Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

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Same mission, same values, new urgency

by

Marta Castillo, Conference Board,
Nueva Vida Norristown New Life
castillonnl@gmail.com

Intercultural, missional, and formational are words that beg to be defined more clearly and deeply in our hearts and minds. When many of us read, “For at least the next two years, the conference board has prioritized for Ertell Whigham and conference staff to work at being intercultural, missional and formational”, we can affirm those priorities as God-honoring and life-giving. Yet some of us may take a wait and see attitude on how being intercultural, missional, and formational will be “brought to the center in such a way everyone embraces them as the driving force behind why we do ministry and how we do ministry.”

This issue of Intersections is full of examples of how the priorities of being intercultural, missional, and formational are already being put into practice within Franconia Conference. God is actively defining these words for us as reflected in these stories of how God’s people are responding to the movement of the Spirit. As often is the case, we are trying to catch up and get on board with what God is already doing among us.

God’s formational work in the life of Ertell Whigham has brought him to this place of leadership among us and on the journey. God developed in him a deep appreciation for community, peace, honest communication, conflict management skills, and a deeply held vision for how the church can be a witness in the world. The prayer trainings referenced in the story of “Learning to Listen” highlight the central role of listening prayer in the formation of God’s people. “Prayer is finding out what God wants to do and asking God to do it.” We find evidence of God’s molding and directing in the story of the calling of Klaudia Smucker in her stated desire “to walk forward in what God has called her to” and her prayer to keep her heart wide open. God’s love for process and formation is reflected in the testimony of Samantha Lioi that “in God’s maddening slowness there is expansive room for healing. There is so much space to become the people we are.” Bob Thompson was moved by God from “no way” to “I am convinced that serving God wherever He calls us, is one of the greatest blessings a Christ-follower can experience.”

From the solid base of God’s formational work comes our missional response. The Whigham article states, “Whigham plans to encourage everyone from the pew to the pulpit and beyond to become more clearly passionate about the conference’s vision: equipping leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission. Overall, he believes his role is “to continue to bring clarity for what that means and for every person to be able to think and pray about how they can represent that [vision] in their particular context, as it relates to the whole.” God’s mission is to reconcile the world to himself through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Mission is happening in the Lehigh Valley through Ripple, an eclectic Anabaptist urban worshiping community “moving toward Jesus as our center.” As the conference board visits and listens to the testimonies of the churches, we hear story after story of how congregations continue to embrace God’s mission.

Our missional response is naturally taking us down the path to being increasingly intercultural. The Partner in Mission relationship with Mana de Vida Eterna is described “as another example of how the Lord is working through relationships to connect congregations and conferences across what may have formerly been seen as boundaries that were not to be crossed.” In Allentown, a peace pole becomes a symbol of unity and “a common desire for respectful relationships.” Ertell Whigham is quoted as saying of the beginnings of Nueva Vida Norristown New Life, an intercultural, multilingual church, “As I looked at [these] three churches . . . all professing to serve the same Christ, called to be one people, it just felt like we needed to do something different in order to be something different for God,” Whigham said.

The priorities set by the conference board for the next two years, being intercultural, missional, and formational, are not new. Neither is the conference’s vision: equipping leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission. Yet there does seem to be a new urgency and a new commitment, to “do something different in order to be something different for God”. Embrace God’s mission!

Maná de Vida Eterna springs alive along the Hudson River

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Charles A. Ness, Perkiomenville
perkmc@verizon.net

The Hudson River Valley just north of New York City is a beautiful historic area that attracts both vacationers and residents. Towns with names like, Tarrytown, Ossining, Sleepy Hollow and Croton on the Hudson, have had an idyllic appeal for hundreds of years.

It is also home to many Spanish-speaking persons from a variety of Central and South American countries, including Daniel and Jacky Lopez and their two sons who came to the United States 15 years ago from Chile. Daniel works as a maintenance supervisor at a children’s hospital and Jacky is employed in domestic services.

Years ago the Lord delivered Daniel and Jacky from a life of addiction and healed their marriage. This gave them a passion to share Christ’s love with others who need to know abundant life in Christ. For several years they have had a desire to be part of a church that could effectively reach the Spanish-speaking persons in Ossining. Daniel had led several persons to Christ who found it difficult to assimilate into their existing church. After prayer they decided to begin a new fellowship for these and other persons.

In February 2010 the group began a Friday evening meeting in the Lopez home attended by several persons from their home church and those who had recently professed Christ. It was very small at first but as persons came to faith in Christ they outgrew the Lopez living room. In December 2010 they began renting space in another church building. This new church, Maná de Vida Eterna, has adopted the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective as their statement of faith.

This group got connected to Franconia Conference when Pastor Alfredo Navea from Viña del Mar, Chile, who had been friends with the Lopez family for many years, introduced them to Kirk Hanger, Pastor of New Hope Fellowship, Alexandria, VA, and Charles Ness, Pastor of Perkiomenville Mennonite Church. This began a relationship where Daniel and his family attended Perkiomenville’s annual church retreat in August and persons from Perkiomenville and Franconia Conference have gone to worship services in New York. With Kirk serving as LEAD Minister for Perkiomenville, he and Charlie came together to support Daniel and the Manna of Eternal Life Church.

In December representatives of Franconia Conference, Steve Kriss, and Noel Santiago, persons from Philadelphia Praise Center, along with Kirk, Charlie and several men from Perkiomenville, attended the dedication of their new worship space. It was an encouragement to this emerging church to have representatives from the broader church present to bless this new beginning. In February 2011, Kirk and Charlie assisted with the first baptism. It is anticipated that this summer both the New Hope and Perkiomenville congregations will assist Manna of Eternal Life with outreach efforts which will further enhance the relationship and be mutually beneficial to all the churches.

A Franconia Conference Missional Operations Grant has provided important seed money for rent and other start up costs for this emerging church. Additionally, Daniel is participating in Eastern Mennonite Seminary’s STEP program which provides training for people who are licensed for pastoral ministry or have been encouraged to consider pastoral ministry—who may not have college, Bible school, or seminary training. STEP combines spiritual and personal formation with content-based learning in Bible, theology, leadership, and ministry skills in a very practical way. Daniel attends a class in Philadelphia one Saturday a month. This is equipping him to be a leader and giving him an understanding of Anabaptist/Mennonite theology and practice.

This Partner in Mission relationship between Franconia Conference, New Hope Fellowship and Perkiomenville Mennonite Church and the Manna of Eternal Life Church is another example of how the Lord is working through relationships to connect congregations and conferences across what may have formerly been seen as boundaries that were not to be crossed. This new paradigm allows for authentic relationships that are both life giving and life sustaining and enables both congregations and the conference to participate in the fresh move of God. The Spirit is flowing from the Potomac River and Perkiomen Creek to the Hudson River to build the Kingdom of God.

Learning to listen . . .

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Sandy Landes, Doylestown

For three Sunday evenings in February, March, and April, pastors, prayer intercessors and persons wanting to learn about prayer intercession came together for times of teaching, worship and prayer. Noel Santiago, Leadership Minister for Spiritual Transformation for Franconia Conference, taught on the Basis for Intercession, the Practice of Intercession, and the Power of Intercession. With an average attendance of 60 persons from churches throughout the region, there was a positive response to the teachings and the opportunity to practice what we were learning.

A team from Salem Mennonite Church helped us experience God’s presence with great joy as they led in worship at the first session in February, held at the conference center. Noel’s teaching focused on the Basis of Intercession, and some of the key points in that teaching included:

  • We are bi-locational, being seated in the heavenly places with Christ (Eph. 2:6) and living on earth. We will reflect the world we are most aware of, heaven or earth.
  • We are like Adam, God’s representatives on earth. (Psalm 8:5-6).
  • We have been given authority by God to pray forth what God wants to see happen here on earth, hence we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

The second session in March was held at Franconia Mennonite Church due to the wonderful attendance in February. The Practice of Intercession was the focus and we learned:

  • God is always speaking and has a variety of ways of communicating with us. Are we listening?
  • Prayer is finding out what God wants to do and asking God to do it (1 John 5:14).
  • This definition puts our relationship with God at the center and our primary posture in prayer becomes one of listening.
  • One of the challenges is that sometimes we are too quick to pray instead of waiting to hear what is on God’s heart for a person or situation.
  • One of the ways the will of God is accomplished on earth is that it is spoken.

An encouraging part of this evening was taking the time to listen to God and write down the words, thoughts and scriptures we heard. We then turned those words into a crafted prayer, which we were encouraged to keep praying

April 3 was the culminating session of this series and it focused on hearing God for one another, the Power of Intercession. The evening began again with worship and testimonies of how God has answered prayer and changed the way we pray as well as the ways we experience our relationship with God. Some of the main points covered were:

  • Two of the most important factors in our life are what we believe about who God is and who we are.
  • If you are not being shaped by the love of God, you are probably being shaped by your experiences.
  • “The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power” (I Cor. 4:20).
  • God’s word has power, and embedded in that word is the power to accomplish it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

We closed the evening with another time of listening to God for each other, writing a prayer and then speaking the words of encouragement to each other. Many were blessed by this exercise of hearing a word for another person and trusting that it was God speaking. The group was remindeded to discern the words given to them with others, to judge the word according to biblical principles, and to pay attention to the character requirements of scripture. Those who attended these sessions came away with new understandings of God and what it means to pray by listening first.

More teachings on prayer are being planned, and there will be continuing opportunities to practice what is being taught.
For updates check out prayer.mosaicmennonites.org.

Notes to Pastors

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June 9 Pastors’ and Leaders’ Breakfast

Peter Smith, Charlie Ness, and Scott Landes will share the vision and work for the “Adopt A Street” prayer strategy that UPPEN* that has been launched for their region. “Adopt A Street” is about changing the spiritual climate in your community. What would happen if 100% of the streets in your community were being prayed for daily for the next 12 months? The “Adopt A Street” prayer strategy brings unity to churches, energizes the church in prayer and is simple enough for a child to understand. It impacts every segment of the community and creates ongoing transformation. The strategy is one of the most powerful ways to physically implement Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8.

*UPPEN (Upper Perk Prayer Evangelism Network) is a growing network of churches in the Upper Perk region that has been in existence since 2003. Together, through prayer evangelism, they are seeing God changing the spiritual climate of their community and the surrounding region.

Location: Mennonite Conference Center, 569 Yoder Road, Harleysville, PA 19438
Time: 8:00 -10:00 a.m.

Up coming Pastors’ & Leaders’ breakfasts:
• August 11 – “Inter-generational Leadership” with Sheldon Good and Steve Kriss
• September 15 – “Conflict Management” with Rev. Dr. Barbara Moses

Envisioning the future of youth ministry for
<text=underline>Eastern District and Franconia Conference</text=underline>

Invited: Pastors, Youth Ministers, Youth Sponsors and please bring (shoulder tap) two of your youth who have leadership gifts
Date and Time: Monday, June 6, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. (pizza dinner provided)
Location: To be confirmed
Video Conference: Too far to travel? Join the conversation by video conference. (Let us know and we will send you information about how to do this.)
Objective: Come prepared to share your vision of God’s picture for youth ministry in Franconia and Eastern District Conferences. (Please make sure that your current youth sponsors have received this invitation.)
Please register your attendance: to office@mosaicmennonites.org by Friday, June 3.

This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of youth ministry for our conference churches and their communities. Please make a strong effort to be part of this!

Notes to Pastors

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How Are Our Congregations Responding to the News of Bin Laden’s Assassination?
The EDC/FMC Peace and Justice committee is deeply concerned about the national response to the news of Osama Bin Laden’s assassination. We believe that this reaction is contrary to our calling as Christians to love our enemies, to feed them if they are hungry and to give them something to drink if they are thirsty. We are very interested in hearing about how congregations are responding to the news. Please email jason.hedrick@easterndistrict.org with a brief summary of what your congregation is doing.

Notes to Pastors

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Urgent Prayer Request
Larry Moyer, pastor at Rockhill Mennonite Church, fell off his porch roof on Tuesday, April 26. He is in ICU at Lehigh Valley Hospital in serious condition. He has a number of fractures including ribs, spine, shoulder and hand as well as some head injuries. He is conscious and responding to communications. We invite your prayers for Larry, Loretta, the family and the congregation.

Please remember chaplain Garland Meyers in your prayers
On Tuesday, April 26, Garland’s wife, Janice Marie (Martin) Meyers went to be with the Lord. Garland serves as a chaplain for Heartland Hospice, Chadds Ford, PA, and is credentialed by Franconia Conference. He is a member of Souderton Mennonite Church. Janice worked for three of our Conference Related Ministries—Spruce Lake Retreat, Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, and most recently for Penn View Christian School. The complete obituary is available at www.andersfh.com/index.cfm. Viewings will be held at Anders Detweiler Funeral Home & Crematory on Friday, April 29 from 6-8 PM and on Saturday, April 30 at Penn View Christian School from 9 – 11:30 AM. Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 12:30 P.M. at Penn View Christian School Auditorium, 420 Godshall Road, Souderton, PA. Cards can be sent to Garland at 44 Wm. Penn Drive, Schwenksville, PA 19473.

International Day of Prayer
You and your congregations are invited to participate in the International Day of Prayer being held at the Franconia Mennonite Conference Center, Thursday, May 5, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. A prayer room will be setup and a short prayer meeting will be held at the beginning of each hour lifting up prayers and praises for the work God is doing around the world and in our international community here in the US. You and your congregations are invited to participate in several ways:

1. Come to the conference center anytime during the hours of 9 a.m. –
9 p.m. on Thursday, May 5 to join others in prayer for specific persons, places and situations that involve the international community. Bring a friend or a group from your congregation!

2. Send in specific prayer requests from your congregation or international connections you have to Sandy Landes, prayer ministry coordinator, by Wednesday, May 4. These may be immigration issues, a partnership your congregation has with a church in another country, a ministry involving persons of different nationalities, etc. We will lift them up to the throne!

3. Organize a group at your church to gather together to pray that day for the international community. Sandy Landes will provide a prayer list/resources to guide your prayer time if that would be helpful.

Please share this opportunity with your congregation this Sunday.</p align>

Ordinations
Three ordinations are planned in the next month to which you are invited. Marta Castillo, associate pastor at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life, will be ordained to the Christian Ministry on Saturday, May 7, at 5:00 p.m. at the church. She has been on the pastoral staff for about 4 years. Jenifer Eriksen-Morales, LEADership Minister for Franconia Conference, will be ordained to the Christian Ministry at her home congregation, Souderton Mennonite Church, Sunday, May 15, at 3:00 p.m. Jenifer joined the conference staff in 2007.  pastors a fellowship of families from India. He will be ordained Sunday, June 5, at 10:15 a.m. in the morning worship service at his home congregation, Plains Mennonite Church. Paulus was licensed in 2007.

Pastors’ and Leaders’ Breakfast
Monday, May 2, is the deadline to sign up for the May 5, 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. Pastors’ & Leaders’ Breakfast at Methacton Mennonite Church. Andrew Bush, professor of Missions at Eastern College, has served in the West Bank and the Philippines as a missionary and still returns each summer to work in the West Bank. Bush will present and lead a conversation on “Building or Burning Bridges: Searching for a Way Forward in Christian and Muslim Relations.” A $6 contribution is requested to cover breakfast. Methacton Mennonite Church is located at 3081 Mill Road, Norristown, PA 19403 (just off of Valley Forge Road in Worcester, PA).

Upcoming Pastors’ and Leaders’ Breakfasts
• Thursday, June 9, 2011 – “Adopt a Street” – creating a prayer ministry for your community, presented by Peter Smith, Charles Ness (Pastor, Perkiomenville Mennonite Church) and Scott Frederick (Fredrick Mennonite Church)
• Thursday, August 11, 2011 – Intergenerational Leadership, presented by Sheldon Good (Mennonite Weekly Review, Salford Mennonite Church) and Stephen Kriss (Director of Communication and Leadership Cultivation, Franconia Mennonite Conference).
Can’t make it to the breakfasts? We are making podcasts of the Pastors’ and Leaders’ presentations and conversations that you can listen to wherever you are and whenever it’s a good time for you! Watch for notice of these postings after the meetings.

Pastors/Youth Pastors and Youth Leaders
On Monday, June 6, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., you are invited to come and strongly encouraged to bring 2 youth with leadership gifts from your congregation for a time of conversation and brainstorming about a vision for youth ministry for Franconia and Eastern District Conferences. Pizza dinner will be provided. Please reserve this date on your calendars and watch for a more formal invitation in the near future.

Notes to Pastors

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Pastors’ & Leaders’ Breakfast
Reminder: Thursday, May 5, 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. Pastors’ & Leaders’ Breakfast at Methacton Mennonite Church. Andrew Bush, a member of the Methacton congregation, will present and lead a conversation on “Building or Burning Bridges: Searching for a Way Forward in Christian and Muslim Relations.” A $6 contribution is requested to cover breakfast. Methacton Mennonite Church is located at 3081 Mill Road, Norristown, PA 19403 (just off of Valley Forge Road in Worcester, PA).

Podcast Available
A podcast is now available of the March 17 Pastors’ and Leaders’ Breakfast entitled, “The Why, What & How of Social Media: Engaging Your Community in the Context that is Revolutionizing the Way the World Connects.” You can hear the podcast by following this link: www.mosaicmennonites.org/blogroll/tmoyer/the-why-what-how-of-social-media-engaging-your-community-in-the-context-that-is-revolutionizing-the-way-the-world-connects

AMBS will offer three for-credit courses at the Pittsburgh convention
Two master’s level and one undergraduate course will be offered by Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary at the Pittsburgh convention of Mennonite Church USA, July 4-9. Students and instructors will meet at designated times during the convention week, and students will have reading and writing assignments to complete before and after convention week.
The graduate-level courses are
• Principles of Youth Ministry, taught by Andy Brubacher Kaethler, AMBS instructor and director of !Explore: A Theological Program for High School Youth at AMBS
• 13 Ways of looking at Zacchaeus: Luke’s Quest Stories and Transformational Bible Study, taught by Mary Schertz, AMBS professor
The undergraduate course is
• Church and Ministry, Unit 1 of the Pastoral Studies Distance Education curriculum, taught by Michael and Lois Shenk Zehr, with David Miller, AMBS professor, as a guest instructor.
These courses are open to all, regardless of any previous seminary study.

Notes to Pastors

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Pastors’ & Leaders’ Breakfast
Thursday, May 5, 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. Pastors’ & Leaders’ Breakfast at Methacton Mennonite Church. Andrew Bush, a member of the Methacton congregation, will present and lead a conversation on “Building or Burning Bridges: Searching for a Way Forward in Christian and Muslim Relations.” Please email gbmiller@franconiaconference to register your attendance by Monday, May 2. A $6 contribution is requested to cover breakfast.
More information: This presentation will highlight Bush’s experience of working in the Palestinian Muslim community on the West Bank for the last 12 years, and the effectiveness of coming as servants to Muslims neighbors rather than as antagonists. Is the Christian community willing to turn away from its historic animosity towards the Muslims and make the prophetic decision to serve in the character of Christ?
Prior to their ministry in the Middle East, Andrew and his wife, Karen, planted a church in Taos, New Mexico, and spent twelve years in Manila, the Philippines where they planted Harvesters Christian Fellowship which has established a notable ministry in the deepest slums of the city.
Andrew has been an ordained minister since 1984. He received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Princeton Theological Society. He holds graduate degrees in theology from the Ecole Biblique Français in Jerusalem, Israel and the Alliance Graduate Seminary in Manila, the Philippines. Andrew earned his B.A. in architecture at Princeton University. Andrew teaches missiology at Eastern University, St. David’s, Pennsylvania, and speaks widely in churches throughout the United States, helping them to develop missional congregations and providing specific information concerning mission to the Islamic community. Andrew says, “The greatest challenge the church is facing today is the rapid rise of Islam around the world. As representatives of Christ we stand at a historic hour in which we have the opportunity to show the true love of Jesus to the Muslim world.”

4/7/11