Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Articles

A Trip to the Mountains

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by Michelle Ramirez

Often, the view you least expect is the one that ends up impressing you the most. That was the key learning that stayed with me when returning home from a recent youth trip.  

Early in March, I was blessed to be invited to speak at a youth event at my cousin’s church in Raleigh, NC. When I learned about the event, I was excited, but aside from knowing that it involved youth and that I would be speaking, I knew nothing else.  

When I arrived in Raleigh, I learned that the event would actually be taking place in Gatlinburg, TN, and we had to drive there from North Carolina. As someone who grew up going on road trips, this excited me even more because I know the best part about road trips are the views along the way.  

I had met the youth from North Carolina before, and they knew me as well, but this event provided an opportunity to get to know them even better. The event started with a sermon on the importance of placing God as the foundation and how important it is to see God in everything around us.  

The mountains near Gatlinburg, TN. Photo by Michelle Ramirez.

I reminded the youth that just as God created each one of us, He also created the huge mountains, and our foundations need to be secure to grow so tall. The next day was even better, as we had the opportunity to go and explore the Ober mountains in Gatlinburg. The view from the mountains was truly astonishing, compared to flat Florida. I was surprised to see the world wasn’t so flat; although my ears were constantly popping, which wasn’t so pleasant. 

After returning from the mountains, it was time for my second sermon, which focused on being vulnerable with the Lord and being open to doing things God’s way and not the world’s way. I gave an opportunity for all the youth to speak and share what they were feeling and thinking.  

As the youth were speaking, I realized that just like the mountains, each one had a perspective or view I wasn’t expecting. I had known who these young people were, but I was blessed to have the opportunity to get to know them further and to experience the beauty in them that was waiting to be seen. This reminds me that often the prettiest view isn’t always what we see on the outside, but rather seeing the Love of God every one of us has on the inside. 

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

Michelle Ramirez

Michelle Ramirez is the Youth and Community Formation Coordinator for Florida for Mosaic Conference.

How Mosaic Conference Became 10% Asian

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by Eileen Kinch

Mosaic Conference formed in 2020 with the reconciliation of the former Franconia and Eastern District Conferences. Mosaic has 65 member congregations, and nine of these are predominantly Asian.  How did these congregations come to be part of Mosaic? The answer is complex, but it reflects the relational nature of Mosaic and the movement of the Holy Spirit. 

Vietnamese Gospel Mennonite Church (Allentown, PA)

Vietnamese Gospel Mennonite Church (Allentown, PA) is the oldest Asian majority congregation in Mosaic. This congregation started in 1983 as the Vietnamese Christian Fellowship and initially met for worship at Penn View Christian School (now Dock Academy). Hao Tran became the first pastor in 1985. Luke S. Martin, Ca Nguyen, Phi Tran, and Thanh Cong Phan served in leadership roles from 1988 and through the 1990s. The congregation officially joined Franconia Conference in 1996.  Pastor Bao Tran is the minister at Vietnamese Gospel Mennonite Church which meets in the former Allentown (PA) Mennonite Church building. 

Philadelphia (PA) Praise Center (PPC), an Indonesian majority congregation, started in 2005, but it had no denominational affiliation. A member of the congregation, who was a Mennonite in Indonesia, asked Aldo Siahaan, founding pastor of PPC, if he could invite his Indonesian Mennonite pastor to come and visit PPC. The Mennonite pastor visited for several weeks. Through Mennonite connections in Indonesia and in the US, Siahaan eventually found himself in the Franconia Mennonite Conference office. A staff member invited him to Conference Assembly. After a year of discernment, PPC joined Franconia Conference in 2006. This congregation is one of the five largest in Mosaic Conference in terms of attendance. 

Other Indonesian congregations joined Franconia Conference, often because of their connection to the Philadelphia Praise Center as an Indonesian immigrant church. Nations Worship Center (South Philadelphia, PA), pastored by Beny Krisbianto, joined Franconia Conference in 2007. A former Lutheran congregation, Indonesian Light Church, also in South Philadelphia, joined in 2014. Bethany Elevation Community Church (New York City) was seeking safety and spiritual shelter as an immigrant congregation. Yakub Limanto, Bethany’s pastor, met with Beny Krisbianto, and the congregation joined Franconia in 2017. These congregations range in size. 

Aldo Siahaan, pastor of Philadelphia Praise Center, being interviewed at the press conference.
Jemaat Indonesian Christian Anugerah (Sierra Madre, CA)

Several congregations in California have also found a home with Mosaic. Jemaat Indonesian Christian Anugerah (Sierra Madre, CA), Indonesian Worship Church (San Gabriel, CA), and Immanuel International Church (Colton, CA) all joined in 2017. San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church joined in 2018. These congregations were looking for an affiliation after Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference reorganized. They saw what some of their other Indonesian/Asian brothers and sisters were doing and decided to join Franconia. 

For some Swiss-German Mennonites in Pennsylvania, being Mennonite may mean having a family heritage that goes back 300 years. For some of the Asian congregations in Mosaic Conference, being Mennonite means having a larger church family of support. For example, during the pandemic, many immigrants in Philadelphia were out of work. Through the Shalom Fund, Mosaic Conference supported food and grocery distribution among the Indonesian congregations for several months. “We have been so blessed by this relationship,” said Pastor Aldo Siahaan. Mosaic has stood by this relationship many times, he said, even supporting immigrant churches during times when immigration policies were uncertain. 

Mennonites often refer to this kind of help as “mutual aid.” This practice goes back centuries. Mennonites in the Netherlands helped their persecuted Swiss brothers and sisters to pay for their journey to North America in the 1700s.  

Meanwhile, Mosaic’s Asian congregations contribute greatly to the broader Conference as well. Two of the top donor congregations to Mosaic Conference’s budget are Indonesian congregations. Representatives from our Asian congregations actively contribute to Mosaic’s board, committees, and staff. Mosaic Conference is blessed to be able to continue the practice of helping one another, regardless of their background, in the 21st century. 

We are better because of our diversity, a true mosaic of a Christian community.  

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.

Sing to the Lord

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by Mike Clemmer

In Ephesians 5:19, the Apostle Paul commands gathered believers to “sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I wish that Paul would have given more specific directions as to what form our hymn singing and worship should be.  

According to Webster’s dictionary, a hymn is “a song of praise to God.”  That seems like such a simple definition. However, over the years, music and its use in worship has been at the center of many debates and schisms in the Mennonite Church simply because of certain differences and preferences. In the broader church, these differences in music often have escalated and sometimes are referred to as “worship wars.”  

Unfortunately, we in Mosaic Conference have not been immune from them. Throughout our history, changes in music preferences or to the “good old songs” of our past have raised our anxiety levels. These changes in preferences seem to happen in every generation.  

My grandfather’s hymnal from 1905. Photo by Mike Clemmer.

Recently, while paging through my great grandfather’s hymnal from 1905, I noticed that very few of the songs were familiar to me. What happened over the past 100 years that many of these songs are no longer sung in church? Why were they replaced? Was it the theology or the melody? Or, did they simply become outdated?  

In the Franconia, PA area, many Mennonites enjoyed learning 4-part harmony at singing schools as early as the mid-1800’s. Yet allowing harmonies to be sung in worship services was mostly forbidden until the late 1800’s. Similarly, when the first English hymnbook of the Mennonite Church (MC) was published in 1902, a switch to singing songs in English rather than German also created anxiety. There are many stories of church leaders weeping out loud or having members walk out the back when their congregation started singing in English, or in 4-parts, or with instrumental accompaniment. 

In my lifetime, there have been three new Mennonite hymnals, each bringing pause and pushback by some. Some churches no longer use hymnals, only having the words to contemporary style worship songs projected on a screen. In many places, acapella singing led by a song leader has been replaced with worship bands with lights, drums, and cymbals. Where will it all end? What would our forefathers and foremothers of music and worship, like Joseph Funk, think of all this? 

Funk appreciated the use of instruments in sacred music, but he also “believed strongly that music should be sung by all members of a congregation as a participatory form of worship . . . as a kind of musical democracy.” i Although Funk was a great proponent of 4-part singing, he also promoted the idea that full participation of the congregation with their voices is the goal, regardless of the way that it is practiced.  

Even though we hold our worship preferences personally and deeply, the idea of singing together as a community of faith should continue to be our focus, regardless of the way it is practiced. My prayer is that we all would “sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything” (Eph. 5:19). 

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

Mike Clemmer

Mike Clemmer is a Conference Leadership Minister and serves as the pastor of Maple Grove Mennonite Church (Lancaster Conference).

Free Narcan Available to Congregations 

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by Ryan Schweiger 

In 2021, there were 107,622 drug overdose-related deaths in the United States. This translates to 294 lives lost to an overdose every day. Every one of these lives was worth saving. The people who lose their lives are our friends, neighbors, co-workers, children, spouses, parents, extended family members, and even church members.

A group of Mosaic pastors and youth leaders visited St. Luke’s Penn Foundation, a Conference Related Ministry, in March. I was honored to host them and talk more about the substance use prevention/recovery education that we provide annually to thousands of youths throughout Bucks and Montgomery counties. An important part of this visit was learning about Narcan (Naloxone), an opioid overdose reversal medication.    

In my work, I regularly see people struggling and families facing confusion, crushed hearts, and overdoses that sometimes result in death. I also get to see people and families who engage in treatment and find recovery—maybe for the first time or for the tenth time. It’s important for individuals and families to have that chance.  

Narcan is available to community organizations, free of charge, to have on hand. This life-saving medication comes in a small box with two doses (nasal spray devices). In the box, there are simple instructions for use as well as instructions on how to spot a possible overdose and to respond to the emergency with Narcan.

One of the benefits of Narcan, in addition to reversing overdoses, is that it isn’t harmful to anyone. For example, if the medicine is used on persons who do not have opioids in their bodies, nothing will happen; the medicine has no effect. It would be like spraying salt water into your nose. 

You may not know who takes a prescribed opioid, who struggles with addiction, or who experiments with substances that could be laced with powerful synthetic opioids. The individual may not even know. Overdoses can be accidental, which is why Narcan is so important and should be available everywhere, just like a first aid kit. 

If your congregation is interested in obtaining Narcan and/or receiving a brief instructional training on how to use it, please feel free to reach out to me at Ryan.Schweiger@sluhn.org. It would be my pleasure to help provide you with this important resource so that you are able to save a life. 

Ryan Schweiger

Ryan Schweiger CPS, CRS, CPRP is employed by St.Luke’s Penn Foundation as their Behavioral Health Community Outreach Liaison. In this role, Ryan serves as a bridge between St.Luke’s Penn Foundation and the community by providing resources and information, as well as education on behavioral health topics. Ryan is also a person in long-term recovery from a substance use disorder and shares his lived experience in that journey to instill hope, inspire change, and build community.

Powerful Kindness, Faithful Truth

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Assembly 2023 theme

Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise the Lord, all you people of the earth. 
For God’s kindness for us is powerful; the Lord’s truth endures forever. 

Psalm 117

How can all the peoples of the earth praise God together? If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that even families are being torn apart by disagreement and conflict. How can we expect churches, conferences, and denominations, much less the nations of the world, to gather and praise God with one voice? 

Last year’s assembly theme revolved around the Hebrew word chesed: God’s overflowing, constant, steadfast, and faithful love for us. Chesed doesn’t have a simple translation into English: we need many different words to describe what it means. It includes an outpouring of undeserved favor and kindness that comes from the generosity of the giver and not the deeds of the receiver. 

In the Hebrew Bible (what we call our Old Testament), the word chesed is often paired with the Hebrew word emet. Similarly, emet doesn’t have a one-for-one translation but is multifaceted. We see it translated most frequently as truth or faithfulness. 

These two attributes of God—kindness and truth—are fundamental in Hebrew theology and often accompany one another, especially in the Psalms. God’s kindness is powerful and God’s truth is constant and reliable. This is who God is and the very nature of how God acts toward us. 

At the 2022 Assembly, we explored how God’s powerful kindness is the thread that sews us together. As we discern a pathway forward for Mosaic Conference, the 2023 Conference Assembly will explore how God’s faithful truth is woven into the fabric of our relationships. 

In Genesis 47, Jacob begs his son Joseph to bury him in the land of his ancestors. Their family has a long history of jealousy and betrayal, as well as love and forgiveness. Jacob asks Joseph to hold those two realities in tension: “Swear that you will treat me with chesed and emet in honoring this request” (vs 29). Powerful kindness and faithful truth: not denying their past, but allowing it to be named, acknowledged, and resolved in an act of commitment and love. 

What would it look like for us as a conference to do the same? How can our truth-telling be interwoven with gracious kindness so that chesed and emet are embodied in us? Can we acknowledge our fraught past while allowing undeserved favor to move us into new possibilities together? 

While this may seem unrealistic or even impossible to achieve on our own, we remember and rely on Jesus, who comes full of both grace and truth. “He was full of grace and truth…No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God…has revealed God to us” (John 1:14, 18). 

Jesus, the image of God, is the only one capable of fully living both chesed and emet. The rest of us hold those two realities in jars of clay, with humility. Even as we acknowledge that our love for one another is sometimes incomplete, may we choose to extend powerful kindness and faithful truth to each other as we walk together in our broken and beautiful world. 

Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth. 
For his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
Praise the Lord!

PSALM 117

My Great-Grandmother’s Organ: A Parable

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by Emily Ralph Servant

I took a deep breath and guided my circular saw across the center of my great-grandmother’s pump organ. The first cut was the hardest.

Although it looked like an upright piano, pianos were expensive in the early 20th century. Families who couldn’t afford to buy a piano would purchase a (less expensive) organ in a piano case. My great-great-grandparents gifted this treasure to my great-grandmother in 1915, when she was 12 years old.

The organ had made the trek from Pennsylvania to Indiana, Illinois, Virginia, and Ohio, then back to Pennsylvania again. Over the years, most of the reeds had stopped working and mice had made their home in the billows. But I cherished the memories of it in my grandparents’ home, where my little feet would pump the pedals and my little hands would play unrecognizable music while it wheezed dozens of notes at once.

The organ in its original state. Photo provided by Emily Ralph Servant.

Two decades ago, my grandmother asked if anyone wanted the organ. She was considering turning it into an entertainment center and wanted to know if it was worth trying to restore it. I couldn’t stand the thought of our heritage organ holding a television set, so I told her that I wanted it someday. She spent countless hours with a local restoration specialist, learning how to replace reeds and repair cracks. She had only a few more repairs to do when she died suddenly in 2007. The organ sat in my parents’ home and later in their barn, unused: beautiful yet broken.

For decades, this photograph of Emily’s great-grandmother, Winifred, as a child hung near the organ in her son’s home. Photo provided by Emily Ralph Servant.

The organ was finally passed down to me and brought to my home in Baltimore after my parents downsized a few years ago. For a long time, it sat in my carport, too big to fit down the stairs to my basement. We live in a small rancher that’s filled with the furniture of everyday life; there was no room for it.

Eventually, I was faced with a decision: allow my great-grandmother’s organ to serve my family now and into the future or throw it away. There isn’t a market for broken pump organs in a society saturated with discarded instruments. The answer was clear.

I spent months brainstorming what I could build with it, wrestling to solve problems, to imagine its potential. The first cut was the hardest, but every cut after that got a little easier. As I rebuilt my great-grandmother’s organ, I began to see something new and beautiful arising out of her shell: something I could pass down to my children, something they might actually want.

The organ-turned-bookshelf, full of theology books. Photo provided by Emily Ralph Servant.

My great-grandmother’s organ is now a bookshelf. It’s big enough to hold my entire library of theological books—for the first time in years, all my books are unpacked, easy to access and reference. Instead of simply taking up space, my great-grandmother’s organ is helping me and my family, providing what we need for our lives now, offering possibilities that will last into the future. The organ is beautiful once more, its dark wood gleaming next to the vibrantly colored spines of the books.

Whoever has ears, let them hear; God is doing a new thing and it is very, very good.

Whoever has ears, let them hear; God is doing a new thing and it is very, very good.

Emily Ralph Servant

Emily Ralph Servant is the Leadership Minister for Formation and Communication for Mosaic Mennonite Conference. Emily has served in pastoral roles at Swamp and Indonesian Light congregations and graduated from Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

Mosaic Staff Explores Cultural Communication on Retreat

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by Eileen Kinch

On April 16-18, Mosaic staff gathered at Mennonite Central Committee’s Welcoming Place in Akron, PA. The focus of the staff retreat was training to understand differences in cross-cultural communication, power dynamics, and conflict. As Mosaic Conference becomes more intercultural, staff need to be equipped to work through and across cultures. 

Culture and Cultural Identity 

Staff spent time considering their cultural identities. Danilo Sanchez, Leadership Minister for Intercultural Transformation, introduced a few tools and frameworks for understanding the way cultures work. One was that of an iceberg: there are highly visible aspects of culture, such as food and language, but there are also parts that are below the surface, such as how a culture conceives of time or family roles. 

When we become aware of how our own culture works, we can find entry points to understand another culture. In some cultures, people accept the decisions of their leaders, and in other cultures, people feel empowered to make changes.  If we know this, we can better understand why someone from a different cultural group may not respond the same way we do. 

Worldviews 

Emily Ralph Servant, Leadership Minister for Formation, invited staff to think about common sense and what that means. Common sense assumes a particular understanding of the world around us; often something is just the “right way” to act or react. And yet, common sense is a product of cultural conditioning. 

Staff also learned that some cultures have an honor worldview. If someone acts out of harmony with the group values, then the entire community experiences dishonor.  Other cultures have a justice worldview. This culture tends to focus on the individual. To be fair and just, these cultures produce written rules. If someone violates a rule, then the person needs to make restitution before being accepted back into society.  

Power 

Another aspect of cross-cultural communication is power. Noel Santiago, Minister of Missional Transformation, pointed out that power can take different forms (for example, visible or invisible). Power can be acted out in different spaces, and power can happen at different levels. If we encounter a conflict, we can do a power analysis and identify who is trying to be heard and what those voices are asking for. 

Staff considered power in Mosaic. Someone observed that communication is the most powerful tool Mosaic has. Staff wondered out loud about different types of communication in Mosaic and how they might best be used.  Email is not always the best communication tool to reach all people. Sometimes physical presence, personal involvement, or personal relationships are the best ways to communicate and therefore carry the most power. 

God’s Power 

Staff also considered God’s power in Scriptural passages. In Acts 1:1-13, the apostles received power from Jesus before he ascended into heaven. One thing that staff noticed is that Jesus promised power from the Holy Spirit to be witnesses (1:8). The apostles were to receive power to tell people about Jesus, not power to restore its political kingdom.  Bearing witness becomes the primary identity for the apostles.  

Staff wondered: What does bearing witness mean for the apostles? What does it mean for Mosaic staff? It may not mean a singular focus on conference unity, but rather on witnessing to God’s power at work in Mosaic relationships. 

Staff took time to build and strengthen relationships through fun and informal times during the retreat. Some went mini golfing while others hiked a rail trail, and one group explored culture in Lancaster County by visiting local stores. Staff ate together, prayed together, and laughed together. The staff hopes that our stronger relationships will enhance Conference-wide relationships as well. 

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.

The Gift of Not Knowing

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“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 

2 Chronicles, 20:12, NLT

In 2 Chronicles 20, messengers came and told Jehoshaphat (the king), “A vast army from Edom is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea.”  Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance. He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting.  So, people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the Lord’s help.  Jehoshaphat stood before the community of Judah and Jerusalem in front of the new courtyard at the Temple of the Lord.  

He prayed, “O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven. You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you! O our God, won’t you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.” 

When the people of Judah stood before the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing there.  

He said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow, march out against them. But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!  

Not clearly seeing the pathway ahead, not knowing what to do, where we are going, or what might happen, may not seem like a gift to most leaders.  It is frightening, disconcerting, and uncomfortable. It is humbling. Jehoshaphat begs the Lord for guidance, and he orders everyone to begin fasting for God’s help.  He stands before the community and prays, acknowledging God’s rule and power and their powerlessness. 

“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 

2 Chronicles 20:12, NLT

King Jehoshaphat led the people of Judah to seek God’s salvation.  He did not know how God would act in response to their prayers, but he knew that God was trustworthy and faithful.   

The gift of not knowing takes us to the throne of God.  The gift of not knowing takes us to surrender.  The gift of not knowing opens a space for the Holy Spirit to speak into our lives to comfort, counsel, and direct our paths.  May we use this gift of not knowing effectively.  

“The Merton Prayer” from Thoughts in Solitude

Marta Castillo

Marta Castillo is the Associate Executive Minister for Mosaic Conference. Marta lives in Norristown, PA, with her husband, Julio, and has three sons, Christian, Andres and Daniel and one granddaughter, Isabel.