Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

News

Conference establishes 'feedback' email account

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As we, the Conference Board, have been listening to the counsel you are offering as delegates and constituency, we want to find ways to expand communications and especially direct communication with LaVern Yutzy, the outside consulting agent who is conducting the in-depth review of our conference (bio below).

We have set up a special email account, feedback@mosaicmennonites.org, that will allow you to share your concerns, requests, ideas, and suggestions directly with LaVern. The email account will be solely for LaVern’s use and the information you share will be confidential.

You should continue to feel free to send email’s to the Executive Minister as agreed upon on the evening of March 16 using the word “Assessment” in the subject line. These will be forwarded on to LaVern via the designated email.

It’s our hope that you feel like your counsel is being heard and considered in this process. Blessings.

LaVern Yutzy is the current board chair for Mennonite Mutual Aid and has recently completed a yearlong consultation with MC USA on how the denomination operates and with suggestions to improve its witness. His final report, Mennonite Church USA: Consultant on Churchwide Operations and Alignment (click title to read), was released in March 2010.

Yutzy’s other current consultant involvements include governance and structure revisions for Lancaster Conference and overseeing executive searches and providing Board and CEO assessments for Mennonite Heath Services Alliance where he formerly served as board chair.

Yutzy served as CEO of Philhaven, a faith-based provider of behavioral health services in south central Pennsylvania that is a part of Mennonite Health Services Alliance, from 1991 to 2008. He started working with the organization 13 years earlier as a clinical social worker and spent time in other roles before taking on the chief position. He has experience directing strategic planning processes, providing leadership training and consulting with area conferences, non-profit organizations and boards of directors.

Yutzy, a member of Landisville (Pa.) Mennonite Church, has a master of science in health administration degree from the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., and a master of social work degree from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He earned his bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., in 1970 and an associate of arts degree from Hesston (Kan.) College in 1968.

Conference Board hires consultant

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March 15, 2010

Statement from the Franconia Conference Board

We deeply regret the pain and confusion that has resulted from our announced plan to lay off conference staff later this year. As a board, we acknowledge that we have not handled this well. Randy Heacock, Assistant Conference Moderator, adds, “We have been sobered and are distressed by the erosion of trust that has resulted from our actions.”

The plan to lay off staff is on hold while an in-depth review of our conference is undertaken. This review will include our Conference, its Board, executive minister, staff and congregations. It will involve listening broadly and assessing the various aspects of our Conference as well as the recent decision regarding staffing.

The Conference has retained LaVern Yutzy, a consulting associate with Mennonite Health Services Alliance. In addition to his work with other conferences and Anabaptist health care organizations, LaVern has just completed a one year review of Mennonite Church USA. We anticipate that his review will include recommendations about changes that are needed and that it will provide guidance about how we might move forward.

The listening meetings scheduled for March 16 and March 23 will take place as scheduled. The review process will provide additional opportunities for your perspectives and counsel to be considered.

It is our hope that we can better understand the role of Franconia Conference in supporting our desire to increase the health and growth of leaders, churches, disciples and connections by fulfilling our mission to Equip Leaders to Empower Others to Embrace God’s Mission…in the world.

MC USA Executive Leadership welcomes new staff and new roles

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The month of February brought staffing changes in Executive Leadership.

Ervin Stutzman announced a move to a slightly different arrangement for executive staff which will replace the Associate Director role with two positions:

  • Director of Churchwide Operations and
  • Director of Denominational Support Services

Stutzman has appointed Marty Lehman to serve as director of churchwide operations. In her new position, Lehman will have responsibility for communication, development, convention planning, and church relations. She will also continue to give leadership to Historical Committee, finance/administration and The Corinthian Plan. In the long term, finance and administration will move to the new support services position. Lehman will continue to have her office in Elkhart and Kathryn Rodgers will serve as executive assistant.

On February 1, Leanne Farmwald began quarter-time with Executive Leadership as director of the Executive Leadership communication team along with her role as director of marketing and communication for Mennonite Mission Network. Following the denominational ministry model, we are excited about this new opportunity to collaborate and share leadership. This is an interim arrangement and will be reviewed in the coming months.

On February 22 we welcomed Deidre (Summerton) Bias to the Executive Leadership staff. She joins the convention planning team in the role of convention communication coordinator.

Bias is responsible for writing all external print pieces related to convention promotion and marketing. She will also be working with the children and junior youth gatherings and taking on other logistical planning responsibilities as needed.

Bias is a Goshen/Elkhart native, a Goshen College graduate and attends College Mennonite Church. Most recently she worked for First Steps as the family outreach and public awareness coordinator. Her responsibilities included promoting the state-wide program which works with children, birth to three, who have special needs and their families. She loves to read and travel, and is always in the midst of planning the next adventure for her and her family. We are grateful for the energy and expertise that Bias brings to the convention planning team.

Pastor Lesly Bertrand reflects on strong faith of Haitians in MCC Podcast

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Pastor Lesly Bertrand, pastor of Assemblée de la Grace Mennonite Church (Grace Assembly Network) in Haiti, speaks about the strong faith of his congregation and many Haitians. Yet their practical needs are many. MCC and Mennonites from the Dominican Republic are helping to meet their needs.

Strong in Faith (click to listen)
Running time: 3:29

MCC U.S. invites applications for transitional executive director role

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Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) U.S. is seeking a transitional executive director to provide vision and oversight for all MCC programs in the United States during a time of significant organizational change.

The assignment is expected to begin on July 1 and continue for two to three years. The full-time, salaried position involves extensive travel, mostly in Canada and the United States. The director will lead MCC U.S. forward in a time of organizational restructuring while a long-term executive director is found. The transitional executive director will not be considered as a candidate for the executive director position.

The transitional executive director is responsible for general oversight of program planning, development and coordination; budget management and staff supervision. The director will focus on implementing organizational change in cooperation with executive directors of MCC and MCC Canada and other provincial and regional MCC leaders. New Wine/New Wineskins, MCC’s new shared vision and restructuring process, will guide the organizational change. More information is available at newwineskins.mcc.org.

Qualified candidates will uphold MCC U.S. values of faith in Christ, peace, justice, service, anti-racism, anti-sexism and anti-oppression; will be a member in good standing of a church that is a part of MCC’s supporting constituency; will exhibit a commitment to personal Christian faith; and will be committed to the teaching of nonviolent biblical peacemaking. Women, minorities and other underrepresented individuals are encouraged to apply.

Interested candidates should send a resume and letter of interest no later than April 1 to MCC U.S. Board Executive Search Committee, 234 South Main Street, Suite 1, Goshen, IN 46526. E-mail submissions can be sent to MCCUSEDSearch@mhsonline.org. Individuals wanting to recommend a candidate may also contact the search committee.

MCC, a worldwide ministry of Anabaptist churches, shares God’s love and compassion for all in the name of Christ by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice. MCC envisions communities worldwide in right relationship with God, one another and creation.

Urban leaders take first steps toward forming global network

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by Linda Espenshade

A newly formed network of urban Anabaptist leaders, facilitated by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), is developing organically. Person by person, they are gradually connecting with each other because they share the commonality of engaging the city as Anabaptists.

The formation of the network is based on one founding principle – Anabaptist leaders who are committed to caring for the cities they live in can benefit from relating to urban Anabaptists from all parts of the world. Once connected, they will better understand how they can support each other in their efforts.

“We have Korean Anabaptists longing to be in relationship with other urban Anabaptists,” said Joe Manickam, Asia director for MCC. “We have urban Anabaptists in London who are longing to be in relationship with other urban Anabaptists. The same can be said for Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Vancouver and the list goes on.

“So this initiative is here to give credence to this voice coming out of the city,” said Manickam, who together with the Rev. Leonard Dow, pastor of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church in Philadelphia, birthed the idea. MCC’s role is simply to connect the urban voices. Dow is vice chair of the MCC U.S. board of directors.

“We want it to remain very organic,” said Manickam. “We want it to evolve as the people want it to evolve without outside pressures telling it what it should be.”

The first steps of the network took place in August when a group of urban leaders, most from Philadelphia, flew to Seoul, South Korea, where they were hosted by the Korea Anabaptist Center (KAC). Starting with these two groups was logical because KAC already participates in MCC’s exchange programs and was interested in more interaction, and Philadelphia is home to the largest group of MCC urban constituents on the East Coast.

For participant Ron Tinsley, communications director at Philadelphia Mennonite High School, the most valuable experiences of the trip were the personal discussions and times for reflection that were amply built into the schedule. Tinsley is a member of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church.

“Sometimes we get so busy looking at programs that we don’t get a chance to understand where (the other leaders’) hearts are at and listen to their dreams and fears,” Tinsley said, adding that a prophetic sense can emerge from these kinds of conversations.

Some of the discussions, including those about stereotypes and racism, were difficult, Tinsley said. Instruction by Jeff Wright, an urban missiologist from Southern California, revolved around “theology of place” or building of intentional community in the city.

The Philadelphia guests also visited two Anabaptist churches and learned about several peacemaking organizations. KAC teaches peace-building skills to North Korean defectors and South Korean young people. The organization also works with other peace groups to create understanding of past hurts among people from South Korea, Japan and China.

When KAC Administrator Kim Kyong-Jung paid a return visit to Philadelphia and then to Los Angeles in November, he was glad to witness urban churches at work within a multicultural society. South Korea, which once was predominantly homogeneous, is becoming increasingly diverse.

“This means that many different types of conflict issues exist, which makes churches’ jobs harder,” he wrote in an e-mail after his visit. “The churches’ missional approaches are being challenged as they look to this kind of social phenomenon.”

Encouraging young people to serve in cities around the world through MCC’s Global Service Learning program is important to this emerging network. For example, Korean Jung Joo Park, who is a participant with MCC’s International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP), is working with Oxford Circle Mennonite Church and its community partners.

“Here in the U.S., I am valued as Asian, adding to the cultural diversity of Philadelphia, and it does not seem to matter that I am a foreigner,” Park said. “Once I go home, I hope to introduce a deeper understanding of and respect for diversity in South Korea.”

Making these kinds of “flesh and blood connections” between Anabaptists from different cities is exactly what Ruth Keidel Clemens, executive director of MCC East Coast, hopes will happen as the network develops. “Urban Anabaptist churches are a priority for MCC East Coast, and bringing its leaders together with those from other countries strengthens all involved, as we seek to engage the cities together as Anabaptists,” she said.

Clemens and Manickam are discussing possibilities for holding a conference of urban Anabaptist practitioners as another way to bring people together to learn from each other. Until then, the conversation will continue, person by person.

Colombian Mennonite churches call for prayer and action for peace

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by Jenny Dillon

Colombia’s Mennonite churches are again calling on congregations in the United States to join the cry for justice, peace and healing in Colombia during the Days of Prayer and Action for Peace on April 18 and 19.

In response to the call, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) U.S. Washington Office has prepared activities on the theme, Face the Displaced, for congregations and other groups to use. The activities include calls to prayer and opportunities to witness to the violence and injustices in Colombia.

With nearly 5 million internally displaced persons, according to CODHES, a Colombian human rights organization, Colombia is home to a severe, yet hidden, humanitarian crisis. Many people have fled their homes in the face of the armed conflict between government forces, newly re-formed paramilitary groups, and guerrillas, all vying for power and territory.

In October 2009, The Christian Center for Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Action (Justapaz), an MCC partner, and other organizations participated in a delegation to observe the humanitarian and human rights situation in the southern district of Córdoba. The findings from this mission represent an alarming precedent. They illustrate the growing humanitarian crisis, a deterioration of respect for human rights in the area and increased violence as a result of burgeoning paramilitary actions.

Colombia suffers an inequitable distribution of wealth with two-thirds of the population living in poverty, according to the Colombian National Institute of Administration and Statistics, while a small portion is wealthy. Across the country, municipal and departmental governments are compromised through paramilitary links. Analysts and church communities report that powerful economic interests in the drug trade and other big business, such as palm oil and mining, are behind the violence and forced displacement.

These economic injustices exacerbate the four-decades-long conflict, producing grave violations of humanitarian law, displacement and a high murder rate – some 2,500 to 3,000 a year, according to government, international news and human rights sources. Between January and October 2009, paramilitary groups, which were allegedly rearmed, assassinated six church leaders and caused the displacement of five communities, a total of 1,230 people.

On Sunday, April 18, Colombian Mennonite churches ask congregations, faith-based groups and organizations to worship, reflect and pray for the victims, perpetrators and peacemakers.

On Monday, April 19, churches are asked to make a public witness by sharing stories, speaking with government officials, holding public vigils and doing other advocacy activities. As a part of the Face the Displaced campaign, organizers are asking groups to prepare by assembling portraits of the faces of displaced Colombians for public display. After April, the “faces” will be sent to Washington, D.C. for display and presentation to policymakers.

Instructions for hosting portrait-making gatherings are included in the MCC U.S. Washington Office’s packet of worship resources and advocacy materials. The packet also includes prayers, a bulletin insert and a sample letter to lawmakers. Sign up to participate and/or to learn more at washington.mcc.org/days, or contact Theo Sitther at the MCC U.S. Washington Office, 202-544-6564, tsitther@mcc.org.