by Javier Márquez
The Fall Delegate Assembly is the time of year when much of Mosaic Conference comes together in the same place. Delegates, pastors, ministry leaders, and friends from different congregations and communities gather for worship, conversation, discernment, and fellowship.
Sometimes the most meaningful moments happen outside the scheduled program.
This year, we want to encourage everyone attending Assembly to make room for those moments. Take time on Friday or Saturday to meet someone you do not know well. Sit with someone new during a meal. Invite a friend—or someone who is becoming a friend—to go out for dinner after Assembly concludes on Saturday.
As new communities continue to join Mosaic, we have an opportunity to learn from one another’s experiences, cultures, and contexts. Assembly gives us a chance to do that because so many of us are in the same place at the same time.
Jaye Lindo, Mosaic’s Hospitality Coordinator, sees hospitality as an important part of what makes Assembly special.
“Once a year Mosaic gives Delegates chosen by their congregations an opportunity to embrace and feel the love of our entire eclectic community,” Lindo says. “The only way we will truly be able to grow together is when barriers are broken down, allowing Jesus to be the connector.”
She continues, “What a better way to connect than over a meal? We all have to eat!”
“Time, distance, and language challenges all go away over a meal,” she says. “We get to hear a voice, see a smile, hear a prayer, and are able to recognize that we are not as different as it seems.”
A meal gives us time to slow down. Conversations that might not happen during a busy Assembly schedule can begin naturally around a table. We hear someone’s story, discover something we have in common, or simply enjoy being together.
Pastor Chidi Ihezuoh offers another simple encouragement for the weekend: “Listen to each other intentionally.”
That may be one of the most important invitations we can offer. Assembly is not only a place to hear presentations or participate in decisions. It is also a place to listen: to the person sitting beside us, to a congregation with a different story, to a pastor we have not seen in a while, or to someone who is attending for the first time.
Some of us may have met others through Mosaic Institute, at the Oasis retreat, or another conference gathering. Assembly can be a chance to reconnect and continue conversations. For those who are new, Assembly can be a chance to see one’s place within the larger Mosaic community.
To make things a little easier, Southeastern Pennsylvania Leadership Ministers have shared some of their favorite local restaurants. Their recommendations have been gathered into a list available here. Use it as an excuse to invite someone to dinner after Assembly on Saturday.
Maybe it will be someone you already know. Perhaps someone whose name you’ve only seen in an email, or maybe it will be someone you’ve never met.
Make room for the conversation.
Make room for the laughter.
Make room at the table.
Make a friend at Delegate Assembly 2026.
Javier Márquez
Javier Márquez is Associate for Community Cultivation and Leadership Development. He is an Anabaptist Colombian pacifist and poet. He is based in Bogota, Colombia.
Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To contact Javier, please email jmarquez@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.