Hammer of hope rings for MDS's past and future - Agency celebrates 50 years showing love of Christ to disaster survivors

Mennonite Central Committee
Saturday, 10 June 2000

HESSTON, Kan. -- When 25-year-old Nathan Koslowsky hit a hammer on metal at the 50th anniversary of Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), he rang hope into the hearts of his elders that the young are catching the vision to serve.

Koslowsky and his wife, Danielle -- the youngest project directors in MDS, serving in a tornado-ravaged part of Little Rock, Ark. -- spoke during MDS 2000 on June 2-4 at Hesston College.

About 820 registrants helped mark five decades of inter-Mennonite response to disasters with practical help and loving hope in Christ.

Some members from the two Sunday school classes who birthed the vision for a disaster service in 1950 (first called Mennonite Service Organization/MSO) listened to the Koslowskys on June 3. The couple thanked their elders for inspiring them to serve, modeling how to serve and building an organization in which to serve.

Nathan Koslowsky hit the hammer on a railing in Yost Center and said that 2,000 years ago a hammer drove nails through "the wrists and ankles of our Savior, bringing hope."

He struck again: "Fifty years ago, a new hammer was picked up, bringing hope to survivors of disasters."

The sound echoed a third time: "Today, generations of the future take the hammer from tired hands and carry on the vision, pounding away at the homelessness and lostness in the world today."

Anna Ruth and Howard Beck of Hesston attended MDS 2000, where they met the Koslowskys. The Becks were part of the Sunday school classes from the former Pennsylvania Mennonite Church (now Whitestone in Hesston) and Hesston Mennonite Church who held a summer picnic in Harvey County Park to discuss organizing a disaster service.

Some participants in Civilian Public Service during World War II wanted an avenue for disaster response, Anna Ruth Beck said.

But they never envisioned it would eventually spark an inter-Mennonite, continent-wide agency. "In our wildest thoughts and imaginations, we never thought it [MDS] would grow to such large proportions," Anna Ruth Beck said.

"We were just trying to be faithful. I don't think we gave it a lot of thought. We just did what we felt we could do and left the results to the Lord."

The Becks remember MSO's first project in 1951, when 30-plus Mennonite men from several churches in the Hesston area responded to a flood in Wichita. They did sand-bagging in neighborhoods threatened by the Little Arkansas River.

"The whole community got involved," she said. "We left our children at home on the farm with their grandparents, while we women went to take sandwiches and drinks to the men at midnight."

MDS 2000 included large-group sessions in Yost Center on Friday and Saturday mornings. Keynote speakers, MDS regional representatives, recipients of disaster relief and representatives of other groups spoke.

Groups included the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Friends Disaster Service, Church World Service and Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.

Other Friday activities included afternoon workshops and an evening banquet in Hutchinson, Kan., attended by about 1,155 people. On Saturday, participants took afternoon tours and attended evening reunions.

On Sunday, people enjoyed an outdoor worship service and picnic. The service included a report about the youth service project at Morning Star Ranch near Florence, Kan., and singing by the Amish Mennonite Kansas Youth Chorus.

People discussed how MDS could best pass the hammer of service onto the next generation.

The 21st century is vastly different from the simple farm communities of the 1950s, many said. Advanced technology has brought new possibilities, but a modern lifestyle has brought new challenges.

"We are facing a challenging transition," said C. Nelson Hostetter, who served as MDS's first full-time executive coordinator from 1971 to 1986.

"We are moving from spontaneity and... concern for others because of a motivation of servanthood, to the need for more organization and structure to be able to respond to today's complex disaster scene," he said.

"It's so beautiful, the way the whole thing started out, by a leading of the Spirit and servanthood... and I hope we don't lose that purity of service done in the name of Christ.

"But changes are needed, and I'm glad to see that Tom Smucker [current executive coordinator] and his staff and volunteers are making them."

The Koslowskys brought MDS founders and leaders hope that the young will continue to answer the call to serve. Their elders gave the Koslowskys the wisdom and perspective needed for the next 50 years.

The Koslowskys grew up in Winnipeg, Man. Nathan's home congregation is River East Mennonite Brethren Church. Danielle grew up in a Catholic home.

"I thank you, the original MDS, for building an organization that has given me the opportunity [to serve]," said Danielle.

Nathan Koslowsky said: "They have really inspired us.... Our whole first speech [scrapped in favor of the one using the hammer metaphor] was all about the need for vision, going places, doing things.

"But after talking with them, I realized that this was a bunch of ordinary people just being themselves. It's so simple."

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org