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Father-daughter anthropologist team resources School for Apostles’ retreat

Photo credit: Greg Yoder
Mennonite anthropologists Eloise Hiebert Meneses (left) and her father Paul Hiebert (right) visit with Navajo leader Daniel Smiley (center) at the 2005 School for Apostles, at Black Rock Retreat in Quarryville, Pa., July 25-29.
QUARRYVILLE, Pa. – In a first-time father-daughter teaching stint, Mennonite anthropologists Paul Hiebert and Eloise Hiebert Meneses teamed up to lecture on “The gospel as good news in multi-cultural America” at EMM’s annual School for Apostles retreat, July 25-29.

Meneses, professor of cultural anthropology and director of missions and anthropology at Eastern University in St. David's, Pa., took the lead in outlining the week’s lectures on culture, worldview, reciprocity, and communication. She invited her father, Hiebert, professor of missions and anthropology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, to assist.

The lectures, preceded by devotionals led by Global Ministries’ North America staff members, supplied grist for afternoon discussions; working groups were mono-cultural some days and multi-cultural others. The relaxed evening times filled up with conversation, cross-cultural games, videos, and seminars.

Speaking on communicating the gospel cross-culturally, Hiebert, who served as a missionary in India before giving most of his life to teaching anthropology, said, “It’s important to realize that there’s no ‘us’ and ‘them’ in the kingdom – only ‘us-es.’”

In her concluding lecture on power, Meneses said, “While we know that Jesus is our head, our source of power, we constantly lapse into following other powers.”

Meneses noted, for example, that the U.S. military is six times stronger than the next most powerful military in the world, the Chinese. The U.S. is more powerful militarily than any country has ever been. “What does this reality mean for North Americans and those they wish to serve?” she asked.

To illustrate her point, Meneses invited Daniel Smiley, a Navajo leader from Chinle, Arizona, to share the story of how his disempowered people have begun to take charge of their own lives. This has meant kindly refusing well-meaning assistance that has stripped them of dignity and power.

“It was special to see the more than 80 participants, representing at least 12 different ethnic groups, engaging with the subject and working to increase understanding and identify healthy actions as the week progressed,” commented Mervin Charles, director of Global Ministries and SFA co-planner. “Facing a common challenge with the love of Christ knit us together.”

The closing worship rally included a passionate challenge from Richard Showalter, president of EMM, inviting participants to keep on telling one another the stories of how Jesus has transformed their lives, and renditions of “I have decided to follow Jesus” in at least six different languages – a tiny foretaste of a vast multi-cultural heaven.