Mennonite World Conference (MWC) is inviting Anabaptist-related churches around the world to observe Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday (AWFS) Jan. 19, 2020. This is a day to observe a common theme in a worship service as an act of solidarity.
Many churches choose to celebrate on the Sunday closest to Jan. 21, the date in 1525 when Christians in Zurich, Switzerland, held a baptismal service that launched the renewal movement known today as Anabaptism.
New this year, MWC has added “Anabaptist” to the title, which is designed to help explain who MWC is calling to fellowship together.
“AWFS is an opportunity to remind our communities of faith that we are all part of one body made up of many tribes, languages and nations,” says MWC general secretary César García, referencing Revelation 7:9 and Galatians 3:28. “It is an invitation to visibly proclaim that now there is no discrimination among us on the basis of race, social status or gender. It is a special day on which to show that we are living a new life in a new society where we mutually support one another, carry those who suffer, serve the world and interdependently learn from one another what it means to follow Jesus. On this day, we celebrate that, in Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the cultural and national boundaries that separate us have been overcome by the cross.”
The theme for AWFS 2020 is “Jesus Christ: Our Hope.” Each year, different churches that are part of the global MWC community prepare guiding material that can be used for AWFS. This year, material has been prepared out of the experience of churches in the United States and Canada and contains biblical texts, prayers, song suggestions, sermon ideas and stories.
Resources may be found at www.mwc-cmm.org/awfs.
Mennonite World Conference is a communion of Anabaptist-related churches linked to one another in a worldwide community of faith for fellowship, worship, service, and witness. USMB is a member conference of this global ministry.
