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Letters to the editor
Mennonite Brethren Herald welcomes your letters on issues relevant to the Mennonite Brethren Church, especially in response to material published in the Herald. Please keep your letters courteous, brief and about one subject only. We will edit letters for length and clarity. We will not publish letters sent anonymously, although we may withhold names from publication at the request of the letter writer and at our discretion. Publication is also subject to space limitations. Because the Letters column is a free forum for discussion, it should be understood that letters represent the position of the letter writer, not necessarily the position of the Herald or the Mennonite Brethren Church. Send letters to:
Letters, MB Herald
3-169 Riverton Ave.
Winnipeg, Man. R2L 2E5
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or by e-mail to mbherald@mbconf.ca. (Please ensure that your postal address is included in your e-mail correspondence.) |
Church should support singles
Thanks for celebrating singleness (July 13). However, you missed the point by only printing articles written by married people! Wouldn’t it be best to hear of the experiences and life lessons from single people themselves? Choosing married people to write on singleness is like the March on Washington being led by a white person instead of Martin Luther King.
I was single into my 30s and experienced support in my church through a singles group that met both social and spiritual needs. While attending mixed care groups (marrieds and singles), I felt that my singleness was acknowledged and addressed, not ignored or pitied. I was part of a community and seen as a whole, complete person. When singleness was challenging, they gave me a listening ear and prayer.
I also observed our singles group pass through several growth stages. We formed the group ourselves. We struggled to find a balance between taking responsibility and receiving validation from pastoral staff. Perhaps that was an echo of our personal life struggles: needing to be capable and still needing to be supported.
As the percentage of single adults in some churches reaches 50%, pastors and care group leaders need to be equipped to celebrate singles. Since the church has high expectations for singles to remain celibate until they find a godly spouse, then the church ought to also provide support; your articles did describe some fresh ideas for this. People who married in their early 20s need to realize that they don’t entirely understand the life experiences of single persons in their 30s or 40s. How does the pastor who married right after Bible school reach this segment of the congregation? Pastoral care should start with prayer and listening, not prescribing or dismissing. Queries like “Why aren’t you married yet?” demonstrate a lack of empathy and support.
Laurie Lawson,
Abbotsford, B.C.
Urgent need for apology
Peter Lorenz Neufeld wrote the book Mennonites at War, the story of World War II Canadian Mennonite youth who served in the military. They helped give us the freedom we enjoy in Canada. It is a fascinating part of Mennonite history not often told.
After reading this book, I believe an issue needs to be urgently addressed. Today as a church we talk about reaching the lost. Everyone is welcome to come and experience God’s love regardless of who they are. 7500 Mennonite youth served in the Canadian military during World War II. They went on to marry, have children and grandchildren – thousands of people, thousands of souls. These people still call themselves the “black sheep” Mennonites. Why?
Our churches turned their backs on 7500 youth of the 1940s. The country said “Well done”; the church said “Get out”.
What did the young Mennonite veteran of the 1940s come home to? Divided families, unloving and ungrateful congregations, exile and banishment. Where was the love, the concern for youth and souls?
Fortunately, organizations like the Salvation Army and other denominations gladly accepted our exiled “black sheep” if indeed any of our youth still wanted a spiritual life. Some did not. Shouldn’t an apology for our lack of love be offered before it’s too late by our churches and Conference? God’s love was meant for all, and it troubles me greatly to see the bitter wounds our churches inflicted on the youth of the 1940s and their families – wounds still felt today. Some sort of memorial might also go a long way toward healing, perhaps a monument or plaque acknowledging the sacrifices made, in a place like the Mennonite Heritage Museum in Steinbach.
J. Funk,
Winnipeg, Man.
God’s power does not corrupt
In support of his essay against anarchism, (“The other side of power”, (MBH, Nov. 6, 1998) James Toews quoted: “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Reminds me of some recent earthly leaders of the USA. The writers of the Bible knew that the Word of God that is written in a book can never change. So God’s absolute power cannot corrupt Him.
Robert Smart,
Bowen, Australia
Previous | Next Last modified October 5, 2001.
© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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