Nancy Heisey, president of Mennonite World Conference from 2003 to 2009, will speak about the emergence of inter-Mennonite organizations such as MWC and Mennonite Central Committee Nov. 11 in a public lecture at Shenandoah Mennonite Historians’ annual meeting hosted at Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Va.

“Becoming a Worldwide Communion” will address how foreign mission work energized North American Mennonites in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to engage in fellowshipping and consulting across borders.

Today there are 108 Mennonite and Brethren in Christ national churches from 60 countries counting about 1.45 million baptized believers. Heisey will describe gifts and questions that have emerged within this worldwide Anabaptist communion, the shaping of MWC’s Shared Convictions statement and where the Holy Spirit might lead in the years ahead.

Heisey worked for MCC for 18 years before teaching New Testament and early Christian studies at Eastern Mennonite University for 23 years.

The lecture will be livestreamed at pvmchurch.org.