a collection of news + stories
from rosedale mennonite missions
02 | 12 : Table of Contents:
• Strangers on These Narrow Streets
• Locally Grown: “Called to Your
Neighborhood”
• Help Wanted: An Opportunity to
Volunteer at the RIC
• Whom Shall I fear? A Look at Islam
• RMM Finances
Strangers on
These Narrow
Streets: Life in Our
Temporary Home
By Art and Paula Shore*
“Allahu akbar”....the call to prayer is
heard shortly before dawn. Although
not many stir at that early 4:00 a.m.
call, a few arise, do their ablutions and
make their way to the local mosque.
Our retired neighbour, Munir, is one
of those faithful. Perhaps others do
their prayers at home. Each day, that
same call rings four more times from
the minarets all around us.
This ancient town is a city on a hill,
and can be seen from 30 miles away
at night. Throughout its history, it has
been controlled by Romans, Arabs,
Mongols, Turcoman, Ottomans, and
others. Arabic is the language usually
heard on the streets although other
local languages are also spoken.
Today the city is a fascinating mosaic
of a variety of ethnicities of Sunni
Muslims, and Syrian Orthodox and
Armenian Christians.
In addition to the numerous mosques
and medreses, 11 ancient church
buildings are scattered throughout
the winding narrow streets. Nearby
is a fifth century Syrian Orthodox
monastery which has been active
for over 1,600 years. Joining
their evening vespers is a unique
experience as we hear the ancient
language of Syriac, or Aramaic,
used in their prayers. This is their
liturgical language, interspersed
with occasional Arabic and local
language in their Sunday services
at the local churches. Although the
Christian population has dwindled
greatly in the past 100 years, the few
families that remain from the various
congregations have combined into a
single congregation, rotating their
meetings to use eight of the existing
church buildings.
It has been just over a year since we
have moved to this city, which we
use as a base to visit local brothers
and sisters in the region. We attempt
to stay in close touch with the
believers in our previous city, a short
two-hour drive away, as well as try to
encourage other isolated believers
who are in other smaller nearby cities
or towns. Of course, we also enjoy
the interaction here as we slowly
make friends in this city. Doors have
opened and continue to open very
slowly into the walled courtyards of
their homes. We pray that the doors
of hearts will also open to the love
of the heavenly Father. Thanks for
standing with us in this endeavor.
We have been blessed with a 100year-old stone courtyard home
which we rent, located about halfway
down the side of the mountain. From
our terrace we have a lovely view of
the plain below, and, at night, the
glowing lights of a nearby Syrian
village. The past summer, when
temperatures rose to over 100
degrees for months on end, life was
made more bearable by the shade of
our grape vines overhead, our two
trees and the light evening breezes.
One neighbor keeps a herd of goats
in the vacant lot beside his house and
they roam rather freely in the vacant
hillside lot below our courtyard. The
calls of these goats combine with
the other interesting sounds in the
city. Far from the only two streets
with traffic, we enjoy the silence of
our neighborhood, interspersed with
the call of the donkeys as they climb
the narrow streets, as our garbage is
collected or deliveries are made. This
quietness has given us the needed
respite from the noisy intersection
and busy schedule of our previous
city. Indeed we have felt His blessing
and confirmation in this move and
the current role He has called us to.
“Allahu akbar” ...God is great!
Although we’ve been in the Middle
East for 13 years and to a certain
degree we’ve learned to feel at
home, from time to time we are
still reminded that we are strangers
here. This culture is hospitable yet
suspicious; in this city that is true of
both Muslims and Christians. (We are
grateful that some of that mistrust
has gone with time.) The day we
are writing this article, we received
another reminder that we are
strangers. The Ministry of Internal
Affairs has decided not to grant a
renewal of our residence permit. Is
it just a return to the days of tourist
visits with exits and re-entries every
three months or is it the end of our
time here? The coming days will tell
us exactly what it means.
All of us, as sons or daughters of
God, with or without residence permit problems, are strangers and visitors on this globe we call home. As
the writer of Hebrews reminds us,
instead of temporary dwellings, we
are looking forward to a city that has
firm foundations, whose architect
and builder is God, a homeland, a
better country. But while we’re here,
may we be productive exiles, seeking for the welfare of our temporary
homeland, praying to the Lord on its
behalf (see Jeremiah 29). “Allahu Akbar!” “Tanri buyuktur!”—Truly God is
great!
Locally Grown:
“Called to Your
Neighborhood”
come one of us so that we could see,
touch, and hear him. Jesus ate and
drank with us, attended our weddings, travelled our roads. Compared
to ministry done outside of one’s
own context, like short-term missions trips, locally grown ministry
has advantages like the formation of
long-term relationships. These relationships bring a reality and depth
that is otherwise not possible.
Wanted: Host/
Hostess for
Rosedale
International Center
By Joe Showalter, RMM president
Something just seems more wholesome about foods that are locally
grown. Wikipedia describes the local
food movement as a “collaborative
effort to build more locally based,
self-reliant food economies—one in
which sustainable food production,
processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance
the economic, environmental and
social health of a particular place.”
This new column we’re calling “Locally Grown” is not primarily about
food but about the expansion of
God’s kingdom in our communities,
like last month’s story about Nate
Olmstead’s ministry to Hispanics in
New York. We plan to bring you stories of people and congregations
that are finding ways to bring hope,
healing and salvation—Jesus—to
the people they live among.
Just as in the case of food, there’s
something really wholesome about
locally grown ministry. First, there’s
what we might call “incarnation.”
God saw fit for Jesus to be “locally
grown,” to enter our world and be-
They say local foods are better for
the environment because they don’t
have to be flown around the globe or
trucked across the country. They’re
already where they need to be. In
the same way, much ministry is already where it needs to be. If God
has called you to live where you
do (and presumably he has), then
there’s a good chance he has ministry for you to do right where you are.
He wants his kingdom to come and
his will to be done, and wants to use
your abilities and gifts and commitment to help make that happen.
I’m excited about the growing desire
I sense in our churches to be engaged
in local ministry. People are reaching
out with the love of Jesus to neighbors and coworkers. Congregations
are ministering to at-risk children in
nearby homes, helping single moms,
or getting to know people in immigrant communities.
This is powerful stuff! We’re actually
bringing the kingdom of God with us
as we go! Like yeast, a little bit goes a
long way to transform a whole community. Like a mustard seed, little
things we do can grow to have immense impact. As we share stories
here in this column, our prayer is
that God will use them to encourage
us all to step out in faith, inviting our
neighbors to worship Jesus.
*Names changed for security
Rosedale Mennonite Missions is
looking for individuals or couples
who would like to volunteer at the
Rosedale International Center in
Columbus for three months at a
time. During busy times at the RIC,
we could use help with tasks like
taking care of guests, cleaning,
and some light maintenance and
grounds work. There are also
opportunities for service in the
surrounding community.
The RIC hosts programs for young
people like City Challenge and
REACH, as well as training for our
missionaries. We also rent rooms
out for retreats and other events.
If you are looking for a service opportunity and would like to assist
with our ministries, contact RIC
Coordinator Bob Stauffer for more
information on these positions.
Call 614-256-4350 or e-mail
[email protected].
Whom Shall I Fear?
A Look at Islam
By Andrew Sharp, from the February
Beacon
Editor’s note: the names of RMM
workers in this story and the countries they live in have been changed
for security reasons.
Communities in Europe and the United States are being flooded with Muslim immigrants, while the “War on
Terror” drags on in Islamic nations. A
yawning gap in cultural expectations
has created terrible friction as West
and East grind together. Fear and
tension between established groups
in Western nations and Muslim newcomers have skyrocketed in the last
decade, leaving Westerners bitterly
divided over Islam.
For many, the word “Islam” calls up
images of planes exploding through
skyscrapers, rioting crowds calling for blood in revenge for blasphemous cartoons, or men stoning
women for adultery. For others, Islam
represents centuries of human advancement through learning, art, and
culture. It’s the beautiful, haunting
call to prayer reminding the faithful
to humble themselves before God, or
the earnest voices of clerics calling
for peace, love, and coexistence.
How can these pictures be so different?
More importantly, which pictures are
genuine? Is Islam violent or peaceful? And what is a proper response
to Islam for those who follow Jesus?
A good way to investigate these
questions might be to ask followers
of Jesus who are living and working
among Muslims. I asked past and
present RMM workers from three
very different Muslim cultures for
their perspectives, based on their
personal experiences. The focus was
not on whether Muslims need the
salvation Jesus offers (clearly our
workers think they do) but on who
Muslims really are, and how to respond to Islam.
Of course, those looking for a conclusive answer will be disappointed.
If all the opinions, history, and issues involved in relations between
Muslims and Christians were written down, the whole world could not
contain all the books, to borrow from
the Apostle John. The perspectives
offered here only touch the surface
of issues far too large for one article.
The arguments over these issues
result in confusingly different portrayals of Islam. A clue as to why
that is emerged as the workers all
painted a much more complex picture than the stark, black and white
options frequently found in public
discourse—that Islam is either violent or peaceful. Josiah, a worker in
North Africa, pointed out that like
Christians, Muslims come in different
stripes: secular and cultural Muslims
who aren’t that concerned with spirituality, folk Muslims who mix in lots
of non-Muslim practices, Muslims
who emphasize peace and coexistence, and radical Muslims who view
their faith as locked in a worldwide
struggle against unbelievers and aggressors. That’s a wide spectrum.
They also come from many different cultures. “Most Muslims are not
Arabs,” former RMM worker Menno
Frederickson said. He and his family
lived in a city in South Asia. In that
country, he said, most Muslims don’t
really know much about Islam. “It’s
more of a cultural religion.” They are
also concerned about different issues
than most Americans think about. The
violent struggle in that part of the
world is between India and Pakistan
in Kashmir, a conflict started over issues between Hindus and Muslims,
not Christians and Muslims.
While Muslims differ widely in the
way they practice their faith, one of
the biggest questions to many people is whether Islam as a religion is
fundamentally violent. Some say
that violent extremists are real Muslims, and the peace-lovers are just a
small minority. But that’s too simplistic, according to RMM workers. “Most
Muslims we know aren’t violent,”
said John Aslan, who with his wife
Cecelia works in the Middle East. Just
as Christians would be embarrassed
by radical cults or horrified by those
who gun down abortion doctors in
the name of God, many Muslims
would label Islamic extremists as
fringe groups.
Josiah called for a “Golden Rule” approach to understanding other faiths.
“I don’t appreciate when people of
other religions set up “straw men”
caricatures of my faith and then proceed to tear them down. Let’s attempt
to hear the perspective of Muslims
who argue that their faith is peaceful,” he said. “We must try to understand how our Muslim neighbors understand themselves and their own
faith rather than insist that we know
the true nature of their religion.”
His words are echoed by Muslims
themselves. In a 2010 interview,
Tariq Ramadan, a professor of Islamic studies at Oxford University
(and a grandson of the founder of
the Muslim Brotherhood) expressed
frustration that people weren’t listening. “We are condemning [the
extremists], but it is as if we are not
heard,” he said. “The only voices that
are heard are the radical, violent, extremist voices.”
“Islam is as complex as Christianity,”
he said. He pointed out that it would
be unfair to look at Terry Jones, the
pastor in Florida who burned a copy
of the Koran, and say that is Christianity. “That is not the way to deal
with Christianity, because Christianity is a diversity of interpretations.
It’s the same with Islam.”
Looking at the issue another way,
Josiah noted that the spectrum of
beliefs among those who claim the
Bible as authoritative is shocking.
“Many of us are tempted to avoid the
discomfort of this scandal by suggesting that all ‘those people’—whatever
the issue might be—aren’t actually
true Christians,” he said. Muslims
are no different. “Many Muslims I’ve
talked with want to make exceptions
in their faith like ‘Shiites aren’t true
Muslims…people who beat their
wives aren’t true Muslims, people
who kill non-combatants aren’t true
Muslims,’” he said. “We must treat
questions about Islam with the kind
of thoughtfulness that we want others to use when they look at our
faith.”
Josiah said that as an Anabaptist, he
appreciates those Muslims who are
trying to make space for peaceful coexistence with other faiths. “It seems
to me they have shaky historical footing on which to do this,” he acknowledged, “compared to the nearly 300
years of pre-Constantinian Christian
witness, not to mention the differences between our Lord and their
prophet, but I can’t see any reason to
be negative about their efforts.” He
also noted there are similar tensions
between violence and peace in Christianity. “I talk with fellow Christians
who argue passionately for Christian
support for and participation in government-ordered killing of various
kinds.”
John and Cecelia also noted differences between the teachings of Jesus and of Mohammad. “What Christ
calls us to do is not the same as what
Mohammed calls his followers to. We
have a higher standard to live up to,”
Cecelia said.
“Muslims are not Mennonites,” Menno Frederickson said. “For most people who are not Mennonites (including most groups of Christians), killing
is an option in some situations.” He
said the way he would describe it
is that Muslims have the option of
violence. “Practically speaking, most
Muslims would agree somewhat with
a ‘Just War Theory.’”
Many people fear it’s more of a “Kill
Infidels Theory.” A prevalent idea in
some circles is that Muslims want to
form some sort of worldwide “caliphate,” forcing everyone to convert or
submit to Muslim domination. John
and Cecelia dismissed this, saying
they’ve never heard ideas like that
among the people they know. And
while some Muslims certainly do
have these ideas, the Aslans don’t
see a real threat. “Muslims can’t get
along in their own countries,” Cecelia
said. “And we’re talking about umpteen different Muslim countries—
how would they ever really unite?”
Westerners tend to only hear about
the violent sides of these nations.
People who hear all the news reports
of suicide bombs in Muslim coun-
tries ask John and Cecelia if they are
afraid to live in the Middle East. They
aren’t. “The last time I was in Cincinnati I heard three gunshots, and five
minutes later the ambulances came
and somebody had been shot,” Cecelia said. “The only time we’ve heard
guns in the Middle East is after a soccer game. They get a little excited
and shoot guns off their roofs.”
Ironically, one of the main concerns
the workers brought up was not focused on how Muslims treat “infidels,” but about how Muslims treat
other Muslims. In nations like North
Africa and the Middle East, Christians are allowed to live and practice
their faith—although like Muslims in
America, they may be regarded with
suspicion or face some opposition.
But for Muslims to freely choose
their faith is a different story.
“I’m not aware of any Muslim society
that acts, in real life, as though Muslims are free to leave Islam if they
choose to do so,” said Juan Cordero,
a worker in North Africa. “The issue
is the Koran. The Prophet instructed
that apostates [Muslims who leave
the faith] be killed, and that instruction won’t go away. While there will
always be individuals or groups reluctant or unwilling to carry it out,
history demonstrates…there will
always be others around to remind
the faithful of their religious obligations.”
Juan said he hears Muslims publicly
affirm their commitment to religious
freedom, but has not heard them
clearly address this issue.
For Christians who would rush to
condemn this kind of intolerance, Josiah had a word of caution: “It’s easy
to compare the ideals of our faith
(forgiveness, the fruits of the Spirit,
God-honoring sexuality) with realities we observe in Muslim-majority
contexts (violence against women,
suicide bombings, absence of freedom of conscience, polygamy and
sexual promiscuity)” he said. “It’s
more honest, however…to compare
our ideals with the ideals of Islam, or
our reality with Islam’s reality.”
He listed many parallels in ideals
between the two faiths, including
honesty, hospitality to strangers,
sharing one’s faith, respect for hu-
man life, humility, repentance, and
more. But Christian reality, he said,
has often brought shame or confusion to Christ’s name, even though
Christians have high ideals.
“If we acknowledge and repent of
the evils—both historical and present—that Christians have committed
against each other and against people of other faiths, we will be better
prepared to witness to Muslims about
the good news of Jesus,” he said.
Shared ideals or not, Josiah made it
clear that the good news of Jesus is
for Muslims too. “Those who reject
Jesus as God incarnate are deceived,”
he said. But he maintained there is a
right and a wrong way to share that
news. “We must keep Jesus at the
center of both our beliefs and interactions…making sure it is he and not
we who cause people to stumble.”
Part of engaging Muslims in a Christcentered way, he maintained, is to
doggedly lift Jesus up rather than
tear Islam down. “It’s difficult for me
to imagine assertions like ‘Mohammed was a pedophile’ or ‘Allah is a
demon’ leading to a Christ-honoring
conversation.”
Aside from issues of similarities and
differences between Islam and Christianity, there is still the elephant
in the room. Even if many Muslims
aren’t extremists, what about the
radicals who do want to impose Islam on the West? What about terrorists? Aren’t those people dangerous
enemies? The general response from
the missionaries could be summarized as “So what?”
“Love your enemies; pray for those
who persecute you,” John said.
“Islam is a threat only if God ordains
that it is a threat,” Menno said. “That
is kind of a basic answer, but come
on. Where is one’s faith? Who is really in control?”
“There are legitimate political reasons to fear Islam, but if we remain
in that fear we’ve missed the gospel,”
Josiah said. “”We have been given
much—the indescribable grace of
God—and much will be required of
us. Perhaps our lives…if our attitude
toward ‘enemies,’ whoever they may
be, is in step with the prevailing fears
of our nation, we have good reason
to question whether friendship with
the world has planted in us the seeds
of hatred toward God. God loves his
enemies. Do we?”
Juan dismissed the need for Christians to live in a supportive culture at
all. “Christians in the West have new
reasons to reflect on the fundamental nature of their faith in Christ,”
he said. “If the Christian community
thrives only to the extent that it is
supported by culture, tradition, and
institutions, something is wrong…the
New Testament doesn’t ever suggest
that the church will develop in an
environment that supports it…isn’t it
usually the opposite?”
Interestingly, if the tables are turned,
Muslims often have very similar fears
about Western culture. While Americans fear terrorism and potential cultural invasion, Muslims feel the threat
has become reality, John and Cecelia
said. Western nations (seen by many
Muslims as Christian) have invaded
and controlled Iraq and Afghanistan,
which appears to some Muslims as
war on Islam. At the same time, they
are fearful as what they see as a very
decadent Western culture infiltrates
their own culture and is embraced
by their young people. (Many Christians in the United States can relate
strongly to this fear.) American entertainers wear crosses as jewelry while
spewing profanity, and movies show
a culture with little shame in dress or
action. To many Muslims, these are
Christians.
Josiah called for more understanding. “How would knowledge about
Islam and relationships with Muslims
change the discussion?” he said. “We
should be slow to make judgments
about the character of whole groups
of people in the absence of personal
relationships with these people.”
“Get to know Muslims,” John said.
“Most of them [Muslims] love their
children and their husbands or wives,
try to do a good job, try to provide for
their family and get a little security
in this world,” Menno said. “For most
of them their primary concerns are
things like ‘Whom should I marry?’
‘Am I being a good parent?’ ‘Which
school should I send my children
to?’” They have the same problems.
“They worry about their relationships
with their spouses, they worry about
their jobs; their cars break down and
they worry about that.”
“A lot of times we think they are so
‘other,’ and in fact they are so much
like us,” Cecelia said. “They are delightful people.” She and John spoke
of their years of getting to know
Muslims from Egypt, Uzbekistan, and
many other nations, some of whom
had become dear friends.
When Cecelia’s nephew was in the
hospital with a serious illness, her
Muslim friends cried with her and
prayed for her, and to this day ask
how he is doing. One woman in the
Middle East became like a mother
to her, she said, and she became like
part of the family. When her adopted
“mother” passed away in the spring
of 2011, Cecelia was devastated, but
honored to be included in the family’s mourning. They even let her be
a part of the burial ceremony. “This
does something, when you cry together and experience life together,”
she said. “This is where change will
happen. Hate talk will get us nowhere.”
In weighing how to respond to Muslims, Josiah pointed to Jesus as a
model. Relations between Jews and
Samaritans must have crackled with
many of the same tensions and heated feelings that form great walls between Christians and Muslims today.
But Jesus ignored the walls of hate
when he met a Samaritan woman
at a well one day. In talking to the
woman, Josiah said, “Jesus points
out clear differences while showing
compassion and a desire for relationship that surprises both the woman
and the disciples.” As we learn to
know Muslims, many of our prior assumptions will be confirmed, he said,
but we may also reach a place of true
compassion and care about them in
spite of real differences.
“Jesus consistently crossed societal
divisions to establish meaningful relationships, and he invites us to join
him.”
Further reading suggested by RMM
workers:
Allah: A Christian Response, by Miroslav Volf
Who is My Enemy, by Lee Camp
Anabaptists Meeting Muslims: A Calling for Presence in the Way of Christ,
by David Shenk (Shenk is scheduled to
speak at the Mission Day program at
CMC’s Annual Conference in August.)
What do you think? E-mail us at [email protected] to share your
thoughts on this topic.
Finances: Looking
Back at 2011 and
Forward to 2012
RMM ended 2011 with an operational deficit of $157,000 for the
fiscal year.
• Total
general
contributions
showed a welcomed increase of
4%, although contributions from
CMC congregations showed a
slight decline (0.5% decrease).
Contributions from CMC congregations have been trending
downward since 2008.
• Total income remained essentially the same as in 2010.
• Total expenses increased by
$83,000 (4%).
• At the end of 2011, RMM’s debt
load for the Rosedale International Center was $2.1 million.
We have reached 39% of our
goal for the Branching Out Campaign.
Looking Ahead to Fiscal Year 2012
A looming operational deficit for
2011 coupled with a sluggish
Branching Out Campaign led to
staff layoffs at the end of 2011 and
major budget cuts for 2012.
The proposed 2012 budget is
$2.253 million. This reflects a decrease of $355,000 (14%) from
our 2011 budget. The bulk of this
reduction is the result of:
• Reduction of three staff positions as of 12-31-11
• Salary and benefit reductions for
all employees