Mission agencies discuss power, empire

Council of International Anabaptist Ministries gather for annual meeting.

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Sixty-seven mission agency representatives struggled with Christianity, empire and consumerism at the Council of International Anabaptist Ministries (CIM).

CIM met near Pittsburgh Jan. 21-26 with the theme “Christlike Mission in a Post-Christendom World.”



The keynote speakers, Jon Bonk and Gi-dae Kim (pictured), shared during the consultation sessions at the Gilmary Diocesan Center in addition to regional committee meetings and related meetings.

Bonk, an ordained Mennonite minister, is a Canadian living in the United States. He is the executive director of the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Conn., and editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. His best-known book is Missions and Money: Affluence as a Western Missionary Problem (Orbis, 1991).

Kim is a veterinarian and co-founder of the Dandelion Community, which started in rural Korea more than 20 years ago. The Dandelion Community, a Christian community but not a denomination, bases its philosophy on the characteristics of the dandelion and advocates for a simple yet well-balanced lifestyle.

Kim shared about the group’s development work in Cambodia since 2000 and the nongovernmental organization Neighbor of Cambodia.

Bonk’s first session on Wednesday evening (Jan. 23), “Clash of Civilization: Followers of Jesus and Neo-Christendom,” provided a history and analysis of the “blending of peaceable kingdom and powerful state.”

“The mortal struggle for survival … is not between Islam and Christianity. The greater struggle is between Jesus and nationalism,” Bonk added.

He challenged CIM on how to work faithfully despite the West’s sins of violence, consumerism, genocide, slavery, land-taking and more. The addiction the West has to violence in neo-Christendom is “just as complicated as getting out of slavery,” he said.

The West’s newer model of consumerism and the “good news of plenty” is not sustainable.
“This bothers us because we don’t know what else to offer,” Bonk said.

However, he said the Bible is clear: “When it comes to nations and empires, the writing is always on the wall,” as earthly empires always eventually crumble.

A respondent to Bonk, Stanley Green, executive director of Mennonite Mission Network, provided reasons for hope: the impermanence of empires, the subversive memory of Jesus in the midst of power and individuals who serve the church as spiritual guides, such as Óscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bartolomé de las Casas—as well as the resolution on national identity passed by Mennonite Church USA at San José 2007.

Including international voices: The group looked at a Regional Leadership Proposal (a way for CIM conversation to be expanded to include more international voices) during the business meeting.

The proposal reads: “Over the next five years … we would focus on a different region, as defined by our regional committees … a good number of partner participants from the region of focus would be invited to attend and participate in the consultation.”

CIM members agreed for the Asia region to move forward with this, especially timely as 2009 is the centennial of Mennonite mission in China, but that an alternative will be found if this sort of regional gathering is not possible.

The group also discussed ways for CIM to include mission agencies that originate outside of the United States and Canada but work in North America. They moved to be proactive in inviting these groups to participate in consultation and consider membership.

In other business, CIM selected John F. Lapp of Mennonite Mission Network to serve as vice chair and moved to check the availability of a retreat center in Chicago for 2010’s meeting.

CIM continues its search for a coordinator. Ann Campbell-Janz served as the interim coordinator this year.—Anna Groff

Related Resources

News story: Mission agencies discuss power, empire

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• Discussion Resource - Feb. 10, 2008
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Additional Notes

Council of Anabaptist International Ministries 2008 participants list

Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission—2

Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary—1

Brethren in Christ World Mission—1

Mennonite Partners in China—2

Eastern Mennonite Missions—13

Evangelical Mennonite Conference—1

Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference—1

Mennonite Brethren Missions and Service
International—2

Mennonite Central Committee—10

Mennonite Church Canada—5

Mennonite Economic Development Associates—1

Mennonite Mission Network—20

Rosedale Mennonite Missions—4

Virginia Mennonite Board of Missions—4