Carrie Mast, a Mennonite from Bluffton, Ohio, recently wrote a post for Bearing Witness about the process of adapting the story of martyr Jacques d’Auchy into a dramatic script with her husband, Gerald Mast, and their children. Her original post prompted a follow-up conversation with her and Gerald on teaching the Martyrs Mirror to children. We don’t Keep Reading…
Mennonite pastor Nelson Kraybill originally published the following reflection on his blog, Holy Land Peace-Pilgrim, after a trip to El Salvador in October. He has graciously agreed to share his reflection with Bearing Witness. This week an unscheduled airline layover in Central America gave me a day to explore sites related to the life and death Keep Reading…
In today’s guest post, Carrie Mast writes about developing a dramatic adaptation of the stories of Jacques d’Auchy from the Martyrs Mirror with her husband, Gerald, and their children. You can find their script, I Have Not Forsaken the Word of God: Jacques D’Auchy’s Confessional Struggle, at the conclusion of the post. Earlier this year, my husband, Keep Reading…
Although most of the stories of the Bearing Witness site come from decades, or even centuries, ago, we also highlight current, ongoing stories of costly discipleship through this blog and our Facebook page. In those spaces over the past few months, we’ve featured the stories of two young men—one a Mennonite from South Korea and Keep Reading…
Last week’s post on the main Bearing Witness site narrated the outlines of Russian Mennonite Jakob Aron Rempel’s journey from visible church leader to Soviet prisoner. After a successful career as a professor and church representative, the last twelve years of Rempel’s life were spent in prisons, labor camps, and even a brief period in Keep Reading…
Today’s post is focused on the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) and their experiences amidst the violence that currently wracks northern Nigeria. The Church of the Brethren (US) has identified next week (August 17-24) as a week of prayer and fasting for the EYN and for the violence in Nigeria more generally. Keep Reading…
We are pleased to welcome Chester Weaver as guest author of today’s post. Weaver is principal of the Hebron Christian Day School (LaGrange, Ind.) and a member of Rosewood Fellowship, a Beachy Amish congregation in Shipshewana, Ind. He is also a member of the Bearing Witness Steering Committee. Weaver has collected for us a descriptive list of Keep Reading…
Jacques D’Auchy was a highly-educated Dutch martyr, whose argumentation before his inquisitor constitutes an important confession for understanding the development of Mennonite theology and belief in the 1500s. Despite D’Auchy’s compelling testimony, however, the Jan Luyken engraving that accompanies D’Auchy’s story in the Martyrs Mirror is not focused on him, but on his wife and Keep Reading…
Over the past few weeks, we’ve shared on the blog and on Facebook about Sang-Min Lee, a young Mennonite from South Korea who has refused to fulfill his mandatory military service, as a matter of faith and conscience. On April 30th, Sang-Min was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month prison term. Many people around the Keep Reading…
One of the complications of telling martyr stories is that they can deepen current divisions and animosities. In a letter sent to Mennonite educators and historical societies in January of this year, representatives from Mennonite World Conference acknowledged that the way we tell and remember stories of costly discipleship from within our tradition has an Keep Reading…