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Indonesia is home to the oldest Mennonite community outside of Europe and North America. Author John D. Roth traces the 170-year history of Mennonites in Indonesia alongside the larger cultural and religious history of the country. By placing the legacy of European colonization from the sixteenth century to national independence in 1945 beside the history of the Dutch Mennonite mission to Indonesia in the nineteenth century, Roth creates a rich narrative tapestry. A Cloud of Witnesses traces the emergence of the three Mennonite-related groups found today in Indonesia. Like all churches, they have each integrated the good news of the gospel with the local culture, ethnic identity, religious currents, and national history in a distinctive way. >A Cloud of Witnesses helps to orient other members of the global Anabaptist-Mennonite church to the history and identity of this unique group of churches while also providing practical travel tips, recipes, reference notes on culture and language and tourist sites--making it the perfect accompaniment for those who plan to travel to Indonesia for Mennonite World Conference in the summer of 2022. Selamat dating!

Racism feeds on denial. Lament moves us to tell the truth. And the truth can set us free. Stories of racial injustice fill our news feeds. Yet for too long many in the church have been hesitant to speak up about racism in its many forms. We fear offending others, of using the wrong words, of not knowing what to say. In Lamenting Racism, a team of leading pastors and theologians invite us into the transformative and motivating practice of biblical lament as a powerful way to confront racism. Through their conversations in six thought-provoking videos, they name that God's people of every race are called to consider how we have been shaped and formed by race, and they guide us into experiencing lament as an anti-racism practice. Encouraging congregations to reclaim the lost art of biblical lament, these pastors and theologians model a powerful way to pour out the fear, shame, grief, and rage of racism as we cry out to God in prayer. In the process, we will be transformed and motivated to reclaim hope and to act for a world shaped by God's inclusive vision of love and blessing. This six-session study invites church groups to engage in the practice of biblical lament as a powerful tool in the church's struggle against racism.

#MeToo. #ChurchToo. #GodToo? What if survivors of sexualized violence experience the Bible as a powerful spiritual resource rather than an oppressive tool in the hands of those seeking to dismiss or justify abuse? Bible scholar Susannah Larry leads fellow survivors and those who care for them in a journey toward reclaiming the Bible amid the trauma of sexualized violence. Leaving Silence: Sexualized Violence, the Bible, and Standing with Survivors is an unflinching examination of sexualized violence in the Bible and the God who stands steadfastly with survivors. Larry addresses biblical experiences of coercion, familial betrayal, and self-blame while also illuminating God's constant care and concern. ​By centering the experiences of survivors in Scripture, Larry opens new insights into some of the Bible's most difficult texts and releases its ancient stories to serve as a powerful healing witness to the God who has shared in the experience of sexualized violence. Under Larry's skillful guidance, readers will rediscover the God who is present in experiences of trauma and who desires ultimate wholeness for survivors.

Longing for permission to be real about your own needs and struggles? Permission granted. As good Christian moms, we're not supposed to ask for much. Jesus meets all our needs and we're the light of the world to everybody else, right? Wrong. Shari Zook appeared to be an overachieving supermom who deftly supported her pastor-husband and their congregation, looked after their children, and cared for foster children through the ups and downs of placements. But inside, her world was growing increasingly desperate as she struggled with the grief of miscarriage, parenting a difficult child, and spiraling depression. ​ In her darkest hour, Zook let go of her need to appear super-human and reached out to receive God's unfolding grace. With humor and artistry, Peanut Butter and Dragon Wings gives us permission to step out from behind the appearance of rose-filtered perfection and embrace the authenticity of honest need and human limitations. In the book's twelve chapters you'll find twelve practical ways to reach for a faith that includes doubt, and holiness that includes failure.

Are you tongue-tied about faith? Many Christians easily and eagerly talk about movies, sports, politics, jobs, and emotions. So why are we tongue-tied when it comes to talking about our faith--even with each other? Even with our kids? What renders us incapable, embarrassed, or hesitant to talk about God? In Tongue-tied, theologian and former seminary president Sara Wenger Shenk investigates the reasons that people who claim the name of Christ are so reluctant to talk about him. Recovering an authentic vocabulary of faith--and learning to speak in trustworthy, captivating ways--is an urgent task for followers of Jesus today. In an era of dying churches, polarizing cultural arguments, and environmental and humanitarian crises, many people are longing for deep conversations about things that matter. We are longing for genuine spiritual connection with a just and loving God. By reflecting theologically on biblical wisdom and our shared humanness, Wenger Shenk calls readers to recover the winsome language of Christian faith. We don't need to re-learn Christianese or brush up on churchy clichés. We need a language of faith that is authentic, candid, and robust enough to last.

How can you help the poor when you can barely pay your own bills? Pastor Kevin Wiebe grew up below the poverty line, with his mother hunting for change in the couch to buy food for the baby. Wiebe now pastors a "low-resource" church of mostly immigrants--a congregation that transcends definitions of the helper and the helped and that doesn't fit neatly into any stereotype of poverty. In Faithful in Small Things, Wiebe shows readers that writing big checks isn't the only--or even the best--way to alleviate poverty. Along the way, he shines a spotlight on the value of small acts of love as a means of changing the world, and as vitally important to following Jesus. Investigating scriptural definitions of poverty and God's heart for the poor throughout the Bible, Wiebe calls readers not only to "help the needy" but to acknowledge their own need and to work with God to serve others. By delving into concepts like brokenness, mutuality, dignity, and systemic injustice, Wiebe exposes gaps in the mainstream Christian understandings of economic inequality and explores holistic ways of reducing poverty. In doing so, he provides a better way forward for Christians committed to working for the flourishing of all. Jesus ministered to the poor, Jesus was poor. If both are true of our Savior, both can be true of us too.

Do you ever think you're forgetting how to talk about God? Or never learned how? Theology is nothing more--and nothing less--than speaking together about God. Still, a lot of us don't know where to start. In Speaking of God, pastor and theologian Anthony Siegrist helps readers recover a basic language around Christian theology. The sweeping epic of Scripture serves as the scaffold for this accessible book. In vivid and even humorous writing, Siegrist introduces us to scholars and pilgrims and traditions that disclose essential truths about God and Jesus Christ, as well as concepts like creation, sin, redemption, the church, and discipleship. By plumbing the works of theologians such as Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Antonia Gonzalez, and Kazoh Kitamori, Siegrist offers readers an introduction to Christian theology throughout the ages, emphasizing common threads of thought and practice across traditions. Learning to talk about God requires courage and humility; this handbook of Christian theology will help you gain both. Join the deepest, longest conversation in the world.

Journey through Advent and Christmas with the women of Jesus' family line. Christmas is about so much more than twinkle lights, sugar cookies, and perfect family photos. It's about the world-changing, transforming, and sometimes messy reality of "God with us." As we dive deep into the biblical accounts of Jesus' female ancestors and reflect on God's presence in their complicated lives, we can begin to release our expectations of a "perfect Christmas" and instead seek the experience of a holy season. Through invitational spiritual practices and reflections, this daily devotional centers the stories of five women in Jesus' genealogy--Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary--plus three additional female figures connected to Jesus' early life in the days leading up to Epiphany. You will also find resources for exploring the lives of these women in worship, small group, and retreat settings. This Advent and Christmas season, step into the true power of the Incarnation as we journey together to the manger and encounter the omnipotent God who has come to us in the vulnerable Christ-child. ​Original artwork by Michelle Burkholder

Is nonviolence irresponsible? Is peacemaking naïve? From one of the most respected and prophetic voices in Christianity today comes Speak Your Peace. Ronald J. Sider, author of the influential Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, plumbs Scripture, building a persuasive case that Jesus meant what he said when he commanded us to love our enemies. With candor and logic, Sider takes on enduring questions about violence and nonviolence, showing how the contemporary church in a warring world has largely set aside Jesus' call to love our enemies and traded its birthright in Christ for a stew of nationalism and militarism. But ignoring what Jesus said about killing is a huge theological mistake. Returning us to the inescapable call of the Son of God, Sider reminds the church of its true vocation in a world of hatred and war.

A fresh view into a life that is anything but simple. What does the life of an Amish woman really look like? Over the course of a decade, author Judy Stavisky, a curious outsider, spent hundreds of hours getting to know the women of Pennsylvania's Lancaster County Amish community to find out the answer to this question. She joined mothers and grandmothers, unmarried women and teens, on their shopping excursions for household items, fabric, and groceries. They drove miles between undulating fields and shared hundreds of hours of conversation on everyday topics--laughing together about sneaking healthier entrees into their family's evening meals, sharing concerns about their children, and trading family remedies for persistent coughs. As relationships evolved into enduring friendships, she grew to understand firsthand how Amish women bind their families and communities together. In Plain View draws the reader inside a community governed by faith and separated by time, taking a closer look at the roles Amish women assume within their families and community, their fierce work ethic, and their camaraderie. Hundreds of years of shared traditions comes to life through a personal connection with Amish women, their own soft voices gently opening their world to an outsider.

Reformer. Revolutionary. Anabaptist. ​ After witnessing the failure of the peasants' movement in sixteenth-century Germany, Melchior Rinck was motivated by a passion to see both church and society reformed. His name appears in sixteenth-century lists of significant early Anabaptist leaders, but he has not received much scholarly attention. In this first full-length study of Rinck's life, relationships, ministry, debates, theological emphases, impact, and legacy, Stuart Murray paints a portrait of an underappreciated Anabaptist pioneer who did not fit neatly into any of the major branches of the movement but developed his own approach. Rinck was vehemently opposed to infant baptism because of the damage this practice did to church and society, more nuanced than many other Anabaptists in his views on church and state, and convinced that love was the supreme divine characteristic and the highest calling of humanity. The Legacy of Melchior Rinck contains previously untranslated writings and the first complete collection of extant works by and about Rinck, offering readers a comprehensive but readable introduction to Rinck's pioneering role in the unusually tolerant territory of Hesse and an opportunity to consider his legacy.