Posted: January 16, 2019
As we looked back at 2018, we gathered Mennonite World Conference's most popular news stories based on website views. In case you missed them the first time, here are the most visited stories from the global Anabaptist family in 2018.
1. Benni & Rianna: a GYS love story
Christian parents have long encouraged their sons and daughters to find a life partner at church activities. They have also encouraged their young adults to meet the global church through international experiences. Sometimes those situations overlap.
2. Generous love amid war in Democratic Republic of Congo
In December 2017, survivors of civil war there told a delegation from the Mennonite World Conference Deacons Commission of surprise attacks on their villages from marauding militia. With guns or knives, such groups slaughter men and boys and those associated in any way with the government.
3. Mennonites speak against nationalism
“Nationalism is on the rise in many parts of the world,” says Juerg Braeker, general secretary of Konferenz der Mennoniten der Schweiz/Conférence mennonite suisse.
4. Transmission of love and peace at European Mennonite gathering
“We can’t keep our story. We must share.” That’s the message Danang Kristiawan brought home after attending MERK, the European Mennonite Conference (EMC, CME 2018) 10–13 May, 2018.
5. Welcoming my enemy
The new church was a gathering of soft hearts, and we became very focused on Jesus’ teaching of forgiveness and loving our enemies. Our message was simple: because God loves us, we must love one another.
6. Retired pastor still learning about Jesus and his people
“We have to go to school [with] Jesus,” says Erwin Cornelsen. The nearly 100-year-old retired pastor reads the Bible every day: “I’m still learning what Jesus has to teach me.”
7. Nepal church celebrates growth
In 2000, the Brethren in Christ (BIC) church board of Nepal sent Bhagan Chaunde to Surunga, Jhapa, Nepal, to plant churches. Starting with one new believer, Surunga Church has grown to 120 baptized members and planted three daughter congregations with 40–50 baptized members each.
8. “I need to go to school”: Mennonite relief in DRC
Ten-yea-old Kanku Ngalamulume fled from his home in the village of Senge after armed groups beheaded his mother and father and his siblings too. He was among 1.4 million people in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who have been forced from their homes as violence erupted in August 2016.
9. Mennonite witness amid suffering and hope in Ukraine
In a region of Ukraine that thousands of Mennonites left generations ago, two dozen of today’s Mennonite leaders from across Europe gathered for three days of fellowship in October 2018.
10. Called to be free... faith across boundaries
My name is Eileen. I am 22 years-old and live in Switzerland. When I was asked if I could share a short testimony on the theme “Called to be free…faith across boundaries,” I immediately remembered this experience.
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