A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

ew exceptions the same critique can be levelled at North American missions at large. Recog- nizing that we have company does not diminish the problem. Important voices speaking from home and abroad need to be heard. Are we not obligated, as we plead for more mission- aries, to also insure that we change the image of the North 278 MISSIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF CHANGE American missionary? Our task is not merely to send mission- aries, but to build self-sustaining units of the kingdom of God. The Church in Panama One example of Mennonite Brethren missionaries playing the role of catalyst within an existing culture is the work of Ja- cob Loewen and David Wirsche in Panama. In 1958 when they began employing that approach for evangelizing the Indi- ans in Colombia and Panama, they met strong resistance. As a mission administrator, I too was resistant. The departure from the conventional pattern of "doing missions" was for me and others too radical. Could the gospel be communicated without a missionary in residence and without providing structure? It was a leap of faith. The missionaries would go to Panama only for several months at a time and then leave it the Holy Spirit to nurture the seed they had planted. They taught the Indians to read and produced literature for them, including translating parts of the New Testament. John and Janice Goertz and oth- ers who followed understood the approach. They served effec- tively as catalysts. The church in Panama today stands as a wit- ness to the effectiveness of the catalyst approach. THE DAWN OF CHANGE Other good steps have been taken towards fuller realiza- tion of "Partnership in Obedience." Partnership with our brothers and sisters in India and Zaire is gradually developing, encouraged by political circumstances. We need to give thanks for the church in Japan. There also have been grow- ing conversations about new forms of partnership. The meet- ings with national leaders in Brazil in 1988, and during the Mennonite World Conference in Winnipeg in 1990 marked a good beginning. Of special significance was the meeting con- vened by Juan Veron in Asuncion, Paraguay in July 1992, when Mennonite Brethren leaders from North America met with national church representatives from Asia, Africa and 279 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH South America. The meeting of the Board of Missions/Ser- vices in the fall of 1992 probed deeply into the status of Men- nonite Brethren missions around the world and initiated a re- view. Present were leaders of several national churches: Vedulla K, Rufus, India; Takao Nakamura,