• The Mission Commission appointed José Arrais of Portugal to a newly created part-time role as coordinator of networks. He is the contact person for the agencies and organizations of the Global Mission Fellowship and the Global Anabaptist Service Network and works closely with Mission Commission secretary Rafael Zaracho.

• At their annual meeting, from 18–19 May 2018, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, the Global Anabaptist-Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) management board agreed on a plan for increasing the number of articles by authors from the global church. In collaboration with Mennonite World Conference’s annual Renewal 2027 event, GAMEO will solicit 20 new articles each year from writers in the country that hosts the commemoration event. This year, Francis Ojwang, co-author of Forward in Faith: A Seventy-Year Journey, 1942-2012 (a history of Kenyan Mennonite Church), has agreed to write a series of congregational and biographical profiles from Kenya. Editors will also update theological articles during the coming year, while also moving forward with targeted updates of several North American Anabaptist groups.

• The second Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival (GMPC II) will take place at Mennorode, Elspeet, The Netherlands, 27–30 June 2019. Endorsed by the Peace Commission, the conference will launch MWC’s emerging Global Anabaptist Peace Network (GAPN). The event provides a space for interaction among academics, church workers, practitioners, artists, among others who work for peace with an Anabaptist perspective. Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit (Mennonite church in the Netherlands), Doopsgezind Seminarium (Mennonite seminary Amsterdam) and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam are conference hosts. Click here for more information.

• From 16–19 October 2018, Faith Action for Children on the Move – Global Partners Forum will be held in Rome, Italy. The Global Church Partners Forum will provide a platform to bring together a diverse group of Christian faith-based organisations to reflect on their respective contributions to end violence against children as it relates to children on the move (forcibly displaced internally or refugees). MWC is one of the 14 partners. Click here for more information.

• The Francophone Network, a hub for French-language Anabaptist communities, periodically posts stories on the MWC website in French. The latest article there by Neal Blough explains considerations for the French Mennonite church to join the French Protestant Federation and its evangelical counterpart.

—Mennonite World Conference release