bg真人

Announcements from this week’s session include an invitation to the Mennonite Action organizing skills training series:

What is Mennonite Action? How did Mennonite Action come about? How does the movement understand itself and its mission? What is its significance for the Mennonite Church in the United States and Canada? Nick Martin and Anna Johnson will provide an introduction to the movement, in conversation with Jonathan Smucker.

Optional pre-reading:

Speakers for Jan. 22:

• Anna Johnson (she/they) is a PhD candidate in Peace Studies and Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Anna has spent seven years living and working in Palestine, including three years as Connecting Peoples Coordinator with Mennonite Central Committee. Anna serves on Mennonite Action’s Steering Committee.
• Nick Martin (he/him) is the Campaign Director for Mennonite Action. Nick has been a social movement organizer, trainer and strategist for 15 years. He cofounded the grassroots political organizations Mennonite Action, Lancaster Stands Up, and PA Stands Up, and has led organizing and training departments on progressive congressional and presidential campaigns. Nick grew up attending Community Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

What is peace theology? How did it come about? How have different political generations of scholars and practitioners understood what it means to be peacemakers called blessed in Jesus鈥� Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:9)? Janna Hunter-Bowman will introduce three waves of peace theology: nonresistance (first wave), transformation (second wave) and reckoning (third wave). It traces a narrative鈥攐ne among many possibilities鈥攊n which each wave offers a different response to the challenges and insights of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. How does Mennonite Action express these waves of peace theology, and how is it influencing peace theology?  

Jan. 29 follow-up: This week (Jan. 29), we ended by talking about how the next wave of peace theology connects realism about society and realism about the church through integration. Peace theology that takes reckoning seriously is neither romantic about Anabaptist history nor despairing. Nor does the work of self-critical integration fall into the Mennonite pathology of claiming or demanding perfection. (A position that was a first-wave stance has become a habit dubbed the 罢盲耻蹿别谤办谤补苍办丑别颈迟, the Anabaptist disease.) How can we adopt a self-critical posture in our constructive telling of Anabaptist movement history?  

Optional pre-reading: : After viewing a sketch of 10 types of Mennonite peace theology, pp. 3-5, attendees are invited to read about three: Type 1. Historic Nonresistance, pp. 11-18; Type 5. Realist Pacifism (excerpt), pp. 75-78; and Shalom political theology (excerpt), pp. 143-152.

Speaker for Jan. 29: 
Janna L. Hunter-Bowman, PhD, is Associate Professor of Peace Studies and Christian Social Ethics and Director of Peace Studies at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Her book Witnessing Peace: Becoming Agents Under Duress in Colombia (Routledge 2022) is rooted in 10 years of peacebuilding and research in Latin America. Her essays also appear in the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, Political Theology, the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, and Mennonite Quarterly Review. Her community-engaged scholarship currently focuses on undocumented immigrants organizing in the United States. This book project is tentatively titled 鈥淲ould You Join Us?鈥�: Latin American Migrant-Led Social Movements and Re-membering the Crucified Body. She received her PhD from the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Theology Department at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend.

Announcements from the Jan. 22 session: 

• : March 20鈥�22, 2025, at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. We invite you to participate in this conference on religious nationalism organized by professors from bg真人 and Notre Dame. Registration closes on Feb. 15.
• Upcoming Mennonite Action events
  • Mennonite Action in Michiana (including Jan. 30 potluck):
  • Mass Call: Jan. 23, 2025, starting at 8 p.m. ET. The theme is 鈥�500 years of Anabaptism, Palestine and what’s next for our movement.鈥�
  • Winter Term Peace School: four online sessions in February.

How does the history of the Anabaptist movement connect to Mennonite Action and other contemporary social movements? How do social movements relate to a history that is at times inspiring and at times troubling? This session explores these and similar questions concerning historical interpretation and the uses of history.

Optional pre-reading: This article contrasts two mid-20th-century Mennonite movements: the Mennonite Community movement and the Concern movement. For our purposes, the author’s conclusions are perhaps less interesting than his reflections on the ambiguity of history as an instrument for connecting the church and wider social movements. The article prompts reflection on how realisms about church, society and history might intersect.

Speaker for Feb. 5:
Jamie Pitts, PhD, is Professor of Anabaptist Studies at bg真人, Director of the Institute of Mennonite Studies and Editor of Anabaptist Witness. He also is a member of Hively Avenue Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana.

Announcements from the Jan. 29 session: 

• : Mennonite Action is holding a four-week online organizing training series open to everyone who participates (or wants to begin participating) in Mennonite Action. The goal is to provide you with the concrete skills you need to organize in your local community.
• : March 20鈥�22, 2025, at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. We invite you to participate in this conference on religious nationalism organized by professors from bg真人 and Notre Dame. Registration closes on Feb. 15.

Sarah Augustine, Tim Nafziger and Jonathan Smucker will discuss how 鈥� in the wake of severe persecution 鈥� Mennonite settlers in the U.S. and Canada embraced a 鈥渜uiet in the land鈥� mentality, and how this functionally led to Mennonite complicity in genocide. They situate Mennonite Action on a long trajectory of Mennonites moving away from 鈥減olitical quietism鈥� (especially since World War II) and towards greater responsibility and engagement with the social, economic and political systems in which we are embedded.

Optional pre-reading: The discussion will build on the speakers鈥� recent article in Anabaptist Witness 11.2 (November 2024),

Speakers for Feb. 12:

• Sarah Augustine is a Tewa (Pueblo) descendant and self-identifies as an internally displaced person. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery, a national coalition with global reach.

• Tim Nafziger lives in the Ventura River watershed on the traditional lands of the Chumash people in Southern California. He has been organizing for peace and justice in Mennonite communities for 27 years. He enjoys writing, board games and photography.

• Jonathan Smucker has worked for more than 25 years as a political organizer, campaigner and strategist. He is the co-founder of Popular Comms Institute, PA Stands Up, Lancaster Stands Up, Common Defense, Beyond the Choir and Mennonite Action. He is a sociology PhD candidate at University of California, Berkeley and author of Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals.

Announcements from the Feb. 5 session: 

• : Mennonite Action is one week into a four-week online organizing training series open to everyone who participates (or wants to begin participating) in Mennonite Action. The training series provides participants with concrete skills for organizing in their local community.
• : March 20鈥�22, 2025, at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. We invite you to participate in this conference on religious nationalism organized by professors from bg真人 and Notre Dame. Registration closes on Feb. 15.

(We are not meeting Feb. 19 due to the Pastors & Leaders conference at bg真人.)

What are the core principles of theories of nonviolent social change? How is Mennonite Action situated within a broader history of social movements?

Speaker for Feb. 26:

Tim Seidel, PhD, is Associate Professor of Peacebuilding, Development and Global Studies at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He worked with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Palestine-Israel; as Director for Peace and Justice Ministries in the U.S.; and as Director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement at EMU. He is co-editor of Resisting Domination in Palestine: Mechanisms and Techniques of Control, Coloniality, and Settler Colonialism (Bloomsbury, 2024) and Political Economy of Palestine: Critical, Interdisciplinary, and Decolonial Perspectives (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021). He is a local organizer with Mennonite Action.

Optional pre-reading: In anticipation of the session, Professor Seidel invites you to read For Seidel, the article situates nonviolence in Palestine and provides background.

Announcements from the Feb. 12 session: 

• : March 20鈥�22, 2025, at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. We invite you to participate in this conference on religious nationalism organized by professors from bg真人 and Notre Dame. The registration deadline has been extended to March 3!
• : Mennonite Action is two sessions into a four-session online organizing training series open to everyone who participates (or wants to begin participating in) Mennonite Action. It鈥檚 not too late to join for either or both of the remaining two online sessions (Feb. 18 and 25, 8 p.m. ET). The training series provides participants with concrete skills for organizing in their local community.
• Mennonite Action is planning God鈥檚 Love Knows No Borders actions 鈥� focused on Palestine and immigration 鈥� across the United States and Canada. Join or start planning your own. Check out the toolkit here:

Mennonite Action made an important choice to include 鈥淢ennonite鈥� in its name and to use specific Mennonite symbols and cultural practices 鈥� like four-part harmony hymn singing 鈥� as part of the movement鈥檚 public protests. What is the theological and politically instrumental thinking behind these choices? How have these choices helped to move more Mennonites into collective action, and what has the external impact been?

Speaker for March 5:

Peter Dula, PhD, has taught theology and philosophy at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, for almost 20 years. He serves on the national organizing committee for Mennonite Action as well as on the Harrisonburg local chapter鈥檚 committee.

Optional prereading:

• 鈥溾�� from Ted Smith鈥檚 The End of Theological Education (Eerdmans, 2023), pp. 65鈥�79. This chapter provides essential context for situating Mennonite Action within our rapidly changing religious landscape.
• Robert Zacharias鈥� 鈥溾�� in After Identity: Mennonite Writing in North America, ed. Robert Zacharias (Penn State University Press, 2015), pp. 107鈥�122. This essay is an incisive analysis of how Mennonite symbols and cultural practices get deployed in Mennonite literature, which may or may not be different from how they get deployed in Mennonite Action. (Readers can skip the first few pages and start at p. 111.)

Announcements from the Feb. 26 session: 

• : March 20鈥�22, 2025, at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. We invite you to participate in this conference on religious nationalism organized by professors from bg真人 and Notre Dame. The registration deadline has been extended to March 3!
• Mennonite Action chapters and congregations are planning to hold God鈥檚 Love Knows No Borders actions across the United States and Canada over the next few weeks 鈥� focused on Palestine and immigration. Join or start planning your own. Check out the toolkit here:

The U.S. Civil Rights Movement provided a prototype for congregation-based organizing. Since then, however, it is the religious right that has gone further and deeper in organizing and mobilizing churches and faith communities. Mennonite Action seems to be bucking this trend, reaching deeper into congregational life than many other social justice causes have been able to. How does Mennonite Action understand its engagement with congregations, and what lessons might we learn?

Speaker for March 12:

Melissa Florer-Bixler, MA, MDiv, is the pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church. Over the past decade, she has organized memorials for lynching victims, helped youth organize to confront LGBTQ bigotry, and was a founding member of her county鈥檚 IAF (Industrial Areas Foundation) affiliate, ONE Wake. She’s written two books and lots of articles. She also serves on the pastoral team for Mennonite Action.

Optional prereading:

• Melissa Florer-Bixler鈥檚 鈥溾�� in The Christian Century, August 2023, pp. 40-44.

Announcements from the March 5 session: 

• Mennonite Action chapters and congregations are holding God鈥檚 Love Knows No Borders actions across the United States and Canada over the next few weeks 鈥� focused on Palestine and immigration. Join or start planning your own! Check out our toolkit here:
• Meeting logistics: Our weekly calls are recorded for internal purposes only. We do not have permission from all participants to distribute them. After each week’s meeting, you will receive a new invitation to add to your calendar. You can cancel your registration at any time.

How does congregation-based organizing enter into a coalition with other denominations, faiths and organizations? This past summer, Mennonite Action organized a 135-mile march to Washington D.C., where participants joined the , which opposed 鈥� and showed an alternative to 鈥� Christians United For Israel. What lessons can we learn from that experience? We鈥檒l explore these questions with Jonathan Brenneman.

Speaker for March 19:

Jonathan Brenneman, MA, is a Palestinian-American Mennonite and a leading convener of the Interfaith Action for Palestine through, which he co-founded. He has worked with the Christian/Community Peacemaker Teams Palestine Project in Hebron, building partnerships with Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers to transform violence and oppression, among other justice initiatives. In 2017, he participated in Mennonite Voluntary Service, volunteering with Mennonite Church USA to facilitate the writing, passing and implementation of the 鈥淪eeking Peace in Israel and Palestine鈥� resolution. He holds an MA in International Peace Studies from the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

Optional prereading:

• Read this (approximately one page), follow the links (most are to Instagram posts and videos that are less than five minutes) and focus on this particular moment of the (approximately one hour).

Announcements from the March 12 session: 

• Last Saturday, Department of Homeland Security agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, a U.S. permanent resident and student organizer for Palestinian rights. Khalil was the lead negotiator during the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University. His detention is a targeted act of political repression. He is being held in an ICE detention center more than 1,000 miles away from his home and his wife, who is eight months pregnant. Mennonite Action has generated nearly 4,000 letters to Members of Congress demanding Khalil鈥檚 immediate release. If you have not yet done so, please take a moment today to write to your representatives. More info and instructions:
• Mennonite Action chapters and congregations are holding God鈥檚 Love Knows No Borders actions across the United States and Canada over the next few weeks 鈥� focused on Palestine and immigration. Join or start planning your own! Check out our toolkit here:
• If you are participating in the 鈥溾�� conference (March 20鈥�22) and wish to join the Mennonite affiliation group, please contact Kern Road Mennonite Church Pastor .

Speaker for March 26:

Drew J. Strait, PhD, is bg真人 Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins. He brings a contagious enthusiasm for the world of the earliest Christians to his work as a pastoral theologian and theological animator of Scripture, seeking to connect the dots between early Christians鈥� radical discipleship and the ways Jesus followers can challenge empire and its theologies of oppression today. Drew is the author of Strange Worship: Six Steps for Challenging Christian Nationalism (Cascade Books, 2024). In the fall of 2025, he’ll teach a six-week online short course, Challenging Christian Nationalism, and a semester-long graduate-level course, Mennonite Public Faith and Christian Nationalism, through bg真人.