Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Articles

Energized by Love and Peace

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HONORING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

by Eileen Kinch

If you visit Ripple Church on a Wednesday morning, you will likely find Pastor Charlene Smalls cooking. She makes hot, fresh meals for the unsheltered and takes the food to the Allentown Transit Center, where she gives the food to the hungry and homeless. Spend the rest of the day with her, and you will probably pick up food donations for the next hot meal. “I love to cook,” she says. “It’s me pouring myself into ministry.”   

In 2020, Smalls became the first African American woman to be credentialed in Mosaic Conference, as well as in the former Franconia and Eastern District Conferences. At the time, she did not think of the historical significance, but today she is honored and wants to live up to this distinction. “I was called to serve in this space at this time,” she says. “I have been called to be a light in my community and in the Mennonite faith.” 

Photo provided by Charlene Smalls.

Smalls, a New Jersey native who has lived in Allentown, PA for 35 years, is one of four co-pastors at Ripple Church (Allentown, PA). Before her time with Ripple, she was a servant leader at Union Baptist Church with Helping Hands International. Helping Hands focuses on immediate, practical needs. Smalls helped to run a clothing bank and organized back-to-school events that provided backpacks and school supplies for students. She also organized Thanksgiving dinners for needy families. 

Photo provided by Charlene Smalls.

But Ripple Church offered something else Pastor Charlene was looking for: an opportunity to meet needs, but also to connect deeply to the community, even to its suffering. She has a passion for people who are broken. At Ripple, she ministers to the forgotten: the unhoused, the mentally unstable, and the addicted. Ripple Church also invites and welcomes these folks to worship. 

During a summer internship with Ripple Inc., a separate nonprofit organization, Pastor Charlene learned that, like the Baptists with whom she worshiped before, Mennonites value salvation. But Mennonites also value peace.  

“Salvation without peace is incomplete,” she points out. Peace with God comes from Jesus’ presence in our lives, but it also comes in other ways, such as accepting God’s comfort when we are distressed. God’s peace must be modeled in our lives, churches, and families.  

Pastor Charlene is especially grateful for the peace she experiences through prayer, Scripture, and music. This is important because some days the work of ministry is difficult. Accepting God’s call to ministry means saying yes to pastoral phone calls at 3:00 am. It also means seeing suffering but recognizing human limitations to address it. The peace and joy that Christ offers amid chaos and heaviness is not as the world gives. 

Pastor Charlene looks forward to God directing her path in future peacebuilding work. She wants to invite those who hold power to “experience people of color in a deeper way.” She hopes that by sharing power and sharing space, people will be open to the transformative work of peace and justice. 

Pastor Charlene is grateful for her co-pastors at Ripple Church. The co-pastors divide the tasks of worship and fellowship. Pastor Charlene often preaches and leads worship on the first and second Sundays of the month. During the week, she is involved in cooking meals and visitation. This involves visits to the hospital or to the sick and shut in.  

Photo provided by Charlene Smalls.

On the days when ministry is hard and even ugly, Pastor Charlene never experiences any lack of strength. God is faithful and always sends help.  “Each day brings new challenges, trauma, and blessing,” she says. “But I still say, ‘Yes, Lord.’” 

Eileen Kinch

Eileen Kinch is part of the Mosaic communication team and works with editing and writing. She holds a Master of Divinity degree, with an emphasis in the Ministry of Writing, from Earlham School of Religion.

The Good News of Mosaic Conference

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By Maria C. Hosler Byler

Mosaic Conference has, in my experience, been one of those rare places where transformative relationships actually do happen. For me this started when I lived in South Philadelphia and worked at Philadelphia Praise Center/Centro De Alabanza. This multicultural congregation welcomed me – an ignorant but well-meaning white youngster – and the experience profoundly shaped my sense of God’s world and God’s mission. I am a more faithful follower of Jesus because of those communities.

The process has continued: in the Southeast Pennsylvania gathering of Mosaic youth workers, I experienced challenge and encouragement with others tasked with pastoring young people. I owe so much to my colleagues at churches who are living out God’s call in communities of faith which are different from mine. I have time and time again been called beyond myself by these friends and co-followers of Christ. These transformations in me have happened as a direct result of Mosaic Conference living out its call to relationship. There is fertile ground here for the Spirit to work. 

Each year, I look forward to Conference Assembly worship. The experience of worshipping in different languages draws me to God’s action far beyond myself. I’m encouraged as I stand side by side with Christians from other congregations who are witnesses to God’s work in their contexts. Each year I feel the support of friends from near and far with whom I have affinity in Christ, even when we don’t have much else in common. Conference Assembly worship embodies the gift of this mosaic community: through ties of relationship, our differences become good news. This good news is a light we cannot hide under a bushel, but instead are called to proclaim boldly.  

The key to finding good news amid our differences is in relationship. Our world is full of differences: for example, different choices abound in churches, and the effect is often that we divide and sort ourselves to find places of clarity, commonality, and comfort. When we divide and sort ourselves, we risk making God into our image.  

But when differences are in relationship, that is where we encounter God who is greater than we are. That is where we receive others’ experiences to bring into our reading of scripture and discover that the Word is living and active. That is where we are challenged to grow beyond ourselves in our walks of faith: from the Jewish Christians welcoming (and being transformed through relationship with) Gentiles all the way to today.  

When we divide and sort ourselves, we risk making God into our image.

As Dr. Paulus Widjaja said at Mennonite World Conference assembly in Indonesia this past summer, “It is not enough to claim unity in diversity. We should be able to go beyond that to claim diversity for unity.” Through relationship, our differences become an invitation for the Holy Spirit to transform us.   

In 2 Timothy 1, Paul calls on Timothy to rekindle the gift of God that was within him, to live it out with courage. This is the call for Mosaic as well. From its formation, Mosaic Conference has been a place where the Spirit moves joyfully through God’s mission in our differing contexts. We each hold gifts, perspectives on Christ’s truth, which add to the mosaic. We are living faithfully if we live that mosaic call with power and love and self-discipline, just as has been handed to us.  

Maria C. Hosler Byler

Maria Hosler Byler is an Associate Pastor at Salford Mennonite Church in Harleysville, PA where she is grateful to learn and grow with many people from different faith backgrounds following Jesus together. She lives in Souderton, PA where she enjoys taking walks in the neighborhood, eating pancakes on Saturdays, and reading with her children. They recently finished reading The BFG by Roald Dahl.

Visiting San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church

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By Wendy Kwong

Editor’s note: Wendy Kwong serves as a Cantonese (Chinese) translator for Mosaic Conference.

In November, I attended San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church (SFCMC) for their 42nd anniversary, Thanksgiving, baptism, and new membership celebrations.  My journey was packed with memories, generous hospitality, and God’s love, provision, and hope.

My first meal was some bubbling hot meat congee in a clay pot, served with fluffy and tasty Chinese crullers, and a full table of authentic Hong Kong dishes that brought me joy!  I was surprised that someone paid in advance for our bill. That was a Chinese style of friendship that I had almost forgotten.

Congee in clay pot with cruller.

Most of my days in San Francisco, I used public transportation and carried my groceries. This is not my life on the East Coast, but it was when I lived in Hong Kong.  I was exhausted, but I am sure I needed that kind of exercise to stay healthy.  Chinese grocery shopping in San Francisco’s Chinatown was incredible.

As part of my trip, I joined Jeff Wright, Mosaic’s California Leadership Minister, to finally meet the SFCMC leadership face-to-face. This was much better compared to meeting on Zoom.  It was easier for me to translate when I could see actual facial expressions.  Agenda items were addressed clearly in Chinese, questions were answered, and some decisions were left to be made by the congregation.

San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church gathered to celebrate 42 years of ministry
SFCMC Deacons & Mosaic representatives cut the cake for the celebration

The blessing of plentiful Chinese and American food almost blocked the entrance of the church kitchen on this celebration Sunday.  Guests and church members filled the sanctuary and overflowed into the hallway.  We praised and thanked the Lord, and we sang familiar hymns in two languages. The sermon, “We Need Each Other,” reassured SFCMC that Mosaic Conference is walking with them in the transition of their founding pastor’s retirement.  

A baptism at San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church. Photo by Joshua So.

We heard a testimony of healing from non-stop bleeding. We also heard about an answered prayer for the discharge of a hospitalized mother, and a new membership certificate was presented to a sister who already been loved and cared for by the congregation and vice versa.  It was such an honor and a blessing to share the first communion with the newly baptized. A traditional Chinese folk dance and an electric clarinet performance enchanted us, and finally, a group picture was taken to mark the occasion.

Sharing the gospel with two Cantonese-speaking non-believers on this trip was unexpected for me.  A widow’s heart was incredibly hardened to the gospel, but she is a very caring person.  Unfortunately, she saw the weaknesses of many Christians and said she only believes in herself.  I am trusting the Holy Spirit will open the door for her one day because her deceased Christian mother interceded frequently for her daughter’s salvation when she was still alive.

I was upset to hear what happened to the widow, but God sent an elderly widower to strengthen my faith a few hours before I flew back to Philadelphia.  He challenged me with theological questions, but at the same time he was very open to share his authentic feelings about the Christian faith.  It was such a blessing to talk to him.  I am very thankful that he was willing to pray with me and that he asked me to visit him the next time I am in San Francisco.  Both the widow and the widower will be on my mind, and I hope to see them one day in heaven.

Wendy Kwong

Wendy Kwong grew up in Hong Kong and accepted Jesus in a Chinese (Cantonese) Mennonite Church in Philadelphia in 1994.  She did translation work while raising her sons. She is energized by playing badminton and working with children. Wendy and her husband (Kam Wong) have two grown sons and live in Lansdale, PA and attend Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church.  

My Narrative of Inadequacy, Flipped Upside Down

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by Gary Alloway

Growing up, I was a kid who was a good at everything but never excelled at any one thing. I was a committed athlete, but never a star. I was a good student, but there were always a few students above me. I had friends, but others were more charismatic. Since I never had my own “thing,” I always saw this as a weakness in myself.  

When I was 16, God got a hold of my life, and I chose to follow Jesus. At age 18, in a moment of doubt and desperation, I heard God speak the words, “Serve me.” I consider those two moments to be my points of calling. I gave my life to serving God and helping broken people find Jesus.

And yet, for much of my young adulthood, I wandered. I wandered intellectually, trying to find how my beliefs held together. I wandered theologically, exploring everything from evangelicalism to Orthodoxy. I wandered between non-profit ministry and pursuing an academic career, and somewhere in the midst of this, I got a business degree.

At age 24, I was in seminary and not sure what I was doing with my life. I still felt like I was good at a little bit of everything but was not excelling at any one thing.  

One day, God turned this narrative on its head. I was talking with an old friend, and a light came on. Jesus took the narrative of inadequacy and said to me, “You are exactly who I need you to be.”  

Suddenly, I looked again at pastoral ministry and realized that this is a job that requires being good at a little bit of everything rather than being good at one particular thing, especially in the local church. What other job requires public speaking, counseling, budgeting, and knowing the basics of building repair? What other job changes so drastically from day to day … I may be planning a liturgy at one moment and planning a community meal in the next. What other job provides new challenges in every season, often ones that I could never foresee?  

I attended an academic seminary. I remember a professor, who had served the church for many years, say, “If you really want to use your brain, go into pastoral ministry, not academics.” He was right. For someone whose brain likes to wander in a million directions, pastoral ministry never runs out of things to think about. For someone who gets bored easily, pastoral ministry provides something new in every season. For someone who is good at a little bit of everything, but fails to have a specialty, pastoral ministry is a perfect fit.  

I often get exhausted by the ever-changing, never-settled state of the local church. But if church work ever gets boring, then I will probably be ready to move on. So, today I celebrate the local church, with all its chaos and challenges, and am thankful God made me just as I am. 

Gary Alloway

Gary Alloway is a pastor and church planter of Redemption Church of Bristol (PA), which is a Mosaic Partner in Ministry and was founded in 2009.  Gary serves with his wife, Susan, and his children, Augie (9) and Rosey (7), who deeply love pretzel dogs from the Bristol Amish Market.  Gary has a passion for Philadelphia sports, crossword puzzles, and for seeing broken people connect to the amazing love of God. 

As We Wait

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By Cindy Angela

In life, we are often asked to wait. We wait through long, year-long processes as well as doctor’s appointments; we wait for small things like food take-out and large milestones, like buying our first house. There are times when we need to wait, and waiting is not easy.

At least it’s never easy for me.

We’re so used to having everything in an instant, especially in this day and age of technological advancements. Photos that used to take weeks to develop, now appear on our phone instantly and can be shared with hundreds of others with a touch of a button. In the age of social media, we’re constantly overstimulated with ideas, information, pictures, and it all screams “NOW! NOW! NOW!” and it makes waiting even more difficult.

Time keeps passing as I keep waiting. Maybe you’re in the same position as me, waiting for an answer, decision, resolution, or closure.

As part of my new year’s resolution, I took a break from social media. During this time, I was able to reflect upon a waiting period that God has put upon my life. I realized some of the benefits of waiting, and it made my relationship with God even stronger.

1. Waiting forces us to slow down

I am a fast-paced person by nature. So when God told me to “wait,” in a way, God is telling me to slow down. When I was a kid, my mom would tell me all the time, “Eat slowly so you don’t choke.” By slowing down, I can be gentler on my physical, emotional, and spiritual self.

2. Waiting makes us pay attention to (and even appreciate) the little details

Last year, my husband and I took a 9-hour road trip to Charlotte, NC. While I could have taken a plane, saving me hours of travel time, I didn’t mind the extra hours spent on the road. I got to enjoy the scenery, visit new places, and had many great conversations. The extra added time can make us pay attention to and appreciate the little details.

3. Waiting helps us get a better understanding of God’s eventual answer

While I believe that God will always provide an answer for us, I learned that God’s answer can range from “yes” to “no” to “wait” (or “wait some more”). The waiting period has helped shape my understanding of God’s eventual answer. I look back at those waiting periods and understand why God told me to wait and to trust in His timing. Waiting helped me to trust God more and to develop a stronger relationship with Him.

“But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31, NLT

As I wait, I’m praying and trusting God, that He will be with me in every step of the way. And as we wait, we might as well enjoy the ride.

Cindy Angela

Cindy Angela is the Digital Communication Associate for Mosaic Conference. She attends Philadelphia (PA) Praise Center, and she lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Andy.

Art Goes Where Words Cannot

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By Bonnie Stevenson

Photo by Bonnie Stevenson.

Human trafficking, prison ministry, mental health challenges, and difficult family relationships fill our world. We live in an overstimulated society, and mental illness often goes untreated. As churches and as church leaders, we may not always know how to respond.

But art goes where words cannot. Art therapy helps to express our thoughts and feelings, even when ideas are difficult or impossible to put into words. Being raised in the church by a single mom with five half-brothers and sisters, the need to express myself was ever so real. But when my words didn’t come, Jesus and art stepped into my life, and the healing process began.  

Art therapy is about the process and not the picture content. When I met Gabriel, he was an awesome five-year-old who loved playing with hot wheels and painting with his fingers. He came into my office at church because his mother was very upset that he had strangled his new puppy. She had no idea the rage inside of Gabriel until it surfaced in a time of sensory motor art and listening to soft worship music about Jesus.

I have learned, and am still learning, that art as therapy is only a tool. Creating an atmosphere with songs of adoración (worship), reading the Bible, and using all the colors of the rainbow bring the true healing. 

Photo by Bonnie Stevenson.

I believe God has so many colors in the beautiful rainbow because they express his promises to us as a heavenly father.  

Be thou our vision, oh Lord! We shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace! 

Bonnie Stevenson

Bonnie Stevenson is married to Bob, and they have two adult children. Bob and Bonnie pastor Monte Maria Tierra Prometida Church in Atizapan, Mexico, a Partner in Ministry with Mosaic Mennonite Conference. Bonnie recently completed a certificate in art therapy with the College for Education and Clinical Art Therapy. 

Prayer for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

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by Jill Duffield

This prayer was originally published here in January 2020.

God of all tribes and nations, today we remember and give thanks for your servant, Martin Luther King Jr. His words moved a nation toward justice and equity. His witness called forth the best of us, casting a vision of unity and reconciliation that we have yet to achieve.

We know that remembering the saints is not enough, and so we ask for the wisdom and strength to emulate their bravery, their tenacity and their willingness to stop at nothing to speak truth to power.

As we see the rise of hatred and white supremacy, the explosion of division and bigotry, we boldly ask for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Do again, Lord God, what you did at Pentecost, upend our expectations, break through our tribal loyalties, knit us together as one humanity, give us the ability to speak in each other’s languages, until all of us dream your dreams, see your visions, speak your words and not only understand each other, but long to be with one another.

On this day that is not simply a day on the calendar, but a day on which we serve and work, pray and hope, struggle and strive to bend the arc of history closer to justice, abide with us, inspire us, shape us into the people your prophets call us to be: united, beloved and a beautiful reflection of your glory. Amen.

The Entrepreneurial Impulse of the Spirit

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By Stephen Kriss

This week I attended the funeral of David G Landis at Blooming Glen (PA) Mennonite Church. David helped steer a small neighborhood market in Telford, PA to become a family-owned regional chain, committed to essentially operating the business on the Golden Rule.  The meetinghouse was packed. We celebrated David’s entrepreneurial spirit and his capacity to do good business while remaining committed and engaged with the church, all while shaping his own family with those same commitments.  Dave and his wife, Carolyn, welcomed me as a Western Pennsylvania interloper, to feel appreciated, challenged, and loved in the community of Mennonites of Southeastern Pennsylvania. 

A few pews in front of me was Cory Longacre, our Conference treasurer. Cory’s dad, Henry Longacre, died last summer.  I also attended his funeral at Swamp Mennonite Church in Quakertown, PA.  Henry had served on our Conference properties committee till his death.  Henry’s life was also deeply shaped by the church and his own entrepreneurial capacities.  Henry, too, included me in ways I never expected with respect, care, and challenge.  I’m grateful for his questions, guidance, and family legacy. 

In the 1980s, both men helped shape a critical part of our Conference with the idea of purchasing commercial property in Souderton, PA that could help sustain and extend our ministry.  Along with Wayne Clemens (Perkasie congregation), Henry Rosenberger (Plains congregation), and Bryan Hunsberger (Souderton congregation), these men dreamed of a time and place when we might need the capacity of secondary incomes to extend what historian John Ruth has called “the right fellowship.” 

As a result of their foresight, that commercial property now helps match every donor dollar that Mosaic Conference receives.  It also helps support our Missional Operational Grants that support new initiatives.  And, it provides space for the thriving ministry of Care and Share Shoppes, a Conference Related Ministry that generates nearly a million dollars annually to the work of Mennonite Central Committee.  It’s also the home to a branch of Ten Thousand Villages and to medical practices. 

We have been blessed by businesspersons who combined their deep love for the church with their risk-taking and financial skills to help sustain our ministries long term. Their collaboration and charisma mean that we are a different kind of Anabaptist community. I am committed to honoring their legacy through our work and ministry. The Gospel means treating our neighbors well no matter who they are nor how close they live to us. I see this entrepreneurial spirit thrive in both our traditional and emerging communities of Mosaic.  

As we look at 2023, we would be irresponsible to not admit the challenges ahead of us, but we also need to acknowledge our faith in Jesus and the legacy of pastors and leaders who have gone before us. We are called to be both faithful and entrepreneurial, pastoral and apostolic.  

I begin this year anew committed to our work, building on our faithful foundations and the capacities of our marketplace and ministry worlds.  We know that Jesus is Lord of it all.  Though it is challenging, it is also essential to carry this faith into the future together, from our newest church plants that stretch from Tijuana, Mexico to Baltimore, our past missional endeavors that have taken root in Vermont and North Jersey, our newest Mosaic communities in Florida, and our communities with 300-year-old cloud of witness cemeteries like West Swamp and Towamencin.  The steadiness and entrepreneurial impulse of the Spirit will not only sustain us but take us to places we haven’t even yet imagined.  

May the new year be full of possibility and hope.  May we work with faith and steadfast love.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)

Stephen Kriss

Stephen Kriss is the Executive Minister of Mosaic Conference.