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Remembering Becky Felton

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from the Peace & Justice Committee of Eastern District and Franconia Conferences

Becky FeltonThe 2012 Peace Mug Award for Franconia and Eastern District Conferences, announced at the  joint fall Conference Assembly, honors Becky Felton, who passed away peacefully on November 2, 2012 after a courageous struggle with cancer.

Becky was a persistent advocate for peace and justice in her congregation, Perkasie Mennonite Church, in her community, and with the Peace & Justice Committee. Wayne Nitzsche, her pastor, described Becky as a congregational peacemaker in many ways.  “Perkasie has a worship ritual of lighting a peace lamp as we recite our pledge to be peacemakers. Becky urged us to consider and pray for peace locally and globally. She invited the congregation to participate in peace retreats and walks and brought needs for peace to our attention,” he reflected.  “But most importantly, Becky modeled the way of Jesus in her relationships in the congregation and beyond.”

Becky organized an intergenerational “Faith in Action” Sunday school class to keep peace and justice issues in front of the congregation.  The bi-monthly class has taken.on issues like The DREAM Act, hunger and homelessness, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Becky suggested topics for the class and sometimes recommended or invited guest speakers. Faith in Action is not only about education, but also invites everyone to act.  “She made us write letters and make phone calls –  to help us speak our own little peace” to situations of oppression and conflict, one friend remembered.

Becky also faced her terminal illness with peace, knowing that she was at peace with God and with others.

Jason Hedrick,  Peace and Justice Committee chairperson, described Becky as “a pillar of the committee and a mentor. She created space for me to learn and grow from the time I first started to serve on the committee and even more so when I took over the role as chair. Her life modeled what it meant to work for peace; to consider those who were marginalized, both within our own community and outside; to take the time to listen to those who had differing view points; and to challenge others to grow, to take action. Mostly, though, she was a friend. What better way is there to work towards peace in the world than to be a friend to someone?”

Those who knew her well describe Becky as a champion of peace and justice,  at peace with God  and  at  peace  with others.   Becky served the Peace & Justice Committee as secretary, as financial secretary, and, for the past ten years, as registrar for our annual Winter Peace Retreat.   But because of her broad understanding of current peace and social justice issues and her character, these roles don’t adequately describe her presence and her leadership, both in her congregation and with us on the Peace & Justice Committee. She was aware, compassionate, proactive.

peace mug presentation
Jason Hedrick & Samantha Lioi from the Peace & Justice Committee present the peace mug to Becky’s husband Jon and children Cody & Torey. Photo by Kreg D. Ulery.

“We appreciated her sense of humor,” noted Samanthi Lioi, the conferences’ minister of peace and justice, “because it’s really easy, especially for peace people, to take ourselves too seriously. Just by who she was, Becky steered us clear of that. And her pragmatic questions and focus on specific action was indispensable as a balance for the idealism and big ideas of some others of us. It was a fruitful balance – vision shaped by attention to planning and details. Thinking of Becky’s efficiency, and her way of getting huge amounts of work done–while being friendly about it!, I’m humbled…and reminded how deeply we need each other as we go about joining God’s birthing of shalom in the world. While we feel deep gratitude as a committee for Becky’s way of nurturing peace among us, I’m not sure we know how much we’re going miss her.”

Peace Mugs, provided by the Peace and Justice Support Network  of Mennonite Church USA, are awarded by our Peace & Justice Committee to honor  those among us who demonstrate a life-long commitment to peace and justice.  Find out more about the Peace & Justice Committee on their website.

Franconia Conference moves toward a debt free 2013

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Souderton CenterFranconia Conference is entering the new year debt-free after receiving payment for the sale of the Indian Creek Road Farm’s development rights late last week.  The proceeds of the sale were used to pay off around 90% of the mortgage on the Souderton (Pa.) Center on December 27, 2012, according to the conference’s director of finance, Conrad Martin.  The remainder of the mortgage was paid using funds from the center’s Capital Improvement Fund.

This marks the fulfillment of a process set in motion in 2007 by the Vision and Finance Plan Team formed by the Franconia Conference Board to align the conference’s resources to the call for contextual and contemporary ministry.  The VFP team recommended in 2009 that the conference sell the development rights for the farm (near Harleysville, Pa.) and use the proceeds to pay off the Souderton Center’s ten-year-old mortgage.  With the mortgage paid off, this will free over $13,000 per month to replenish the improvement fund and support conference ministry.

The conference is positioned to start 2013 on solid financial footing, said Conference executive minister, Ertell Whigham.  “Along with anticipated increased giving from our congregations, this will enable us to invest more financial resources into ministry,” Whigham reflected.  “We are grateful for those who had a vision for how the Souderton Center could bless the conference. What a way to start a year and celebrate God’s ongoing provision!”

Selling the development rights to the farm acreage means that the land cannot be further developed and will likely remain in agricultural use.  The Vision and Finance Plan also recommended that the Indian Creek Road Farm be leased to an organization that would use the land to develop sustainable creation-care oriented ministries that recognize the nature of the preserved open space.  As a result, the property was leased in 2010 to Living Hope Farm, a non-profit sustainable agricultural CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm led by Jill Landes of Blooming Glen congregation.  Franconia Conference and Living Hope Farm are currently in conversations about beginning a Conference Related Ministry relationship.

In addition to property proposals, the VFP included recommendations about increasing continuing education expectations for credentialed leaders, creating grants for missional experiments, downsizing and relocating office space, and stabilizing the conference’s annual operating budget. The repayment of the mortgage was the final step in fulfilling the VFP’s recommendations. In early 2012, the conference board and staff acknowledged the fulfillment of the Vision and Financial Plan and moved toward a new set of working priorities (described in detail here). “We are pleased that the mortgage on the Souderton Center is paid off and that Franconia Conference is now debt-free,” said John Goshow, the board chair.   “This will allow us to focus even more intently on growing God’s Kingdom.”

Moved by faith … back to school

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Philippiansby Maria Byler, Philadelphia Praise Center

In Matthew 17 Jesus tells the disciples that with faith the size of a mustard seed they could move mountains. But at Philadelphia Praise Center/Centro de Alabanza de Filadelfia, something else is being moved by faith: adults are going to school. And I, as site administrator, get to witness the miraculous results.

This fall, 15 members of PPC/CAF started the certificate program of the Anabaptist Biblical Institute (IBA), an adult Christian education program coordinated by the Mennonite Education Agency and the Hispanic Mennonite Church. It consists of eight 12-week courses. Students complete workbook lessons on their own and meet weekly in group tutoring sessions. Tutors are pastors Leticia Cortés and Fernando Loyola. With God’s help the first course, Introduction to Bible Study, was completed in early December.

Each student is in a very different place with their education. One student is completing postdoctoral work, one dropped out of elementary school over 20 years ago. Most have begun to know Jesus within the last five years. But their varied experiences with school and church were overcome by the strength of their faith and their desire to learn more about God.

At the first class when asked about the homework, most of the students raised their eyebrows and shook their heads sadly. “Me cuesta leer tanto,” – “It’s hard for me to read so much” “No entendí todas las preguntas,” “I didn’t understand all the questions.” We struggled through the literary genres in the Bible and the difference between figurative and literal. But we also had great conversations about Hebrew identity, Creation, and even vegetarianism. Week after week I left the class amazed at what God is doing with these humble but eager followers. And the students left the class feeling as though they had merely scratched the surface of knowledge, and ready to deepen their understanding.

More than what God is doing inside each student is what God is doing with us as a community. We are each (including me) growing so much more than if we just read the lessons individually. IBA has become a very human place where we learn from the reading and also from our sisters’ and brothers’ life views.  This includes experiences of members of the community during the course. We have had to cancel or rearrange classes because of illness or other church events – and those happenings make it into the class conversation. Students often bring their children, who participate in their own way. It’s giving us all practice in being a community of sharing and support as we learn together how to walk this life as Christians.

At the beginning of the New Year we start on the second course: Anabaptist History and Theology. For more information on what we’re studying, check out the Mennonite Education Agency website. Or, if you’d rather, contact me – I love to talk about this exciting work that God is doing in the church!

Reflections on one day with MDS on Staten Island

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by James M. Lapp

On November 8, following Superstorm Sandy, I was privileged to participate with one of the early Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) teams to Staten Island.  There amidst the front end loaders lifting wet debris from the streets into dump trucks, we encountered a busy community of local people and volunteers like us attempting to be helpful.  One thing became immediately clear.  MDS and Mennonites did not have a corner on compassion and care.

Along the street in front of the Oasis Christian Center building, men worked over a grill preparing chicken for anyone, including us, to eat for lunch.  The church (with partial Mennonite roots) had moved their worship to another setting to make the building available as a center of distribution for clothes and food.  In the background we heard the purr of generators providing power for the activities going on in the church.  Beside the church, at a makeshift table under a canopy, two people gave direction to the many people milling about who were seeking to be helpful.

Located only a few blocks from the bay, this church, like all the homes in the area, was vulnerable when the high tide and storm surge came roaring down the street.  Across the front of the church a distinct waterline indicated the height of the water during the storm—about neck high for an average-sized adult.  Basements and the first floor of homes throughout the neighborhood had been flooded.  Near to the church were several homes where the residents had drowned.

Inside the church, we sorted clothes and food donated for those in need.  “Do you have any hooded sweat shirts?” someone inquired.  Such a request was not hard to understand on this cold November day.

“We lost everything,” a woman reported through tears, with deep gratitude for jackets to wear.

Toiletries, clothes, and food of every kind appeared.  Twice during the day a U-Haul truck pulled up to the curb with contributions gathered around the city for distribution.  Others in our group worked at restoring electrical systems destroyed by the water, or in removing drywall so that the interior of the walls could dry without mildew.

The residents of this Staten Island community have lived near the water all of their lives.  Never has anything of this sort happened before.  How quickly the fury of the storm shattered the lives of these otherwise stable middle-class families!  It was hard for them and for me to make sense of such devastation.   I could almost hear in the background the taunting voices the Psalmist experienced in the wake of such a personal tragedy: “Now where is your God?”  (Psalm 42:3)

About dark we began our journey back to Lansdale, Pa., and to the safety of our homes. The team was united in gratitude for being able to participate in such a day of service to others.  But beneath the reward of having been privileged to serve, I sensed an unspoken sober awareness of the fragility of life, and the reality that natural disasters such as we witnessed were seemingly becoming more frequent.  At least that is what some of our public figures suggest.  What might that mean for our nation, for us?  That question, plus the inexplicable destruction we had just witnessed in this Staten Island community remained for us to ponder as we returned home that evening.

Jim Lapp is a retired Franconia Conference pastor who has served broadly in congregational, conference and denominational roles.   He and his wife Mim Book have returned to Southeastern Pennsylvania this fall after serving in an interim pastoral role in Nebraska.

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Individuals and teams from many Franconia Conference congregations have served with Mennonite Disaster Service since Superstorm Sandy, including Salford, Plains, Philadelphia Praise Center, Doylestown, Salem, Blooming Glen, and Ambler.  If you have served in this way and have reflections to share, email your thoughts to Emily.

Bulletin Announcements (December 11, 2012)

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You are invited to a Women’s Winter Evening Bible Study, Mondays beginning January 7, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Deep Run Mennonite Church West.  Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine, by Max Lucado.  If you are interested in joining this evening bible study call the church office at 215-766-8157 or email deeprunwest@verizon.net and provide your contact information.

Here in time to make a great Christmas present or to add to your personal collection, the NEW Rockhill Mennonite Church Cookbook!  Each cookbook costs $19 and all of the profit from the sale will be donated to the Grace Fellowship Network in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. To order your cookbook, please contact the Rockhill church office at 215-723-7780 or by email at rockhillmc@juno.com.

The Mennonite Central Committee material Resource Project for January is Sewing Kits.  Sewing kits help provide necessary tools to earn a living for people throughout the world. MCC is deeply grateful for the material resource donations you have been making.  Your gifts demonstrate the love of Christ.  Contents, instructions and complete information can be found by visiting mcc.org/kits/sewing or access the MCC Material Resource Project document here.

Bethel College invites youth groups, families or anyone making a road trip to Mennonite Church USA Convention ’13 in Phoenix this summer to stop overnight on the campus in North Newton, Kansas, coming, going or both.  The nights of June 30 and July 6 are available. Accommodations are in air-conditioned residence halls with two people to a room, linens provided, at a charge of $10 per person per night.  Bethel College Admissions will provide everyone with breakfast.  Reservations should be made by May 1 with Shirley Dietzel at 316-284-5202.

Service Adventure is looking for people ages 24+ to commit to a two-year term (beginning August 2013) as unit leaders. As a leader, you live in a unit house with a small group of 17-20 year olds and offer guidance and support as they serve and live in community. If you are committed to your Christian faith and would enjoy walking alongside young people in this way, contact Diana Cook at DianaC@MennoniteMission.net.

Quakertown Christian School seeks an engaging Director of Advancement with an Anabaptist perspective and a passion for promoting a growing school.  Candidate must have a Bachelor’s degree, related experience, and a commitment to Christian education.  Submit resume to Sheryl Duerksen, Quakertown Christian School, 50 East Paletown Road, Quakertown, PA 18951 or sduerksen@quakertownchristian.org

Ministry Opening at Spruce Lake Retreat – Food Service Manager: This year-round, full-time person oversees all food service operations for the retreat center, snack shop and Wilderness Camp, assures compliance with regulatory codes, Spruce Lake standards, and oversees personnel. Job details are posted at .   Respond to Retreat Center Director Dan Krug, at www.sprucelake.org or foodmgr12@sprucelake.org, call 800-822-7505 x 128, or mail to Spruce Lake Retreat, 5389 Route 447, Canadensis, PA 18325.

Thanksgiving at the beach … and other tales, part 2

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Holiday MealThanksgiving dinner at the firehouse
by KrisAnne Swartley, Doylestown

After Hurricane Sandy, our congregation held “storm kitchens,” where we gathered to cook for those without power.  After the initial crisis passed, we asked ourselves as a missional mentoring group, “What’s next?” One of the young women suggested thanking our local fire fighters.  For many in our group, cooking and serving food is our passion and gift, a way that we express love and care for others.  So on November 27th and 29th, we served Thanksgiving dinner at two firehouses in Roslyn and Hilltown (Pa).

It is important to us as a missional group to bless those who help our community thrive, and these volunteers (can you believe this is still done on a VOLUNTEER basis??) do just that. We wanted to bless them from our faith perspective, while recognizing they may not share our beliefs or practices. They were very open to that and were genuinely appreciative of the prayer of blessing we gave them and the time we spent with them that night… as well as the food, of course!

I served at the Hilltown firehouse.  Although the meal was outside of our comfort zone, we soon discovered that humor unites. Within moments of arriving with my big roasting pans and all the food, they were teasing me gently and I gave it right back to them.  The joking created a comfort level that made us all feel safe in each other’s presence.

It took conscious effort for those of us from Doylestown to not just talk to each other, but to break out of our “clique” and begin to visit with the firefighters and their families. Once we did that, however, we made connections and shared stories and the conversation flowed freely.

Jenni Garrido, who organized the dinner at Roslyn, said the folks at the firehouse couldn’t believe someone from their neighborhood would take the time and effort to bring them a meal… they were floored by the generosity.

This felt like only a beginning. The firefighters are looking for connections and relationships within the community and are very open to more conversation and time together. A few of us are gathering to pray there on Friday morning.  Who knows what more may come?!

PPC Thanksgiving
Members of Philadelphia Praise Center lead worship at Quakertown Christian School on Thanksgiving. Photo by Octavianus Asoka.

A Thanksgiving Retreat
by Aldo Siahaan, Philadelphia Praise Center

On a beautiful Thursday morning around 8 o’clock sounds of laughter and excitement  could be heard from Philadelphia Praise Center’s building in South Philly.  About 100 congregation members were anxious to depart for Quakertown Christian School, where we held a one-day Thanksgiving Retreat filled with sermons, games, fellowship, and other fun activities.

At this year’s retreat, PPC was fortunate to host not one, but two special guests from Indonesia. The guest speaker was Rev. Daniel Alexander, a well-known preacher in Indonesia who has been ministering in Nabire, Papua since the 1980s. In addition, Rev. Alexander also brought along Stevano Wowiling, one of the finalists from a recent Indonesian Idol, who led the congregation in ardent worship sessions.

Halfway through the day, members of Nations Worship Center joined us after spending Thanksgiving morning at Salford Mennonite Church. The Thanksgiving Retreat ended with dinner at a nearby Chinese buffet.

Resolutions are back, but with a difference

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Executive Board issues guidelines for developing resolutions for Phoenix 2013

Mennonite Church USA Phoenix ConventionBy Annette Brill Bergstresser

After collecting input from across the church, Mennonite Church USA’s Executive Board (EB) has adopted a revised process for developing resolutions and church statements for adoption at the denomination’s biennial delegate assemblies. This new process applies to resolutions to be proposed for discussion at the Phoenix 2013 Delegate Assembly in July.

At the Pittsburgh 2011 assembly, delegates affirmed the “Pittsburgh Experiment,” a proposal from the EB to set aside discussions of church statements and resolutions at that assembly in favor of using a process to discern together a 10-year “purposeful plan” with goals and priorities for the church. Part of the motivation for the experiment was that questions and concerns had been raised across the church about the process used to develop and adopt assembly statements and the subsequent use of the statements.

“Following the Pittsburgh Experiment,” says Mennonite Church USA Moderator Richard Thomas, “we wanted a discernment process that would be open to all and would be based on biblical discernment at the local, area conference and national levels of our church.”

In the new process, any member of a Mennonite Church USA congregation—not just delegates to the assembly—may propose resolutions for consideration.

The revised guidelines offer a specific framework for developing resolutions based on the denomination’s vision and purpose statements and Purposeful Plan. (Developed in 2011, the Purposeful Plan is organized around seven churchwide priorities: Christian formation, Christian community, holistic Christian witness, stewardship, leadership development, undoing racism and advancing intercultural transformation, and church-to-church relationships.)

The revised guidelines also lengthen the process for bringing resolutions and create space for deeper discernment by involving the Constituency Leaders Council (CLC), an advisory board comprising representatives from area conferences and constituency groups that meets in the spring and fall.

According to Thomas, the impetus for the revised guidelines is to grow in the practice of faithful spiritual discernment.

“An important biblical model for this new way of discernment is to reach an understanding that ‘seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us’ (Acts 15:28),” he says.

Previously, delegates were able to bring resolutions to a Resolutions Committee during the days of the assembly itself, and this committee was the only group responsible for discerning how to proceed. For the 2013 assembly, resolutions must be received by the Resolutions Committee at least four months before the beginning of the delegate assembly. If the committee members determine that a resolution fits within the framework described above, they will submit it to the CLC, which will discern whether to bring it to the delegate body and recommend the percentage needed to adopt it. The CLC may also recommend that a resolution be considered at a later assembly if it requires more time for discernment.

“The reasoning here,” says Ervin Stutzman, executive director of Mennonite Church USA, “is that if the CLC can’t agree that it’s a worthy resolution to adopt, it’s probably not a good use of time to put it in front of a group 10 times that size.”

The Resolutions Committee will then work with the CLC’s recommendations—usually in interaction with those who initially submitted the resolution. The committee will determine which resolutions to take to the assembly, prepare a study guide for area conferences and congregations for discernment and prayer prior to the gathering, and distribute all related materials to delegates.

There are still other ways for resolutions to come to the delegate assembly. Resolutions proposed less than four months prior to the assembly will require signatures of 10 or more delegates from each of at least three different area conferences and must be approved by the EB. Also, at any time prior to the end of the delegate assembly, the EB and Resolutions Committee may each propose resolutions for action.

Donna Mast, conference minister for Allegheny Mennonite Conference, sees the change as an improvement.

“The new procedures for resolutions will help us think more carefully about the resolutions we choose to make,” she says.  She also affirms the fact that “conferences will have a larger voice in the making of resolutions through the voice of the CLC.”

The EB took action to adopt the revised guidelines for developing resolutions at its Sept. 20-22 meeting in Kansas City, Mo., and invited counsel from CLC members at the Oct. 22–24 CLC meeting in Wichita, Kan. The EB also moved to provide copies of the guidelines to all current pastors and all delegates who participated in the 2011 assembly, and to post the document online for church members who may wish to submit a proposal for consideration by the 2013 assembly. (See http://mennoniteusa.org/resources/statements-and-resolutions/)

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Las resoluciones volvieron, pero con una diferencia
La junta ejecutiva presenta pautas para desarrollar resoluciones para Phoenix 2013

Mennonite Church USA Phoenix ConventionPor Annette Brill Bergstresser

(Iglesia Menonita de EE. UU.)—Luego de recibir opiniones de todos los sectores del cuerpo, la junta ejecutiva de la Iglesia Menonita de EE. UU. (de aquí en adelante, JE) ha incorporado un procedimiento revisado para desarrollar resoluciones y declaraciones de la iglesia en pos de su adopción en las asambleas bienales de delegados de la denominación. Este nuevo procedimiento se aplica a las resoluciones que se propongan para su discusión en la asamblea de delegados de Phoenix 2013, a realizarse en julio.

En la asamblea de Pittsburgh 2011, los delegados confirmaron el “Experimento Pittsburgh”, una propuesta de la JE para separar debates de declaraciones de la iglesia y resoluciones en esa asamblea que favorezcan el uso de un procedimiento de discernimiento conjunto del “plan con propósito” con metas y prioridades a diez años para la iglesia. Parte de la motivación para el experimento fue que en toda la iglesia habían surgido preguntas y dudas sobre el procedimiento utilizado para desarrollar y adoptar las declaraciones de la asamblea y el uso posterior de las mismas.

Richard Thomas, moderador de la Iglesia Menonita de EE. UU., dice: “Luego del Experimento Pittsburgh quisimos diseñar un proceso de discernimiento abierto a todos, basado en el discernimiento bíblico, en los distintos niveles de la iglesia: el local, el de la conferencia y el nacional”.

Con el nuevo procedimiento, cualquier miembro de una congregación de la Iglesia Menonita de EE. UU.—no sólo los delegados para la asamblea—puede proponer resoluciones para su consideración.

Las pautas revisadas ofrecen un marco específico para desarrollar resoluciones, basadas en la visión, la declaración de propósito y el plan con propósito de la denominación. (El Plan con Propósito, elaborado en el 2011, está organizado en torno a siete prioridades para toda la iglesia: formación cristiana, comunidad cristiana, testimonio cristiano integral, mayordomía, capacitación de líderes, deshacer el racismo y fomentar la transformación intercultural, y relaciones entre iglesias.)

Las pautas revisadas también amplían el procedimiento para la presentación de resoluciones y crean espacio para un discernimiento más profundo al incluir al Concilio de Líderes Constituyentes (CLC, por sus siglas en inglés), un gabinete de asesores compuesto por representantes de conferencias regionales y grupos de constituyentes que se reúne en primavera y otoño.

Según Thomas, el ímpetu de las pautas revisadas es el de crecer en la práctica de un fiel discernimiento espiritual.

El dice: “Un importante modelo bíblico para esta nueva forma de discernimiento es lograr una comprensión que ‘nos parezca bien al Espíritu Santo y a nosotros’ (Hechos 15.28)”.

Antes, los delegados pudieron presentar resoluciones ante el comité de resoluciones durante la propia asamblea, y este comité fue el único grupo que estuvo a cargo de discernir cómo proceder. Para la asamblea del 2013, las resoluciones deberá recibirlas el comité de resoluciones al menos cuatro meses antes del inicio de la asamblea de delegados. Si los miembros del comité determinan que una resolución cabe dentro del marco descrito arriba, lo presentarán ante el CLC, el cual discernirá si deben llevarlo ante el cuerpo de delegados y recomendar el porcentaje necesario para adoptarla. El CLC también puede recomendar que una resolución sea tratada en una asamblea posterior si requiere de más tiempo para el discernimiento.

Ervin Stutzman, director ejecutivo de la Iglesia Menonita de EE. UU., dice: “La idea es que si el CLC juzga que se trata de una resolución que no vale la pena adoptar, es probable que no sea sabio emplear tiempo para tratarla en un grupo diez veces mayor”.

De esta manera, el comité de resoluciones trabajará luego con las recomendaciones del CLC—generalmente en interacción con aquellos que presentaron la resolución. El comité establecerá qué resoluciones llevará a la asamblea, preparará una guía de estudio que ayude a las conferencias regionales y las congregaciones en, el estudio y discernimiento previo al encuentro, y distribuirá todos los materiales relacionados entre los delegados.

Existen otros modos de llevar resoluciones a la asamblea de delegados. Las resoluciones propuestas menos de cuatro meses antes de la asamblea requerirán firmas de diez o más de los delegados de al menos tres conferencias regionales, y deben estar aprobadas por la JE. Además, en cualquier momento previo al final de la asamblea de delegados, la JE y el comité de resoluciones pueden proponer resoluciones de acción por separado.

Donna Mast, ministra de la conferencia Allegheny Mennonite, considera que el cambio es un avance.

“Los nuevos procedimientos para las resoluciones nos ayudarán a pensar más cuidadosamente acerca de las resoluciones que elegimos elaborar”, dice. También afirma que “la opinión de las conferencias será mayor al crear resoluciones a través del CLC”.

La JE adoptó las pautas revisadas para el desarrollo de resoluciones en su reunión del 20 al 22 de septiembre en Kansas City, Misuri, y recibió recomendaciones de los miembros del CLC en la reunión de dicho grupo llevada a cabo del 22 al 24 de octubre en Wichita, Kansas. La JE también repartió copias de las pautas a todos los pastores actuales y todos los delegados que participaron de la asamblea del 2011, y publicó el documento en internet para aquellos miembros de la iglesia que deseen presentar una propuesta para su consideración en la asamblea del 2013. (Ver http://mennoniteusa.org/resources/statements-and-resolutions/)

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Traducción: Alex Naula, Zulma Prieto

Thanksgiving at the beach … and other tales, part 1

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by Yunus Perkasa, Georgia Praise Center

GPC at the beachThanksgiving Day at the Panama City Beach was a time for Georgia Praise Center–Atlanta to offer thanks and to gather as a big family.  Our congregation enjoyed dinner and a time of wonderful fellowship together with turkey, Ayam Kalasan (Indonesian-style barbeque chicken), and lots of other foods. It was a day of relaxation surrounded by miles of stunning white sand and emerald green waters. The setting at Panama City Beach made our Thanksgiving a breeze. The beach is a great place to get holiday pictures, and we got some truly unique ones! The day was a chance to enjoy the beaches at perhaps their most lovely or for families to do a little special shopping together.

We counted the blessings of God who has guided us with grace for two years now (November 2010 until November 2012)!  If you had spent the day on Panama City Beach with us, you would have seen how our brothers and sisters are a blessing for each other.   Our members all responded the same way: “We are so grateful for this event!”

A Thanksgiving feast in Harleysville

Salford congregation hosted Nations Worship Center on Thanksgiving day, sharing music, conversation, the Word, and, of course, plenty of food!  Photos by Octavianus Asoka.