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2011-01-01 issue:

Top 10 Mennonite Church USA events in 2010

by Compiled by Anna Groff

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1. Arizona's SB 1070 challenges convention plans
Beginning with July 2010, each issue of The Mennonite carried a report, opinion piece or letter to the editor addressing the question of whether to hold the Mennonite Church USA convention for 2013  in Phoenix. A new immigration law, Senate Bill 1070, challenges the plans. Critics say the law will lead to racial profiling and create a hostile environment for Hispanics. On Aug. 12-13, 2010, a Mennonite Church USA delegation visited Phoenix. On Sept. 23-25, 2010, at an all-boards meeting held jointly with the Constituency Leaders Council, Executive Board members discussed the decision in Pittsburgh. Iglesia Menonita Hispana has opposed Phoenix as the convention site. The Executive Board plans to make the decision at its meeting in Tampa Jan. 7-9. (multiple issues)

2. Goshen (Ind.) College plays the national anthem
Goshen (Ind.) College announced on Jan. 22, 2010, that it would play an instrumental version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before select sports events on campus, followed by prayer. This decision took effect March 23, 2010, at the start of the spring sports season and was made after discussion and deliberation during the previous year. Providing a more hospitable atmosphere for athletic events was a primary reason for the recommendation and ultimately for the decision. (March)

Here Glen Lapp, left, and John Williamson, MCC Nepal, India, Afghanistan representative, pose for a picture in Kabul in July 2010. Photo by Tom Wenger.


3. MCC worker Glen Lapp killed in Afghanistan
A Mennonite Central Committee worker in Afghanistan, Glen D. Lapp of Lancaster, Pa., 40, was killed on Aug. 5, 2010, in a shooting incident in Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan province. Lapp, a nurse, worked with an MCC partner, International Assistance Mission, that provides eye care and medical help in Afghanistan. He was traveling home with an IAM medical team after a two-week "eye camp" trip. Local police found 10 bodies on Aug. 6, 2010, next to abandoned vehicles. Ron Flaming of MCC described Lapp as someone who was always willing to help but also humble. (September)

4. Debate around the MC USA building in Elkhart, Ind., and groundbreaking
On June 15, 2010, people gathered on the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary campus in Elkhart, Ind., to bless the ground that will be the site of the denomination's new office building. Spark Renewal, a group of Mennonite Church USA members, protested the building project and how this project may affect the denomination's future. The Mennonite Church USA Executive Board voted to move forward with the building plans on June 12, 2010, and decided to give a 10 percent tithe of any new funds donated to the building project to various racial/ethnic ministries and needs. A leader from Spark Renewal spoke during the June 15, 2010, blessing service. The building contractor, DJ Construction of Goshen, Ind., began work on the new building on June 16, 2010. (July, August)

5. Mennonites respond to Haiti
Mennonites volunteered and offered donations to support those affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010. Groups from Mennonite Central Committee, Virginia Mennonite Missions and others traveled to Haiti. Susanne Bradley Brown, a pediatrician and health-care legislation analyst from Albuquerque, N.M., will lead MCC's long-term disaster response to the Haiti earthquake (multiple issues).

6. Deaths of leaders: Peter Dyck, J. Lawrence Burkholder
Peter J. Dyck—storyteller, Mennonite pastor, author and lifelong servant to people in need around the world—died of cancer on Jan. 4, 2010. He was 95 years old and lived in Scottdale, Pa. He is well known in Anabaptist communities, especially for his work with Mennonite Russian refugees and with Mennonite Central Committee. (February)

Goshen (Ind.) College President Emeritus J. Lawrence Burkholder, 92, passed away early on June 24, 2010, in Goshen. Burkholder served in China and India and earned his doctor of theology degree summa cum laude from Princeton. In 1961, Burkholder was called to serve as a professor at Harvard Divinity School. In 1971, he returned to Goshen College to serve as its 11th president. (August)

7. Apologies: Lutherans to Mennonites and Mennonites to Native Americans
Delegates to the Lutheran World Federation on July 22, 2010, in Germany asked forgiveness for the violent persecution of Anabaptists in the 16th century. They also asked for forgiveness for the way negative portrayals of Anabaptists and Mennonites have continued within their communities and theological institutions. Representing the Anabaptist-Mennonite family, Mennonite World Conference acknowledged their request and granted forgiveness.

Mennonite, Presbyterian and Quaker leaders, along with state and local government officials, apologized and asked forgiveness for 300 years of misunderstanding, neglect and abuse of Native Americans in Lancaster County, Pa., in a public ceremony at First Presbyterian Church, Lancaster, on Oct. 9, 2010. (November)

During the Lutheran-Mennonite service of forgiveness July 22, 2010, Larry Miller of Mennonite World Conference presented an image of Dirk Willems. Miller noted the image has become symbolic of Anabaptist ideals of loving the enemy but acknowledged that such stories have sometimes led Anabaptist-Mennonites to adopt the martyr tradition as a "badge of superiority, ... blinding us to the frailties and failures that are also deeply rooted in our tradition." Photo by Liesa Unger.(August, September)

8. MVS worker Chloe Weaver killed while biking
Chloe Weaver, a 20-year-old Mennonite Voluntary Service participant, was killed Oct. 24, 2010, in Alamosa, Colo., when an automobile struck her while she was riding her bicycle. Weaver had been serving with the La Jara, Colo., unit of MVS, a Mennonite Mission Network short-term service program, since August 2010. Weaver, from Nederland, Colo., was the daughter of Cindy and Herm Weaver, conference minister for the Mountain States Mennonite Conference. (December)

9. Mennonite Mutual Aid changes name to Everence
On Nov. 1, 2010, Mennonite Mutual Aid and Mennonite Financial Federal Credit Union became Everence. According to Everence’s leaders, the name change will enable them to broaden their market. However, Everence remains a ministry of Mennonite Church USA (May).

10. MPN-Third Way merger
The merger of Mennonite Publishing Network and Third Way Media, a ministry of Mennonite Mission Network, became official after the approval of the Mennonite Church Canada General Board on Nov. 13, 2010, in Saskatoon. The two organizations will form a new one that is binational. (December).

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