wfn.org | MBM celebrates 50 years of work in Belgium

[BethAH@mbm.org]

March 21, 2001
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

March 21, 2001

MBM celebrates 50 years of work in Belgium

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) – When David Shank felt a tap on his shoulder
last fall while attending a celebration of Mennonite Board of
Missions evangelistic work in Belgium, he turned to find a once
familiar face.

The Congolese woman doing the tapping was Rose, who, as a teen,
attended one of the churches David and Wilma Shank helped start
and nurture during their 29 years in Belgium.  The Shanks had not
seen her in 35 years, but Rose had become a successful
businesswoman and a vibrant Christian.

“I tell my friends that I am who I am today because of the
Shanks,” Rose told them.

While the Shanks are quick to pass the credit on to God, Rose
serves as an example of how MBM’s work in Belgium the past 50
years has changed lives.

In October 2000, MBM celebrated 50 years of work in Belgium and
the 20th anniversary of the Mennonite Center in Brussels.

The Shanks served as the first MBM missionaries – they prefer the
term evangelists – in Belgium in 1950.  Their efforts succeeded
the work of MBM’s Mennonite Relief Committee, which entered
Belgium shortly after the end of World War II in 1945.

History also played a role in picking Belgium as the place to
start a European ministry.  The small country, slightly larger
than the state of Maryland, once hosted a strong Anabaptist
movement until persecution wiped it out in the 16th century.

“Even though we’d both been thinking about serving in India, when
the call came to Belgium, it struck us as a terrific challenge to
replant the Mennonite Church there,” Wilma said.

Since Belgium supplied a high percentage of the world’s Catholic
missionaries, most of them to the Belgian Congo, MBM shied away
from referring to its workers as missionaries.  Instead, David
became known as just another pastor in the evangelistic movement
in the country.

MBM’s mission work began in two established ministries – helping
an outreach to Slavic miners and taking on the administration of
a children’s home for illegitimate and abandoned children.

“It gave us a reason for being there other than being
missionaries,” David said.

The work soon expanded.  The Children’s Home administrator
conducted home visitations that grew into a “kitchen
congregation” and eventually became a Mennonite church in
Rixensarte that continues to thrive today.

Unexpected events gave MBM new ministry opportunities that
continue into the present.

For example, a Belgian named Jules Lambotte sought a pacifist
church in Belgium after his wife, Madeleine, became a Christian
through a French Mennonite church.  They were delighted to learn
about MBM’s work and connected with the Shanks.  Eventually,
Lambotte started his own evangelical center that currently
includes a publication ministry and a meeting place for a
Mennonite church.

In 1956, a young Italian named Mauro Sbolgi, who became a
Christian through a radio broadcast by the Virginia Mennonite
Mission Board, began working with the mission to miners.  He then
teamed up with MBM’s work, which led to forming the Social
Service for Foreigners.

Today, Social Service for Foreigners operates as an autonomous
organization, with 10 centers that help foreigner workers, now
mostly North Africans and Turks.

David also had a hand in the Belgian government’s decision to
allow alternative service for conscientious objectors after a
young Christian was imprisoned for his pacifist beliefs.  André
VanderMensvrugge, a young man from a wealthy family, became
involved in pacifism through Lambotte.  When he refused military
service, the government jailed him.
That gave David the opportunity to petition the government to
allow alternative service to developing countries.  The
government passed legislation recognizing conscientious-objector
status five years later.

The Shanks continued their work with several congregations,
including two among the Spanish-speaking community in Brussels
and the other ministries until 1973.

The Belgian mission work continued under Robert and Wilda Otto,
who arrived in 1965, and José Gallardo, who served as president
of the Belgium Mennonite Council.  Robert Otto served as pastor
of the Brussels Mennonite Church, taught Protestant religion
classes in a Catholic school, and directed the Foyer
International Protestant, a center that houses university
students from Africa.

Wilda Otto served as administrative secretary of the Protestant
Missions Bureau, where she helped Protestant missionaries going
to Zaire (now the Congo) study Belgian law, customs and
language.  She also helped orient university students who came
from Africa to study in Belgium.

In 1980, J. Robert and Sylvia Shirk Charles and Stephen and Jean
Gerber Shank, arrived to open the Brussels Mennonite Center.

“One of the main ideas was to provide a public face for
Mennonites that would allow people to learn about Mennonites,
provide hospitality, and offer programs on particular themes,”
Robert said.

Since the early 1990s, the Center has become the focus of MBM’s
work in Belgium, particularly the mediation services under the
direction of Juan Romero.

The mediation work primarily involves training various groups
such as churches, schools and families how to work through
conflict situations.

During its 50 years in Belgium, MBM’s work has resulted in many
changed lives, like Juan Romero, whose interest in mediation
services grew out of a program held at the Mennonite Center.

Although Rose credited the Shanks with the changes in her life,
the Shanks are reluctant to accept the praise

“We saw God at work and we worked along with him,” Wilma said.
“It’s amazing how, when you’re open to God’s working, he does
work.  There were so many things he put in our path.”

David concurred.  “A few people can have a big impact when they
don’t care who gets credit for it,” he said.

* * *

By Gary Kauffman for MBM news