Mosaic Mennonites

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Studying and Remembering Calling

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(Estudiando y recordando llamada)

by Steve Kriss, Executive Minister

I’ve studied Spanish off and on for nearly 40 years. My initial introduction happened via Sesame Street on TV with some Spanish interspersed between Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird. I then learned some basics at West End Elementary School. Much of that remains readily in my brain — even the crayons that were adhered to the wall of my classroom at West End Elementary.

For two years in high school, I studied Spanish with Ruth Y. Hunsberger, who after her time serving at Academia Menonita Betania, added a PA Dutch and Boricua accent to my Spanish pronunciation. I picked up more Tejano Spanish in San Antonio after serving a summer with Mennonite Mission Network in San Antonio which catapulted me into a more advanced Spanish class than probably was appropriate at Eastern Mennonite University where I studied as an undergraduate. I never got my language construction quite right after that.

Since then, I’ve studied several other languages a bit. I grew up in a household where my Grandpa spoke Slovak and snippets of other European languages. I was raised with an understanding that knowing some of the language of the neighbors could be valuable. Today, my immediate next door neighbors speak Spanish.

Earlier this year, for three weeks, I took the time to re-immerse myself in Spanish.  I chose a school removed from familiar communities so that I’d have to be a student only.  Though I did some work from Mexico, my immediate environment was school and navigating through an attempted Spanish upgrade. It was both humbling and invigorating.

After three weeks, my comprehension has improved. My colleague Noel Santiago and I are able to have conversations we haven’t had before in Spanish. I’m trying to practice every day, which so far has more often seemed endearing than annoying to those who’ve had to endure my commitment to keep practicing, even if it’s only when I’m ordering enchiladas.

While studying, I was reminded of the beauty and brokenness of the world. As a student in a secular language school, I found many people seeking and searching. My co-learners came from all over the world to a small city in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula to learn, to relax, to find something. I was invigorated by learning alongside them in their search. Admittedly, more often than not, the church was far from conversation and their search. Some were curious about my work and spirituality. Others avoided the conversation even when it surfaced.

But in these three weeks, I was reminded of my own call to serve the church as a pastor. It was a reminder of the commitments that I made to search out ways that the Gospel might really mean hope, freedom, and redemption for persons who are seeking and stumbling, for those who need comfort as well as those who need to be discomforted. It was a reminder to pay attention to all that is beautiful and broken, to find times when I might also be able to say as Jesus did, “the reign of God is near.”

I’m back with better Spanish, but I’ll have to struggle every day to maintain it. Next month, Marta Castillo will head to Indonesia to get an upgrade on her Indonesian language skills, so that she’s better able to accompany our Indonesian speaking communities as well. As a Conference, we are committed to having a multilingual ministry team, not only because it’s chido (cool) but because it also represents the work of the Spirit at Pentecost to bring the Good News to all people.

It’s our ongoing commitment as disciples, as leaders, as pastors, to extend the Good News to all people, until God’s reign comes in it’s fullness.  We are in it together.  Bersama.  Juntos. cùng với nhau. The beautiful and broken world is waiting to hear us.

Stewardship, Part 2

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By C. Conrad Martin, Director of Finance

In my last article (mosaicmennonites.org/stewardship-october/) I mentioned four possible motivations for stewardship.  The fourth one, Worship, needs a little more processing.

Mark Vincent, in his publication, A Stewardship Manifesto, says that “it is a stewardship rooted in an experience with grace that branches out into a worshipful response.”  What has been our experience with grace that would make our life more generous?  Has it been a merciful intervention from tragedy or despair, or from experiencing the birth of a child?  Has it been by receiving a second chance to do something we should have done the first time we had the opportunity, or from receiving something totally unexpected or even undeserved?

What has been your response to receiving God’s grace?  Do you tell others?  Vincent says that telling our stories of meeting God’s grace is important.  It acts to remind us of our new identity as one who has received God’s grace, but also invites others into an experience of God’s grace.  Telling our story is a form of worship.  It keeps us aware of God’s continuing activity in our lives and gives us another opportunity to thank God.

The story of the Exodus is often told as an example of God’s grace.  Each generation of Hebrew was told this story, passed from parent to child for thousands of years and with each new hearing, there was a calling for the hearer to live a generous life.  Every time we hear a story like that, we are invited into the same kind of relationship with God.

What does your experience of grace teach you?  Does it spur you on to a different practice, perhaps a new practice of generosity?  Vincent says that telling the story again and again, keeps you in touch with God’s grace to you, to the point that opportunities to respond will often jump right out at you, causing you to interact with others in new ways.

Practicing stewardship can take at least two forms, according to Vincent: 1) the practice of giving and distributing through acts of worship and 2) the practice of love through acts of service.  The story of the Widow’s Two Mites in Luke 21 is an example of the first: giving as an act of worship.  The story of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25 is an example of the second: giving as an act of service, even to the point of being so generous with one’s life that the giver doesn’t even know they are doing it.  Oh, to practice stewardship like this.

I also appreciate what Leonard Dow, in his publication Upside Down Living: Money, says about our practices: “Before we can act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly in the ways of God, we have to truly know that Jesus is Lord of our time, talents, and our treasures.”  Perhaps our practices really do reflect who is Lord of our time, talents and treasures.

 

Formation Through Mentorship

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by Wayne Nitzsche, Interim LEADership Minister

Erik Erikson, psychologist, developed an eight stage theory of psychosocial development. You may remember it from a psych class in high school or college. The seventh of eight stages in his helpful construct is “generativity vs stagnation.”  He associates this stage with the middle years (40-65.) To engage this stage one begins to think about contributing to future generations through parenting, grandparenting, and mentoring future generations. If we do not engage this stage we stagnant and life loses a sense of purpose.

This past year I became a grandfather to William. He has brought so much joy to my life. Even though he lives with our daughter and son-in-law in Long Beach, California, Mary and I have been able to bond and stay connected thanks to modern travel, and the technological wonder of FaceTime. Our lives take on new meaning as we engage our small part in mentoring this precious child.

A central task of the church has to do with faith formation. There are, of course, many beautiful examples in the Scripture of this happening through mentor/mentees such as that of Paul and Timothy, Naomi and Ruth and others. In the 1980’s I had a hand in developing the “life-planning” process in the Mennonite Church. In part, it was a plan for matching an adult with a youth, and helping them develop a generative relationship. The program has long since died, but the need remains for adults to consider how they pass on the faith.

Reflecting back on my early years in pastoral ministry, I was blessed to have mentors who noticed gifts for ministry and encouraged me to consider seminary. While in seminary I learned so much from an experienced and wise pastor, Clare. He was gracious when I made stupid mistakes, he affirmed and challenged me, and was always ready to give new opportunities. He modeled a love for Christ and the church, and was vulnerable with his struggles. He was never stagnant but growing and generative.

Wayne Nitzsche (right) prays for Jessica Miller at her installation service, November 2016

Now I’m older than Clare was when he mentored me. I’ve had the great privilege of mentoring Jessica Miller, who began at Perkasie Mennonite (PMC) in November, 2016 as our pastoral intern, but has since become our Associate Pastor. Jessica and I have long conversations about ministry, life, theology. I see her not only as a mentee, but also as a colleague from whom I can learn. I value her youthful wisdom and welcome the integration of her ministry with her theological studies at Drew Theological School. She has been a great gift to PMC. I trust that I might model some of the same things for Jessica that Clare did for me.

When we sit down together, sometimes we are intentional in reflecting on a specific aspect of ministry, personal or professional development. Other weeks it’s more informal and might be related to preaching, worship planning or pastoral care.

Steve McCloskey and family

I’m still finding my way in another mentoring relationship with Steve McCloskey, who pastors Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship in Vermont. With the distance, we’ll perhaps need to rely more on technology to make connections. So be patient with me, Steve, as we find our way in this new relationship!

I’ve had to deal with self-doubt, wondering what, if anything, I had to offer. However as we offer ourselves and trust the Spirit, both our gifts and places where we are still being formed can be formative.

Might you, if you are like me and nearing the end of your active pastoral ministry, consider how you might mentor someone younger? Perhaps if you feel “stagnant” it might be the prompting of the Spirit to consider such a relationship. You’ll discover a joy and sense of purpose that is a gift from the Great Mentor, the God and Parent of us all. If you’d like to talk more about it, I’d be glad to share more over a cup of coffee. But bear with me, you’ll also have to indulge me as I share a picture or two of grandson William!

Open to New Things

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By Mary Nitzsche, Associate Executive Minister

I began last year, 2017, with an openness to the “new thing” God may have for me without any idea of what that might be (other than becoming a grandmother for the first time!). Shortly into the new year, I was asked to consider a “new thing”—serving in a conference role.  As many of you are aware, I accepted this “new thing” and began serving as Associate Executive Minister of Franconia Conference July 1. This transition meant leaving congregational ministry to re-enter a conference ministry role. While having served in conference ministry work previously in Ohio Mennonite Conference for 12 years and volunteering on various Franconia Mennonite Conference committees and the Board over the past eight years, I am continuing to discover “new things” God has for me.

After six months in my new role and at the beginning of a new year, I commit again to an openness for God’s “new thing.” Jesus invites me, invites all of us committed to following him, into a deeper relationship, understanding, and living each year of our life. There is never a season of life that is to remain stagnant. Jesus is our model, teacher, and guide.

Inspired by a Sunday morning discussion at Perkasie Mennonite Church last summer, I read through the gospel of Luke noting what Jesus saw, heard, touched, and where Jesus went, what he said, and what he did. As I reflect on the notes I took, Jesus’ experiences, words, and actions inspire movement. He was open to entering into places devout Jews would not go and seeing opportunities for ministry wherever he went; to engaging with people considered “unclean,” seeing their potential and inviting them to follow; to using earthy images in his storytelling to teach timeless truths and inspire action; to challenging the religious leaders’ and disciples’ interpretation of the law, pointing them to new understandings, and inviting them to sacrificially live out these principles; to observing those in need of healing regardless of their status, extending a word or touch of healing, and inviting them to experience wholeness through a relationship with him.

In a culture and environment of change, Jesus promised his disciples and promises us that the very Spirit that raised him from the dead is accessible to us. During 2018, as we are called into new places — to interact with a variety of people we typically choose to ignore or avoid, to read, interpret and live scriptural principles that reveal God’s true intentions for this time, and to offer healing and wholeness in situations of suffering, injustice, or loss, may the Spirit of Jesus inspire and empower us to engage the “new things” prepared for us as individuals, congregations, and in our conference this year.

Celebrating God's Gifts in the Season of Building a Budget

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by Stephen Kriss, Executive Minister

To whom much is given … much is also expected.  -Jesus of Nazareth

Steve KrissOver the last few weeks we began to project the numbers for our work together at Franconia Conference: next year’s budget. This is an act of faith and commitment together in imagining our shared work for the year. Our budget also tells the stories of our priorities. It was my first time in the role of executive minister working through each of these items to allocate our resources in ways that fit our priorities, particularly in working to equip leaders around our shared values of work that is missional, intercultural and (trans)formational.

Our Conference budget has remained steady over the last few years, though with an increasing percentage contributed by individuals and received through designated funds. With changes in congregational life and demographics, our congregational contributions, though still healthy, have declined over the last decades. The Conference has continued to focus work around leadership development and less on programs; therefore, some giving changes have been appropriate and expected. Also, with the reduction of overseas mission workers, congregations have focused giving internationally in different ways.

This year some important things will emerge in our budget that tell of our changing realities. We will begin to do further collaborative staffing arrangements with Eastern District Conference and expect to provide staff for our new member congregations in California. These are both direct outcomes of the discernment at Conference Assembly this fall.  We will also set aside funds as requested by our Addressing Abuse Taskforce to be available should our Conference need to support survivors in receiving counseling if they suffer clergy abuse, or to help congregations that need assistance in providing counseling for members who suffer abuse by others in their congregation. This is an absolute priority as we seek healing and recovery related to actions of clergy misconduct and work to prevent and heal all forms of abuse in our community.

I hope, as we move forward, that we will be able to seek the Spirit further toward generosity and openness in understanding our gifts, and that in whatever way we have been gifted, we might partake fully in God’s intention for the full redemption of all creation.

As seek further generosity, we can look to the lives of Norm and Alice Rittenhouse, who at the end of November were highlighted by Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) for their generosity and sharing of resources from their life of faith and farming. This is a story that is at the heart of our history as a community, shaped by our work and hope. In working with our newest member congregations, that kind of generosity is vibrant as well. This past fall they joined with many of our existing immigrant congregations to share in assisting Houston Mennonite Church, as they reached out to work alongside immigrants in Houston following Hurricane Harvey.  This was sharing that we helped facilitate as a Conference through our global networks.  Norm said in the article for EMU, “we worked to give.”  This has been and will be what we are about in Franconia Conference.  I look forward to continuing to provoke and steward the ways that we share our gifts, knowing that all that we have been given is from God.

As we approach this season of giving, following Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday, I feel deeply privileged to be a part of stewarding our gifts toward the call that God has given us as a community and individually. Thanks to your gifts shared through our Conference, from congregations, individuals and ministries, we are able to continue the good work that God has begun in us. I’m glad to talk more, any time, with congregations or leaders on how we can continue to best share our gifts for the sake of mutuality while we continue to live into God’s commission to us, to extend Christ’s peace with neighbors, enemies, friends and all of God’s children both near and far.

 

A Synergy of Missional Engagement

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by Mike Clemmer, LEADership Minister & Pastor at Towamencin Mennonite Church

Today’s Souderton Mennonite Homes (Living Branches) began as Eastern Mennonite Home of the Franconia District in 1917.

This past week, I had the wonderful opportunity of leading a litany of blessing and rededication for the Souderton Mennonite Homes’ Living Branches 100th Anniversary. This service was the final event of a year-long series of activities that gratefully acknowledged the past 100 years, while also casting a vision for serving the community in the years to come. Living Branches is the first and oldest established partnership in ministry with the Franconia Conference. Currently, there are 18 Conference Related Ministries (CRMs) that represent an array of extensions of the reign of God into local communities through nurture, witness, care and discipling. After my experience at this service, I wondered, how are we doing in supporting our CRMs?

At their core, Conference Related Ministries have a unique collaborative relationship with Franconia Conference and represent a fruit of faithfulness in the church’s history and future. CRMs have usually been born out of a deep desire to care for people in need, both in church communities as well as the physical community in which they reside. All the CRMs also have their own stories to tell. This is true of Souderton Mennonite Homes.

In the early 1900s there were no local retirement communities. Leaders in the Mennonite community wanted to find a way to care for the aging population in their congregations. They saw a need and collectively asked, how can we care for our community? Prior to this point, care for the aging happened within families. Although there was a heartfelt sense of love and responsibility for their older members, and care was provided for grandparents and parents by the younger generation –  this often meant that the sick or elderly lived out their days confined to a bed, without easy access to proper care.  At this time in our country, making ends meet was hard enough for many families and some simply could not provide adequate care. Much like in Acts 6, Franconia Conference leaders conferred about this great need and the seeds of the possibility of forming this “ministry” together were planted. On October 7, 1915, the Conference approved the project and appointed 12 trustees – all who understood that they would not be creating an institution, but rather, a “home,” embraced by the church. The Conference then looked to its congregations to help support the project financially, and the goal of $6,000 was surpassed as the trustees collected over $19,000. Shortly thereafter, the “Eastern Mennonite Home of the Franconia District” opened its doors in 1917 and the partnership with Franconia Conference has continued.

Stories like this one could be told by many other Conference Related Ministries. Indeed, the Conference has partnered with a variety of ministries in many areas of need including bringing help to disabled or special needs persons, collaborating in areas of aging and mental health, engaging together in camps and retreat centers, as well as working together in creating educational facilities and church plantings.  By ministering together, our churches are achieving a synergy of missional engagement in our communities. We are truly the church when many members are working together to form one body in Christ – a body that shares resources and invites collaboration with many gifted volunteers – as we together exercise mutual care and love in showing hospitality to all those in need. After all, the church exists to benefit others. How are we doing at supporting our Conference related ministries?

Stewardship

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By C. Conrad Martin, Director of Finance

I was reminded again during my morning devotions, from Deuteronomy 10:14 that everything belongs to God, the heavens, the earth and everything in it.  Exodus 9:29, Psalm 24:1, and 1 Corinthians 10:26 reiterate this theme.

So what.  What does this mean for us?  Matthew 25:14-30, which the NIV subtitles “The Parable of the Bags of Gold,” gives us a brief glimpse of what this could mean.  We are all given some part of God’s creation, each according to our abilities, to steward on His behalf.  We ultimately must realize that whatever we have been given, must be returned to the one who gave it to us.  So what are we doing with it in the meantime?

Luke 12:48b (NIV) also gives us the charge that “…from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”  The “much” in this verse isn’t quantified, so can we assume that what we have been given is as much as our abilities can handle?  And that if we steward what we have been given wisely, our abilities can grow and more will be given to us to steward?

Mark Vincent in his publication, A Stewardship Manifesto, delves deeply into the study of stewardship, defining a steward as someone entrusted to take care of someone else’s assets.  So since everything belongs to God, the ultimate steward is someone who cares for God’s assets, even to the point of treating these assets as if they were one’s very own — although seeing how some people treat the assets they call their own, I might wonder about that.

Vincent goes on to say that stewardship is the act of willingly and responsibly caring for this charge.  He also lists four assumptions for being a steward and carrying out good stewardship:

  • it requires my service
  • it is the highest level of personal fulfillment
  • it is done in community (we are not alone in this)
  • it is done willingly

What is our motivation for stewardship?  Vincent give four possible answers:

  • Obligation, done out of some religious mandate, possibly even out of guilt or fear
  • Philanthropy, done out of love for mankind, to be a better person or a concern for one’s own well-being
  • Prosperity, done out of the belief that by managing God’s resources wisely, one will gain a material blessing
  • Worship, rooted in grace as a response to a generous God; it isn’t something you do, but rather it is something you become. Vincent quotes Lynn Miller in saying that stewardship is “organizing life so God can give you away”

So, what is your motivation for stewardship? Are you being a good steward?

Partial Vision

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By Marta Castillo, LEADership Minister

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” When faced with new situations, unexpected challenges, decision-making, or new information, my mind starts to try to make sense of it using my senses, my past experiences, and my knowledge. It is natural for us to try to problem solve and to find a space for information within our framework of understanding.

However, as followers of Jesus Christ, children of God, and saints led by the Spirit, we are called to look beyond our own understanding and to trust in the Lord and submit to God’s wisdom and way. When we look at the gospels, we see how many times Jesus says to people, “You do not understand.” As he washes the disciples’ feet, Jesus says in John 13:7, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” To Nicodemus, in John 3, Jesus answers, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?” When Jesus told parables, and talked about his upcoming death to the disciples, the ones closest to Him, did not understand. John 12:16 says, “His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.”

Richard Rohr uses the term “partial vision”, the need to recognize that we understand only in part. Our acknowledgement that we know only in part (1 Corinthians 13:12) allows us to “lean not on our own understanding,” to trust in God, and to submit our ways to God so that God can direct our paths. Our confession that we have “partial vision” humbles us and allows us to listen to others who have “partial vision” and seek God who fully sees and knows all things.

In Franconia Conference, we are facing all kinds of new situations, receiving new congregations, facing unexpected challenges, deciding about possible reconciliation, and making new kinds of decisions. I believe that we will all benefit from confessing together that we have “partial vision” and that there are numerous ways that God is working that are outside of our understanding and comprehension. I believe that we will benefit in committing and submitting together to walk in trust of the Lord, following the footsteps of Jesus, and relying heavily on the lead of the Holy Spirit.

I  Corinthians 13:12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.