Lifestyle Expectations

Candidates for mission work with Mennonite Church Canada Witness are expected to live according to the following Lifestyle Expectations

In joyful response to God’s generous grace, Christ’s redeeming ministry and the Spirit of Jesus’ empowering presence, we seek to fulfill our evangelizing mission by: proclaiming hope and wholeness for all people; inviting them to join us in the kingdom of our Lord; share God’s love in Christ with alienated persons through our lives, witness and service; calling all to repentance, faith and discipleship in caring communities of faith around the world. The following lifestyle expectations are guides for us in our life together:

Accountability

We participate in witnessing to the good news from God in Jesus Christ. We serve on behalf of Mennonite Church Canada through the partnership and program in which we work. We commit ourselves to live in accordance with the ways of Jesus and by the Spirit of Jesus to reflect Christ-like standards in our personal and professional conduct.

Spiritual Disciplines

We desire to be shaped and led by God’s Spirit and to cultivate the spiritual disciplines that nurture the fruits of the Spirit, seeking to be loving, joyful, peaceful, kind, generous, gentle and disciplined. As individuals and together with our coworkers, we are committed to transformation and growth, forgiveness and reconciliation in Jesus Christ.

Living in Community

We affirm that discipleship to Christ is best lived out in Christian community. We are committed to nurturing trust, restoring right relationships and maintaining peace within the communities in which we live and serve. We will demonstrate mutual respect, authenticity and integrity in sharing leadership in fulfilling our responsibilities. We will celebrate and work effectively toward diversity of personal backgrounds and nurture acceptance in our attitudes and living it out in community.

Relating to Church and Culture

We will actively participate in local gatherings of Christian community. We will show respect and regard for the moral, social and religious values of our coworkers, fellow believers, host communities, and differing cultural contexts. We will seek to listen and understand the different ways God is at work in our lives and within community and culture in which we live.

Personal Witness

We commit ourselves to care for others and to Witness actively against that which keeps us from fully living out the kingdom of God: we will work actively against lifestyles like racism, destructive use of power and violence, promiscuity and all forms of abuse and other destructive attitudes and behavior. We will work constructively in accordance with principles of conservation and care of ecology, promote good health, just distribution of resources and wise stewardship. We will conduct ourselves in ways and settings that will not harm our witness to Jesus Christ, our service to humanity, or our personal health and the well-being of the earth. We are committed to reserve sexual intimacy for the marriage covenant between male and female. We strive to be authentic people of integrity, free from lies, manipulation and deceit, faithful to our promises and trustworthy in that which is entrusted to us.

Openness to Admonition and Reconciliation

Although there will be occurrences in which we fail to live in accordance with our commitments, we will be open and honest about our actions and motives and will accept responsibility for them. We will admit our humanness and seek forgiveness, communicate our desire for restoration, and be open to the redemptive intention of our coworkers. We will continually move toward reconciliation and renewal by actions to set relations right and restore trust that was broken.

Commitment to Assignment

We will learn and serve, ready to have our lives broadened as we open ourselves to explore new insights for Christian growth and service. We will identify with the objectives of our assignment and will use our spiritual gifts, relationships and training to accomplish God’s good.