Thousands of people have fled Thantlang, Myanmar, and are hiding in the jungle. A Mennonite pastor writes:

My hometown, my dear Thantlang, which was so much fun is now as quiet as a graveyard. You have been burnt to the ground and your temples and houses have been destroyed. The sound of children playing was silenced and the church bells stopped ringing. You are the only town in the world where no human is.

I pray that God will take care of you and rebuild you a new life.

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Lord God, your compassion is manifest in the Anabaptist-Mennonite community in Colombia!

Thank you for the prayers of our brothers and sisters around the globe in response to Nelson Kraybill’s May 2021 prayer for God’s mercy (written on occasion of demonstrations throughout the country addressing economic policies, a proposed tax reform, high-level corruption, a lack of opportunity for the youth, and slow implementation of the peace accords, among other items, that were perceived as further harming the country).*

Conditions have not changed significantly since then: almost half of the population lives in poverty and violence continues to take its daily toll.

Yet, God’s Spirit is working in the actions of Anabaptist churches in Colombia participating in Pan y Paz (the “Bread and Peace” campaign); in Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren organizations Justapaz. Mencoldes and Edupaz that work for reconciliation and peace and care for victims and human rights advocates; and in congregations in Cali, Bogotá, Riohacha, Chocó and elsewhere who – with support from MCC – care for Venezuelan migrants and displaced persons in need of food and emergency aid.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our ongoing prayer.

—Pablo Stucky, MWC regional representative, Latin America – Andean Region

Photo: Anna Vogt I A gathering of Mennonite church leaders in Colombia in 2017.

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God of justice, we pray for vaccine equity around the world. We cry with those who are suffering without opportunity to be vaccinated. Soften the hearts of political and pharmaceutical leaders to release vaccines and patents to low income countries. We pray especially for our brothers and sisters in Tanzania where less than one percent of the population has been vaccinated. We thank you for the generosity of our members who care for the sick through physical aid and donations to UNICEF’s vaccination campaign.

Loving God, soften the hearts of political leaders in India and all who seek to destroy minority religious communities. Pour out your Spirit on Mennonites and all Christians of India who know and follow Jesus, that they may be steadfast in the face of persecution. Let your work of healing the nations restore peace between religious groups in all of India.

We worship a God who hears cries of the suffering, attends to their welfare, and moves to save. In the Gospels, Jesus – the living example for the church – embodies God’s solidarity with those who are oppressed, ignored, rejected or treated as alien.   

We mourn for hundreds of Indigenous children in Canada who in decades past died and were buried – separated from their communities – at residential schools where they had been demeaned and abused instead of cared for and educated.  

We affirm Canadian Anabaptist leaders who declared*:  

“We regret that, at times, the Christian faith was used, wrongly, as an instrument of power, not as an invitation to see how God was already at work before we came. We repent of our denominational encounters with Indigenous Peoples that at times may have been motivated more by cultural biases than by the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. We repent of our failure to advocate for marginalized Indigenous Peoples as our faith would instruct us to.” 

As Mennonite World Conference, we commit to seek justice through challenging beliefs and systems of domination. We are grateful for and humbled by the witness of Anabaptist churches and agencies in Canada and elsewhere who are working with Indigenous groups toward restoration and reconciliation.  

—See also MWC Statement of solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. 

*Statement of Anabaptist church leaders, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Hearings, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, March 2014 

Pray for peace and stability of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. We strongly request your prayers for our brothers and sisters in Tigray and Metekel areas. They need our support to heal from the trauma and rehabilitate. Pray for brothers and sisters who are persecuted because of their faith in some parts of the country. Pray for funds to rehabilitate people affected by natural and human-made crisis in different parts of the country.
—Meserete Kristos Church

May our hearts and souls hold all of our global brothers and sisters in prayerful attendance while each of us struggles with the realities and consequences not only of the pandemic but of severe and violent oppression, economic disruption etc.

May our hearts and souls be opened to the small everyday miracles and huge kindnesses in the world directly surrounding us.

May our hearts and souls be filled with patience and gentleness towards all the people working so hard to help ease our way out of this pandemic.

May our churches find new and hopeful ways of being church in a world that changes rapidly.

May our focus be not on quantity but on quality, on gentle kindness instead of targets, on prayerful silence instead of barricades.

Pray for the emerging Mennonite Brethren conference in Ukraine (Association of Mennonite Brethren Churches in Ukraine – AMBCU).

Pray for the churches and for the small groups doing Bible studies and worship.

The churches are also meeting on Zoom.

Pray for those that are suffering from the virus. Pray for people suffering economically and the churches distributing food.
 

Reports from church leaders in Southern Africa

• Praise God for good rains. Most families will have enough food from their own fields this year.
• Let us pray for peace before, during and after upcoming elections in Zambia.
• BIC Church Zimbabwe is planning to hold District Councils in May 2021. Pray also for the BICC Zimbabwe General Conference this year to become a reality this year (Proverbs 16:3).
• Pray for the BIC church school students and all the schools in Zimbabwe to be protected from COVID-19 infection (Psalms 91: 9-10).
• Pray for profitability in the church business units as they begin to recover after the lockdown.
• We thank the Lord that BICC South Africa managed to get a piece of land.