James Krabill, Mennonite Mission Network, speaks at the Pastors and CRM Leaders Breakfast on September 26 to guide leaders in imagining an intercultural future, beginning with the way we worship.  You can can find his handouts here.

On September 21, 2013, Drew Hart and Ben Walter presented a conversation on race and the church at Germantown Historic Meetinghouse in Philadelphia, sponsored by the Franconia and Eastern District Conferences’ Peace & Justice Committee.  This conversation connected Anabaptist and Black Theologies and identified areas in which churches participate in both institutionalized racism as well as acts of microaggression.

On September 21, 2013, Drew Hart and Ben Walter presented a conversation on race and the church at Germantown Historic Meetinghouse in Philadelphia, sponsored by the Franconia and Eastern District Conferences’ Peace & Justice Committee.  This conversation connected Anabaptist and Black Theologies and identified areas in which churches participate in both institutionalized racism as well as acts of microaggression.

Elizabeth Soto Albrecht, the new moderator of Mennonite Church USA, recently completed a 3-week journey around the United States visiting Mennonite Church USA congregations.  Elizabeth joined pastors and conference-related ministry leaders on August 23 to share her learnings and challenges from that journey and hopes for the future of the church and to listen to stories and answer questions from Franconia and Eastern District leaders.

Noel Moules, from the Anabaptist Network in the UK, presented at this morning’s Pastors’ and CRM Leaders’ Breakfast on his book Fingerprints of Fire … Footprints of Peace.  A number of years ago while Noel was meeting with leaders from Franconia Conference, he was encouraged to write this book, in which he describes some of the terms he coins for his particular brand of provocative Anabaptism and encourages Jesus-followers to live holistically in this exciting time of post-Christendom.

Minister Ari S. Merretazon and Deacon James Abram of Pointman Soldiers Heart Ministry describe their day-to-day work as “vulnerable veterans helping vulnerable veterans.” Today they shared from their personal experiences as veterans on a path of healing and from their engagement with many other vets they have met, befriended, and supported through experiences of isolation, pain, and injustice from systems where they expected to find help. Listen to the podcast and learn how you might become a participant in the well-being and just treatment of those in our neighborhoods who have been deeply wounded by war. Ari’s PowerPoint.

Drick Boyd, professor at Eastern University, and Fred Kauffman from Mennonite Central Committee (both from West Philadelphia congregation) shared stories of gun violence and redemption and encouraged leaders to engage their congregations around the topic of gun violence and gun control.  There are deeper issues in our culture, Boyd said, and getting rid of guns won’t remove those deeper issues, but “at least we’ll live long enough to address them.”

Following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Rev. Kelly Denton-Borhaug, Associate Professor and Chair of the Religion Department at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa., began to investigate the links between Christian understandings of sacrifice and U.S. militarism and war.

This morning, Denton-Borhaug spoke at the Pastors and CRM Leaders’ Breakfast about the topic of her book, U.S. War-culture, Sacrifice and Salvation.  A “war-culture,” said Denton-Borhaug, is the increasing interpenetration of the ethos and practices of war into ever-increasing facets of daily human life.  Drawing on information from economists, sociologists, and pop culture, Denton-Borhaug gave illustrations of how this war-culture has developed and overdeveloped, especially in the years since 9/11, and how the language of sacrifice fosters what can be considered a national “war religion.”

Peace advocates must talk about and study the reality of war-culture in the United States, Denton-Borhaug encouraged, to begin to diffuse the mystery that surrounds it.  This will be the topic of the upcoming Winter Peace Retreat, sponsored by the Franconia and Eastern District Conferences’ Peace & Justice Committee.

Listen to the podcast from this morning’s breakfast and view the PowerPoint presentation, which includes additional information and statistics beyond what Denton-Borhaug covered in her presentation.  Contact Kelly.