Mosaic Mennonites

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The Heart of Worship

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by Josh Meyer

I was recently asked to define worship in exactly six words. After a bit of thought, I offered the following answer, “Seeing God accurately and responding appropriately.” Anytime we get an accurate glimpse of who God is and are moved to respond, that’s worship. My friend, music director, and worship theologian Helen Eastburn puts it this way, “Worship is drawing near to God as God draws near to us.”

Another definition, offered by my former seminary professor, suggests that “the inner essence of worship is to know God truly and then respond by valuing God, treasuring God, prizing God, enjoying God, being satisfied with God above all earthly things. And then that deep, restful, joyful satisfaction in God overflows in demonstrable acts of praise from the lips and demonstrable acts of love in serving others for the sake of Christ.”   

I love how this definition emphasizes that: 

  • Worship begins with God  
  • Worship leads to deep, restful, joyful satisfaction in God  
  • Worship leads to praise from our lips  
  • Worship leads to acts of love in serving others  

Particularly in a consumeristic culture that trains us to evaluate experiences based on their enjoyment or benefit to us, I’ve found it helpful to be reminded that worship is not primarily about us. 

  • Exalting God is not about what we get out of it; it’s about choosing to praise and trust God regardless of our circumstances because we have faith that God is good. 
  • Worship is about giving God glory, not seeking to receive something for ourselves. We’ve already received – which is why we worship. Worship is a response. We’ve received the good news of Jesus Christ, the suffering, sacrificial love of a Father who sends the Son, and who sends the Spirit, so that we might be saved…in this life and in the age to come.
  • Worship is always, ultimately about God. 

A few years ago, I read a short post by pastor reflecting on the nature of worship.   

For the last three years I have had the immense privilege of serving in Honolulu. Yes, that Honolulu, in Hawaii. The one where the sun shines most every day, the temperature is always perfect, and the ocean is just a short walk away. What’s ironic about this is that I was born and raised in Anchorage. Yes, that Anchorage, in Alaska. While 7-year-olds here in Honolulu were learning the importance of sun safety and SPF, I was learning (the hard way) why not to lick the school flagpole in the middle of winter. Sometimes I feel like my life is one big contrast.  

Perhaps that is why I love the picture of worship in Leviticus 9:23-24. “When the people saw it (the Glory of God), they shouted for joy and fell facedown.” The people of Israel saw the glory of God and their appropriate response was to shout with joy AND fall facedown to the ground. It seems like the ultimate dichotomy, exuberance and contriteness, celebration and reverence.  

What an amazing visualization of this response to who God is, the worshipper bowing face to the ground but alight with a radiant smile! This paradox is our appropriate response to God. It’s not one or the other. It’s not even a balance between the two. It is both sides in all their fullness, together becoming our answer to the question of how we will respond to a glimpse of who God is.  

May we do that together as a people of faith across Mosaic Conference.  

May we see God accurately and respond appropriately.  

May we draw near to God as God draws near to us. 

May we bow in reverence and celebrate with joy.  

Josh Meyer

Josh Meyer is a Leadership Minister for Mosaic Conference.

Reflections on Seven Years with Mosaic Conference

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by Mary Nitzche

In the spring of 2017, I was invited to serve as Associate Executive Minister beginning July 1. For nearly five years I served in this role until my successor, Marta Castillo, began in February 2022. Since then, I have been gradually letting go of some responsibilities while assuming new roles. February 2022, I began a two-year administrative role with the Mosaic Board and Executive Committee. In January 2024, I was invited to a one-year interim Leadership Minister role with Hendy Matahelemual for our three Indonesian congregations in California. One role I continued throughout my tenure with Mosaic was serving as Leadership Minister for the Alpha, Fairfield, and Taftsville congregations. At the end of September, I will be fully retiring. (No more asks, Steve!)

As I reflect on my seven years with Mosaic Conference, relationships that formed brought me gratitude, joy, and challenge. 

Gratitude

I am so grateful for the team of colleagues I worked alongside. I value the comradery, and unique gifts, perspectives, and wisdom they each bring to our team.  

Each time I was ready to release responsibilities, one of our staff members was prepared and willing to assume the role. I am so grateful for competent, committed, and younger leaders who are serving well as I let go. The vision for developing younger leaders is bearing much fruit. 

I am grateful for our conference priorities, particularly nurturing intercultural connections. The diversity of our staff and member congregations reflects our intentionality and hard work of welcoming and becoming more culturally sensitive. 

Joys

Relationships with colleagues, pastors, conference and congregational leaders, and leaders within Mennonite Church USA (Conference Ministers and Constituency Leader Council members) has been an invaluable gift. 

Leading two groups, women pastors and leaders and chaplains has been gratifying.  I witnessed the care, support, and encouragement given to each other as they faced opportunities, challenges, and transitions in their ministry settings. 

Assisting new leaders through the credential process was tedious and inspiring, especially hearing their stories of call to ministry. Participating in or attending their licensing and ordination services, reminded me of the Holy Spirit’s mysterious and holy activity in calling, preparing, and empowering leaders to serve in a variety of ministry roles and settings. 

Interviewing women who were first to be credentialed in our conference (Franconia, Eastern District, and Mosaic) and representing different cultural groups has been another holy experience.  

Challenges/laments

As the credentialing process became more complex given the nuances of our growing cultural diversity, I realized it was time for me to make room for someone more gifted and experienced.  

Conflict over theological differences was also beginning to wear on me even though, from our origins as Anabaptists, this has been an ongoing struggle. 

While I cherish all the relationships, new understandings gained, and rich experiences of the last seven years, it is time to retire. In each step of my long discernment process toward retirement, I recognized my priorities were shifting. The demands of the work physically, emotionally, intellectually, and interculturally were beginning to stretch me in body, mind, and spirit. 

Thank you, Mosaic Conference for the privilege of serving in a variety of roles with your trust and support each step of the way. 

Mary Nitzsche

Mary Nitzsche is a Leadership Minister for Mosaic Conference. She and her husband, Wayne, are Midwest natives. They have two adult daughters, Alison and Megan, sons-in-law, Michael and David, and two delightful grandchildren, William and Audrey. Mary enjoys spending time with family and friends, walking, knitting, sewing, and cooking.

Cultivating Next Generation Leaders 

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by Stephen Kriss

Within the first weeks in my role as executive minister of Franconia Conference, one of the predecessor communities of Mosaic Conference, then-moderator John Goshow (Blooming Glen [PA]) told me to begin to look for my successor. John told me that while I wouldn’t get to choose my successor that I should build a team in such a way that the successor would be nearby. He remarked that within Franconia Conference leadership was usually cultivated within. That had been true in my experience; every person in executive leadership roles had either worked in the Conference before or grown up within a Franconia congregation. 

I thought to myself, “This is how 300-year-old communities keep their legacy alive.” And I began the slow work of constructing a team that includes the diversity of who we are, expanding on that as our Conference has grown and changed to become Mosaic. This invitation gave me permission to seek out young leaders alongside experienced leaders. Currently we have a staff of nearly 25 persons with a mix of strengths, gifts, and backgrounds. I feel privileged to lead alongside them. 

The invitation to cultivate next generation leaders is what initially brought me to Franconia Conference. In 2005, the Conference recognized a need to support next generation leaders (then the millennial generation in their 20s). We listened together, visited colleges, developed initiatives, and laid the groundwork for what would become today’s Ambassadors program. The process opened the doors for next generation pastors and leaders across the Conference.  Never did I imagine that it would also mean I would be leading a community called Mosaic. 

This is some of the church’s most important discipleship work. I am always inspired by young leaders who chose to invest in the church. I value the sometimes-tough questions they ask.  The church both needs and can withstand rigorous questions and doubts. Jesus met Thomas’ doubts with an invitation to engage. My life has been changed by working alongside those millennials who have challenged and inspired me. 

We are now pivoting to the next generations: Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Some of the questions they face are entirely new, spurred on by technology and the interconnected nature of the world around us. Jesus continues to call leaders, sometimes those we don’t expect. 

Our shared work of creating a context where next generations can choose to follow Jesus and respond to the “call within the call” means taking postures of humility and care, alongside creating brave spaces where it’s safe enough to try and do, to sometimes succeed and sometimes fail.  

This summer I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Brendan Sagastume who was shared between Mosaic and his home congregation, Perkiomenville (PA), though the Ambassadors program which wrapped up last week on retreat in Tampa, FL. Brendan’s quiet and efficient steadiness helped me to become a better leader, learning how to listen well, to invite, and to respond.   

Cultivating next generation leaders is essential transformative work. Until the reign of God comes fully, in each generation we must navigate how to embody the reconciling love of Jesus in our broken and beautiful world by calling younger persons to serve and lead alongside of those of us who are more experienced. This is the work of discipleship. And the way is made together toward God’s future. 

Stephen Kriss

Stephen Kriss is the Executive Minister of Mosaic Conference.

Set Apart

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by Noel Santiago

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

Acts 13:2, NIV 

In this text, the leaders of the early church gathered in worship and fasting. Amid this gathering, the Holy Spirit calls for Barnabas and Saul to be set apart for the work of Jesus.   

Today, we too participate in acts of “setting apart” on various fronts, although we think more in terms of “calling” or “being called”. The first and foremost of these is when we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and reorient our lives around the mission of God. This is an act of being “set apart” to God where we begin the journey of following Jesus as Lord in all of life. 

Throughout our Anabaptist history, we have recognized the call of God on people’s lives and have used various methods to recognize, call, and set apart these people for service to God. From choosing by lot, to shoulder tapping, and seeking to develop a Culture of Call, to credentialing processes that include filling out Ministerial Leadership Information forms, references, and interviews, God’s calling is discerned and recognized in a diversity of ways. 

On Sunday, June 2, 2024, Iglesia Nueva Vida Norristown New Life (PA) was joined by Providence Mennonite (Collegeville, PA) to celebrate the recognition of one of these being set apart. It was the ordination and installation to ministerial office of Pastor Nering Huete at Iglesia Nueva Vida Norristown New Life. Pastor John Holsey of the Providence congregation brought the message from this passage   

Pastor Nering was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras where he ministered in a variety of church settings, ultimately in the Mennonite Church of Tegucigalpa. In 1984 the Lord called him to be the pastor of Iglesia Menonita El Buen Pastor in Lancaster, PA. Later he served as a chaplain in Chester County, from where he retired. 

However, God still had more for Pastor Nering. God again called him into ministry at Mosaic congregation Iglesia Menonita Ebenezer in Souderton, PA and now at Iglesia Nueva Vida Norristown New Life. His partnership with Providence came about as a new Partner in Ministry formed there called Iglesia Menonita Jesucristo Viene. 

The gathered body prays over Pastor Nering. 
The gathered body prays over Pastor Nering. 

On this day, however, the community of faith gathered in worship, prayer, scripture reading, preaching of the word and celebration of covenant making as we recognized, affirmed, and set apart Pastor Nering for the work of ministry. Family, friends, and sisters and brothers in Christ gathered around him in prayer and together, we all recommitted ourselves to the work of Jesus’ ministry.  

Of course, we did do one thing a bit differently than the early church in the Acts 13 passage; we had a wonderful time of fellowship afterwards with food from a variety of different countries. To God be the glory! 

Noel Santiago

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

A Mother’s Capstone Project

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by Cindy Angela

The first weekend of May I traveled to Harrisonburg, VA for the first time, to celebrate my graduation at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU). I finally completed my Master’s degree in Transformational Leadership from EMU’s Center of Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP). As my family and I made the five-hour drive from Philadelphia, it felt surreal that I was finally at the finish line. 

It has taken me three years to finish this program since I only enrolled part-time while also working for the Conference. I also became pregnant with our son during my last year and took a semester off. While it has not been easy, I was determined to finish well.  

Cindy Angela, with Dave Mansfield (Vincent [Spring City, PA]), Chidi Ihezuoh (LA Faith Chapel) who completed Master’s degrees in Christian Leadership, and Dr. Lindy Backues (Philadelphia Praise Center) who is on the EMU faculty. Photo by Emily Ralph Servant.
Cindy Angela at EMU commencement day with her family. Photo provided by Cindy Angela.

To complete the degree, we were required to make a capstone presentation, which is supposed to sum up our experience of the program. It was hard to decide how to condense years of learning into a one-hour presentation. 

After deliberation and prayer, I realized that my capstone project needed to be three things: connected to my work, embracing my new identity as a mom, and a creative outlet.  

It finally occurred to me: I wanted to write a children’s book for my son, Noah. 

Deciding to Write a Children’s Book 

Reading to Noah is one of our favorite activities to do together. Granted, my nine-month-old can’t read yet, but I wanted this book to go beyond introducing shapes, colors, or numbers. I thought about what kind of concepts I want my son to learn. I thought about what kind of mother I want to be. 

I kept coming back to the idea of the fruits of the Spirit as mentioned in the Epistle to the Galatians. 

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23, NIV 
 

Choosing a Topic 

I wanted my children’s book to be more specific than talking about the fruits of the Spirit in broad terms. I started thinking about what it means for me to bring these fruits into our shared work in bringing transformation and reconciliation to this world. 

I reflected on conflict and disagreement, something that seems to be omnipresent, even within our Conference. After many sleepless nights and writing during middle-of-the-night feedings, my children’s book was born: When Everybody Just Disagrees: A Tale for Little Peacebuilders. 

The book talks about how conflicts are unavoidable, and how we can control how we act and react. I presented my book and the creation process as my capstone presentation (full video here). 

Cindy’s children’s book, with her son Noah in the background. Photo by Cindy Angela.

I am happy that I now have this book I can read with my son and share with him as he grows older. I hope that these simple words can inspire him in how transformation can happen through disagreements.  

I will carry this with me as I depart from the program and continue finding my place in our shared work as God’s instruments for peace and reconciliation. 

You can read the book here. 

Cindy Angela

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

Gifted Differently, by God’s Design

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by Stacey Mansfield

Do you ever feel like there is a common theme running through your life for a season? Let me explain my question a little better: Do you ever notice that over a course of days or weeks a specific phrase or concept shows up in a variety of seemingly unrelated places?  

My most recent experience of this started in a conversation with a friend who shared how many people within a specific group had conveyed to her independently that they felt like outsiders. Later that night, as I read the next few pages of a book I have been slowly reading, it described someone feeling like an oddity within their community despite a shared culture. When similar stories were highlighted in a podcast I was listening to the next day, I recognized that I needed to take some time with God to listen and understand more. 

The passage that I was drawn to was Romans 12. 

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2a, NIV 

The feeling of being an outsider, like an outlier in a plot graph of data points, is uncomfortable. Whether we feel separated from others because of the way we speak, how we look, our affinities, the choices we have made, or even the losses we have experienced, it hurts.  

Most of us can still feel the painful sting of being an outsider at some point in our lives. Others of us face this situation regularly. Are we ready to seek out Christ’s healing and take the difficult path of restoration? How are we allowing Christ to transform and renew our minds?  

We frequently shape our lives towards comfort; I wonder what uncomfortable spaces we need to humbly walk into? Are we able to notice and connect with those who feel like they are on the outside looking in? This seems particularly poignant with Mosaic’s missional, intercultural, and formation priorities shaping not just ministry but everyday life. 

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” Romans 12:4-8, NIV 

These verses remind me that we are different, and gifted differently, by God’s design. In each facet of our lives, we do not need to be surprised that there are significant differences among us.  

“Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Romans 12:13, NIV 

May we engage one another as Christ calls us to. May we not just notice those who feel as though they are outsiders, but thoughtfully set out to edify, collaborate with, and enjoy those around us. 

I encourage you to continue reading Romans 12 and notice the many other verses that relate to feeling like an outsider. For a light-hearted approach that can lead to deeper  conversations on this topic, check out Pixar’s short film, For the Birds, with a friend, your family, or small group. 

Stacey Mansfield

Stacey Mansfield is the Administrative & Hospitality Collaborator for the Conference.

All I Have is Running Paint 

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by Emily Ralph Servant

We spent months planning our painting party at the school. We found cute hawk print stencils, matched the burgundy and gold of the school colors, and waited for a stretch of warm weather to coincide with school vacation. 

We cleaned off years of class numbers that overlapped on the pavement where the elementary school kids lined up. We were not only going to repaint the numbers, but we were going one step further; we planned to paint lines of hawk prints (the school mascot) to show the kids where to line up. For months, we had watched the teachers yelling at the kids at the end of long school days, trying to keep them in straight lines in the tight space. If we could bring some peace to dismissal time, we felt like we were doing God’s work. 

The day finally arrived, with temperatures rising into the fifties over New Year’s weekend. It had rained over Christmas break but we had a dry forecast. A bunch of people had offered to help, but when the day came, only two neighbors showed up. Together with my first-grade daughter, the four of us measured, taped, stenciled, and painted. We talked about life, about faith, and about our community.  

A few hours later, we stepped back to admire our work. And, boy, did it look good. 

My church, Refuge, is shaped around empowering people who want to live like Jesus and with Jesus in our neighborhoods. With the encouragement of Mosaic’s missional lead, Noel Santiago, Refuge has been using the church planting grant we received from the conference to support our members in loving our neighborhoods. Refuge paid for the paint and supplies we needed to spruce up the school and I was excited about this connection between my church expression and my community. 

The next day, I got an email from the school/community liaison. She sent me some photos.  Despite the forecast, it had rained overnight. Before the paint dried. And all our beautiful paint had run down the sidewalk. 

I was frustrated. I was embarrassed. Instead of improving the situation, we had made it worse. And with the cold stretch, it would be months before the weather, the school’s schedule, and my free time would line up again. 

Soon afterward, our virtual Refuge gathering was studying the story of Jesus choosing his apostles in Luke 6. The CEB version we read describes how Jesus took his disciples up the mountain, named some of them as apostles, and then brought them back down the mountain, where they stood in front of a large crowd of Jesus’ followers (vs. 12-17). I thought about how I would have felt as one of those newly-named apostles, standing in front of hundreds of people as one who had been chosen to join Jesus in his public ministry. 

Jesus—the one who taught so powerfully, healed all the sick, set people free from oppressive spirits, creatively navigated conflict, stood strong in the face of opposition—had chosen me to join him in his work of making the world right again. 

And all I have is running paint. 

I felt so inadequate. How could I ever live up to this call? 

But as we practiced listening prayer in response to this passage, I realized that the big crowd wasn’t looking at me; they were looking at Jesus. Jesus was the attraction. As long as I was pointing people to Jesus, I was enough. Jesus is already present, healing my neighborhood, and I get to be a part of it. 

Running paint and all. 

Emily Ralph Servant

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

Submitting to God and One Another as the Pathways Steering Team

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by Marta Castillo

Every group or process I have been a part of has required submission and humility. Before I became a pastor, I thought that pastors and leaders had control in their church and organization, and they were able to get things to go their way. When I became a pastor, especially a pastor on a team with two other pastors, male, one African American and one Latino, in a congregation that was intercultural, I realized that I only got “my” way about 10% of the time. There was a lot of submission to God and to the members of the congregation where I served. It was freeing, humbling, and occasionally annoying. 

As the Pathways Steering Team, our diverse group from all over the conference has worked together over the last year and a half on strategic planning and preparing a recommendation about affiliation with Mennonite Church USA. There have been countless opportunities for us to learn to submit to God and to each other. The reality is that none of us are in control or can get our own way. All of us are seeking to honor God by being submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit and to the others in our group and the conference. Reverent submission is honored by God. 

Statue at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (Harrisonburg, VA) titled “Love Essence” by Esther K. Augsburger. Photo by Marta Castillo. 

We seek to follow the way of Jesus in Philippians 2 which asks, “Does belonging to Christ help you in any way? Does his love comfort you at all? Do you share anything in common because of the Holy Spirit? Has Christ ever been gentle and loving toward you? If any of these things has happened to you, then agree with one another. Have the same love. Be one in spirit and in the way you think and act. By doing this you will make my joy complete. Don’t do anything to get ahead. Don’t do it because you are proud. Instead, be humble.  Value other more than yourselves. None of you should look out just for your own good. Each of you should also look out for the good of others. As you deal with one another, you should think and act as Jesus did.”  (Philippians 2:1-5, NIRV) 

The posture of submission to God results in humility towards God and one another. For the Pathways Team, it has created fertile ground for unique ideas, unexpected twists and turns, curiosity, and attention to the parts of the body that seem weaker, less represented with opportunities to honor their voice (c.f. I Corinthians 12:12-26). Time and again we are seeing the fruit of submission to another God and the “other,” not in forming the perfect strategic plan, but in honoring God and one another. The way of the Lamb of submission to God leads to honoring God and being honored by God (c.f. Revelation 5:9-12). 

Copyright ©2024 InterVarsity Press

I am currently reading Humility Illuminated by Dennis Edwards (which I highly recommend). In Chapter 3, he writes about how “indispensable humility is for establishing and maintain Christian community…humility is how love blossoms.” (p.12) 

In every meeting, in decision making, in conflict, and transition, we must strive for submission to God, considering others better than ourselves, remaining silent so that others may speak, waiting on God, and believing the intercultural value of mutual transformation open the door to God’s way being revealed and to obedience. We submit to one another to honor each other, and we are changed by the experience. We die to self and end up producing fruit of righteousness.   

The Pathways Steering Team was set up to be representative of the conference. I have heard it said that if we can work together, hear one another, and together present a plan and recommendation to the rest of the conference, then there is hope that the whole of Mosaic can do the same. Walking humbly with God and with each other will be essential for the pathway forward. 

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.