Angela and Rolf Kruse and their five children (four daughters and one son) have lived on Gesses mountain in Ethiopia among the Gumuz people for the past five years. They recently returned to Canada after 17 years of ministry in Ethiopia among Sudanese refugees and tribal people. Angela shared this story with Bearing Witness as Keep Reading…
“If we love the people who don’t believe as we believe, it will show love.”
The following excerpt is taken from Jim Bertsche, “That’s all you can do to me,” in The Jesus Tribe: Grace stories from Congo’s Mennonites, 1912-2012 ed. Rod Hollinger-Janzen, Nancy Myers and Jim Bertsche (Elkhart, IN: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2012): 71-72. Co-published with the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism. The first warning Pastor Keep Reading…
Although some of the stories shared by Bearing Witness are available elsewhere in written form, many others are not. Rather they are family or personal stories shared with us in a letter, email, or, in some cases, an interview (see the stories of Paul and Suja Phinehas, Stanimir Katanic, or Tulio Pedraza for examples). This year the Keep Reading…
Pour français cliquez ici Note: This story has been updated. In the village of Sidi, Burkina Faso, Mennonite Christians face losing access to the land they farm, because of a growing conviction that the requirements for land use in the village are in conflict with their faith in Jesus Christ. Land in Sidi is managed Keep Reading…
Today’s post is focused on the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) and their experiences amidst the violence that currently wracks northern Nigeria. The Church of the Brethren (US) has identified next week (August 17-24) as a week of prayer and fasting for the EYN and for the violence in Nigeria more generally. Keep Reading…
The following excerpt is taken from Vincent Ndandula and Jim Bertsche, “An open Bible at rebel headquarters,” in The Jesus Tribe: Grace stories from Congo’s Mennonites, 1912-2012 ed. Rod Hollinger-Janzen, Nancy Myers and Jim Bertsche (Elkhart, IN: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2012): 82-87. Co-published with the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism. By the Keep Reading…
Pour français cliquez ici Esther Mbombo wa Tshipongo was a strong and generous woman, whose dedication to the church sometimes made her an object of criticism and conflict. Someone who knew her says, “Her only response was to suppress her tears and devote herself to reconciliation, even if she wasn’t at fault.” Many people remember Keep Reading…
What do you talk about when you’re buried up to your neck in the earth, surrounded by the handful of scruffy guerillas who put you there? When Kasai Kapata was in that position he spoke up with, “Comrades, it’s a good thing that I am here in this grave.” “They thought I was crazy to Keep Reading…
Raphael Mthombeni was the conference minister of the Brethren in Christ Church for the Gwayi District in Zimbabwe. He had just spent a week sleeping inside the ceiling of the mission house, because word had spread that he the next in line to be killed because of his involvement with dissidents. A group of five Keep Reading…