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This summer more than 300 young people joined together in 18 MVS camps in Western Europe. These young people not only said they were interested in their neighbor but wanted to prove their concern while learning to know him better. They expressed their convictions positively through constructing buildings such as houses for refugees, churches, children’s homes and kindergartens, while at the same time bridging abysses of fear and mistrust which had existed. Thus
begins the first paragraph of the MVS Newsletter, November 1960
editorial, written by LaMar Reichert, MVS director in 1959-60. Reichert
expresses rather clearly and concisely the major outlines of a
significant youth movement that begin in posts World War II in Europe,
which subsequently expanded worldwide. Through this connection, the idea of voluntary service was imported and expanded in North America by the three Historic Peace Churches, although other denominations also began to experiment with the idea. Then again ironically, the voluntary service idea and vision from the HPC perspective was reintroduced into Europe immediately following World War II. This intriguing development will become evident as the Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) story unfolds in the following pages. The magnitude and contribution of voluntary service today around the world is simply astounding. When the words voluntary service are Googled, the number of organizations, the types of programs, and the areas of the world in which they operate must be seen to be believed. A scholarly article entitled “International Voluntary Service: Diplomacy, Development, Aid, or Self-Service?” reviews some of the leading literature on voluntary service. They conclude “international (voluntary) service has incredible potential as a social and economic development strategy.” They also say that “More descriptive work is needed to assess exactly what these programs do and how they do it.” This brief book focuses on a narrow slice of the worldwide voluntary service movement which has a unique and brief history. It reviews the history of Mennonite Voluntary Service in Europe and analyzes the reasons for its short life. The substance of the story will also heighten and then explain the “intriguing mystery” surrounding its rather sudden demise, or rather the transmogrification of MVS into other forms through which voluntary service continued to thrive in Europe and spread around the whole world. The European MVS story will also contribute to the understandings of the vision, nature, structure, and functions of voluntary service activities of the larger voluntary service movement, but of course from a unique faith perspective. This is also a personal story. In January 1950, MCC sent me to Europe as a voluntary service worker for two years without a defined job or work. I had no idea what I was in for but trusted MCC and anticipated some excitement. I arrived in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on the Veendam on January 17. After I passed through customs, an MCC worker loaded my baggage in the new Chevrolet van and drove through the city toward MCC headquarters. Parts of Rotterdam were a surreal moonscape. Only the main streets had been cleared for traffic. The cityscape was unbelievable; there was hardly a building standing in the city near the port, and those that remained were heavily damaged. All the preparations I had received at MCC headquarters in Akron, Pennsylvania, did not prepare me fully for the emotional shock. I participated in the beginning of the MVS movement starting in March 1950 until December 1952 but have remained in touch with MVS through the years. I left the organization with considerable nostalgia and anxiousness, totally enamored of the excitement and significance of the work. Among the many highly rewarding personal consequences of the MVS experience was the opportunity to relate and to fellowship with so many people of all ages and stations, many of whom became my dear friends. And traveling in Europe in subsequent years has been almost a hallowed experience, for I could revisit friends I had learned to know almost in every corner of Europe. I am still in touch with many, although the number is decreasing due to the limits of mortality. In addition, being exposed to and immersed in the magnificent culture of Europe changed my worldview indelibly. I can still vividly remember hearing for the first time Bach’s “Cantata and Fugue in Dm” in the Frankfurter Dom, soon after my arrival. My attempt to come to grips with the termination of MVS has helped me to understand how history evolves. It can be expressed through the injunction of the writer of Hebrews: “For here we have no permanent home, but we are seekers after the city which is to come” (Heb. 13:14). Seeking the permanency of human efforts is futile. But seeking the city which is to come is based on beginning to implement on earth the eternal goals and the eternal means needed to achieve them. I have tried to present as accurate a picture as possible, though I was deeply involved in the story only at the beginning. It would of course be better if someone more detached and unbiased could write it. And it is my hope that someone will take up the challenge. But there is a need for deeper analysis, for if no one accepts the challenge soon, much of the personal experience will be lost and the movement may well be forgotten. So this is my contribution to keeping that memory alive. I
have been helped in making it by many, including Hans-Joachim Wienss,
for much invaluable information; Bob Lee for counsel; Loyal Klassen;
for the fine photographs. My heartfelt thanks go to them as well as to
Verna Goering, Milton Harder, Loyal Klassen, Bob Lee, La Mar
Reichert, Ray Kauffman, and Howard Birky for publication
subsidies. |
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