Mosaic Mennonites

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Mosaic Conference to Attend MennoCon23 

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Mosaic Conference members will be attending and participating in the upcoming biennial convention of Mennonite Church USA in Kansas City, MO, also known as MennoCon23.  The convention for all ages will be held July 3-6 and delegate sessions will follow on July 7-8.   

Mosaic Conference will be represented in many ways at the Convention, notably by: 

  • Danilo Sanchez, Leadership Minister for Intercultural Transformation and one of the Pastors at Ripple (Allentown, PA), is on the MennoCon planning team. 
  • Marta Castillo, Associate Executive Minister. 
  • Gwen Groff, Pastor of Bethany Mennonite Church (Bridgewater Corners, VT), and Roy Williams, Assistant Moderator and Pastor of College Hill Mennonite Church (Tampa, FL) will attend as Mosaic Board representatives.  
  • Stephen Zacheus, Associate Pastor of Jemaat Kristen Indonesia Anugerah (Sierra Madre, CA) and member of Mosaic’s Intercultural Committee, and Michael Howes, Pastor of West Swamp Mennonite Church (Quakertown, PA) and Ministerial and Credentialing Committees member, will attend as Mosaic Committee representatives.  
  • Noel Santiago, Leadership Minister for Missional Transformation, will be assisting with Spanish Interpretation. (Mosaic Conference’s interpretation equipment will be used for the Convention.) 
  • Lindy Backues, of Philadelphia (PA) Praise Center, will be leading seminars. 
  • Whitehall Mennonite Youth (Allentown, PA) and Salford Mennonite Youth (Harleysville, PA) will be attending as a joint youth group.  

Other individuals from Mosaic Conference will also be attending as active participants too.  

Please pray for the MennoCon23 gathering in Kansas City in July and for those attending.

How Do I Walk the Second Mile? 

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by Brooke Martin

How do I disciple and walk with someone whose perspective, theology, or experience is not my own, or is different than the majority of people in my congregation? I know I am supposed to love them, but how? What if this is a person whose identity conflicts with my church’s view but they are an active part of the congregation, looking to me as their pastor or youth leader? 

In a culture that dismisses anyone with a different understanding than our own, we can quickly lose track of our call to be Third Way people. Jesus taught that there are not just two options in times of disagreement or conflict; instead, he encouraged his followers to seek out a third way, to completely change the dynamic of disagreement. 

Jesus illustrated this concept with the example of “walking the extra mile.” The law stated that a soldier was allowed to make a civilian carry his heavy pack for one mile only. Jesus told his followers to walk the extra mile. Imagine the soldier turning at the mile mark, anticipating a glare of disdain as the civilian shucked the heavy load. Instead, as the soldier turns to the civilian, the one who is called to the Third Way, continues to walk with the load. Do they make eye contact or have a clarifying conversation? Both the soldier and the civilian would change from their usual ways of thinking and engage differently during this next mile. The power dynamic has shifted: the situation and their relationship with one another has changed. 

At Spruce Lake’s Engage Conference for youth leaders, I experienced a modern-day example of Third Way living when I listened to the storytelling of Art Pareira, the Director of Community Care for ReVoice. I anticipated that Pareira would share his list of why he was right and others were wrong; instead, I had a “second mile” experience. Pareira’s call to youth leaders was to not stop at the first mile but to continue walking with their youth to a deeper level of care and consistency.  If we just focus on our duty to fulfill our understanding of God’s law, we miss the opportunity to journey deeper and further towards where Christ is calling us on the “second mile.”  

As a celibate gay man, Pareira lives and ministers out of his own experience and theological perspective, naming that he takes “hits” from all sides, not being progressive enough for some or conservative enough for others.i Still Pareira continues his call to walk on. Pareira understands and accepts others may have different theological understandings, and he respects those differing convictions.  He does, however, call Jesus-followers not to stop there but to continue as shepherds who are willing to walk beyond the first mile. In the second mile, he calls for the caring of people and encouraging consistency in ethical living across all sexual orientations. 

With this “second mile” mindset, the Mosaic Youth Formation Team has created a Healthy Conversations guide for youth leaders and others who desire tools for conversations across differences of all kinds. We pray this guide will be a resource and encouragement so that, together, we can continue the journey of faith formation by walking beyond the first mile into the holy second mile of truly loving our neighbors. 

Introducing the Healthy Conversation Guide

This document is a guide, not curriculum. It is meant to give a foundation for how to have healthy conversations on difficult topics such as human sexuality, gun violence, politics, substance use, and racial justice in a way that can be adapted to multiple contexts and cultures to align with the life and ministry of Jesus.

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iArt Pareira has chosen a celibate lifestyle because of his belief affirming that God intends marriage to be a covenant between one man and one woman for life. This belief is also affirmed by Spruce Lake Ministries. 

The opinions expressed in this content are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference.

Brooke Martin

Brooke Martin is the Youth and Community Formation Pastor for Mosaic Conference. Brooke lives in Telford with her husband, Nathaniel, and their two children.

The Hard Work of Pentecost 

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by Stephen Kriss

Editor’s note: Executive Minister Stephen Kriss began a sabbatical on May 22. He will return to his Mosaic role on August 30. He wrote this article before he left on sabbatical. 

In mid-May, Rose Bender and I taught an intensive “Introduction to Mosaic” class. This Mosaic Institute class is for recently credentialed Mosaic leaders or those who are exploring credentialed ministry in our Conference. It’s a quick immersion into Anabaptist theology, intercultural practice, Mennonite history and polity, and our Mosaic story.   

In this class, students shared their life stories with each other.  Because of the diversity of this group, the contexts took us from Africa to Argentina, California to New York.  Listening to each other’s stories requires calmness, attentiveness, and curiosity. There were stories of trauma and hope, of hurt and healing. I continue to be amazed by the depth of faith that new leaders in our Conference bring to our community. 

This past Sunday we celebrated Pentecost, which also marks the third anniversary of naming ourselves “Mosaic Conference.”  Pentecost seems full of possibility. I’ve often thought that Pentecost is about sharing and expressing, receiving and speaking.  But it is also about listening.  It is about hearing in a language that is familiar but not to all.  It’s about the Good News being expressed in multiple ways (see Acts 2).   


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The hard work of Pentecost is listening.  We imagine the vigor of tongues of fire, the forceful rush of wind, the murmur of words spoken in our preferred language. But it also required attending our minds to listen to the words in the midst of it all.   

We are now in our third year of being Mosaic, and it is hard work. We have experienced shared joys and traumas. We face the risks of both secularism and Christian nationalism, which in very different ways, can make authentic, Jesus-centered witness controversial and difficult.  In this last year, we lived into our brokenness more than I would have hoped and have been challenged by differences in decision-making and disagreements.   

Yet, I strongly believe in the possibility of Mosaic, and I believe that it is Good News of reconciliation and welcome.  We are now in the work of the fruit of the Spirit of Pentecost. That fruit consists of listening, discerning, and understanding how to be together across cultural, language, political, economic, geographical, and theological differences.  For some of us, this can seem like a lot to bear, for others, it’s ongoing joy.  It can be both. 

It takes concerted effort to not jump to conclusions but to allow stories to unfold and to hear perspectives that are usually more complicated than we originally imagined. The hard work of listening allows those who are wounded to also find ways to speak, to be heard.   

The hard work of Pentecost is welcoming holy hope and curiosity in wondering what the Spirit is doing in bringing and binding us together.  May we continue to be transformed by the Spirit of Pentecost. 

Don’t miss the Conference-wide Pentecost Worship Service!

Sunday, June 11, 2023
7:30 PM ET / 4:30 PM PT

Organized by Mosaic Worship Cohort

Stephen Kriss

Stephen Kriss is the Executive Minister of Mosaic Conference.

Line Lexington Leaves Mosaic Conference 

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Line Lexington (PA) congregation has decided to disaffiliate with Mosaic Conference and Mennonite Church USA. The Mosaic Conference Board was recently informed, via a letter, of the results of Line Lexington’s decision.   

In the letter, Line Lexington’s Church Council and Elder Team acknowledged that the decision did not come lightly. “We have always valued the Mennonite principles of peace, justice, and service in Jesus and have found significant meaning in the teachings and traditions. However, as Mosaic has developed, we realize that our beliefs and values are handled differently than those of the Conference.”  

Established in 1752, Line Lexington is one of the oldest Mennonite congregations affiliated with Mosaic Conference prior to this decision. 

“It is sad to see Line Lexington leave Mosaic,” said Randy Heacock, Leadership Minister. “I have deeply appreciated working with the church’s leadership over the past few years.  I appreciated the thoughtful discernment they practiced in reaching their decision.”   

The letter from Line Lexington Mennonite Church closed with well wishes for Mosaic Conference “in its continued work toward peace, justice, and service in Jesus, and we hope that the community will thrive and grow in years to come.”  

Lenape Asks PA Mennonites for Land to Bury Their Ancestors 

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by Eileen Kinch

The Mennonite Heritage Center, a Conference Related Ministry (CRM) in Harleysville, PA, welcomed the Lenape (Delaware) tribe of Bartlesville, OK, on April 12. After a potluck supper with local Mennonites, Chief Brad KillsCrow, tribal elder John Thomas, and tribal historic preservation officer Susan Bachor presented their request: land to bury their ancestors. 

Since 1990, the Native American Graves and Protection and Repatriation Act has required that museums and universities return Indigenous human remains and funerary items after consulting with descendants and tribal organizations. As Indigenous groups receive the bones of their ancestors, however, some tribes face the next question: where to bury them. 

Mennonites arrived in southeastern Pennsylvania in 1683 and many now live on the Lenape ancestral homeland, which encompasses greater Philadelphia, New Jersey, and parts of New York. 

“We have no presence in our homeland,” KillsCrow said. “How do we put our ancestors back in the ground?” 

The Lenape have already worked with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to bury about 200 ancestors at Pennsbury Manor, William Penn’s country estate in Morrisville, in 2022. But thousands still need burial space. 

Addressing the crowd of 120 gathered in the Mennonite Heritage Center barn, KillsCrow said, “Our ancestors helped you. Your ancestors helped us. I humbly ask if there is anything you can do.” He suggested a few acres, preferably an open meadow in a remote location. The Lenape would like to bury their ancestors with traditional ceremonies. 

The Lenape had considered burying their ancestors in Oklahoma, KillsCrow said, but tribal elders pointed out these ancestors never lived in Oklahoma. The Lenape settled there in the 1860s after gradual displacement from Pennsylvania by European expansion and then forced removal by the US government. The Lenape want to honor their ancestors, whose bones have been kept in museums and other institutions, by bringing them home. 

The event took place after a year of conversation between John Thomas, a Lenape tribal elder, and John L. Ruth, a noted historian of Mennonites in eastern Pennsylvania. The two men first met in 2022 at the Perkiomen Valley School District’s dedication of the Lenape Arboretum. The southeastern Pennsylvania school district partners with Ursinus College on the Welcome Home Project, which honors the history and culture of the Lenape people. 

As Ruth and Thomas talked, they discovered they had common roots in southeastern Pennsylvania. Ruth’s Mennonite family has lived in the area since the early 1700s. Thomas’ ancestors lived on the same land for thousands of years before that. Eventually, Ruth said, “My people have been living on your land for 300 years. We didn’t run you off or kill you. We prospered here. We have freedom. What can we do to help you?” 

Thomas responded, “We need a place to bury our ancestors.” 

Ruth began to lay groundwork with Mosaic Mennonites. In November, Ruth introduced Thomas and his wife, Faye, to about 80 people gathered at the Salford (Harleysville, PA) Mennonite meetinghouse. Ruth also gave a talk at the Mennonite Heritage Center about his own journey with Lenape history. 

At the April 12 meeting, Bachor, the tribal historic preservation officer, said it is not appropriate for ancestors to be buried in Mennonite church graveyards. She also requested Mennonites not offer land with a known history. “We also have to look out for everybody’s historic preservation,” she said. Archaeological research is more expensive for lands with known histories. 

The evening ended with John Ruth leading the group in singing “Blessed Be the Tie That Binds.” At a follow-up discussion on April 25 at the Mennonite Heritage Center, attendees reflected on the conversation with the Lenape and discussed possible ways to continue Lenape-Mennonite dialogue and to respond to the land request. 

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Anabaptist World on April 20, 2023 and is reprinted here with permission. To view the original article, click here.  

Eileen Kinch

Eileen Kinch is a writer and editor for the Mosaic communication team. She holds a Master of Divinity degree, with an emphasis in the Ministry of Writing, from Earlham School of Religion. She and her husband, Joel Nofziger, who serves as director of the Mennonite Heritage Center in Harleysville, live near Tylersport, PA. They attend Methacton Mennonite Church. Eileen is also a member of Keystone Fellowship Friends Meeting in Lancaster County.

Learning to speak the Gospel like a Pennsylvanian… 

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by Jeff Wright

Almost 16 months ago, Debbie and I loaded up our SUV, left the sun-soaked, desert beauty of southern California and drove east.  We arrived in Souderton, PA to snow.  

The call of God I experienced as a young adult, to become a missionary in the US, began anew.  After 35 years as an Anabaptist missionary family serving in Southern California, I was now turning a page – from life as an urban Anabaptist missiologist to an interim pastor in a small-town, 270-year-old, Mennonite congregation.  The plan was to serve one year – and leave feeling lucky I hadn’t done too much damage.  

We make plans…and God laughs. 

My interim service has so far been about fulfilling three buckets of work: preaching with zeal and joy, leading the church staff to renew their work with healing and purpose, and aligning the congregational leadership and ministry systems to be more transparent, more faithful to the Gospel, and more effective in expressing love for our neighbors. 

Almost immediately, I realized there was a language barrier.  My dialect of English, shaped by southern California and lots of different cultures, was often unintelligible to my new friends.  I needed to use a dialect of English that paid attention to nuance, to deeply interconnected family systems, to the availability of resources, and to the new landscape that made a 15-minute drive an adventure in trying not to get lost. Learning to speak Pennsylvanian has not been easy. 

But God is faithful. 

When Speaking Pennsylvanian, Slow Down. It quickly became clear that to be helpful, I would need to accept the urging of leadership to stay longer.  The breakneck speed of life in southern California combined with the whipsaw nimbleness required of church life to adapt to new realities wasn’t going to work in southeast Pennsylvania. My one-year assignment became 18 months, and now has been lengthened again.  The local pastoral search committee is working hard.  I’m glad they are taking their time, even if it means I must keep working at being cautious and slow in this different environment.  

When Speaking Pennsylvanian, Speak Up. In my previous life, the role I grew into and was most comfortable involved speaking quietly and behind the scenes, recruiting, equipping, deploying, and supporting pastors.  Now, to my constant astonishment, people want to know what I think.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with telling people what I think.  It is just that now someone else is initiating the request for me to speak up and speak out.  It’s unnerving.  When I speak, the people listening are not looking for me to engage in moral mumbling.  They want me to speak with clarity, and to sound a call. They want me to proclaim what it really means to follow Jesus within the triple cocktail of contemporary crises:  an accelerating post-Christendom, the long game of chronic COVID, and the advent of our culture becoming a digital Babylon. 

When Speaking Pennsylvanian, Say It Again (and Again). Mission work in southern California is frequently about finding new ways to say things.  I’m learning that the Pennsylvanian dialect of faith is not bored by repetition. “More will be revealed.” “Recruit, equip, deploy, and support.” “You’re either in ministry…or in trouble.”  These are all aphorisms that I use regularly in my Pennsylvania ministry. The communication challenge in Pennsylvania isn’t so much to be original – it is to be repetitive without becoming a self-parody. 

Most days, when I remember how to speak, it goes well, and I get to see the grace of God flow in Pentecost-shaped forms of the Gospel in new tongues. 

The opinions expressed in this content are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference.

Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright is a Mosaic Leadership Minister serving churches in California and Pennsylvania.  He is also serving as the interim Lead Pastor at Blooming Glen (PA) Mennonite Church.  Recently, Jeff and Debbie rented a PO Box at the Blooming Glen Post Office to facilitate the flow of mail between Pennsylvania and their permanent home in Riverside, California. This may have been the most cross-cultural thing Jeff has ever done in his life (eating scrapple comes in a distant second). 

Been in the Struggle

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Reflections on Mosaic’s Intercultural Book Study

by Tim Weaver

The book, Been in The Struggle: Pursuing an Antiracist Spirituality, invites the Anabaptist community to examine our history of resistance to antiracism work in light of our commitment to following the way of Jesus.  The authors, Tobin Miller Shearer (a white man) and Regina Shands Stoltzfus (an African American woman), have worked together for more than 30 years around the task of antiracism. They shared stories of both grief and joy in examining the church’s willingness to address white supremacy in our life together. I was part of a Mosaic Conference discussion group for this book.  We were an even mix of men and women, with people of color being the majority represented.   

“An Antiracist spirituality is a way of being in the world that draws on the Spirit to encourage, empower, and enthuse the action of undermining systems of White supremacy around us.” Our group learned that an antiracist spirituality is a resource to sustain the struggle against racism, to invite growth in our lives, and to help us learn to be humans who refuse to give in to white supremacist power.  It is learning to love with integrity and to be authentic in our work and our witness.   

An antiracist spirituality values stories and relationships. There was a profound respect among us as our group met together.  As we shared, it was sobering to hear accounts of white supremacy in our neighborhoods and our churches.  Our faith stories center on our conviction that God loves ALL the world.  Life has not been equal for people of color, even within the church.  Even though Jesus indicated that the Kingdom of God has come near, many people of color have found themselves to be second class citizens in the church.  

We examined how Whiteness has often been seen as the norm and how segregation did not happen accidentally.  An insight that was new to me was how Whites often view racism in interpersonal ways, which made me wonder, as a White man: Have I demonstrated racism in any relationships that I have?  However, African Americans often understand racism as systemic in nature and not in specific interpersonal relationships.   

An antiracist spirituality does not ignore the past, yet it calls us to move forward.  It names our errors when we have fallen short, and it boldly makes public our commitment to being antiracist.   It is done effectively as we work together as a community.  We need the voices of the elders who have been in the struggle before us and to listen to their words of wisdom for our current time.   

As we completed our book study, I found myself reminded that in Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, male or female.  The book of Revelation says there will be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, and language—and here and now, I want to surround myself with a community that is committed to telling the truth about our history, working to interrupt systems of oppression, and seeking the healing of those who have been or continue to be harmed.  Will our church communities be places that focus on the hurts of the world and that respond with courage and integrity? 

Tim Weaver

Tim Weaver recently retired as Chaplain from The Community at Rockhill (Sellersville, PA).  His ministry experience included leadership training in Venezuela, pastoring three congregations, and several interim pastorates. His spouse, Juanita, is a professor at Villanova University and they are parents to 2 daughters and have 2 grandchildren and 3 granddogs. Tim lives in Perkasie, PA and attends Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church.  He has traveled to Honduras annually with Healthy Ninos Honduras for 20+ years. 

Sabbatical Leave for Executive Minister

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The Mosaic Board has approved a sabbatical leave for Steve Kriss, Executive Minister. Steve will begin a 3-month sabbatical on Monday, May 22, 2023.  For the first ten weeks, Steve will be a full-time student in Clinical Pastoral Education through Trinity Health Mid Atlantic. He will spend the remaining time resting, reading, traveling, and enjoying time with family and friends.  

During his sabbatical, Steve’s role will be filled by other Mosaic staff members, most notably, Associate Executive Minister, Marta Castillo.  If you have leadership questions or concerns during this time, please contact Marta.  Steve will return to the Mosaic office on August 30, 2023.   

Please pray for Steve during this time of learning and rejuvenation and for the Mosaic staff as they cover his duties during his time away.