​Multiple Mennonite Mission Network staff members and workers attended the 2022 Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Assembly in Indonesia, July 5-10. The event, held every six years, featured worship services, seminars and workshops held both in-person and online. Throughout the assembly, Mission Network personnel assisted with planning, translation, leading seminars (two of which are now available to stream), and networking with local churches and individuals. The photos below are a glimpse into the activities and fellowship Mission Network staff shared in throughout the week.  

Ofelia García gets her temperature checked before entering GITJ Banyutowo church. Youth from the church presented themselves as traditional wayang (shadow puppet) Punokawan characters as they welcomed visitors with temperature checks and hand sanitizer. Photo by Linda Shelly.

Several hundred women came from Jakarta to participate in MWC Assembly on Saturday, July 9. The women in the yellow shirts are choir members who sang onstage earlier in the day. The group participated in the worship services and joined workshops as well. Photo by Linda Shelly.

Mary Cano (right) waits as fellow MWC Assembly attendees enter into the JKI Holy Stadium in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, for the last worship service of the week on July 10. Photo by Linda Shelly. 

Representatives from Mennonite Mission Network and Gereja Injili di Tanah Jawa (GITJ, the Evangelical Javanese Church) fellowship over dinner in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, on July 3, 2022. Left to right: Joe Sawatzky, Teguh Karyanto, Teguh Sayogo, Martin Gunawan, Mike Sherrill, and Andios Santoso. Photo by Chialis Thuan.

Seminar presenters and participants join together in an exercise to demonstrate how unity and diversity coexist together. The seminar, put on by women with the Movimiento de Mujeres Anabautistas Haciendo Teología desde América Latina (MTAL, Movement of Anabaptist Women doing Theology from Latin America) focused on the process of developing a devotional book with writings from over three hundred Latin American women. The book is the second in a yearly series, and the daily devotionals are posted online as well. Photo by Linda Shelly.

In a workshop presented at MWC with presenters and participants both in-person and online, Mission Network worker Peter Wigginton and Omar Rodríguez illustrate the importance of listening attentively. The workshop, which grew out of the podcast Merienda Menonita, was designed to encourage conversations across differences — culture, identity, economics, politics, age, etc. Wigginton is founding host of the podcast, and Rodríguez is a mediator and works with the peace and conflict resolution foundation CEMPROC. Photo by online participant Linda Shelly.

Sunday school youth and children of the GITJ Banyutowo church portray the dramatized story of Ibrahim Tunggul Wulung, founder of the Indigenous Javanese Christian movement in the Muria region of Java, Indonesia. He began his evangelistic work prior to the arrival of Dutch Mennonite missionaries and several of the churches he founded later became Mennonite. Photo by Linda Shelly.

Mission Network staff and over 40 pastors from the three Indonesian Anabaptist church synods (GKMI, GITJ, JKI) met together in GKMI PATI Ebenhaezer church in Pati, Central Java, Indonesia. The group discussed the contexts that each synod operates in, and potential opportunities for collaboration. Photo provided.

The story of Jesus calming the storm, portrayed in the style of Javanese wayang characters. Photo by Sharon Norton.

The women's choir of GITJ Banyutowo church sings during a Sunday morning service on July 3. Photo by Linda Shelly.

Bukit Rhema, House of Prayer for all Nations, is a dove-shaped building in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. Affectionately known as 'the chicken church,' it was built in 1992 and offers prayer rooms that are open for visitors of all religions. Photo by Linda Shelly.

Anonymous prayers pinned to one of the prayer boards inside Bukit Rhema. Photo by Linda Shelly.

William Kilipuanto gives visitors a tour of a zero-waste garden and urban farm at the University Kristen Duta Wacana in Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. Photo by Sharon Norton.

The sun rises over the Java Sea from a dock at a fishing village near Banyutowo, Java, Indonesia. Photo by Linda Shelly.