Mennonites in the Congo

The following is the account of Mennonites Bud and Clement Kroeker who are transporting a truck to Congo for to transport goods to the needy ... 'Bud' Kroeker takes us along for the pickup in Port Boma ... 
 

D.M. Stearns Missionary Fund

P.O. Box 1578

North Wales, PA 19454

Greetingsfrom Kinshasa.  

July 3, 2013

I landed here in Kinshasa safely Tuesday night, July 2. The pilot said that it had been perfect weather for flying, and our arrival was right on time. Just the same, it was midnight by the time I got to the home of Dan and Christine Grings who are giving me lodging.

Thank you for praying for this trip. All the last minute details were taken care of last week in spite of many unpredictable events.

This morning I woke up early. Erik Kumedisa came and we had a long conversation, discussing the plans for the coming days. The ship arrives tomorrow at the Port of Boma so the truck will be unloaded that evening or the next day.  Erik will come pick me up at 6 a.m. tomorrow and we will go by bus to the Port.

Two Congolese men helping us with customs documents are already there. We'll need to get the other papers for the truck, insurance, immatriculation paper, etc. in Boma once we get there.

Please pray that the customs fees will not be too high. Normally, non-profit organizations don't have the same tax fees, but it takes many months, even a year to get this exemption paper.

I will be meeting with pastors in a few minutes.

Thank you for your encouragement in preparing this trip. God is good. We thank Him for providing and for guiding us day by day.

Bud Kroeker

D. M. Stearns Missionary Fund

P.O.Box 1578

North Wales, PA 19454  USA

http://congoopenheart.org/

Clement & Charlotte Kroeker

15, Ave. des Mésanges — BE-1480  Tubize Clabecq, Belgium

Tél. +322 355 99 06 — E-mail: kroeker@skynet.be

07 July, 2013

Dear Friends,

We are here in the city of Boma for the first time, arriving last night. A Pastor welcomed us at the bus terminal and took an old taxi to drive us over dirt roads to the Hostel of the Old Port. As he showed us our room, he told us that the river was right next to us.

The Jesus Tribe

    The Jesus Tribe:  Grace stories from Congo’s Mennonites 1912-2012 by editors Rod Hollinger-Janzen, Nancy J. Myers, and Jim Bertsche, all of AIMM, is a refreshing, and frank, account of the establishment, growth and self-sustaining work of the Holy Spirit within the context of the growing Congo Mennonite community.

    The story of the Congo Mennonites is perhaps one of the most dramatic and compelling narratives since the Russian Mennonites’ struggle for survival from 1917 - 1954.    It is a story of faith, courage, danger and sometimes loss – every bit as important and informative as A.P. Toews’ Book of Russian Martyrs.  In fact, it is through books such as The Jesus Tribe that the story of modern evangelical faith begun in the Martyrs Mirror extends to include the mission stations and missionary works our grandparents considered to be an essential aspect of their daily active faith and church missionary commitment.

    The Jesus Tribe helps to answer many basic questions held by members of these churches such as:  Does this all make any difference?  Why should I support and pray for the missions?  and How can I relate to Christians from other cultures? 

MCC and the EMB

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS REGARDING THE EMB-FEBC AND THE MCC   

Caution:  While this essay represents a review of available materials and will probably exist in a state of constant revision as additional materials and persons become available.

    Having spent two days in the archives looking into the nature of the relationship between the Brüderthaler-Evangelical Mennonite Brethren (EMB) and the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), I think that I have discovered the probable truth regarding their divorce, and that like most stories, it is both mundane and revealing.

    The MCC was established 27 July 1920 in response to the famine decimating the then Soviet Republic of Ukraine.  In many senses, the modern identity of the Anabaptist community was born in this struggle of the new world Mennonite immigrants to meet the needs of starving family and conference members in Ukraine.  One early lesson being that all of the disparate Mennonite-Amish-Anabaptist groups would have to work together.  The situation was complicated and dire enough without having to work around the efforts, needs, and preferences of individual congregations and small conferences.  Secondly, in learning how to care for our own, we learned how to cooperate to effectively minister to the needs of others, non-Mennonites, as a form of service witness.  Third, the international effort to meet the international needs of an international faith body reinforced the internationalist perspective of the greater Anabaptist community.  Fourth, the need was met by everyday people, each doing their own small part according to what they had or could do, thereby contributing to a great and effective project.  Everyday people doing everyday things to help and assist everyday people is more or less how the MCC has generally been perceived.  So what then is the problem?

Fundamental Definitions of Evangelical

[Note that this essay neither utilizes nor refers to the work of Mr. Calvin Wall Redekop or Mr. Kenneth Rempel-Enns, but rather relies on personal experiences within the Brüderthaler Mennonites and documents produced and released by their primary church organization.]

    Post-Modern religious writer, Kathleen Norris writes of the term Evangelism, “’Evangelism’ is a scary word even to many Christians.  I have often heard people who are dedicated members of a church say “I hate evangelism” or “I don’t believe in it,” or, usually from the shy, more introverted members of a congregation, ‘I’ll do anything else for this church, but don’t ask me to serve on the evangelism committee.’ … The word comes from the Greek ‘euangelos,’ meaning a messenger (or angel) bringing good news.  The authors of the four Christian gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John -- are referred to as evangelists, as are those who preach the gospel.  The bad news about evangelistic might be personified as the stereotypical glad-handing Christian proselytizer,” (Norris, Kathleen, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith (1998), Riverhead Books, New York, NY, p. 300).

    Part of the problem that the Brüderthaler - EMB communities have always had is the definition of Evangelical -- a word as prevalent and eventually longer lasting than either the words Defenseless or Mennonite in their tradition.  In a sense, this is not their fault -- Mr. Martin Fast, of Montana’s Grand Prairie community, once defined Evangelical, quite correctly in my understanding, as the mission that Christ’s church inherited from the angels who gave to the shepherds that first Evangel or message -- Evangelical means to spread the message or evangel of Christ, more or less in response to the Great Commission.