wfn.org | Living as a missionary every day

["Hawn, Beth" <BethAH@mbm.org>]

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April 28, 1999
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
(219) 294-7523
NEWS@MBM.org

Living as a missionary every day

TURKU, Finland (MBM) - As far as they know, Stephen, Margot, 
Maria and Timothy Longley are the only Mennonites in Finland.  
They are members of a Swedish-language Methodist church here 
on the southwest coast of Finland.

Their connection with Mennonite Board of Missions as overseas mission 
associates keeps them plugged in to their Anabaptist beliefs.  Annually,
they
 travel to the European colloquium, an inspirational gathering of Mennonite 
mission workers on that continent.  It is there, they say, that they receive
their 
annual bolstering of Anabaptist perspective and fellowship.

"In some ways, the colloquium is our best connection to the Mennonite
Church," 
Margot said.  "It can get quite lonely feeling like the only Mennonites in
all of 
Finland."

Margot, who is Finnish, met Stephen, an Englishman, in London in the mid-
1970s.  They were both participating in a Youth With a Mission discipleship 
training school program.  Because Margot's finishing date with YWAM was 
later than his own, Stephen ended up staying in London to be near her.  He
was
invited to join an international student house that was being started in
north
 London.  That house was owned by MBM.

"It was at what is now the London Mennonite Center that I first came into 
real contact with Mennonites," Stephen said.  "The theology of Anabaptism 
intrigued me, and I found Alan and Ellie [Kreider] to be excellent examples 
of what Christian discipleship is really all about."

The Kreiders, who at that time were overseeing LMC, mentored Stephen 
and, subsequently, Margot.  The Longleys have stayed in contact with the
 Kreiders, and they say the friendship that has developed over the years is 
central to their continuing spiritual growth.

Although Margot is a seminary student and Stephen works as a bookkeeper 
for a children's home, they consider their "mission work" to be the fact
that
 they are living lives as faithfully as they are able in the midst of a
country 
dominated by the state-run Lutheran Church.  For North Americans, fully
 grasping the overwhelming feeling that comes from a state church is
 extremely difficult. 

"The state church has a say in many things in the government," Margot
 said.  "It is possible for them to control many areas of everyday life.
If, 
for example, we ever wanted to start a Mennonite church here in Finland, 
the state church [could] make it very difficult for us."

Although the state church is certainly not reprobate, it is clear to the 
Longleys that it is a powerful institution that is to be respected. 

Margot regularly introduces Anabaptist perspectives into her classes at the 
Lutheran seminary in Turku.  Generally, she said, there is a great deal of 
respect shown for her theological leanings, and the give-and-take of the 
subsequent discussions has yielded new understandings for her, her fellow 
classmates and even her professors.  When she graduates, however, there 
will be a difficult decision to be made.  

"We must decide if I will be ordained in the Lutheran Church and possibly
 be called to pastor in a Lutheran church," she said.  "This is a difficult 
decision because there are fundamental differences between Mennonites 
and Lutherans that I do not know how to overcome."

Regardless of the final decision, the Longleys intend to keep living a
simple
 life, witnessing by example their Anabaptist faith.  

"Being a 'missionary' is about how you live your life every day," Stephen
 said.  "It is not about living in harsh conditions in a poor country, or
about 
preaching Jesus Christ on the street.  We are missionaries in our
friendships 
with those who have rejected the state church and believe there is no other 
place to turn.  We are missionaries in our own congregation, where issues 
of non violence and war and a simple lifestyle come up from time to time.  
We are missionaries to our children, as they come to the age of questioning 
God and faith, and we must do our best to live our faith without forcing it 
upon them.  Being a missionary has little to do with the job you do; it has 
everything to do with who you are."
				*  *  *
Christy Risser

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