August 2024 marked six years since I moved to the United States from Ethiopia. I have studied at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary and work there now. As a participant in this global Anabaptist community and as someone studied in this community, I am nervous and confused about the disintegration and realignment of North American Mennonite conferences.

In Ethiopia, any church bearing the name Meserete Kristos is recognized as part of the Meserete Kristos Church, Ethiopia’s Mennonite denomination. All Mennonite churches throughout Ethiopia belong to it. But in the U.S., there are many Mennonite conferences and denominations. Some use the Mennonite name; others do not.

After six years in the U.S., I do not pretend to fully comprehend the various convictions that the Anabaptist communities of faith hold and teach. But it was and still is a huge surprise for me to learn how these various Anabaptist theological convictions have a direct relation to specific locations.  

MKC fraternal tour to the U.S.

I had the privilege of escorting Abayneh Anjulo, director of Meserete Kristos Church Missions and Evangelism Ministry, on a fraternal tour around the Goshen and Elkhart areas of Indiana in 2023. I also accompanied Desalegn Abebe and Gishu Jebecha, president of MKC and principal of Meserete Kristos Seminary, respectively, as they visited the U.S. as fraternal guests for the first time. I escorted them from Virginia to Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York City and Kansas City. 

As we traveled to meet leaders of Anabaptist faith communities, I noticed that the MKC leaders became concerned. They started worrying about who they would meet and how they should frame their speeches or talks. In one city, I heard a North American leader say while we were having dinner together, saying, “I do not use the words ‘brothers and sisters’ with this group of Mennonites because I am not comfortable, and I do not see them as brothers or sisters.”

Many of our North American hosts did not seem to realize that MKC leaders are very aware of the divisions in the North American churches. MKC leaders choose to work with any of those groups that are willing to partner. They’re not interested in choosing just one that fits their theology. This is a foreign concept to MKC leaders.

Back in Ethiopia, they work closely with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Muslim brothers and sisters and all evangelical churches. They prayerfully seek out opportunities to worship and work with other Christian groups. Recently MKC hosted East Africa Summit in which MKC and other Mennonite churches in East Africa signed a memorandum of understanding to meet quarterly for prayer and sharing of experiences.

Matthew 15:1-28

I find myself reflecting on the story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28, which shows the importance of persistent faith and perseverance in prayer. I am amazed by the Canaanite woman for her deep faithfulness in bringing her demon-possessed daughter to Jesus’s attention.

Not only did she bring the issue to Jesus, she also did not allow herself to be distracted by other voices. When Jesus ignored her, and when the disciples urged him to “Send her away,” she persistently asked for Jesus’s help because she knew in her heart that only Jesus had the answer to her questions. There is virtue in persistently asking for help and clarity until responses come to our pleas. 

Phrases like “No biblical options except leaving” do not cross the minds of any of the MKC leaders, just like it had not crossed the mind of the Canaanite woman to leave and seek out other alternatives for her daughter’s problem.

“God helped us”

One day, I said to the MKC leaders: “Meserete Kristos Church is a huge Anabaptist Mennonite church that has almost close to one million members. And these MK churches are in different parts of Ethiopia. Don’t you have disagreements?”

“Of course, we have lots of issues,” they said. They took turns telling me about them. In all the episodes they shared, there was a big shift in the middle of the story as they explained how God helped them resolve the issue. I use “God helped them” intentionally, because those were their exact words: “God helped us.”

Desalegn told of a time when “we exhaustively looked through and listed all biblical options to deal with the issue, but none was pleasing to the groups. I felt that day the church would split into two.”

But, Desalegn said, “We stayed until midnight because all of us feared what would happen to the church if we concluded the meeting and left the meeting room.” He was referring to people from different regional MKC offices. 

Past midnight, exhausted, they decided to adjourn. But first they prayed together and told each other, “Please pray about this issue individually, and we will reconvene tomorrow for further discernment from God.”

“The next morning,” Desalegn said, “I noticed a different and strange vibe among the leaders. I saw leaders sitting together at their breakfast table, eating together and laughing. When we opened our morning meeting with prayers, everyone started crying. I was kneeling and praying, and I started to hear the leaders crying. When I got up, I saw leaders giving hugs to each other with loud, prayerful crying.”

One leader after another stood up and shared with everyone what they felt when they left the meeting the previous night, explaining that they couldn’t sleep and had to pray privately. Some said they sensed the Holy Spirit speaking to them about the life they have together and how the issue at hand could potentially take that away from the churches they represent. Others said the issue was important “but not at the expense of losing our brothers and sisters.”

“Just like that,” Desalegn said, “the leaders were very happy and grateful to go back to different parts of Ethiopia with profound answers and wisdom from God.

“The way the leaders chose the option of staying — and, at the same time, with deep conviction to remain faithful to their understanding of what it means to be true to the gospel and with the commitment to making their voices heard until the kingdom comes — was astonishing.

“Even today, the leaders who were in that meeting room say, ‘God helped us that day. That was divine intervention. We are glad that the Holy Spirit showed us the way to stay together and continue enjoying fellowship with God’s larger family.’”

Persistence

This reminds me of Canaanite woman’s persistence — to the point of kneeling before Jesus (embracing humility) — creates a situation in which Jesus had to start talking and conversing with her about her issue. She made him talk. She made him stop walking, turn around and have a conversation with her.

Not only that, he said something that is very rude in Ethiopian culture: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” Yet, she did not say, “Forget it, I will not let you insult me. I am out of here and will look for other options for my issue.”

Instead, she took that comment and cleverly replied, “Yes, it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” She continued engage Jesus until Jesus said, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.”

These are some unanswered questions for me and most MKC leaders:

1. Why is there a tendency to decide on things too quickly in North America? 
2. Why are other alternatives or choosing the option of leaving so powerful compared to the shared community life that calls for transformation to deeper faithfulness? 
3. What does church discernment look like? How does setting aside prideful words like “This is our territory” or “This is our right” and embracing humility, prayer and saying, “God, you’re able,” play into this discernment?