Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

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Leaders from several Atlantic Northeast Conferences send letter of concern

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Leaders from Franconia, Franklin, Lancaster, New York, and Virginia Conferences of Mennonite Church USA provided a letter of counsel and concern to the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board in light of recent decisions by Eastern Mennonite University and Mountain States Mennonite Conference regarding employment and pastoral credentialing of persons in same sex relationships.   Franconia Conference is providing access to this letter to delegates as a follow up of full disclosure.  The letter was sent with intent to be processed at the most recent meeting of the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board in Harrisonburg, VA on February 13-15.

The letter can be downloaded here.

Outcomes from the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board meeting are linked here.

March 3, 2014 edit: The attached letter has been updated to the most recent version, which includes the conference minister of Franklin Conference as a signatory.

MC USA director booked for Conference town hall meetings

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Ervin StutzmanErvin Stutzman, Mennonite Church USA Executive Director, will be the featured guest for two town-hall meetings in April.  These meetings will be a time for members of Franconia Conference congregations to engage with Stutzman around recent developments in Mennonite Church USA and to ask questions about the denomination’s future.

These meetings are open to anyone from Franconia Conference communities and are scheduled for Thursday, April 10, 7-9 pm at Swamp Mennonite Church (2125 Rosedale Road, Quakertown, PA) and Friday, April 11, 9:30-11:30 am at Salford Mennonite Church (480 Groff’s Mill Road, Harleysville, PA).

This will also be an opportunity to hear and converse directly with Stutzman regarding the Executive Board’s response to Eastern Mennonite University’s listening process around the review of hiring policies toward individuals in same-sex relationships, and to Mountain States Mennonite Conference’s licensing of a pastor who is in a covenanted same-sex relationship.

Franconia Conference members who live over 60 miles from either of these locations can join the conversation live by streaming either meeting online and submitting questions and comments through email and social media.  Those who plan to participate from a distance must RSVP by April 9 by emailing eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org.

Comments and questions for clarity should be submitted to congregational pastors and forwarded to Franconia Conferences offices by Friday, April 4.

Local churches to offer hospitality for 2015 MWC Assembly

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MWC Assembly ScatteredMennonite World Conference Staff

Gahira sat on the street, resting from her one-mile walk into the city.

Cheryl (United States) had met Gahira on the plane into Axum, Ethiopia.  After using gestures and drawings to get to know one another, Gahira made it clear that she wanted to serve Cheryl coffee, an Ethiopian act of hospitality.

When they had parted at the airport, Cheryl wasn’t sure if she would ever see the Ethiopian woman again.  But here Gahira was, a woven basket of injera and a carafe of coffee in hand.  Cheryl gathered coffee cups from the hotel and sat on the patio with Gahira and her son, an interpreter, and the other members of Cheryl’s touring party.

“Together we celebrated our presence in this place,” Cheryl reflected later. “This place made holy by the warm, loving gesture of Gahira.” (read the full story)

Cheryl and her companions were just some of the hundreds who participated in Assembly Scattered in 2003, where they encountered the people, ministries, and stories of Anabaptist churches in an urban area or community while traveling to or from the Mennonite World Conference Assembly Gathered in Zimbabwe.

In 2015, Assembly Scattered will take place in communities across North America immediately before and after the Assembly Gathered in Harrisburg, PA, USA on July 21-26, 2015. These visits provide opportunities for Anabaptist brothers and sisters from around the world to get a taste of the church in North America and for hosts to experience the wonderful diversity of the global family of faith.

“After 20-some hours on planes, with my body clock six hours off, I finally arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe, eager for rest and sleep,” remembers Daniel (United States).  It was dark when he arrived at his hosts’ home, but the evening meal was ready. “[Canaan and Listei] had me sit down in the living room in front of a coffee table arrayed with food.”

Listei washed his hands in a Zimbabwean gesture of welcome. “She apologized that she couldn’t kneel before me because her knees were stiff,” says Daniel. “We older people understand each other on a subject like this.” (read the full story)

The 2015 Assembly Scattered will open doors for building new relationships with Anabaptists from around the world.  Each location will include partnerships among local congregations and ministries to introduce participants to a specific context of Anabaptism in North America.  Although the participants are responsible for their own travel arrangements and paying for their own lodging and food for the 1-3 day trip, local communities are encouraged to offer hospitality.

“Despite the additional work involved, it was a great privilege to serve borscht [soup] to so many visitors,” says the main cook at the KM 81 Mennonite Leprosy Hospital in Paraguay, which hosted an Assembly Scattered group in 2009.  “I dare say that most enjoyed the food and showed their appreciation by singing beautiful hymns.” (read the full story)

Groups of North American churches are invited to submit applications to host an Assembly Scattered in their community.  Go online at www.mwc-cmm.org/pa2015 and click on “Assembly Scattered” for more information and registration forms.

“I’m looking forward to working with North American churches that are eager to extend hospitality to guests in their communities,” says Evanna Hess, the newly appointed Assembly Scattered coordinator from central Pennsylvania. “It will be exciting to see the friendships that develop as a result of their hospitality.”

The deadline for submitting proposals is June 1, 2014.

Won't you be my neighbor?

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Brooke Bloughby Brooke Natalie Blough, West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship

As a white woman who somewhat recently moved into an area that is considered to be “gentrifying,” I try to be acutely aware of my impact on my community. Dannette Lambert’s article on “how not to be a gentrifier” was exactly what I needed. I absolutely love my neighborhood and its diversity, so a practical guide on being a positive force in your community for everyone gave me so much to think about and put in action.

The one piece of advice this article gives that I find the most powerful is her recommendation to view everyone you see in your neighborhood as your neighbor. This seems obvious, but it’s so easy to look at people who are different from you or even distasteful to you as not really being a part of your community. The homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks, the women selling their bodies, the young men who look like someone who might rob you: They are all your neighbor.

That word is so heavy. Neighbor. It shows up all over the Bible. Old Testament laws command us to show our neighbors dignity and justice. When Jesus is asked, “What’s the most important commandment?” he answers that we must love God with everything we’ve got and to love our neighbor as ourselves. And when asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus tells us the parable of the Good Samaritan, teaching us that anyone could be our neighbor, we just have to accept them as part of our community and our lives.

Since I walk about half an hour to work every day, I see a lot of people. And Philadelphia is not New York — you are not just an anonymous and ignored person, invisibly walking down the sidewalk. In Philadelphia (and especially West Philly) you see and are seen by most everyone who walks past. Over the last few weeks, I have been intentionally thinking to myself as I approach each new person, “This is my neighbor.” Often, this has no effect on the way I treat that person; but sometimes when I see someone who is different from me or even distasteful to me, I can feel something in my attitude change when I think “This is my neighbor.”

That teenager who just dropped their trash on the ground is my neighbor.
That man who leered at me is my neighbor.
That mother who just screamed at her child is my neighbor.
That homeless person who just asked me for money is my neighbor.
That angry-looking person who didn’t return my smile is my neighbor.

Jesus didn’t tell us what set number of people we are to consider our neighbors, but showed us that anyone we encounter can be our neighbor if we open ourselves up to the responsibility of claiming them as part of our community. If I have a right to be a part of this community, so do they. If I am deserving of grace, so are they.

Jesus didn’t just ask us to love our neighbor, he asked us to love our neighbor as ourselves. That change in attitude can best be summed up as me asking myself, “How would I want to be treated if I were them?” Looking at my daily interactions through this lens has helped me tap into a well of compassion and empathy I didn’t know I had. The practice of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is humbling.

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” — Gal. 5:14

Brooke Natalie Blough lives in Philadelphia, Pa., and works at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a regular attender of West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship and writes at Now Faith, where this blog first appeared.