On May 17-19 the Mosaic Conference Board met at Bethany Birches Camp (Plymouth, VT) for an offsite, in-person retreat. The Conference Board, which meets 6 times a year, supervises the business of the conference, including conference committees, and ensures that the conference is maintaining alignment with its vision and following the lead of the Spirit into areas of growth and change.
The group gathered for worship, prayer, relationship building, and an equipping session on discernment and decision making, led by Mosaic Leadership Ministers Rose Bender Cook and Noel Santiago. The board also affirmed the Anchor Statements from the Pathway Team Strategic Plan.
The anchor statements form the framework for the strategic plan, which is currently being developed by the Pathway Steering Team with support from the consultant organization Grovider. The anchor statements cover five areas: reconciliation, leadership development, relationship building, clarity/identity, and communication and articulates how Mosaic will work toward those five areas. Each anchor statement has corresponding objectives and activities in the strategic plan that are currently under development. (download the Anchor Statements here in English, Spanish or Bahasa Indonesia)
“I affirm the hard work, which is not fast work, of the Pathway Steering Team to attend to all of the details of creating the strategic plan,” shares Conference Moderator Angela Moyer Walter. “They have been discerning tangible steps for us to live into our vision, to embody the reconciling love of Jesus in our broken and beautiful world.”
During the board meeting, members of the board echoed this sense of affirmation of the frequent meeting, listening, discernment, and planning that the Pathways Steering Team has done. They affirmed the process so far and invoked God’s continued blessing on the work.
“The Pathways team has gone through the forming, norming, and storming stages, and I think we are entering the performing stage,” reflects Kiron Mateti (Plains [Hatfield, PA]), board member and member of the Pathway Steering Team. “Getting concrete steps on paper is encouraging. All these strategic words are a little new to me, but they are just tools to communicate the concrete ways Mosaic can live out our Mission and Vision, keeping our Missional, Formational, and Intercultural Priorities in mind.”
Mateti continued, “The session with Rose and Noel could not have come at a better time. I am quick to enter “decision-making” mode and weigh the data and steps in a logical way but entering into “discernment” is a practice and a habit. As Noel put it, ‘discernment is what God reveals and decision-making is what we do with that.’”
The full strategic plan, and a recommendation around the question of affiliation with Mennonite Church USA, will be brought by the Pathway Steering Team to the board meeting on August 19. By the end of August, the board will set the agenda for the November Assembly.
“Now is the time for praying for the Pathways Steering Team. These commitments are the crux of moving forward together as Mosaic, and they give me hope,” Moyer Walter reflected.
We encourage you to reach out to your Lead Ministers, or the Pathway Team members, with your questions and feedback.
This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)