In July, Andy and Joanna Reesor-McDowell attended the Mennonite World Conference in Paraguay, a gathering that brought together 5,800 Mennonites and other Anabaptists from 60 different countries.

“Andy was on the council, which is made up of representatives from all the areas where Mennonites live,” explained Joanna. The couple has travelled to many countries as church representatives and supporters of an international child development project, linked with Andy’s work, called Learning through Play.

“Our recent trip to Paraguay reminded me again how fortunate we are to live in Canada and how much we take our infrastructure and government services for granted,” said Joanna. “I feel impatient if I hear a Canadian complain about high taxes or speak as if we get nothing for our money.”

But her gratitude is tempered by her awareness of others’ difficulties. “We met Mennonites living in economically deprived and politically oppressive and unstable countries. It is unjust that we have so many comforts, and they have so many challenges in their lives.”

Today there are more Mennonites in Africa and Asia than in Europe and North America, she noted. “I celebrate the increasing diversity of our church. It will gradually help dispel the stereotypes about who Mennonites are, for example, the idea in some parts of North America that Mennonites are people of German-speaking background who drive horse and buggies and eat pie and sausages.”

Mennonites are united internationally by acceptance of the Anabaptist understanding of the Christian faith, a movement that emerged out of the turmoil of the Protestant Reformation in Europe during the 1500s. While sharing central Christian doctrines they also believed in adult baptism, pacifism and the importance of community, including economic sharing, explained Joanna.

The Paraguay conference renewed Joanna’s interest in the Russian Mennonites. “A group of Mennonites fleeing persecution in Central Europe migrated to Russia in the 1700s at the invitation of Catherine the Great,” she said. Their colonies began to thrive until the advent of the Russian Revolution. “During the years following they were assaulted with massacres, famine, typhoid epidemics and the terrors of the Stalinist years, when many men were taken to slave labour camps in Siberia.”

A significant number found refuge in Paraguay, where they experienced acute hardship in the unforgiving climate of the Chaco, the land they were given by the government. “Their story is one of overcoming adversity. The Mennonite communities in Paraguay now produce 80 per cent of the country’s dairy products, and provide employment to 10,000 aboriginal people on their farming cooperatives.”

Joanna was particularly affected by a ceremony which took place during the last worship service at the conference. “Fifty years ago, a young Mennonite man was speared to death by a young warrior while working in missionary outreach to a tribe of indigenous people in Paraguay,” she said. “The warrior, now an elderly chief of his tribe in the northern Chaco, presented the spear to the victim’s brother in an act of reconciliation. They embraced as Christian brothers.”

Music was another conference highlight, and was lead by a 15-member international team that included Bryan Moyer Suderman, a composer and musician from Stouffville, who was attending his third Mennonite World Conference. “It was an amazing experience, with such a diverse group,” said Bryan. “Sometimes people sang the same song in different languages at the same time.”

He wrote the theme song for the Paraguay conference, Tengan La Mente De Cristo which is featured on his latest CD, A New Heart. “It’s based on the theme text of the assembly, which was Philippians 2:1-11,” he said. The song is available as a free download from Bryan’s website www.smalltallmusic.com.

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