Sowing Seeds

“Every church a mission outpost.”

Born in Iowa in the 20th century, Joseph D. “J. D.” Graber was both a product of the Mennonite Church of his time and a visionary who helped shape Mennonite identity and engagement with the world. Nearly two decades of work in India reinforced Graber’s commitment to missionary witness and convicted him of the need for new attitudes and approaches for a postcolonial era—including in North America, where Graber cultivated the idea that congregations could be empowered to engage in local missions.

Sowing Seeds digs into Graber’s promotion of a “new day” in mission that shed colonial, paternalistic thinking and practice in favor of shared responsibility for missions. For Mennonites with a seclusionist posture, this new vision also offered a way to engage the world without forsaking faith values. Graber’s advocacy planted seeds for churches rooted in diverse ethnic traditions and cultures, nurturing commitments that reverberated through the church’s mission identity and activities even to the present day.

For Mennonites and other Christians whose faith motivates their work and community engagement, the story of “Mr. Missions of the Mennonite Church” provides insight into the development of Anabaptist faith and practice. For scholars seeking to understand the 20th-century growth of North America Mennonite engagement with the world, this biography illuminates initiatives that influenced the emerging global Anabaptist movement.