Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Charlene Smalls

Called To Care, Sent To Serve

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by Charlene Smalls, Ripple congregation (Allentown, PA) 

Charlene Smalls, co-pastor of Ripple, preaches during a Sunday worship service.

I was raised by a long line of strong, God-fearing, caring black women who believed that there was power in knowing the name of Jesus. I sense there has always been a call on my life to serve God. As a young girl growing up in the Baptist church, I could strongly sense the presence of God, but had not grown in my understanding of the person of Jesus Christ yet. That understanding actually came with lots of life lessons and a long journey. 

I had two grandmothers that I attended church with: one was Pentecostal, the other was Baptist. I believe I learned to sense the presence of God from my Pentecostal roots, but was drawn to Baptist theology because of its structure. The gift of God, given to me from both these women, helped me get through the loss of a sibling, living with a grieving mother, having a father who returned from the military with a drug addiction, and my own mistakes and failures. The one consistent thing in my life was the presence of God, to which I was always drawn, no matter what. 

In 1989, after a failed marriage, I moved to Pennsylvania and joined the Union Baptist Church where my spiritual growth truly began. I was blessed to remarry, and I have been gracefully married for 30 years to my soulmate. After opening a nail salon that I called Intimate Expressions, my call and ministry unknowingly began. Sitting in that business day after day, as Jesus healed me, He used me to help bring healing to others. 

Life is full of storms, and it was in the midst of a storm that I received my call. I can remember pacing and praying one evening. When God spoke it was not to answer my prayer, but to announce the call on my life. I was thinking, “You have to be kidding! I am broken. How can I minister to others?” 

I have come to realize that I was called to care. I see my call as a sending, God telling me to “Go.” I knew God was sending me, and I knew that wherever He sent me, He would also be with me, as He always has been. 

After being a licensed Baptist minister, receiving my degree in Arts and Religion at Liberty University, and serving as Director of Outreach at Union Baptist Church for 15 years, I now serve as Co-Pastor at Ripple Mennonite Church. This is where Jesus has sent me to care for others. 

My experience with the Pentecostal faith taught me to sit in the presence of God and be open to the voice of the Holy Spirit. That same voice has now led me to this place and an understanding that Jesus is the center of my faith, community is truly the center of my life, and reconciliation is the purpose of those who are called to care.

Alpha and Omega Moments

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by Steve Kriss, Executive Conference Minister

“Y’all weren’t waiting 300 years for just any African American woman; you were waiting for Charlene.” These were the words of a family member of Charlene Smalls at the celebration of her licensing, the first credentialing in our reconciled Conference on February 23, 2020 at Ripple in Allentown, PA.

Photo credit: Steve Kriss

Charlene is the first African American woman to be recognized with a pastoral credential in the history of either of our conferences. The first woman, Ann Allbach, was credentialed in 1911 through Eastern District by the First Mennonite Church of Philadelphia. The first African American pastor, James Lark, was called for ministry at Rocky Ridge congregation in Quakertown, PA, in 1945 in Franconia Conference.  In Allentown, while the sun shone through the stained glass in the twilight of the last Sunday of Black History Month, Pastor Charlene moved forward the embodiment of pastoral ministry at this intersection of identities.

Charlene had neglected to tell her friends and families of this historic moment for us as Mennonites.  She’s only the second Mennonite woman of color to be credentialed in either of the former two conferences or the reconciled Eastern District & Franconia Conference. (The first was Leticia Cortes, three years ago at Centro de Alabanza de Filadelfia (Philadelphia, PA).) For those of us who pay attention to the history and trajectory of our conference, the moment seemed historic and monumental. For Ripple and Charlene’s family and friends, this was a recognition of who Charlene is and has been. The larger church beyond simply needed to catch up to the Spirit’s work and Charlene’s faithful incarnation of leadership and service to Christ.

Prayer for Charlene at her ordination. Photo credit: Steve Kriss

Charlene joined the leadership of Ripple as an intern several years ago while completing her studies.  After her internship, she became a part of the leadership. As the congregation’s founding pastors relocated, Charlene became a critical stabilizing leader in a time of transition, joining the other pastors at Ripple. Charlene served in the role without credentials as she explored what it would mean to become a Mennonite minister after serving in leadership in a nearby majority African American Baptist congregation.

Leadership Minister Jeff Wright, Buddy Hannanto and Buddy’s wife Susy Widjaja. Photo credit: Buddy Hannanto

While Charlene was the first person to be credentialed in our reconciled Conference, the last person to be credentialed in Franconia Conference was through the ordination of Buddy Hannanto at International Worship Church (San Gabriel, CA).  After 20 years of bureaucratic slowness within MCUSA, Buddy was finally recognized as a leader through ordination. For his congregation and those who know Buddy, this was a long time coming and a commitment he had already been living.

Buddy Hannanto is surrounded in prayer at his ordination. Photo provided by Buddy Hannanto

For Franconia Conference, the sun set in California on our credentialing with an Indonesian pastor who had begun a congregation at our now farthest west outpost.  The sun shone in a new Conference a month later in the east with Charlene’s credentialing as our reconciled community began. The symbols weren’t lost on me, bearing witness and participating in both worship and recognitions.

These are omega and alpha moments; a reminder that the Spirit is still working in continuity and change. It’s also a challenge of recognizing our future work to continue to open the door to new pastoral leaders even when our systems are slower to recognize the work of the Spirit already at hand.

Beyond Our Comfort Zones

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by Andrés Castillo, communication intern

Finland congregation’s CrossGen conference at Spruce Lake Retreat, with speaker Sean McDowell. The conference focused on intergenerational unity, with panels representing different generations asking questions of each other.

Every year, Franconia Conference gives Missional Operational Grants to congregations to help them think and dream about mission.  Noel Santiago, Franconia’s leadership minister for missional transformation, described his initial vision for the 2018 MOGs as providing “resources to help congregations reach out and get out of their comfort zone.”

Both executive minister Steve Kriss and Santiago have emphasized that the grants are for starting new initiatives, not sustaining them forever. By overcoming the obstacle of money, churches can begin to experiment; leaders and congregations are encouraged to be more creative. The ultimate hope is that, after the grant period ends, the new conversations and ideas started by it will continue to live on and evolve.

Last year’s MOG recipients have done a good job at what Kriss calls “honoring the legacy of Franconia’s mission to spread Christ’s peace throughout the world.” Here’s a look into what some of them did in 2018:

Indonesian Light Church (ILC) in South Philadelphia has hosted a monthly “food bazaar” to reach out to their community. “We learned that every seed planted needs nurturing and time to grow until it can grow strong roots and bear fruit,” ILC’s report reads. “Without time, love, and commitment to sowing and nurturing, there will be no significant result.” ILC plans to continue experimenting with ways to connect with the Indonesian community in south Philadelphia.

Nations Worship Center (Philadelphia) conducted a Vacation Bible School (VBS) with students from Dock Mennonite Academy (9-12) that received positive feedback and results, including new families faithfully attending church after the VBS was over. They also received help from the city of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Praise Center, and ACME. Nations Worship acknowledges that many of the children who attended their VBS come from struggling families and, “If we lose them, we lose our future.”

A Karen member of Whitehall congregation leads in prayer.

Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC) further developed the Taproot Gap Year program, an initiative for college students that involves sending them to live in Philadelphia and Indonesia. PPC maintains an office and staff in Indonesia for this purpose, which PPC pastor Aldo Siahaan says is not easy. “Thank God we have support from the conference,” he says. “Creating a program like this is not new to the conference, but it is for us.”

Whitehall (PA) congregation used their MOG for increasing leadership development among its Karen (Burmese) members. Pastors Rose Bender and Danilo Sanchez have been creatively finding new ways to integrate the various ethnicities within the church. “It isn’t as much about ‘let’s help these poor people’ as it used to be,” Bender says.  As this long process unfolds, the congregation “understands more and more how much everyone needs each other.”

Vietnamese Gospel (Allentown, PA) invited people in its surrounding community to have a large fellowship gathering, with speakers giving testimonies. The event was meant to empower their members and share the word of God with people outside of their church. Vietnamese Gospel hopes to make this an annual event to build relationships with its community.

Pastor Bruce Eglinton-Woods of Salem congregation has been working closely with the Quakertown (PA) Community Center (The Drop), an after-school and weekend program for at-risk children and teens created in response to the opioid crisis. The ministry helps attendees figure out the next steps of their lives in a judgment-free zone. Eglinton-Woods has learned how hard it is hard to gain the trust of teenagers and children and hopes to eventually grow the program to five days a week.

Ripple congregation (Allentown, PA) was able to provide training for two of their pastors, Charlene Smalls and Marilyn Bender, at the International Institute for Restorative Practices. The Ripple pastors have been using restorative practices to better meet their congregation and community’s needs.

Salem congregation has been partnering with Quakertown’s “The Drop” community center for at-risk children and youth.

Other congregations who received MOGs were Plains congregation (Hatfield, PA) for an unconventional July 4th picnic, Souderton (PA) and Doylestown (PA) congregations for the Vocation as Mission Summer Internship Program, International Worship Center (San Gabriel, CA) for technological equipment, Finland congregation (Pennsburg, PA) for their CrossGen conference, and Perkiomenville congregation for its GraceNow conference.

Every congregation has a unique, beautiful story that honors God’s mission to unite the world as one under Him. What is God doing in your congregation and community?  Share your stories by emailing communication@mosaicmennonites.org or check in with your congregation’s leadership minister about ways that your congregation might use an MOG to develop your missional imagination and neighborhood connections.