Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

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A Church For All Who Thirst: Introducing Peña de Horeb

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“Peña de Horeb Church has the vision to make disciples of people who are on the streets,” says Pastor Dania Marisa Hernández of Peña de Horeb. “And God is transforming their lives and their families.”

Peña de Horeb is a small congregation in south Philadelphia, PA that began in 2018. Their vision is to make disciples and become a family where all the members establish a deep relationship with Jesus. They desire to equip members to carry out the Great Commission in a church where Jesus is the head and we are His body.

Though the pandemic has impacted the church in a variety of ways, currently about 30 people are regularly participating. “Despite the current situation of the pandemic, God has kept us together,” reports Pastor Dania.” We trust that God sustains us and keeps us and God is providing the spiritual and economic growth of the church.”

The congregation will be welcomed into Mosaic Conference during the Assembly on November 6, 2021.

Pastor Dania, at the podium, with members of the church during a worship service. Photo provided by Peña de Horeb.

“We feel blessed to be received by Mosaic Conference. It is a gift from God,” Pastor Dania shares. “We are a church that desires this kind of support so that we can bless and benefit others, and share the Gospel.” She is thankful for early and continuing support from Pastor Aldo Siahaan and Pastor Beny Krisbianto.

Pastor Dania and the church hope to receive support, opportunities for networking, and spiritual enrichment from Mosaic Conference. Through relationships with Lead Minister, Marta Castillo, Marco Güete, Aldo Siahaan, Beny Krisbianto, Noel Santiago, and hosting the Mosaic staff meeting in June, they are making connections and learning about the Conference. They are eager to develop leaders and bring new people into the Conference to be connected to Mosaic’s work.

God gave Pastor Dania the desire to serve from a young age. Born in Nicaragua into a family that offered support and hospitality to missionaries, she traveled across her country, focused on addressing poverty and the needs of the people she encountered.

After moving to Philadelphia, Pastor Dania became a part of the Centro de Alabanza congregation. There she learned the Mennonite vision of reaching out to others and of community service. She studied through IBA (Instituto Biblico Anabautista). Pastor Dania has a transportation business and takes advantage of any opportunity to share the Gospel.

With the blessing and support of the leadership of Centro de Alabanza, she started a small group Bible study in her garage and eventually moved into a worship space.

A church trip and picnic in July 2021. Photo provided by Peña de Horeb.

In the early days of the Bible study, someone invited a group of ex-convicts to come and participate in the service of her home. Though she was frightened, Dania trusted God, and those 15 ex-convicts became a part of what would become a new congregation.

Peña de Horeb now has a building at 11th and Washington Avenues in Philadelphia and continues to be deeply connected to people on the streets and outcasts in society.

The name, Peña de Horeb (“Rock of Horeb”), comes from Exodus 17:6. It is the rock that God commanded Moses to strike in order for the Israelites to have water to drink. That name came to Pastor Dania in the midst of prayer, as she was seeking direction about the new ministry God was calling her to start. She felt God directly sharing with her this name, recognizing that the church can be a place for those in need to drink the living, liberating water that Jesus offers.

She felt God directly sharing with her this name, recognizing that the church can be a place for those in need to drink the living, liberating water that Jesus offers.

Video produced by Jonnathan Campoverde

Home

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Another summer day 
Has come and gone away 
In Paris and Rome 
But I wanna go home …  

Let me go home 
I’m just too far from where you are 
I wanna go home 

Sunset in Bandung, Indonesia, from the balcony of Hendy’s apartment when he lived there. 
Photo provided by Hendy Matahelemual.

These are lyrical excerpts from the song, “Home,” by Michael Bublé. Somehow this song keeps coming back to my mind.   

The reason is obvious. I miss my hometown. Yes, I would rather be in Bandung, Indonesia right now, rather than Paris, Rome, Philadelphia, or anywhere in the world. Bandung is not only the city where I was born and raised, but it is also the city where I met many friends, found my calling in life, married my wife, and first held my oldest child.   

It has been three years since I’ve been back home in Indonesia. The current immigration policy and laws, in addition to the pandemic, do not make it easy for me to travel back home. That is why I wish there were a magical door that I could step through and take me there in a second, satisfying my longing, even for a short time.   

What do I miss? I miss the food, the sound of adhan (Islamic call to prayer) in the air, and the food carts that sell food right at your front door. I miss the morning breeze from the mountain and the color of the sky at dusk. Maybe the saying is right: there is no place like home.   

I’m lucky to have beautiful memories, and I know that not everyone shares my feeling about their hometown. Many have trauma, pain, and tragic memories, causing them to search for another place to call “home” someday. Others simply cannot go back, for numerous reasons, to the place they once called “home.”   

Where do we find home then? Where do you find a safe place? Where you can find a place that can replenish your soul?   

The psalmist wrote, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm 84:10, NRSV).  

Our true home is not in this world. We are just simply passing through. That is why there will always be a longing for home, even when you already at your home. Our bodies will always belong to this world, but our spirits belong with God.  

Jesus said, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2, NLT) 

Jesus is already showing me the way, and he is there already waiting for us. And I’m not alone now. I have my spiritual family all over the world. I call home any place I am with Jesus and his church.   

On Being Community in the Time of a Plague

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I’ve been doing some ongoing reading to help root my leadership and response as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.  N.T. Wright is a widely respected, Anglican theologian from the United Kingdom.  This summer, I picked up his short response to the pandemic from last year, entitled, God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and Its Aftermath (Zondervan, 2020).  Initially, I listened to the audio version on my drive to MennoCon this summer in July, but I also bought a hard copy for further investigation.  

N. T. Wright is a helpful guide in this time.  The short book began through a provocation from Time magazine for a response to the pandemic.  At only 76 pages, it’s a quick read, and at only five hours, a quick listen as well.  

Wright is not an easily moved character.  He’s deeply rooted in both the history of the church and Biblical narrative.  I appreciate his steadiness in the face of conspiracy, polarity, and emotion.  Wright reminds us that pandemics and plagues happen.  They are part of our human story and experience. He invites us to both intentional lament and response that takes the time seriously, to extend the witness of Christ.   

In the past, the church has responded to plague and pandemic with care for the most vulnerable.  This is the consistent invitation of Jesus toward those of us who follow in the Way.  This is not a disconnect.  The church’s history of care is retold in the book.   

Book Cover © Copyright 2021 by HarperCollins Christian Publishing

Wright also suggests that much of the Western healthcare concept began within the care of the church.  This is important to remember when we consider our faithful response.  The church collectively, and Christians individually, are invited to be part of the healing of the world in physical, spiritual, psychological and social realms.  Wright urges us to not cede this space of healing to institutions outside of the church itself in the day of state-sponsored healthcare like in the UK, or in our context of large, corporate, non-profit and for-profit structures.  The church is about healing, and caring for the most vulnerable. 

“The call to Jesus’ followers, then, as they confront their own doubts and those of the world through tears and from behind locked doors, is to be sign-producers for God’s kingdom.” -N.T. Wright, God and the Pandemic, pg. 64. 

A second observation of caution is the possibility of increased privatization of religious practice through our move to online worshipping communities.  While some of this critique may be generational (Wright is 72 years old), I find resonance in his invitation to maintain a faithful, real-time presence. The virtual world is a realm where the proclamation of Christ is necessary too.  Contemporary technology allows us to extend into more spaces and places than we could have imagined, even pre-pandemic.  At the same time, there’s something sacred in the real time gathering of faithful people face-to-face.  This is a both/and – not an either/or – for our future. 

Wright gives us a helpful charge and grounding with this book.  Though already dated, as it was published in 2020 and the pandemic has persisted beyond what the writer had gauged, I appreciate the reflection that Wright offers and the space it helps hold open for the church to respond in ways that extend the faithful witness of Christ into a tumultuous time. 

This will not be the last pandemic in the human story. We clearly are not yet through this variation of plague and pandemonium.  The challenge remains for us to continue in faith, hope, and love in the way of Christ, empowered by the Spirit to extend peace in our worship and witness, in our healing and steadiness in times of trial and turmoil.   

A study guide accompanies Wright’s book, to use with small groups or your congregation. 

Why Me?

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As a hospital chaplain, I often encounter people on the worst days of their lives.  As I sit with people receiving difficult diagnoses or needing to make challenging decisions, I am often asked, “Why is this happening?”  

After years of being present with people through sudden deaths, extreme physical pain, or unimaginable trauma, I have yet to have an answer to the question of why.  

When life feels so illogical, it is logical to want a reason or explanation. When the world around us feels anything but clear and simple, any sense of clarity is desired. I get it. 

A couple of months ago, I was diagnosed with leukemia. Seven years ago, I battled leukemia and after chemotherapy, fortunately entered remission. My doctors told me that my leukemia was not curable but treatable, so the chances of recurrence was extremely high. Most people experience recurrence within one to five years, but I was told, if I pass the five-year mark, my chances of experiencing a longer remission (10-20 years) is very high. When I reached my five-year anniversary of being cancer-free, I had a party, with a cake shaped in the number “5.”  

So when my leukemia returned a few months ago, seven years after remission, I was shocked. In fact, I was even more shocked and angry than when I initially was diagnosed. I thought I had beaten the odds. This was not what I expected. My anger manifested into depression and bitterness to the world around me. It was not fair.  

Sue Conrad Howes received chemo for leukemia in 2014. Photo by Michael A. Howes.

I processed my anger and grief with close friends and a counselor. For years, I sat with people as they processed their traumas and disappointments, asking, “Why is this happening to me?” Now I was the one asking the question. Of course, no one had any answer. Nor should they. I am grateful no one said, “Everything happens for a reason,” because that is not true. Sometimes awful things happen, and there is no reason.  

Eventually I asked the question differently, “Why should this not be happening to me?”

Eventually I asked the question differently, “Why should this not be happening to me?” Why did I think I was any more special than anyone else? Sometimes things happen that we have no control over. No matter how well we live or pray or how many casseroles we take to our elderly neighbors, life can throw us a huge curve ball combined with a sucker punch. We don’t need to be happy and upbeat when bad things happen, nor do we have to figure out the “why”. 

I began thinking about other things in my life. I didn’t ignore my leukemia, but I realized I never asked why something is happening to me when things were going well – like when my leukemia went into remission seven years earlier, before all my chemo treatments were completed, or when we sold our house, the buyers offered to pay us $25,000 more than asking. I didn’t ask why either of those times, but I celebrated and gave thanks.  

Is it possible to not ask why with bad things in the same way I don’t ask why with good? Am I able to honor both? Am I able to say that I am no better or worse than another person, but that my life circumstances are different?  

How I accept and strive forward with those circumstances is what makes the difference. Now I spend time asking what am I going to do about this rather than asking why is this happening. Suddenly, the question now gives me an opportunity to give an answer, rather than saying, “I don’t know.”  

Now I know.  

Fall Assembly Updates: A Change in Plans

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Rooted in our love for God and each other, and under the guidance of the CDC regarding large gatherings, the annual Mosaic Assembly on Saturday, November 6, 2021, will be pivoting from in-person gatherings to a fully virtual gathering. Mosaic Conference’s Board had really hoped to gather in person this year but, in light of the current and forecasted rise in COVID-19 cases across the country, this change will ensure all delegates and guests are able to safely join our gathering from numerous states.

Delegates will now join the business session from their homes for a virtual delegate session. In order to facilitate attendance and voting, every delegate will need to register individually for the Assembly with an email address unique to her or him.

The Assembly worship service will also be fully virtual. We welcome and encourage individuals, congregations, and Conference Related Ministries to join the virtual worship. A block of time between the delegate session and worship service allows for local travel so that delegates can gather at a watch party or in individual homes for worship. Keep an eye on Mosaic’s Conference Assembly webpage for a list of watch parties in your area.

1 PM – 3 PM EST
10 AM – 12 PM PST

Starts at 7 PM EST
Starts at 4 PM PST

(*The schedule for Mosaic Assembly has been adjusted to allow for local travel to watch parties for the worship service.) 

Want to host a watch party?

If you would like to host a watch party for others to join in your ministry, congregation, or home, please fill out a brief form on our Assembly webpage so that we can communicate with others.

HOST A WATCH PARTY

Are you a delegate? Registration for the 2021 Mosaic Assembly is now open. To register, click here.

Keep checking back on the assembly page for local watch parties in your area.

Managing My House Plants

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I am beginning to enjoy house plants. As a child, I remember a few plants finding their way into our home. It was a welcomed, bi-annual chore to move several of my grandmother’s potted plants outside in the spring and then clean them up and move them back indoors in the fall.  

Now that my children are old enough to not tip over the plants to explore the dirt or eat the plants, a few house plants have found their way into our home. Some have bitter-sweet memories attached as gifts from a funeral; some came in bright abstract pots painted by my children; one was an exciting find at a discount grocery store, and others were shared from growing collections of family members.

Plants generally need a combination of soil, light, and water. Choosing the right amount of sunlight, soil type, and proper drainage combo varies with each plant variety. Now, I can make most plants survive, and most of them are fine and happy. However, the spider plant I have growing in a corner shelf that I never bother to rotate is not healthy. My vining pathos plant is luscious and deep green; however, if I experimented with different lighting, I wonder if it is actually a variegated leaf variety waiting to be exposed.

Photo provided by Brooke Martin.

If I treat each plant equally, with the same pot, soil, and sun-exposure, and put them on the same watering schedule, with equal amounts of fertilizer and pruning, they might survive, but they would not thrive. They share one home, but these are all different plants. Their needs may overlap, but each requires different attention.   

Photo provided by Brooke Martin.

It would not be wise to water my snake plant like I do my palm plants as my snake plant would suffer root rot.  Currently I prefer my arrowhead to be a bushy plant, so I need to prune it to keep it from vining and taking over. For a variety of plants to thrive and flourish in my one household, each plant needs to be tended in its own way. This is equity.  

In our lives, equity means every person is their own God-created, perfectly beautiful plant. Every person’s personality, culture, race, life stage, gender, economic status, health, relationships, and life experiences impact what sun exposure, fertilizer, pruning, watering, soil type, and frequency of re-potting is needed for them to thrive.  

Take a walk with the Holy Spirit through the household of your life. Listen to the Creator of the Garden of Eden.  Look inside you. What plants in you need to be pruned? What needs to be re-potted or fertilized?   

Look around you. What plants in your household, workplace, small group, congregation, community, country, and world are straining for sunlight? What parts are waterlogged and suffering root rot? Ask the Holy Spirit to direct your actions and inactions toward Holy Equity. 

Creator God, hear our prayer. 

“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

 – Job 8:11, NRSV 

Responding to the Need in Indonesia, Regardless of Religion

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The church knows no geographical boundaries. When there is a call for help from across the globe, as a church, we are called to act. When the second wave of the pandemic hit Indonesia where vaccines are still limited, Mosaic congregations rose to action.  

Photo provided by Britannia Worotikan.

Four Mosaic churches, Salford (Harleysville, PA) Mennonite Church, Philadelphia (PA) Praise Center, Jemaat Kristen Indonesian Anugerah (JKIA) (Sierra Madre, CA), and International Worship Church (IWC) (San Gabriel, CA), raised funds to assist with needs related to the pandemic in Indonesia. Together the churches raised over $17,000. Through a Missional Operations Grant, Mosaic Conference gave an additional $15,000. Altogether $32,937.32 was sent to Indonesia through JKI Anugerah, to support vaccination programs and humanitarian aid.

A fundraising effort collected funds for Semarang City and Makassar, Indonesia to be distributed by JKI, a Mennonite organization in Indonesia. JKI began a free vaccination program in June 2021. The vaccines were provided for free from the Indonesian government, but the funds raised contributed to the facility costs, workers’ wages, and meals. To read more, click here. 

Boarding school students are vaccinated in Indonesia through the free vaccine initiative, supported in part through Mosaic churches and Conference. Photo provided by JKI Injil Kerajaan.

“The free vaccine initiative and aid toward the marginalized community that was impacted by the Covid 19 Pandemic is very strategic ministry for the church; this way the church can be salt and light to the community”, said Pastor Virgo Handojo of JKIA.

Hanah Sinjaya, the head of YABBM foundation, almost gave up on helping those in need in Indonesia, because she couldn’t afford the costs needed to run the free vaccine clinic and offer humanitarian aid. Thanks to the moral and financial support through this initiative, the free vaccinations program and humanitarian assistance continue to run today, reaching to the narrow alleys where many people live in the city of Makassar.

On Monday, August 30, 2021, Mosaic funds helped vaccinate 423 people from two Islamic Boarding school in Indonesia. Each person was also provided a free lunch, mask, gloves, vitamins and groceries to take to their home. In a country where 87% of the population is Muslim, the initiative offered a show of support and solidarity with all persons. 

Photo provided by JKI Injil Kerajaan.

“Today, God has a unique way of gathering us all. A Pastor and a Kyai (an expert in Islam) stand together, side by side, so we can all be healthy. In the midst of the danger of Islamic Radicalism that wants to use the Taliban victory as a weapon of influence, today we show something different to spread goodness and unity”, said Gus Nuril Arifin, Head of Soko Tunggal, Islamic boarding school. 

“…today we show something different to spread goodness and unity.”

– Gus Nuril Arifin

Photo provided by JKI Injil Kerajaan.

Update on Process with Dock Academy

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Last month, Mosaic Conference committed to developing an internal review process in response to allegations of misconduct at Dock Mennonite Academy (Lansdale, PA). In the last weeks, our Conference Related Ministry Committee and the Ministerial and Credentials Committees have developed a process that will include conversations between some of their members and members of the Dock Board, as well as the Dock Superintendent, to discuss concerns, affirmations, and future recommendations.  

A draft of this process will go to the Conference Board for approval at their next meeting. Next steps will be communicated by September 30.  We have continued to consult with Dove’s Nest to work toward a survivor-centered process.  We hope to not only provide insight into what has or has not been done in the past but also to initiate changes for our conference that foster healthy relationships, mutual accountability, and safe spaces for the vulnerable among us.  

Mosaic Conference takes allegations of abuse or misconduct seriously (resources for Safe Churches).  If you have information about an instance of child abuse in your ministry context, please report it by calling the child abuse hotline for your state:

CA: list of phone numbers by county

FL: 1-800-962-2873

MD: list of phone numbers by county

NJ: 1-877-652-2873

NY: 1-800-342-3720

PA: 1-800-932-0313

VT: 1-800-649-5285