Mutual aid needs deacons

Editorial

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Serving with the bishop and the preacher was the deacon … whose special responsibility it was to be a minister to the poor [in the church].—from A Mennonite Polity of Ministerial Leadership

Traditional patterns of mutual aid among Mennonites have been weakening for decades. But several ideas are emerging that may generate new expressions of mutual aid along with a recovery of our deacon tradition (see quote above).

Mennonite victims in “Katrina Land” held an extended discussion with Mennonite Church USA leaders in January. The experience of Gulf States Mennonite Conference members revealed a need for some new means for Mennonites to aid other Mennonites (see sidebar below).

“We are going to need to learn how to better channel mutual aid money to other members of the church,” Mennonite Church USA’s executive director Jim Schrag said in response.
A second idea for mutual aid comes from Mennonite World Conference. Last month, MWC leaders announced the creation of a “koinonia delegation” to Zimbabwe, the southern Africa country whose situation continues to deteriorate—and brings our sisters and brothers there more hardships every day (see “Global Anabaptist Diaconate Planned,” Feb. 20).

Larry Miller, Mennonite World Conference’s general secretary, says that while Mennonite service agencies respond generously to world disasters, too little attention is directed specifically toward members of the global Anabaptist family.  Consequently, MWC leaders are proposing a Global Anabaptist Deacon Commission that would have three roles:

• be alert to needs within the global Anabaptist family,
• call the global church to prayer,
• organize a response.
But taking care of our own gets tricky.

There are many material and financial needs among our sisters and brothers in the global South. Someone needs to decide which parts of the church should receive help and which parts should not. For example, a Mennonite Church USA delegation just returned from a visit with Congolese Mennonites—the subject of this issue. These Mennonites also have crushing needs. How do we discern our responses?

This is where the role of deacon can help. This person or team must have great integrity so that the church accepts the call to help the poor elsewhere in the church. This integrity can also mitigate against patterns of paternalism between those  who “have” and those who “have not.”

“Deacons … must be serious,” Paul writes in 1 Timothy, “not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them first be tested; then if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons.”

The poor and hurting within our church need attention. Finding ways to respond with integrity to their needs will strengthen our mutual aid, and it will strengthen the church. New forms of mutual aid—managed through the ancient deacon tradition—can help us serve the impoverished in our church even as we continue to offer relief and comfort to those outside the church.

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Additional Notes

Setting the record straight

Gulf States Mennonite Conference leaders told Executive Board members on Jan. 21 that some $10 million was contributed through Mennonite Disaster Service to help non-Mennonite victims of Hurricane Katrina, while only $189,000 was contributed to help members of Gulf States Mennonite Conference (“Mennonite Church USA Executive Board Meets in Mississippi to Show Solidarity,” Jan. 20). However, those numbers are incorrect.

Duane Maust, moderator for Gulf States Mennonite Conference, said on March 8 that approximately $6 million was given to Mennonite Disaster Service and $2.2 million to Mennonite Central Committee for responses to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. According to Maust, Mennonite Disaster Service spent well over $189,000 in the region, including repairing some damaged Mennonite church buildings and some Mennonites’ homes affected by the hurricanes. The $189,000 amount is the total given from a variety of Mennonite sources to Gulf States Mennonite Conference’s Katrina Fund.—ejt