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PIPKA and EMM Launch Asian World Missions Institute
PIPKA, the mission arm of the Muria Synod of Indonesia (GKMI), and EMM, the mission arm of Lancaster Mennonite Conference, partnered this month to launch the first Asian World Missions Institute (WMI), February 3-18, 2007. Planners Yesaya Abdi and Glenn Kauffman, EMM’s representative to Asia, billed the Asian WMI as “cross-cultural mission foundations from Asia and for Asia,” and the event drew participants from five nations with instructors from four.
Despite delays and uncertainties from devastating floods (see sidebar), the event proceeded successfully. The WMI met first in Semarang, then in Solo, and finally in Jepara, all cities of central Java. WMI planners Yesaya Abdi and Glenn Kauffman were gratified with the response. Pastors expressed great appreciation for the mission seminar. In the closing session, one brother broke into tears and was not able to finish his speech, remembering that “I may never have met Jesus had not Mennonite missionaries come from Europe and the United States to Indonesia.”
Participants forged deep relationships with each other and committed to walking together into the future as a community in mission. “Our organizations are many,” said one, “but we are one body in mission.” The presence of the Holy Spirit was so palpable at the end of one session that no one wanted to leave for the usual break, and the group gathered to pray that hundreds of missionaries would be commissioned from Indonesia to other parts of the world.
The Asian WMI was modeled on the annual three-week missionary training program held in the United States each June for EMM missionaries. But there were significant differences.
In contrast to the U.S. program, the Asian institute was multi-cultural and multi-lingual.
Twenty-three of the 35 participants came from Indonesia, representing two Indonesian Anabaptist conferences. The twelve international participants hailed from Honduras, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, and Malaysia. Five of the participants were already focused on cross-cultural witness in China.
David Shenk and Richard Showalter from EMM anchored the teaching the first and second weeks, respectively, but other significant input came from Indonesian, Singaporean, and Indian instructors, including P.C. Alexander from Delhi and Tan Kok Beng from Singapore.
Local Mennonite congregations in Semarang and Jepara hosted the Asian event.
Further, during the second week in Jepara a simultaneous Church Leaders Seminar on Mission attracted fifty pastors representing all three Indonesian Anabaptist synods. Several sessions of the pastors’ seminar were also held jointly with WMI.
One of EMM’s priorities is nurturing Spirit-inspired partnerships among cross-cultural Anabaptist mission groups worldwide. We rejoice to see that this is producing fruit in our international community!
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