Mennonites have tradition of service

EPHRATA, Pa. - Members of the Mennonite church first came together 90 years ago to ship tractors and plows to fellow Mennonite farmers in Russia and the Ukraine, starving because of war.

Later, in war-torn Vietnam, or when a tsunami ravaged Indonesia or, most recently, when an earthquake wreaked havoc in Haiti, they were there to help the general population.

The Mennonite Central Committee has evolved into a global disaster response relief and community-building enterprise.

Aid worker Glen Lapp of Lancaster, who was slain last week in Afghanistan along with nine others, was one such Mennonite volunteer.

Motivated by faith and a philosophy of service, the Mennonites - cousins to the generally more conservative Amish - have come to be regarded as leaders on the international relief stage.

From its distribution center in Lancaster County, the committee runs a relief-response operation that ships millions of tons of supplies to almost every continent and mobilizes thousands of volunteers to disaster sites often before the headlines reach the general public.

Its sister group, the Mennonite Disaster Service, based in next-door Akron, helps rebuild communities in the United States after hurricanes, floods, and forest fires - and in a recent case, erased racial epithets spray-painted on a house in York.

The Mennonite Central Committee recently moved its East Coast headquarters to Philadelphia. The committee is funded mostly by individual Mennonites and their congregations, relief sales, and a network of more than 100 thrift shops, including two Circle Thrift stores in Philadelphia.

In addition, it is sustained by a massive volunteer effort despite the fact that there are fewer than 370,000 Mennonites in the United States and only about 1.5 million worldwide.

"We have a culture of service," said Ken Sensenig, assistant director for the Mennonite Central Committee East Coast. "Our belief is that we don't exist for our benefit but to benefit others."

It is that spirit that draws volunteers to the usually bustling distribution center in Ephrata each month to sort through bolts of fabric and clothes, pack school kits and health kits, shred books for paper, bundle blankets, and box canned meat. During peak periods, as many as 100 people a day help there.

Along one wall in the cinder-block warehouse are heavy blankets stacked floor to ceiling awaiting the next disaster.

Lapp was born in Honduras, where his parents served as Mennonite volunteers. He was a registered nurse, and one of only four volunteers to die in conflicts while serving with the Mennonite Central Committee.

The first was Clayton Kratz of Bucks County, who disappeared in 1920 while delivering tractors and plows to hungry Mennonite farmers in Russia.

Considering that the organization has sent workers into many war zones - including Vietnam, Sudan, and Bosnia - that small number seems to defy the odds.

Lapp was one of only two Mennonites currently working in Afghanistan and was among the first wave of Mennonites to go to Afghanistan when he arrived in 2008.

Lisa Schirch, a professor of peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., met Lapp in December in Kabul, when they stayed at the same guesthouse. They had many late-night discussions about safety and risks worth taking.

Schirch on Monday remembered Lapp as a "calm and very centered person."

"He was definitely careful but not one to be afraid or anxious at all," Schirch said. "I think he knew it was possibly dangerous but worth the risk, so he didn't spend lot of time worrying about it."

The Mennonite denomination traces its roots to the Swiss-German Protestant Reformation of the early 16th century.

Many Mennonites settled in the Germantown area, joining Quakers, who were similarly persecuted and shared the same antislavery and antiwar beliefs.

Most Mennonites are conventional Protestants who dress in regular clothing and drive, and live in neighborhoods with people outside the faith. But there are several subsets of conservative Mennonites. The most traditional, or "Old Order," eschew modern clothing and conveniences such as cars and electricity. The so-called "black bumper" Mennonites drive cars, but only own black vehicles and dress in traditional clothing.

In Philadelphia, where urban Mennonite congregations are growing, Sensenig said.

Despite its move to Philadelphia, the committee's distribution center - where a 1922 Fordson tractor and plow parked outside serve as reminders of the Mennonite legacy abroad - will remain in Lancaster County, where the bulk of its Mennonite and Amish labor force lives.

Sensenig said that in the wake of Lapp's death, the group will reevaluate its work in Afghanistan, but has no plans to pull out.

"They were little seeds of hope in a place with a lot of pain," Sensenig said of Lapp and the others. "We stand in solidarity with the people who have suffered."

Mennonite Central Committee officials and Schirch strongly dispute the idea that Lapp was trying to convert Muslims to Christianity - which is what the Taliban has said was its reason for killing the aid workers.

"Both Glen and I are Mennonites motivated by our faith, which teaches us to help people in need, turn the other cheek, and love your enemies," she said.

But converting them was not what MCC or the International Assistance Mission, the group Lapp was traveling with, does, she said.

"The Mennonites have a long history of positive relations with Muslims in many countries" and engage in "respectful exchanges" with people of other faiths. "We help build Muslim schools and try to promote good relations and dialogue. . . . Glen was a part of that."