Paul and Suja Phinehas

In the Tamil Nadu region of India, Paul and Suja Phinehas serve as leaders of Gilgal Mission Trust, a member church of Mennonite World Conference. In August they shared with Bearing Witness some of the struggles they face as Christians in a predominantly Hindu society. Paul Phinehas’s grandfather worked as a healer in a Hindu  Keep Reading…

Prayer and fasting

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…

Katherine Wu

For many years during difficult financial times, aboriginal families in Taiwan would sell their young daughters to the prostitution industry controlled by the underground mafia. Child advocate groups estimated there were 60,000 child prostitutes at the time. Katherine Wu (Wu Fang-fang), a Mennonite pastor in Hualien, Taiwan, became aware of this situation and determined to  Keep Reading…

Update on Sang-Min Lee’s case

On Tuesday, we posted about Sang-Min Lee, a young Mennonite in South Korea who has refused to fulfill his obligatory military service. Yesterday we received some surprising correspondence from him. The judge has delayed his trial, without any explanation! So Sang-Min is not in prison at this moment, which is reason for rejoicing. At the  Keep Reading…

Trial day for Mennonite CO in South Korea

By John D. Roth It was one of the passages narrating the week of Jesus’ passion that first led Sang-Min Lee to consider the way of peace. Soon after he became a Christian, Lee was moved by Jesus’ teaching to love our enemies, especially his rebuke to Peter for defending him with a sword in  Keep Reading…

Haunted

One of the reasons Martyrs Mirror has continued to be read by Anabaptists for centuries is because it enlivens and illuminates the Biblical texts. Jesus’ injunction to “love your enemies” (Matt 5:44), for example, takes on new life in the story of Dirk Willems, the Dutch Mennonite who abandoned his escape route to pull a  Keep Reading…

Raphael Mthombeni

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…