Conference Assembly

Goals/Purposes:
To Train, Equip, Encourage and Support persons for ministry from the pew to the pulpit and beyond.

2008 Updates/Activities:
School for Leadership Formation (SLF):
Collaborative in nature, all Franconia Conference’s equipping and educational resources are considered part of the School for Leadership Formation.
As we complete our second year of ministry for the SLF, we continue to plan and provide equipping initiatives for various levels of support and development throughout the conference. Some of the areas of focus have been:

• The third Thursday pastors and leaders breakfast
• Gateway courses for credentialed leaders (in cooperation with Eastern Mennonite University)
• Formation and Orientation meetings (for newly credentialed leaders and leaders new to the Conference)
• Learning Communities
• Developing resource relationships with Conference Related Ministries (CRMs) and Partners in Ministry
• Development and training opportunities for both emerging and experienced leaders continued to be reviewed for context and relevance in accordance with E³ (Equipping Leaders, to Empower Others, to Embrace God’s Mission) and Vision and Finance Plan Team recommendations and direction.

Resourcing and Equipping

• Worked with Child Protection Leadership Team to establish both congregational connections and conference working relationship
• Coordinated and worked with urban and suburban congregational focus groups for MC USA assessment of Health Care Access for pastors and church employees
• Provided on-site contextual leadership training for several Franconia Conference and Partner in Ministry Congregations
• Cultivated connection and conversation with MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Association) to work at ways to collaborate with (racial/ethnic) entrepreneurial leaders interested in supporting ministry through economic development.
• Gave leadership and support to a cooperative effort between Franconia Conference and Philadelphia Urban Ministry Partnership. This provided access and resources for Black American urban youth and young adults to connect with the AAMA (African American Mennonite Association) convention in Elkhart, resulting in a positive leadership development and missional experience.

Goals/Purposes:
As an integral part of Franconia Conference’s School for Leadership Formation, learning communities (LCs) are formed to equip pastors and congregational leaders to empower congregations to embrace God’s mission through mutual support and resourcing.

Franconia Mennonite Conference congregations are taking God’s mission seriously. Many of us are re-examining our vision, values and structures. Many are investing more resources in outreach and community relationships. A learning community is for leaders. It is a vehicle for learning together and a place for congregational leaders to obtain support, develop our ministry skills, expand our vision and apprentice new leaders.

2008 Updates/Activities:
1. Salem, Doylestown and Rockhill pastors are meeting monthly (at the Dublin Diner) to support each other with their congregations in shifting from church inside the walls to their communities.  The theme they are addressing is how to work with the brokenness of unchurched people in a church context.  They are meeting monthly and are holding occasional Saturday morning events with core leaders with “Becoming Communities of Grace” as the overall theme in 2008.

2. Dawn Ruth Nelson and I have been in dialogue for several months about a learning community fostering a contemplative spirituality among leaders and pastors. The goals include: Learning to “be” instead of just “do,” nourishing intimacy with God as part of discipleship, letting our missional journey lead to a deeper spiritual journey and understanding mission as pilgrimage toward God. They held their first monthly meeting in September with about ten interested pastors.

3. Bob Petersheim, Jenifer Eriksen Morales and I are leading the pilot LEAD learning community which includes selected leaders who wish to bring clarity to their congregational systems in organizational leadership and decision-making.   Rockhill, Boyertown, Doylestown, Frederick, Ambler, Norristown and Salem have participated in this initial venture from August to November. A workshop at conference assembly will share our emerging learnings and impressions.

4. Pastors of Perkiomenville, Boyertown and Frederick have been meeting regularly to share and learn from each other.  They have embraced the learning community concept. They are addressing ways of becoming more relevant to the community using demographic research… and working with Reggie McNeal’s “Present Future.”

5. Martha Moyer, Franconia congregation, along with Mary Benner, Souderton, is exploring interest of children’s ministers in gathering to discuss LC formation.

6. Jess Walter is meeting with emerging leaders who are women and are forming a learning community around their unique relationships and strengths.

7.  The pastoral teams from Souderton, Blooming Glen, Franconia and Salford have explored interest in a large church learning community that might meet regularly in the coming year.

8. A learning community with church administrators has re-convened this year with Dan Sell, Souderton congregation, facilitating the first meetings. It’s not clear at this point whether the large church gathering (mentioned in #7 above) would meet this need or not.

9. Jenifer Eriksen Morales is meeting with the intentional interim pastors as a learning community and exploring interest among several worship leaders for another one.

In addition, Gay Brunt Miller is integrating learning community principles into the bi-monthly chaplains meetings.  Marlene Frankenfield’s work with youth pastors is reflecting many LC principles. She is also facilitating a monthly meeting of women pastors that has LC qualities. Donella Clemens’ ongoing leadership of the Vermont group is working like a learning community including some resourcing.  And Jenifer is meeting with the Bucks “cluster” which continues to enjoy mutual support and fellowship.

Goals/Purposes for 2008:
To support Franconia Conference’s mission by:
1. Serving congregations working through the process of intentional transition.
2. Supporting and resourcing intentional interim pastors.
3. Growing in my understanding of Franconia Mennonite Conference and Intentional Interim Ministry.

2008 Updates/Activities:
This has been a year of transition for me. In this first year serving Franconia Conference, I spent a fair amount of time orienting myself to conference life and structure by meeting with staff and pastors, visiting congregations, reading a bit about Franconia Conference’s history, and going through the licensing process.

Intentional Interim Ministry – Nine churches have engaged in intensive transition work this year. Six congregations completed terms with Intentional Interim Ministers. Four of these congregations have called new pastors, and two are in the midst of a search process.

Intentional Interim Pastor Learning Community – I facilitate monthly meetings of intentional interim ministers from Franconia, Eastern District and Atlantic Coast conferences. In these meetings, Intentional Interim Pastors gather together for worship and prayer support. They have the opportunity to share the joys and challenges of ministry, ask and offer counsel, and exchange ideas, suggestions, and best practice tips with their peer group. In addition, quarterly, full day meetings are held to offer further equipping, training and support.

LEAD (Leading, Equipping and Discipling leaders in Kingdom Mission) – Bob Petersheim, Walter Sawatzky, and I are offering leadership to the LEAD learning community. LEAD seeks to provide missional oversight to church leaders. Currently this is a four-month pilot in which seven leaders convene for worship, prayer, equipping, accountability, and to discern together the question, “What does oversight in a missional church look like?”

Congregational Work – It is a privilege to have ongoing and active engagement with two congregations, Bally and Garden Chapel, who are in the midst of transition. I am serving as a part time interim minister at Garden Chapel and as a support coach to Bally’s Transitional Leadership Team through which I have undertaken a variety of roles in the congregation.

2008 Updates/Activities:
Conference Related Ministries (CRMs): For the past six years, Franconia Conference has had memos of understanding with (most recently) 23 CRMs, including schools, camps, retirement communities, etc. (For a full listing of CRMs, click here.) The Vision & Financial Plan, affirmed by Conference Delegates at the 2007 Conference Assembly, calls for developing covenants with these ministries. The process of fleshing out what that entails is underway including several “facilitated conversations” planned for this fall to bring together leaders of CRMs and congregations to talk about how collectively we can increase our unified witness to our regional ministries.

Anabaptist Chaplains Group: I coordinate/facilitate bimonthly meetings of the Anabaptist chaplains. The group includes chaplains who work in Anabaptist settings and/or are credentialed by Franconia or Eastern District Conferences. The total group includes twenty-two people, though approximately a dozen gather for any one meeting. The group functions as a form of learning community, offering support, encouragement, and sharing their learnings with one another.

Gift Discernment: In February representatives from New Beginnings, West Philadelphia, Deep Run East, Norristown New Life, and Boyertown met with Ertell Whigham and me at New Beginnings Community Church (Bristol). We met to brainstorm and name gifted people who might serve in various conference leadership roles (per By-Laws). (Another ten congregations were invited but did not send representatives for a variety of reasons.) Several vacancies will not be filled until clarity is reached about some other aspects of restructuring.

Anabaptist Network, United Kingdom – Partner in Mission: The partnership with the Anabaptist Network in the United Kingdom continues to grow. A February 2008 trip allowed Blaine Detwiler, Steve Kriss, and me to significantly deepen relationships with U.K. leaders and provided a solid foundation on which to build. In May we hosted two Anabaptist Network leaders, who spent four days among us, meeting people in a number of settings. In September Franconia Conference sends our first intern to serve with the Urban Expression church planting network in East London and with the Anabaptist Network, under the direction of Stuart Murray Williams. We look forward to the visit of Stuart and his wife, Sian, next March and plan to offer a number of venues for interaction with them.

Grace Assembly Network, Haiti – Partner in Mission: In March Larry Moyer, pastor of Rockhill Mennonite Church, was invited by Pastor Lesly Bertrand, leader of Grace Assembly Network, to teach his leaders. Larry had a very good connection with Grace Assembly and returned with a vision of some specific ways to help Pastor Lesly make his ministry more financially viable so that he could increase his capacity and not always live on the edge of existence. Subsequent brainstorming with Larry and Pastor Curt Malizzi of Hopewell Christian Fellowship, Telford, and Franconia Conference leaders led to a second trip in June. Plans continue to unfold for how this growing vision may enable Pastor Lesly and his Grace Assembly leaders to have even greater ministry.

Regional Area Conference Leaders (RACL): I serve as part of the planning committee for these meetings, involving leaders from up to eight conferences in the east who meet twice a year. In May six racial/ethnic church planters (including Pastor Beny Krisbianto, Nations Worship) were invited to this meeting to share their stories of call and the benefits and challenges they face as they relate to conferences and the Mennonite Church USA denomination. Franconia Conference will host the next meeting later in November, continuing to focus on the groups’ vision of increasing our Anabaptist witness for Christ along the eastern seaboard. (Ertell Whigham and Steve Kriss have also represented Franconia at recent meetings.)

Mennonite Church USA: I serve as a Franconia Conference representative in two primary capacities in relation to the denomination. One is as a representative (and currently Vice Chair) of the Constituency Leaders Council. This group of conference and constituency group leaders meets twice a year and serves as the “elders” of the denomination. I am also a member of the Missional Church Strategic Planning Group, which seeks to keep the denomination attentive to our stated goal of becoming a missional church—in alignment with God’s activities in the world.

Goals/Purposes: Franconia Conference values intercessory prayer ministry as a vital and foundational dimension of fulfilling God’s purposes on earth. In my role as prayer ministry coordinator I have the following goals:
1. Equip and resource the prayer ministries of the local churches in Franconia Mennonite Conference
2. Foster connections between congregations
3. Provide prayer support for congregations and ministries through intercessory teams
4. Encourage unity in the body of Christ

2008 Updates/Activities:
Prayer Teams to Spruce Lake Retreat and Philadelphia Mennonite High School
Prayer support via email for various congregational needs and issues
Prayer support for missional activities, trips, outreach initiatives
Monthly prayer gatherings for pastors, prayer team leaders and intercessors for equipping, encouragement and prayer
Help plan and facilitate Regional 40 days of Prayer and Fasting Initiative during Lent
Meet with and encourage prayer leaders of local churches
Prayer with and for Franconia Mennonite Conference staff
Serve on the Agape Prayer Ministry School advisory board – work at encouraging further training for this ministry throughout this region
Attended Healing Prayer Conference
Work on developing content for website linked to Franconia Conference on prayer
Promote Prayer Life Seminar, a seminar for those who struggle in their prayer life
Exploring prayer in the marketplace

Goals/Purposes:

• Cultivate young leaders
• Deepen intercultural partnerships
• Nurture new congregations and faith communities
• Produce and ensure fresh, clear, responsive and responsible communication in print and web formats

The work of leadership cultivation and communication is a unique mashing of skills, questions, gifts and opportunities.   We work together in team and gifts, including over the past year: regular staff–Jessica Walter and me, students–Joe Hackman, Tim Moyer and Lora Steiner, congregational staff–Aldo Siahaan, international staff–Dave Landis and summer interns–John Tyson and Emily Graber.  We team together–handing off projects, working over and under, between and among each other in ways that span distance and culture, provoke questions and possibilities and hopefully allow each of us to express gifts and hopes while pursing the conference’s vision and glimpses of God’s dream.  We work together by web, by phone and in person.  We cultivate relationships both within and beyond that bring life and sometimes bring concern.  Whether its interacting with students at Goshen College, with struggling church planters in Little Rock or eating Middle Eastern food in Lansdale, we find opportunities to incarnate and invite the Good News to come alive not only in word, but in flesh and blood.   Our task together in communication is not only virtual or representational, but also real and requires shoulders for tapping and shoulders to cry on as we equip, empower and embrace according to the mission of God and the way of Christ in the world.

2008 Updates/Activities:

• Worked with nearly 20 interns serving with congregations and ministries within and beyond the Conference constituency
• Developed new, more frequent Intersections publications
• Upgrading the website to provide more complete directorial information as well as new sites for ministries
• Cultivated international partnerships in Indonesia, the UK and the Mediterranean region
• Developed a more coherent system of seminary-level education in collaboration with Eastern Mennonite Seminary to serve new pastors and emerging leaders
• Continuing to cultivate the relationship of immigrant and urban communities with suburban congregations and ministries
• Developed more extensive opportunities for teaching and presenting ideas learned along the way with congregations, Mennonite colleges and Philadelphia area universities
• Continue a young adult ministry listening process, following up the denominational study from Conrad Kanagy
• Working at establishing guidelines and framing for apprenticing/learning congregations
• Campus visits to Bluffton University, Goshen College and Eastern Mennonite University
• Assigned articles to tell the stories of over a dozen congregations and initiatives through conference and Mennonite-church publications
• Invested in further development of emergent/Anabaptist dialogue among leaders and practicing communities across the United States
• Partnered with Mennonite Mission Network in the Israel/Palestine Youth Venture this summer
• Sent a listening team to Mexico alongside CIEAMM congregations
• Investigated new church initiatives in Delaware, New Jersey and Arkansas