Teaching and resourcing our global partners
- November
Gerry Keener (center) with President Pastor Huynh Dinh Nghia (left of Gerry) and members of the Vietnam Mennonite Church who completed a course.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY GERRY KEENER
GERRY KEENER: When the Vietnam Mennonite Church (VMC) was seeking legal recognition by the government, Pastor Nguyen Quang Trung, VMC president, now deceased, made it very clear that the VMC did not have leaders with formal training. Therefore, they would need international trainers for many years to come. EMM had anticipated this need and appointed me and Donna to position ourselves in Vietnam some years in advance for language and culture acclamation and relationship building. When the time was right, I became active in leadership development and theological training in Vietnam.
When our older daughter graduated from high school, we returned to the U.S. and settled in Lancaster, Pa. EMM then transitioned our appointment status to non-resident missionaries to Vietnam. Since then in 2009, I travel (sometimes with Donna) to Vietnam to continue training, at the request of the VMC.
The VMC consists of over 100 places of worship. The needs for training pastors and workers are great. They have organized a 4-year Bachelor of Theology program (20 students in the current cohort), as well as a ministry training certificate program (40 students in the current group). Their request for training from EMM workers is for courses in theology, biblical interpretation, and ministry from an
Anabaptist perspective.
A significant involvement is translating Anabaptist books and papers into Vietnamese and having them published. This is a way of multiplying our efforts for ongoing use by national teachers. Examples of books published in Vietnamese are: What is an Anabaptist Christian?, Anabaptist Essentials, John Drescher booklets on Marriage and Family, Sister Care Manual, The Bible as Story (in pro-
cess), Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective 1995 (in process), and more.
Parallel to this training work is the work of the EMM Curriculum Team consisting of Leon Zimmerman, William Higgins, and myself. This team is researching and preparing Anabaptist-related training materials that can be used by EMM missionaries and EMM Global Partners in their efforts to promote leadership development and theological education.
The objective is to provide materials in accessible English at a high-school or post-high-school level that can be easily translated into multiple languages and used in informal training settings by our partners.
LEON & NOAMI ZIMMERMAN: Our work with EMM is a bit different than that of Gerry and William. About three years ago, we switched our emphasis from general teaching related to leadership training to an emphasis on strengthening marriages. Marvin Lorenzana, president of EMM, invited us to this work and refers to it as “the marriage initiative.” We are seeking strategies and methods that will strengthen marriages in places where EMM has had success planting churches.
One of the strategies we use is to introduce The Marriage Course (TMC) to leaders and their churches. TMC is a seven-session video course that includes lots of exercises that couples do together during the sessions. It is produced by the Alpha Course producers from the U.K. In early 2022, we showed the course to a dozen couples in south central Kenya. One of those couples was Stanley and Anne, who pastor a church in the area. They felt that the course strengthened their marriage and gave them the ability to have conversations about areas of their marriage that they stayed away from before. Stanley and Anne took a group of 10 couples through the course and felt that each couple experienced a greater sense of connection. One of those couples was so excited about the course they formed another group and showed the course to them. The course is quite easy to pick up and use without being a pastor or marriage counselor.
Stanley texted us recently, “We will forever be thankful that you introduced this course to us.”
Important to the work of the marriage initiative is the strategy to train couples in such a way that they can pass things on to other couples. We are so happy that the above example includes that dynamic — we led a group of couples through the course, Stanley and Anne led another group, and another couple led yet another group. May this dynamic continue.
WILLIAM HIGGINS: It is a privilege to work with our global partner churches in Vietnam, Kenya, Tanzania, and Guinea-Bissau. I will also travel to other areas as there is need. In my teaching ministry I engage with congregations, church groups, and dioceses in giving seminars and other trainings related to discipleship and leadership development. Local leaders always set the agenda and guide my focus. Most of my
time and effort goes toward supporting ministry training schools, especially in Kenya and Vietnam. I have taught classes on the Sermon on the Mount, loving enemies, Anabaptist history, how to interpret Scripture, our Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, and others.
This is a ministry that has been requested by partner churches. Nelson Kisare, the leader of the Tanzanian Mennonite Church was asked, “What is the most pressing
need of your church?” He answered, “First, theological training; second, theological training; third, theological training.”
Participants have been very receptive to this ministry. I remember when I taught about what it means to love our enemies in Kenya, both in the school and in two dioceses on the weekends — there was a warm embrace of this teaching. Stories about Christians loving their enemies were particularly impactful. My most recent class in Vietnam was on the Confession of Faith, specifically the first twelve articles. Sixty-five church leaders attended this class, and these leaders will go out to teach others what they learned in the class. I plan to teach the rest of this class in March 2025 when I return.
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