For years, Plains Mennonite (Hatfield, PA) has invested in the next generation of leaders across Mosaic Mennonite Conference. Plains sets aside $10,000 annually in scholarships for BIPOC pastors and leaders attending Mennonite institutions. In 2025, for the first time, the congregation asked Mosaic to administer the funds.
“The Plains congregation is blessed to have a scholarship fund to support students from the congregation attending Mennonite colleges,” shared Mike Derstine, Lead Pastor of Plains Mennonite. “Several years ago, when there were no students at Plains using the fund, we chose to make $10,000 available to BIPOC students across Mosaic studying at Mennonite institutions.”
Derstine continued, “We’re grateful that Mosaic staff can connect these funds with needs across the conference. I’ve been humbled when students thank me at Conference Delegate Assembly, even though I have little to do with the process. Our Church Council looks forward to continuing this partnership for the foreseeable future.”
In 2025, 11 students from congregations in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colombia, and Mexico received support via the Plains scholarship fund. They are studying at Eastern Mennonite University and Seminary, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, and Seminario Bíblico Anabautista Hispano (SeBAH). Because the recipients change each year, the gift multiplies and touches new communities across the conference.
For students, the impact is both personal and communal.
“EMU shaped my leadership because it gave me opportunities to step forward,” shared Marciella Shalomita of Nations Worship Center in Philadelphia. Through campus clubs, the biology department, and serving as a student chaplain, she learned to take initiative, communicate clearly, and lead collaboratively. “It broadened my faith,” she said, “helping me see it not just as personal belief, but as service.” Leading worship on campus also stretched her: she introduced contemporary styles from her home church while learning to invite others into meaningful participation.
“My studies at SeBAH have given me a deeper ethical foundation and strengthened my ability to make decisions rooted in justice, truth, and service,” offered Pastor Andrés Mendoza of Iglesia Menonita Encuentro de Renovación in Miami, Florida. “Theological study has deepened my faith in Jesus Christ, clarified my calling, and equipped me to bring hope, love, and mercy to those who suffer.”
Mosaic Leadership Minister Marco Güete sees similar growth among students studying through SeBAH and Instituto Bíblico Anabautista. Their education, he says, deepens biblical and theological grounding while nurturing spiritual maturity and confidence in their calling. “It strengthens pastoral leadership and equips them to guide congregations faithfully,” he reflects.
Plains Mennonite’s offering of mutual aid demonstrates how congregations can bless each other through helping to cultivate leaders who will serve in various parts of the body of Christ.
Other congregations are invited to imagine what shared investment in education could look like in their context. Individuals are also invited to give. Contributions to Mosaic’s Pastoral Leadership Fund helps pastors and emerging leaders grow in faith, skill, and courage for ministry today and for the future.
Ways to Support Leaders in Mosaic Conference:
- Give to the Pastoral Leadership Fund
- Give to the Hope Scholarship for Black & African American Leaders
Contributions may also be sent by check, with your designation in the memo line, to:
Mosaic Mennonite Conference
1000 Forty Foot Rd., Suite 100
Lansdale, PA 19446
Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To share your thoughts or send a message to the author(s), contact us at communication@mosaicmennonites.org.
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.