Witness Summer 2022
Global Teamwork
Contents Editorial: Global Teamwork................................ 2 The Language of Mercy.......................................4
EDITORIAL | Vic Wiens
Parallel Journeys of Faith...................................6 Guests of the River Folk......................................8 Longing for Family................................................10 When Spring Returns ......................................... 12 Searching for Sebastian ...................................14
Staff Managing Editor..................Mark J.H. Klassen Layout & Design..........................Darcy Scholes
I just returned from three weeks in a very special place that I call, “My beloved Brazil.” Nearly 100 international guests gathered in Curitiba for the annual summit of the International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB). Delegates from twenty-two member conferences were joined by leaders from ten emerging conferences, together with dozens from our global Multiply team. Following the summit, our visionary hosts invited us to join hundreds of Brazilians for a renewal event called Despertar, which means Awakening.
Illustration & Design..................... Colton Floris
Here are several outstanding memories for me personally:
Prayer Mobilization..........................Nikki White
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Since guests from Ukraine could not come due to the war, the ICOMB crowd gathered around the Ukrainian flag and our European representatives. In strong unity, we cried out to God on behalf of the Ukrainian church, for endurance in suffering and for peace to come.
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With other experienced workers, we offered counsel to Safari, leader of the MB conference in Malawi, as he follows God’s call to leave his current home for missionary service in another country.
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Listening to Thai pastor Naat’s plenary address where she shared, with considerable transparency, how she has learned to grow in her love for God through weakness and shortcomings.
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Translating into Portuguese for two brothers from India and Morocco as they inspired a local Brazilian church with their testimonies of God’s faithfulness and their obedience to the missionary call.
Story Research..................................Eric Geddes Circulation.......................................... Robin Lesser Media Director................................ Daniel Lichty
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There are common threads in these four memories. God is raising up outstanding men and women, equipping them for his mission, and sending them to the unreached both in their own countries and beyond. By God’s enabling, they come with strong Christian character, with resilience learned in the crucible of suffering, and with missionary vision second to none. The international ambiance, enhanced with dozens of colorful flags and a Babel of languages, immediately led me to Scriptures that speak of goings and gatherings. “(I will) gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory… I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations… and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations” (Isaiah 66:1819). And of course, the classic vision that so often has inspired me to carry on reaching out to unreached people groups, “…there before me
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