Conference News

In the Eye of the Storm

August 18, 2016 by Conference Office

Over the first week of August, a tropical storm (and at a time, Hurricane Earl) wreaked havoc across Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Central America, and Mexico, deeply impacting the Mexican state of Pueblo where Monte Maria Church has several church plants.

In 1988, Franconia Conference sent Pastor Bob Stevenson to Mexico for church planting and evangelism. Bob became connected with Monte Maria Church in Mexico City and currently is the second pastor of the congregation since its formation in 1979. The Conference continues to hold Bob’s credentials and his ministry and Monte Maria Church continue to connect with various conference congregations. Perkiomenville Mennonite Church has maintained a partner in mission relationship with the Monte Maria Church through mission trips and teaching in the School of Ministry. Last fall Perkiomenville pastor, Charlie Ness, spoke at the Monte Maria leaders’ conference and made connections with the pastors.

Five of Monte Maria’s church plants were severely damaged by tropical storm Earl in the villages of Ahuacatlan, Huauchinango, Xaltepec and Chicahuxtla. The congregation in Xaltepex experiencing the worst. The pastor of the congregation, Pastor Ramiro and his wife Lucy, along with several church members lost their homes and all of their belongings due to the landslides and flooding caused by Earl. Among the many who lost their lives due to the storm, six children are nieces and nephews of Pastor Ramiro.

In a letter received from Bob last week, he writes “We have sent teams and basic supplies. However, the need is enormous. Therefore, I am asking for special offerings to rebuild, bedding, towels and clothing and if possible, workers. There are still persons unaccounted for and risks of more damage. Please pray the mercy of God over these villages.”

The need is far beyond what Perkiomenville Mennonite Church is able to meet and is appealing to others to help bear the burden of our brothers and sisters in Mexico. They are currently in conversation with Mennonite Disaster Services and are appealing for financial contributions to buy building materials to rebuild the pastor and congregation members’ homes and also to help assist in purchasing a vehicle for the pastor, as his only means of transportation was washed away by the storm.

Financial contributions can be sent to Franconia Conference (1000 Forty Foot Rd, Lansdale, PA 19446) marked for Monte Maria Rebuilding Efforts.

If you or your congregation are interested in sending workers, please contact Charlie Ness as he will be coordinating work teams over the next several months. He can be reached at Charlie@perkmc.com.

Witnessing Out and About in the Villages

August 17, 2016 by Conference Office

By Dorcas Lehman, Interim Pastor – Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship

Sometimes witness means continuing work that has lasted several generations, as it has taken root in the communities around the church. People tell their neighbors that this is who the Mennonites are and what they do. Then when the neighbors learn that an Interim Pastor is in the village, the witness resounds in conversations where I live, worship, and shop.

My Subaru was overdue for an oil change, so I took it to a local mechanic in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont. I needed my out-of-state car to run smoothly while I serve as Interim Pastor at Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship. “Take a good look,” I said, “this car has a lot of miles on it, over 100,000, and I am putting a lot more miles on it.” He took one look and countered, “With that Outback, you are just getting started!” An Outback, even with PA license plate, fits right into the landscape in Vermont, and Chris the mechanic seemed happy to help.

He also smiled when he learned that I am a Mennonite pastor. All his growing up years, he camped at Bethany Birches in Plymouth, as did his mother before him, first as a camper and then as a counselor. For fifty-plus years this Mennonite-affiliated camp and Franconia Conference Related Ministry has been part of his family story, and he tells it with delight.

I hear this in other places too: “Have you seen the new state-of-the art pavilion?” asks another neighbor at a dinner in the village with friends, an ecumenical array of guests around the table, mostly neighboring Catholics. He is a donor, and he admires its architecture. The Mennonites are known for camp, and for being in the community, adds another guest. They volunteer all the time.

In a place and time when only 17% of the state’s residents regularly attend houses of worship, the lowest church attendance in the nation, it is no small witness to be known for generating a sense of community ownership of a camp that cares well for local children. When the stories of Jesus are shared in the way of Jesus, a community will remember that camp was invitational, playful, and welcoming.

While Mennonites are also known for volunteerism in their communities, that witness seems to enrich and flow with the local culture, rather than contrasting with it. “Vermonters by and large are a quiet people who recognize and appreciate hard work and service,” says Dave Beidler, a life-time member of the Taftsville congregation. Vermonters readily join hand in hand with their neighbors as needs arise.

There is yet another kind of witness that neighbors tell about Vermont Mennonites. I hear it from Charlie Wilson, long-time resident and observer of Taftsville, the hamlet where my interim congregation worships. I am sitting in a presentation at the Woodstock Historical Society, where he is telling stories about Taftsville’s recent past. “If you walk by the Chapel on a summer Sunday morning and the windows are open,” he tells the group, “you will hear the unsurpassed acappella singing of the Mennonites, and at Christmas they serenade the village with carols.”

Sometimes witness is the quiet service of being and doing with neighbors, and sometimes it is the sounds of our singing that float out the windows into the village during our service of worship.

Marta Castillo Joins Conference LEADership Ministry Team

August 3, 2016 by Conference Office

Franconia Conference welcomes to the LEADership ministry team Marta Castillo, a woman with a deep love for the kingdom of God both inside the walls of the meeting house and beyond. Marta is the daughter of Franconia Conference-rooted mission workers. She also has been shaped by all four of our linguistic cultures in Franconia Conference: Marta grew up in both Vietnam and Indonesia, is a primary English speaker and lives in a bilingual family and community of English/Spanish speakers. Marta has been a member at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life since 1994 and joined their pastoral team in 2009.

Marta loves to hear the stories of God’s work and how God is growing the church and growing individuals. With broad mission experiences internationally and in a US urban location, Marta is committed to prayer along with active engagement of diverse neighborhoods with the message of Christ’s Good News. She is passionate about the intercultural work of unity in cultural diversity, antiracism, and racial reconciliation.

She will begin her work as a member of the conference LEADership Ministry Team working with Centro de Alabanza de Filadelfia and engaging with another Spanish speaking congregation that is interested in relating to the conference. Marta speaks fluent Spanish and has a strong love for the hospitality and generosity within the Hispanic culture. With her upbringing in other countries and living in Norristown, she relates with other cultures every day. Marta is looking forward to walking with not just Spanish speaking congregations, but all congregations – hearing the stories of what God is doing in their midst and walking alongside of them, paying attention to God’s spirit helping to develop vision and mission.

After almost five years serving on the conference board, Marta resigned her seat to join the LEADership ministry team. Two of those five years was spent serving as assistant moderator for the conference. She graduated from Eastern Mennonite College (1992) with a major in Elementary Education and is currently taking classes at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

Lifegiving to Marta is one-on-one conversations, as she love to hear people’s stories. She also enjoys time in solitude, reading, walking, and exercising. She can also be found spending time hiking and camping with her husband Julio and their two teenage children, Andres and Daniel.

While serving with the LEADership Ministry team, Marta will continue as Associate Pastor at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life.

The Space in Between: More Than We Can Dream or Imagine

August 3, 2016 by Conference Office

by Stephen Kriss

This past Sunday, Mia, an elementary-school-aged girl from Indonesian Light Church, told me that she thinks she might want to be a pastor. Her mom remarked that this is a relatively new development within the last few months. Though she tagged on that sometimes she wants to be a doctor too. Both tough jobs, I responded. And both things that help people, her mom said. Her mom wondered where the pastoral desire might have originated. There is no doubt in my mind that having Emily Ralph Servant as the congregation’s interim pastor for the past six months has something to do with it. This young girl has experienced that women, too, might be pastors and her life is forever changed. I look forward to the day 30 years or so from now when this young woman might be my pastor, shaped by the city, loved by a congregation, and formed as one who is loved by God.

As Franconia Conference, our focus of energy is around cultivating healthy leaders of all ages, communities and connections. As staff, board and committees, we regularly work at this in a variety of ways. We do this in day-to-day correspondence, strategic planning and holy conversations. Sometimes it’s seemingly well-planned, other times it’s the Spirit’s serendipity. I’m learning to trust that the Spirit is working out something usually beyond what we can see and often more than we can imagine, as Paul tells the early church (Ephesians 3.10).

Two research initiatives have also begun this summer that involve our Conference pastors. As part of a project that examines the resiliency of women pastors in several Mennonite Conferences, Anne Kaufman Weaver from Lancaster County is interviewing 11 credentialed women currently serving within congregations. Currently 30% of our active credentialed pastors are women. Josh Meyer, one of the pastors at Franconia congregation, is beginning a longer examination on what sustains millennial Mennonite pastors (those born after 1980’ish). In his initial round of research, we’ve discovered that Franconia Conference has among the highest percentages of credentialed millennial pastors in Mennonite Church USA.

The Spirit is truly upon us, calling men and women, stirring the young, and giving dreams to those of us who have been on the journey longer. May we be able to live into these possibilities that are for sure beyond even our greatest hopes and imagination. Thanks be to God that the Spirit is undoubtedly still with us and calling among us in the space in between.

Being Church Together

July 21, 2016 by Conference Office

According to the Franconia Conference by-laws the vision for the conference is set by the conferring of the delegates. At the Fall 2015 Assembly, the vision of the conference was set through the passing of five Church Together Statements from congregations. Three of these statements called for either a taskforce or commission to carry out the work outlined in the statement. Therefore, the Israel/Palestine and Addressing Abuse Taskforces, along with the Faith and Life Commission have been formed. Here is an update on their work:

Faith and Life Commission

The Faith and Life Church Together Statement was approved by the delegates and calls for “the conference to reestablish the Faith and Life Commission for the purpose of providing at least quarterly gatherings for pastors to discern and study scripture together.”

The commission currently includes Rose Bender (Whitehall) as chair, Nathan Good (Swamp), Kris Wint (Finland), Verle Brubaker (Swamp), Penny Naugle (Plains), Josh Meyer (Franconia), and the staff liaison is the conference executive minister.

With the ministry description in mind, the commission is working on developing a covenant of cooperation for themselves and have developed the following priorities:

Strengthen relationships of mutual trust and accountability between credentialed leaders
Discuss Scripture, its meaning, and its application together
Hear stories of how others are interpreting and applying Scripture
Pray for each other and our congregations
NOT intended for decision-making purposes

The commission is looking forward to kicking off the first of the quarterly gatherings for the conference credentialed leaders sometime this fall. Date to be announced in the coming weeks.

Addressing Abuse

The Addressing Abuse in Our Midst Church Together Statement was approved by the conference board as it provides a way for Franconia Conference to implement one of the 2015 MCUSA Kansas City Resolutions. This statement calls for the conference to “establish a task force to oversee the implementation of actions designated by the MCUSA Churchwide Statement on Sexual Abuse within Franconia Conference.”

The Addressing Abuse Taskforce consists of Karen Zehr (Salford), Krista Showalter Ehst (Alpha), John Drescher-Lehman (Souderton), Wayne Speigle (Blooming Glen), and their staff liaison is Jenifer Eriksen Morales .

With their ministry description in mind, the taskforce was faced with numerous items that need to be addressed. They decided to begin where the wounds are and work from there. Currently, they are working at providing resources and support for adult survivors; then they will develop and identify resources for supporting church leaders and equipping them to prevent and respond to abuse; finally they will help provide education within congregations. Resources identified by this taskforce are available on the Conference’s Church Safety webpage (http://mosaicmennonites.org/church-safety/), and more resources will be added in the future.

As the taskforce begins to look at providing resources and support to adult survivors, they discovered there is little-to-no support in the area of the conference congregations. In order to ensure support is available for adult survivors, the taskforce is working to develop support groups. If you or someone you know is interested in more information or in helping with the development or facilitation of a support group, please contact Karen Zehr, zehrhead@gmail.com or Jenifer Eriksen Morales, jeriksenmorales@mosaicmennonites.org.

Israel/ Palestine Church Together Statement

The Church Together Statement on Israel/Palestine was also approved by the conference board as it too provides a way for Franconia Conference to implement the MCUSA 2015 Kansas City Resolutions: A statement of support for our Palestinian and Israeli partners in peacemaking. In addition, the Franconia Conference Church Together Statement says “the intended consequence of this statement [is] to educate ourselves about the people of Israel-Palestine and their problems, and thereby to prepare our congregations, pastors, and delegates to evaluate intelligently the longer [MCUSA] resolution, called “Israel- Palestine” that was tabled until Convention 2017.”

In order to best prepare the conference, a taskforce has been formed. The taskforce currently includes Andrew Bush (Methacton), Ed Brubaker (Souderton), Preston Bush (Salford), Lynelle Bush (Salford), Jeff Hackman (Plains), Mike Merryman Lotze (Ambler), Peder Wiegner (Norristown), and their staff liaison is John Stoltzfus. They are still looking for additional members and would love to hear from anyone who has been on a Come and See Tour.

With their ministry description in mind, the taskforce is focused on providing the following resources:

Creating an informational packet on Israel/Palestine for the fall delegate assembly.
Hosting a conference on Israel/Palestine (time and date still being discussed).
Possible film screenings and discussion times.

Conclusion

The taskforces and commission are hard at work to ensure resources are implemented prior to assembly 2016.

Staff Update: The Space In Between

July 21, 2016 by Conference Office

by Stephen Kriss

We are three weeks into Executive Minister Ertell Whigham’s three month sabbatical. In the meantime, I’m serving as acting executive minister, which so far has meant attending to both more details and broader issues and possibilities for our community of faith together. These months will continue to provide opportunities for staff growth and engagement in new ways. Our conference youth minister, John Stoltzfus, is also on sabbatical, which makes the staff lean and busy for the summer.

In Mennonite Church USA, our conference currently has the most advertised pastoral openings. We are searching for diverse leaders from Taftsville in Vermont to South Philly to serve among our congregations. With about a dozen pastoral openings across our Conference, this is a significant time of transition and focused work. Pastoral transitions are high priorities for LEADership Minister engagement to help keep our congregations healthy and growing.

This summer we, the staff, begin “Going to the Margins” staff meetings which will mean the Conference office will be closed the last Wednesday of July, August, and September in the afternoons as staff engage with our congregational communities. Our first “Going to the Margins” staff meeting will be with Doylestown Mennonite next week where we’ll engage with pastors and spend time learning there. I look forward to each of these three afternoon times out together.

Franconia Conference is about conferring. There are frequent meetings and there is much planning happening for meetings coming up this fall. Office staff work hard to ensure that we are ready to gather together in ways that are meaningful and that information flows in a timely and efficient way. We’re in process of planning for our annual assembly and continue to work to update our pastoral credentialing records.

There is much to do. We have many good stories to tell. We continue to work and to hope. I invite you to join together in prayer for the conference, staff, board and everyone across our almost 7000 people conference community as together we strive to “live a life worthy of our calling.”

Executive Search Update

July 20, 2016 by Conference Office

On May 19, Franconia Mennonite Conference (FMC) Moderator, John Goshow, announced to the conference delegates and conference related ministry (CRM) leaders that the board had accepted the resignation of Executive Minister, Ertell Whigham, to be effective January 31, 2017. Ertell states in his resignation letter, “it continues to be a blessing and honor to serve as the Executive Minister and CEO of FMC. On behalf of the conference, I have enjoyed the opportunities and collaborative relationships that have developed and been strengthened among our constituency and MCUSA affiliates. However, as I sense time for a change in responsibility and ministry focus, I believe that the season approaches for me to step out of my current conference role as Executive Minister and CEO of FMC.”

With that the Conference Board Executive Committee began engaging Franconia Conference pastors, CRM leaders, board and staff for their input on what they desire from the next Executive Minister. A survey was sent out to these constituency groups and resulted in 22 pages of feedback. Three meetings were then held where pastors, CRM leaders, board and staff were invited to dialogue with the Executive Committee about their hopes and expectations of the next Executive Minister. The survey results and notes from these meetings have been shared with the search committee.

As communicated in a letter from the conference moderator on July 1, Joy Sutter of Salford Mennonite Church, has agreed to chair the search committee. Joy is also a member of the MCUSA board, and the Associate Administrator for the Cancer Service Line at University of Pennsylvania Health System. She brings extensive administrative and executive experience to this process. Five additional people have also been named to the search committee in the last few weeks. These individuals have been appointed by the board with input from some conference pastors. The other members include Angela Moyer (Ripple) who will serve as the board representative on the committee, Henry Longacre (Swamp), Glen Nemath (Blooming Glen), Doris Diener (Franconia Mennonite Church), and Michael Meneses (Wellspring Church of Skippack). The search committee is scheduled to have their first meeting on July 21.

The conference board desires not to rush this process and wants to ensure that the search committee has all the time they need to discern the person God has for this role. At the same time, it is hoped that the next Executive Minister would be named by December 31. Further communication regarding the process will be released as it is available via Intersectings and possible letters from the Moderator. Questions regarding the process can be directed to the Conference Moderator.

Together Despite Differences: Youth Worship Event Report

July 7, 2016 by Conference Office

By Madison Smith, Deep Run East

In order to bring teens “together despite differences”, Eastern District and Franconia Mennonite Conference held their annual Youth Worship Gathering on June 4, 2016. The theme of the event was “Built together in Christ”, and was led by Chantelle Todman Moore, Philadelphia Program Coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee.

According to Christian Zeo, Doylestown Mennonite Church, the theme helped to “bring us all together under Jesus.”

The message that Todman Moore delivered also resulted in a positive responses. “It put flesh and blood on the idea of Christ,” said Doylestown Youth Leader Brandon Landis.

As well as a message, the gathering also had many times of worship throughout the event, which were led by Nathan Good, Associate Pastor at Swamp Mennonite Church, and Danilo Sanchez, Leigh Valley Youth Pastor for Ripple, Whitehall and Vietnamese Gospel.

According to Zeo, the songs get people to express what they normally can’t. “Besides the messages, the songs had an upbeat feel,” said Zeo. “Most songs are too solemn.”

This event is held biannually, the first weekend of June following the Mennonite Historians Whack and Roll event. Usually the youth enjoy time outdoors under a big tent on the Mennonite Historians’ land in Harleysville. Due to the rain, the event was moved indoors to Christopher Dock Mennonite High School. Yet, the rain did not keep the people away; over 12 youth groups participated, including those from Doylestown, Ripple, Whitehall, Blooming Glen, Deep Run East and Deep Run West and many more.

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