Mennonites Faith-Based Program to be Official Military Service Alternative

EP News--- Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) will become the first faith-based service organization recognized by the United States Selective Service System as a member of the Alternative Service Employer Network (ASEN) for conscientious objectors.

On Apr. 20, at San Antonio Mennonite Church, MVS will sign an agreement with the United States Selective Service System to become a member of the ASEN. This event marks the first ASEN signing in 25 years. If a military draft is ever reinstated, MVS is an officially recognized agency capable of hosting alternative service workers or conscientious objectors.

Lawrence Romo, Selective Service director; Stanley Green, Mennonite Mission Network executive director; and Hugo Saucedo, director of MVS, will sign the agreement, culminating years of talks and negotiations between MVS and the Selective Service.

MVS is a program of Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA. Since 1946, the program has allowed adults to serve their country through community service alongside churches and neighborhoods across the United States. Currently, 93 participants serve in 22 different U.S. cities.

Mennonite Voluntary Service is rooted in the Anabaptist faith tradition which emphasizes peace, justice and service as important components of the Christian faith journey. Mennonites have a long history of conscientious objection to war.

“This event gives us a formal avenue as a denomination to have expanded job assignments for our young people to perform this conscientious objector obligation,” said Saucedo. “It’s particularly important for young African-American and Latino American Mennonites who broader society doesn’t always recognize as Mennonite. We know that minorities are disproportionately represented in the armed forces, and this agreement gives them an extra level of assurance that they will be treated equally in the event of a draft.”

Mennonite Church USA includes more than 109,000 members, 939 congregations and 21 conferences in 44 states. Last year, Mennonite Mission Network hosted more than 140 people through service programs like MVS. As of December 2009, Mission Network worked with more than 120 international workers alongside partners in more than 50 countries. Mission Network facilitates short-term and longer-term experiences for more than 3,300 service participants in more than 100 locations around the United States annually.
(4/20/2010)

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