wfn.org | MBM rejoices in generous gift-giving,

[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 rejoices in generous gift-giving, expanded mission capacity

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) – Mennonite Board of Missions marked its
largest year ever in contributions from all sources, resulting in
expanded mission capacity and program around the world.  For the
fifth consecutive year, giving to MBM’s operating fund has
increased at the same time as the agency expanded its commitment
to mission partnerships.

Contributions from individuals and congregations rose 7 percent
to a record $5.6 million for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31,
2001, according to Ed Burkholder, MBM’s director of Finance.
Congregations gave $4 million.  Individual gifts accounted for
the other $1.6 million.  Of these, 664 were first-time donors.

 “The 20th century will be remembered as a century of Mennonite
generosity toward God’s mission in the world,” said Stanley
Green, MBM president.  “I have been given great hope by our
experience in the year just ended for the contribution that
21st-century Mennonites will make sharing the good news of God’s
healing and hope in Jesus Christ.”

Although MBM has a century-long history of doing mission, the
agency isn’t resting on its past accomplishments.  Neither is it
adopting a “wait-and-see” posture toward the future, which
remains a mystery as the Mennonite Church and its institutions
work through the transition process.  MBM has chosen to be fully
engaged and experiences the present as a gift in many senses of
the word.

There is a sense of optimism among MBM staff and the yearend
report is a summary of gifts given and received at a variety of
levels.

“For the World!  An MBM Music Festival,” held on the Goshen
(Ind.) College campus, featured more than 20 Christian artists
and expressed the mood of celebration that characterized MBM’s
ministry throughout the past year.  It also served as a way for
Mennonites and other Christians to reaffirm their support for
missions.

Involvement in intercontinental partnerships this past year
demonstrates MBM’s recognition that mission is more than a
one-way street.

? A leadership exchange between the New Zion Church Movement of
South Africa and Calvary Community Church (Hampton, Va.) has laid
the groundwork for the arrival of a New Zion pastor to begin a
congregation in Virginia.
? The Burgos (Spain) Mennonite Church sent a family to Benin
where they created Casa Grande, a home for orphans and other
needy children.
? China Educational Exchange and Tokyo Mission Research Institute
(both partners with MBM) sponsored a Chinese tour for Japanese
Mennonite and Holiness leaders.
? An awareness of how the church needs its members on all
continents to do mission was reinforced by the Global Anabaptist
Missions Consultation held in Guatemala, which brought together
180 participants from 45 countries.  The Counsel of International
Ministries, of which MBM is a member, sponsored the event.
? In addition to two North American/European building teams that
helped to construct Bible school facilities in Ghana and Benin, a
mission fellowship visit composed of North Americans traveled to
France and Belgium.  The trip focused on MBM ministry sites and
included participation in the 50th anniversary celebration of
MBM’s work in Belgium.
? There has been a surge of interest in partnerships where a
North American congregation (or group of congregations) enters
into a close relationship with a mission partner on another
continent.  Twelve new inquiries were added to the eight such
partnerships already in operation.

MBM office staff have dedicated thousands of hours to preparing
the way for the emerging mission agency of the soon-to-be united
Mennonite Church USA.  Jointly sponsored programs by the
Commission on Overseas Mission and MBM are already operating on
most continents.  North America’s urban scene has benefited from
the combined programs of MBM and the Commission on Home
Ministries.

? The two agencies collaborated in awarding St. Louis the City on
a Hill grant.  This grant provides support for one year to
strengthen church structures that will ensure the long-term
viability of emerging congregations in the city.
? Two urban ministry directors were appointed in areas formerly
not served, Dallas-Ft. Worth and the Silicon Valley.
? Service Adventure, like many of CHM/MBM’s short-term service
and learning mission programs, is operating at full capacity.
That congregations are increasingly interested in offering
short-term opportunities for mission is shown by the 1,178
participants who learned and served in six programs.
? Mennonite Voluntary Service experienced an “exhilarating” year
with 198 people giving and receiving life in 30 communities
throughout Canada and the United States.  The City on a Hill
process gave birth to a new MVS unit in Montreal.

Four new centers in Asia (Hong Kong, Korea, Macau and Thailand)
grew up around MBM’s holistic ministries of leadership training,
family counseling and language study.  Another center opened its
doors during the year 2000 in Israel.  Nazareth Village is a
re-created first-century village that presents Jesus’ life and
ministry to visitors.

In the communications arena, MBM staff won four awards from the
Religious Communicators Council, including a design award for
Missions NOW magazine.  MBM reissued LeRoy Friesen’s Mennonite
Witness in the Middle East: A Missiological Introduction with a
new preface to update the story for the present decade.  The
second volume of David Bosch’s Transforming Mission (the first
volume was published last year) as well as Alan Kreider’s Journey
Towards Holiness were published in Japanese.  These publications
expand the Anabaptist literature available to the Japanese
Mennonite Church.  Dennette Alwine completed a three-volume peace
curriculum for English teachers in China.

The long tradition of enabling and bringing Anabaptist
perspectives to indigenous churches is continued through the
appointment of new workers to the Indigenous Center for
Theological Studies (Ecuador), the Latin America Christian
University (Ecuador), and the Benin Bible Institute.  MBM workers
have begun to work with the Argentina Bible Society toward the
completion of the Toba, an indigenous language, translation of
the Bible.

Rounding out the spectrum of the whole gospel for a broken world
is the ministry among the Isaan of Thailand, where the first
Christian worship service was held in Borabur County. Development
initiatives were begun in Mongolia where MBM/COM workers set up
an experimental dairy farm, and where two Habitat for Humanity
houses were completed.

Mennonite Board of Missions celebrates God’s generous love as it
continues the gift-giving cycle in 2001-2002 on behalf of the
Mennonite Church.  As of Jan. 31, 2001, MBM had 121 overseas
workers and 75 North American staff extending healing and hope in
37 countries.  Involvement in seven additional countries was
happening through grant assistance and various forms of
partnership.

* * *

Lynda Hollinger-Janzen