by Stephen Kriss, Executive Minister
At our board retreat last week, our California-based consultant, Jeff Wright, suggested that we are living in a time when we often say, “that hasn’t happened before.” For a 300 year old Conference community to contend with rapid changes requires flexibility and nimbleness that isn’t always characteristic of mature organizational systems. However, we are more than an organization; we are the people of God. This is both a challenge and a hope in times where change is rapid, confusing and often disorienting. Here are five signs of change we haven’t seen before that give me hope and assure me that even though we don’t know a way, there is a way that the Spirit is working out for our ancient faith to thrive into the future.
- The summer ministry internship program that was envisioned by Souderton Mennonite Church pastor Tim Bentch and is staffed by Sarah Freeman from the Souderton congregation is giving opportunities for young adults from our Conference and Eastern District Conference to serve alongside their congregations and in nearby communities to extend the peace of Christ. This year’s group of women and one young man remind me that God is still calling and that opportunities to connect to each other are always around us no matter our neighborhood.
- In the last weeks, Bethany Church in Queens, New York officially requested membership with our Conference. We are in the midst of a teaching series on Global Anabaptism with the congregation and I had the privilege of preaching there last month on the centrality of Jesus. The congregation’s pastor is a full-time Eastern Mennonite Seminary student, Hendy Matahelemual, who brings energy, passion and deep care. If affirmed as a new member this fall, it will be our Conference’s first worshipping community in New York City.
- At our Conference Board Retreat, this past weekend, we spent time praying through the lists of our member churches, our Conference Related Ministries (CRMs) and our nearly 100 active credentialed leaders. Reading these lists reminds me of the gifted leaders, our diverse congregations, and the vibrant ministries that receive support and encouragement mutually through our life together. It was a bit of an old school practice brought to new life with the diversity of who we are becoming, visible on paper.
- Franconia congregation pastor Josh Meyer’s recent doctoral research took a glimpse at the callings of millennial pastors in our Conference community. At this time across Mennonite Church USA, we have one of the highest percentages of younger pastors. At the end of our morning time together, Josh invited us to pray with the millennial pastors who had gathered that morning at Perkiomenville Mennonite’s Christian Life Center. The tenderness and care of our experienced pastors as they gathered around the five young pastors who were there was moving and beautiful.
- Next week a delegation from our Conference is spending time listening to the congregations in California who have sought to become new members of our Conference. We are seeking to spend some time together, to understand past wounds and to imagine new possibilities. As we go, we will eat, listen, preach and continue to build on the relationships already established. What might the Spirit be calling us toward as we consider these bi-coastal relationships?
There is growth and challenge across our Conference community these days. A new thing is becoming; on a daily basis, I am increasingly aware of it. At the same time, God’s intention is to continue the transformative work that Christ has done in each of us through these things that haven’t happened before. There is new possibility, each day, for us to encounter the Risen Christ through the things that haven’t happened before in our world. And there is assurance that there are things that will remain; faith, hope, love.
I began to ponder these words in light of the Genesis text which states that we are created in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). How was it that my father’s friend could say that I was my father’s “spitting image”? Because I am my father’s son, made of the essence of both he and my mother, and because he knew my father, he knew I resembled my father’s likeness. Now, just because I look like my father doesn’t mean I 
The Inquirer (Philadelphia) recently highlighted congregations doing just that in their article “From bike shop to drive-thru prayer, churches try thinking outside the pew.” Featured in the article is Franconia Conference’s very own Scott Roth and Perkiomenville Mennonite Church with their ministry 
Franconia Conference continues to follow God’s call, sharing the Good News of Christ Jesus and empowering and equipping others to, as well. Executive Minister Steve Kriss said, “We have much to do and much possibility.” This work is not possible without the many gifted individuals God has blessed the Conference with.
This year thousands of Mennonites from across the United States gathered in Orlando, Florida for the biennial Mennonite Church USA (MCUSA) Convention. The purpose of convention is to empower the church to achieve its vision, purpose and mission. Over the four days, members of congregations from across the country attend daily worship, workshops/seminars, participate in servant projects and delegates from MCUSA Congregations and Conferences attend business sessions. This year there was also the Future Church Summit, “a generative, open space for denomination-wide conversation — to dream together, reset priorities and engage one another in answering the question: How will we follow Jesus as Anabaptists in the 21st century?”
The Future Church Summit was a new addition this year to Convention. It was a time of dreaming and visioning, and discerning how God is leading us to follow Jesus. Delegates were joined by others from throughout MCUSA including high school students who had been chosen to be part of the Summit. The first day was spent getting to know one another by answering questions such as “When did you feel most connected to the Mennonite Church? What nourishes your spirit by being Anabaptist?” There was also a time of grounding participants in the history of Anabaptism and Mennonites, drawing learnings from our past.
In times of decision-making and Spirit nudging to move forward in a new space, it helps to revisit “the calling and vision” that God has already put into place and that we have already proclaimed. “The conference’s mission is to equip leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission.” In 2012, the conference board discerned that our conference work is focused on three priorities. “We are called to be missional, intercultural, and formational.” Congregations are invited take risks for the sake of the Gospel through creative partnerships and new possibilities for missional engagement. They are invited to network and cultivate intercultural ministry relationships. The people of the conference are recognized as our greatest resource and we are committed to build leadership capacity across geographies and generations. In these priorities, God already laid a strong foundation, preparing us in 2012 for what was coming in 2017. God is like that, always graciously preparing the way ahead of us and preparing us for the way ahead.
Our preparedness to move into a new space, in my opinion, is limited not by money or distance or human resources but may be limited by attitudes and beliefs ingrained in our system. I invite you to consider that we as a conference must overcome a historical tendency “to maintain what is” and to keep what is different from truly changing or impacting our systems and procedures. Ethnic Mennonite culture is often curious and welcoming to an international person from Latin America or Africa or Asia but we struggle to allow for the African American, the more recent immigrant Latin American or Asian American voices to bring about change and revival.