Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Community

Toward transformation with the Wild Goose

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Steve Kriss, Philadelphia Praise Center, skriss@mosaicmennonites.org

In late August the board and staff of Franconia Conference gathered to share dreams and visions, to work at logistical details for assembly and to take a step toward reconciliation and healing. It was a beautiful day at the pavilion behind the meetinghouse at Blooming Glen, amongst cornfields—the first day when brisk air invites longsleeves and light jackets after a hot summer. We were meeting to do business plan, to eat together, to imagine.

As the sun was setting to the west, we gathered in a circle for prayer, confession, and mutual commissioning. Led by LEADership Minister Ray Yoder, we prayed with the Conference’s core values and vision—centered in Christ—placed on the floor between us. We were there in a shared journey, shared struggle, with sometimes shared hope and sometimes contested dreams. We are different people, representing different histories, perspectives, congregations. It’s hard work and real commitment in a postmodern world to be together, to witness together, to carry each other’s joys and burdens.

Photo by Emily Ralph

But something interesting happened as we ended our prayer, at the moment of our confession of our struggle, our inadequacies, our failures and foibles—a trail of wild geese streamed over us loudly, moved to form a V and flew into the sunset. In Celtic Christianity, a tradition that maintained a healthy and hearty faithful Christianity while the rest ofEuropeand the Mediterranean region muddled through a difficult time, the Wild Goose was a name given the Holy Spirit. In that evening, amidst our questions and questing, I think the Spirit invited us again to move on, to press into a new day, to gather our diversity of experience and perspective, to pay attention to the signs around us in creation, culture, Text and Spirit and to soar into God’s future.

When I am reading this Intersections, I am struck again by how the Spirit continues to stir us. Within these pages, the diverse dreams for the reign of God and the life of discipleship that we incarnate are written in story form. We are people of many commitments and ways of describing God. We’ve been called forth and cultivated from many places . . . and we’re going into diverse places fromVermonttoBaltimoretoEngland. We’re young dreamers, pilgrim seekers and mature leaders building peace in places like Souderton, Quakertown and Allentown. We’re trying out the reconciling process by gathering across historic divisions and cultural boundaries with assembly this year . . . and we’re committing to a yearlong journey focusing on extending Christ’s justice and peace.

It feels like we’re trying to follow the Wild Goose, recognizing a new day, moving in diverse and unexpected places, seeing sometimes what was unimaginable emerge, and grappling to deal with it and make sense of it. The Celtic Christians maintained a real faith in tough and confusing times. They provoked art, developed mission movements and cultivated missional communities. They used resources creatively and carefully. They were mindful of the connection of body, soul, mind, land, resources and the resurrected Christ.

When I read our stories in this issue, I know we’re on the journey. The Spirit is stirring. Something continues to be breaking forth. We’ll need to continue to be prepared for it, to cultivate, to hope and work, to pay attention for both the signs and possibilities around us, near and far. The Spirit invites us as a historic and yet emerging community further into a journey, offering up a mission which we might embrace and find both ourselves and the world transformed through the story of the Good News even in disconcerting times.

Climbing walls and coffee shoppes: Transforming meetinghouses and cities in the UK

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Tom Albright, RIPPLE Allentown, tomalbright1@gmail.com

This summer I spent two weeks in the United Kingdomtraveling by train to visit eight distinctly unique Urban Expression gatherings. As pastor of Ripple, an inner city, missional Anabaptist congregation in Allentown, Pa., I went to observe, learn and “compare notes.” Each gathering and each family that I visited had a uniqueness and creative energy related to and reflecting its neighborhood, culture, size, resources and leadership. I had never encountered so many different faith expressions in such a short time or been able to experience them so honestly and openly. Each church had its struggles, joys, cutting edges and things that were changing. All had a belief that God had called them to the city, to these people; they loved the people in their neighborhoods.

Playground built on a vacant lot by E1 Community Church in East London as a safe place for neighborhood children to play. Photo by Gay Brunt Miller

Some groups had old buildings, while some had newer buildings. Some had no buildings but gathered in homes, or pubs, or community spaces. While walking in BristolI saw a steady flow of people entering and leaving a large and, undoubtedly, old church building. Curious, I went inside and found a climbing gym. Children climbed the walls in what might have been the Sunday School rooms. More advanced climbers made it to the top of the sanctuary and others tackled the bell tower. In all the church buildings I visited, this was the only single-use facility.

At St. Mark’s Baptist Church in Bristol, I had a great lunch prepared by volunteers with a bill that was “pay what you could” in the church’s new cafe. The place was full. The building’s double balconies in the sanctuary held an eclectic display of artwork by local artists and school children. There were rooms that were refurnished for students with special needs and other spaces for community arts programs. In another part of the turn-of-the-century building, the church planned to begin a food bank in cooperation with the local citizens and grocery stores. All of this was open on a summer Saturday afternoon.

I found churches that had remodeled their cavernous sanctuary space into three floors of apartments, a coffee shop run by people in need of job skills, community social service offices and, yes, a number of cozy meeting spaces used for worship, Bible teaching, Sunday school, parenting classes and addiction recovery. The reflection on space was interesting, organized and exciting. There was often a facilities manager on the premise to moderate and coordinate the building use. The spaces have been transformed – not lost, but used in creative ways, open seven days a week to meet needs Monday through Sunday.

On other occasions, worshipping groups gathered in public places, transforming them into holy space. Bible studies around pub tables, meeting people in parks, movie nights at the local community center, and church- run community carnivals on the town square all witnessed to Jesus’ presence among the people, outside of formal church buildings.

These encounters provoked questions about facility use, whether we have been blessed with space of our own, or where we gather if we do not own our own meetinghouse. What does God ask of us? Are we being faithful to the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations, and to our neighbor? Are we willing to open up and to be the center of the community, a light on a hill? Or are we being nudged to move out of our church buildings into the public spaces to proclaim the gospel? May we think creatively, remembering the meetinghouse turned into a climbing gym, as we follow Jesus and form missional communities.

Tom’s time in England was partially funded by a Missional Operational Funds Grant to continue to build relationships with Anabaptists in the United Kingdom and to cultivate further learning and implementation of God’s dream in Allentown.

Philly Churches plan festival to benefit MCC

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Ken Beidler, West Philadelphia, kenbeidler@yahoo.com

Philadelphia Anabaptist churches are planning the first ever Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Benefit Festival in Philadelphia. This inaugural event is scheduled for Saturday, October 29, 2011, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship, 4740 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia, PA19143.

Like other MCC Relief Sales, the Philly event will feature an auction, international food booths and children’s activities. With MCC East Coast offices headquartered inPhiladelphia, it made sense for there to be a relief sale in the city. Grant Rissler, MCC Financial Resource Development Coordinator, says, “Many relief sales take place at fairgrounds that have a rural feel. . . It’s exciting to see this Festival in Philadelphia working to innovate in the urban setting. That type of innovation is really one of the growing edges that will keep support for MCC strong and growing into newer generations.”

In addition to supporting MCC’s programs around the world, half of proceeds of the sale will benefit MCC Philadelphia’s work with prison ministry, alternatives to youth violence, gun violence prevention and a low-income housing ministry.

Fred Kauffman, MCC East Coast program coordinator, says, “The MCC Benefit Festival promises to be an occasion where the Philly churches can work together and bring the diversity of our gifts and cultures into the process. We look forward to connecting with neighbors, MCC supporters, churches outside of Philly, and with each other to create a public witness for Christ and the kingdom which he proclaimed.”

For more information about the festival or to coordinate donating an item for the auction, visit eastcoast.mcc.org/phillyfestival, e-mail PhillyBenefitFestival@gmail.com or call (215) 535-3624.

A variety of ethnic foods will be available at the MCC Benefit Festival in Philadelphia. Photo by Anna Ralph

To each according to their need: Ongoing partnership in the Vermont Mountains

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Brandon Bergey, Bethany, brandon@bethanybirches.org

Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged presents ideas that are seemingly opposed to the Reign of God. Ayn Rand’s philosophy on the matter of need suggests that people should get only what they earn, regardless of their needs. If you earn it, it’s yours. If you need it, well, you can’t have it until you earn it. She believed that this would create a society full of contributing individuals. Consider that.

Now, consider Acts 4:32-35 from The Message.

The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn’t even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, “That’s mine; you can’t have it.” They shared everything. The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them. And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the sale to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person’s need.

I realize that Ayn Rand may not have seriously considered the Reign of God as a legitimate economic model. That doesn’t mean Bethany Birches Camp (BBC) shouldn’t. While I’m not advocating for communism or even a reversion to the early church, I’m advocating for an acceptance of God’s spirit and way, best viewed through the person of Jesus: a person who sent his followers out to the world with almost no earthly possessions; a person who told his students to give their shirt away to someone who demanded it, rather than put up a fight; a person who taught that if two or three gather in his name and agree, whatever they ask for will be given. Jesus was not a person focused on rights and earnings. He was a person who understood that anything he had was a gift from his Father in Heaven.

Summer campers at Bethany Birches. Photo by Brandon Bergey

Since the beginning of BBC in 1965 we have tried to offer a unique camping experience, creating a community of love with whoever joins and we’ve tried to do this at a low price. While a camping community is a different version of the church than what we see in Acts, there is much similarity.

Obviously, offering something to someone for less than what it costs to provide that something runs up a deficit somewhere. Let’s put this in the context of camp. If it costs us about 400/camper, and we charge $200, there is $200 of expense remaining. Who will pay the remaining $200? Enter: donors. Donors give gifts from the riches they’ve been given.

Bethany Birches was initiated with a donation of land. And since that very first day, our story has been one of people providing money, time and other resources to make the camp possible; an ongoing illustration of God’s provision for kids to have a special, faith-developing experience.

In a board meeting in 2010 we were discussing these issues around the topic of pricing. We talked about the fact that some of our camper families have much resource and some have very little. We developed the idea of tiered pricing.

We are just now finished with the first summer season that used a tiered pricing structure. The highest tier is about what we figure it costs to have a camper at camp (no profit built in). Both of the lower tiers are donor-subsidized rates.

Could we consider this a Kingdom economic model? Or perhaps foolishness? Maybe we can just call it a system built for taking advantage of. Whatever you call it, we’re trusting that the Christ who inspired the craziness in the book of Acts will continue to inspire us and show us a way so that “not a person among them was needy.”

Celebrating Souderton: A missional direction

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by Scott Hackman, Salford, scott@myohai.com

Celebrate Souderton was a missional faith experiment birthed from the imaginations of the Open Hand Initiative, a group of people who want to help local communities become places of belonging, using generosity and collaboration.

The context of society has shifted over the past several decades and the church has been pushed to the margins. Many people believe this offers an opportunity for the church to reclaim its mission. Celebrate Souderton gave Mennonite leaders the opportunity to take risks and experiment with missional impulses, as we attempted to answer what it might look like to express our faith in a local context during Lent.

The goal of this event was to collaborate with local faith communities, businesses, and non-profits to create space for belonging and opportunities for generosity. On Friday, March 11th we started by hosting a concert and coffee in downtown Souderton. Over 200 people participated in the evening, which included free local music and the opportunity for conversation at Main Street Java. From there, we continued the conversation at Main St. Java with Sunday evening gatherings to share stories about faith in the neighborhood in the context of themes from the Sermon on the Mount. Over 150 unique people came out during these weekly gatherings.

Our final event happened on April 23rd when 12 churches, 13 business sponsors, and several Main Street businesses joined together to celebrate the people in their neighborhood. Over 1,000 neighbors showed up. There were three art galleries displaying art by local high school students, local artists, and those in the community with disabilities (through Peaceful Living). A kids’ station was presented by Salford Mennonite and congregations like Blooming Glen and Souderton Mennonite provided free food. We also took over the main street parking lot for a large KidsZone managed by BranchCreek Community Church, complete with inflatables, hot dogs, cotton candy, and face painting. The youth group of Franconia Mennonite starting things right by dressing up as Scooby-Doo and Elmo to invite the neighbors to join in the fun.

The vision for this faith experiment comes from the underlying impulse to participate in the reign of God by following Jesus. We do this through sharing stories, events, and education. Together we’re exploring the next steps for the common good in the neighborhood whether that’s in Souderton or beyond.

Prayer network “adopts” street in Perkiomen Valley

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by Peter Smith, Upper Perk Prayer Evangelism Network, peteresmith4@comcast.net

“Adopt A Street,” in its simplest form, is a prayer strategy that focuses on changing the spiritual climate in your community. What would happen if 100% of the streets in your community were being prayed for daily for the next 12 months? The “Adopt A Street” prayer strategy brings unity to churches in any given community or city, energizes the local church in prayer, and it begins to bring transformation to the church and community that is visible and to a large degree, measurable. Prayer evangelism in its most basic form teaches that God wants us to talk to God about people, BEFORE we talk to people about God.

Prayer evangelism and the “Adopt A Street” prayer strategy, over time, contribute to the reduction of systemic poverty in the region where they are implemented. The strategy is one of the most effective ways for local church pastors to physically implement Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8. The strategy is much more than a “prayer strategy;” it is a comprehensive missions strategy that allows the Holy Spirit to lead the transformation process. It can impact and transform every segment of a community including the church, businesses, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and the family. One of the keys to its effectiveness is unity among churches in any given community or region. The greater the unity, the greater the possible transformation.

UPPEN (Upper Perk Prayer Evangelism Network) is a growing network of churches in the Upper Perkiomen Valley school district and surrounding region that has been in existence since 2003. Currently, there are 11 churches in this network and it continues to grow. Together, through prayer evangelism and a spirit of unity, they are seeing God changing the spiritual climate of their community and the surrounding region.

The UPPEN network had been praying during the first half of 2010 for a long-term prayer strategy for the Upper Perk region. UPPEN became aware of the Adopt-a-Street prayer movement in Newark, N.J. in the summer of 2010 and began to pray about the possibility of using the strategy in this region. After much prayer, UPPEN launched the Adopt a Street prayer strategy for their region on January 30th, 2011. Lloyd Turner and a team from Newark came to Upper Perk to participate in the launch of “Adopt A Street”. They held a training class for pastors, church leaders, and intercessors. Now the seeds of “Adopt A Street” have begun to spread across southeastern Pennsylvania. Two prayer networks in Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton decided at an informational gathering in March to implement the “Adopt A Street” prayer strategy for their region. Other regions and regional prayer networks are launching or praying about launching this prayer strategy. Please pray with UPPEN for these seeds to spread across the greater region.

UPPEN leaders, Peter Smith (Hope Valley Community Church, Red Hill), Charlie Ness (Perkiomenville Mennonite Church), and Scott Landes (Frederick Mennonite Church) gave an “Adopt A Street” presentation on June 9th at a Leadership Breakfast at the Mennonite Conference Center in Harleysville, PA. They shared about the UPPEN church network and the vision for the “Adopt A Street” prayer strategy.

UPPEN leaders are available to come and speak at churches, prayer networks or pastor networks in the region. For more information on “Adopt A Street,” prayer evangelism, or the UPPEN network, contact them at PrayUpperPerk.org, 215.541.4888 or peteresmith4@comcast.net.

Editorial: Effective strategy requires passionate engagement

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by Ertell Whigham, Nueva Vida Norristown New Life

The Encarta dictionary defines passion as “intense or overpowering emotion.”

In this edition of Intersections we have several stories and testimonies of what happens when the passion of God’s purpose gets hold of people. Passion seems to me to be at the core of any fruitful (God given) vision, mission, purpose or strategic plan. That is the element of passion.

This is not passion just within leadership but the passion of everyone who feels called to be a part of a particular organization or organism. In this time and place as Franconia Mennonite Conference, we are called to be passionately strategic about the immediate priorities of being missional, intercultural and formational.

One of the ways to facilitate engagement at a level of passion—that connects us to God’s direction and vision for our work together from Georgia to Vermont an beyond, increases clarity of understanding, purpose and commitment and gives us the energy to keep moving and growing towards transformation—is to simply deepen our community relationships through prayer, openness, clarity, collaborative leadership and sincerity.

While there are many ways to work at passionate relationships and strategic planning for living into the vision and mission of our conference, conference leaders continue to hear a call from the constituent community to: spend time in the same space; sit together and engage in relevant conversations; ask questions and share information within the context of our mutual priorities.

We hear a need to celebrate Gods message of alignment and a call to be open to the Spirit’s power to help us hear one another in spite of the distractions that entangle us. During the coming months, we must all find at least one part of the vision, mission and priorities where we can passionately connect and communicate who we are and what God has called us to be and do together as Franconia Conference. We must be willing to carry the message and have clarity of purpose that both honors God and extends the Gospel. This is a responsibility that goes beyond our organizational structure but must be owned and proclaimed by each of us.

Among many of the passions expressed by our constituency, there is a need to be heard, included and considered as we continue to plan our direction and work at decision making processes. There is a passion and need to feel appreciated and to trust that we are all called to this journey together as well as to understand our place and possibilities.

As conference leaders continue to meet with congregational and credentialed leaders, congregations, Conference Related Ministries and Partners in Mission, we are listening and moving toward clarity of commitment, direction and most importantly considering the cost of being a people called to live into the realities, priorities and understanding of being intercultural, missional and formational— transformed for the purpose of God’s reign.

We’ve heard congregations ask for continued commitment to missional movement, contextual support and ongoing development of equipping leaders to empower others to embrace Gods mission from the LEAD (Leading Equipping and Disciplining) platform.

We’ve heard Conference Related Ministries ask for clarity of how we can work together in mutually beneficial ways to support one another and establish deeper relationships with congregations.

In addition, Franconia Conference continues to appreciate our Mennonite schools and the Anabaptist distinctive that directly impacts spiritual formation that cultivates values and vision for equipping future leaders. While we indeed realize that Christian formation is happening effectively beyond our Mennonite schools, we affirm the community witness our schools offer in nurturing our young people to be radical followers of Jesus Christ and instruments of God’s peace and justice.

We heard PIM (Partners In Ministry) express appreciation for ongoing support and encouragement in walking beside them as they minister in new and exciting ways.

We must continue to listen together and hear God’s Spirit calling us to find the passion that will give life to God’s strategic plan and priorities as a conference community living witnessing what it means to be missional, intercultural and formational.

Gardeners sow seeds of sharing

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Volunteer Marylee Chittick gets rid of weeds in the community garden near the Doylestown Mennonite Church on Saturday. Half of the produce will go to area food pantries. Photo by Kim Weimer--Intelligencer staff photographer.

by Christina Kristofic
Intelligencer Reporter
phillyBurbs.com
ckristofic@phillyburbs.com

Once or twice a week for the past several weeks, folks from the Doylestown community have gathered at Doylestown Mennonite Church to work the soil. They have sweat under the hot sun as they have planted varieties of tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, squash, carrots, beans, herbs and flowers.

But when it comes time to harvest the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor in a few months, the gardeners will take home only half of the produce — maybe less.

And they think that’s great.

The men and women who have been working in the Sandy Ridge Community Garden agreed from the beginning to give at least 50 percent of the produce they grow to local food pantries and soup kitchens.

Ginny Kane, a retired secretary who lives in Plumstead, said she’s “absolutely thrilled” to be able to fulfill a need in the community.

“This time and age, especially with the economy and everything, people are lookin’ out for themselves,” said Dave Pinchick, a master gardener from Buckingham who has been working in the garden.

“This reminds me so much of my days at Millersville with the Amish. These people are real salt of the earth — they work together as a community for the community. They give up so much of their time and efforts for the benefit of everyone.”

The Sandy Ridge Community Garden was started by Sharon Shaw, a landscape designer who lives in Doylestown Township. Shaw had volunteered in community gardens in other communities and wanted to start one close to home. She drove past the Doylestown Mennonite Church every day and saw a field of sunflowers, and thought that field would be just the place for a community garden.

So Shaw stopped in to visit the church’s pastor, Randy Heacock.

Heacock said, “A number of years ago, we tried to think about… How do we use our facilities for ministries? That land out there, we often thought it would be neat to do something of this nature on. But we never had anyone come forth and say, ‘Hey, I’ll organize it. I’ll pursue it.’ When Sharon stopped in one day, it was an answer to prayer.”

A few members of the church help out with the garden. But many of the volunteers on Shaw’s e-mail list are from outside the church.

Heacock said the community garden allows church members to “rub shoulders with people that probably in many ways are very close to us geographically and we never had the opportunity to meet or didn’t make it happen. It opens up the opportunity for them to understand who we are, what we pursue and opportunities to share similar joys or similar concerns, and to pray with them.”

The church is not just there for its members, Heacock said, “What we have is for all. And Sharon’s desire to have the garden reach out to food pantries, that just sits very much with our desire (to give to the community outside the church). There are people in need and we can easily help with that.”

Shaw’s plan to give produce to local food pantries and soup kitchens grew from her volunteer work at a soup kitchen in Lansdale. She said: “When you work there, you get a sense of the menu. The menu is a lot of processed food, a lot of canned foods. Really, nothing fresh comes in the door. More and more, we’re hearing a lot of stories about how important that is — good nutrition, fresh local foods. I want to make sure people have the same access to good, fresh local foods that we do.”

New Britain resident Dave Horn has been volunteering with the food larder at New Britain Baptist Church for about 10 years; he said the organization doesn’t get much fresh food in donations. He figured helping out in the garden would be a way to get some fresh produce for the larder.

The land at Doylestown Mennonite Church is a “nice area,” Horn said. “It’s got good soil there, compared to a lot of areas around.”

The community garden has had quite a bit of help from community members and businesses. Shaw has donated machinery for tilling and other parts of the project through her landscape design and construction business, Martin Shaw LLC. Histand’s Equipment donated hoses and gardening tools, Jeffrey Sparks Excavating donated compost, Bucks Country Gardens donated seeds and landscaping design company Just One Seed donated seedlings. Several other gardening businesses and private gardeners also donated seeds or seedlings.

Many of the plants are starting to grow.

“Hopefully, it will continue,” Horn said. “Hopefully, the weather cooperates. That’s always the big thing.”

If you want to give your time or seedlings to the Sandy Ridge Community Garden, you can “like” the garden on Facebook or send an e-mail to buckscommunitygardens@gmail.com.

© 2011 phillyBurbs.com . All rights reserved. Reposted by permission.