wfn.org | Long-term commitment

[BethAH <BethAH@mbm.org>]

August 15, 2001
Beth Hawn
Mennonite Board of Missions
(219) 294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>
August 15, 2001

Long-term commitment to the Mennonite Church in France

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM)  No Americans were to be involved in the
conference for French-speaking Protestant women in church
leadership decided the planning committee.  This principle
extended even to the pianist, who wouldnt have to utter a
phrase.  Imagine Linda Oyers surprise when she was asked to be
one of the main speakers for the four-day event, Dare to Hope,
held April 18-21 in Saint-Maur on the outskirts of Paris.

Oyer, who received her PhD in New Testament from the Catholic
Institute of Paris, presented Bible studies based on the lives of
four women in the Gospel of John to 180 women church leaders from
three continents and many denominations.  The French evangelical
press lauded Oyers teaching for touching her listeners hearts
without forgetting their heads.

For Oyer, the highlight of the conference came after she had
introduced Mary, the mother of Jesus, as one who dared to let
go.  I talked about mid-life spirituality, Oyer said.  Most of
these women were between 40-60 years old.  They are leaders who
are used to being in control, but they are beginning to enter a
period of loss.  They are losing children who are leaving home.
They are losing parents to death.  They are losing relevancy;
some of their ideas dont fit anymore.

In the following session, a huge, rough, wooden cross was brought
into the auditorium.  At the foot of the cross sat a colorful
African basket into which women could drop pieces of paper
symbolizing something they needed to yield to God.  I thought
very few would come forward since French-speaking European women
are quite reserved, and those in important leadership positions
may feel less free, Oyer said.  I was amazed as over half of
those in the auditorium come forward.  Some stood at the cross
for awhile.  Others came with tears.

The past year has been one of many losses for Oyer.  She was by
her mothers side when her mother died in June.  Oyer also lost a
rewarding job as academic dean and professor at the European
Bible Institute, as well as the close community of colleagues who
were on staff.  This interdenominational institution, where Oyer
has taught for 20 years, closed its doors at the end of the
school year.

In spite of the past years losses, Oyer dares to hope.
Currently, traveling in North America and updating the churches
that support her ministry, Oyer speaks with anticipation of the
new responsibilities that she will begin upon her return to
France in September.

She will work out of the Paris Mennonite Center, in collaboration
with French and Swiss Mennonites, to develop a modular masters
program in Anabaptist theology for French speakers.  She also has
writing and speaking engagements lined up for years to come.

Perhaps most dear to Oyers heart is pastoral ministry in her
4-year-old congregation, North Paris Mennonite Church.  The group
of 50 adults that gathers weekly is the only French-speaking
Protestant congregation in the surrounding 10 towns.  During the
past year, the congregation has been studying the Bible with
youth from a nearby housing project.

After 20 years of teaching at a Bible school and discussing the
fine exegetical points of a biblical text, I have found myself
having to simplify the way I communicate with these young
people, Oyer said.  This has been very good for me even though
I often struggle to find ways to communicate to those who have no
concept of Christianity and whose lives are characterized by
violence and drugs.

Though many years of academia stand between Oyer and the drug
world, she once moved freely in that milieu.  Oyer describes
herself as a victim of a church split.  Her parents left the
Mennonite Church when Oyer was a toddler.  I bore the
consequences all my life, she said.  I lost so much.

Oyer grew up in a fundamentalist Bible church that fused God, the
church and American politics.  In her young adult years, she
rebelled against this package.  In 1970, she traveled to Europe
to pick up a drug shipment.  France was a hostile place for a
young woman with a black fist logo on her army jacket and
knee-length moccasins, and who didnt speak French.

Lost and dejected, Oyer called missionary friends of her parents
who lived in Paris.  They welcomed her, but were leaving to
attend a mission conference in Switzerland the following day.
They told Oyer that they knew of a place that she could stay in
the Alps, free-of-charge.

Though it sounded too good to be true, Oyer accepted
immediately.  She was dropped off at LAbri.  The community was
gathered for a meeting.  I looked around for someone who I could
identify with, Oyer said.  I saw this cute little man with long
hair sitting on the floor.  When I sat down beside him, he said,
I like your moccasins.

Thus, Oyer and Francis Schaeffer began the first of their
conversations that opened Oyers eyes to the essential Christian
message.  By the end of that week, Oyer had decided to become a
Christ-follower.  Upon her return to the United States, she
realized she needed to put physical distance between herself and
the drug culture.

The next year, she returned to Paris where she worked part-time
in an independent Bible church and part-time in a home for unwed
mothers.  From 1971-1987, Oyer lived on almost nothing and felt
like she was swimming upstream in an evangelical world.  When two
French Mennonite families joined the Bible church, there was an
immediate theological click for Oyer.

She asked the French Mennonites if there were any Mennonites in
America and was told that one would be arriving in Paris the
following day.  The American Mennonite was Wilbert Shenk, then
MBM vice president of the Overseas Ministries division.  In
talking with Wilbert, I discovered that I wasnt weird, Oyer
said.  I found a whole people who believed as I did.

In 1988, Oyer joined MBM.  A long-term presence is an asset for
doing mission in Europe.  Well over half of the MBM workers in
Europe have lived on the continent for more than 20 years.  Ive
lived in France since 1971 and am now reaping the benefits, Oyer
said.  It is important to the people among whom we work that we
have gotten our degrees from European universities.

Oyer has made France her country.  Whether she finds herself in
the seminary classroom, behind the pulpit, or on the street
corner conversing with those waiting for their next fix, her
ardent desire is to aid the church in France in being a relevant
source of life.

* * *

Lynda Hollinger-Janzen      PHOTO AVAILABLE