After several years of meeting online, the Mennonite World Conference Executive Committee gathered in person Dec. 12-14 in Schoorl, the Netherlands.

“Thank you to J. Nelson Kraybill and ­Rebecca Osiro who have finished their terms as president and vice president,” said César García, MWC general secretary.

The Executive Committee approved the Peace Commission’s statement “Declaration on Conscientious Objection.” Details of what it covers will be shared in the near future.

Emerging networks have been operating for several years. In December, the Executive Committee approved their placement within MWC’s structure:

— Global Anabaptist Education Network (GAEN) under the Faith and Life Commission.

— Global Anabaptist Health Network (GAHN) under the Mission Commis­sion.

— Global Anabaptist Peace Network (GAPN) under the Peace Commission.

In addition to confirming new MWC General Council representatives on commissions, the Executive Committee confirmed Andrés Pacheco Lozano as Peace Commission chair. Formerly GAPN coordinator, Pacheco Lozano is research assistant to the Chair of Peace Theology and Ethics at the VU University Amsterdam and lecturer in the Doopsgezind Seminarium (Dutch Mennonite Seminary). He is co-director of the Amsterdam Center for Religion, Peace and Justice Studies and a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Peace Church Theology at the University of Hamburg in Germany. A member of Iglesia Menonita de Colombia, he lives in the Netherlands.