Canadian Mennonite
Volume 9, No. 17
September 5, 2005
Suderman to be new MC Canada General Secretary
Winnipeg
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The General Board of Mennonite Church Canada has announced the appointment of Robert J. (Jack) Suderman to the post of General Secretary. He will succeed outgoing General Secretary Dan Nighswander, who served in the post since 1999.
Esther Peters, Assistant Moderator, made the announcement to staff on behalf of the General Board and search committee. Peters noted that the Search Committee and the General Board unanimously supported the decision. Together with staff, Peters offered a prayer of guidance and blessing for Suderman.
Suderman has served the Mennonite Church in Canada since 1996, most recently as executive secretary of Mennonite Church Canada Witness, the mission and outreach ministry of the national church. He has nine years of experience at the executive leadership level, and played a key role in the transformation process of the former bi-national General Conference Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church to Mennonite Church Canada.
Suderman noted that the shift will trigger a “domino effect” as Witness will seek a successor for his current role as executive secretary of Witness. “I feel that my own energy and vision for what Witness can be had not yet been exhausted. I was looking forward to continuing to lead this department. However, the encouragement, from so many quarters, to consider this other position, has simply been too strong to ignore. At some point I felt that I did need to listen to these voices from the church,” he said. Suderman invited prayers for this time of transitional adjustment.
In response to the announcement, Suderman said that the agenda for Mennonite Church Canada, though simple, has complex implications.
To be “… a Mennonite church within Canada as well as a church for the world from a Canadian base [is a] simple agenda, but also very complex and complicated. We need all the gifts we can muster, and more,” Suderman said, alluding to the confidence he placed in his staff colleagues.
As a founding chair or director of five organizations in Canada and Colombia, Suderman has used his extensive experience as a teacher, principal, facilitator, and consultant to hone his leadership, administrative, and team building skills. In recent years he has enjoyed keeping abreast of the evolving church by teaching various courses in theology in Canada and Latin America.
Suderman is fluent in Spanish, having completed his doctoral studies in the Spanish language in Bogotá, and has authored several books in Spanish and English, as well as numerous papers, articles, and curricula. He has served in international ministry in Bolivia, and Colombia, and has worked and lived in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.
Henry Krause, Moderator for Mennonite Church Canada, said, “I am very pleased with the decision to appoint Jack Suderman as the next General Secretary for Mennonite Church Canada. Jack’s rich experience working with the church in Canada and globally will be a real asset as he assumes this new role. His passion for the church and vision for the future will help us as a national church to continue to move into what God is calling us to.”
The transition from Nighswander to Suderman will begin in September. Suderman, who will officially begin in the role on Dec 1, noted his gratefulness for Dan Nighswander’s significant contributions of energy and devotion to the formative years of Mennonite Church Canada.
Suderman is married to Irene (Penner). They have three married sons: Derek and Rebecca (Zoe), Bryan and Julie (Matthew), and Andrew and Karen, all of whom reside in Ontario.
Muslim peace movement looks for Mennonite encouragement
Mindanao, Philippines
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A Muslim leader in Marawi City in Mindanao, Philippines, was banned from many mosques when he initiated dialogue with Christians. The Muslim peace movement, he said, needs Mennonite encouragement.
And that’s what it got from April 24-May 2, when five Mennonites travelled through conflict-ravaged areas of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. The group was there for the purpose of learning from Christians and Muslims—who are in dialogue with each other—about ways to reduce the violence that has plagued this land.
Relying on faith in God and trust in the many partnerships cultivated by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) during its 28 years of presence in Mindanao, the delegation began its sojourn in Davao City, where I live and work.
Besides myself, the group travelling through the violence-prone area included Dann Pantoja, a Filipino member of Peace Mennonite Church in Vancouver, B.C., who now serves in Mindanao; Richard Rancap, president of the Integrated Mennonite Churches (IMC) of the Philippines; Luke Schrock-Hurst, an Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM) worker in Manila; and David Shenk, global missions consultant with EMM.
War trash to art is swords to ploughsharesThe name Basilan Island strikes fear in the hearts of many foreigners. This is where the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group held hostages, killed villagers and terrorized the whole island for nearly four years. This is where missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and Debra Yapp were held hostage for more than a year before Martin Burnham and Yapp were killed. The island has seen fighting and death since the 1970s, when Ferdinand Marcos, former dictator of the Philippines, declared martial law. The conflict has left much debris scattered throughout communities. In hanging on to it, the islanders are constantly reminded of past trauma and pain.
In giving it up to the War Trash Project, they are offered a chance to let go of the hate so associated with the violence. The War Trash Project is designed to provide healing for communities while providing some income from the refuse of war. Through this program, which trains youths in metallurgical skills, this poorest of the Philippine islands is being given a chance for economic advancement. The project currently turns 105-millimetre howitzer shell casings into works of art, such as candleholders, steel flower arrangements and pencil holders. In the future, they hope to melt brass bullet casings into traditional gongs and bells. As a measure of the success of this project, Dedette Suacito, director of Nagdilaab Foundation on Basilan Island, says, “We have been asked to replicate this project in Jolo,” another island in the Sulu Archipelago, where fighting and tensions are ongoing. “Communities were first suspicious of this project,” Suacito admits. “They thought we were collecting war trash to report to the army which communities still have lots of guns.” But, Suacito asked the communities, “Do you want to hang on to this stuff forever? If you are ready to give it up, it can be part of your healing.” They won the trust of people by explaining that collecting the debris from years of fighting—spent rifle cartridges, machine gun shells and mortar casings—could be part of a healing ritual for them. |
As the 10-day journey across Mindanao’s primarily Muslim regions began, Shenk led a one-day seminar on “Christians ministering in Islamic communities” at a theological seminary in Davao. “Islam,” Shenk said, “needs to be engaged at a spiritual level. Christians are equipped for this conversation since our understanding of God is that he is dialogical.”
Pantoja, who felt called to begin work among Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, invited the Mennonite delegation into conversations with his Muslim housemates and the mayor of Sultan Kudarat, a small town in central Mindanao, where he serves.
“When I first came, I was ignorant of any peace-building and dialogical methodologies,” Pantoja mused. “But I jumped in and immersed myself.”
At first, the predominantly Muslim community was very suspicious of Pantoja. They had suffered at the hands of soldiers who were predominantly “Christian.” But as he set about listening to people’s stories of trauma, offering relief to displaced people in the area, and demonstrating Christ’s love in his behaviour, barriers broke down.
Often it just takes one person to initiate dialogue, to reach across the gap that so easily divides people of different religions. Violence narrows the range of what people see as possibilities in any given situation. We were so encouraged to see people of faith offering innovative alternatives to revenge and retribution. By showing the world that Christians and Muslims can live in harmony, the myth that this is a religious conflict will be put to rest.
In Cotabato City, the group visited an evangelical partner of MCC’s that works in predominantly Muslim communities. A leader in this effort told us that the project’s role is to bring “Jesus to the community” through acts of service, not to bring community members to church.
Several times as the group of Mennonites spoke with Muslim student groups they raised the difficult question of forgiveness as the students shared their stories of pain and loss at the murder of loved ones.
“Christianity is centred in forgiveness through Christ’s atonement,” Schrock-Hurst told a student group. “Our own spiritual ancestors suffered, as you have, but through God’s grace we have been called to forgive our enemies.”
The group was inspired by the example of an evangelical church leader in Mindanao who organizes a “Bless Muslims Day” every Sept. 11. Under his leadership, the church is awakening to the call for holistic development.
The group also visited Father Sebastiano, a Catholic priest who has formed the Silsilah Dialogue Movement in Zamboanga City. They approach interfaith dialogue from the context of deep spirituality and prayer, seeking to mend broken relationships.
“What we heard consistently from Muslims and Christians on this trip was the importance of Mennonite encouragement to them on the sometimes lonely road of peacebuilding and dialogue,” Shenk said. “Muslims have respected Mennonites because they recognize that the church, when true to Christ, marches to a different tune than the government. On this trip we’ve again been moved to see that love in action overcomes fear.”