Canadian Mennonite
Volume 11, No. 16
August 20, 2007
New handbook contains wisdom and humour
Scottdale, Pa.
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Seriously accurate and seriously funny were the editorial norms in creating a new Mennonite handbook for “all things Mennonite.” Combining reliable, historical and theological information alongside some fun facts, The Mennonite Handbook editors secured the help of conference leaders to provide reliable church history and theological information.
Brinton Rutherford, theological and historical leader for the Lancaster Conference, provided leadership in choosing church, theological and historical documents from the Beatitudes to the 2006 “core convictions” of the Mennonite World Conference. Karl Koop of Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, also served as a consultant in this capacity.
The editorial effort was headed up by Sarah Kehrberg of Lexington, Ky., a former editor of Herald Press, who, with a number of 20-something young adults, provided counsel on very practical tips for being a churchgoing follower of Jesus Christ.
Step-by-step instructions in the handbook include:
• How to get to know your pastor;
• How to sing a four-part hymn;
• How to listen to a sermon;
• What to bring to a church potluck;
• How to survive a church split;
• How to console someone; and,
• How to memorize a Bible verse.
The Mennonite Handbook, published by Herald Press, has come in for some high praise on both sides of the border.
Duke University theologian Stanley Hauerwas says, “A handbook with a sense of humour, as well as filled with wisdom.”
“This concise anthology of the Mennonite history, beliefs and practices is a rich mine of…ah, forget it—it’s a hoot,” enthuses Steve “Reece” Friesen, associate pastor of Eben-Ezer Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C. “Rookies will get questions answered and veterans will nod in appreciation as the mystery of ‘What’s up with us?’ gets unpackaged in this clever and easy-to-read book.”
“Where else can you find advice on how to stay alert in church, the meaning of baptism, communion and foot washing, sharing your faith and the text of the Schleitheim Confession—all between two covers?” asks Craig Carter of Toronto, Tyndale University College and Seminary religious studies professor and author of The Politics of the Cross: The Theology and Social Ethics of John Howard Yoder.
—Herald Press release
Author on Mennonite ‘mission impossible’
Winnipeg
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Arlette Kouwenhoven is on a nearly impossible mission to find a Mennonite family thread that can be traced from the Netherlands to Mexico. Although she has no personal connection with Mennonites, it is her personal passion for tracing the migration pattern of the Dutch diaspora that drives her.
As a student she wrote a thesis on her own faith background in the Dutch Reformed Church. This time she hopes a book on Mennonite migrations will result from her work. But even deeper than the diaspora, she has a keen interest in understanding the reasons why various religious groups have left the Netherlands over the centuries.
Her interest in Mennonites arose when her agriculturalist husband—with a special interest in yucca plants—came upon Mennonites in Mexico. As her first research stop, Kouwenhoven visited the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Winnipeg, a connection she made while doing research on the Internet.
Her task won’t be easy, according to Mennonite Heritage Centre director Alf Redekopp. “It’s been attempted before, but very few reliable threads have been found that trace a single family line back to Holland,” he says. “There is a Wiebe family that has potential, but there may have been many Wiebes in Holland in the 16th century.”
By the end of her six-day stay in Winnipeg, and with the help of Redekopp and archivist Conrad Stoesz, Kouwenhoven managed to come up with a hopeful lead in the DeFehr family. It is possible, she says, that the DeFehr family is descended from Jan de Veer in Holland, born in 1521 in the town of Veere, and also possible that there are relatives currently living in Mexico.
“It will now be a challenge to find a DeFehr family [in Mexico] that does link up with this line,” says Kouwenhoven. “Any help in this respect would be welcome.” She welcomes contact from readers who may have had success in reliably tracing their family roots to Holland. She can be reached at arlette@tiscali.nl.
In the end, Kouwenhoven’s goal is to “make a readable book for a large group of people who are interested in the history of the Mennonites. When reading about them, I think they deserve to have their history written down and to be known to a large group of people outside the Mennonite diaspora.”