[amc] FW: Dovetail
- From: "Kathy Reid" <Kathy@xxxxxxx>
- To: "Mennonite Church" <amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 20:44:57 -0600
-----Original Message-----
From: Lois Loflin [mailto:loflin@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 2:59 PM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:@web2.nckcn.com;
Subject: Fw: Dovetail
----- Original Message -----
From: Duane Johnson
To: Lois Loflin
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 2:48 PM
Subject: Dovetail
Vol. V, Issue 2
March 25, 2003
Dovetail
Published by:
Peace and Social Concerns Committee, Western
District Conference
Committees consider 'peace evangelism'
'Time to Gather' approaches
Buller to chair committee
Committee brings closure to statement
Youth urged to write peace pledges
Committees consider 'peace evangelism'
Two Western District Conference committees in March
participated in a peace evangelism workshop designed to lay the groundwork
for a joint effort to restore the language of peace to ongoing efforts to
plant new churches within the conference area.
Leo Hartshorn, minister of peace and justice for Mennonite
Church USA's Peace and Justice Support Network, told the Evangelism and the
Peace and Social Concerns committees that Christians tend to separate
evangelism from efforts to achieve peace and justice.
Committee members discussed stereotypes of Christians who
emphasize evangelism and those who emphasize peace and justice.
For example, evangelists are often unfairly cast as pious
conservatives who only read the Bible and ignore the injustice in the world,
while peace and justice advocates are sometimes viewed as liberals who never
grew out of the '60s and who read newspapers while ignoring scripture.
Hartshorn said we do a disservice to our theology when we
divide and polarize these two ministries. He pointed out how Jesus brought
together the Good News and social justice at the very beginning of his
ministry with his quote from Isaiah 61.
Pressing committee business prevented the P&SC Committee
from participating in the entire workshop. The two committees have tentative
plans to meet again in the near future to discuss ways in which they can
work together and support each other.
'Time to Gather' approaches
Organizers in two states are finalizing plans for the
March 30 "A Time to Gather" meetings, sponsored by the Peace and Social
Concerns Committee.
Western District Conference Mennonites from throughout
Kansas will gather at 5 p.m. at Eden Mennonite Church near Moundridge to
"lament our nation's decision to go the way of war, to express our
solidarity/unity as a church in our stand for peace, and to renew our
commitment to witness and work for peace."
Oklahoma organizers opted to urge congregations to hold
their own local gatherings in order to maximize participation. The
gatherings will be a time for song, prayer and confessions of faith.
Church leaders in Texas and Colorado, facing an already
full slate of church- and community-sponsored peace activities, continued
their ongoing plans for peace witnesses.
Buller to chair committee
The Peace and Social Concerns Committee in March elected Eric
Buller to chair the committee.
Buller, pastor of First Mennonite Church in Ransom, Kan., has
been a member of the committee for three years. Buller replaces Harold
Regier, who resigned the position to pursue additional interests and
priorities and to "give someone else a chance" to lead the committee. Regier
will continue to serve as a committee member for the remaining two years of
his term.
Committee brings closure to statement
In order to allay some objections to its original "Statement on
Homosexuality," the P&SC Committee in March passed a similar, second
statement addressing the issue.
The new statement, "Confronting the Issue of Homosexuality,"
omits the middle section of the original statement, "Some basic
understandings shared in a spirit of dialogue," which had been the source of
much criticism. The new statement also includes an introduction emphatically
stating that the opinions expressed by the committee are not intended to
represent the views of the conference.
In addition, the statement includes a paragraph that briefly
explains why the committee believes keeping homosexual Christians out of our
churches is a justice issue. "We believe turning homosexuals away from our
churches is unavoidably selective and arbitrary, and thus is inherently
unfair," the statement says.
Both statements were submitted to the Executive Committee. The
committee does not plan to distribute either statement: however, copies of
both may be obtained from the conference office.
Youth urged to write peace pledges
The Peace and Social Concerns Committee, along with
Western District Conference, continues to ask all conference churches to
encourage their youth to write peace pledges as a means of personal witness.
We also encourage congregations to keep copies of these
statements of faith for their local church records and send copies to the
conference office. Such statements may prove vital in providing evidence of
conscientious objector status in the event that the United States institutes
a draft.
Suggestions for writing such statements can be found in
the "Decide for Peace' packets, a Sunday school class curriculum aimed at
youth. Peace packets are still available at the conference office.
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