Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

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Supporting Prometheus School for Children with Special Needs in Ukraine

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by Joe Landis

Approximately a month after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Anabaptist World published a story of how MCC had to leave the region and the building that MCC had used was now used for military purposes. The article had one sentence about a special needs school in Zaporizhzhia, which caught my attention.

On the cover of that March 4, 2022 issue was a picture of Dasha Bardus, an 11-year-old girl using arm crutches to walk. After some phone calls I learned the school had 167 students and was started 17 years ago by parents. Many students with special needs cannot attend public school in Ukraine although the government provides the school building and some teachers.

To me, this was a flashback to how Mosaic Conference, (then Franconia Mennonite Conference) got involved in providing services to individuals with special needs.

The cover of Anabaptist World in March 2022.

Because there was very little in the way of services for these children, it was mothers who stepped up and decided to do something. In the early 1960s, local parents, with Anna Gehman as chair, started the Wrens Nursery School in Lansdale, PA. In 1965, Gehman organized Hilltop Sunday school class at Salford Mennonite (Harleysville, PA) for 22 children with special needs, gathered from families in Lower Salford Township, allowing the parents to attend church since their children with special needs were not welcome there.  

Gehman also organized a day program and convinced Franconia Conference to start and fund a sheltered workshop for people with disabilities to do light industrial work, which ran from 1968 until 1983, when it was absorbed by the Conference-Related Ministry Indian Creek Foundation (Souderton, PA). All these services laid the groundwork for Indian Creek Foundation to emerge in 1975.  

Remembering the strenuous effort it takes to begin and maintain these programs in peacetime, I was struck by the fact that people in Zaporizhia are continuing to operate the Prometheus school in wartime, even as the Russian front is only 20 miles away. They hear bombs and artillery fire every night. I decided there must be some way we can offer support to these parents and their children: spiritually, morally, and hopefully financially.

Some children of Prometheus School for Special Needs in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 20 miles from the Russian front.  

On Sunday, February 2, 2024, after seeing the artwork created for Transfiguration Sunday by Salford’s Hilltop Sunday school class (the continuation of the class that started in 1965), I envisioned that this artwork could help build a relationship with fellow Anabaptists in Ukraine. I shared the idea with Salford’s Accessibility Ministry Team and Justice and Peace Team, and they both supported the concept. 

As a result, we created greeting cards and posters with prints of the Hilltop Class’s artwork to sell and raise funds for the Prometheus School. This week after selling 880 greeting cards, nine posters and including donations, we mailed a check to Prometheus for $1,000. 

The Hilltop Sunday School class creates group artwork, titled “Be Transformed” on Transfiguration Sunday 2024. Photo provided by Joe Landis.
The Hilltop Sunday School class creates group artwork, titled “Be Transformed” on Transfiguration Sunday 2024. Photo provided by Joe Landis.

“Being part of Hilltop Class means being accepted as you are, heard when you share, singing when you are off tune, and finding beauty in creativity,” shares Lisa Yoder, who led the creation of the art piece the Hilltop Class created.  “The image is a mixed media collage created to depict Jesus’ appearance to the disciples before his resurrection. The artwork reminds me of how I find Christ in each member of Hilltop. My hope is the children of Prometheus will evoke the transfiguration of Christ through our support.” 

The children participating in Salford’s summer peace camp also learned about the Prometheus School and sent video greetings and songs to the children in Ukraine.  

The Hilltop Sunday School class packages notecards with prints of the artwork they created. Photo provided by Joe Landis.

“Being involved in the Hilltop class for nearly three decades, I was very moved to learn about the Prometheus school in Ukraine,” shares Janet Bartholomew, a leader of the Hilltop Class. “As our hearts ached for the Ukrainians when the war broke out, I remember several Sundays that the Hilltop class added our prayers for the people there. From a small class in Pennsylvania to another group with special needs and their caring parents, it really felt like the hand of God was directing each step!”

We invite other Mosaic Conference congregations to join this effort of relationship building with the parents and children with special needs in Ukraine, by selling greeting cards and posters. At least one other congregation in southeastern PA has joined our efforts, and we are looking for one person from each congregation to facilitate this.

If you are interested, please contact Joe Landis; jglandis@gmail.com for more information. Learn more and purchase cards and posters here. 

Joe Landis

Joe Landis is former CEO of Indian Creek Foundation and founder and former CEO of Peaceful Living, both Conference-Related Ministries. He is a member of Salford Mennonite (Harleysville, PA).

The Spirit of Habit, the Habit of Spirit 

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by Marco Güete

I have a friend who I admire for his routines and habits; I confess that I would like to imitate him. Every day he gets up and goes to bed at the same time. He says he sleeps eight hours without taking medications to help him sleep, he goes to the gym the same days each week, he eats his meals every day at the same times. Those are my friend’s good habits.  

The truth is that as human beings we have a lot of good and bad habits. This conversation with my friend prompted me to research habits by reading books and listening to lectures on the subject. Now I understand more clearly Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT: “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” 

We have the privilege of living in a volatile era, where everything is fleeting and transitory. Those of us who make up the church are not spared from the feelings of sudden and radical changes. What was is no longer, and what is, will not be. In our digital world, full of devices, new things emerge constantly and so quickly that it is difficult to adjust to the changes.  

These challenges make it complex to improve our habits and routines. I say complex, but not impossible. How long does it take to form a new habit that makes us happy? James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits (p. 75) answers, “Habit formation is the process by which a behavior becomes progressively more automatic through repetition. The more you repeat an activity, the more the structure of your brain changes to become efficient at that activity…Repeating a habit leads to clear physical changes in the brain.”  

“For everything there is a season…” The writer of Ecclesiastes anticipated what awaited us in this century without knowing it. When we attempt to do many things at the same time, we make mistakes and become stressed, and in turn that stress causes us innumerable physical and mental problems.  

I invite you to acquire the good habit that this text advises you: Do one thing at a time, well, with passion and dedication. Let us remember that “There is an appointed time for everything.” Work which cannot be done on the day for mission or ministry must wait its turn, because we are simply humans who love God and ourselves. 

Marco Güete

Marco Güete is the Leadership Minister for Florida for Mosaic Conference.

Ministerial Committee Update – June 2024

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The Ministerial Committee makes decisions on ministry credentials and policies that promote the support, health, and training of credentialed leaders and safe church practices for congregations. They meet quarterly to act on recommendations from the credentialing committee, review and revise current policies around credentialed leaders, and provide leadership in cases of misconduct.   

Report from the June 5, 2024 Ministerial Committee Meeting: 

Credentialing Updates
  • Melky Tirtasaputra – Ordination (Whitehall [PA])
  • Angelia Susanto – License toward Ordination License Extension (Nations Worship Center [Philadelphia, PA])
  • Beth Davco – License toward Ordination 3 Year License Extension (Wellspring Church of Skippack [PA])
  • Marcos Acosta – Withdrawn (Homestead [FL])
  • Angel Tamayo – Withdrawn  (Nueva Vida Norristown New Life [PA])

45 Credentialed Leaders have completed their 2024 Credentialing Renewal Process

Ministerial Committee Discussion Topics

Giving and Receiving Counsel Policy – addition of next steps of accountability, reporting, and reinstatement in cases of probation or suspension.Revision of credentialing process to add questionnaire for leaders of congregations who are not part of MC USA and don’t have access to the MLI (Ministerial Leadership Information) form.

Definitions Related to Credentials:  

  • Licensed for Specific Ministry (LSM) – Person called from within the congregation to serve in a specific leadership assignment within the congregation or another organization  
  • Licensed toward Ordination (LTO) – Issued for a three-year period with the purpose of testing the inner and outer call to ministry, further discerning of ministerial gifts, abilities, and aptitude; may or may not lead to ordination.  
  • License Extension – A three year-extension is given to a person in active ministry who has a license towards ordination but is not ready for ordination. 
  • Ordination (ORD) – Long-term leadership ministry credential appropriate for all pastors, area conference ministry staff, chaplains, missionaries, evangelists, and those determined by the church to have a continuing ministerial-leadership role in and on behalf of the church.  

Status Definitions

  • Active – held by those serving in a leadership-ministry assignment. 
  • Active without Charge – held by those not presently holding a ministry assignment.  
  • Inactive – held by those who have been without a ministerial assignment for more than three consecutive years.  
  • Retired – held by those who have retired from active ministry.  
  • Withdrawn – is given when a ministry credential is ended for non-disciplinary reasons. 

Boyertown Closes, Congregation Unites with 2/42 Community

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by Noel Santiago, Leadership Minister 

© Google Maps

“While it seems like a distant memory, it was just six months ago (Aug. 2023) that Boyertown (PA) Mennonite (BMC) began to make a final discernment as to whether we would simply continue to function as a small congregation with a part-time pastor, or if we would entertain the concept of merging with another congregation in the Boyertown area using the BMC church facility as the new entity’s ministry location,” shared the report of Walt Morton, merger process mediator and coach for Boyertown, on Jan. 29, 2024. 

The congregation sensed God’s leading to merge with another local community congregation who also had a heart for ministering to the people of the Boyertown community. That congregation was 2/42 Community Church, a nondenominational church, whose pastor is Bryan Raught. 

“On April 28, 2024, both Boyertown Mennonite Church and 2/42 Community Church Members voted unanimously to merge into 2/42 Community Church, effective May 1, 2024,” reads the letter Mosaic Mennonite Conference leaders received from Boyertown Mennonite Church Council Chair Doug Kern, writing on behalf of the congregation. “As a result of this merger, as of May 1, 2024, Boyertown Mennonite ceased to exist.” 

The process of discernment was an almost two-year intentional interim process led by Walt Morton, Intentional Interim Minister from Ohio. The process was heavily oriented toward relationally healthy conversations among congregants, which provided ample opportunities, options, and possibilities for discerning the sense of the congregation. It’s safe to say that when this process began, no one envisioned where it would end up. 

The letter ends with a desire from the Boyertown Mennonite Church members expressing a desire to maintain a relationship with Mosaic Conference. Although no one quite knows what that might look like, we remain open to the further leading of God’s Holy Spirit. 

So, as Boyertown Mennonite Church transitions to 2/42 Community Church, and continues to carry on the work of God’s Kingdom in this new way, we offer this prayer of blessing for her leaders, people, and ministries: 

Gracious and loving God, the builder and sustainer of the Church,

We give thanks for your Spirit and your people at Boyertown Mennonite and 2/42 Community Church.

We give thanks for the challenging work that the Boyertown Mennonite has engaged in these past several years, with transparency, vulnerability, difficult, and sometimes painful conversations, yet also with hope, possibilities, and a view toward a new horizon.

We ask that as Boyertown unites with 2/42 Community Church, your Spirit would bless this joining together as one. That all you have done historically in and through Boyertown Mennonite would be multiplied to that which you have done and are doing in and through 2/42 Community Church so that your kingdom rule and reign may be further established and expanded.

Thank you for the blessing that Boyertown Mennonite has been to Franconia and Mosaic Mennonite Conference over these many years. May all that continues to be said and done, bring you honor, glory, and praise we pray in Jesus name, Amen!  

Marking Our 4th Anniversary as Mosaic

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by Stephen Kriss

This Pentecost marked our 4th anniversary of becoming Mosaic Mennonite Conference. We took our name during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic, during a weekend of protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd. Pentecost 2020 was for many of us, during a tough time, a bright spot to celebrate a coming together. (If you need a reminder of our unveiling, here’s the video, which was filmed at Zion [Souderton, PA] and Centro de Albanza [South Philadelphia] while trying to social distance, at a time when many of us couldn’t get haircuts). 

This year we marked Pentecost by encouraging #MosaicTogether gatherings across our Conference which brought congregations together in a variety of ways. That same weekend, the Mosaic board met at Bethany Birches Camp in Vermont for equipping on discernment and decision making and affirmed the anchor/foundational statements of our Pathways strategic plan. Our previously scheduled Vermont board meeting had been cancelled during the pandemic time due to Vermont’s rigorous regulations on COVID. In a lot of ways, we are still catching up and adjusting to the newness and challenges of the timing of our beginning together. 

Since our birth in 2020, we have received congregations in Florida that now make up about 15% of our membership. We have had several congregations leave our conference after the special delegate session of Mennonite Church USA 2022 and had several congregations close. In the meantime, we’ve supported numerous new church planting initiatives in the United States, Mexico, England, and Colombia, and have had our first online-based communities emerge. We are in the midst of significant change around us and within us. 

I’ve been thinking about what holds mosaics together. It’s easy to see the brilliant, unique, and bright pieces, but harder to notice the quiet work of holding the pieces together. The work of cement and grouting is not particularly glamorous but essential. The task of our Mosaic Conference structure is to hold and situate each piece. We are a community of communities and ministries, not individuals. It takes work that is both individual and communal to hold us together. 

In becoming Mosaic, we had lofty dreams. We didn’t fully know what we would be living into together. We moved forward with hope, believing that our foundation in Christ, our commitment to community, and our willingness to work at reconciliation would give us plenty to do and the strength to do it. Early on we confessed in our vision statement that we work within a broken and beautiful world. That reality makes a mosaic possible. And difficult. 

Cynicism can come from unmet high expectations. Unfulfilled hope placed only in the human realm, not within the reign of God, can frustrate us. We can find ourselves constructing a tower of Babel rather than participating in the fullness of the Spirit’s Pentecost work. The culture around us needs for us to become fully Mosaic, embodying the reconciling love of Jesus, and will attempt to disassemble it.   

I continue to be aware of both our beauty and our precariousness. I am grateful for the ways that so many of us have invested time, prayer, work, and resources that help situate our Mosaic reality, to hold our beauty and brokenness together. Our faith grounds us. The Spirit gives us hope to live out our vision and mission. And love, both of God and each other, is what will hold our mosaic together through the bonds of peace (c.f. Ephesians 4:3). 

Stephen Kriss

Stephen Kriss is the Executive Minister of Mosaic Conference.

Reflections from Pentecost Together / Bersama / Juntos 2024 

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At least 36 congregations within Mosaic Conference participated in the 2024 Mosaic celebration of “Pentecost Together / Bersama / Juntos.” The time together emphasized connecting across congregations of different cultural and theological perspectives to develop and deepen relationships.  

The ways of connecting included worshipping together, pulpit exchanges, shared sermons, praying for each other, shared youth group time, shared worship teams, exchanging video greetings, fellowship meals, and more. Check out the highlights video, as well as a few reflections from participants, below:  

The youth groups of Philadelphia Praise Center and Salford shared games and explored FDR Park after worship at PPC. Photo by Andrew Zetts. 

“On Pentecost, the youth group from Salford (Harleysville, PA) got to go to Philadelphia Praise Center for worship. This opportunity gave me a chance to see how different cultures can be integrated into church life. One special thing about the service was the inclusive space created by the encouragement and participation from the audience. I loved how passionate all the PPC youth were in leading the singing. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and thought that the generosity and liveliness of the church community was a great example of seeing God move through people.”  – Aubrey Gehman, Salford youth group

“On Pentecost, two very different churches came together and laughed, sang, ate, talked, and played. Yes, we are different people with different ways of doing church, but if neither is actually wrong, then it’s possible that in Christ there doesn’t have to be anything that keeps us apart.” – Susan Alloway, Director of Media & Worship for Redemption Church of Bristol (PA)

Read the full reflection here

Redemption Church of Bristol (PA) visits Bethel (Levittown, PA) for worship and a fellowship meal. Photos provided by Gary Alloway. 
Pastors Grant Price and Mike Spinelli preached “podcast style” while a variety of displays for the “talent share” were available in the worship center at Perkiomenville. Photo provided by Mike Spinelli.  

“Perkiomenville and Frederick (PA) met at Perk for a shared worship service followed by a potluck meal and talent share. Members of both churches formed a worship team. Pastors Grant Price and Mike Spinelli preached “podcast style” on the story of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring in Acts 2 and how we can live in the Holy Spirit’s power today. In the talent share, people were encouraged to bring hobbies or interests they pursued and display them for others to enjoy and ask questions about. This time was a great reminder of our congregations’ shared roots and shared power in the Holy Spirit.” – Pastor Mike Spinelli, Perkiomenville

“We learned that as we prayed together, ate together, shared experiences and concerns together, the differences in language and customs, the apprehensions, and self-consciousness didn’t matter. We had all we needed. The blessing of God’s Spirit rested in our hearts. We will do this again.” – SarahAlice Zimmerly, Homestead Mennonite 

Read the full reflection here

Homestead (FL) interim pastor Pavel Gailans and four women from Thailand lead a song together during the Pentecost fellowship dinner.
The Whitehall youth dance team share the story of Pentecost. Photo by Melky Tirtasaputra. 

“When Whitehall (PA) asked if Lakeview (Susquehana, PA) would join them to celebrate Pentecost, we were delighted. It wasn’t long before we agreed that it was time for a road trip! We arrived wearing red, yellow, orange, and blue to match the Whitehall crowd. What a joy when we were also happily reunited with Lakeviewers who had moved away. We were quickly caught up in Pastor Melky’s exuberant welcome. We worshipped in English and Karen.The Whitehall Youth Dance Team worship dance was filled with grace. Lakeview’s pastoral minister, Sister Brigid, shared a challenging message. The service closed with a blessing and a prayer in Haitian Creole and downstairs we went to eat and connect. It was great fun!” – Dorrie Mininger, Lakeview Mennonite 

Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship (Woodstock, VT) was happy to host members of the Mosaic Board and the Executive Minister. The scripture was 1 Cor 14:1-13 and the message included words from both Steve Kriss and Pastor Steve McCloskey. Kriss reflected on the movement of Mosaic congregations joining, leaving, and merging. McCloskey spoke of the hope of maintaining unity and integrity within the Body of Christ, globally and locally. Afterward, a potluck fellowship meal and rich conversation took place.  – Pastor Steve McCloskey, Taftsville Chapel 

Conference Moderator Angela Moyer Walter (Ripple [Allentown, PA]) preaches at Bethany (Bridgewater Corners, VT). The Conference board visited the two Vermont congregations of Mosaic during Pentecost weekend. 

Redemption and Bethel Pentecost 2024 – #MosaicTogether2024

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by Susan Alloway, Director of Media & Worship for Redemption Church of Bristol (PA) 

Whenever you go into someone else’s space, there is always anxiety. Will we be received? Will we offend? Will we be too insistent on our own traditions or blind to our own habits and come across as invaders?   

All of this was certainly going through my head as I created the service slides in both English and Haitian Creole in preparation for our joint service with Bethel Church in Levittown, PA. Our church, Redemption, meets only 15 minutes away in Bristol. But none of us speak a word of Creole and we had only just met a few folks from Bethel weeks earlier. We would be going to their meeting space, bringing our preferences, our understanding of punctuality, and our style of dress. How would it go? 

On Pentecost Sunday, we had a beautiful service filled with laughter, graciousness, and generosity. I learned how lovely and enjoyable it is to sing in Haitian Creole. We all learned that a Celtic image for the Holy Spirit is “the wild goose,” which Bethel translated as “zwa savage” (the savage swan), and now my husband Gary and I will call geese “zwa savage” for the rest of time. We all accidentally rubbed hand soap instead of sanitizer into our hands before communion because everyone was too bashful to say anything until Bethel’s pastor, Sam, who was last in line, pointed it out (and we all had a good laugh). We ate wonderful, abundant Haitian food. And some of the kids from both churches got into a pillow dodging competition, and then asked if we could keep meeting together each week.   

But what was most meaningful to me was when a man from Bethel sat with my family for lunch and told us a story. He said: “I once went to Niger, and I had my shirt tucked in because that is what is seen as the good thing in Haiti. But there, an old man told me that I should untuck my shirt because that was seen as the good thing in Niger, never tuck in. So, I came to understand that a lot of things don’t matter. Neither was actually wrong.”   

On Pentecost, two very different churches came together and laughed, sang, ate, talked, and played. Yes, we are different people with different ways of doing church, but if neither is actually wrong, then it’s possible that in Christ there doesn’t have to be anything that keeps us apart. 

Homestead Mennonite Pentecost Reflections – #MosaicTogether2024

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by SarahAlice Zimmerly, Homestead Mennonite

When we went to church on May 19, we didn’t know exactly what we’d find. We expected the announced potluck meal with some folks we didn’t know who would speak languages we couldn’t decipher. There would be more of “them” than “us”. What could we do to make them feel welcome? How could we know if they needed something? How do we relate? 

We reminded ourselves that this will be church, the people together to praise God. There are things of faith that we all understand and accept. We sat at tables mixed with people we didn’t know. At my table there were people from Cuba, Guatemala, Brazil, and the USA who were retired teachers, a roofer, a guidance counselor, housekeepers, and a student. Now, I can talk with people like that. The roofer looked surprised when I told him I admired his work because roofing is physically hard, hot, and skilled work. I asked God to give him strength and protection.  

The meeting opened with a warm welcome from our interim pastor, who is Russian. He introduced his family, his Russian friends and those from the Ukraine and Thailand. He introduced a Mennonite Spanish congregation from Miami and their pastor greeted us and prayed for us in Spanish. A man from their group enthusiastically sang a solo. A Spanish-speaking group who uses our building was also there and it was nice to see familiar faces. The people heard how God gave them gifts of witnessing, teaching, sewing prayer reminders, and phone outreach. God is at work among us. 

Four women from Thailand sang a song, accompanied by our pastor and his guitar. The tune was familiar, and we then sang their song with them in whatever language we chose. The rhythm and tune were led by the Spirit. It was beautiful.

We learned that as we prayed together, ate together, shared experiences and concerns together, the differences in language and customs, the apprehensions, and self-consciousness didn’t matter. We had all we needed. The blessing of God’s Spirit rested in our hearts. We will do this again.