Mennonite Church USA

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Contact: Laurie L. Oswald (316) 283-5100, E-mail: LaurieO@MennoniteUSA.org

Pacific Northwest family shares love with Iraqi families.

Mennonite alphabet soup: deciphering Mennonite acronyms.

Publishing board begins long-term process to vacate Scottdale facility.

Women's retreat expands to western location.

Pacific Northwest family shares love with Iraqi families

by Laurie L. Oswald

This is the second story in a series on Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference, one of 21 area conferences belonging to Mennonite Church USA.

SEATTLE (MC USA) -- Going into Baghdad without his wife, Marg, was a strange way for Weldon Nisly, pastor of Seattle Mennonite Church, to celebrate their wedding anniversary last spring at the start of the U.S-led war in Iraq. But it was one way they could share their love with the world.

This year, the couple celebrated their 37th anniversary on March 24 together at home in Seattle, as they reminisced about last year's separation. The risk of death could have separated them forever. Even so, the Nisly family -- including adult children Tamra and Justin -- blessed his going. They shared a family member with families in Iraq who lose loved ones every day.

Even though he's been part of peacemaking efforts before, he came home a more deeply impacted man to family that had been impacted also. They had joined him in a discernment process that led him to join a Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) delegation to Iraq. The team members entered the maze of violence from March 18 to April 5 to be messengers of love among communities ravaged by bombs.

The bombing of Baghdad destroyed people's homes, killed loves ones and brought untold grief that Nisly and the team hoped to absorb by providing a caring presence. The war continues today, with new outbreaks of violence escalating throughout Iraq this spring. By April 20, the U.S. deaths in the war that began last March 20 totaled 807, with 100 of those deaths occurring this April alone.

"This anniversary we did talk a lot about last year, how he called me from Jordan to tell me they finally got their visas to get into Baghdad," Marg Nisly said. "His first words were 'Happy Anniversary.' His next words were 'I'm going to Baghdad.'

"Today when I look back on that phone call, I think about how I really did feel at peace about Weldon going. A lot of that had to do with the good discernment process that he and I and our children, as well as the church family, went through before he left."

That discernment included extensive dialogue that included much affirmation along with much anxiety -- and lots of prayer, she said. For her, discernment is more like a long rain that helps say "yes" to God over time, rather than a thunderbolt of insight.

"As I listened to him share his call during a congregational meeting and listened to different people respond, a woman next to me whispered, 'Well, Marg, how do you feel about this?'" Marg Nisly said. "And what came out of my mouth surprised me: 'How can I say "no" to God? If God is calling him to go, who am I to hold him back?'

"It was only later that I realized that that moment was only the beginning of my process of understanding that his call had become my call. ... A year later, Weldon and I are still talking and processing. And in my experience, that's how God works.

"One day I didn't wake up and say, 'Weldon, I think you should go to Baghdad tomorrow.' But it took time and listening to people and praying and lots of conversation with family and others."

That discernment process also includes giving people freedom to say what is in their heart, even though it may not be totally positive, she said.

"We really deepened as a family through all this, too, as we honestly shared our feelings about it," she said. "The kids came to the house on Sunday before he left on Tuesday and talked, cried and laughed together. Our daughter had a hard time giving her blessing to her dad.

"But later after she left, she called him from home to tell him she'd thought a lot about this whole thing and wanted to give her blessing. But she also said that her prayer would be that he would get into Jordan but not Iraq.

"That's what a true discernment process is all about -- giving people the freedom to be who they are and feel what they feel and to really voice what they are thinking. Otherwise, it's not true discernment."

Discernment is a word that's taken on new meaning for their husband and father, too. A year after his time in Baghdad, Weldon Nisly said he's grateful that God granted him the opportunity. But he also feels restless today and is anguished for the Iraqi people. It is painful for him to be at home when violence in Iraq is escalating rather than diminishing.

"It's always very painful for me to listen to morning edition on NPR [National Public Radio] and hear about the latest violence," he said. "But I'm not surprised that the war would turn into this quagmire, with anger and rage growing. And it's growing within the ranks of ordinary people like you and me, not violent terrorists. Iraqi people feel victimized. And victims are not our enemies.

"This makes me want to go back there. I am grateful God granted the trip last year but in some very deep way, my peacemaking presence in Iraq feels very unfinished. I'm trying to listen to what God is saying to me about that. Part of doing that is holding the Iraqi people and situation in my heart as prayerfully and peacefully as possible."

Marg Nisly joins him in compassion for the Iraqi people, she said. Part of what allowed her to free her husband to go in 2003 was a sense that she needed to care and have compassion for families around the world as well as for her own.

"If we live our lives just thinking about the danger the world may bring to us and not about other people, we would never do anything," she said. "I realized that this thing wasn't just about Weldon and me and our children. I had to think about what was happening to the children and their mothers and fathers in Iraq.

"When we can see people of the world as human beings, it gives us a much different perspective. As people of God, we need to understand that God loves all people." Photos available.
Laurie L. Oswald is news service director for Mennonite Church USA.


Mennonite alphabet soup: deciphering Mennonite acronyms

by Kendra King

It's the Mennonite version of a personal ad:

Former MC/GC (Beck, Miller, and Short ancestry) seeks former MC. Graduate of HC and EMU preferred. Must not have relatives with last names of Beck, Miller, or Short in OCMC or IN-MI. Should enjoy reading MWR and be involved in MCA. Must have a desire to serve with MCC or MMN in the future. Please prayerfully discern, then call...

If you're not a Mennonite with historical ties to the faith tradition, the language of veteran Mennonites is sometimes as indecipherable as Pennsylvania Dutch. The language sounds like English, but with extra with words like "aim," "emu," and "meda" thrown in. Just when you seem to be catching on, it's no longer just letters, but numbers that appear in the midst of conversation. "606!" someone cries out, and everyone breaks out into song. Would the same work for "112" or "415?"

Whether one is a long-term Mennonite or someone who has recently joined the Mennonite family, the Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee and Archives has developed a way everyone to find their way through the maze. John Sharp, director of the Historical Committee, has created a chart describing 95 acronyms. The chart is found at www.mcusa-archives.org/ under "Mennonite Alphabet Soup: Guide to Acronyms."

"Someone had to help make sense of the confusion that exists around acronyms," Sharp said. "It takes awhile for anyone -- no matter how long they've been a Mennonite -- to sift through all the names. We want to make sure that these acronyms are more than just insider lingo but are names that everyone can understand."

For seasoned Mennonites, acronyms provide shortcuts for referring to institutions bearing long names. Or short ones. Mennonite Church USA does not discriminate based on language, length, or denominational origin -- every organization deserves an acronym.

Until the recent merger, acronyms described the groups and agencies within two former U.S. bodies -- the Mennonite Church and General Conference Mennonite Church; and the Conference of Mennonites in Canada. But the creation of Mennonite Church USA in 2001 and Mennonite Church Canada in 2000 produced a fresh crop of acronyms.

Now, even ethnic Mennonites are in frenzy. Previously, an individual could boast (humbly, of course) of knowing all acronyms related to his/her Mennonite body. Now, following the merger, the acronym count has tripled. Say, for instance, one knows all acronyms previously related to the General Conference Mennonite Church. Now, one must familiarize one's self with Canadian Mennonite acronyms and those relating to the former Mennonite Church.

"Theoretically, one would think a merger would diminish the number of acronyms and that was the original idea," he said. "But the merger also created some new acronyms, such as the Constituency Leaders Council [CLC], for example.

"There are new pieces of the machinery that start up with any new organization. So we've consolidated some and added a few more. But the bottom line is, wherever you have institutions, you have acronyms. They're here to stay."

As time moves on, some of these esteemed institutions will cease to exist. But for the next two decades, you will still hear references to them. Here is the ultimate guide to new and old Mennonite acronyms.

AAMA African-American Mennonite Association
ACC Atlantic Coast Conference
AIM Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission
AMC Allegheny Mennonite Conference
AMBS Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
AMIGA Hispanic Mennonite Church Association
BC Bethel College
BC Bluffton College
CAL Center for Anabaptist Leadership of Southern California
CAM Chicago Area Mennonites
CDC Central District Conference
CFL Commission on Faith & Life
CHM Commission on Home Ministries
CIM Council of International Anabaptist Ministries
CLC Constituency Leaders Council
CM Conservative Mennonite Conference
CMBC Canadian Mennonite Bible College
CMC Conference of Mennonites in Canada
COE Commission on Education
COM Commission on Overseas Mission
CP Central Plains Mennonite Conference
CPT Christian Peacemaker Teams
DC Washington DC Area Mennonite Fellowship
DGS Division of General Services
EDC Eastern District Mennonite Conference
EMM Eastern Mennonite Missions
EMS Eastern Mennonite Seminary
EMU Eastern Mennonite University
FRC Franconia Mennonite Conference
FRK Franklin Mennonite Conference
FLP Faith and Life Press
GBS Goshen Biblical Seminary
GC Goshen College
GCMC General Conference Mennonite Church
GS Gulf States Mennonite Conference
HC Hesston College
HC Historical Committee
HMC Hispanic Mennonite Convention
HMONG Hmong Ministries
HP Herald Press
IC Integration Committee
IHM Iglesia Hispana Menonita
IL Illinois Mennonite Conference
IN-MI Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference
LIFE Living in Faithful Evangelism
LMC Lancaster Mennonite Conference
LMM Lao Mennonite Ministries
MARP Mennonite Association of Retired Persons
MB Mennonite Brethren
MBCM Mennonite Board of Congregational Ministries
MBE Mennonite Board of Education
MBM Mennonite Board of Missions
MBS Mennonite Biblical Seminary
MC Mennonite Church
MC USA Mennonite Church USA
MCA Mennonite Camping Association
MCC Mennonite Central Committee
MCC Mennonite Church Canada
MCEC Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada
MDS Mennonite Disaster Service
MCGA Mennonite Church General Assembly
MCGB Mennonite Church General Board
MDS Mennonite Disaster Service
MEA Mennonite Education Agency
MEDA Mennonite Economic Development Associates
MEEC Mennonite Elementary Council
MHS Mennonite Health Services
MILC Mennonite Indian Leaders Council
MM Mennonite Media
MM Mennonite Men
MMA Mennonite Mutual Aid
MMN Mennonite Mission Network
MPB Mennonite Publication Board
MPH Mennonite Publishing House
MPN Mennonite Publishing Network
MSEC Mennonite Secondary Education Council
MVS Mennonite Voluntary Service
MW Mennonite Women
MWC Mennonite World Conference
NCC North Central Mennonite Conference
NYMC New York Mennonite Conference
OCMC Ohio Conference Mennonite Conference
PNMC Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference
PSMC Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference
RMMC Rocky Mountain Mennonite Conference
SCMC South Central Mennonite Conference
SMC Southeast Mennonite Conference
TM The Mennonite magazine
UNM United Native Ministries
UNMC United Native Ministries Council
VIET North American Vietnamese Fellowship
VMBM Virginia Mennonite Board of Missions
VMC Virginia Mennonite Conference
WDC Western District Conference
YES Youth Evangelism Service

Kendra King is communications intern for Mennonite Church USA Executive Board.


Publishing board begins long-term process to vacate Scottdale facility

by MPN staff

SCOTTDALE, Pa., and WATERLOO, Ont. (MPN) -- The Mennonite Publishing Network Board in a March 11 meeting decided to develop a long-term strategy to vacate its Scottdale facility and begin locating program and administrative positions in centers of Mennonite population. The transition to new locations could take up to five years.

A central factor in considering such a move is the board's commitment to the new vision and network model for publishing. Ron Sawatsky, MPN board chair said, "MPN has been called by the church to change from being a 'house' to becoming a 'network,' responsive to the diverse and changing requirements of its constituency. This includes locating program and administrative divisions in centers of Mennonite population and institutions so that most, if not all of the publishing staff, can be drawn from the Mennonite Church constituency in the USA and Canada."

Less than half of the 70,000 square foot Scottdale facility is being used by MPN. With major changes over the past two years -- staff downsizing that included the closing of the printing division -- the number of Scottdale-based staff has been reduced from 95 to 30.

"The on-going space needs for MPN have significantly decreased," said Phil Bontrager, MPN board member and treasurer. "The overhead cost associated with maintaining the current facility cannot be justified by MPN requirements alone."

A facility task group appointed by the MPN board last fall further focused the question about future facility requirements. The broadly representative task group considered various options, ranging from shared commercial or residential use of the Scottdale facility to community or church use. However, in order to know which options to explore in depth, the task group asked the board to indicate whether or not MPN will continue to utilize any part of its facility in Scottdale.

The board indicated that in the long term, MPN should limit the amount of property it owns and should not be a property landlord in Scottdale or elsewhere. Hence the board decision to develop a plan to vacate the building in a way that is both financially and operationally feasible.

Alternate locations for MPN have not yet been determined. However, the board decided to announce its long-term direction to create the broad framework for ongoing planning.

The Joint Executive Committee of Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada endorsed the decision March 27, underscoring the need for a sound financial plan as part of the long-term strategy. Ron Rempel, executive director, shared the board strategic direction March 30 with the MPN staff.

Joint release by Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada

Contact: Ron Rempel, executive director, 519-888-7512, rrempel@mph.org
or Ron Sawatsky, MPN Board chair, 215-721-2092, ronsawat@earthlink.net
or Phil Bontrager, MPN treasurer, 419-446-3480, philipebontrager@sauder.com


Women's retreat expands to western location

by Cathleen Hockman-Wert

Persistence. Risk-taking. Faith. These are the characteristics of biblical women who created wholeness in their worlds: models women can follow today, noted participants in the "Women in Conversation" retreats held April 2-4 in Wichita, Kan., and April 16-18 at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center, Mt. Pleasant, Pa.

Mennonite Women USA and Laurelville co-sponsored these retreats for women across the denomination. "This new way of working with Laurelville -- in settings outside of Pennsylvania -- enabled us to more easily include women from both east and west," said Rhoda Keener, MW USA executive director. "Both of our organizations have a mission to serve Mennonite Church USA, not just one region." Some 130 women ranging in age from their 20s to 80s attended the two events.

Keynote speaker Brenda Martin Hurst of Harrisonburg, Va., emphasized the active ways women can seek out and experience wholeness in every aspect of life, through the power of God's Spirit.

The hemorrhaging woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment, for example, models not only tremendous faith in God's power to heal but shows her belief that this healing power was meant for her. In the structured conversation and prayer circles that were the heart of each retreat, participants reflected on what risks might stand in the way of taking an assertive step toward creating wholeness in their own lives.

An afternoon relaxation room offered shoulder massage, soothing music, card-making, and wax treatment for hands. A weekend highlight was the "Zany Aunt" dress-up supper and the joy of laughing together.

"What a privilege to see what God is doing in other women's lives of all ages," said participant Peggy Martin of LaJunta, Colo. "What a challenge to see where God may be nudging and wanting to grow in me in areas I thought complete."

Ruth Vogt, of Hesston, Kan, said, "What gifted women we have in our Mennonite church -- a wonderful spirit led the weekend. ... [The retreat reminded me] that I can have joy in my journey. How freeing!" Photos available.

Cathleen Hockman-Wert is editor of Timbrel, the publication for Mennonite Women USA.