On the days I find myself in deep disagreement with a fellow member, I am invited to love my neighbor as myself. A diverse church is one of the hardest places to practice the love Jesus taught!
Bethany
Life Together Gets More Interesting
Since 2011, Franconia and Eastern District Conferences have come together for an annual fall Assembly holding separate business sessions, yet enjoying joint times of worship on Friday evening and Saturday […]
Conference Welcomes Gwen Groff to the Board
“You don’t accidentally wind up in a Mennonite Church in Vermont. The church had to planted.”
Holding joy and sadness in tension: The Lord's Supper
At Bethany we share communion at least three times each year. Our first communion service is in January when we renew our annual membership covenant with each other. Our system of membership at Bethany is an odd hybrid. We can become members by taking a membership class and being baptized or by transferring a letter of membership from another congregation, and we can become members by annually affirming our covenant with this congregation. When we renew our membership covenant each January, affirming that we intend to walk with this particular group of people and uphold our commitments to what we state in our covenant, we mark this by celebrating communion together.
Introducing Bethany Mennonite Church
Bethany is an intimate ecumenical gathering in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont. We began as a small group of five families who followed a call to move here from PA in the early 1950’s. We are currently led by Gwen Groff.
A Franconia Conference Summer
We asked for stories from summer activities from around the Conference and got this jewel from Kim Moyer, Blooming Glen congregation:
The theme for our Summer Bible School was “Be Bold! God is with You!” The children learned through songs, dramas, stories, crafts, and games, that God is with them, even when they are scared.
Bethany celebrates 60 years with stories
On August 12, Bethany Mennonite Church in Bridgewater, Vermont, celebrated their 60th anniversary. As part of their celebration, people from the church, community, and the conference shared their memories from the last sixty years. The following article is adapted from those stories.
Sixty years ago, it became a congregation. Three of the four families that came from Franconia Conference to start the mission church gathered for “The Picture.” We all looked so excited and full of energy. This is the look that people get when they don’t have a clue what the future will bring.
Walking together on the road to Easter
It’s a familiar story, especially for those who have grown up in the church. So how do we retell the story of Jesus’ passion and resurrection year after year in ways that open us up, once again, to the pain, the beauty, and the wonder of Jesus’ sacrifice and victory over death?
The season of Lent, celebrated for the forty days leading up to Easter, marks Christ’s journey to Jerusalem. It invites those who follow Jesus to walk with him by remembering his life, practicing disciplines of fasting and sacrifice, and engaging in deeper commitment to their brothers and sisters in the church.