Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Congregational Profiles

Congregational Profile: Souderton Mennonite Church

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By Jenifer Eriksen Morales, Pastor of Mission and Formation

When the disciple Andrew, and a friend asked Jesus, “Where are you staying?” Jesus answered, “Come and see.”  Likewise, when asked about Souderton Mennonite Church, we answer, come and see who we are so we can show you why we exist… “To strengthen meaningful connections with Christ, Church and Community.”     

This recently-adopted vision (SMC/CCC for short) shapes our efforts to move beyond our traditional Mennonite roots to embrace a calling to impact our community in tangible ways. Come and see the many ways the community at SMC loves Jesus and cares for each other. 

Come as you are to receive a warm welcome into our blended worship service. Intergenerational worship teams bring music of many genres from a-capella hymns to upbeat praise music that connect hearts to Jesus, and our pastors seek to bring Scripture to life with engaging, relevant messages. Our active prayer team is ready to pray with you after the service.

Some SMC children pose in front of a tile mural in the Children’s wing, which has recently become a share space with community organizations on week days. (Photo by Mike Landis)

The learning and care continue during Sunday school hour in classes for all ages. Children enjoy a vibrant setting where they sing, laugh, learn, play, create, and sometimes dance with dedicated leaders. Jr. and Sr. High youth meet on Sunday mornings, but their activities continue all week as they study, pray, play games, do sports, form bands and volunteer together and with energetic leaders. Attend one of our adult Sunday school classes with members ranging in age from post high to senior citizens.

During the week, our building comes to life daily with congregational and community activity; 43 distinct activities were held here one recent week!  Keystone Opportunity Center, the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit and Bridge of Hope Buxmont are the three main groups using our facilities, but we also provide space for other life-giving such as Grief Share, Divorce Care and N.A., educational groups and social activities. 

Couples strengthen meaningful connections at a marriage ministry event. (Photo by Jessica Gillespie)

Our Wednesday evening Community Meals are followed by kids’ club and youth group, as well as Bible studies, choir practice, support groups, or simply more fellowship time.

If you enjoy food, fellowship, and faith (who doesn’t?) you might try our growing home-based Table Churches.  Get to know a smaller group of individuals in a casual setting as you seek to go deeper in your spiritual walk.  Other small groups meet in restaurants and homes and care facilities for Bible study, prayer and care. 

SMC adults, youth and children connected with Jesus and each other as they practiced and performed, “Left Out,” a musical written by Timothy Bentch. (Photo by Jessica Gillespie)

Come and join us in mission and ministry.  Get to know the missionaries we sponsor and the work God is doing where they are. Be a part of a short-term mission team or pick up a hammer and join our Helping Hands Ministry team repairing homes locally for those who are not able to do the repairs themselves. Come be a part of our community outreach events such as the Concert Series, annual Easter Celebration, Vacation Bible School, and summer dance and drama camps for children. In June, come worship with us and others at the interdenominational Sunday Service in the Souderton Park. You may want to check out our Vocation As Mission (VAM) summer internship program where young adults connect, work and learn together.

We ask you to pray for the Spirit’s leading as we grow deeper in relationship with Christ, Church and Community.  We pray for the ability to be truly present with Christ, each other, and those around us as we work to build God’s kingdom here on Earth as it is in Heaven. But most of all, we ask you to pray with us that God’s spirit will shine through us and people will come and see and know Jesus.

 

Congregational Profile: Indonesian Community Christian Fellowship

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( Baca dalam bahasa Indonesia)

Indonesian Community Christian Church (ICCF) or Gereja Kristen Masyarakat Indonesia Immanuel (GKMI Imanuel) was founded on November 13, 1992 in San Bernardino, CA. It was started as a small prayer meeting. ICCF quickly grew into a big congregation because at that time, there were not many Indonesian churches in the area.  Most of the members come from Huria Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) church backgrounds, which is predominantly Indonesian-Batak ethnicity. Once there was a church split and from that split, ICCF birthed five HKBP churches in the area.

For almost 9 years Pastor Sam Setiawan led the church, before passing down his leadership to Pastor Henry Rumemper, who led the church for 2 years.  He was followed by Pastor Yohanes Ginting who remained for less than a year.  For some period after that, ICCF did not have a lead pastor, but was helped by one of the church leaders, Rina Kusuma, until June 2007, when Pastor Makmur Halim came to the United States from Indonesia and was trusted to lead the church as a pastor of ICCF.

Pastor Makmur Halim

When Pastor Makmur came to the church, he started to create the first ICCF bylaws and discipleship programs, that prepare the congregations to do missions in the world. While the community is at the very center of the church, raising leaders – especially from the next generation – is also a priority. Out of this discipleship program, ICCF has already birthed leaders that are sent outside the congregation to lead churches. ICCF officially joined Franconia Conference at the Fall Assembly 2016. Today the church is located in a large Indonesian population in Colton, CA.

The vision and mission of the congregation are to reach the Indonesians and prepare the church for mission through discipleship.  Sunday Service is held at 5:00 pm with a contemporary worship style.

Prayer request:

  • Please pray for them as they support the regeneration of leaders in the church, as well as for their vision and mission to reach more people to Christ, and to bear much fruit that blesses the nations and generations.

Congregational Profile: Lakeview Mennonite Church

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by Dorrie Mininger

Lakeview Mennonite Church is one of the more remote outposts of Franconia Conference. It is located in the hills of rural northeastern PA and began in the 50’s when several young, adventurous Mennonite families moved up here to farm and plant a church.

Seven years ago, our most recent pastor and his wife were called to another church after 16 years at Lakeview. We were left pastor-less.

Through the ministry of an interim pastor we decided to be officially “Congregationally Led”. This is how it runs: We have a rotation of speakers which include a pastor from a Wesleyan church in the Binghamton, NY area, one of our own members and a Catholic nun! On months when there is a fifth Sunday, somebody from conference has been coming up to speak for the past year.

The New York pastor is available for counseling and another local pastor visits people in our community and congregation who are sick or struggling. Members of our worship committee rotate and take turns leading worship. Our music is varied, ranging from traditional a Capella hymns with 4-part harmony to contemporary praise and worship music. Our members are about 50% local people and about 50% people who travel at least a half an hour because they want to attend a Mennonite Church.

One of the concerns with our current arrangement is losing our Mennonite connections, so we are thankful for having a conference speaker every 3 months or so. Interestingly, the Catholic nun has been intrigued by the Anabaptist perspective and has often brought messages that focus on the teachings of Menno Simons and others.

We have many outreaches to our community. Sixty-some years ago, our church started out with a two-week Vacation Bible School (with help from “down state” Mennonites). Our Sunday School is small but mighty and we continue to have a not-very-big, but growing 1-week VBS each summer.

Because we don’t have the expense of a pastor’s salary, we do have funds to help people in the community in need. When our members learn of somebody in difficulties, they feel free to bring these situations to our council to see what we can do to help. Often the gift of money or purchasing basic necessities (for instance, heating fuel) is just the needed boost. We also do things like having wood cutting parties to help neighbors who can’t do it themselves.

A couple years ago, several of our members decided it would be good to start a Christ-centered 12 step program called Celebrate Recovery. Because of our small numbers we have joined with people from several other churches in the community to do this. We launched the program in September of 2018 and are praising God for lives being changed (including ours) in the town of Susquehanna.

A few months ago, Steve Kriss encouraged us to consider hiring a part-time pastor. As we discussed this, we were very reluctant to abandon the people that had helped us so much through the past 5 years by bringing good messages, visiting and counseling. We are discerning together what that might mean into the future.

Thank you for offering to pray for us! We think this is a critical time for us but also very exciting time. Is the Holy Spirit up to something? We think so! Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Congregational Profile: San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church

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My wife, Anita and I came from Hong Kong and our church speaks Cantonese. Cantonese is one of the dialects in China and one of the official languages in Hong Kong.

In the early 1980s, Pastor Stephen, Sai-fung Lee travelled from Vancouver, Canada to San Francisco to share with me a vision from the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference which was to build a Chinese church in San Francisco area.  With two months of fervent prayers and dug deep into the fundamental faith of the Mennonites, I was happy to accept Pastor Lee’s invitation and started the San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church at the same location until now. 

Looking for new church location, printing out flyers and many days of heavily sweat and tiredness preparation but we saw the hands of God through many prayers.  November 9, 1980, came as our first Sunday worship and we worshipped with a thankful heart.   On November 16, 1980 as the Conference planned to come to present our church with a certificate, I got an emergency call from my father in Hong Kong.  It was heartbreaking to hear that my beloved grandma was seriously ill.  My family earnestly urged me to go back.  I should go back but how about the new church?  It was tough!  I called every day to check on grandma’s progress only to find out that she was not getting better.  I cried out to God in my prayers, brothers and sisters also walked with me in prayers.  Until one day, I picked up the phone and told my father that I planned to stay because the church needed me, then my father responded with relief that grandma was no longer in life threatening condition.  Praise the Lord! He let me make the decision and he took care of my worries.

With God’s many blessings, we celebrated our 39th anniversary this November with Pastor Jeff Wright among us and also grateful to be part of the Franconia Mennonite Conference (now the Mosaic Mennonite Conference).  Our church has many ongoing programs like Sunday Worship with Sunday School & Prayer Meeting, Bible Studies, Small Group Fellowship, Special Outreach Events, Festival & Holiday Celebration, Churchwide Retreat, Nursing Home & Hospital Ministry and Intergenerational Church Members Care Ministry to equip and nurture our congregation.  More than a dozen of brothers and sisters joining hands in hands to serve the hospital ministry with joy.

Lately, our church had a new vision, it was to be the salt and light for Jesus to a group of Chinese restaurant workers in San Francisco area.  The Chinese Restaurant Workers Fellowship was born.  This ministry first meeting was on December 10 and followed by the Christmas celebration on December 24.   Unfortunately, there is no other church in San Francisco area also serving this group of workers and that also reflected the significance and importance of this ministry.  Restaurant workers absolutely need the gospel due to their emptiness mind, boring and long hours working condition and many of them are addicted to bad habits.  Even though we acknowledge how hard it was to reach out for this group of people, we assured ourselves that their heart need Jesus the most.  We believed God loves to save their souls and this ministry is consensus with the vision and mission statement of the Mennonite belief.

Chinese Restaurant Workers Ministry

Please pray with me for our financial need and more willingness heart to share our vision down the road for this new workers’ ministry.  We appreciate all your support, cares and prayers for the future of our church.

Nursing Home Visitation

*Updated in June 2022

Congregational Profile: Salford Mennonite Church

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by Maria Hosler Byler, Associate Pastor for Youth and Family Faith Formation

In 2017 Salford Mennonite Church celebrated its 300 year anniversary, with the theme “Hope Meets History.” That phrase embodies the spirit of Salford: firmly grounded in our place and our story, with a willingness to embrace what’s to come. We are a joyful learning community eager to live and share the peaceable way of Jesus. Here are some of the ways we do this.

All-church retreat Dutch Blitz game

The first thing we hope you notice when you come into our congregation is our welcome and supportive presence. Salford has welcomed many who have had painful experiences in church and need a place to rest and heal. You will see and hear children in worship, both in the pews and leading the congregation. A few years ago, we adopted a welcoming statement that says: “We celebrate that all individuals are created in God’s image, in beauty and grace, no matter their age, gender, race, disability, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, and are welcome as members in our congregation.”

The garden

We also are a congregation that gives in many ways. We readily respond with gifts of support to needs around the world. Our sewing circle is one example of this; each month, 20-30 people, men and women of all ages, come together to quilt and knot comforters for Mennonite Central Committee. We partner with Advent Lutheran Church to tend a garden on our property, which provides produce for local food pantries and community centers. Salford members feel each other’s care and support in behind-the-scenes ways too – in providing meals, childcare, and accompaniment in hard times.

Doing art at Peace Camp

Salford is truly a learning community. Members of Salford have led and attended workshops through Better Angels, seeking to bridge the political divide. We have recently held trainings around racial conciliation and criminal justice, to help us discern how we follow Jesus in our specific place in the world. Workshops on the Enneagram have sparked lively conversations about our different motivations and ways of relating. Also, each summer we host Peace Camp, where kids explore Peace with Me, Peace with the Earth, and Peace with Others. Peace Camp participants include kids from within our congregation and even more from the local community.

All of these point to our continued desire for deeper relationship with God. As we are welcomed and welcome others, we can more deeply experience God’s presence with us. Our worship is rooted in Anabaptist tradition, but it’s also attuned to our modern context; when you worship with us, you will experience rich four-part harmony and also earnest reflection about current events. That’s the tone that we seek to live out when we’re together and when we’re apart.

Some prayer requests:

  • For guidance for our search committee as we look for a new lead pastor. Pastor Joe Hackman’s role ended in early December, while pastors Beth Yoder and Maria Hosler Byler continue.
  • For wise and energetic discernment of our vision for the next phase of our life. We hope to grow in our pursuit of peace, justice, and reconciliation; our connection to our local community; and our prophetic witness.

Congregational Profile: Towamencin Mennonite Church

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by Bob Keeler

Towamencin Mennonite Church was started more than 300 years ago by Jacob Godshalk, the first Mennonite bishop in America. It is on Sumneytown Pike in Kulpsville, with the slip ramp to the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Lansdale interchange right across the street. Commuters park in our lot before carpooling on the turnpike.

Birch Grove Mennonite Church is about 285 miles away in Port Allegany, PA, but the two congregations share in the support of Grove Food Pantry. Towamencin’s connection with Birch Grove began with one of the adult Sunday School classes and has spread to include the entire congregation. Birch Grove, which has an average Sunday attendance of 25 people, started and maintains Grove Food Pantry, which provides once a month food distributions to around 60 families.

As we have done in recent years, our year-end collections will again this year go to missions. All the December offerings will go to missions, which include both local organizations and ministries in other parts of the world.

An outdoor in-creek baptismal service is held each year, with Centro De Alabanza de Filadelfia having joined us the past two years for the service followed by a fellowship meal.
Each year, we also have a joint service the night before Thanksgiving with Covenant Community Fellowship.

We have had several births in recent years, along with adoptions. The youngest Sunday School classes are now the largest of the children’s classes.  Our Vacation Bible School brings in children from the community.  We just started a Middle School Youth Group to which VBS students were invited. The Middle School Group took part in this year’s Keystone Opportunity Center Sleep Out for Homelessness and helped with sorting out food brought to Keystone’s food pantry from the Boy Scout collection. Our Harvest Home food collections help provide food for the Shepherd’s Shelf Food Cupboard.

Associate Pastor Bill Martin and Bridge Pastor Charlie Ness are the pastors. “Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are called to extend God’s healing, hope and forgiveness to all” is our mission statement.

Prayer requests:
–That we can continue to recognize the opportunities God has placed before us in the community
— God’s continued guidance as we search for a new lead pastor

Congregational Profile: Upper Milford Mennonite Church

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by Marjorie Geissinger

The Upper Milford Mennonite congregation dates back to 1735 and now meets in its third building on the same site.  Over the years, the church has been in three counties without moving—Bucks, Northampton, and now Lehigh.  Located on Kings Highway just a mile south of Routes 29 and 100 and 5 miles north of Route 663, we enjoy being a part of the greater Lehigh Valley with its proximity to New York City (90 miles) and easy access to I-78, Route 22, and Route 222.

Although Upper Milford had been a part of the Franconia Conference since 1773, the congregation chose to join the new Eastern District Conference in 1847.  The Mennonite Brethren in Christ (now Bible Fellowship Church) saw its roots in this congregation after differences of opinion regarding prayer meetings and more enthusiastic worship practices in 1857.

In 1799, Upper Milford partnered with the local Lutheran and Reformed (United Church of Christ) Churches to run a community school at Dillingersville which operated until 1844 when the Pennsylvania public school system was initiated.  The building was then rented to the public system.  The three churches still own the school building conducting a yearly outdoor joint worship service on site at this beautiful location.  The original three congregations are joined by an additional three in conducting a community Food Pantry, which services over 100 families monthly, and share responsibilities for joint Thanksgiving and Lenten services.

Although small in number, our congregation of active participants is enthusiastic in support of MCC projects such as school kits, Ten Thousand Villages in our annual Craft Festival, Ripple, Crossroads with Thanksgiving turkeys, Bibles for prisoners, and our local Food Pantry. 

Our Light in the Night Safe Zone Block Party held the last Sunday in October is the highlight of community outreach for our congregation.  For over five years, we have been hosting the event in the community municipal building providing activities and games for the children in the Zionsville area.  Treats, food, and fellowship provide a welcoming time for neighbors to experience good-natured fun while meeting our members in a friendly non-threatening location. 

Prayer Request:

  • Please join us in praying for a settled pastor.  We have been well served by a bridge pastor and supplied with guest speakers; however, we would welcome a settled pastor into our community.  

 

Congregational Profile: West Swamp Mennonite Church

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Photo credit: Lynne Rush

West Swamp has a rich and long history, celebrating 300 years as a congregation in 2017. Now we strive for a vibrant present and fruitful future as we “reflect God in our living, loving and serving” in Upper Bucks County.

This year we went through a leadership transition as our pastor of almost 10 years retired. While we were looking for the next pastor God had in store for us, we heard from many guest preachers and also had people from our congregation fill the pulpit for half of those Sundays. This reinforced for us the Anabaptist idea of “the priesthood of believers.” Our new pastor, Michael Howes, began on October 1 and we look forward to partnering with him in God’s mission for West Swamp.

Our worship services include scripture and song, prayer and preaching. Music is important to us—we were the first Mennonite church in America to install an organ! Our services use a blend of traditional, contemporary and culturally diverse songs for a rich worship experience, further enhanced by our adult and children’s choirs and Chimin’ In, a tone chime ensemble.

All ages took part in our Comforter Blitz. Photo credit: Madison Mood

We take seriously our call to be the hands and feet of Jesus, supporting local ministries like Code Blue Emergency Shelter for the homeless and the Salvation Army Christmas Carnival. We have people who volunteer weekly at the Care & Share Shoppes of Souderton, quarterly at the Ten Thousand Villages warehouse in Brownstown, and every other year with SWAP (Sharing With Appalachian People). We have vibrant knotting and quilting groups that meet regularly, making comforters for MCC and quilting to raise money for missions. We just recently had a 2-day Comforter Blitz for MCC’s Great Winter Warm-Up.

Interactive worship service at Camp Men-O-Lan with Solidarity & Harmony Church. Photo credit: Marsha High

We work to build strong relationships within our church family and with all who come through our doors, as we seek to draw more people into God’s kingdom by his love and grace. One outcome of our transition time is our Fellowship Prayer Breakfast on the first Sunday of each month. We have been blessed through the years to build strong ties with Crossroads Community Center of Philadelphia and more recently, Solidarity & Harmony Church, a Haitian congregation of Philadelphia.

Prayer requests:

  • Pray that we can be bolder and more intentional in going out into the community to be witnesses of God’s love and grace.
  • Pray that we can grow our Sunday School so that more people are gaining a deeper knowledge of God and his Word.
  • Pray that God will make available the right house in the right place for our new pastor, Michael Howes, and his wife, Sue—in good proximity to the church and in a good area for community ministry.