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Updated 30 Jan 2003 |
Director's Presentation
What an amazing story! I am in awe when I think what the people connected to the LMC have accomplished during the past fifty years: so many contacts, so many churches, organizations and institutions influenced by the LMC (some even started), so many individuals touched by the LMC, so many taught by the LMC. Everywhere I go in this country I make contacts who tell me about the influence on their lives of the Kreiders or the Kraybills or the Thiessen Nations. For a couple in our position, whose task it is to follow in their footsteps and carry the work of the LMC forward, the telling of such a history is not only humbling but a little daunting. Fortunately, we are not alone in our task. We have the support of a wonderful staff, two wonderful daughters, and of a God whom we know we can trust. I believe God has been with the LMC every step of the way during the past fifty years and that we can continue to rely on God in the years ahead.
I’m just a rookie here, barely ten months on the job, so even what I have already done can be seen as a future trend of the LMC. Indeed, my very presence represents a change in direction for the LMC. As a German-speaking Canadian General Conference Mennonite whose ancestors (including my mother) emigrated from the Ukraine, as a lifelong peace activist, as a semi-academic with a passion for theology as well as films, I necessarily bring new ways, new interests and new ideas to the centre. But I love the LMC and have long felt myself drawn to this place and so my first priority as current director is to make sure the great work of the LMC continues and that we as staff build on the work that has gone before. That does not necessarily mean business as usual.
As I look to the future of the LMC, I would like to begin with one of the first tasks assigned to me, the development of a new strategic plan. In reading through the plan developed in 1998, it became clear to me that much has changed in the UK Anabaptist scene in the past five years and that it’s time to regroup. For me, that means working more deliberately with our Anabaptist partner organizations in the UK. It means bringing the Anabaptist Network, Urban Expression, Workshop, Ekklesia, the Wood Green Mennonite Church and the leaders of possible Mennonite centres in York and Northern Ireland together to work jointly on our vision for the future. Once we have done that, we can determine the role that each partner can or should play in that vision. Only then can we at the LMC begin looking at our strategic plan for the next five years. This might mean some changes for us. It might mean focusing our energies on areas where we can do things the others can’t do. For example, I see the excellent work of Bridge Builders not only continuing but expanding in the years ahead with at least two full-time staff (which might happen as early as next January). And I see Metanoia, already one of the best Anabaptist book shops in the world, getting even better, and the same with our excellent library. But I don’t feel that we need to do everything, and so we may drop or decrease some of our other activities while taking on some new ones. Whatever the outcome of the visioning meeting, it will be held here at the LMC on the 3rd of July, with representatives from all of the groups mentioned.
Networking and working more closely with other groups seem to have developed into the major themes of my own dreams for the future of the LMC. Not only would I like to see us working more closely with other Anabaptists in the country, including stronger connections to northern England and Northern Ireland, but I’d also like to see us working more closely with other denominations with whom our contact has been somewhat limited, like the Quakers, so I’m excited that a joint Anabaptist/Quaker conference is being planned for the spring of next year. And I’d also like to see us take advantage of cheap airfares and my knowledge of German and experience of living in Germany to work more closely with German and other Continental Mennonites. I believe the LMC can play a leading role in bringing European Mennonites together, especially in the areas of peace and theology. My presence on the Continent, during three trips in the past six months, has already been the catalyst for a number of discussions among European Mennonites, especially concerning the future of German Mennonites and what it means for them to be a peace church. There is talk of starting Mennonite centres of some kind in Berlin and Barcelona and, if you include Bienenberg, that would give us five centres on the Continent and maybe three in the UK, enough to build a network of support and to co-ordinate some exciting activities for Mennonites from all across Europe. The first thing on the agenda is a European Mennonite Theological Forum which will be held here on the 4th of March, 2004, coinciding with J. Denny Weaver’s visit to London for a Cross-Currents seminar two days later. The Forum will be on the topic of atonement, which will also be the subject of the German Mennonite theological study days in October of this year. I already have commitments from Mennonite theologians in France, Switzerland, Germany and Finland to attend the Forum. There have also been discussions of more practical ways of working together that might have an impact on Mennonite cooperation in the future, for example small groups of young adults doing week-long work projects at the LMC. This is a way of getting the word out in Germany that there are Mennonites and Anabaptists in the UK. Another way is a major article on the LMC’s 50th anniversary in Die Bruecke, the German Mennonite periodical. That issue will be published in the next few weeks.
Mennonites believe that peace and justice lie at the very heart of the gospel of Jesus, so I would like to see the LMC continue to be very active in this area. For that reason, I have accepted the invitation to be the vice-chairperson of the International Church & Peace and to become an active member of the European Mennonite Peace Committee. The LMC is a member of these organizations but has not always played an active role in them. The attack on Iraq resulted in invitations from all over the country to speak on what it means to be a peace church in times of war. I believe these opportunities will continue in the years ahead and we need to take advantage of them.
We at the LMC also have dreams of having a larger meeting space like this one.
So those are some of my hopes and dreams for the future of the LMC. Now it’s time to hear about yours.
Vic
Thiessen
June 2003
