Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Blooming Glen

Flooded Out, Welcomed In

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Editor’s Note: The last names of family members were not used for privacy reasons. 

In early September 2021, the rain from Hurricane Ida soaked the East Coast. In the area around Blooming Glen (PA) Mennonite Church, flash flooding caused widespread damage to homes and businesses. The Pennridge Ministerium of area churches worked together with social service agencies to try and help those that had been flooded out of their homes.

With affordable, short-term, local housing nearly non-existent, at first, many of the displaced families stayed in hotels, sometimes at a great distance from their home community. This solution caused great inconvenience and additional expenses related to job commutes, transporting children to school, and feeding their families (hotels do not have kitchens).

The church participated in an Interfaith Hospitality network in past years, and we have classrooms with an adjacent full bathroom. What could we offer in terms of temporary lodging in our building?

Working with the school district social worker, a family was identified that needed a temporary living space. And that’s how we met Noe and Margarita and their children, Noe (son), Neftaly, and Scarlett, who lived in our church building for nearly three months.

Margarita described the day their rental property got flooded. “Our house is ¼ mile from the creek, so at first, we didn’t think anything would happen when it started raining. We lived 17 years in that house and no floods! But the water kept rising!”

Daughter Neftaly added, “All of a sudden, the road into our house was covered with water. I told mom, we can’t get out!” Water covered the first floor of their house and all of the family’s furniture and bedding was lost.

They spent that first night without a home at their landlord’s house. Then they stayed with friends who opened their home to them. “It was ten people from two families living in a small space,” explained Noe. “We looked but couldn’t find anywhere to move and stay in the school district and near our jobs. Everything we looked at either cost too much or required a long lease.”

“All of a sudden, the road into our house was covered with water. I told mom, we can’t get out!”

After the leadership of Blooming Glen processed the possibility internally, they reached out to the Pennridge School social worker. “Then the school social worker connected us with Blooming Glen,” Noe continued. “I didn’t think that such a thing was possible, that there would be people that don’t even know us, yet would help us.”

With furniture contributions from Care & Share Thrift Shoppes, congregants, and other area churches, several adjacent classrooms were turned into bedrooms. Couches and a coffee table turned a classroom lobby into a living room. The family moved into their temporary home.

The family has joined the congregation for Sunday worship services and fellowship meals, and congregants have gotten to know the family as they’ve brought in evening meals to share together.

“It’s been a good experience living here,” Neftaly commented, “I have made new friends in the youth group.” Neftali has also been preparing to get her driver’s license, and like countless teenagers before her, has practiced driving in the big, empty church parking lot.

“I want to stay here and not move back to our house!” said 7-year-old Scarlett. “I am always excited to go to Sunday school to see my new friends. I took my first Bible to school and was reading it to my friends.”

(from left to right) Noe, Margarita, Scarlett, Noe, and Neftali at Thanksgiving Eve worship service at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church. Photo by Mike Ford.

It’s been a wonderful experience for all involved, and Blooming Glen is considering ongoing possibilities for providing short-term emergency housing.

“We have met lots of nice people here, and we’ve been grateful to receive help,” Margarita explained. “I didn’t think anyone would help us like that in our time of need. But we needed an apartment, and you provided it.”

Intentional and Insightful Fellowship

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In the light of the racially charged events of the past year, some members of Blooming Glen (PA) Mennonite Church studied Jemar Tisby’s book, How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice.  One of the ways Tisby suggests fighting racism is to visit with and learn from people of color.

Our book study group contacted Katie Gard, Development Director at Oxford Circle Christian Development Association (OCCDA), and asked if a group of us from Blooming Glen could listen and learn from our brothers and sisters of color, share a meal, and worship together. We wanted to embark on a learning trip. 

Members of Oxford Circle and Blooming Glen Mennonite Churches gather to talk and listen about race and prejudice on June 13, 2021. Photo provided by Mike Ford.

On June 13, twenty-one of us from Blooming Glen traveled to Oxford Circle (Philadelphia, PA) Mennonite Church. We spent hours listening, learning, and eating a delicious Colombian meal together. We engaged in intentional conversation to build understanding and gain a new perspective on the difficult topic of racism. We ended our visit by worshiping with the Oxford Circle congregation at their evening service.

Our experience was rich with opportunities to listen, learn, and grow and gave us lots to consider, such as …

  • Would you change your name to make your neighbors feel comfortable? You are a US citizen in the US, but your name is unfamiliar to the people around you. Would you change your name to one that sounds familiar to your environment? A person that we met at Oxford Circle changed their name for our comfort. How important is your name to your identity?
  • One Oxford Circle participant explained that as a child, they learned that there are three reasons why a white person would come into their community – to recruit kids to sell drugs, to use girls for sex, or to buy drugs. How distrustful and fearful of white people one might feel if those were your experiences? What messages or experiences inform our ideas about race? How can we help each other to put aside our fears?
  • If shots were fired in your neighborhood, would you call the police? If yes, how long would it take your local police to respond? For a person living near Oxford Circle, the police did not arrive until the next day. Is that your experience with the police?
  • If you were attacked and stabbed, how likely would it be that the police would interrogate your children? The police questioned a participant’s children, without an adult present, while they waited to be picked up from school and accused them of being part of the attack.  Further, the media misrepresented the facts about the attack. After this terrifying event, the victim reached out to offer forgiveness and reconciliation to the perpetrator’s family. Could you?

We learned how our brothers and sisters are following the way of Christ amidst persecution, prejudice, and violence.

Desiring to learn more about overcoming racism, 21 members from Blooming Glen Mennonite Church traveled to meet with members of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church in Philadelphia, PA. Photo provided by Mike Ford.

Together we courageously discussed the difficult topic of racism. Can Mosaic churches be beacons of Christ’s love amidst all of the division within us and around us? How can we take steps towards one another to build understanding and unity?

One Oxford Circle member shared, “I want you to love my color people as you love your neighbors, as you love yourself. If we loved each other as God asks us to do, we wouldn’t be having the issues we have in this world. Recognize and educate yourself. Spend quality time being part of the solution, and finally, PRAY.”

We are blessed with diversity in Mosaic Conference. Let us seek ways to build on the blessing of our diversity as we witness together.

Congregational Profile: Blooming Glen Mennonite Church

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by Mike Ford, Blooming Glen

Tree planting – photo by Brenda Shelly

Like many other eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite congregations in the 1700’s, Blooming Glen began as Mennonites migrated from Germantown to Montgomery and Bucks counties.  In 1753, a farmer donated space in a field and a small log meetinghouse was built, and Blooming Glen Mennonite Church began.  Today, we are a diverse congregation “on a journey with Jesus,” averaging 230 at worship on Sunday.

We’ve been blessed with a wonderful facility and land, and we want to grow in having the community use our facilities.  Currently, such varied groups as Girl Scouts, Hilltown Democratic Committee, National Association for Mental Illness, and Aerobic Rhythmics use our spaces.  Our outdoor pavilion and playground is often rented for family get-togethers and community events.

Junior high attending the Creation Festival – photo by Ben Moyer

Blooming Glen wants to be a Christ-like presence and blessing in our community.  The towns of Perkasie and Sellersville do annual community festivals, and we set up a booth at these events.  One of our congregants has made dozens of engaging and fun games that set up well in a park setting.  At these festivals, these games allow us to engage folks in play and conversation and build relationships and presence.

We also have some long-standing traditions.  We still have a few farmers in our congregation, and annually on the last Saturday in October, we host a Harvest Festival.  We host hundreds of folks on our property for food, games, hay wagon rides, kids’ play areas, and to see a combine harvest corn or soybeans.  The harvest is then sold and the proceeds used to support a hunger-related ministry or organization or to provide disaster relief.

Summer Bible School – photo by Jen Hunsberger

Like many, we love worshipping the Lord through music.  Blooming Glen is blessed to have children and adult choirs, open to any that want to participate in choral singing.  These choirs most often perform during Sunday worship, though we usually do a major choral production each year.  On December 15, 2019, 6:30 pm, all are invited to an audience participation sing-in Messiah concert in our sanctuary.

We also try to share the love of God beyond our community by staying active and aware of the bigger body of Christ and worldwide needs.  Our folks are supportive of Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite Disaster Service, our youth typically do a week of summer service learning in a different setting, and we have annually sent teams to learn and work in Honduras with Healthy Ninos Honduras and other overseas locations.

Senior meal – photo by Jen Hunsberger

In the fall of 2019, we are working at a new model of team pastoral leadership, with Michael Bishop and Mike Ford co-pastoring, and a number of other staff making up the team.  We are in the midst of a September-December small group prayer initiative, with 3-4 person prayer teams meeting regularly to humbly seek God for direction for our congregation, for guidance as to what God is doing in our time and place, and how we can best join Him in his work.  Our leadership is also meeting regularly with a Forge America missional ministry group.

Pray that we:

  • would sense God’s specific leading and guidance for our congregation in this current season of group prayer
  • would grow in being a vital spiritual presence in our community
  • would relationally, lovingly represent Jesus daily among the individuals with whom we live, work, and play

“Where in the world?”: a glimpse into the work of a conference minister

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by Sharon Williams

In the early 90s, a popular children’s television game show called “Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?” was broadcast on PBS. The show was based on a series of computer games designed to help viewers sharpen their geography skills.

In Franconia Conference, you could ask a similar question—“Where in the world is Steve Kriss?”—and in the process, learn many wonderful things about people and congregations of Franconia Conference. You’ll need a map of the east coast of the United States to trace Steve’s travels; geographical stretch, in Steve’s case, is an understatement.

Steve preaches often with the congregations the he serves alongside as LEADership minister. On February 22, Steve preached twice in South Philly with Adrian Suryajaya who interpreted into Indonesian, first at Philadelphia Praise Center then at Indonesian Light Church. The congregations are about a half mile apart but reach different communities due to worship style and cultural backgrounds. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.
Steve preaches often with the congregations the he serves alongside as LEADership minister. On February 22, Steve preached twice in South Philly with Adrian Suryajaya who interpreted into Indonesian, first at Philadelphia Praise Center then at Indonesian Light Church. The congregations are about a half mile apart but reach different communities due to worship style and cultural backgrounds. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.

Steve carries LEADership minister responsibilities for 12 congregations, located as far north as Vermont and as far south as Georgia. Currently, four of the congregations are in pastoral search processes, and another is working on a pastoral review. Steve’s goal is to nurture healthy relationships with all the congregations he walks alongside.

Next, watch for the locations of new congregations. Steve is often involved with helping them to launch their ministries and build connections in the conference and denomination.

“It’s a privilege to walk with them. I enjoy the energy and enthusiasm they bring to God’s work,” Steve says. Right now, Steve works with three new congregations emerging in South Philly.

Some of the congregations Steve works with are in the same area, such as the Lehigh Valley trio of Whitehall Mennonite Church, Ripple and Vietnamese Gospel Mennonite Church.

“Networking, creativity, and thinking outside the box are some of Steve’s greatest gifts,” says Rose Bender, pastor of the Whitehall congregation. “He’s always asking, ‘What might God be doing here? ‘How can we dream God’s vision?’ He sees the big picture and helps us make vital connections. Each conference staff person has a niche and expertise to offer us. These are the things our congregation appreciates about our relationship with Steve.”

At the new conference center on the campus of Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, Steve serves with the conference board’s ministerial committee as its staff person. This group guides the licensing and ordaining processes for new ministers and cares for credential transfers when ministers move in and out of the conference. The committee also provides continuing education for credentialed leaders. In this role, Steve also provides coordination among the LEADership ministers.

On the road again, Steve preaches usually twice a month around the conference, and handles all manner of inquiries about congregational leadership.

If you watch closely, you might find young adults and new pastors “on location” with Steve. Mentoring is an important part of cultivating leaders for the church. You will find him teaching in a classroom for Eastern Mennonite Seminary’s satellite classrooms in Philadelphia, Norristown, or Souderton. Sometimes his many travels double as field trips.

Look behind the scenes, too. As director of the conference’s communication team, Steve’s travels around the conference inform the planning and writing for Intersectings (the conference e-zine), Intersections (the newsletter), the conference’s website and other communication tools. The goal is to help make connections in the conference, and raise awareness of what is happening conference-wide.

In any given week, Steve may be found in enough places to highlight in a half-hour game show from Blooming Glen, Pennsylvania to Bridgewater Corners, Vermont or Sky Cafe in South Philly. But these travels mean more than that; they’re part of cultivating God’s dream in all of the places the people of Franconia conference live, work and worship.

Sharon K. Williams is a musician, editor and congregational/non-profit consultant. She serves the Lord with the Nueva Vida Norristown New Life congregation as minister of worship.

Thanking God for new offices, my Mac and Skype

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by Stephen Kriss, director of leadership cultivation

transpacific interview
Steve, Mary, Aldo, and Verle Skype with Ubaldo for his credentialing interview.

In less than a decade, the Mennonite Conference Center has moved to its third location.   With increasingly dispersed staff, the Center has downsized to serve as a hub and back office for activity out and about.

My first day in the offices at Dock High School this week included crowding around my MacBook Pro with Verle Brubaker (Swamp) Mary Nitzsche (Blooming Glen), and Aldo Siahaan (Philadelphia Praise Center) for our first transpacific ordination interview by Skype.  We were interviewing Ubaldo Rodriguez, originally from Colombia, educated at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, who is now serving with SEND International in Manila, the Philippines.  Ubaldo is there to support and train mission workers from the 2/3rds world, hoping to build connections between Latin America and Asia.

Ubaldo is connected with a one of our partner congregations, New Hope Fellowship in Alexandria, VA, begun by Kirk Hanger after returning from a long term assignment with Franconia Mennonite Missions in Mexico City over a decade ago.   As a community, we keep being shaped and reshaped by our relationships and engagement in the world.  And now some of those connections are more easily sustained through technology like Skype, which we thanked God for in our interview.

Franconia Conference keeps changing and moving.  It’s not just our desks and cabinets, but it’s how we’re following the Spirit, paying attention to the pillar of fire that urges us to follow in the way of Jesus that moves us to be a part of God’s great redemption story in Souderton, Harleysville, Lansdale, Alexandria, Mexico City and Manila.

Blooming Glen holds annual harvest festival

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by Lora Steiner, managing editor

Every year, members of Blooming Glen Mennonite Church throw a party. It’s got all the necessary elements of a good celebration: games, food, music, and plenty of neighbors joining in. And then there’s one part you wouldn’t expect: a Massey Ferguson combine harvester rolling through nearby fields, harvesting crops of corn and soybeans.

A combine was used to harvest crops during the festival, and the grain was deposited into a semi truck waiting in the parking lot. Photo by Philip Roth.
A combine was used to harvest crops during the festival, and the grain was deposited into a semi truck waiting in the parking lot. Photo by Philip Roth.

Blooming Glen first began planting its fields in 2002. The church owns 76 acres and about a third of that—25 acres—has been planted annually ever since. The grain is sold on the open market, and proceeds go towards a different project each year. Usually, it’s towards an agricultural project, like those run by Mennonite Central Committee.

Every year, church members harvest the crops around the end of October. And every year—the last Saturday in October—the congregation holds its annual harvest festival, an event open to anyone who wants to come.

One year profits from the harvest went to a non-denominational ministry in Minnesota supporting farmers in that state; another year, they took the grain to farmers in the Belleville, Pennsylvania area who were experiencing heavy drought. Another year, a portion of the proceeds went to Keystone Opportunity Center, a Souderton, Pennsylvania-based organization that aids homeless people. Two years ago when grain prices rose, they sent $20,000 to a Mennonite Disaster Service project in Ohio. This year, the going price has dropped so it won’t be as much, though it’s still nothing to sneeze at—as long as you don’t get too close to the semi in the parking lot where the combine is unloading the grain.

Children paint pumpkins, one of many activities and games kids could participate in. Photo by Philip Roth.
Children paint pumpkins, one of many activities and games at Blooming Glen’s harvest festival. Photo by Philip Roth.

At the festival, there are activities and games—no age limit is posted—that range from painting pumpkins, to throwing corn cobs through the painted mouth of a pig, to hayrides. One game has prizes—small wooden animals made with a jigsaw and painted. Bob Moyer, a member of the congregation, made 75 of them last year; this year, it went up to 100.

Members of the church say the event, like the fields, grows and changes a bit every year. Many people from Blooming Glen donate homemade chili and cookies, cider and apples. The young adult Sunday school class serves as treasurers. John Hockman and Paul Hockman, brothers who own Penn View Farm, take care of the planting, and father-and-son team John Kulp and Ryan Kulp of J & R Farms helped with the harvesting this year. The junior MYF group supervised the popcorn machine, while the senior MYF led games.

Robin Long, a member of Blooming Glen and also the congregation’s business manager, says one of her favorite things about the event is that it’s multi-generational and also “multi-initiative.”

“Not only are there people here from all ages,” she says, “There are people helping from all ages.”

Alexa Kennel, 13, stopped on her way to snag another cookie, says that when she was younger, she liked the games a lot. Now, her favorite part is seeing everyone in the church and catching up with them.

Long says the harvest festival is important for many reasons: Harvesting on the same day as the festival provides a visible reminder of where food comes from and the importance of farmland. It also brings together the local community.

“It’s the simple pleasures of food and play,” says Long. “And the fellowship. You can’t beat the fellowship.”

Passing the keys

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by Ron Landes, Blooming Glen congregation

Ron Landes
Ron Landes

I knew that it was going to happen. I’ve seen it happen to others many times. I wasn’t really dreading it. But, even though they wouldn’t have to pry them from my “cold, dead hands,” I knew that the trustee set of building keys would have to pass from me to the next, newest member of the group. And so they did, with only the slightest bit of remorse, that of leaving something enjoyable and moving away from something that has been an important part of my life for the last 12 years.

I had grown quite used to having and using that motley collection of some six or seven door-lock openers. There were newer ones and older ones, usual and unusual ones. Differing shapes to fit the various locks found around our building. There was even one that no one was even sure of either use or origin; I carried it anyway. Somehow the keys came to me with a brass Goshen College tag attached to the key ring. I passed that on as well.

Even though these keys have an obvious physical function, that of accessing our church building, they took on a symbolic meaning for me. They represented my responsibility to our congregation in assisting in the task of maintaining our building as a place of comfort and security. I am humbled to see all those who work toward these goals that I believe enhance our worship together.

It has been both a privilege and a blessing to have served with all of the current and past trustees.

The set of keys and many new opportunities await Peter Giesbrecht as he joins the present group of trustees as the next, newest member. We ask God’s blessing on Peter, the ongoing work of caring for our meetinghouse, and on each member of our church family who passes through our unlocked doors each week.

Ron Landes is a member and former trustee of Blooming Glen Mennonite Church. He first shared this story in Glen News, the church’s newsletter. Reposted with permission.

Surprised by the call

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by Phil Bergey, interim lead pastor at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church

My work as an executive coach and process consultant requires me to travel around the country as I work with church-related organizations from various denominations. I enjoy my work and was looking forward to doing more of it after having recently finished a Ph.D in human and organizational systems.

phil bergeyThen came a call I did not anticipate. My wife Evon and I have been members at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church for 20 years. This congregation helped raise our three children and has been a place of support for all of us. Firman Gingerich, our lead pastor, announced his resignation and he and his wife Susan’s plans to re-locate to Iowa to be closer to family. Blooming Glen’s congregational leadership board (CLB) wanted me to explore if there was any way I could serve as part-time interim lead pastor in the midst of my other work.

I was surprised: surprised by the call, surprised by my initial openness, surprised by my family’s encouragement, and surprised that after several conversations with my spiritual director I found myself seriously exploring the possibility.

Despite this surprise, being called to serve in ministry roles is not new for me. In 1978, I felt called to voluntary service with Mennonite Board of Missions to Stratford, Ontario. In 1984, I was called to congregational leadership at Franconia Mennonite Church, the congregation into which I was born. In 1988, I felt called to pursue training for Christian service and moved my family several times in order for me to study at Eastern Mennonite University, Goshen College, and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS). In 1991, I was called to serve as a teaching elder at Assembly Mennonite Church in Goshen, Ind. In 1993, I was called to serve as conference coordinator and executive of Franconia Mennonite Conference, a role I served in for 14 years with the identity of a seminary-trained businessperson rather than as a pastor.

So why was I surprised by this call to serve as part-time interim lead pastor at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church? I am still puzzling over this, but I suspect it has something to do with growing up in the midst of our family business, Bergey’s Electric. I watched as my parents and siblings integrated ministry into their everyday work. I did not grow up with a dichotomy between church and work although the intersection of the two remains a lifetime fascination. (At AMBS, my master’s thesis was titled “What has Wall Street to do with Jerusalem.”) Work settings are just another way to interact—and minister—with people around us. Ministry happens when we are open to being used by God wherever we are called.

Over the past few months I have realized one more surprise. My dissertation focused on the question: How do Mennonite pastors describe their role in leading planned organizational change? At the time it seemed expedient to focus on a group I knew well and could easily work with to conduct my research. I figured the learnings would be useful in my work coaching pastors and other religious leaders. In retrospect, God was planning yet another surprise.

So I look forward to putting my theoretical learning to use in the ministry opportunity of pastoring a congregation through a time of leadership transition. I am honored to do this with a wonderful pastoral team and many committed volunteer leaders. This reality tempers my fears as I realize that ministry is a community calling when that community is open to God’s leading. To this end I find comforting the words of Jesus when he said to his disciples in John 16:12-14:

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.