“Why would you help us? Who are you Mennonites?” A family from Colombia asked this of their friends at Grantham Mennonite Brethren (MB) Church in St. Catharines, Ont., Canada. With bureaucratic assistance from Mennonite Central Committee and linguistic support from neighbouring Scott Street MB Church, Grantham sponsored this family who fled their home in Colombia for a new start in Canada.

The family wanted to learn more about what drove these Christians to help them settle in Canada. Pastor Michael VandenEnden turned to Mennonite World Conference (MWC) for Spanish resources from the global Anabaptist family.

The Global Anabaptist Mennonite Shelf of Literature title God’s Shalom Project provides “the basic concepts of Anabaptism: peace, community and discipleship,” says Hironori Minamino who translated the book into Japanese.

Written in clear, explanatory language, God’s Shalom Project covers a comprehensive range of teaching from the tradition. VandenEnden wanted to study the book with his friends but discovered it was not yet translated into Spanish.

Grantham and Scott Street churches took a special Good Friday offering to raise funds for translation. With this contribution, MWC cooperated with CEMTA (Centro Evangélica Mennonita de Teología Asunción), a Mennonite theological school in Paraguay to translate the book from the original German into Spanish.

Shalom – El Proyecto de Dios now joins the German, English, French and Japanese (Word of Life Press ministries 2017) versions of the book.

“The Global Anabaptist/Mennonite Shelf of Literature invites our members to participate in a global conversation about matters of faith and practice from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective,” says John D Roth, secretary of the Faith and Life Commission. “Many of the books are co-authored by leaders from different cultural contexts; most of the books include study questions, which aid small group discussion; and all of them are deeply rooted in Scripture.”

The Commissions are committed to ongoing translation of these volumes. “This is a living series,” says John D. Roth. “We are always open to suggestions or proposals for new titles.”

Click here for links to all eight titles in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Shelf of Literature.

—Mennonite World Conference release