Area Mennonite pastors cooking up breakfast for Mongolia, Feb. 20
In December of 1993, Smithville Mennonite member Laura Schlabach became the first volunteer mission worker to embark on a trip around the globe to Mongolia. As a long-term volunteer to the mission, Schlabach became instrumental in the church’s outreach to a nation where Christianity was nearly nonexistent at the time.As a way to support Schlabach’s work, then-Smithville pastor Glenn Steiner challenged the congregation to go beyond just giving, and developed a monthly prayer breakfast and newsletter for Schlabach.
Thus began the support for Mongolia Mission in Wayne and Holmes counties. Since that time, a number of other area Mennonite churches have joined in the effort to reach out to the people of Mongolia through the Mongolia Mission Partnership. The public will have their chance to help support this noble cause at the annual Mongolia Mission Partnership pancake and sausage breakfast, which, as always, will be cooked by local pastors. The event will take place Saturday, Feb. 20, at Berlin Mennonite Church, from 7-10 a.m. The menu includes sausage, pancakes, ham and drink, and because all of the food has been donated by area churches, 100 percent of the proceeds will go toward benefitting mission work in Mongolia.
The list of participating Mennonite churches includes Smithville, Pleasant View, Walnut Creek, Moorhead, Martins Creek, Longenecker, and the host church, Berlin Mennonite.
Over the past four years, the event has helped raise close to $9,000 for missions, thanks to a steady stream of hungry patrons who might be as interested in seeing their church leaders hard at work serving up breakfast as they are in eating. The pastors oiled up the griddles and fired up the grills while preparing all of the food themselves, and the event has grown immensely from year to year.
According to Ernie Hershberger, pastor at Berlin Mennonite, “About 8:30, people start really pouring in, and we don’t let up. [Each year] we seem to have more people than ever before. We’re thrilled with the turnout and the support. We’ve been blessed to have this kind of support in a down economy. I guess pastors have a way of pulling money out of people.”
The goal of the network is to raise $115,000 annually to support mission work in Mongolia. They have managed to meet that goal over the past several years, and Hershberger said there are times when they wonder how they will do it, but each year, they seem to come through.
“It’s exciting to see God at work,” said Hershberger. “There are times when we have been $20,000 to $25,000 short with a month to go, but people seem to always come through when there is a need.”
The importance of this particular mission can be seen in the rapid growth of the church in Mongolia. In 1990 there were five Christians in Mongolia. Today there are well over 40,000 - and that number continues to grow at a brisk pace. The missionaries supported by the Mennonite churches in Mongolia have been an integral part of a quickly-spreading faith. The donations received through the breakfast will go to support missionary families through Mennonite Mission Network, such as the Drew and Mary Ellen (Beachy) Robinson family, who have been serving in Mongolia for years. The couple even have local connections, with Mary Ellen being from the Berlin area.