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Timbrel Archives:
Women around the world
Sample articles
Pen pals connect the continents
Unique Sister-Link begins between Mennonite
Women USA and African women theologians
Listening in on our African sisters
Gender imbalance and the church in Africa
Guatemalan Mennonite women find strength,
comfort in prayer
Art by Ingrid Hess; please do not reprint without permission.
* * * * * * * *
Pen pals connect the continents
By Bethany Keener
Timbrel, May-June 2006
It is with this same honesty that Rebecca, of Nairobi, Kenya, approaches her work as a Mennonite woman theologian and her pen pal relationship with Mary Schertz.
As women in North America and Africa continue to explore their roles in the church they know they’re not alone. Thanks to Mennonite Women USA’s Sister-Link pen pal relationships, eight pairs of women who live a continent apart offer each other spiritual encouragement.
Rebecca serves as secretary of the African Women Theologians, a group of women from Kenya, Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. She says the objective of the group is to train women to be utilized in the church.
“Rhoda Keener [Mennonite Women USA executive director] and these sisters have been very supportive,” Rebecca says. A student at St. Paul’s United Theological College, Limuru, Kenya, she is focusing her studies on Christian-Muslim relationships. In addition to building these friendships, Mennonite Women USA has supported African women through scholarships to continue their theological education.
During her March visit to the United States, Rebecca met her pen pal for the first time since they began corresponding last summer.
“It’s not as though the contexts are the same, but there are shared issues and barriers to overcome,” says Mary Schertz, professor of New Testament at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind.
The challenges include resistance to women taking on leadership roles, including ordination, and how the Bible should be interpreted in different contexts.
“It has been immensely encouraging to see younger women take up the banner of women’s faith and theology in their context,” Mary says. At her stage in life she’s beginning to think about how the next generation will carry on the work she’s passionate about. Watching Rebecca helps her trust God with the future.
Rebecca, too, has gained strength from her friendship with Mary, both on a personal and academic level.
“She’s introducing me to Greek, and she’s willing to learn about Islam,” Osiro says. They have exchanged papers they’ve written and want to learn more about one another as their busy schedules allow.
In circumstances like this, the bond happens quickly. There is little time to spare.
“Within three exchanges we … had a fairly profound connection,” Schertz says. They pray for one another, which is a blessing to both.
As in North America, some women and men in Kenya and other African countries say traditional theology and gender roles should be maintained. Rebecca disagrees.
“I don’t think it’s fair for my husband to be in the 21st century and me in the 18th,” she says. Since much of the Kenya Mennonite Church’s decisions are made by ordained persons Rebecca sees the need for women to become pastors and bishops. Yet she understands the social construction of her culture and knows change won’t happen overnight. She hopes that women theologians can use traditional folk songs and poems to gradually change gender relationships in her society and uplift women.
Rebecca notes that social circumstances facing many African Christians have already brought change. For example, in places where AIDS is on the rise church leaders must grapple with new ways of practicing long-held rituals like foot washing, where decisions about the use of latex gloves for protection are being considered.
The economic realities of many African nations can make communication difficult for these pen pals. E-mail access is expensive and not always easily accessible, says Sylvia Shirk Charles, who corresponds with Sidonie Swana of Kinshasa, Congo.
Sylvia counted on their meeting this spring to further build their relationship. Swana planned to join Rebecca and other delegates from African nations for world conference meetings in California. Swana was denied a visa to enter the United States. Now the two may have to wait three years to meet face to face at Mennonite World Conference in Paraguay.
Their relationship makes Sylvia feel “more tied to economic realities; more disturbed by the inequalities of our situations,” she says.
The two first met at the last Mennonite World Conference in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and discovered parallels in their work at Goshen (Ind.) College and the University of Kinshasa. (Sylvia will transition from her role as campus pastor at Goshen to pastor Manhattan (N.Y.) Mennonite Fellowship this spring.)
“There is a lot to be gained for the church if we can understand in a concrete way what the Gospel means in different contexts,” Sylvia says.
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Unique Sister-Link begins between Mennonite Women
USA and African women theologians
Timbrel, September-October 2005
For the past three years the Sister-Link program of Mennonite Women USA has brought women together in new relationships. This summer, however, the program entered a new dimension as MW USA began a partnership with a group of African women theologians, hoping to help make the vision of these Anabaptist sisters become reality.
In November 2004 a committee of women church leaders from five African countries—the African Women Theologians (AWT) group— met in Nairobi, Kenya. Among the goals they set was that by 2009, the year of the next Mennonite World Conference (MWC) assembly, at least 20 additional Mennonite and Brethren in Christ women across Africa will be trained in theology (next article).
At this news, Mennonite Women USA staff pricked up their ears. Many, many
hours of conversation later, a unique Sister-Link is now underway. It encompasses
three parts.
First, MW USA executive director Rhoda Keener will be corresponding with
the AWT leaders, talking about ways this group can develop and implement
their vision for ministry.
Second, Sylvia Shirk Charles of Goshen, Ind., is coordinating one-on-one
pen pal connections between the seven AWT leaders and seven North
American women. The hope is to develop friendships, share theological
ideas and writings, and to support and challenge one another as women
leaders in the church.
Third, MW USA will assist in the collection of funds for scholarships
for African women to attend local theological schools. A group of volunteers
is being formed to raise these funds, which are separate from MW USA’s
budget. AWT leaders will select the scholarship recipients, and Mennonite
World Conference is helping with dispersal.
The Sister-Link is intended to last from now until the 2009 MWC assembly in Paraguay, when participants will meet face to face and evaluate future direction.
“The significance of this project for MW USA cannot be understated,”
Rhoda says. “It feels like a major commitment for us and a real leap
of faith, but we’re thrilled to imagine what God might accomplish for
the church and the world through this five-year partnership.”
MWC has worked with the African women for five or six years, notes staff
member Tim Lind. “While there has always been a lot of interest in
[AWT] throughout the global church, we had difficulty finding a group
or agency that was willing to serve as a formal link. As a result we
were very grateful and relieved when Mennonite Women USA accepted the
challenge of relating organizationally to the AWT committee. It represents
a new kind of involvement for MW USA, but we think the experience can
contribute much to our common search for authentic ways of being a global
faith community.”
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Listening in on our African
sisters
By Mary Lou Klassen
and Mary Schertz
Timbrel,
March-April 2005
* * *
NEWS REPORT: African women set goals
By 2009, at least 20 additional Mennonite and Brethren
in Christ women across Africa will be trained in theology. That is
one goal the continental committee of African women theologians set
when they gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, last November.
The women also hope to make their churches more aware of the
contributions of women, to help girls develop a sense of belonging
in the church, and to liberate themselves by re-interpreting biblically
and culturally oppressive doctrines, beliefs, and practices.
The committee members come from five countries: Congo, Kenya,
Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Their secretary is former International
Women’s Fund recipient Rebecca Osiro. According to the group’s inventory,
Anabaptist African churches have seven ordained women and over 200
women trained in theology or in training. Women are engaged in
evangelism, leading Bible studies, prayer ministries, and assisting
pastors. They continue to struggle with issues of ordination, with not
being allowed to assume full ministerial roles, and with less financial
support than male theology students. —Mennonite World Conference
* * *
She will unload her burden, call her children, and rest a bit. Her husband sits under the grass awning talking with another pastor who has come in from a distant village. There will be another guest for dinner tonight. Already her daughters are pounding the cassava into flour with a rhythmic knock, knock that echoes pleasantly around the compound. The cooking fire is stoked up and a pot of water is cradled on its three rocks to begin boiling.
Mama Makeka is a mother, pastor’s wife, women’s group leader, and prayer warrior. When our family left what was then Zaire in 1985, she was still strong and very active. We thought of her as “kaka,” a grandma for our toddler daughters who had only seen their own once.
As I celebrate that African Mennonite women theologians are expressing their voices in new ways, I think of Mama Makeka. Although she has now joined the “cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 11), the kind of faith and life she lived with pride and courage creates for me the context out of which these women are speaking and what world they therefore want to participate in birthing.
African Mennonite women theologians are disciples of Jesus Christ and they know that they too are commissioned to make disciples. This confidence is expressed in their mission statement as worked out in their last meeting in Nairobi:
“African Mennonite Women Theologians strive to change the society (nations) through discipleship in accordance with the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20; specifically [we] endeavour to liberate women through a wholistic approach, i.e., morally, spiritually, economically, physically (health), culturally, politically, socially and educationally.”
To imagine this kind of world-changing energy coming from African women is not difficult for me. Being daughters, wives, mothers, aunts, and grandmothers in the tradition of a “Mama Makeka” forms the basis of their sense of who they are as persons. In other words, personal identity and respect are wrapped up in the roles one plays in the family and community—rather than, say, my individual career.
In the middle of their continent’s seemingly insurmountable challenges, with HIV/AIDS being only the latest, these are people who determine to live in hope and trust. African women (together with men!) know the power of prayer: to heal when there are no doctors; to provide when the last of the grain is gone; to comfort with anguished wail death’s untimely call; to sustain through the stigma of barrenness; to deliver new life into the world. They have been called to “stand in the gap” (Ezek. 22:30) and desire to “arise and shine” (Isa. 60:1) forth, so that their gifts “be uplifted for utility in the Kingdom of God.”
African women face many challenges including barriers to education, to decision-making circles, and cultural and religious norms that limit and disempower them. Nevertheless, their biggest struggle is for survival. Very few of us in Mennonite Church Canada or USA can comprehend the meaning of poverty, except perhaps our sisters who are refugees or our foremothers who raised families during the Great Depression. We cannot fathom the powerlessness, the “no choice” scenarios that force women and their families into doing things they would not have imagined and cannot speak.
Yet within this situation of struggle, African Mennonite women theologians are hearing the Great Commission—to go and make disciples! It includes not only being evangelists and performing official pastoral duties like marriages but also helping families increase their income. It is a calling to the church to recognize their gifts so that God is glorified through their service to the whole person.
I would understand their vision as the desire to expand their sphere of influence and service so they stand together with men sharing the good news of God’s abundant life with all people.—Mary Lou Klassen
* * * * * * * * *
I felt humbled to read the 2004 minutes of the African Mennonite women theologians meeting in much the same way I felt humbled to receive the hospitality of a Palestinian family living in a tent in a refugee camp in Gaza 15 years ago. Humbled and privileged beyond words—for the richness of the human spirit in the service of God’s call amid the struggle can only inspire gratitude for the movement of the Holy Spirit among African Mennonite women.
Both as a biblical scholar and as a survivor/thriver of our own North American struggle on the issues of women in ministry, I was again moved by the power and comfort of the biblical text as women begin to work with it for themselves and in their own voices. The process of sifting through texts and interpretations that have been used against the ministry and witness of Christian women is empowering in itself.
The next step, women discovering their own ways of interpreting texts, their own ways of evaluating texts, their own ways of fitting texts together and discerning the living word of God in them, is an even more powerful act of hope and faith.
As women in contexts of struggle weave their lives into the Bible and the Bible into their lives, they are strengthened. As women in contexts of struggle weave their lives into the Bible and the Bible into their lives, the church is transformed. It will never be the same again—to the glory of God!
My hope is that North American Mennonite women will be inspired and instructed by what the African Mennonite women are thinking, saying, writing, and doing. There are many ways we can help—and we should support our sisters in prayer and with our resources. There are more ways we can learn—and be strengthened for our own journeys, our own struggle to be and do what God has called us to do.—Mary Schertz
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Gender imbalance and the church in Africa
Timbrel, March-April 2004
By Rebecca Osiro
It is almost 2,000 years after the death of Christ but gender imbalance is still an issue. Yes, the African church has increasingly played an active role in the gender awareness campaign. That women theologians attended the MWC assembly as an entity for the first time is commendable. However, a lot is yet to be done.
The church has stuck to the norms that are cherished by the secular society. It has taken, for example, Ephesians 5:22 (“Wives, be subject to your husbands. . . .”) too literally. Yet, ironically, the predominantly male clergy does not even attempt a literal interpretation of verses 23-29 of the same chapter (“Husbands, love your wives. . . .”). The church expects women to comply with verse 22 regardless of the husband’s mischief.
Apart from a few who can purchase houses or afford rental housing, women have to stick to their matrimonial homes for security. The contentious divorce law is never adhered to. In most communities, children belong to their father and have to be with him in case of divorce or separation, whether he is responsible, morally/mentally sound or not. Women often opt to persevere in their marriages even with excessive stresses for the sake of their children. The church is silent on this!
Buzo (name has been changed) left for her parents’ home when she could no longer cope with her husband’s unfaithfulness and irresponsibility. Six months later, she decided to reunite with him out of her love for the children. The neighbors’ unwelcoming reaction was not surprising, for it was expected of general society. The heartbreaking thing was her pastor’s reaction.
In his sermon on Titus 2:3-5 (“Tell the older men to be temperate . . . tell the older women to be reverent. . . .”), he taught that women were the wrong ones, always. He purposely interpreted the word encourage in verse 4 as teach, so that older women were to teach the younger ones who were lacking in self control since they were fond of running away from their homes (husbands).
Instead of being consoled, encouraged, and restored, Buzo was torn apart and wondered whether or not she would continue to fellowship in this particular church. Yet it was an open secret that her husband, one of the church elders, had children out of wedlock, some of whom went to the same school as Buzo’s children.
As a Christian, I do not advocate for divorce or separation, but I wonder how often sermons are based on fairness and equality between spouses or between men and women.
In most churches, women are the majority, yet sermons that touch on family life are often based on Ephesians 5:21-22, emphasizing that a wife should be submissive to her husband. These sermons rarely expound on the following verses that require the husband to head the house as Christ did to the church, i.e., to be Christ’s model in the home.
In Buzo’s case, one would have expected the pastor to counsel Buzo’s husband; instead, in his judgmental sermon sin has been encouraged while the innocent toil in suffering. In similar situations, some pastors would acknowledge that the husband was wrong but would not approach him. Instead, they would talk to the wife privately, basing their counseling on perseverance. In the reverse case, an offending woman would not only be counseled but warned and even put under disciplinary action as the church authorities deemed fit!
. . . Quite often, the church has chosen men for leadership positions while nominations of women have leaned more on the less vocal, less critical, and compromising personalities. While elections are usually carried out by members of the congregations, the societal norms reign high in the psyche of many. Proper teaching about the qualities of a church leader, based on scripture, is of paramount importance.
It would be illogical, unrealistic, and unchristian to advocate for women in leadership positions simply because they are women, but based on their capability. Church members should be sensitized so that they appreciate God-given gifts in male and female alike. Consequently, authorities should balance their appointments and/or nominations between men and women.
The church needs to create a favourable environment in which women can have time with Jesus, like Mary in Luke 10:42. Women themselves sometimes accuse their own who spend more time and resources in theological discussions with Jesus (training), just as Martha did to Mary. Although he never disregarded Martha’s choice, Jesus preferred Mary’s.
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Guatemalan
Mennonite women
find strength, comfort in prayer
By Janet Breneman
Timbrel,
July-August 2004
For the past 13 years Janet Breneman
has served as a professor at the Latin American Anabaptist
Seminary (SEMILLA) in Guatemala City. This spring she completed
her doctoral thesis on the prayer practices of Mennonite women
both in the Spanish-speaking churches in the capital (Ladinas)
and the Q’eqchi' churches in Alta Verapaz (Q’eqchi' is the new
spelling for K’ekchi'). She interviewed 40 women, recording many
prayers verbatim; a handful are attached below. This article is adapted
from her thesis. In this picture, Janet is pictured, left,
with Albina Acté, one of the women from her study, and
Eastern Mennonite Mission worker Linda Witmer, who translated for
Janet in her Q’eqchi' interviews. Albina embroidered the traditional
design on these blouses.
Why do you pray? Why does anyone pray?
For some, it’s a spiritual exercise.
Others pray out of a sense of duty, or to please or appease
God. To some, such a question may seem as odd as “Why do you breathe?”
The Guatemalan Mennonite women I spoke
with gave various reasons for praying; here are four.
The joy of praying for others
The women consider it a joy to be able
to pray, especially for others. Minga, a Q’eqchí
women’s leader who goes often to pray for others, says, “Prayer
is a gift I think I have, though no one has said this. I’m so
happy to go to people’s homes to pray.” This is echoed by Julia,
Ladina, who also prays often for the sick in her barrio [neighorhood].
She says, “[God] has given me a beautiful ministry, to intercede
for sick persons.”
Women praying for women
Leonor, Ladina with a pastor’s heart,
knows the need for the churches to take women seriously and
incorporate their intuitive gifts. “Many churches are sustained
through the prayers of women, women who pray,” she says, “because
women are connected to the reality of the family, the very real necessities.
. . . This gives them a heart for prayer.
“There is a maternal instinct in all
of us women, and one adopts sons and daughters. [At my church]
I have my daughters that aren’t blood daughters but spiritual
daughters, and I have sisters and mothers. So I am responsible
for them and they to me, in a certain sense. There are strong
bonds between us.”
Women are the majority in many churches.
Leonor recognizes their need for solidarity; often, she notes,
women can pray best for women.
Prayer enables selfless service
Elena is Ladina of Maya background and
a graduate of the Mennonite Bible Institute. She recognizes
that prayer enables one to serve others: “I believe that prayer
is what fills your hands so you can give something to others.
. . . I think that we have a big example in Jesus. He was always
willing to give,” she says.
“So prayer is what strengthens us to
say that the Lord did it, he is here today with me, and his
Holy Spirit will guide me to do what I have to do. The Truth
guides us, and the truth is that we are here to serve.”
She adds: “I think without prayer your
life dries up. For me, prayer isn’t only on your knees,
but it should be all your living, and it’s because of gratitude
you do this.”
Elena’s description of life without prayer
is reminiscent of 16th-century Teresa of Ávila who
said, “Souls without prayer are like bodies, palsied and lame,
having hands and feet they cannot use.” In both women’s visualizations,
persons without prayer shrivel, and prayer that doesn’t motivate
all one’s living isn’t truly prayer.
Prayer is time to be with God
In addition to and including all the
above, prayer allows women to simply be with God and communicate
their needs. “I pray to God saying, ‘I have sufficient, I don’t
need anything, only that you never leave me,’ ” Leonor says.
Alejandra comes to find God wants to
be with her. “I could understand that prayer wasn’t to throw
out my prayers to the air,” she says, “but that prayer was to be
with God, free some specific time to speak with God from my need
and experience, thinking that God wanted to look for me.”
Armenia, a young Q’eqchí mother
of six whose coming to Mennonite faith was a three-year-long
hard struggle says, “I believed without happiness in my heart.
I got married, you see, so that is why I believed there [in the
Mennonite church]. . . . I wasn’t happy, but I am happy now.”
She prays now “because God needs to hear
my prayers, because if God leaves me I am by myself.” Why
does God need to hear her? How else would God know her heart
and understand her loneliness?
Rosita and Julia, both Ladinas, pray
with insistence, bringing people before God for physical
or emotional healing and begging God to hear. Julia prays for
a sister she believes might be experiencing trouble: “Father, I
plead for this sister. Where she is standing, sitting . . . touch
her heart. If she is sick, heal her. She’s a sister, Lord, see her.
You are good; visit her wherever she is.” Like Jacob battling with the
angel, these women pray fervently and in anguish for the women they
see in difficult situations.
Light on the road
The commitment and prayers of these women
can also shed light on the road for others, not unlike the
light that came to Ladina sister Manuela’s father as he lay dying.
“I want you to pray for me,” he said, “because I see the road ahead
of me is dark, and I want to see light.” After the prayers he
spoke again: “I can see now, my way is cleared. Thanks for coming
to pray for me.” Light for the road came through prayer and drawing
close to the light of God.
Teresa is one of the Q’eqchí women
who also sees this light. Even with her sight impaired by an
eye infection, sitting in her tiny darkened house (rain pouring
down and wind lifting up the tin roof), she said, “I am
in my place of prayer and I see light. I evaluate the light as that
my life is good before God. That’s the power of God shown to me when
I am praying.”
Some sample prayers by Guatemalan women
Prayer for anytime
Thank you, Father. Permit
that in the course of this afternoon, I can rejoice.
Prayer for healing
Lord, I am sad in my heart; my
poor child is sick and I don’t have any money. But you
see her, Lord. Heal my daughter with my faith, Lord. Like
the woman who was healed . . . the woman of 12 years, that she
was bleeding. And with her faith, you healed her. So why wouldn’t
you heal my little daughter? I have faith, too. You said
with her faith she was healed, and I want you to heal with my
faith.
Prayer of thanks
Thank you, Father, for this community
and each one of my sisters. Thank you for this hand, thank
you for this hug, for this kiss from each one of our sisters
here. For there where you manifest yourself, this marvelous sensation
of the hug, Father, there you are; there you are! How many times
our life isn’t tranquil, and with a hug from a sister, a friend,
you have returned to us the peace.
Prayer for hoeing
God, we worked together with our
children, so we now give it into your hands. Give ears
of corn to the corn plants, we ask. We’ve done our part, and
now it’s up to you. We gave our strength, now it is up to you to
give the rain, sun and all the corn needs.
Prayer for handing out food
Father in heaven, I ask you to
help me as I hand out this food. Maybe there won’t be enough,
but let there be enough.
Frequent prayer of thanks and dependence
Blessed be you, Lord, because I
know you are.
For reprint permission, contact the editor.
* * * * * * * *
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5.18.2006
