Celebrate International Witness this October with our nationwide community of faith

Mennonite Church Canada invites congregations across our nationwide community of faith to celebrate International Witness by participating in a special service on October 24, 2021. This webpage provides worship resources, ideas for promotion, video resources including sermons for your messages, and information on joining Witness Support Networks.

This year the resources focus on Mennonite Church Canada's "Vision: Healing and Hope" statement:

God calls us to be followers of Jesus Christ and,

by the power of the Holy Spirit to grow

as communities of grace, joy and peace

so that God’s healing and hope

flow through us to the world.

 

See how this vision comes alive in the lives and ministries of your siblings in faith around the world and in the Witness workers that you support. 

Listen to God’s call as you are invited to be part of these exciting ministries. 

Experience God’s healing and hope through stories of faith from around the world. 

May God’s Spirit empower and bless you to grow as communities of grace, joy and peace together with your global community of faith.

May you be richly blessed as you give and learn.

If you have questions about International Witness Sunday, you can contact your regional church or Jeanette Hanson, director of International Witness, at jhanson@mennonitechurch.ca.

PROMOTE - ON SUNDAYS LEADING UP TO INTERNATIONAL WITNESS SUNDAY...


IW Sunday PDF


Find all the resources you need in one place! This document contains general information about International Witness, suggested hymns, prayers and scriptural texts for your congregation's worship service, information about Witness Support Networks and profile infosheets on our Witness workers.

IW Sunday PDF

Music resources

"God Calls Us" is the theme song for this year's International Witness Sunday. Darryl Neustaedter Barg shares his musical arrangement of the "Vision: Hope and Healing" statement in the following videos:

 

Find the chorus for "God Calls Us" in Voices Together #394

 Children's Resources

Download this video

Children's Story script

Children's Story colouring page

VIDEO RESOURCES

 

Shorter videos that introduce you to our ministries and ministry partners.


  

 

  

"Being Sent"

"Myanmar - Inspiring a Gospel of Peace"

  • a five-minute video sharing the vision of an emerging network of Anabaptist congregations in Myanmar and Canada for leadership development and Anabaptist training.
  • Link for streaming
  • Link for download

"Intro to International Witness ministries"

"God's path to new creation through reconciliation"

"What God is doing in Burkina Faso"

 "Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission: Building a Global Family of Faith"

  • a seven-minute video from AIMM. See how Mennonite Church Canada works together with partners in Africa, Europe and North America to build and strengthen a global family of faith.
  • Link for streaming and download (YouTube)

"Dedication of the Bagobo Tagabawa Peace Memorial and Hall" - PeaceBuilders Community, Inc.

  • PeaceBuilders Community, Inc., a ministry of Lakan and Lakambini Sumulong (Dann and Joji Pantoja), Witness workers in the Philippines, celebrates with the Bagobo Tagabawa tribe on the completion of their cultural village and peace memorial complex. See the whole story of this partnership from 2015 to present here. 
  • Link for streaming and download (YouTube)

 

Videos to use for messages

 

 

"God Calls Us" sermon by Jeanette Hanson, director of International Witness for Mennonite Church Canada

"New creation," in collaboration with Bock Ki Kim and Sook Kyoung Park

"Being Sent," in collaboration with Tom and and Christine Poovong


GIVE to our ministries

Benin

Bolivia
Burkina Faso

China

Colombia

DR Congo

Ethiopia

Laos

Myanmar

Palestine-Israel

Philippines

South Korea

Thailand

Vietnam

PARTICIPATE

LEARN

• Find a story from International Witness worker newsletters or news releases and share on your church website or e-mail group.
• Use the video and worship resources for International Witness Sunday.
• Post newsletters, Canadian Mennonite articles, or Mennonite Church Canada website stories aboutinternational ministries.
• Use your congregation’s announcement or sharing time to give news and ask for prayer for international
partners and Witness workers.

CONNECT


• Ask a Witness worker to have a Zoom meeting with your mission/service committee members, or your Bible study group.
• Ask an international partner to meet online. Find a translator or ask a Witness worker to help you connect.
• Join a Witness Support Network.

DISCUSS & INVEST

•Giving to an international ministry as an investment in the Kingdom of God. We invest in many things: our children’s education, our retirement, our homes. How do we invest in the church? Where do we see God’s spirit moving and how do we get on board with what God is doing in the world?

TRANSFORM

Has international ministry changed how you think about your faith and life here in Canada? What can we learn from our international partners?
• Does your community need Peace and Reconciliation (PaR) teams like those formed and trained by Dann and Joji Pantoja in the Philippines?
• Could your community benefit from conflict transformation circles used by Bock Ki Kim and Sook Kyoung Park in South Korea?
• Is your congregation studying the tenets of Anabaptist faith? Connect with groups in China, who are supported by resources developed together with George and Tobia Veith.
• What are the barriers to full participation for certain people in your congregation? Follow the example of Congolese Mennonite women who organized literacy training to boost female leadership in the church in DR Congo.
• Do you see the need for worshipping communities of peace where you live, like those whom Tom and Christine Poovong nurture in Thailand?

ORGANIZE AN EVENT

(Please keep in mind local guidelines and protocols for safety around COVID-19 as you plan.)
• Make a take-home kit for every family in your congregation that includes an information sheet on an international ministry or Witness workers, a snack from that region of the world as well as a craft or game.
• Use the resources in this document for International Witness Sunday. Take a special offering in your congregation for Mennonite Church Canada International Witness.
• Hold a serve-a-thon. Ask for sponsorship from your friends and family to do service tasks in your community. Pick up garbage, rake leaves, volunteer for a community service agency, deliver Meals-on- Wheels, etc. Post pictures and hours logged on your church Facebook page. Challenge others to join you. Serve locally and contribute to church work globally!
• Hold a fundraiser that is popular in your community. Give the proceeds to an International Witness program.
• Use your congregation’s Facebook page to hold a trivia contest about the international ministry you support. Have the prize be a Zoom-call meal with International Witness workers and a meal delivered from a restaurant that serves food from that region. Look at the Mennonite Church Canada website, Witness worker newsletters and ask Witness workers to help with the trivia questions.

JOIN A WITNESS SUPPORT NETWORK

Extend your hands across the table to learn
from brothers and sisters around the world.