Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Conference News

Ripple Community Inc. Launches Housing Initiative

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Since Ripple Church opened its doors to the city of Allentown in 2011, it’s seen a steady influx of neighbors seeking God’s transformation and community. This diverse gathering of people comes from a variety of racial, economic and educational backgrounds, and many who have been traditionally marginalized now find community and connection in the sanctuary, on the front steps, and in the fellowship hall of Ripple Church.

CBC guests recycle paper into notepads.

In order to take the gifts of Ripple Church out into the broader community, Ripple Community, Inc. was established in 2015. Their Community Building Center opened its doors to provide not just a community center, but a place of support and connection for socially and economically marginalized residents of Allentown – those living with mental illness, multiple disabilities, addiction, or histories of incarceration,  or for those marginalized due to income, housing or abuse issues. Today, the CBC is a safe haven for more than 190 of Allentown’s most vulnerable residents.

With support from the Materials Resource Center, squares are cut, and comforters knotted together. RCI recently sent about 5 competed comforters back to the MRC for use with MCC. ministries.

Being an inner-city ministry comes with a unique set of challenges. “It’s really hard to build relationships and develop leaders in the church when people are constantly moving in and out of the city,” says Angela Moyer, co-Pastor at Ripple. “Additionally, as we have asked and listened to folks about what God’s peace, life, freedom, and healing looks like in their lives, time and time again people have talked about the stress and hardship of unstable housing.”

Ripple and RCI often describe their friends as being “precariously housed”. Affordable, safe, stable housing in the Lehigh Valley, as well as in communities across the country, has become increasingly unattainable. A study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition reported that in order to afford the average two-bedroom apartment in the Lehigh Valley ($1,038 per month), a minimum wage worker would need to work 110 hours per week. “We work with people who are paying $800 or more a month for apartments with doors that don’t lock, or windows that don’t close, or plumbing that doesn’t work,” explains RCI Executive Director Sherri Brokopp Binder. “For many of our most vulnerable neighbors, the only alternative to a substandard apartment is homelessness. They are caught in an unending cycle between homelessness and temporary housing solutions that don’t work or don’t last.”

In order to address this growing need, RCI is following their call to launch the RCI Village.  Based on a model in Washington, DC called Jubilee Housing, this initiative will be the first permanent, supportive housing program in Allentown. RCI Village will take an innovative approach to addressing the need by not only providing quality, affordable housing, but also by connecting residents to established social support networks, community building opportunities, and other resources. “It isn’t just about housing,” says Sherri. “It’s about home and community. It’s about stability and belonging. Those are the basic building blocks of a good life.”

The former Stephens Funeral Home, located near 13th & Linden Streets in Allentown, will become affordable, well-maintained rental units.

RCI recently reached an agreement to obtain a former funeral home property, which will provide 13 rental units in four connected rowhomes, as well as space for the Community Building Center. This acquisition will allow RCI Village to move ahead with the program later this spring, but in the meantime, funds are being raised to cover minor renovations, launch the program, and operate for the first year.  The estimated expense during this phase of the project is $100,000, and RCI welcomes any and all contributions to support this exciting endeavor.

Says Pastor Angela, “Ripple has been praying about affordable housing options for several YEARS, and God has answered our prayers! Ripple folks always encourage one another by saying, ‘you can’t rush God because God is always right on time.’  We trust that God is right on time with this opportunity for quality, permanent, and affordable housing. Praise the Lord for what is in store for Allentown!”

Please visit RippleCommunityInc.org to learn more about the RCI Village or to make an on-line contribution.  If you have questions or need more information, contact them at 484-240-1231 or ripplecommunityinc@outlook.com.

 

Immigration, Sanctuary, and the Church

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By Robert Walden

The following are excerpts on the Winter Peace Retreat Report.  For the full report from the Peace and Justice Committee visit efpjc.ppjr.org/pjnews/pjn1803.pdf.

On February 9 to 11, around 50 participants gathered at St Mary of Providence Retreat Center in Elverson, PA to participate in the 2018 Eastern District and Franconia Conference Winter Peace Retreat. This year’s theme was “Immigration, Sanctuary, and the Church”.

Tammy Alexander

The weekend began with a family activity led by Tammy Alexander, Senior Legislative Associate for Domestic Affairs in the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Washington, Office: “People on the Move: A Migration Exercise”. The activity sparked conversation around what people go through when they are uprooted from their homelands, the sacrifices they are forced to make, the struggles they endure and the questions they carry with them about safety and what they may encounter in a new land.

Peter Pedemonti, co-founder and Director of New Sanctuary Movement Philadelphia, shared about his own family’s migration journey, his father from Italy and his mother from England. Settling in Hartford, CT, Peter grew up with stories of why his family left Italy and some of the struggles they had when they came to this country. He shared how people often took advantage of his grandmother because she didn’t speak English. This is a frequent experience today for immigrants of color in the U.S. when compared to the relatively privileged status of white immigrants.

Peter also shared the origins of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, a grassroots organization led by affected immigrants to “win immigrant justice campaigns with our members across nationality, faith, class, and immigration status.” When Peter came to the Philadelphia to join the House of Grace Catholic Worker, it was at a time when there were growing rates of workplace raids and immigrant deportations, and proposed legislation in the U.S. Congress was hostile to immigrants. During this time a small group of clergy, immigrants, and allies started coming together about the situation. They discovered that a lot of people in Philadelphia were engaged with immigration issues, but nobody was organizing in the faith community. So, little by little, they began organizing in coffee shops and in living rooms, until one day they had a movement. Peter then left the Catholic Worker and started to do this full time.

According to their website, New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia is “an interfaith, multicultural immigrant justice movement organizing communities to end injustices against immigrants, regardless of status”. This is done through partnering and educating faith communities. Currently working with 28 congregations including two Franconia Conference congregations, member congregations assist in trainings, workshops, campaigns, and accompanying families facing deportation.

One of the ways presented to participants at the retreat that congregations can get involved is accompaniment – walking with families facing deportation. Accompaniment is not to provide legal representation.  People who provide accompaniment aren’t lawyers; what they do is stand in solidarity. Much of it is going to court – just showing up in immigration court or criminal court or probation check-in with a group of 5, 10 or 15 people, as a witness. They form a little prayer circle in front of the court.  They come in and wait in front of the court room with two goals in mind: (1) surround the person with community, and really have their back in that situation; and (2) command accountability, because the people in the court know that folks are watching them. It’s not that the presence of NSM will automatically win the case, but there have been occasions when after the person’s case is presented and seven people stand up to leave, the judge asks, “Oh, is that the New Sanctuary Movement?”

There is something uplifting about having that visual representation of God’s presence in the courtroom. Bringing the power of God’s love into that environment does something to bring people hope. There are many times when NSM has seen people win cases that they did not think were possible – when people come out of it saying, “This is a miracle; this is God.” For those of us who are immigrant allies not directly affected by immigration law, this is an opportunity to see how the system works and moves us into exploring why so many people are in detention and deportation.

Immigration is a large part of the Franconia Conference and Eastern District story. Our ancestors were immigrants to the Franconia area and we are honored to learn from and walk with our more recent immigrant brothers and sisters. If you are interested in learning more about the immigration stories in Franconia Conference, contact the Conference Office for a copy of a short documentary complete with discussion guide that can be used in Sunday School or other formats.

Read about Philadelphia Praise Center’s Pastor Aldo Siahaan’s involvement in A New Sanctuary Movement Action HERE.

Read the Pastoral Response from Franconia Conference Leadership Regarding DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) HERE.

 

Faith and Life In Another Year

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The Faith and Life Commission has begun their 2018 gatherings this month with the topic of baptism. Despite the snow, credentialed leaders met February 8 and 9 at several locations including Souderton Mennonite Church, Zume House in Allentown and Nations Worship Center, as well as via Zoom.

In groups both large and small, they discussed scripture and the topic of baptism in their settings. There was time for dwelling in the word of God, discussion, and questioning. Some items that emerged include: how to handle when a person comes to faith in our fellowships but does not feel ready to commit to membership, can we baptize them? What do we do when someone has been baptized as a baby, sees it as meaningful, and wants to be a member; do we push for rebaptism or receive?  Is our faith worth dying for and does baptism carry this weight? Baptism is an essential element to new life in Christ and a normal expression of faith in Christ. It is a lasting promise, a gift.

Participants expressed their appreciation of hearing stories of others and their unique contexts.

If you are a credentialed leader, in Franconia or Eastern District Conference, active or retired, you are invited!  Dates, locations and registration is now open for the May and August 2018 gatherings!

Confession, Unity, Action

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By Danilo Sanchez, Lehigh Valley Youth Minister

Hope for the Future gatherings bring together leaders of color from across the church, sometimes with white allies, to explore the ways that power, privilege and racism function in our denomination. For its 7th annual gathering, participants met in San Antonio, TX. Nearly 70 people of color attended the gathering and represented various Mennonite organizations, institutions, and churches across the U.S.

 “The beggars are marching. And Christ is in their midst. Where are the saints?”

These prophetic words come from Dr. Vincent Harding’s sermon at the Mennonite World Conference in Amsterdam in 1967 when he called upon the Mennonite church to no longer be the “quiet in the land” and identify with the oppressed and marginalized in our communities. It was a call for confession, unity and action. Vincent’s words became our theme and motivated us as we met for Hope for the Future and looked to the future of the Mennonite church. During our weekend together, we were encouraged to dream, breathe as one, and care for one another. It was a time of unity and empowerment.

I felt the Spirit moving among us as we sang praises to God. I felt the Spirit stirring inside me as speakers like Sue Park-Hur, Glen Guyton, Dr. Juan Martinez, and Chantelle Todman-Moore shared their hope for the future. I witnessed the Spirit’s power from the testimony of the Goshen community who stopped an immigration detention facility from being built in their town. I saw the Spirit descend as we anointed and prayed for Glen Guyton as the new Executive Director of MC USA. The Holy Spirit was ready to work among us.

One of our main goals for the conference was to write a prophetic letter to Mennonite Church USA. The prophetic word started in small groups where we each shared what was on our heart. Then four gifted writers compiled each group’s words into one voice. The writers later shared the letter with the large group and we discussed. The major themes that emerged were being centered in Christ and the Holy Spirit, love one another despite our differences, be visibly active in the world, and invite the next generation into leadership. Many of these themes were affirmed, but some were not comfortable with the language of “celebrating and embracing” all members of the body of Christ; specifically, inclusion of LGBTQ members. At this point heated words were exchanged and the sense of unity that we experienced in the first half of the conference was shattered. As one leader said, we were no longer speaking to or with one another, but speaking past each other. How can we have any prophetic witness or word for the church, let alone the world, when we can’t even love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ despite our differences? Our group struggled to move forward. In the end, we decided the letter needed more time for discernment since we were not able to affirm all that was in the letter.

As I walked back to my hotel room, the Spirit gave me a song that we sang at Ripple one Sunday. The words of the song are,

“I need you. You need me.
We’re all a part of God’s body.
Stand with me. Agree with me.
We’re all a part of God’s body.
It is his will that every need be supplied.
You are important to me. I need you to survive.

I pray for you. You pray for me
I love you. I need you to survive
I won’t harm you
With words from my mouth
I love you. I need you to survive”

What simple yet profound, beautiful words. Despite our differences, are we able to say to all members of Christ’s body, “I love you. I need you to survive”? Many times, we are not. In our desire for both unity and holiness, we often harm one another with our words and leave some feeling invisible and rejected. But the Church throughout history has always struggled with unity and holiness; this is nothing new. Reflecting on Paul, N.T. Wright says, “In almost every letter we can see Paul urging two things upon his churches: unity and holiness…It is comparatively easy to work for unity if you don’t care about holiness; you just adopt a laissez-faire anything-goes strategy. And it is comparatively easy to work for holiness if you don’t care about unity; you just go on splitting the church over each moral disagreement. The trick is to work for both at the same time.”

Holding unity and holiness both equally is hard. The Mennonite church right now is struggling hard with how to live that out. I don’t believe it is the task of one person to find the path forward, but rather the Church must submit to the voice of the Spirit and discern together. My hope is that the Eternal One- who was, who is, and who will be- will lead us into all Truth and Grace.

Studying and Remembering Calling

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(Estudiando y recordando llamada)

by Steve Kriss, Executive Minister

I’ve studied Spanish off and on for nearly 40 years. My initial introduction happened via Sesame Street on TV with some Spanish interspersed between Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird. I then learned some basics at West End Elementary School. Much of that remains readily in my brain — even the crayons that were adhered to the wall of my classroom at West End Elementary.

For two years in high school, I studied Spanish with Ruth Y. Hunsberger, who after her time serving at Academia Menonita Betania, added a PA Dutch and Boricua accent to my Spanish pronunciation. I picked up more Tejano Spanish in San Antonio after serving a summer with Mennonite Mission Network in San Antonio which catapulted me into a more advanced Spanish class than probably was appropriate at Eastern Mennonite University where I studied as an undergraduate. I never got my language construction quite right after that.

Since then, I’ve studied several other languages a bit. I grew up in a household where my Grandpa spoke Slovak and snippets of other European languages. I was raised with an understanding that knowing some of the language of the neighbors could be valuable. Today, my immediate next door neighbors speak Spanish.

Earlier this year, for three weeks, I took the time to re-immerse myself in Spanish.  I chose a school removed from familiar communities so that I’d have to be a student only.  Though I did some work from Mexico, my immediate environment was school and navigating through an attempted Spanish upgrade. It was both humbling and invigorating.

After three weeks, my comprehension has improved. My colleague Noel Santiago and I are able to have conversations we haven’t had before in Spanish. I’m trying to practice every day, which so far has more often seemed endearing than annoying to those who’ve had to endure my commitment to keep practicing, even if it’s only when I’m ordering enchiladas.

While studying, I was reminded of the beauty and brokenness of the world. As a student in a secular language school, I found many people seeking and searching. My co-learners came from all over the world to a small city in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula to learn, to relax, to find something. I was invigorated by learning alongside them in their search. Admittedly, more often than not, the church was far from conversation and their search. Some were curious about my work and spirituality. Others avoided the conversation even when it surfaced.

But in these three weeks, I was reminded of my own call to serve the church as a pastor. It was a reminder of the commitments that I made to search out ways that the Gospel might really mean hope, freedom, and redemption for persons who are seeking and stumbling, for those who need comfort as well as those who need to be discomforted. It was a reminder to pay attention to all that is beautiful and broken, to find times when I might also be able to say as Jesus did, “the reign of God is near.”

I’m back with better Spanish, but I’ll have to struggle every day to maintain it. Next month, Marta Castillo will head to Indonesia to get an upgrade on her Indonesian language skills, so that she’s better able to accompany our Indonesian speaking communities as well. As a Conference, we are committed to having a multilingual ministry team, not only because it’s chido (cool) but because it also represents the work of the Spirit at Pentecost to bring the Good News to all people.

It’s our ongoing commitment as disciples, as leaders, as pastors, to extend the Good News to all people, until God’s reign comes in it’s fullness.  We are in it together.  Bersama.  Juntos. cùng với nhau. The beautiful and broken world is waiting to hear us.

Garden Chapel to Address Opiate Epidemic

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Garden Chapel is partnering with community and local leaders in Morris County and Dover, New Jersey to address the opiate and heroin crisis in a special public forum on Saturday, April 28, from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm.

Speakers will include Morris County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Brad Seabury and Sheriff Jim Gannon. The focus of the program will be to provide an overview of the heroin and opiate epidemic and to inform the community about what is being done by law enforcement to combat the problem.

Representatives from CARESNJ, Hope One and the Town of Dover Municipal Alliance Committee will present strategies to help families who have been touched by addiction including CARES RECOVERY CENTER and HOPE ONE.  Volunteers whose lives have been touched by heroin and prescription drug addiction will also be present to have one on one discussions during and after the event.

Doors open at 12 pm to highlight and showcase recovery and treatment facilities and strategies for prevention through education and recovery.  Education and awareness tips will be available, and resources for children including hands on activities will be available.

National Child Abuse Prevention & Sexual Assault Awareness Month

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According to the 2006 Church Member Profile, more than 1 in 5 women in MC USA congregations have experienced sexual abuse or violation; here in 2018, we can only speculate on what that number may be. Franconia Conference continues to be committed to helping end abuse and neglect of all people within our congregations and communities.  April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and National Sexual Assault Awareness Month  and we again remind and encourage you and your congregation to take steps to prevent all forms of abuse.

Integrating conversations about healthy relationships and healing abuse is crictical in our congregations. In March 2017, Salford Mennonite Church addressed the issue of child abuse in a special service.  If your congregation would consider doing a similar spotlight on this issue, a list of resources utilized for Salford’s service can be found on our Church Safety page.  Many other resources  for churches, leaders and individuals in the area of church safety, abuse prevention and care for survivors can be found on the Dove’s Nest resource page.

Under Pennsylvania law, all churches must have a written Child Protection Policy, and Franconia Conference encourages ALL of our congregations — no matter what state — to have a policy that is reviewed annually, to ensure it is being implemented.  Additionally, congregations must ensure that staff and volunteers that work with children and youth under the age of 18 have the proper clearances, have completed a Mandated Reporter Training, and that background checks are on file at the church. In Pennsylvania these clearances must be renewed every five years at least.   Franconia Conference has scheduled three Mandated Reporter Training sessions for 2018, in May, June and September, which you can now register for by clicking here (link closed).  These trainings are free and open to anyone who wises to attend. This training is required for credentialed leaders’ credential renewal. 

Dove’s Nest, a nonprofit organization that grew out of concerned individuals in Mennonite Church USA, has been working to keep children and youth safe for almost 10 years.  This year they have launched a study to assess the impact of their work over the past decade with churches related to Mennonite Church USA and beyond.  Church leaders should have received an invitation to participate in a survey, which will help them determine the needs of churches in the area of child protection, and how to best serve churches and remain in touch with the growing and changing needs related to safety in faith communities.   

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Christian Peacemaker Teams Nonviolence Training

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As Mennonites, we have a strong heritage of nonviolence, often referred to as pacifism, as we work to embody and live out the words of Christ to “love our enemies,” Matthew 5:44. In an age where violence is seen all around, on television (even in cartoons), in actions and words, it can be difficult to know how to live out the value we hold to, especially if we face the threat of violence ourselves.

Christian Peacemaker Teams will be at Salford Mennonite Church on Saturday, February 17 to train those who are interested in how to live our nonviolence. From 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, for a registration fee of $10, participants will learn the spiritual roots of nonviolence, what nonviolence is, protest as a form of nonviolence, and what it means to live nonviolence.

Formed in the mid-1980s out of a gathering of historic peace churches, Christian Peacemakers “seeks to embody an inclusive, diverse, multi-faith community of spiritually guided peacemakers.” They place teams at the invitation of local peacemakers to accompany and support the confrontation of situations of lethal conflicts around the world. If you are interested in being in trained in nonviolence, these are the people to learn from.  They have worked alongside local peacemakers and human rights workers in Colombia, Iraq, Palestine, Democratic Republic of Congo, the US/Mexico Borderlands, and various places across the United States, among others.