While sitting in the front row of Souderton (Pa.) Mennonite Church, Stanley Green, executive director and CEO of Mennonite Mission Network, was deeply moved as a parade of children came forward and emptied their mission bank savings into offering baskets.
“I was close enough to observe the delight, joy and great pleasure in their faces as they put their offerings in,” said Green, who was at the church to preach during the church’s Mission Sunday service in October.
“It’s humbling to see in person some of the nearly 10,000 children across our churches that, through the mission banks and accompanying curricula, are broadening their horizons and their concern for the world beyond their local congregations.”
Congregations observe Mission Sundays on various days, but Nov. 13 is designated as Mission Sunday across Mennonite Church USA. The annual event is an opportunity for congregations to focus on the importance of the Great Commission and to consider supporting Mennonite Mission Network, the church’s mission agency.
This year’s theme is “Where is our hope?” Suggested scriptures are Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18; Matthew 25:14-30; Psalm 90:1-12; and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. Congregations are encouraged to incorporate mission work as part of their regular worship and to raise and donate funds. The Mission Network website has materials and resources, including activities to help children understand the importance of mission work.
“For a lot of congregations, Mission Sunday is their main time to focus on missions and to take up offerings,” said Sandy Miller, director of church relations at Mission Network. “It gives us an opportunity to again say we do missions in an Anabaptist way and here is how we do it.”
That way is to be holistic – centered on individual salvation, but also peace and justice, with a focus on practical needs that are relevant to people and God’s kingdom on earth, Miller said. It’s joining in where God is at work in the world. For example, mission worker Melanie Quinn (Hope Community Fellowship of Phoenixville, Pa.) is in Botswana helping displaced women, children and refugees. Quinn’s work also includes addressing problems connected to HIV/AIDS.
A challenge facing Mission Network is the increasing number of other para-church agencies, including non-Mennonite organizations, that are attracting Mennonite donors, Miller said. Mission Network relies primarily on Mennonite congregations, businesses and individual members.
“We believe the Mennonite congregations are the ones who own us,” she said. “We’ve had lots and lots of contacts and we’re very grateful for the Mennonite Church support we get. We really enjoy being with the congregations and sharing what Mission Network is able to do because of their support.”
About 500 of the estimated 900-plus Mennonite congregations support Mission Network, said Miller, adding that the agency would like to see the day when 100 percent Mennonite congregations support God’s mission through the agency that Mennonite Church USA has mandated for that work.
Mission Network representatives have increased efforts to share in person with churches about the agency’s work. In October and November alone, Mission Network executive board and staff members have participated in more than 75 events, including meeting with 18 congregations in Franconia Conference. They preached in worship services, led Sunday school classes, and offered prayers.
“I believe that we ought always to be reflecting on what are God’s purposes for every situation in which we find ourselves,” Green said. “We should ask ourselves, ‘How should we be faithfully responding to those purposes?,’” Green said. “Nevertheless, since our lives are often filled with so many distractions, it is well for us to pause periodically, and Mission Sunday is as good a time as any to think about God’s purposes and how our lives and actions align with them.”
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Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.