New executive director speaks at Global Mission Dinner

International guests at the Global Mission Dinner, with Sharon Brugger Norton, executive director of Global Mission at the podium. Speaking in the microphone is Daniel Mbaya, president of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Photo by Donna Parcell

By Frank Ramirez

There were many languages spoken around the tables at the Global Mission Dinner held during Annual Conference, as international guests from several countries joined Sharon Brugger Norton, the new executive director of Global Mission for the Church of the Brethren, under the umbrella of Rev. 21:1-5, “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

Norton recounted how many times various kinds of trees appear in the Bible. She focused on the tree in Revelation 21. “God has always chosen to partner with us. God does not choose to work alone,” she said, pointing out that trees are not made of a solitary leaf but of many leaves. “We need each other. We need our global Brethren as well.”

Sharing photos from recent trips to Africa, she shared stores of resettlement and hope. In addition, she spoke about the stories she heard about the Dominican Republic’s aquaculture, planting trees in Honduras, the Haiti Medical Project, and many more.

“Why do we do this?” she asked. “Because Jesus modeled the Gospel of Peace.”

That tree in Revelation promises clean water, fruit in all seasons, healing, and light from the presence of God. “All our needs are met in Jesus,” the Lamb of God, the one who is worthy. But it is the very weakness of Jesus that makes our salvation and our redemption possible, she said. Contrasting what we find in scripture with the Jesus of Christian Nationalism, she reminded her listeners, “Jesus always chose the nonviolent way. The witness in the EYN has taught us this as well. I feel like it is time for a wake-up call.

“We need to stay close with our global brothers and sisters so we together can be the leaves of healing for the nations.”

*The Nigerian contingent at the Global Mission Dinner cut a special cake with their hosts from the denominational staff of the US Church of the Brethren. Photo by Donna Parcell*

Also speaking were Daniel Mbaya, president of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), and Etienne Nsanzimana, founding pastor and current president of the Rwanda Church of the Brethren.

“I love the Brethren church because of two things. What do you say? Love and peace,” said Nsanzimana, who told the story about his excitement on learning about the Church of the Brethren from a missionary to Nigeria. Learning that the church taught love and peace. he continued, “Peace and love is what I try to do in our Rwandan churches, and I have taught it to the people. Really, we can [teach] the world.”

Nsanzimana spoke about the difficult time “when the genocide came to Rwanda” and how he left with his family for Kenya. He clung to those verses from Revelation for the healing of the nation. At one point, he had to travel to the Congo to find an older daughter, with whom he returned to Kenya. Afterward, “I went to a very good church, the Church of the Brethren. May God bless you.”

“On behalf of all of us at [EYN] headquarters I give you greetings,” said Mbaya. “Love and peace in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Without God, the EYN would not be here today,” he said, recounting the persecution from Boko Haram and how the Church of the Brethren in the United States has aided the recovery of EYN to the point where it is helping resettle people from other nations into places of safe sanctuary in Nigeria. “Despite the deaths of so many women, children, and men,” he said, “your prayers and support have helped the church to grow in the midst of persecution.” EYN “shows the love of Christ, other churches want to learn from us,” he said. Despite the crushing inflation Nigerians are enduring, the 102-year-old EYN continues to grow and flourish.

— Frank Ramirez is a retired pastor and a volunteer on the Annual Conference Press Team.

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