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2008-08-19 issue:

Long-term ‘being’ better than quick fix

Mission Network honors 19 workers; combined service more than 300 years.

by Lynda Hollinger-Janzen

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Recognizing faithful commitment in an instant-gratification society, Mennonite Mission Network honored 19 long-term mission workers during the annual Overseas Mission Seminar held at Goshen (Ind.) College July 19-25.

















Connie Byler, right, was honored for over 25 years of mission by Mennonite Mission Network. Photo by Ryan Miller.

The 19 workers have dedicated more than 300 years of their combined lives to ministry with Mission Network and its predecessor agencies. Many of them serve in sensitive areas where identification by name and location would be detrimental to local believers and co-workers.

James Krabill, Mennonite Mission Network senior executive for Global Ministries, explained the importance of mission workers willing to dedicate a large portion of their lives to ministry.

“In virtually every country of the world beyond our own,” Krabill said, “building lasting relationships is a much higher cultural value than performing short-term, quick-fix projects. ‘Being,’ in other words, takes strong precedence over ‘doing.’ For that to happen, it takes time.”

While short-term mission can provide significant learning opportunities for participants, it is a first step toward something more meaningful. Short cross-cultural experiences are almost always enhanced when coordinated with relationships already established by long-term workers who have taken the time to build the bridges necessary for mutual sharing, Krabill said.

Augustín Melguizo, pastor of the Comunidad Evangélica Menonita de Burgos (Evangelical Mennonite Community of Burgos) in Spain, expressed appreciation in email communication for the commitment and maturity of Connie and Dennis Byler, recognized by Mennonite Mission Network for surpassing 25 years in mission work.

“Many missionaries who come to Spain are pressured by their mission agencies to achieve results in a short amount of time,” Melguizo said. “One of the elements that can cause offense when interacting with Spanish people is one’s concept of time. First, you must dedicate yourself to getting to know people and winning them with friendship and a good testimony.
Then after several years, you can begin to benefit from some occasions to present the gospel clearly.”

Responding to an invitation to provide leadership for a dispirited remnant of the “Jesus movement” at odds with the Catholic Church, the Bylers arrived in Burgos in 1981. Through Bible study and living out their faith, they led the young Christians to become, in Melguizo’s words, “one of the major Mennonite centers in Europe today.”

Another mission worker who was honored with the Bylers has served as an evangelist, teacher and church leader for 28 years in a country where being identified as a Christian can be life-threatening. Although he is now serving with Mennonite Mission Network, he is grateful that he began working in this country in a self-supporting capacity. Rubbing elbows in the daily grind of earning a livelihood helps create integrity in ministry, he said.

According to this mission worker, an important aspect of long-term mission commitment is the ability to speak in a language that people understand. Often short-term mission workers have an equivalent of a third-grade linguistic proficiency, so the only gospel they can communicate is a simplistic one, he said.

Connie Byler described the reality in Spain, where most congregations are too small to support a pastor, obliging church leaders to earn a living employed outside the church. Pastors’ off-work hours are consumed by the needs of the local congregation, permitting little energy for the Anabaptist network in Spain and throughout Europe that the Bylers are helping nurture through teaching, writing, a Web site and youth ministries.

Other honored mission workers from countries without security issues included: Christine and Phil Lindell-Detweiler, Liberia, Benin and South Africa, since 1991; Kaz and Lois Enomoto, Japan, since 1998; Jim and Paula Hanes, Senegal, since 1998; Carol and Jonathan Bornman, Senegal, since 1999; Irene Bornman, Senegal, since 1999; and Betsy and Steve Dintaman, Lithuania, since 2003.—Lynda Hollinger-Janzen of Mennonite Mission Network