastoral counseling 
tools I will acquire to heal the many conflicts and divisions of 
the Beninese churches," Akloubou said.  Perhaps her family 
foresaw the future of their daughter when they named her 
Djidjoho, which means "peace."

 From three different countries and across three generations, God 
called - and continues to call - women to a ministry of training 
church leaders in the West African country of Benin.

* * *

Lynda Hollinger-Janzen					PHOTOS AVAILABLE