Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Articles

Introducing Oasis, An Expanded Nations and Generations Gathering

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by Danilo Sanchez

On Nov 1, 2024, the Mosaic Conference Intercultural team hosted the annual Renewing Nations and Generations gathering for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) leaders within the conference. As in past years, it was a joyous event where leaders could network, enjoy fellowship, and be equipped for their roles. We were honored to have Rev. Dr. Dennis Edwards as our keynote speaker, who shared wisdom from his book Might from the Margins. 

The Conference-Related Ministry the Mennonite Heritage Center opened its doors to us and Executive Director Joel Horst Nofziger shared some Anabaptist history and highlighted the changing realities of Anabaptism. Participants were invited to explore the exhibit hall and visit the archives. Nofziger encouraged us to add artifacts from our congregations so that the stories of Anabaptism told at the center would include ours too. 

Dr. Rashard Allen, of Neffsville (Lancaster, PA) Mennonite, led us in Spirit-filled worship that incorporated our various languages. Dr. Edwards inspired us to live boldly as diaspora people. Our bellies were happily filled with delicious Ethiopian food provided by the Horst Nofziger family. The night ended with a Spirit-led time of prayer. 

The Origins of Renewing Nations and Generations 

When Renewing Nations and Generations was formed in 2018, the number of BIPOC leaders with Mosaic was small. The gathering was created to carve out space from the dominant culture and discuss issues we were facing in our churches. We had aspirational goals of training the next generation of leaders and to work at belonging in the conference.  

Our conversations and goals were not coming from a mindset of “us vs. them,” and yet we recognized that we all have biases, and those biases can do harm when we live and worship together as a conference. The gathering was a place where we felt connected and less alone, didn’t have to monitor our bodies or the volume of our voices, and could speak freely in our native language without constant explanations. 

Meeting the Needs of Mosaic Leaders Today 

Today, BIPOC leaders make up a larger percent of the leaders within Mosaic, but there is still a need to network, build relationships, and be equipped. While Mosaic has grown in its intercultural capacity, there is still more to learn and develop. 

As our group looks to the future, the Intercultural team is pleased to have this BIPOC gathering be a key part of Vibrant Mosaic. Thanks to the Lily Endowment Inc., the Showalter Foundation, and Everence, this evening event has been expanded to a 2.5-day conference that will support our BIPOC leaders within Mosaic.  

The expanded conference will take place every other year and has been renamed OASIS, inspired by John 4:14, reminding us that Jesus is our Living Water and in him we will never go thirsty. The first OASIS will take place in Tampa, FL from May 29 to June 1, 2025.  

Danilo Sanchez

Danilo Sanchez is the Leadership Minister for Intercultural Transformation for Mosaic Conference. Danilo Sanchez lives in Allentown with his wife Mary and two daughters. He is a pastor at Ripple and leads in the areas of leadership development, discipleship, and teaching.

Resplandece Celebrates Its First Anniversary

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by Noel Santiago

Resplandece Mennonite Church celebrated its first anniversary in the same way it gathers each week: in a hybrid format.  

Over 30 people joined virtually and in person to recognize, celebrate, and give glory to God for a year of ministry in Florida, Colombia, and Venezuela. 

Participants in Pembroke Pines, FL
Participants on Zoom.

Through videos, Zoom, and in-person participation, members shared what Resplandece means to them. From being a place of belonging to a refuge, Resplandece has created a space where members can be present with one another in God’s presence. 

A brief review of the year included ministry events such as seminars, workshops, and children’s ministry, where activities, food, and gifts were shared. 

The name “Resplandece” comes from Isaiah 60:1, where God’s light shines on those who are called by Him. Resplandece has witnessed how God multiplies what has been given beyond what has been imagined. 

Pastor Manuel shared a message reminding those present to reflect on their journey throughout the year: what went well and what needs improvement. He shared, saying, “One area that always needs improvement is our pursuit of God through His word.” 

Reflecting on childhood fears, Pastor Manuel shared how God’s word brings encouragement, strength, and comfort. Similarly, we can trust in God and His word to encourage, strengthen, and comfort us in the future, just as God has been faithful in the past. 

No celebration would be complete without delicious food. While those present in Florida shared a meal together, the virtual participants celebrated with their own meals. 

May God continue to guide and light the path of Resplandece, so that others may see His light and find the King who is with the Father and lives in each of us. 

Noel Santiago

Noel Santiago is the Leadership Minister for Missional Transformation for Mosaic Conference.

Wildfires Impact Southern California Mosaic Congregations

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by Jennifer Svetlik

The fires in the Los Angeles, CA area have caused widespread destruction and loss of life since they began over a week ago, including damage to some Anabaptist congregations and members’ properties.  

There are five southern California Mosaic Conference member congregations and around a dozen credentialed pastors in the region. Families from Jemaat Kristen Indonesian Anugerah (JKIA) (Sierra Madre, CA) and International Worship Center (San Gabriel, CA) have both been affected by the evacuations related to the Eaton fire that has devastated parts of Altadena and Pasadena, east of LA. 

At this time, only one pastor remains evacuated, and one family from within a member congregation has reported that their home has been destroyed.  

Video provided by Virgo Handojo.

“In the face of loss, displacement, and struggle, please pray for comfort, resilience, and strength for those affected by Eaton Fire, and support our LA communities through donations, volunteering, and simply being present for us,” encouraged Virgo Handojo, Pastor of JKIA. 

In response to the fire, JKIA has launched three initiatives: Providing resource information on evacuation centers, access to clean water, shelters, FEMA registration, and insurance claim workshops; Raising donations within the congregation and the public to support those affected by the fire; and recruiting and organizing community volunteers to offer hands-on assistance and support. 

Mennonite Disaster Service and Mennonite Church USA have both been in contact with Mosaic Conference leadership to assess needs. Those who wish to contribute financially to disaster response can do so through Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS). 

“Mosaic Conference staff have been in regular contact with our pastors in the LA area to assess needs and responses,” said Stephen Kriss, Executive Minister of Mosaic Conference. “We will work through our member communities, sibling Anabaptist communities, and MDS to facilitate any further responses. We are grateful for the concern for our members in the face of these horrendous fires and the expressions of solidarity that have come from within Mosaic, and from MDS and Mennonite Church USA.” 

Mosaic Conference Leadership has also had contact with Pacific Southwest Conference Minister Stanley Greene to offer support. A few households within Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference have lost their homes.  

About ten percent of Mosaic member congregations are in California. 

“My heart has been shattered by the sights and stories of windstorm and wildfire in the megacity that God has led me to love deeply and to call home for most of my adult life,” shared Jeff Wright, Mosaic Conference Leadership Minister for several California congregations, who is also currently serving as pastor of Blooming Glen (PA) Mennonite but has lived in California for nearly 40 years and maintains a home in the area.  

“I’m also aware that Mennonites, who have worshipped and witnessed in Southern California for over 120 years have, in every generation, faced environmental catastrophes and social crises.” 

He continued, “In previous times of disaster, God united the local Mennonite community, diverse in ethnic identity, economic status, and theological priorities, to act together in love for one another and their neighbors. This latest ecological and public calamity will require a similar commitment to work together across conference, denominational, and agency lines. Calamity does not last, serving in crisis does.” 

Jennifer Svetlik

Jennifer is Editor & Development Coordinator for Mosaic. She grew up near Houston, TX and spent a decade living in intentional community in Washington DC, before moving to Lansdale, PA. She serves as Children’s Faith Formation Director at Salford Mennonite (Harleysville, PA).

500 Years of an Anabaptism that Continues to Emerge

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by Stephen Kriss

For my 50th birthday, I traveled to Europe to explore my biological family heritage in Slovakia and my spiritual family history in Switzerland and Germany. I began in the Carpathian Mountains where my great-grandparents had lived, discovering family names in cemeteries and noticing the similarities between the landscape and that of the Alleghenies of Western Pennsylvania, where my family later settled. This journey deepened my sense of connection and left some unanswered questions about my familial story, especially about whether, amid a predominantly Catholic family, I might also have Ashkenazi Jewish roots. 

The second part of my trip was a three-day immersion in Anabaptist/Mennonite history with John L. Ruth (Salford [PA] congregation). We visited key locations in Zurich, explored an archive to see a letter written by Conrad Grebel, and traveled to Germany. I saw the family heritage locations for the Landis, Groff, and Alderfer clans who are part of our Mosaic settler families from colonial days. It was a privilege to travel with John, who is now in his 90s, and hear his stories and enthusiasm. 

Stephen Kriss and John L. Ruth in Germany. Photo by Stephen Kriss.

John, his friend Peter Schmid, and I hiked to one of the Anabaptist caves where early members of the movement gathered clandestinely. Peter is part of the movement to stir conversation and confession between Anabaptists and his community, the Swiss Reformed. More than the spiritual significance of the cave, I remember praying together, and Peter gently guiding John as we walked the precarious wooded trail on a rainy morning, possibly the last of John’s many pilgrimages to that spot. 

The Anabaptist plaque on the Limmat River in Zurich, Switzerland marks the spot where Felix Manz and other Anabaptists were drowned for their faith. Photo by Stephen Kriss.

As the 500th Anniversary of Anabaptism approaches next week, I am reflecting on that European pilgrimage trip. Anabaptism was opened to me as a child through a Mennonite church in a mining town in the Allegheny Mountains. I have remained Anabaptist not because of right theology but because of relationships centered in Jesus, in all their brokenness and beauty. 

My academic training teaches me to approach belief with humility and openness. I have come to hold my own Anabaptism both lightly and seriously. I acknowledge the beauty and brokenness that exists within the breadth of Christian traditions including our own. I also have experienced that of God in settings beyond the framework of the church. 

I recognize that after the heroism of the first generations of Anabaptists, the movement institutionalized, became biologically bound in some settings, and was captive to many of modernity’s traps. I acknowledge that our practiced humility is sometimes the flip side of our arrogance. 

This year, as we honor Anabaptism’s beginnings, I am aware that some of us who have been Mennonite all our lives still wonder if it’s our story or how we belong in it. It can be hard to live within and alongside the margins of a 500-year legacy. Sometimes Anabaptism’s exacting and perfecting process can create implicit and explicit boundaries that are difficult to navigate as we seek to faithfully follow Jesus. 

Yet I’ve come to know that Anabaptism is always a plurality. It’s localized, contextualized, and personalized. It’s quirky and brave. At its best, it is both deeply personal and fully communal. It’s a balance of the Bible, the people, and the Spirit (though the work of the Spirit has sometimes not been considered enough).  

In this time which historian Phyllis Tickle has called another great reformation in the church, Anabaptists have an opportunity to honestly and humbly examine our past and imagine our future. What confessions should we be ready to offer in the midst of our celebration? In what ways does active repentance alter our trajectory? How can we embody the reconciling love of Jesus and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit while interacting with our neighbors in a global and local age? 

We will need to again be brave, full of both conviction and humility, repenting from that which has distracted us from the centrality of Jesus. We will need to remain open to the Anabaptisms that continue to emerge, ready to be led by the Spirit into faithfulness and change, binding and loosing, giving and receiving, hoping and working, broken and beautiful. 

Kriss family relatives in a cemetery in Spišské Podhradie Slovakia. Photo by Stephen Kriss.

Stephen Kriss

Stephen Kriss is the Executive Minister of Mosaic Conference.

My Calling to Pastoral Ministry

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By Makinto

Growing up as an atheist in a staunchly secular German family, nothing prepared me nor foreshadowed my call to ministry, other than the will and plan of God in his infinite mercy and wisdom. Although I was surrounded by churches, the primary purpose of a church, in the eyes of my father, was to host organ concerts or be the objects of admiration for historical facts and architectural beauty. Although a protestant church offered rehearsal space to my first teen jazz band, the first time I heard the gospel was at age 16, on a European bicycle tour, when I was accosted by a barely older teen at a fountain in Rotterdam, Netherlands who explained Jesus to me in two minutes. 

Curiously, many of the songs I wrote in my early professional music career, even before coming to Christ, talked about mercy, love, a higher power or even God. It was as if my spirit longed to have a relationship with a creator I didn’t know. God also endowed me with a personality that seeks balance and reconciliation and is interested in other people’s well-being, thus foreshadowing pastoral characteristics. 

 As a professional musician and performer, I was keenly aware that music had the power to bring people together and create an atmosphere of unity, albeit temporarily. I even experienced the redeeming and healing power of music: one night in Paris at an after-hours jazz bar, I performed an original song describing the power and glory of God (this was 10 years prior to giving my life to the Lord Jesus). A distinguished elderly lady in the audience was healed from a chronic condition, which she testified about tearfully the following night, attributing it to listening to my song the previous evening. Although I lacked a personal relationship with God at the time, I nevertheless got a glimpse of God’s power and care for his people.   

Being a critical and analytical person, I researched every mayor religion to understand their core values and teachings: I read the Quran, the Bhagavat Ghita, Confucian Analects, and the Bible. All these writings talked about love as the central element of God’s transforming power and character. Fast forward to 1999 at Day Spring Church, a Bible-believing, Holy Spirit-filled charismatic church in New York City. I was increasingly convinced that the real, living God teaching, expressing, and modeling true love was the one who sacrificed himself on the cross for the people he loved. On a trip to Burkina Faso in May 2000, I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

My wife Mukarabe and I promptly immersed ourselves in praise, prophetic, and intercessory ministry and were ordained into ministry by Dayspring Church in NYC in 2003. That same year, prompted by the Holy Spirit, we left the East Coast and journeyed 11 months in a travel trailer across the continental United States. God taught us valuable lessons concerning faith, prophetic ministry, provision, healing, and obedience. We became the praise team for a church in Mississippi for three months, opened a soup kitchen, held revival and reconciliation services, and praised Him on campgrounds, city parks, and churches of many denominations in what we called “A family traveling for Jesus.”  

In 2005 God led us to Los Angeles (California) Faith Chapel, an urban church in LA mostly attended by Nigerians and African Americans, affiliated at the time with PSMC (Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference). Pastor Chuwang Pam invited me to be part of his pastoral staff as Associate Pastor of Worship and Men’s ministry, true to the central mission of the church found in 2 Timothy 2:2.  

Since then, God has allowed me to serve three churches as Pastor of Worship and Musical director, teach and preach the word, gain a certificate in Anabaptist studies from Hesston College, and be a credentialed minister in the process of ordination at Mosaic Conference.  

My pastoral role extends also to our mission in East Africa. Amahoro International, our nonprofit organization and Conference-Related Ministry (CRM) of Mosaic Conference, operates a refugee development center in Uganda. I have come to realize that God has equipped me for service in unorthodox pastoral, missional, and counseling positions that don’t always fit traditional church settings. The same is true for Joyful Music & Arts, the music school I founded in 2009 in California. Many students call me their pastor, and some of them do not attend or are not declared Christians.  

This is not to say that I won’t at some point respond to a pastoral calling in a local church or plant one, here in the US or in Africa. But I have learned to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading, and He has often led me towards unorthodox ministry according to His will. His thoughts are indeed higher than our thoughts, and his plans higher than ours. Despite my own shortcomings, I have learned to trust and wait on God’s leading. 

Makinto

Pastor Makinto is director of Amahoro International, a mission organization promoting peace and development in East Africa, a Conference-Related Ministry. He has toured the world for 30 years as an international musical performer. 

Trusting God at Camp

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by Ben Hershey

Last summer the Conference-Related Ministry Bethany Birches Camp (Plymouth, VT) saw the construction and first use of the indoor climbing wall, a long-awaited component of the pavilion that arrived exactly a decade after construction began in 2014.  

Climbing wall in use during summer 2024. Photo provided by Bethany Birches Camp.

I was asked if I would step into the role of managing the new wall during weeks of summer camp: teaching campers about the wall and climbing equipment, keeping children and staff safe, and helping campers to improve their skills. At first, these duties were daunting. It felt like I was always forgetting to do or say something, even if I was following the right steps.  

As I became more experienced, though, managing the rock wall became one of my favorite responsibilities. It was not just mastery of a new activity that made the rock wall a highlight, but also witnessing the campers’ enjoyment of it.  

Ben and campers after the night Mission Impossible game in 2023. Photo provided by Bethany Birches Camp.

Climbing the indoor wall fosters Bethany Birches Camp (BBC)’s core values. It requires boldness, which is also exhibited in the challenge of living outdoors in nature at camp. Living outdoors can be wonderful, but it requires campers and staff to go beyond the comfortable and familiar.  

Climbing involves faith. Campers must trust that the equipment, ropes, and belay will keep them safe and catch them if they fall. This exercise is analogous to trusting in God’s promise to carry us through the storms of life.  

Ben’s final cabin group of summer 2024. Photo provided by Bethany Birches Camp.

The wall also fosters community. Climbers work with their belayer on the ground and accept the help of staff to ensure their safety. Campers frequently gave advice to their peers who had yet to reach the top.  

And the rock wall is fun! There is nothing like hearing encouragement from an audience of campers below, or the sense of accomplishment upon reaching the final hold. 

The climbing wall adds to the wonderful BBC experience I have had as a counselor for three summers and that campers come back year after year to enjoy. The personal and spiritual growth that I have experienced at BBC is a testament to the power of God to transform heart, self, and mind.  

Staff enjoying the low ropes challenge course during staff training in 2024. Photo provided by Bethany Birches Camp.

Through going beyond my comfort zone each week, in leading activities or connecting with campers, I learned how life-changing it can be to live dependent on God, allowing God to take what I could not handle on my own.  

As I returned each summer, I could see how God has worked through me. It was evident in the joy of returning campers, an improved ability to earn the trust of new campers, and the progression of my counseling abilities such that I became a mentor for other staff.   

Serving has a BBC counselor has allowed God to foster within me a capacity to mentor, teach, and reflect God’s love towards others – gifts that will remain with me even beyond Bethany Birches. This growth has only been possible through a complete trust in God’s call for me, which has filled me with unexpected joy.  

Are there teens and young adults in your life that you hope will grow and learn in faith-filled communities? BBC offers a summer in VT in a Mennonite community serving children who often do not have the support of a church community.  

As a Bethany Birches staff member, they will be guided to grow personally, professionally, and spiritually! A summer at camp helps the young people in your life spend intentional time with God, develop skills for their future, learn more about themselves and their abilities, and is a great resume builder. Encouraging teens and young adults in your life to spend a summer at Bethany Birches will give them the chance to experience God’s presence in real and honest ways. Learn more here! 

Ben Hershey

Ben Hershey is a longtime camper and counselor at Bethany Birches Camp. He studies at the University of Vermont and participates in the Catholic Center. When Ben first started as a counselor at BBC he was not confident working with children. Yet he has been a strong staff member for three years, is regularly requested by past campers, and is a role model for many campers and younger staff.

Searching for Sabbath

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by Margaret Zook

“Be careful to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you from generation to generation.”

– Exodus 31:13a, NLT 

As a child, I understood sabbath to mean that Sunday was for worship and to rest, in community. After going to church, visiting over dinner and reading were both permitted, but organized sports and shopping were not. Worship was rich with singing, bible stories, and friends. Rest was defined as “not working.”  

Yet, women did the cooking and clean up for whomever would be invited for Sunday dinner. It was a time when daughters were in a transition point, with growing freedom to imagine there could be more. Sabbath was a time to learn about God, not a tradition bound to.   

“On the seventh day God… rested from all his work.”

– Genesis 2:2, NLT 

It was during the middle years of my life that I had the freedom to imagine what Sabbath could be, beyond Sunday attendance in worship and Sunday meal making. During the period of my life that involved education, marriage, children, and career, Sabbath meant a search to discover a personal “vertical” relationship with God. Sabbath was time found–a moment of quiet, a walk, a church in which to belong, a sermon, a talk, a prayer time. Sabbath was to live as someone who belongs to the Lord.  

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath’.”

– Mark 2:27-28, NRSV 

As the years have passed, Sabbath freedom now becomes a recognition of how my time on earth is finite; I’m facing my mortality. I now find Sabbath as delight, grace for reflection, and flexibility for unexpected opportunities. I see Sabbath as an invitation to observances and disciplines that bring God closer, and to discover things that nourish a soul and give respite from the demands of the everyday. Sabbath is to hold and to learn for what God has for today.   

“Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.”

– Exodus 20:8, NRSV 

For all stages of life’s journey, I leave you with a few Sabbath ideas. Plan to set apart time for Sabbath, turn off technology, be present in community worship, engage in restful activities, spend time with loved ones, meditate on all of God’s creation, and make time for thoughtful prayer.  

Margaret Zook

Margaret Zook is the Director of Collaborative Ministries for Mosaic Conference. She and husband, Wib, are members of Salford Mennonite Church and live in Harleysville, PA.

The Many Gifts of Diversity at Whitehall

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by Carolyn Egli

Whitehall [PA] Mennonite Church (WMC) is blessed with diversity. Among us are Karen refugees from Burma (Myanmar), a few Latinos, a pastor and his wife from Indonesia, members who openly share their mental health struggles, some who have experienced homelessness, those who have been or are imprisoned, and many who live at a low socioeconomic level while others live in the middle class. Many of us are consciously aware what a unique blessing it is to gather in a community like this.

One person in our fellowship shared that when he stands at the top of the fellowship hall stairs, looking down over those gathered to share our meal after Sunday worship, the diversity he sees fills him with joy. He calls it a glimpse into the coming kingdom of God, where we will one day sit together at the feet of God on his throne. Another person described the diversity at WMC as the “richness of God’s creation.”

Men provide the meal on Mothers’ Day 2024. Photo by Pastor Melkysedek Tirtasaputra.
Fellowship time following worship, from left: Jamie Paung, Marla Sell, Mark Whitermore, and Vina Krisnadi. Photo by Pastor Melkysedek Tirtasaputra.

Another member shared how the diversity at WMC has led to a greater sense of belonging for him. At churches he had attended before WMC, he was never sure he belonged or was worthy of participating. From his perspective, at WMC everyone is unique and cherished, which allows him to feel assured that he is accepted for who he is and belongs there.

One of our youth, of Karen ethnicity, shared that as she grew up at WMC she learned to be comfortable with others outside her culture, and this has helped her especially in school where there are very few Asians. Fellowshipping with people from other cultures and backgrounds has given her courage and confidence to be able to talk with anyone be accepting of all people despite differences.

On Ebenezer Stone Sunday, participants write on a stone how God has led them the previous year, then bring the stone in the landscape to bear witness to God’s faithfulness. Photo by Pastor Melkysedek Tirtasaputra

Another member reflected that relating to unhoused people at WMC helped him be open to and unafraid of working with a homeless ministry in his community, and that the diversity he experiences at WMC helps him relate more authentically with customers at work.

Another member stated she was sure that she would not be friends with some in the fellowship at WMC if she had met them outside of the church. Raised in a comfortable, white, middle-class family, she appreciates that she has become comfortable with those from other backgrounds and can now just sit with people and not feel that she needs to swoop in and solve every problem.

A group from Whitehall serves at the Care & Share Thrift Shoppes (Souderton, PA).
Naw Willion churns ice cream during Whitehall’s annual church picnic. Photo by Patti Connolly.

Several members expressed that our differences increase their desire to know each other better. They reflected that understanding each other’s differences increased their compassion and desire to support each other. One young mother shared that she grew up attending a mostly white, middle-class church, and could easily avoid many of the world’s issues and complexities. She is thankful her young children are growing up at WMC in relationship with people who have faced mental illness, homelessness, and fleeing violence.

Through the years, diversity has impacted our worship at WMC. We have learned to be more comfortable with noise and the unexpected in worship. Due to different cultural expectations, we have increased the frequency of communion, served communion in different ways, and collected offerings in different ways. We have incorporated languages other than English into our singing, scripture reading, and occasionally in sermons.

Diversity has also played a part in our tradition of sharing a meal after worship. We are mindful that many cultures show hospitality by sharing food (with an intensity not regularly experienced in white U.S. American culture!). A traditional Sunday in Karen culture includes sharing food in family homes and eating together is highly valued. We also recognize that some in our congregation experience food insecurity and at least on Sundays can eat freely. Eating together provides us with more opportunities to get to know each other. 

As one member said of the diversity at WMC, it is “good trouble”.  As we feel ourselves being stretched, we are also being blessed. 

Carolyn Egli

Carolyn Egli has worked as a social worker in refugee resettlement in Allentown, PA for the past 14 years. She is a member of Whitehall Mennonite where she serves on the Servant Leader Team and can often be found preparing food in the church kitchen.