Showing posts with label Mennonite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mennonite. Show all posts

2019/12/27

Korean Anabaptist Fellowship born in California



Korean Anabaptist Fellowship born in California





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Hun Yu and Kyong-Jung Kim during the Korean Anabaptist Fellowship gathering in Upland, Calif., Nov. 19-21, 2009. Kim is from the Korean Anabaptist Center in Seoul, South Korea. Photo by Hannah Heinzekehr
Hannah Heinzekehr
Wednesday, January 13, 2010

UPLAND, Calif. (Mennonite Mission Network) – From the seeds of shared stories, the Korean Anabaptist Fellowship was born. From November 19-21, 2009, Korean Anabaptist pastors and leaders met together to share stories and ideas from their ministry.

“The most valuable part of this gathering was having the opportunity to meet and to hear the story of each Korean leader who confesses that they are Anabaptist. It is interesting to hear how they try to live out the Anabaptist confession in a Korean context,” said Hyung-Jin Kim, a student at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.

The idea for this gathering was developed by Hyun Hur, pastor of Church for Others in Temple City, Calif. Hur wanted to provide a space where congregational leaders who identify as Anabaptists could come together to fellowship and build supportive relationships. Korean Anabaptist leaders often feel like they are working alone within a strong Reformed Christian context within Korean communities, or among Anabaptist communities that don’t understand Korean culture and background.

“This meeting was important in order to contextualize Anabaptist faith and practice in Korean Christianity, which is so strongly oriented to Reformed theology and tradition,” said James Rhee, pastor of Stephens City (Va.) Korean Mennonite Church.

Leaders came from the United States, South Korea and Canada and were hosted by Mountain View Mennonite Church in Upland, Calif. This was the first official international meeting of Korean Anabaptists.

Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference, Mennonite Church USA’s Intercultural Relations team and Mennonite Church Canada Witness provided funds to help subsidize travel and meeting costs. Kuaying Teng, denominational minister for Asian ministries and a Mennonite Mission Network staff member, helped Hur contact Korean leaders connected with Mennonite Mission Network.

The first day of the gathering was spent getting to know each other and watching and discussing several documentary films about North Korea. During the following days, leaders took turns telling stories and sharing Anabaptist resources that have been translated into Korean, like congregational liturgical resources from each ministry and Palmer Becker’s Missio Dei booklet, “What is an Anabaptist Christian?”

Leaders also discussed challenges and needs their churches and organizations are facing.

“While the number of Korean Anabaptist churches is growing and its network is expanding, we need to have more clear communication structures, because all of us come from different backgrounds with faith practices. It is most important to hold to the unity of the body of Christ,” said Kyong-Jung Kim, administrator of the Korean Anabaptist Center in Seoul.

At the end of the gathering, the group named themselves the Korean Anabaptist Fellowship and made plans to gather together again with the Korea Anabaptist Fellowship in Canada (KAFC) at the June 29 – July 3, 2010 Mennonite Church Canada assembly in Calgary, Alberta. The KAFC has met annually in conjunction with the Mennonite Church Canada assembly since 2007. The combined group plans to gather annually and to stay in touch throughout the year via e-mail.

“Together we celebrated the birth of people who seek to follow Jesus in the Anabaptist way of faith and practice and also in the Korean context,” said Kim. “We promised to hold each other in solidarity.”

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Korea Anabaptist Center



Korea Anabaptist Center

KOREA ANABAPTIST CENTER



Partner overview

Korea Anabaptist Center is a resource center that provides education and training in the Anabaptist/Mennonite faith tradition.

The Korea Anabaptist Center works with individuals, groups and churches to actively participate in the mission of God by cultivating biblical discipleship, peace and Christian community. The center works at developing and providing resources, education, training and relationships in the Anabaptist/Mennonite faith tradition. Related programs include peace and conflict education and implementation, language education, and Korea Anabaptist Publishing.

The vision for the ministry of the Korea Anabaptist Center was first suggested by the leaders of the Jesus Village Church and of Abba Shalom Koinonia community in Kangwon province, South Korea. Interest in this vision has grown and is shared by many, including graduates of the former Mennonite Vocational School, a Mennonite Central Committee project following the Korean War. Since 1996, Mennonite Mission Network, Mennonite Church Canada Witness and Mennonite Central Committee have cooperated in sending workers to serve with center and Jesus Village Church. The center marked its official beginning in November 2001 and is continuing to build its ministry and relationships in partnership with brothers and sisters from Korea and North America.

Connected mission workers



Jae Young Lee and Karen Spicher
South Korea
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South Korean Mennonite partners help pave the way of peace



South Korean Mennonite partners help pave the way of peace




South Korean Mennonite partners help pave the way of peace


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(L-R) Front: Su Yeon Park, Yoon Seo Park, Kyoko Okumoto; Middle: Yun Joo Seol, Bohyun Lee, Jin Joo Park, Meri Joyce; Back: Rod Suderman, Oyunsuren Damdinsuren, Chien-Fu Chen, Atsuhiro Katano, Jae Young Lee, Jungki Seo, Kathy Matsui, restaurant staff, Sri Mayasandra. Photo contributed by Jin Song Lee.
DeVonna R. Allison
Wednesday, January 5, 2011


ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Mission Network and Mennonite Church Canada)—Though Jae Young Lee doesn’t think the recent North Korean shelling of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island will lead to full-scale war, as Peace Program Coordinator for the Korea Anabaptist Center (KAC) he is alarmed by what is happening in both North and South Korea.

“I think it is seriously time for all of us—Koreans and others [in the international community]—to realize we need to create a concrete and peaceful resolution to our deadlock situation,” Lee said.

The Korean peninsula is a land sharply divided. Though an armistice signed in 1953 ended the military battles of the three-year Korean War, it essentially produced a 57-year stand-off between North and South Korea that continues to this day. Periodically this uneasy cease-fire erupts in violence. On Nov. 23, 2010, North and South Korea traded salvos over Yeonpyeong Island in the disputed West Sea/Yellow Sea, in the first artillery exchange on the territory of the Korean Peninsula since the end of the Korean War. It was a clash that displaced 1,000 people, left at least four dead and many wounded.

Karen Spicher, a Mennonite Mission Network worker who serves as a communications administrator with Northeast Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute (NARPI), lives just south of the capital city of Seoul and teaches English at Connexus, KAC’s language institute. She said the shelling on Yeonpyeong Island brought a strong response from South Korean students.

“People seem more afraid than before, in response to previous incidents,” Spicher said. One of her students, a recently-married young woman, immediately texted her husband upon learning of the shelling, telling him she wanted to leave Korea.

“There are many different opinions in this country about peace-building efforts,” Spicher said, “but right now the media are raising a voice for retaliation and the need for increased defense. So thoughts of peace-making are far from most people’s minds.”

Due to this legacy of conflict, it is appropriate that South Korea is to be home to the newly formed NARPI, an outreach project of Korea Anabaptist Center, a partner of Mennonite Church Canada, Mennonite Mission Network and Mennonite Central Committee.

Inspired by attending Eastern Mennonite University’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute, Lee and fellow Canadian Mennonite Bible College graduate (now Canadian Mennonite University), Kyong Jung Kim, along with Tim Froese of Mennonite Church Canada, founded the Korea Anabaptist Center in Seoul in 2001. Nine years of work with conflict transformation, restorative justice, and peace education in Seoul helped KAC organizers recognize the potential for an expanded regional program. The result is the NARPI, which began organizing in 2009.

With NARPI’s creation, local peace leaders hope to encourage regional collaborative efforts that will highlight the way of non-violence. Northeast Asia is an area of the world long-fraught with deep cultural and political divisions. And while other peace-making organizations do exist in China, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Far East Russia, inter-agency communication is limited, which hinders cohesive efforts at peace-building.

In 2009 NARPI organizers developed a network of about 200 organizations and individuals in Northeast Asia who are interested in collaborating on cooperative peace efforts. In 2010 a NARPI steering committee from the six countries worked to organize their first summer training programs. Meetings in Seoul and on the Peace Boat (on its voyage from Yokohama to Hong Kong), resulted in plans for the first summer peace building program, which is to be held in August, 2011. Also in 2010, Mennonite Mission Network helped NARPI obtain a grant from the Schowalter Foundation, a Mennonite philanthropic organization, which will be used for workshops, material development and administration.

John Lapp, MMN’s Asia director, says Mission Network will do all it can to support NARPI’s call for peace and dialogue.

“The longstanding conflict between North Korea and South Korea highlights the fact that tensions continue to fester in this prosperous region,” Lapp said. “A Mission Network partner, the Korea Anabaptist Center, and its new project, NARPI, are leading the way toward creatively responding to situations like the November 23 artillery exchange. We pray that such endeavors will gain traction and contribute to a peaceful settlement of this and other regional conflicts in Asia.”

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Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, (574) 523-3024 or (866) 866-2872 ext. 23024.
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A small booklet with an outsized influence

A small booklet with an outsized influence

A small booklet with an outsized influence


Elder Zheng Shaojie, the leader of the church in Nanle County, China, a former Mennonite mission area, with Palmer Becker (left). Photo by James Krabill. Download full-resolution image.
Wil LaVeist
Wednesday, January 2, 2013


Palmer Becker’s short-term mission trips abroad have been like conducting a traveling mini-seminary. The author of Mennonite Mission Network’s What Is an Anabaptist Christian? (Missio Dei Number 18) last year held workshops in India based on the booklet, which has been translated into Hindi and a dozen other languages.

Becker was asked by the Rev. Jai Prakash Masih, a Mennonite pastor and translator, to offer a series of pastoral and leadership training seminars in India Sept. 12-21, 2012.

Masih, a graduate of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., who pastors an Asian church in Lombard, Ill., did the Hindi translation and published about 1,000 copies in India. It was the most recent of the workshops he has held on different topics in at least seven countries since 2007.

Masih accompanied Becker and they both spoke at three synods in the central part of the country: Bihar Mennonite Mandli in Jharkhand state, Bharatiya General Conference Mennonite Church, and the Mennonite Church in India in Chattisgarh state.

The trip was organized by Mennonite Christian Service Fellowship of India. About 30 church leaders—men and some women—attended each workshop, in which Becker emphasized the three core principles of Anabaptism as described in the booklet:

• Jesus is the center of our faith.
• Community is the center of our lives.
• Reconciliation is the center of our work.

In each mission trip, Becker stresses that Anabaptists believe in following Jesus in daily life, studying and interpreting Scripture with other believers from an ethical, Christ-centered approach, structuring the church for community, and that forgiveness from God and forgiveness and peace among each other is essential for community.

“Much of the distinctive way in which we hold these beliefs was new to the pastors,” Becker says of the Indian Christians and those he has taught in other countries. “There are always many expressions of appreciation for helping them understand what it means to be an Anabaptist Christian.”

In rural areas of India and other countries, Christian leaders may have the passion, but not necessarily education beyond high school, much less seminary training. While his seminars have been well-received, Becker senses an urgent need in Asia for establishing practical pastoral training programs based close to the churches.

Becker first developed the outline of what would become What Is an Anabaptist Christian? while preparing to address the Anabaptist Vision and Discipleship Series conference at Hesston (Kan.) College in 2002. The lecture was received enthusiastically, which led to the booklet’s publication in 2008, he said.

“When they read the book, missionaries or local people working with people of Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, Ethiopian, Hindi, Filipino and Arab backgrounds have said, ‘This is what my people need!’ ” Becker says. “They have arranged for the translation and publication of the booklet and then invited me personally to introduce the concepts.”

The booklet and a leader’s guide are downloadable and are being studied by many Sunday school classes and small groups in North America. In 2010, Becker taught the concepts from the booklet at churches in China and churches and universities in Korea.

He has also taught other topics, such as Anabaptist identity, pastoral care and counseling, and leadership and discipleship, which he taught earlier in the Hesston College Pastoral Ministries Program and this year at Meserete Kristos College in Ethiopia. After the India workshops, Becker visited Vietnam and Hong Kong, where he taught on discipleship and experiencing God in daily life.

“Mennonites worldwide are seeking to find and clarify their identity,” Becker says. “Most published materials have been addressed more to those in academia than to the common lay person. What Is an Anabaptist Christian? is brief and written in a style that seems to be understandable at a lay level.”

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For immediate release.

Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.
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10 texts that shape my view of mission



10 texts that shape my view of mission












RESOURCES / CHURCH-VITALITY / DISCIPLESHIP /


10 texts that shape my view of mission
By Joe Sawatzky
Monday, April 8, 2019


Titus Presler, a missionary theologian, has proffered a definition of mission as “ministry in the dimension of difference.” Since mission in the Christian sense pertains to the person of Christ, we might modify this definition of mission as the process of crossing barriers of human difference, whether of race, class, or religion, in witness to Jesus Christ. To these we might add key statements from Mennonite Mission Network, which combine the element of cross-cultural witness with the quality and scope of that witness. As to quality, “Mennonite Mission Network exists to lead, mobilize, and equip the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world.” Missio Dei #22, our most comprehensive statement on mission, defines holistic witness as “hold[ing] together evangelism, witness and personal transformation with peace, justice, and social transformation” (p. 26). Finally, for emphasis to the scope of mission—“in a broken world”—we may add the phrase from our vision statement—“We envision every congregation and all parts of the church being fully engaged in God’s mission—across the street, all through the marketplaces, and around the world.” Yet whether the frontier is local, regional, national, or international, mission implies movement—the sending of disciples to make disciples, and find fellowship, across the dividing lines of human existence.

While these statements have undoubtedly shaped my view of mission, they themselves are rooted in more foundational texts, the scriptures that ground our faith and life in Christ. Here are ten texts to which I return to renew my call to mission.

Ephesians 2:11–22

Christ’s mission was to create in himself “one new humanity in place of the two.” “He came preaching peace” to Jew and Gentile alike; estranged peoples come together through faith in him.

Isaiah 2:2–4/Micah 4:1–4

The nations stream to the abode of Israel’s God to learn God’s ways. The nations abandon violence and become a people of God’s peace.

Genesis 12:1–9

From the ruins of Babel (Gn 11), God begins to gather a community across cultures—not through forced conformity but through the humble obedient faith of a family by which “all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Luke 4:16–30

In line with Israel’s prophets, Jesus declares his ministry as mission—“anointed” and “sent” to “bring good news to the poor”, not of Israel alone, but of the nations.

Revelation 5 & 7

John sees the means and the ends of mission: the Lamb who gave his life for people from “every tribe and language and people and nation” has “made them to be a kingdom and priests”, united in the service and worship of God.

1 Corinthians 11:17–34

Paul implores an ethnically and economically diverse congregation to remember its foundation and unity: Jesus who served others calls disciples who serve one another (“wait for one another”).

Acts 11:19–26

Disciples in Antioch receive a new name, Christians, because Jews from Jerusalem dared to proclaim their Messiah, Jesus, to the nations. This intercultural church, born in mission, breeds mission, sending Barnabas, Saul, and others as witnesses to the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the Roman world (Acts 13ff.).

John 20:19–29

In the same peace and forgiving Spirit that the Father sent Jesus does Jesus send disciples into the world that God so loves.

John 4:1–42

Jesus engages a woman of enemy territory in conversation, relativizes the barriers between cultures, and discloses his identity as the Christ. The Samaritan woman becomes the gospel’s first evangelist, she whose testimony stirred others’ faith in Jesus, just as another woman, Mary Magdalene, became the first person to announce the good news of Jesus’ resurrection (Jn 20:1-18).

Matthew 5:14–17

After exhorting disciples to let their light shine so that others may glorify God, Jesus describes his mission as fulfillment, not abolishment, of culture. While this does not mean that religions, cultures, and societies have not sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23)—otherwise, Jesus would not have needed to come—it does mean that mission in the name of Christ blesses that which speaks of the righteousness of God in every culture.
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My personal awakening to God's work

My personal awakening to God's work

My personal awakening to God's work


​Lakshmishri Balasobramanian and her mother, Rekha, greet Irene Weaver during her centennial birthday celebration.

By Paula Killough
Thursday, November 2, 2017


In 2006, when I came to Elkhart, Indiana, the "M" word—mission— was certainly not part of my vocabulary. Mission, in my view, was the method used to accomplish the goals of colonialism—cultural genocide, coercive baptisms to Christianity, wealth, and resource extraction.

I vividly remember reading an issue of Mennonite Mission Network's Beyond magazine in 2004 on Christian-Muslim dialogue. There were three vignettes of agency encounters with Muslim people. Unfortunately, these "friend-making" conversion stories just reinforced my negative views of mission as coercive and disingenuous.

Then I encountered Galatians 1:11-12 as a primary sermon text, and was transformed. I realized I had missed the point of the Beyond stories. My frustration that our Christian mission workers must have had an agenda all along, got in the way of me being able to accept that the "revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ" is so powerful and infectious that it makes its way into the hearts and lives of people of all kinds. My liberal assumptions, I came to realize, created walls, not bridges.

God chose to perform the Pentecost miracle in Jerusalem in a spe­cific way. Scripture does not say that everyone was able to understand one and the same language. Rather, each person heard God's words through the Galileans in their own language (Acts 2:6). This happened to me. Galatians 1 got through to me.

Hearing God's word, God's message for us in our own language … that is often the challenge. Even the word "mission" is a loaded word, carrying very rich and fruitful images for some, and fraught with all the negativity of colonialism for others. As my colleague James Krabill would say, "People of all cultures are hungry for the Bread of Life, but many choke on the Western-cultural wrapper we place it in."

Several stories have been central to my expanding view of this "M" word. Of the six stories I shared in a recent Missio Dei booklet, I have chosen three here as illustrative of my journey.

Irene Weaver "getting out of the way" of the church in India

Irene Weaver was born into a missionary compound setting in India in 1910—just 11 years into the first overseas mission endeavor of North American Mennonites. In 1935, married to Edwin Weaver, the mission agency asked the couple to accept a post back in India. Irene soon overheard an Indian woman say that "living in a White person's house must be what it would be like in heaven."

"Those words burned shame into my soul," Weaver admitted. "I began to question many things. I decided my strategy of work in a foreign country would be different from anything I had experienced before." The Weavers began to realize that Western mission had encum­bered Mennonites in India with colonial structures that hampered their capacity to fully be God's people.

In later years, when the Weavers were invited to undertake new ministries in northern India and West Africa, they made a commitment to practice an "incarnational" approach to mission, respectful of local cultural values and patterns, and wary of introducing unsustainable Western structures and institutions.

Reflecting back on the early India experience, Irene noted, "When the church in India finally shook off our trappings, when we were out of the way, then they could take charge of things."

Lavish hospitality at Jubilee House

According to Luke's account of Jesus' ministry, sharing a meal defines hospitality. But as Luke tells it, the emphasis is more on being a gra­cious recipient than on being a host. I learned about acts of extravagant hospitality in Elkhart, Indiana, through Jubilee House—a Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) unit cosponsored by two congregations, Fellowship of Hope and my own Prairie Street Mennonite Church. For a number of years, the Jubilee House unit hosted a weekly gathering to share fellowship and food with neighbors, church members, friends from the community, and family members.

Southcentral Elkhart, where the MVS unit is located, is a cultur­ally diverse and socio-economically challenged community. But as one MVS volunteer astutely observed, "In God's abundance, everyone has something to contribute, whether telling a good story or helping with dishes. This reminds me of what the kingdom of God looks like, feels like, and how it moves."

Indigenous expressions of the Christian faith in the Argentine Chaco

Mennonite missionaries were deeply engaged with the Toba people in the Argentine Chaco already in the 1940s. Initially, these efforts did not go well as missionaries, operating in the dominant culture theology and practice of the day, established a walled compound … and received natural resistance from the Toba/Qom people. The Mennonite workers, discouraged with their lack of progress, decided to seek counsel in 1954 from United Bible Society staff. The advice they received: Abandon traditional missionary blueprints and approaches, and focus on learning from and interacting with Toba/Qom people, indigenous church leaders, their culture, and locally-generated goals and vision.

This alternative style of mission is best summarized as walking as Jesus walked—with others who are seeking the life of Christ, pri­oritizing the integrity of groups and individuals, and with weakness and vulnerability instead of attitudes of superiority.

In 2016, Mennonite workers and local believers completed the transla­tion of the Bible in the Qom language. Juan Victorica, a Qom leader who led the translation celebration, shared how in the past, people told the Qom that "being a Christian was making yourself like the people of European descent and leaving behind the Qom language. The Qom have now reclaimed their cultural identity in Christian expression." Victorica added that, "Now I know God is a Qom God!"

Conclusion

How will the church and the world view our efforts at faithfulness 50 or 100 years from now? Will we be charged with new forms of cultural insensitivity? What are we yet guilty of today?

Of these things I am certain:

• God continues to speak. May we continue to listen … with sensitivity and faithfulness.

• God's presence of healing and hope carry the global church through all the challenges of daily life.

• We continue to be called by God to establish global ministry con­nections.

We worship an active and loving global God who has sated the hunger for the Bread of Life in partnership with the church, but, also, all too often, in spite of it. Our historic encounters with people "outside" our worldview of Christianity include the genocide of the Crusades, the oppression and imperialism of mission-allied colonialism, and the decimation of North American indigenous peoples in order to replace them with "Christian" settlers, including Mennonites. As a church, we must name these behaviors and repent of them.

In the midst of these destructive social, political, and church move­ments, we celebrate the Christians whose witness was to listen to "the other" and whose mission—in addition to sharing the gospel—was to stand with people in their context.

We celebrate God's wonderful ability to use our words and actions, limited, flawed, and sometimes harmful though they may be. May God continue to reconcile all things and set things right with the world!
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New Missio Dei explores Afghanistan through the eyes of mission workers

New Missio Dei explores Afghanistan through the eyes of mission workers


New Missio Dei explores Afghanistan through the eyes of mission workers
Cover of Missio Dei #21.
Mennonite Mission Network staff


Wednesday, March 27, 2013


Sheryl and Steve Martin watched Afghanistan move from a strong country with a thriving economy, to a restrictive, militia-controlled police state, to a post 9/11 war-torn disaster. They captured their experiences during this turbulent time in their journal, excerpts of which appear in the new offering from the Missio Dei series, For God so loved Afghanistan.


The Martins, who now live in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, moved to Afghanistan in 1991 as workers for a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network. Sheryl served as a nurse and a midwife, and Steve was the finance director for the consortium of faith-based agencies for whom the Martins worked. The Martins raised three children during their tenure with Mennonite Mission Network, even as the country became more dangerous for foreigners.


Sheryl and Steve quickly developed an affinity for the country’s towering peaks and hospitable people. In one of their first journal entries, they describe being invited to a neighbor’s house for tea one afternoon. They eagerly accepted the invitation, and as the afternoon moved toward dinner, the hosts invited the Martins to stay, apologizing for serving only soup. Failing to sense any social cues as to when it was polite to leave, the Martins stayed until it was clear they had worn out their welcome.


In the following journal entry, two days later, Sheryl, describes learning the “three times” rule—an invited guest is supposed to politely refuse an invitation two times before accepting. “Our neighbors were not offended, however, by our misunderstanding of the cultural cues,” Sheryl wrote.


The Martins recorded the many emotions they experienced while watching the country lurch from one dysfunctional regime to another. They despaired over feeling powerless to make life easier for their Afghan friends and neighbors. They felt torn between their “passport” country and their “host” country after the Twin Towers were demolished in the attacks of 9/11. They were saddened at comparing the life of their own daughter, born into a stable American family, with that of a neighbor named Sima, whose parents were killed by rocket fire when Sima was only 40 days old.


But through it all, they were sustained by glimpses of hope. Sheryl shares instances when she witnessed friendship and cooperation between members of warring factions in an entry titled “Personal Encounters.”
A poor Hazara worker and a highly respected Pashtun teacher walk home together to protect each other.
Two female co-workers walk arm-in-arm, vowing friendship even as males in their differing ethnic groups plot against each other.
A young Uzbek man falls in love with a young Pashtun woman, and they plead for three years with their families for acceptance. Their persistence and love for each other wins and they are finally happily married.
Two wealthy, elite young men find a friend in an older, working-class man, and the three, from different ethnic groups, drink tea and chat together for hours.


In the most dramatic moment, Steve describes his conflicting feelings in deciding whether to evacuate his family when the city where they were living erupted in violence. As they were praying for clarity, a friend named Ali came to their door.


“Ali had come to bring us counsel,” Steve wrote. “’I have never given you direct advice,’ he said. ‘But this time I feel compelled to do so. My family and I are packing up and leaving while we can get out of the city … I may never see you again, but please take your family and leave … it is not safe for you to stay.’ That is the last I ever saw of Ali as he departed from our home, leaving us all with heavy hearts at this sudden turn of events.”


Sheryl and Steve then had to find a safe way out of the city.


In the foreword, John F. Lapp, Mission Network’s director for Asia and the Middle East, expresses his gratitude for the work the Martins did.


“We at Mennonite Mission Network still remember them for their extraordinary ability to roll with the changes, for their choice to start a family in a dangerous and unstable place, and for their sensitive handling of uncertain and arbitrary government relationships,” he wrote. “Above all, the Martins tried to be where God was at work in Afghanistan, seeking to do their part in bringing healing and hope in this challenging context.”


A PDF of this issue, and all offerings from the Missio Dei series, are available for download at the Mennonite Mission Network site. Print copies can be ordered from Menno Media.


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For immediate release.


Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.
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19 Solidarity and hope are the goals of Nanjing, China



Solidarity and hope are the goals of Nanjing, China




Solidarity and hope are the goals of Nanjing, China










​The Nanjing Peace Memorial in Nanjing, China. Photo by Mike Sherrill.

By Mike Sherrill
Wednesday, December 11, 2019


NANJING, China (Mennonite Mission Network) — By 9 a.m., the August sun hanging over Nanjing, China, had long baked away any morning chill. As part of the group of almost 30 participants from the Northeast Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute (NARPI), a Mennonite Mission Network partner based in South Korea, we were invited to participate in the annual televised ceremony commemorating the Japanese surrender in 1945.

We joined about 70 other guests in laying white carnations on a memorial stone to express lament and respect for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre. The ceremony included brief addresses from other countries, including a contingent from Japan who expressed their remorse and longing for peace each year. We filed out along a 30-foot length of newsprint on which we could leave signed messages of peace and solidarity.

This was the beginning of a full-day experience at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall (in Mandarin: Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders). Beijing (north capital) serves as the current capital of China. It is the country’s largest city and a hub of global exchange. Nanjing (south capital), less than four hours south by high-speed rail, was the former center of rule for many dynasties, and holds insights into the heart of China. Indeed, contemporary Chinese-Japanese relations cannot be properly understood without a visit to the historical museums of this city.

Nanjing fell to Japanese forces on Dec. 13, 1937. Although often referenced as an event of World War II, the massacre actually occurred during the Second Sino-Japanese War. From that date, for a six-week span, Japanese soldiers killed 300,000 Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers.

The horror included looting, burning, torture, and the rape of more than 20,000 women. The atrocities committed against women extend much further than the Nanjing Massacre period. In 2015, a museum telling the horrifying story of the “comfort women” opened on the site of the Li Ji Alley Military Brothel. It was one of 40 such brothels in Nanjing. Estimates show that between 1937 and 1945, more than 200,000 women from China and surrounding countries were “enlisted” by the Japanese military.

As painful as it is to recount these stories, these museums stand as a remembrance to the victims and serve as a lament with details often not shared in textbooks outside of China.

The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum, however, intentionally points beyond lament toward a future hope of healing and peace. In the courtyard a memorial symbolizes the longing for peace in the world, and in particular, with Japan. Well-known Japanese leaders, including former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, have visited the museum, and pictures are displayed of these visits. A broader survey of Nanjing reveals that this museum is only one part of an inspired vision to reshape Nanjing into an International City of Peace.

In 2017, Nanjing University established an Institute for Peace Studies, the first of its kind in China, directed by Dr. Liu Cheng, UNESCO chair for Peace Studies and NARPI partner. In addition to offering courses in peace studies, the institute promotes peace education in primary and secondary schools, holds international seminars, and hosts many training courses.

Those courses include the 2019 NARPI Summer Peacebuilding Training led by Mission Network husband-wife team, Jae Young Lee and Karen Spicher. More than 100 youth from across East Asia attended the two-week training. I was deeply encouraged to witness the blossoming of mutual understanding and appreciation among these future leaders in pursuit of peace.

Part of our debriefing after the day at the Memorial Hall was a panel discussion with four survivors of the Nanjing Massacre. Three of them were toddlers at the time, but one was a 10-year-old. Now 92, he recalled his experience in vivid detail.

The entire room was riveted by his passionate testimony. In closing, he declared that although he hates what happened, he does not hate the Japanese. He urged the assembled youth to leave hate behind and to pursue peace in the world in order to build a shared future for all humanity.

Out of the ashes of despair, suffering and sorrow, Nanjing is taking strides to be named among the International Cities of Peace® reaching out to the world with a powerful message of solidarity and hope.


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The Upside-Down Kingdom by Donald B. Kraybill, Lisa Sharon

The Upside-Down Kingdom y Donald B. Kraybill, Lisa Sharon 
The Upside-Down Kingdom: Anniversary Edition Kindle Edition
by Donald B. Kraybill (Author), Lisa Sharon Harper (Foreword)


4.8 out of 5 stars 33 ratings
Length: 320 pages Word Wise: Enabled Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled

The Upside-Down Kingdom calls readers to imagine and embody the reign of God on earth as it is in heaven. 

Since its publication in 1978, The Upside-Down Kingdom won the National Religious Book Award and has become the most trusted resource on radical Christian discipleship. 


 In this completely updated anniversary edition, author Donald B. Kraybill asks: What does it mean to follow the Christ who traded victory and power for hanging out with the poor and forgiving his enemies? 

How did a man in first-century Palestine threaten the established order, and what does that mean for us today? 

Jesus turned expectations upside down. The kingdom of God is still full of surprises. Are you ready?




Editorial Reviews

Review
"This anniversary edition of Donald B. Kraybill's profound vision of the kingdom of God could not have come at a more timely moment."--Lisa Sharon Harper 


 "Reviews "

"A paradigm-shifting introduction to the life-disrupting message of Jesus of Nazareth."--Bruxy Cavey "


 Reviews 


 "I dare you to read this book. It could very well turn your world upside down!"--Gregory A Boyd "


 Reviews "

"The Upside-Down Kingdom is a must-read."--Drew G. I. Hart "


 Reviews "


 "Brilliantly combines a biblical scholar's grasp of the Scriptures, a sociologist's understanding of culture, and a master teacher's gift for clarity."--Peter Dula "


 Reviews "


 "What a gift to another generation of Jesus' followers!"--Malinda Elizabeth Berry 


 "Reviews "

"I hope 'upside-down-ness' will touch generations of leaders to come."--John Paul Lederach "


 Reviews 

If you only read one book about Jesus and God's kingdom . . . this should be it." --Sara Wenger Shenk

"Readable, challenging, inspirational, and eminently practical." --Stuart Murray 


 "Reviews "
"Challenges us to translate the upside-down kingdom into our lives today." --Reta Halteman Finger "

From the Inside Flap
"Donald B. Kraybill works through an extensive list of Jesus' teaching against violence and concludes that 'the message of Jesus is clear. The use of violence, whether physical or emotional, is not God's way. Jesus shows us how to absorb suffering, not inflict it.'


"Jesus' call to love the enemy slices through the issues with simplicity and clarity. . . . Jesus calls us to faithfulness; to faithfully embody God's loving forgiveness."

-DreamSeeker


› Visit Amazon's Donald B. Kraybill Page

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Biography
Donald B. Kraybill, Ph.D., is senior fellow at the Young Center of Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pa. Among his many publications, he has authored, coauthored, or edited eight books on Amish society. The Riddle of Amish Culture (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001)is his flagship book that explains why the Amish are thriving. Amish Grace and The Amish Way (both by Jossey-Bass) explore Amish forgiveness and spirituality. His Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites is the only book that provides an overview of some 200 Anabaptist groups in North America. Kraybill's The Upside-Down Kingdom, which won the Religious Book of the Year Award, in print for more that thirty years, it is still widely read. His books have been translated into more than half a dozen languages. The Young Center, where he is based, is the premiere national institute for Amish studies. Kraybill's commentary on Amish life has been featured in dozens of broadcast and print media including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian (London), The Australian, Newsweek, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, NPR, and BBC Radio to name a few.




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Top Reviews

Arthur Sido
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book with a few cautionsReviewed in the United States on October 1, 2011
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
It took me a while but I finally finished Donald Kraybill's The Upside-Down Kingdom. Kraybill is Distinguished College Professor, and Senior Fellow of Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, which is a pretty impressive title, at least for its length, and one of the foremost experts on Anabaptism and especially the Amish in the world. The Upside-Down Kingdom (UPK for short) is not a book on Anabaptism per se but rather a look at the way that Christ's Kingdom is in every respect the exact opposite of what the world values. Up is down, great is least.

UPK is a fascinating book and challenging to boot. Some of the background information that Kraybill shares is absolutely incredible and really fleshes out portions of Scripture. He does a great job of drawing out from Scripture some crucial points regarding status, power, wealth, etc. that we take for granted and showing the reader where we have strayed far from the intent of Scripture.

It is a pretty devastating indictment of our traditional church culture in the West and should make any open-minded Christian ask some serious questions and take a deep introspective look. There are a few slow points but the book as a whole flows beautifully and reads easily while still be meaty.

That isn't to say that I don't have concerns. I do with every book but UPK has some issues that are especially concerning. 


 First Kraybill seems pretty comfortable with traditional church structures. He certainly has criticisms of them but he seems to miss in places that the very traditions we cling to in many ways hamper living as citizens of the Upside-Down Kingdom. He also takes great liberties in assigning motivations and emotions, especially to Christ, that are absent from the text. What Jesus, the eternal God, is thinking in a situation is not a topic I am comfortable making definitive statements about.

My bigger concern has to do with how Christ is represented and how His cross is understood. The language about the deity of Christ and the relationship between God the Father and God the Son is a bit sloppy and imprecise. Someone could read this book and perhaps get the impression that God is the Father is God and that Jesus is something less than God. His treatment of the cross is even more troubling. Statements like this for example...

"...Jesus demolished the entire sacrificial system when he announced full forgiveness, direct from God - any time, any place without a bloody sacrifice." (The Upside-Down Kingdom, pg. 248)

Kraybill seems to be saying that the sacrificial system was overturned symbolically and finally when Jesus overturned the money changers tables in the temple and that the cross is primarily the result of the social unrest caused by a life of radical service. The problem is that this is doesn't match Scripture which tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb 9:22) and that Jesus brought peace between man and God by His shed blood on the cross (Col 1:20). So there are certainly some places where red flags popped up in an otherwise outstanding book.

So in summary I would absolutely recommend The Upside-Down Kingdom to most Christians but I would add a note of caution. 

Read with your eyes (and Scriptures!) wide open and be discerning in places where Kraybill starts to stray from orthodox teachings. I would caution a newer believer who is not solidly grounded in the Bible to be very cautious here. Perhaps read in the context of a study group UPK would work but I would be concerned that a new believer would miss some of the red flags I saw. I don't want to give the impression that this is not an outstanding book because it absolutely is and one I highly recommend. 

Just read with caution, which is good advice for any book!

9 people found this helpful



Willys Wrencher
4.0 out of 5 stars Living like Jesus ChristReviewed in the United States on May 3, 2010
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
"The Upside-Down Kingdom" by Donald B. Kraybill is an excellent book challenging all Christians 

Mr. Kraybill, a sociologist and Christian of Anabaptist/Mennonite background, correctly and lovingly challenges Christians to abandon the philosophies of this world in order to accurately represent the Kingdom of God on earth.

The Upside-Down Kingdom shows that the Kingdom of God really is opposed to any worldly system of thinking or government. To win, you must lose. To live, you must die. To gain, you must live. Every one of Christ's commands are the direct opposite of those taught by the leading thinkers of the world. If Christians are to impact their generation for the Kingdom of God we must start living like true ambassadors of the Kingdom.

I give this book four starts because I thought it was slightly repetitive at points and not quite as conservative in some of its views as I would have liked. The main instance of this is when the author contrasts the Greek definitions of "love" in a way that I think stretches sound exegesis. This is common in modern evangelicalism but is really not as significant as Mr. Kraybill would have us believe. However, this book is still a great, easy read and will certainly challenge those who want to live like Jesus did.

5 people found this helpful

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Gabbarta
5.0 out of 5 stars The Upside-Down Kingdom

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2011
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase


In order for us to have a clear understanding the theology of Kingdom we have to know who Jesus are without any cultural, theological, spiritual, or philosophical assumptions, or what the author calls detours around Jesus. We have to know Him from his own story and words. Therefore, Kraybill's the theology of Kingdom is based on the story of Jesus Christ and centered on His ministry. He provides a biblical framework for understanding the kingdom.

The author calls the Kingdom that Jesus preached the upside down kingdom of radically different principles and values, because its realization stands in contrast to the common ways of this world. The king of this Kingdom is God (the author uses Jesus sometimes), and its principle are Jubilees, Sabbath and Shalom that were insinuated in Jesus' words and message, and their main goal is to elevate men and women from the social, political, religious monarchal, economical labels or boxes to the level of siblings in the Kingdom. However, these principles contradict with the principles of the world. He explains that the political and religious power plays had drastic effects on the economic life of the majority poor. Therefore, Jesus himself has to face the three spheres of social power: politics, economics and religion.

The author believes that Jesus teaching on kingdom is personal and realistic, and it is not to be lived aggregately but collectively. By personal, I mean that God rules in believer's heart and relationships to elevate them to a new status. By realistic I mean it could be applied to our live wherever and whenever human live. We can envision this in the church as assembly of people who are citizens of the Kingdom, and who adopt the idea and the values of the Kingdom in any culture they reside in. Because believers are, like any other human beings, social, they need a social structure to meet their needs and the needs of others. The church is the social structure that the values and culture of the Kingdom are practiced and passed on to others. Therefore, church as a "social vehicle" of the Kingdom culture uses its "servant structure" to accomplish Kingdom's mission, which is church's work. Its mission is to be the prophetic voice in the world against social discrimination, political oppression, religious scandals, and economic injustice according to God's purpose and will. 

 In another level, the author criticizes the institutional church. He believes that Kingdom of God is above any place, nation, and culture. However, as the author get to the end of this point, he ultimately realized that we need to periodically evaluate the rule and purpose of its activities.

Being from an Anabaptists background, the author articulates very well the Kingdom children's respond to the violent. Responding to violent with violent will naturally produce greater loss for both parties. A quick peak to the history, we will find that violent never solved problems. When we do not respond violently, we might think it is weakness, but according to Jesus Teaching it is power. Responding to violent with love serves many purposes. 
Firstly, we do not give the perpetrator what he or she intended by acting violently. 
Secondly, we teach the aggressor a lesson that some of them might not be familiar with. 
Thirdly, we are showing our ultimate obedience to our Master who commanded us to love our enemy. 
The author bases his argument on the principle of non-reciprocal love (agape). Agape is a love that does not expect something in return. It is like God's love for us.

What Kraybill makes it clear is that the kingdom is not compromising to culture, powers or convenience; rather, its main goal is to transform them. The only way to that is through what he calls them the triple symbols, basin, cross, and tomb. The symbol of basin represents what is known recently by the servanthood leadership. Serving others without any regards to sex, nation, religion, and ethnicity is the core of the Kraybill's Kingdom Theology. This is not an easy task, because it will lead to the cross. But because we trust God, and we are accomplishing Kingdom's mission, the final word is for God. When the church adopts the triple symbol concept, its journey toward accomplishing its mission is not going to be a comfortable one.

Looking at the political climate during the time, we will realize that the Jewish people were in desperately waiting for a king to liberate them from Romans. In the wilderness, Jesus had faced that temptation. He did not accept political authority that was offered to Him by the tempter. Instead, He chose to be a revolutionary. He was a revolutionary not in the Zealous type of rebel that used violence, but in violating Pharisees' laws and regulations that were above God's law, criticizing the false political tranquility of the Romans, and condemning the right-wing Sadducees lucrative temple operation. Serving others out of love was His policy. 

 The second sphere that Jesus faced was religious power. The religious practice grew stale, empty, and lucrative. Jesus was tempted to reveal His Messianic secret to influence people to make a new movement or create a new religion. He might have struggled with this thought during His mission. Instead, again He preferred the role of the servant Savior. 

 The third sphere was the economic power. Again and again Jesus preached against economic injustice that trampled the poor to benefit the rich. Jesus was tempted to use His power to feed the hunger and end the economic unjust. Instead, He chose to be the bread of life for all nations. His life, His way, and His teaching will form a new foundation of living.

I read the book entirely, and I, without any doubt, can say that it is one of the most transforming books that I have read in English. It presents a universal theology of the Kingdom that could be applied to different contexts and understood in any given situation. The strengths of the Kraybill's theology of Kingdom is that it is a biblical theology, which could be applied to any church in any place in the world within their current context. Just as he provides context for the reader, he allows for contextual interpretation for those that wish to apply what they have learned from the text. And this might be the genius of this book. It never imposes context but rather exposes it. Moreover, the author incorporates his sociological education to bring to life in a very articulated and easy to understand language the historical, political, and social culture of the New Testament.

My criticism of this book is that Kraybill seems to be ambivalent in his argument about the church. In one hand, he sees it as a servant structure for the Kingdom's mission. In the other hand, he does not seem happy with concept of the church. I believe that all human being's effort will fall short in living the faith. However, I also believe, that the church with all its shortcomings will remain the beloved bride of Christ. We cannot disvalue the rich meanings of the symbols of the church. At the same time, I agree with the author that we have to evaluate the meaning and purpose of these symbols periodically. The author also seems to accommodating from time to time for those who may yearn for personalized version of the Gospel of the kingdom and find this kind of interpretation repelling.

The author theology fits best into the Anabaptist perspective of Church, State, and Public Justice. By taking Jesus words to heart, the church can become the prophetic voice in the community. Jesus called his disciples light and the salt of the world. Its mission is to add Kingdom's value and speak God's truth by loving the other and caring the community. The church already has a great deal of influence on people and communities' values. It is not expecting to benefit from this task financially, nor try to gain power over people whom she is serving. Rather to transform them to the image of Jesus. It is not going to be an accomplishable task. However, it is going to be an earthly time process. The test will show how faithful she will remain to her Master, "but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."

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Donald Kraybill - Wikipedia

Donald Kraybill - Wikipedia



Donald Kraybill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Donald B. Kraybill (born 1946) is an author, lecturer, and educator on Anabaptist faiths and living.[1] Kraybill is widely recognized for his studies on Anabaptist groups, and is the foremost living expert on the Old Order Amish.
Kraybill is Distinguished College Professor, and Senior Fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. He previously served as chair of the Sociology and Social Work Department at Elizabethtown from 1979 to 1985 and as director of the Young Center from 1989 to 1996. He was provost of Messiah College (PA) from 1996 to 2002, before returning to Elizabethtown College in 2003.[2]

Current and recent projects[edit]

In October 2005, Young Center was awarded a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a three-year collaborative research project entitled "Amish Diversity and Identity: Transformations in 20th Century America." In addition to Kraybill as senior investigator, the investigative team includes Steven Nolt, Professor of History at Goshen College in Indiana, and Karen Johnson-Weiner, Professor of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Potsdam. A national panel of seven scholars advised the research team throughout the project.[3]
The NEH grant enabled the researchers to investigate the Amish experience at the national level, giving attention to geographic expansion, the growth of diversity, changing conceptions of identity and evolving patterns of interaction with the larger society. The team also explored how the Amish have contributed to shaping the identity of a nation that made exceptions in the areas of education, Social Security, and child labor for a religious minority living on its cultural margins. 
The project resulted in a website (http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/); an international conference, The Amish in America: New Identities and Diversities, held in 2007; and a book, The Amish.
Recent book projects include Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy (Jossey-Bass, 2007), a discussion of the Amish response to the school shooting at Nickel Mines, and The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World (Jossey-Bass, 2010), an exploration of Amish spiritual life and practices, both with coauthors Steven M. Nolt and David L. Weaver-Zercher. Kraybill also authored Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), which provides basic information about these four Anabaptist groups in North America, and coauthored (with Karen M. Johhson-Weiner and Steven M. Nolt) The Amish, a comprehensive description and analysis of Amish life and culture.
Kraybill's most recent work has been related to five beard-cutting attacks on Amish people in eastern Ohio in the fall of 2011, which led to the arrests of sixteen members of a maverick Amish community in Bergholz, Ohio. Kraybill assisted federal prosecutors in understanding Amish beliefs and practices and served as an expert witness at the federal trial in 2012. He wrote a book about the attacks, investigation, trial, and aftermath: Renegade Amish: Beard Cutting, Hate Crimes, and the Trial of the Bergholz Barbers. In August 2014, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the hate crimes convictions, a ruling that generated much response.[4][5][6]
Kraybill was selected to research and write a centennial history of Eastern Mennonite University, his alma mater, that was published in 2017.[7]

Educator and author[edit]

Kraybill is the author or editor of more than 18 books and dozens of professional articles and popular[8] articles. His books have been translated into six different languages and his research on Anabaptist groups has been featured in magazines and newspapers, and on radio and television programs across the United States and in many foreign countries.
Kraybill writes almost exclusively on the groups within the Anabaptist faith such as the Mennonites, Amish, and Bruderhof[9]. In addition to academic books — largely published by Johns Hopkins University Press — he also writes popular books sold in gift shops to tourists, interested in learning more about the plain sects. He is one of two experts — the other being D. Holmes Morton — frequently quoted by reporters to give background to news stories involving the Amish.[10] He also served as a consultant for the PBS show The American Experience series The Amish.[11]
Because they don't have television or Internet in their homes or Volvos or even pickup trucks in their driveways, the Amish are easily mistaken for Luddites. But they are not anti-technology. Peer into Amish society and you'll see state-of-the-art LED lights, rollerblades, gas grills, solar panels, and battery-powered hand tools. The Amish use technology selectively. They spurn technologies that they fear will ruin their community and its religious values: television, cars, computers, etc. However, they readily accept and invent new technologies (such as a wheel-driven alternator to recharge the batteries on their buggies) that they think will enhance the well-being of their society. Moreover, many Amish "engineers" adapt mainstream technology to fit within their moral values. They strip electric motors from large sanders and replace them with pneumatic motors to provide "Amish electricity" in furniture shops, for example. One thing is certain: Amish people spend much more time than the rest of us assessing the long-term impact of new technologies on human relationships.
— From Fake Amish and the Real Ones [12]

Degrees[edit]

Works[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Rutter, Jon (4 September 2011). "Hot topic: How Plain treat their horses". Lancaster Online. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  2. ^ "Donald B. Kraybill". Elizabethtown College. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  3. ^ "National Endowment for the Humanities 2005 Annual Report" (PDF). National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  4. ^ "Is Beard Cutting a Hate Crime". The Huffington Post. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  5. ^ "They Cut Off His Beard and Left Him Bleeding". Salon. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  6. ^ "Violence Among the Amish". The Atlantic. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  7. ^ "Donald B. Kraybill to Pen EMU History". Eastern Mennonite University. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  8. ^ Kraybill, Donald. "Donald Kraybill". Huffington Post.
  9. ^ "What is the Bruderhof (Church Communities UK)?". GotQuestions.org. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  10. ^ "Kraybill Adept With News Media". Crossroads Magazine, Eastern Mennonite University. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Q&A with Amish Scholar Donald B. Kraybill". Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  12. ^ "Fake Amish and the Real Ones". The Huffington Post. 18 July 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
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