Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

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Notes to Pastors

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October Pastors and Leaders Breakfast
All are invited to the October Pastors and Leaders Breakfast on Thursday, October 16 from 8 – 10 a.m. at the Mennonite Conference Center entitled The Faith Walk of a Child: An Intentional Journey. Several years ago, Franconia Conference began thinking about spiritual formation from the cradle to the grave. Recently, as part of a joint strategic plan, Quakertown Christian School, Penn View Christian School, and Christopher Dock Mennonite High School developed a spiritual framework called “Passing on the Faith: A Community Work.” Marlene Frankenfield, Sharon Fransen, and Mary Benner will share this framework with you, which asks, how do we as families, churches and schools work together to encourage and guide the faith formation of children and youth so they become radical followers of Christ Jesus?

Peace and Justice Committee Conversation
The Peace and Justice Committee of the Franconia and Eastern District Conferences invites you to a conversation on “Keeping Faithful to the Biblical Vision and the ‘Politics of Jesus’ without being Politically Partisan.” This conversation will take place on Tuesday, October 7 from 9:30 – 10:45 a.m. at the Mennonite Conference Center. The Committee hopes that such a conversation among pastors and others interested will help all of us constructively navigate in the midst of competing, and at times conflicting, opinions and feelings in our nation, communities and congregations. James C. Longacre will moderate the conversation.

Opportunity to support Haiti
The recent hurricane season has left the people of Haiti devastated. Tens of thousands have been left dead or homeless and without a way to provide for their families. According to Pastor Lesly Bertrand, of Grace Assembly Network, a Franconia Conference Partner in Mission, in the next few months his country “will be found in a misery without name” as the resulting poverty and symptoms of such devastation rise. In response to this tragedy Franconia Conference invites all conference congregations and ministries to designate World Communion Day, October 5, as a day of prayer and fasting for Haiti.

Save the Date!
The Annual Pastor/Chaplain and Spouse Breakfast is planned for Tuesday, December 2 from 8 – 10 a.m. This time of fellowship and blessing with Franconia, Eastern District, and Philadelphia Mennonite pastors/chaplains and their spouses will be held at Zion Mennonite Church in Souderton. Please place this among your holiday celebrations and watch for additional details.

Notes to Pastors

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Prayer Life Seminar
Pastors: Are there persons within your congregation who are struggling in their relationship with God and need encouragement? The Prayer Life Seminar being offered on Saturday, September 27, 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at Souderton Mennonite Church could be a helpful resource to offer them. Taught by Paul Miller, some of the topics covered will be learning to talk like a child with your Father in heaven, prayer as relationship and problems in prayer. The teaching is both practical and meaningful. You are encouraged to tap a few persons on the shoulder within your congregation and invite them to the seminar. The cost is only $29 and includes lunch and materials. To register or get more information visit www.seejesus.net or call 215-721-3113.

Integrity Worship Seminar
Hope Valley Community Church in Red Hill, PA and Finland Mennonite Church in Pennsburg, PA are coordinating efforts to host an Integrity Worship Seminar. Plan now to attend Integrity’s Worship Summit 2009 Live Simulcast on Saturday, March 7, 2009 from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at Hope Valley Community Church. Bring your church’s worship team and receive teaching and training from top worship artists through Integrity Worship. Worship teams will gather together via satellite from across North America to learn from Paul Baloche, Lincoln Brewster, Brian Doerksen, Israel Houghton, Ross Parsley and more. This will be an opportunity you won’t want to miss! There is also a special concert opportunity featuring top worship artists on Friday, March 6 at 8 p.m. Additional information is coming soon at www.worshipsummit.com.

Attendee Ticket Prices
$49 Group Rate (10+ people)
$69 Early Bird – Register by February 2, 2009
$89 Regular – Register after February, 2, 2009
Ticket price includes free drinks, snacks and a free lunch. To register call 215-234-4045.
Space is limited! Make plans now to attend this encouraging time of worship and teaching.

9/18/08

Growing Leaders Summer 2008

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A relational, unstructured experience: There is no church planting “master plan”

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Mauricio Chenlo, Mennonite Mission Network, raleighumd@nc.rr.com
Director of Hispanic Church Planting Academy and Church Planting Coach

In my role as a church planting resource person and director for the Hispanic Church Planting Academy run by Mennonite Mission Network (MMN) in partnership with the Iglesia Menonita Hispana, I meet with church planters and church planting teams all across Mennonite Church USA. My assignment is to empower leaders to grow in their call to expand God’s kingdom through different church planting and leadership development efforts.

As far as I know, neither the denomination nor any of the conferences within the United States has a programmatic master plan for church planting. Church planting within the U.S. has naturally emerged among Racial/Ethnic groups (e.g., Hispanics, Asians). My focus has been to get to know a variety of ordinary believers in different parts of the country who are planting churches or who want to start thinking about planting churches.

I have learned that church planting is less of a programmatic, intentional process and more of a relational, unstructured experience. In our seminars we look at the church planting process and how Jesus developed a group of believers challenged to be apostolic. It reminds me that efforts to plant churches are normally grounded in how ordinary Christians respond to the call to spread the good news.

vegies.jpgChurch and mission agencies often seem to think that experts who design master plans and deliver the latest strategies are the ones who create ministries. The opposite seems to be true for us. Church planters normally do not receive their sense of call from a highly structured denominational master plan. They get their call from seeing the harvest and receiving a clear call from God. This is precisely what we seek to cultivate.

Instead of attempting to deliver the latest resources created by “experts,” we strive to nurture the call to church planting among people sensing that call by looking at key components of the church planting process: Growing faith where life is happening; the Apostolic dimension; how Jesus developed a group of leaders that responded to the call; the New Testament church planting method; different people; and different models.

I believe transformation begins with the smallest of seeds and grows by the power of God’s Spirit and the work of believers who respond to God’s call.

People need to be reminded that God wants to use them for Kingdom purposes. When we communicate that you need expertise and formal theological education before you can serve God, the learning process can get complicated and mission can be stifled. But people are empowered when they understand that God’s work is not limited to experts, that it is open to all believers who are willing to serve. They get excited when they dwell in the Scripture and allow God’s Spirit to open their eyes to the surrounding realities.

I am becoming more of a cultural broker and mediator for God’s reconciling purposes as I bring people together from different cultures and backgrounds. My desire is to nurture two key activities among God’s people: Listen carefully to what God is calling you to do and serve the people God sends you to and the people God sends to you.

I am often asked what it will take to get a new generation of believers to discover the need to begin churches. Instead of large scale strategies, we simply need to disciple new converts with the notion that there is nothing more exciting for a new believer than to tell someone else how the good news of Jesus Christ has become real in his or her own life.

In a healthy church plant, passion always precedes structure. As a result, church planting will look different in different age groups, in different ethnic groups, and in different regions of the country. What it will not change are the Lord’s purposes for the church and for our world.

Church planting is not the work of “experts.” It is about believers who have a passion to see people come to Christ. Church planting is about leaving your comfort zone and engaging in divine conversations and opportunities to serve the world. It is about understanding that we are not called to fix the world but to model a new society. Truth and justice are possible. Church planting is about a life-style that expresses God’s love for the world!