Although the worldwide recession appears to be letting up in Canada and the U.S., in many developing countries it has barely begun and the impact will be devastating, says an MCC spokesperson.
“Many families in Africa, Asia and Latin America spend between 50 to 70 percent of their household income on basic food staples,” says Bruce Guenther, MCC’s coordinator of humanitarian assistance. “Food prices have come down from the extreme levels they were at last year, but they are still up to triple what they were.”
Families are spending so much on food that they have little money for other essentials such as education and medicine. The stress and shock is enough to throw many families that were able to get by into poverty.
“On top of this, people are now beginning to lose their jobs because of this recession,” said Guenther. “The effects of mass hunger will continue to make it harder for people to survive.”
Guenther recently saw the impact of hunger firsthand in Kenya, where severe drought conditions have increased the need for humanitarian assistance. MCC is responding by providing emergency food for 3,000 Maasai families and nutritious meals to 43 primary schools.
As well, MCC has organized food for work programs where participants can collect maize, beans and cooking oil in return for community work in sustainable agriculture.
MCC food aid reached record levels this past year as the organization responded to hunger caused by natural disasters, skyrocketing food prices and climate change. The next year is shaping up to be worse.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations recently reported that the number of hungry people in the world is on track to reach more than 1 billion in 2009 – the highest number ever.
In March, 2009, the World Bank said the recession was expected to trap 53 million more people in poverty this year, defined as subsistence living on less than $1.25 U.S a day. Poor people in developing countries have little buffer to protect them against the effects of the crisis.
“The high cost of fertilizer and fuel, in combination with extreme weather conditions, are affecting access to food and the amount of food grown,” says Willie Reimer, director of Food, Disaster and Material Resources for MCC.
“And while there is still a surplus of food being produced, it is not as large as in previous years.”
That there is even a surplus of food being produced in the world is of great importance for Reimer.
“This is really more than a food crisis. It is a hunger crisis. There is still more than enough food produced in the world to feed everyone.”
Often the problem is access to food caused by factors such as unequal access to land and conflict.
“In war-torn areas like southern Sudan, 22 years of conflict has resulted in fading knowledge about food-growing techniques. Hidden landmines in the soil complicate people’s abilities to go out and till the land, says Reimer.
MCC is responding by increasing the amounts of emergency food assistance, continuing to help farmers increase the food they can grow, and advocating for food systems that are fair and just.
However, the needs are still great. Here is what you can do:
Pray for the people who are hungry that they may have enough to eat, soon. Pray for the people struggling to provide comfort and food to the hungry.
Live simply so that your lifestyle in this interconnected world is not a burden on the poor.
Speak out on behalf of the poor and hungry so that they are not forgotten by governments.
Donate to MCC (gifts can be designated to “Food”). In the U.S., gifts can also be made to MCC’s account at the Foods Resource Bank.
June Krehbiel joined the Mennonite Church USA Communication Team Aug. 1 as interim director of communication for Executive Leadership. She works out of the denomination’s Newton office.
Krehbiel of Moundridge, Kan., brings to her position experience in communicating about the denomination and its educational institutions. She was assistant director of news service for Bethel College in North Newton, Kan, and publications writer and yearbook advisor for Hesston (Kan.) College.
She also served on the Mennonite Publishing Network Board and is the author of two books: God with Us Today: Devotions for Families (Faith and Life Resources, 2006) and 101 Devotionals with Children (Herald Press, 1999).
A published writer since 1981, Krehbiel has also written articles, book reviews, curriculum, devotionals, poetry, puzzles, stories and Sunday school lessons for a variety of Mennonite publications, including The Mennonite and Mennonite Weekly Review.
Recently she served for two years as a contracted writer and copy editor for Executive Leadership Communication.
After attending Bethel College and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, she taught in Wilber (Neb.) Public Schools. For two years she was a volunteer teacher with Mennonite Central Committee at Jesus Teacher Training College in Otukpo, Nigeria. She later taught junior high language arts at Goessel (Kan.) Elementary School.
She and her husband, Perry, attend Eden Mennonite Church, Moundridge, Kan., in Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA. They have two adult children.
Krehbiel replaces Marathana Prothro, who resigned to pursue further education.
The Corinthian Plan, the Mennonite Church USA health care plan, is featured in the September 22 issue of the Christian Century. The bi-weekly magazine carries staff writer Amy Frykholm’s four-page article titled “Health-care Option: A Mennonite Plan for Mutual Aid.”
The article offers personal stories from Mennonite pastors, a look at the Corinthian Plan as well as its background and reasons for its need.
Frykholm interviewed Keith Harder, the denomination’s health care access project director whose sole work for several years has been to oversee implementation of a viable health care option for the denomination’s pastors. In addition, she contacted a handful of Mennonite pastors, including Juanita Nuñez, moderator of the Iglesia Menonita Hispania.
The writer talked with Marco Guete, conference minister of the Southeast Mennonite Conference. She interviewed Timothy Jost, who crafted the resolution the Delegate Assembly passed in July supporting legislation that would extend health care coverage to all Americans.
“The tenor of the Mennonites’ conversation and the honesty with which they have faced the dilemma is a model for the nation,” Frykholm writes.
Joanna Shenk, a 25-year-old seminary student, had questions about the institutional church. When she first encountered Andre Gingerich Stoner in spring 2008, she felt a flicker of hope as she sensed that work for her within the denomination may be a possibility. Stoner is director of Interchurch Relations for Mennonite Church USA.
In her mission and peace class at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), Elkhart, Ind., Shenk was inspired as she heard Stoner, a visiting speaker, describe his journey into church work and his vision of leadership as capturing a vision and empowering others. The more she listened to him articulate his views on church work, the more she began to envision herself exploring a similar vocation.
“Having come from a family heavily involved in the church, I wanted to make a contribution authentic to my journey. This put me on a long road of discernment,” she said.
At the end of that road, Shenk, a spring 2009 AMBS graduate with a master’s degree in theological studies, began her full-time position Aug. 3 with Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership. She is working for the denomination as associate for Interchurch Relations and Communications.
In her first Communications project, she is coordinating the collection of data for an audit of women in leadership within Mennonite Church USA. This audit is a response to the call from Mennonite Women USA to investigate declining numbers of women in Mennonite organizational leadership. As a young woman, Shenk is encouraged that the church is taking seriously the involvement of women, and she hopes to continue and resource the conversation with her work.
“It is a real opportunity for us to have Joanna as a member of the Executive Leadership team,” Marty Lehman, director of administration and advancement, says. “Not only does she bring a youthful perspective as well as a passion for the church, but also strong communication skills and experience in ecumenical settings. We are grateful for the gifts she brings.”
Shenk grew up in Springfield, Ohio, and, in junior high, went to Dagestan, Russia, with her parents, Phil and Alice, who served as mission workers with Mennonite Board of Missions and later the Mennonite Mission Network. She graduated from high school at Bethany Christian Schools in Goshen, Ind., a Mennonite Church USA school.
She attended Huntington (Ind.) University where she was a leader in student government. One summer she studied in Beijing, China. She also spent a semester in Colorado Springs at Focus on the Family.
Following her graduation, Shenk held various jobs in the Huntington area before heading to AMBS. She was assistant to the executive director of United Way of Huntington County and assistant manager of One World Handicrafts, a fair trade store in North Manchester, Ind. She also served as research assistant to theologian Beth Felker Jones in the publication of Jones’s book, The Marks of His Wounds: Gender Politics and Bodily Resurrection.
Shenk, who is part of Fellowship of Hope Mennonite Church in Elkhart and an associate member of Jubilee House, the MVS house, has already been exposed to the margins. She’s worked alongside neighbors to think creatively about responses to high unemployment, poverty and violence.
In June she taught a jewelry making class to young people and adults in her Elkhart neighborhood as part of a community-initiated summer academy.
“The teachers and students, a mix of genders, ethnicities and ages, created the academy as a space for the community to come together and learn from each other,” she said. “Clearly, no one homogenous group has all the gifts.” This idea she brings to her work with Mennonite Church USA.
Shenk has come to believe that these kinds of mutually beneficial relationships within diverse groups call all people out of controlling positions and into new ways of working together and being the body of Christ.
“We don’t need to be threatened by new approaches or new voices,” she says. “We can both explore new ways of relating, such as through interchurch relationships, and also hold on to the best of our traditions and institutions. For us as Mennonites, this is an opportunity, not a risk to our identity or our denomination.”
For example, in her Interchurch Relations work, one of her projects is to engage with intentional communities and other emerging churches across the country. These groups want to be in relationship with Mennonites due to their interest in Anabaptist-Mennonite theology and ethics but not necessarily join a denominational structure.
“With her wide range of experiences and relationships, Joanna will make a strong contribution to the Interchurch Relations work of Mennonite Church USA, especially as we build relationships with new discipleship communities that share a kinship with Anabaptism,” says Stoner.
To summarize her vision for work within the denomination, Shenk quotes contemporary Canadian theologian Mary Jo Leddy in saying, “Our critique of the church needs to be as strong as our hope for the church.”
That’s the tension Shenk hopes to sustain in her work. “I want to offer my gifts in a way that is helpful for the future and, at the same time, draw on the strengths of the past,” Shenk adds.
Ruth Lapp Guengerich, Goshen, Ind., assumed the board presidency of Mennonite Women USA during the Mennonite Church USA Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, in July. She replaces outgoing president, Rebecca Sommers, longtime resident of Sarasota, Fla., now living in Goshen.
At the Mennonite Women dinner, Sommers presented Guengerich with a shawl she had made for the occasion to symbolize the leadership change.
“I have felt called to work with women’s issues within the church,” Guengerich says. “I desire to see women in Mennonite Church USA overcome the hurdles that may have limited them in finding their niche within church structures or that prevented them from finding fulfillment in their daily lives. It is my goal that Mennonite Women will be a means of empowering women to use their energy in positive ways to serve God, empower others through friendship and challenge the church to reflect the diversity that we bring.”
Having recently moved to the Goshen area from Archbold, Ohio, and Zion Mennonite Church, Guengerich attends Silverwood Mennonite Church where her husband, Ron, pastors. A professional clinical counselor for 25 years, she works as the international personnel counselor and recruiter for Mennonite Mission Network.
During her tenure as president, Sommers led the redesign of Timbrel: Women in Conversation Together with God, the organization’s bi-monthly magazine. She also gave leadership to the creation of the Miriam Group giving circles and the development of the Sister-Care Seminars, a new program of Mennonite Women USA. Sister-Care is designed to train women in the church to reach out and offer healing and hope to other women.
“I have been blessed by the women who have given energy and service on our board. What a great group of women!” Sommers says. “I have also been blessed by the many women I have met across the United States as I heard their stories and encouraged and affirmed them in the ways they serve the church.”
Sommers and her husband, Merle, are members of College Mennonite Church. Rebecca is a fabric artist and retreat leader.
The new moderator for Mennonite Church USA, Ed Diller of Fort Thomas, Ky., was commissioned in his home congregation, Cincinnati (Ohio) Mennonite Fellowship, on Aug. 23.
The congregation’s pastor, Joel Miller, noted that all members are called by God to service in the reconciling work of Christ and included Diller’s wife, Karen, in the commissioning. “Today we bless Ed and Karen Diller for giving their time and gifts to Mennonite Church USA,” he said.
On behalf of the congregation, council chair Linda Headings presented a quilted wall hanging to the Dillers. “Your gift of listening without judgment, of recognizing our strengths and bringing people together despite their differences will serve you well as moderator,” she told the new moderator. She noted Ed’s servant heart and Karen’s compassionate service on behalf of others.
“Our prayer is that you will help lead our wider church to become the body Christ calls us to be,” Headings said.
Ron Byler, acting executive director of Mennonite Church USA, represented the denomination at the commissioning.
“May your desire to follow in the way of Jesus Christ help all 900-plus congregations in Mennonite Church USA grow as communities of grace, joy and peace,” Byler said to Diller.
Byler also thanked the congregation for extending their witness in the Cincinnati community and for their commitment, as individuals and as a congregation, to the broader church.
Jill Landes of Living Hope Farm will start selling shares from its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program on October 3 at the annual Apple Butter Frolic. The CSA summer season runs from May through October 2010. A full CSA share, picked up each week, will cost $725 for the season. Partial shares are available. Living Hope Farm will use organic methods and will be qualified to seek organic certification after three years.
Perkasie Mennonite Church screened a newly-released international documentary film this September to congregational and community members. The film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, tells the inspirational story of women caught in the middle of a vicious civil war in Liberia who banded together to find ways to bring peace.
Thousands of women — ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim — came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Despite bullets and threats of death and torture, the women prayed, demonstrated for nine straight months and helped negotiate a ceasefire and a transitional government which ousted dictator Charles Taylor.
A New York Times columnist described the movie as a story of the “power of ordinary people to intervene in their own fate.” It was directed by Emmy-winning director Gini Reticker.
Contact Becky Felton at Perkasie congregation if interested in purchasing or borrowing a DVD of the film at info@perkmenno.org The film was screened at hundreds of locations in the U.S. and Canada in honor of the International Day of Peace, September 21.
The BuxMont Coalition for Evangelism invites you to attend their fall conference titled Answering Darwin. Exactly 150 years ago, Charles Darwin set forth his theory of evolution which set the future course of biological science. Much has happened since then and many of Evolution’s greatest expectations have fallen short of their predictions. Dr. John Morris and Dr. Gary Parker from the Institute for Creation Research will be the featured speakers at the fall conference to be held at Penn View Christian School. Dates for the conference are Thursday, November 5 through Sunday, November 8. For more information visit www.answeringdarwin.com.
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The new moderator for Mennonite Church USA, Ed Diller of Fort Thomas, Ky., was commissioned in his home congregation, Cincinnati (Ohio) Mennonite Fellowship, on Aug. 23. 
Jill Landes of Living Hope Farm will start selling shares from its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program on October 3 at the annual Apple Butter Frolic. The CSA summer season runs from May through October 2010. A full CSA share, picked up each week, will cost $725 for the season. Partial shares are available. Living Hope Farm will use organic methods and will be qualified to seek organic certification after three years.
