Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Assembly 2025

Embracing the Center to Grow Together Amid Difference

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by Danilo Sanchez

On September 15, the Mosaic Mennonite Conference Board affirmed the Centering Document—a foundational framework that helps to clarify our identity and reinforces a centered-set posture as a conference. The Centering Document will serve as a guiding framework for how Mosaic Conference engages within its own diverse community and in its relationships with other Anabaptist bodies.  

The centered-set model is a new concept for many of our congregations within Mosaic, yet it offers a helpful way to navigate the cultural, theological, and geographic differences that shape our conference.  

We come into Mosaic with different understandings of power, authority roles, relationships and tasks, time, biblical interpretation, and sexual identities. Rather than seeing these differences as threats or problems to be solved, we choose to embrace that diversity.  

As the document states, “Mosaic sees diversity as a gift from God and believes that learning from one another will transform the community into the image of Jesus, becoming a witness of God’s love to the world.”  

The Centering Document propels us into a life of mutual transformation across the conference. Through our relationships with one another, the Spirit may use our differences to strengthen the body of Christ.  

Interculturally, this means examining our own values and assumptions with humility and openness to change. We want all to be welcome, so we may change our structures and systems, change our communication, or learn new ways of relating to one another that honor the different cultures present in Mosaic.  

Theologically, it means holding in tension views we may not fully agree with—sometimes even views we find challenging or offensive.  

We want all to be welcome, so we may focus more on the three Anabaptist essentials for what holds us together, do less theological gatekeeping, or not punish churches who choose to love their queer members as they follow the Spirit’s leading.  

Like Peter and Cornelius, our journeys of transformation may be both holy and unsettling. We recognize that as God’s people we interpret scripture differently and we don’t always agree. Like the early disciples, we come with different experiences, perspectives, and convictions. Yet we are all called by Jesus to come and follow him.  

The Centering Document makes it clear that we are shifting our posture as a community. Rather than focus on determining who is in and who is out, we are concerned about a community who is radically committed to following Jesus and seeking the movement of the Holy Spirit.  

Danilo Sanchez

Danilo Sanchez is the Leadership Minister for Intercultural Transformation for Mosaic Conference. Danilo Sanchez lives in Allentown with his wife Mary and two daughters. He is a pastor at Ripple and leads in the areas of leadership development, discipleship, and teaching.

Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To contact Danilo Sanchez, please email dsanchez@mosaicmennonites.org.

You’re Invited: “Witness Together” – An Equipping Event at Mosaic Assembly Weekend

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This year during Mosaic Conference’s Fall Assembly Weekend, we’re excited to offer “Witness Together,” an evening of worship, equipping on Mosaic’s priorities of formational, missional, and intercultural transformation, and deepening intercultural relationships.  

Join us on Friday, Oct. 31 from 4-8pm at Zion Mennonite (Souderton, PA).  

Hosted by the Priority Leadership Ministers, this event builds on meaningful gatherings from past years and looks ahead to what God is doing in and through Mosaic. Even if you do not attend the Assembly on Saturday, you are welcome on Friday evening.  

In previous years, leaders of color gathered on the Friday before Assembly for Renewing Nations and Generations, which has now grown into Oasis, a retreat that is part of Vibrant Mosaic through a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.  

Past assemblies with Franconia Conference and Eastern District included equipping seminars, and in 2024, Mosaic hosted a brunch for leaders of Conference-Related Ministries, featuring dialogue with Assembly speaker Dr. Dennis Edwards. These past events sparked a desire to expand and deepen our opportunities to grow together during Assembly weekend.  

This year, “Witness Together” is open to anyone connected with a Mosaic congregation, Conference-Related Ministry, or partner in ministry. Whether you are a pastor, lay leader, volunteer, or someone curious about what God is doing through Mosaic, this is a chance to grow, be inspired, and strengthen your sense of belonging in God’s mission. 

Participants will gather for a time of worship, storytelling, and learning together alongside the 2025 Assembly preacher, Meghan Larissa Good. The first 50 participants to stop by the table will receive a copy of Good’s latest book: Divine Gravity: Sparking a Movement to Recover a Better Christian Story. 
 
Fellowship around the dinner table will increase connections across the Mosaic community. Through workshops on formation, mission, and intercultural transformation, participants will be encouraged and equipped for witness in their everyday lives and congregations.  

Learn more and register here: https://mosaicmennonites.org/assembly/equipping/ 

Workshop Topics: 

Formational: The Spirit’s Voice and the Mission of God 
Speaker: Meghan Larissa Good 
Discover how the Spirit empowers and directs our witness, with practical ways to listen and respond. 

Intercultural: Restorative Peace Circles 
Speaker: Maati Yvonne (Mosaic Executive Committee Member) 
Learn how peace circles can build empathy, resolve conflict, and strengthen church communities. 

Missional: God’s People Are Sent (Panel Discussion) 
Panelists: Ken Rush (Liberty Ministries), Paulus & Sumatha (PPMI), Bernie & Katie Chung (San Francisco Chinese Mennonite), Gary Alloway (Redemption Church of Bristol) 
Moderator: Noel Santiago 
Explore what it means to live missionally across diverse Mosaic contexts. 

The event will also introduce a new resource for your congregation: Mosaic’s Priorities Guide—a Bible study designed to help congregations engage more deeply with our shared identity and calling. A print copy of one of these is available for each Mosaic congregation.  

This equipping event will be capped at 100 registrants.

Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To share your thoughts or send a message to the author(s), contact us at communication@mosaicmennonites.org.   

The Centering Document as a Pathway toward Deeper Shared Life

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By Marta Castillo 

Dear Mosaic Siblings, 

It has been a privilege to serve as a Mosaic Conference staff person for nine years, walking alongside congregations and credentialed pastors. What a joy it is to visit our churches and organizations, to learn from all of you, and celebrate the diversity!  

The depth, beauty, pain, and complexity of our Mosaic community is profound. If I close my eyes, I can see the multitude of believers from Revelation—each of you —worshipping before the throne. It is a gift to have a balcony view of this sacred community. 

You may have read the Centering Document for the first time last week. A group of us in the conference has been engaging with this work for over two years, praying, dreaming, editing, and discerning together. We weren’t aiming to write a new statement or develop policy, but rather to name a centered space of what God is calling us to do and be together. 

Marta Castillo took a photo of this mosaic tile tabletop in Puerto Rico.

As the document states, “Our community’s identity is as much about our posture towards one another and the way we act together as it is about what we believe together.” I’m grateful that the board has affirmed this clarifying identity document, and I’m hopeful about how this posture of high expectations and gracious hospitality will be owned and put into practice in each of Mosaic’s congregations and ministries. 

When I think of a local church—your church, or one like yours—I see a unique gathering of people who have chosen to be community together. Not because we are all the same, but because we care deeply for one another. Our churches, groups, and organizations are shaped by the needs, passions, gifts, and care of their members. In the times when we don’t agree, we continue to show up, week after week, to love and serve each other through the messiness of being church. It is our love for God and our love for our siblings in Christ that shapes how we act together just as much as our shared beliefs. 

As people within the conference respond to this invitation to “center ourselves on being community together that honors and values our differences as we partner to live, love, and become like Jesus in our broken and beautiful world,” we must remain open. Open to hearing words of disappointments, pain, challenge, curiosity, hope, compassion, and joy. Like any document, this one can be critiqued, word-smithed, and questioned. Even after all the edits, there’s always more it could say, or ways it could be clearer. 

It can also be read from a posture of someone who loves their community, seeks its flourishing, and seeks to find connections. It can be read with a vision for how it might take root in real practices. May our love for God, for our neighbors, and our enemies, guide us as we continue to center ourselves on Jesus and strive to be holy together. 

Marta Castillo

Marta Castillo is the Associate Executive Minister for Mosaic Conference.

Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To contact Marta Castillo, please email mcastillo@mosaicmennonites.org.

Finding Our Way Through an Impasse

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by Stephen Kriss

The conflict between Paul and Barnabas in Acts has always unsettled me. Why couldn’t the brothers work it out? Their conflict was about who to include in their journey, and it was also about a difference in posture.  

They were at an impasse. The need to share the Gospel far and wide was better served by parting ways than remaining in their relational quagmire.  

Were there personalities at play? Absolutely. Were the frustrations real? Certainly. Were their separate endeavors successful? Seemingly, yes. Was the Gospel harmed in their solution which meant separation? Ultimately, no. But this story reminds me that even necessary partings can be painful.  

Mosaic Mennonite Conference faces a similar moment. We have spent significant energy and time considering how Mosaic might realign our relationship with Mennonite Church USA. After years of negotiation, the Mosaic Conference Board is advocating that it’s time to discontinue the relationship in its current form. 

The Mosaic board’s recommendation is an invitation to focus on what is possible together outside of our current denominational alignment and toward global relatedness through Mennonite World Conference. 

I believe this is the best choice for our Mosaic future. Though I am deeply rooted in the communities that make up Mennonite Church USA, I recognize that the fragmenting of our denomination has been part of our Conference’s beginning. 

Eastern District Conference split in half rather than join Mennonite Church USA. Southeast Mennonite Conference split into multiple parts. Over a half dozen former Franconia Conference congregations have left Mosaic since our formation in 2019. We have not always been prepared for how costly the journey would be. Shifting alignments and connections are part of our Anabaptist story. It is not new. 

Paul and Barnabas were not caught in an impasse for as long as we have been with Mennonite Church USA. Though at the beginning of Mosaic Conference, the question of alignment with the denomination came into play, the struggle boiled over in 2022. Questions of inclusion of BIPOC and queer persons have driven much of this conversation (not dissimilar from the ongoing conversations in the Book of Acts). These questions address how people are honored and their voices valued.   

In our conversations with Mennonite Church USA, some of us have, for years, felt minimized and that our concerns were not validated.  

Though Mennonite Church USA is now only about one third of the size it was when created, the denomination operates with bylaws and structures that were created for a much larger system, and that at times have not responded to concerns from people of color, have taken years of advocacy for inclusion of queer persons, and been slow to respond to changing financial and demographic realities. Many in the denomination have accepted a narrative of decline while hoping for renewal. 

We sought to negotiate with Mennonite Church USA open handedly. We followed through on all that was requested from us. We showed up consistently. We asked for counsel. We met face-to-face and on Zoom. We moved forward in good faith. We maintained relationships with other Conference leaders in the USA and Canada. 

We believe that we are struggling with systems and powers, not individuals. We believe that our siblings in Christ are acting with good intentions. We recognize that change is difficult and takes time in large structures. 

At the same time, communication has been difficult. Public communication that has come from Mennonite Church USA has often felt condescending rather than collaborative. We have been willing to lean in and share resources. Yet there has been very little movement.   

Mennonite Church USA’s invitation for mediation in May came too quick for our board. We followed up in July with a willingness to move forward with a conversation (mediated or not) between Mosaic moderators and executive staff with Mennonite Church USA moderators and executive staff. 

We have received no indication of a willingness to move forward. We are left owing our delegates a recommendation without what feels like good faith negotiation or clarity from leaders in Mennonite Church USA. 

At the same time, we are ready to pursue a path as Mosaic. After settling on the affiliation question this week, our board affirmed a centering document (also available in Spanish, Indonesian and Haitian Creole) that names how we have been operating and represents the direction we are moving.   

We are recognizing Jesus as our Center. We are orienting around Mennonite World Conference’s Seven Shared Convictions (an intention that we delayed at the formation of Mosaic due to counsel we received from Mennonite Church USA). We are living into restorative practices rather than punitive conversations around our differences.   

This will allow Mosaic, and the diversity of communities that already exist within us, to flourish. This is our path ahead. 

Sometimes we have to let go of the familiar to discover our future. Our Mosaic future is bright though the way forward might be turbulent.  

We will seek to cultivate partnerships that allow us to both give and receive. We will be gracious and generous. We will anticipate that the Spirit will bring forth and sustain the fruit we need. We come to this place with humility, with lament, and with hope for Jesus’ ongoing redemption for us and for our broken and beautiful world.   

Stephen Kriss

Stephen Kriss is the Executive Minister of Mosaic Mennonite Conference.

Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To contact Stephen Kriss, please email skriss@mosaicmennonites.org

Mosaic Board Recommends Discontinuing Membership with MC USA, Affirms New Centering Document and Financial Strength

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September 15, 2025 Board Meeting

At its meeting on September 15, 2025, the Mosaic Mennonite Conference Board voted to recommend that the Conference discontinue its existing membership with Mennonite Church USA (MC USA). This recommendation will be brought to delegates for discernment and a vote at the 2025 Mosaic Delegate Assembly. 

The approved ballot language reads: 

To discontinue Mosaic Mennonite Conference’s membership with Mennonite Church USA and cultivate healthy mutual partnerships with Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite World Conference, and other Anabaptist communities. 

Mosaic board members carefully considered the clarity and translatability of the wording before approving it. At the Assembly on Nov. 1, 2025, Mosaic delegates will vote using a red (does not affirm), yellow (yield to the recommendation), or green (affirm) scale. Per Mosaic’s bylaws, any abstentions will be counted as “does not affirm.” 

Mosaic’s relationship with MC USA has been challenging for years. Despite years of conversation, Mosaic and MC USA have been unable to reconcile significant differences around polity and intercultural practices—issues that affect Mosaic’s day-to-day realities. 

“Due to our connections in other places, Mosaic has been growing quickly, organically, and in relational ways in Colombia, Mexico, and beyond,” said Mosaic board member Haroldo Nunes. 

“When we share these realities with MC USA, including the challenges that our non-English speaking pastors have, they are not readily responsive to our needs. By staying within this limiting structure and continuing to wait, our vision and mission is being impacted.” 

The board’s decision follows years of prayerful discernment and attempts at dialogue and understanding with MC USA. Mosaic Conference’s Moderator Angela Moyer Walter reached out in late July requesting further conversation with MC USA’s executive committee and was informed that the executive committee was not available for such a meeting. 

“We deeply value our history and the relationships we’ve built with our sibling Conferences and church agencies,” Conference Moderator Angela Moyer Walter said.  

“MC USA leadership has shown minimal willingness to address structural issues related to polity, intercultural practices, and global partnerships that significantly impact Mosaic. While the denomination was once open to change, that momentum has stalled. Our existing status within MC USA is not healthy, and the board believes moving toward a mutual relationship will allow Mosaic to flourish.” 

Moyer Walter noted that Mosaic’s Pathway Steering Team recognized and discerned the need for a more mutual way of relating to MC USA. 

“We took an additional year to explore new possibilities, asking for a partnership relationship in which Mosaic would become a ‘program entity’ within MC USA,” she said. “I lament that MC USA did not see this as a possibility. I look forward to the ways in which healthy and mutual partnerships will emerge with Mennonite World Conference, MC USA, and other Anabaptist communities.”

Centering Document Clarifies Identity and Direction

As Mosaic looks to the future, the board also unanimously affirmed a new Centering Document (read in English, Spanish, Indonesian or Haitian Creole) to help articulate the Conference’s identity, and relational posture as “centered set,” with Jesus as our center. This document was informed by other work that Mosaic Conference has done this year to work toward the Clarity/Identity pillar of our strategic plan, including the Respectful Communication Guidelines and the Priorities Guide that will be released in full during the Friday Equipping Event at Assembly weekend.  

Reflecting on the new document, Leadership Minister Josh Meyer said, “This document calls us back to the center—Jesus—and invites us to embody both gracious hospitality and high expectations. My hope is that together we live this out, so our communities become living witnesses to Christ’s reconciling love.” 

The Centering Document will serve as a guiding framework for how Mosaic engages within its own diverse community and in its relationships with other Anabaptist bodies. It orients towards the Seven Shared Convictions of Mennonite World Conference and Palmer Becker’s Anabaptist Essentials.  

“This document is important so we can know who we are as Mosaic Conference and align with our purpose,” said Leadership Minister Aldo Siahaan. “It’s also important that this document be understood by everybody, from every background, culture, faith tradition, and theological perspective, so that we can share the same perspective even amid differences.” 

In both the recommendation on discontinuing membership with MC USA and in the creation and affirmation of the Centering Document, the Mosaic board requested and took staff and Leadership Minister feedback seriously.  

Financial Health and Stewardship 

Mosaic Conference continues to operate from a position of financial strength, due to property acquisition, funds from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. for Vibrant Mosaic, the growth of investments, and continued strong congregational giving.   

At the September board meeting, Bruce Thomas of Detweiler Hershey presented the results of the recent financial review, which was formally approved by the board.  

“We are grateful for the thorough work of the accounting firm, the Finance Committee, and the Conference staff,” shared Cory Longacre, Chair of the Finance Committee. “Solid stewardship and transparency have positioned Mosaic well to support its vision going forward.” 

Additional Updates

  • The board approved the 2025 Assembly schedule for the docket. 
  • The board reviewed and finalized delegate preparation meeting dates and agendas  
  • The board approved minutes from several committees and previous meetings without changes. 

The board meeting opened with devotions led by Assistant Moderator Roy Williams, centered on Philippians 2:1–5, encouraging board members to reflect on the strength and comfort found in Christ and the call to care for one another. 

As Mosaic enters a pivotal season, the board’s actions reflect a commitment to spiritual discernment, clarity of mission, and a hopeful vision for the future. 

“We lamented, we laughed, we cried, we listened, and we prayed,” reflected Executive Committee member Maati Yvonne. “What would the Lord have us to do? As believers in Christ, we trust the Holy Spirit to lead and to guide as we continue to pray and live into this decision.”  

Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To share your thoughts or send a message to the author(s), contact us at communication@mosaicmennonites.org.   

Get Ready for Mosaic Mennonite Conference Fall Delegate Assembly

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Saturday, November 1, 2025: 9 AM-4:30 PM   
Registration for delegates will take place from 8:30-9 AM 
at Souderton Mennonite Church (map)  
105 W Chestnut St., Souderton, PA 18964

Delegate Registration

All delegates named by their congregations should have received an email on September 2, 2025, explaining the day-of registration process for delegates and a link to confirm their participation as a delegate. 

If you are coming to Assembly as an attendee (all non-delegates), you are most welcome. To help us plan and prepare, please let us know by signing up here.

If you are coming from a distance, plan your travel and arrange for your lodging. For more information about lodging and transportation, please click here.  

Friday Night Equipping Event

Everyone (delegates and non-delegates) is invited to join us on Friday, October 31 from 4-8pm at Zion Mennonite (Souderton, PA). These sessions will focus on Mosaic’s three priorities: Formational, Missional, and Intercultural Transformation. Dinner is provided.

Delegates should RSVP using the same delegate form they completed to confirm their participation for Assembly. All others (non-delegates) should RSVP using the attendee form, which can be used to register for this event, Assembly, or both. 

Delegate Preparation Meetings

What are Assembly Delegate Preparation Meetings?

Mosaic Conference holds a series of delegate preparation meetings in the weeks leading up to our gathered Assembly. The purpose of these meetings is to help delegates understand the important commitment and specific duties they are responsible for, to prepare them with the latest information on the issues that will be discussed, and to give an opportunity to give feedback and ask questions.  

Delegates are asked to attend one meeting on a date & location that best suits them. Let us know what meeting you are attending so we can plan. 

Please pray for Assembly, Mosaic’s Board, delegates, the Mosaic staff planning it, those attending, and God’s leading in the process.  

The staff team for planning Fall Assembly is Stacey Mansfield (Administrative & Hospitality Collaborator), Jaye Lindo (Hospitality Coordinator), Cindy Angela (Director of Communication), and Sue Conrad Howes (Registrar). The Fall Assembly taskforce also includes Maati Yvonne (Executive Committee), Danilo Sanchez (Leadership Minister for Intercultural Transformation), Stephen Kriss (Executive Minister), Makinto (LA Faith Chapel), and Joel Horst Nofziger (Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania). 

Other Supplemental Documents: 

The 2025 Docket will be released in early October and emailed to delegates. Visit MosaicMennonites.org/assembly for more information.