Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Conference Assembly

Franconia Conference gathers to celebrate, pray, confer, listen

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Garden Chapel Children's Choir
Garden Chapel’s children’s choir led a rousing rendition of “Our God” at Conference Assembly 2013. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.

Franconia Conference delegates and leaders gathered November 2 at Penn View Christian School in Souderton, Pa. to celebrate God still at work.   With a packed auditorium for a third united assembly with Eastern District Conference, representatives gathered to listen and pray, to celebrate newly credentialed and ordained pastoral leaders, and to work alongside one another after an over 150-year rift created two separate Mennonite entities.  The theme “God still @ work” was an extension of the 2012 theme, “God @ work.”

With singing in Indonesian, Spanish, and English led by Samantha Lioi (Peace and Justice Minister for both conferences) and Bobby Wibowo (Philadelphia Praise Center) and translation into Franconia Conference’s worshipping languages, delegates and representatives from nearly all of the Conference’s congregations from Georgia to Vermont gathered to confer around a board-crafted statement on the Conference’s increasing diversity in ethnicity, experiences, faith practice, and expression.   The gathering was punctuated with points of celebration including testimony from Peaceful Living led by Joe Landis and Louis Cowell from Salford congregation, a youth choir from the revitalizing Garden Chapel in Victory Gardens, NJ, and a moment to mark the upcoming November retirement of Franconia Conference Pastor of Ministerial Leadership Noah Kolb after 45 years of ministry, which was met with rousing applause and a standing ovation.

Noah blessing 2013
Noah Kolb was recognized and blessed for 45 years of ministry. He will retire in November. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.

In a shortened one-day event, delegates spent the morning together around tables with Eastern District Conference to continue to deepen relationships across conference lines.  Business sessions were separate, and Franconia’s included a significant amount of time in conversations among table groups, conferring over the board statement and then reporting on those conversations to the whole body.  Delegates and representatives were encouraged to mix across congregational lines to better hear and experience the diversity of conference relationships.

For many, including Tami Good, Souderton (Pa.) congregation’s Pastor of Music & Worship, who was attending Conference Assembly for the first time, the table conversations were holy spaces.  Each person at her table was from a different congregation.   “I saw God at work in the gracious listening, especially in the time when we talked about the conferring statement,” Good reflected. “There were disagreements, but everyone was graciously listening and hearing.  Everyone actually wanted to hear each other.  It was a beautiful time.”

The conferring time, along with an afternoon workshop led by the Franconia Conference board, focused on prayer and visioning for the Conference into the future.   Conference board members Jim Longacre (Bally congregation), Rina Rampogu (Plains congregation), Jim Laverty (Souderton congregation), and Klaudia Smucker (Bally congregation) served as a listening committee for the daylong event.  They reported seven themes of consistent and continued conversation: engagement, diversity, shared convictions, authority, polity, the role of conference, and the reality of changing relationships and engagement.  Board members noted that there is much response work to do to continue the conversation and discernment process.

Bruce Eglinton-Woods, pastor of Salem congregation (Quakertown, Pa.), said, “The challenge is speaking clearly on what we believe and where we are at, which is often a challenge for Mennonite leaders. My hope and prayer is that we can trust God and release the idea of keeping it all together. We need to let God do the holding together.”

Franconia Conference delegates spent time conferring and praying together. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.
Franconia Conference delegates spent time conferring and praying together. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.

According to Rampogu, one of the longest standing Conference board members, “the hardest part about this kind of meeting is that there isn’t enough time. We want to share and to talk together,” she said.  “That is a positive sign.  People want to connect.  My hope and prayer is that we keep our goal in mind, keeping our mission focused on equipping leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission, with Christ in the center and churches focused on missional activity.”

In business sessions, delegates selected a number of positions by 97% affirmation including a 2nd term for conference moderator John Goshow (Blooming Glen congregation) along with board member Beny Krisbianto (Nations Worship Center), as well as ministerial and credentialing committee members Rose Bender (Whitehall congregation), Ken Burkholder (Deep Run East congregation), Mike Clemmer (Towamencin congregation) and Chris Nickels (Spring Mount congregation).   Randy Nyce (Salford congregation) who is completing a term as finance committee chair and board member reported on Conference finances, noting an 11% decrease in financial contributions from congregations.

“I was surprised and pleased that the attendance at Assembly 2013 was so strong; seeing the room filled to capacity was an affirmation of how much the delegates and guests in attendance care for our conference,” Goshow noted.  “Franconia Conference is all of us who are members of our 42 churches and our Conference Related Ministries.  It is my hope and prayer that together we chart a course that will advance God’s Kingdom in exciting and wonderful ways.”

Listen to the podcast.

Conference Assembly 2013 Highlight Video from Franconia Conference on Vimeo.

Gathering and knowing God is still at work

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Ertell Whigham
Conference Assembly 2012. Photo by Andrew Huth.

by Ertell M. Whigham, Jr., executive minister

It’s the time of year when we gather to share what God is doing in our lives, our ministries and our communities at Franconia Conference Assembly 2013.  It’s a time for us to celebrate what God has done, what God is doing, and what God is going to do.

It’s time to build new relationships and renew longstanding friendships.  We’ll travel from Vermont and Georgia, from across town, across suburbs, and drive down country lanes and city streets to meet in Souderton.  We’re preparing to translate from English to Indonesian, Spanish, and Vietnamese to better understand the Spirit’s work across our communities.

It’s time for us to dream together and to share our hopes in a space that allows us to listen and to move toward transformation.  We’ll bring our stories of hope and challenge.  We’ll gather around practicalities and possibilities.

We will choose to gather collaboratively, leaning into the possibilities of our relationships.   We will need to settle our hearts and center in Christ to find a way to hear each other over the voices in our own ears and heads.    If we come to the delegate tables expecting to waste our time, we make it more difficult for the Spirit to move through strongholds.   When we gather in suspicion rather than hope, we are setting ourselves up to leave our time together disappointed and miss the opportunity for transformation.   This is surely not how God would intend us to invest our gathered time.

I believe God invites us to gather every year not just to do business but to continue the Spirit’s process of renewing our minds. God is still working with us in all of our excellence and all of our shortcomings.   I have seen it, heard it, experienced it, and been renewed by the possibilities and ministry testimonies I’ve heard from across our conference communities and ministries as we’ve prepared for assembly by listening with congregations and leaders.   God’s invitation is not just to gather and walk out the door the same as when we came, but for us to gather together and to be transformed.  We tell and retell the stories of God at work so that we can all be changed into the image of Christ.

It’s an exciting and challenging time for us to be Franconia Conference, both this year and in the years to come.  I’ve been encouraged by the process we’ve worked through as your conference leadership in preparation for this gathering.  Still, I welcome you to challenge and invite those of us who are leading the Conference to hear the Spirit beyond the voices in our own ears and heads.   Encourage us to lead in ways that keep us as a whole community centered in Christ, working together in hope.

I come expecting that it’s not just another meeting, but a time to come together with God to work creatively.   Together, we are at our best.  Separately we are a shadow of what is God’s purpose for us as a people.   God is still at work.  I look forward to hearing more about how God’s Spirit continues to stir in our communities of sisters and brothers, doing immeasurably beyond what we can hope, imagine, or even ask.

Together we are doing God’s work: Conference Assembly 2013

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John Goshow
Moderator John Goshow welcomes delegates at the 2011 Conference Assembly. Photo by Emily Ralph.

by John Goshow, Moderator, Blooming Glen congregation

The Constituency Leadership Council (CLC) of Mennonite Church USA met in Michigan this week.  The CLC, which includes all 21 conferences of Mennonite Church USA, serves as a group of elders for the denomination.  In my capacity as moderator of Franconia Conference I joined this meeting, along with Ertell Whigham, Executive Minister, and Jenifer Eriksen Morales, LEADership Minister.

Our conference report to the CLC says, “Franconia Mennonite Conference is a network of 42 congregations, 20 Conference Related Ministries (e.g. schools, retirement facilities, historical organizations, camps, prison ministry, thrift stores, etc.), partnerships, and initiatives continuing to emerge out of the 300+ years of Anabaptist witness and faith in the Western Hemisphere … with its beginning in Philadelphia. Franconia Conference’s mission is to ‘equip leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission.’ With congregations and initiatives that span the East Coast of the US (Vermont to Georgia, north to south, and Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, east to west), our geographic center is in southeastern Pennsylvania. We work together in cultivating and developing leaders, in engaging the world through witness and relationships, and in our commitment to Christ as the center of our shared and individual vision.”

As moderator of Franconia Mennonite Conference, I have wondered what it means for us to be together now and how leadership roles have changed in the last 300+ years. The dictionary definition of moderator helps: “1) one who arbitrates; 2) one who presides over an assembly, meeting or discussion.”   I have learned to appreciate the role of moderator in that it provides the opportunity to connect with and listen to the many persons in our conference who care deeply about God’s work in our congregations and Conference Related Ministries.

In a  recent conversation with a friend we agreed that Franconia Conference is not the board or the staff. Rather, it is the 42 congregations of Franconia Conference and their members, and the Conference Related Ministries that provide important services to the people of their communities. These services—education, elder care, prison ministry, camping, mental health, housing, thrift stores, development disability, and others—serve a huge number of people and represent a wonderful example of how God is at work in our communities.

On November 2 at Penn View Christian School, Franconia Conference will gather for Assembly 2013. This year’s Assembly will be held jointly with Eastern District Conference and will provide the opportunity to worship together and to celebrate the many ways our two conferences are working together to advance God’s Kingdom.  During the business sessions the two conferences will meet separately to do work specific to each conference.  I am looking forward to our time of conferring and discerning God’s will together.

This year the delegates of Franconia Conference will spend significant time conferring about a statement that has been developed by the conference board. The statement acknowledges the cultural shifts impacting the practices and beliefs among Franconia Conference congregations. How can we continue to work together out of our commonality rather than our differences? How can we be accountable to one another as we, together, shape the future of our conference? Many conferences in Mennonite Church USA are having similar kinds of discussions. My hope and prayer is that the conferring and discernment at our assembly and the discussions across the Mennonite Church USA will lead to greater understanding of how together we are doing God’s work.

The story of an overactive imagination

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Delegates confer around tables at Assembly 2012. Photo by Andrew Huth.
Delegates confer around tables at Assembly 2012. Photo by Andrew Huth.

by Emily Ralph, associate director of communication

“It used to be that we all showed up at Conference Assembly to see what we were going to argue about that year,” my friend told me.  We laughed together, but I knew there was truth in her statement: our conference gatherings have not always been places for burying the hatchet or beating swords into plowshares.

And now, this year, our Conference Board has offered the delegate body a statement about diversity to discuss and discern together.

What were they thinking?

That’s when my overactive imagination jumps into full gear.  I can imagine some people preparing for battle while others run to hide in the back corner of their basement.  I can picture some people researching their arguments and creating bullet-pointed lists, using 10-point font on both sides of the page, while others research how to heat a thermometer to the perfect “fever” temperature so that they can call in sick that day.  And while my imagination goes wild, my anxiety level steadily rises.

But does it have to be that way?  Can we let our imaginations, which often fear the worst, have a Sabbath as we prepare for this year’s Assembly?  Can we join God in dreaming about the here but not-yet-here world in which the lion lays with the lamb and the child plays with the cobra, not because the lion has stopped being a lion or the cobra is no longer a cobra but because the spirit and presence of Jesus in their midst has allowed them to lay side by side without devouring one another?

Is it possible to imagine that we could talk about difficult and possibly divisive issues without, well, devouring one another?  Our Conference Board—members of Conference congregations who have been elected to leadership—suggest that we can.  “As board representatives from diverse Franconia Conference congregations, our hope and prayer is that God’s love for us and our love for each other will call us to grow together in our differences,” they say in their statement, “so that God’s healing and hope flow through us to the world.”

Is it possible for us to imagine that our conferring this November will lead to healing and hope?  It almost seems too good to be true.  But our God has already shown that he is in the business of “too good to be true:” bringing healing and hope in our relationship with Eastern District after 150 years of tension and division; bringing healing and hope to our conference after the decision-making crisis of 2010 left us shaken and distrustful; bringing healing and hope to Nueva Vida Norristown New Life last year when they were about to lose their building—and bringing healing and hope to our Conference through their witness to racial reconciliation; bringing healing and hope to Philadelphia neighborhoods where we have camped out in front of gun shops, marched on behalf of undocumented immigrants, and advocated for the homeless, veterans, our children.  These are just some of our corporate stories of times that God has worked through us to bring healing and hope to broken relationships, systems, and the world.

If God could do all that, then I imagine that God could do this, too.

“And now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is [still] @ work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!   Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

God@work beyond our imagination

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United Conference Assembly 2012

by Krista Showalter Ehst, Bally congregation

Now to God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!   Amen.

Ervin Stutzman “kneels before the Father” to pray for the gathered members of Franconia and Eastern District Conferences at last Saturday’s joint assembly. Photo by Andrew Huth.

The passion of Paul himself permeated the auditorium as Ervin Stutzman, Executive Director of Mennonite Church USA, stood from his kneeled position and—hands stretched towards the sky—proclaimed these words from Ephesians 3:20-21. It was a fitting end to his message and an equally fitting end to the United Conference Assembly, in which 175 delegates, credentialed leaders, and other participants gathered to reflect upon and imagine where God has and might be at work amidst Franconia and Eastern District Conferences.

The day-long Assembly provided several opportunities for engaging God’s work through workshops, meal-time fellowship, a large exhibition of agencies, schools, and other ministries, delegate business sessions, and multi-lingual worship. This year’s second united gathering of the conferences was held at Penn View Christian School, Souderton, Pa.

Stutzman reminded participants that Paul wrote this prayer while in prison, a time of great trouble both for the apostle and the churches that looked to him as a leader. It is perhaps during the times of greatest trouble, Stutzman said, that God is working beyond our imagination.

A team of worship leaders from Eastern District and Franconia Conference congregations led multi-lingual worship. Photo by Andrew Huth.

Responses to the recent devastation of Hurricane Sandy testified to the ways God is at work in times of trouble. Andrew Huth, a documentary photographer and associate pastor of Amber congregation, recently traveled to New York City to photograph the aftermath of Sandy. The images he shared revealed immense destruction and heartache, but evidenced God’s love working through Mennonite Disaster Service teams from both conferences, local community members, and residents of the devastated areas. “If we aspire to be the kind of people who, at a moment’s notice, are ready and prepared to do the work of God,” Huth reflected, “then we must come pre-dirty.” The world doesn’t need us to put on a perfect face, Huth added, but they “should know us as followers of Christ from our stench.”

In the Franconia Conference business session, moderator John Goshow (Blooming Glen congregation) and assistant moderator Marta Castillo (Nueva Vida Norristown New Life congregation) acknowledged the challenge of loving one another and remaining in unity—particularly in the midst of disagreement over issues of human sexuality. Recently, the conference board received a letter from the Alpha congregation stating that they have decided to accept into membership persons with a homosexual orientation. The conference board is fully aware of the diversity of perspectives on this issue within Franconia Conference, according to Goshow, and decided that they were unwilling to sever a relationship with the Alpha congregation at this time.  “We acknowledge that further discernment on this subject is needed and desire that disagreeing voices be heard non-judgmentally and with patience and respect,” Goshow said. “We believe that God will be at work as we seek further discernment on this important issue.”

Warren Tyson and Ertell Whigham lead the congregation in a conversation on how partnership between the two conferences could bring God glory. Photo by Andrew Huth.

The ongoing relationship with Eastern District was another key topic of conversation. Franconia’s executive minister Ertell Whigham and Warren Tyson, Conference Minister of Eastern District, conferred with delegates on their responses to this common work; many delegates affirmed the benefits of working together and sharing resources.  There were also some reservations, however, around the risk of the smaller Eastern District being absorbed by the larger Franconia as well as potential theological differences between the two groups.

The desire to share resources speaks to a continued trend of decreased giving to the conference budget.   Whigham and Randy Nyce (Salford congregation), Conference Board Financial Committee Chair, alluded to the decreased financial support that Franconia Conference receives and a likely accompanying decrease in staff. This concerned some delegates, especially credentialed leaders who depend upon the support of their LEADership Ministers.

In the midst of these uncertainties, delegates were reminded of the many ways God has been and is at work throughout the conference community. Stutzman challenged the assembly to look for God “at work in every aspect of our lives” and within sessions and around dinner tables, participants shared of laundromat and garden ministries, appreciation dinners for local firefighters, and other creative, hands-on ways of entering into God’s work.

Members of the Ripple community gather up front during Conference Assembly to be recognized as a new member congregation of Franconia Conference. Photo by Andrew Huth.

Ripple, an emerging Anabaptist community birthed out of Whitehall congregation, brought particular witness to daily participation in God’s work as they were introduced to delegates and accepted into Franconia Conference as a member congregation.  Ripple seeks to respond to needs and possibilities in Allentown by serving their community through food distribution, engaging local children and youth, and living out community with those who have been marginalized.

Overall, the day was a rich one, filled with inspiring witness, tough yet necessary conversation, and much time to connect with persons from across both conferences. In the face of recent storm damage, uncertain economic realities, and the challenging topic of human sexuality, participants were challenged to trust and to take risks out of the knowledge that God can “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

Watch the highlight video, listen to the podcast, or peruse the photo gallery from Conference Assembly 2012.

God@Work: Conference Assembly 2012

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Did you miss this year’s Conference Assembly?  Do you want to share something that happened with a friend?  Listen to both business sessions and the evening worship, check out the photo gallery, or share this highlight video with your congregation!

[tab:Podcast]

Joint afternoon session with Eastern District:

[podcast]http://www.mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Assembly 2012-United Business Session.mp3[/podcast]

Franconia delegates session:

[podcast]http://www.mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Assembly 2012-Franconia Delegate Session.mp3[/podcast]

Evening worship:

[podcast]http://www.mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Assembly 2012-Evening Worship.mp3[/podcast]

[tab:Photo Gallery]

Thanks, Andrew Huth, for these beautiful photos!

View the gallery

[tab:Highlight Video]

Photos by Andrew Huth (andrewhuth.com), video by Ben Wideman, editing by Kristine McClain (rethinkcreativeservices.com), music from jewelbeat.com.

So, how does Ervin do that?

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by J. Eric Bishop, Souderton

Ervin StutzmanErvin Stutzman, Executive Director for Mennonite Church USA, will be the guest speaker at this year’s assembly: God@Work, November 10 at Penn View Christian School in Souderton, Pa.  Recently, Eric Bishop, a member of Souderton congregation and teacher at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, sat down with his friend Merrill Moyer, who has worked with Ervin for a number of years on the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board, to learn more about Ervin’s life and ministry.

Executive Board Member, Merrill Moyer, says, “Ervin has an energy level that I’ve rarely seen. There are seldom two consecutive minutes in a day when he isn’t doing something productive.” Moyer notes that even though there are twenty-one conferences in Mennonite Church USA, with a total of 900 congregations, Ervin “will know what’s going on in every conference and in many congregations as well.”

The biographical summary posted on the MennoMedia website is extensive in recounting Ervin’s many accomplishments:

Ervin R. Stutzman is Executive Director for Mennonite Church USA. Before taking on this role in January 2010, he served for nearly 12 years as Dean and Professor of Church Ministries at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, VA. He has also served the Mennonite Church in the roles of pastor, district overseer, missions administrator, conference moderator and, from 2001 to 2003, as moderator for Mennonite Church USA.

Ervin graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Cincinnati (Ohio) Christian University. He holds master’s degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Eastern Mennonite Seminary. He received his Ph.D. from Temple University. His master’s thesis at Eastern Mennonite Seminary was “Biblical Interpretation in the Free Church: Appropriating Scriptural Truth Through Communal Discernment.” For his doctoral dissertation he wrote “From Nonresistance to Peace and Justice: Mennonite Peace Rhetoric, 1951-1991.”

Ervin was born a twin into an Amish home in Kalona, Iowa. After his father’s death a few years later, his mother moved the family to her home community near Hutchinson, Kan. Ervin was baptized in the Center Amish Mennonite Church near Partridge. Later, he joined the Yoder Mennonite Church.

Ervin married Bonita Haldeman of Manheim, Pa. Together they served for five years with Rosedale Mennonite Missions in Cincinnati, part of that time in voluntary service. Ervin was ordained to serve as co-pastor of Mennonite Christian Assembly. From there, the Stutzmans moved to Pennsylvania, where they were members of the Mount Joy Mennonite Church. They currently live in Harrisonburg, Va.

Ervin is a preacher, teacher and writer. His Herald Press publications include Being God’s People, a study for new believers, Creating Communities of the Kingdom (co-authored with David Shenk), Welcome!, a book encouraging the church to welcome new members, Tobias of the Amish, a story of his father’s life and community, and Emma, A Widow Among the Amish, the story of his mother. Ervin enjoys doing woodworking projects in partnership with Bonita. They have three adult children, Emma, Daniel and Benjamin.

Part of Ervin’s Life Purpose Statement reads: In response to God’s love expressed in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I purpose to follow after God with all my heart so that God may be glorified in my life at all times and in every way.

Stutzman’s approach to leadership reflects his desire to get to know the people he serves. An entrepreneur himself, Stutzman has a special respect for business leaders who are known for their organizational dynamics and their ability to provide direction for those they are charged with leading. While on his many road trips as Executive Director, he makes special efforts to meet with area business people for them to share their view of the church, and teach him about effective leadership and management.

Moyer calls Stutzman a “visionary thinker,” one who is also able to “translate that vision into something that people can understand.” Though he has offices in Elkhart, IN and in Newton, KS, Stutzman chooses to keep his residence and home office in Harrisonburg, VA, a choice that Moyer suggests helps the Executive Director to resist the “beltway mentality” that can easily form inside those two centers of Mennonite Church administration.

Having hosted Ervin in his Souderton, PA home during some of those church-business related road trips, Moyer says that Stutzman is “a humble guy who fits in well in varied surroundings,” and that he can “sit down at the table and talk all evening about his passion for Jesus and his vision for the church.”

Assembly Scattered 2012: How do we discern together?

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On October 16, Executive Minister Ertell Whigham and LEADership Minister Jenifer Eriksen Morales led a training for conference delegates.  Delegates discussed methods for corporate discernment in their congregations, how to prepare themselves and their congregations for Conference Assembly, and the role and responsibilities of conference delegates.

Another training will be held on October 27, 9-11am, at Dock Woods Community (Fischer Auditorium) in Lansdale, Pa.  We hope you will be able to join us in person as we interact with one another around topics of discernment.  If you have a scheduling conflict, however, the video from the October 16th training is now available.

CA Scattered handout