Conference News

Conference Welcomes Gwen Groff to the Board

May 14, 2015 by Conference Office

by Barbie Fischer, communication manager and administration coordinator

The Franconia Conference board welcomed Gwen Groff as a new board member at their May 11 meeting. Gwen has served as pastor of Bethany Mennonite Church in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont since 1999.

During that time, she has been very active in the conference, in spite of the distance. She has served as a Franconia Conference delegate or congregational delegate at Mennonite Church USA (MCUSA) conventions and has attended most Franconia Conference assemblies. Gwen’s encouragement also prompted Franconia Conference to start recording pastors and leaders events, so that those who could not attend would still be able to access that resource.

Gwen grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and completed her undergraduate work at Eastern Mennonite College and Franklin & Marshall College. She later received a master’s degree in Theology and Pastoral Counseling from Lancaster Theological Seminary. While in seminary, Gwen interned with and then served part-time at Community Mennonite Church in Lancaster.

Prior to pastoral ministry, Gwen held several roles with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), including working in peace education in the Akron, Pennsylvania office, and at the London Mennonite Center in the United Kingdom. She also served as MCC’s director of women’s concerns.

While in London, Gwen met her husband, Robert Buchan. They have two children, Lilly, 18, and Andrew, 16.

Gwen said what she loves about Vermont is the landscape “summers, springs, and falls, in that order.”

She also loves the people in her congregation, and how they do things with integrity and a lot of intention. Says Gwen, “You don’t accidentally wind up in a Mennonite Church in Vermont. The church had to planted.” (Bethany is one of only two MCUSA churches in Vermont.) What seems to draw Vermonters to Bethany and the Mennonite tradition is the peace witness, the opportunity to sing together, and the community, as the congregation is active in one another’s lives throughout the week.

Gwen brings many strengths to her role as a board member with Franconia Conference: a willingness to listen, to learn from others, and an enthusiasm for the work of the conference. She is most excited about the mission, “Equipping leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission.”

Stephen Kriss, LEADership minister for Bethany, says, “Gwen is an experienced pastor and trusted leader. She’ll bring deep wisdom and love for the church with a Vermonter perspective yet as someone who has grown up in Pennsylvania Mennonite contexts and with a connection with Anabaptism in the UK. Her insights, questions along with her poetic and prophetic voice will help us to keep navigating while listening for God’s in-breaking.”

In her spare time Gwen enjoys walking in the woods, singing in various acapella groups, playing piano, patch work quilting, and “the fascinating role of parenting teenagers.” What energizes her is making connections, storytelling and seeing how pieces connect “to my story and to God’s story.”

Miraculous Connections Amidst Crisis in Nepal

May 14, 2015 by Conference Office

by Robin Nafziger, Vincent Mennonite Church

How extraordinary–or dare we say miraculous?–is it that two people called to serve God on different continents, separated by almost 8,000 miles and twelve time zones, are both supported by Vincent Mennonite Church, and brought together to help one another and the people of Nepal after the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake first struck the region on April 25, 2015. As the aftershocks rise to a magnitude 7.3 quake this past Tuesday, God reminds us He is moving amidst the shaking mountains making connections for His children.

Dave Mansfield with Dale and Bethsaba Nafziger at Top of the World Coffee Shop located in Kathmandu Nepal (April 30, 2015)

Years ago, God had put in motion His plan to bring aid and comfort to the people of Nepal living in fear with the aftermath and aftershocks from the earthquake. Following God’s call to serve in Nepal many years ago, Dale Nafziger now resides in Kathmandu, the capital city, where he and his family witnessed and experienced the panic of this natural disaster very personally. Meanwhile, halfway around the world in Las Vegas, Nevada, Dave Mansfield followed God’s call to serve over a decade ago and remains in leadership at the YWAM base located there while also serving and leading with RescueNet, an all-volunteer international disaster response team. With approximately 90 volunteers from 16 countries, RescueNet has the capability to deploy a team to the site of a disaster within 24 hours of a request for aid.

Shortly after the earthquake struck Nepal, RescueNet was preparing to assemble a team of responders who were waiting to deploy once help was requested. As Dave Mansfield prepared the way for his team, one of the first calls he made was to Dale Nafziger, a fellow follower of Christ with ties to the same home congregation.

Through this connection, Dale Nafziger and his wife Beth were able to offer a location to Dave and his 16-member RescueNet team at Top of the World Coffee Shop in Kathmandu, which is owned and operated by the Nafzigers. The shop offered a place for the RescueNet team to store equipment, and organize their medics and children’s aid workers before sending them out to the heavily-damaged neighboring villages. Top of the World Coffee Shop also provided an opportunity for the RescueNet team to connect with Dale, Beth and locals seeking refuge and a sense of normalcy. Dale and Beth also gave the team access to people familiar with the language, the area, and the customs in order to allow them to accomplish as much as they could under difficult circumstances. In addition, Beth, a nurse, was able to provide contacts in the Nepal Christian Medical and Dental Association as well.

It is a monumental task to organize the right people, plan logistics and prepare the appropriate equipment to travel thousands of miles to an unfamiliar land to serve people you may not understand. Yet, God’s miraculous design allowed Dave and Dale to come together in Nepal at the time of the earthquake to support and encourage each other as they assist God’s children in a time of need, comforting the people of Nepal, building on the common bond of congregation, and the call of God.

Please continue to pray for the people of Nepal as they continue to recover from the original earthquake and repeated devastating aftershocks.

Ensuring Our Children’s Safety

May 7, 2015 by Conference Office

Attend the Leadership and Congregation Training on New Pennsylvania Child Protection Law

In an effort to strengthen our church communities to be safe spaces for our children and youth, and to move toward compliance with the new Pennsylvania child protection law, Franconia Mennonite Conference and Eastern District Conference are joining with Bucks County NOVA (www.novabucks.org) to offer a crucial training for churches – “Child Protective Services Training”. We as a church have an obligation and an opportunity to ensure our child protection policies and culture are at their best. This is why the Franconia Conference Ministerial Committee strongly recommends that credentialed leaders attend one of the seminars. In addition, it is advised that each congregation have a representative or team there as well.

This training seminar will be held twice: Wednesday, May 13, 9:30-12:00 noon and Wednesday, May 20, 7-9:30 pm at Towamencin Mennonite Church, 1980 Sumneytown Pike, Kulpsville. To register for the training click go to http://mosaicmennonites.org/rsvp/.

This new legislation impacts both volunteers and paid staff responsible for caring for children in regularly scheduled programs, activities, or services including Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, Christian Education leaders, pastors, church staff, nursery staff, and Christian nurture leaders. Therefore it is encouraged that your congregation send a team of persons to this training, both staff and volunteers.

This training will:

Increase knowledge of who is classified as a mandated reporter and what those responsibilities are under the new Child Protective Services Law.
Increase probability of suspecting child abuse when there is “reasonable cause.”
Increase knowledge of procedure for reporting of child abuse to child protective services.
Include conversation with other churches regarding best practices.
Educate and prepare our communities to deal with and prevent child sexual abuse.
Teach the steps to help prevent abuse, recognize warning signs, and react responsibly when abuse occurs.

Some churches are already taking steps to address the new law while others are still trying to determine how to best implement the new requirements. We will hear from a few of our congregations who have already made strides to address the requirements of the new law and will discuss ways in which your congregation can continue to ensure the safety and well-being of our children and youth. We look forward to seeing you at the Child Protective Services Training as we all work together to strengthen our church communities to be safe spaces for our children and youth.

New Beginnings: Building Spiritual and Academic Hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus

May 6, 2015 by Conference Office

by Sharon Williams

“I am so grateful for the way God is working in the lives of our young people,” say Pastor Jon Moore while reflecting on his 14 years of pastoral ministry at New Beginnings Community Church of Bristol. “It is so amazing to see what God has done through our church, making it a safe haven for the children and youth of Bristol, a place where they could do things they really wanted to do.” Although the congregation held her last worship service in September 2013, the legacy of God’s love lives on.

Pastor Jon recounts several stories of young adults whom he still mentors. A seven-year-old girl who wasn’t learning how to read will graduate from high school this year, due to her mother’s encouragement and the nurturing of a loving church. A boy, who came in contact with the church through a broken window incident and resultant community service, graduated from Temple University and works in sports administration in Los Angeles. A family whose involvement in the church helped them to stay focused on following Jesus, worked hard to buy a home and send their twins to Mansfield University. Jon’s daughter, Felicia, who ministered beside him through her high school and college years, now has a master’s degree in adult education and is a youth pastor’s wife.

Pastor Jon arrived at Bristol in 1986. His home church was Diamond Street Mennonite Church in Philadelphia. His passion for ministering with the young people was infectious. “Near the end of his pastorate, Pastor Ben Bussey told the congregation, ‘Jon Moore loves this church so much, you should call him to be the next pastor,’” recalls Cathy Nyagwegwe, a former leader of the congregation. After a short interim pastorate, Jon was called to be New Beginnings’ pastor in 1999.

The vision and the ministry at New Beginnings started with a similar call. Before there was a Mennonite congregation in Bristol, “Brother Wilson Overholt . . . was challenged by Bishop A. O. Histand in 1936 that a Mission should be started in the Lower Bucks area.” This call became clearer in the 1940s, when the Overholts twice provided foster care for a family in Bristol whose mother was struggling with illnesses. In 1947, this unnamed family hosted cottage meetings in their home, and “were baptized and received into the fellowship at Deep Run Mennonite Church”[1] At the same time, a visiting missionary, likely J. D. Graber, preached “every church (should have) a mission”[2] at Deep Run. Convictions were stirred, and the Franconia Conference “Mission Board granted permission to start a work in Bristol.”[3]

Two government housing developments, Terraces I and II, were chosen as the geographic focal point for the ministry in Bristol. Some 600 homes had been built in 1918 to accommodate a large number of shipyard workers during World War I.[4]

Leadership was called forth from Deep Run and other congregations in the conference. Sunday school, worship, open air services, summer Bible schools were conducted at the community center, in tents, and at the public school. In 1954, Howard Rush was ordained as pastor and moved with his family to Bristol. The transition from mission outreach to congregation had begun. After 10 years of ministry, increasing attendance and a great flurry of community outreach, the mission board purchased land and organized the building of the Bristol Mennonite meetinghouse in 1958. The summer Bible school taught 246 children that summer.

The congregation also had a steady flow of interaction with leaders from conference, the denomination, and related ministries and missions. Pastor Rush represented the congregation in interviews about community race relations and with State Parole Board, and in a Liquor Licensing hearing about a proposed bar in the neighborhood.

Delores Long Derstine was a teenager when her father, George Long, was called as pastor with the Bristol congregation (1966–1973). “He had a passion for the youth of the community. He made sure that we had active boys’ and girls’ clubs and a youth fellowship,” Delores recalls. The youth attended Camp Men-o-lan and later, Spruce Lake Retreat. Annie Davis, one of the Bristol students at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School lived with the Long family. Young people and adults sealed their commitments to Christ and the church through baptism.

“My father also built relationships with the African-American pastors in Bristol, and once attended a worship service in one of their churches, which was quite a cross cultural experience for him,” Delores remembers.

The congregation and community experienced many changes in the 1970s. The housing developments were deteriorating and being torn down; this prompted many of the Bristol families to move to other places. Raymond Jackson was the first African-American pastor called to shepherd the Bristol congregation in 1976. Pastors Gary Young (1987–1991), Ben Bussey (1992–1999), and Jon Moore (1999–2013) followed. The congregation chose the name New Beginnings Community Church in 1987. “Of Bristol” was added to the official name in 2008.

“Building spiritual and academic hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” became the congregation’s vision statement. The church started the New Beginning Learning Center of Bristol in 2007, with a library and computer lab for school children. Tutoring and mentoring, sometimes in the late evenings, was worth it—for today, some of those children are productive and committed Christians with careers as nurses, beauticians, business owners, and with various corporations.

“People tend to live in a box of their own culture,” reflects Pastor Jon. “Moving outside the box helps children to grow. We held summer camps and field trips. We visited and hosted Taftsville (VT) Chapel Mennonite Fellowship, which supported our youth programs and helped us with two flooded basement incidents. Our congregation sponsored a Christian hip hop artist concert, and enjoyed camping and retreats at Spruce Lake Retreat and Camp Hebron.

“Our mission was to equip children and their families with a Christian perspective for moving beyond downward life cycles. We held several dedications for individual teens as a way to both call and release them for ministry. As they worked beside us, they were being equipped to be leaders. Everything was done to inspire children and youth grow up to be who God was calling them to be.”

Pastor Jon claims Romans 8:37: “We are more than conquerors through [Christ] who loved us” (NRSV). Today he lives with muscular dystrophy, but he stays in touch with the Bristol community and the young people he continues to mentor. “I do what I need to do, and let the rest go. I want my testimony to encourage others to press on [toward the goal of knowing and living for Christ]” (Philippians 3:7-12). He is grateful to God for the witness of all the persons who ministered faithfully, doing their part to spread and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Bristol.

Sharon K. Williams is a musician, editor and congregational/non-profit consultant. She serves the Lord with the Nueva Vida Norristown New Life congregation as minister of worship.

[1] Esther Leatherman, “History of Bristol Mennonite Church, 1948-1981,” unpublished, 1981, 1.
[2] Conversation with John Ruth.
[3] Leatherman, 1.
[4] C. Stanley Taylor, “Bristol, America’s Greatest Single Industrial Housing Development” in American Architect, Vol. 113, Part 2, 1918, 599–615.

How Do You Read the Bible? Reflections on Biblical Interpretation Through Anabaptist Eyes

April 30, 2015 by Conference Office

by Verle Brubaker

On Saturday, April 18^th, 86 members of Franconia Mennonite Conference met to reflect together on how we read the Bible: as a rule book, as a recipe book for a good life, or as a love letter/story from God to his people.

Coming out of the event I have a renewed purpose to dive into the Scriptures as the revelation of Jesus, God’s word to us. The Bible is a word that reveals the story of God’s love for humanity, as experienced and written by the saints of old. It is a complex and multi-faceted account of that love, what it looks like, and how it was and is experienced.

Seeing this as a love letter and story from/about the Beloved drives us to read, study, and explore not only the words on the pages but the situations, contexts, and world views that are a part of the telling. It cannot be a flat, just-the-facts reading. I don’t read the letters from those I love that way. I devour and read the intimate nuances of each word and paragraph, seeking to know the beloved better.

If our first desire in coming to Scripture is to know this God who loves beyond all imagination, than we will find a growing and deepening love for this Jesus-looking God, and in seeing him we will see each other in his light.

So I come away from the day with a deeper appreciation and desire to know and follow Jesus better by delving more deeply into the Scriptures.

Dawn Moore, a member of Souderton Mennonite Church’s board, shares: “I gained new insight into traditional Anabaptist values as we discussed how those values relate to our church today. Laura {Brenneman}’s comparison of the church to a choir of voices was the most thought-provoking analogy for me. She encouraged us to listen to all the voices in our midst, including those that are more tentative and quiet. I was left wondering: how do we keep those voices singing in tune? Is it important for them to be reading the same music? I am glad I gave a beautiful spring Saturday to meet with other believers and hear their voices on these topics.”

Laura Brenneman, adjunct professor with Eastern Mennonite University and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, presented an Anabaptist overview of the Bible. Terry Brensinger, vice president of Fresno Pacific University, dean of the Biblical Seminary and professor of pastoral ministries, addressed Anabaptism and the Old Testament. To round out the day, Dennis Edwards, senior pastor with the Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, spoke on Anabaptism and the New Testament. Podcasts of these presentations are available here (click on Events tab).

If you were not present, be sure to listen to the podcasts, read the listening committee’s reflections (upcoming Intersectings article), and/or find persons who were there and ask them to tell you what they heard and experienced.

Verle Brubaker pastors the Swamp Mennonite congregation in Quakertown and is a member of Franconia Conference’s Ministerial Committee.

Standing with brothers and sisters in Nepal

April 30, 2015 by Conference Office

by Barbie Fischer, communications manager & administration coordinator

Top of the World Coffee in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Those living in Nepal still tremble following a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit on Saturday, April 25. It was centered less than 50 miles from Kathmandu.

Dale and Bethsaba Nafzinger, who have ties to Vincent Mennonite Church (Spring City, Pennsylvania), own and operate Top of the World Coffee, a café in Kathmandu. The Nafzigers reported they are all well, with little to no damage to their home and shop. However, the region is severely devastated, including several buildings in their town that crumbled.

Since the initial earthquake, there have been several aftershocks that continue to rock the region, including a 6.7 magnitude quake.

Dale says that growing up towards the end of the Vietnam War, he occasionally heard the term “shell-shocked”; now, he is experiencing it firsthand. Every time a loud jet passes overhead, causing the building to shake, or loud thunder crashes in the distance, he and others find themselves scrambling for safety.

In the midst of this, the coffee shop re-opened on Wednesday, and so far, response has been far greater than anticipated. When the Nafzigers opened the coffee shop, one of their goals was to offer a space of refuge, with comfort food and a comfortable environment in the middle of a very intense city. They are grateful, they say, to see their vision coming to life in a way they’d never imagined.

As recovery continues, Dale and his family have extended an invitation to the shop staff welcoming them to “both ‘live with us’ and ‘eat with us’ until things reach a state of normality, albeit, a ‘new normal.’”

In other areas, aid workers have struggled to reach several communities, such as those in the district of Gorkha, where the earthquake was centered, due to the mountainous terrain and devastation from the quake. The death toll has now risen to over 5,000, with thousands more injured. There is still hope, though: Not only have the Nafzingers reopened Top of the Mountain Coffee, recently a young man was pulled from the rubble after spending over 80 hours buried under what had been the Kathmandu Hotel.

Many are wishing to offer aid and support to brothers and sisters in Nepal as they tremble in the aftermath of this tragedy. Recovery will be a long process, and as Dale notes, it will be important not only to give immediate humanitarian aid but also invest in long-term initiatives to rebuild communities in the region.

If you would like to support recovery and rebuilding efforts in Nepal you can do so through Mennonite Mission Network’s Earthquake Response in Nepal. If you want to follow the progress of Top of the World Coffee, you can do so on their Facebook page.

Fischer Named as Conference Communication Manager & Administration Coordinator

April 30, 2015 by Conference Office

Lora Steiner

Barbie Fischer has joined Franconia Mennonite Conference staff as communication manager and administration coordinator. Departures by Emily Ralph, associate director of communication, and Gay Brunt Miller, director of administration, paved the way for the new position.

Barbie brings extensive experience in connecting churches to mission and ministries in their communities and globally. She first began working in mission when she was 17, on issues related to child soldiers in Uganda. She continued that work for five years, developing reintegration programs for girl child soldiers, who’d experiences the same training and fighting as the boys, but also had to deal with trafficking and sexual abuse. In that capacity, she connected the nonprofit she helped form with churches in the United States for funding and volunteer support.

She later worked with the Africa Faith and Justice Network in Washington, D.C., a group of Catholic organizations that advocates for policies that will benefit brothers and sisters in Sub-Saharan Africa. While Barbie lived in the D.C. area, she also helped do outreach for an arts-based faith community known as Convergence, running a gallery that was a part of the church building. Part of her role was to find artists whose work, whether explicitly religious or not—provoked conversations about faith and theology. She planned various community events, talkbacks with artists, and documentary screenings.

Barbie was born in Illinois and has lived “a little bit of everywhere” but considers Michigan to be most home; both her parents were raised in Sturgis, Michigan.

Barbie was raised in the Church of Christ, and first recalls encountering Mennonites through trips to Das Essenhaus in Shipshewana, Indiana. She later encountered them again when she was searching for a master’s program in conflict transformation. She found the program at Eastern Mennonite University, which drew her in for its teachings of healing and restoration that she valued from her faith, and a holistic approach she hadn’t found in other contexts.

For Barbie, many aspects of faith she found among Mennonites resonate: she places high value on adult baptism, and the belief that faith is a choice to be made voluntarily. And one of the things she has most valued about her faith journey is community.

“When I read the book of Acts, it wasn’t just a service, it was a community that took care of one another, kind of like a large extended family,” she says.

For several years, while she was in college and living in Lansing, Michigan, she was a part of a house church that for her, embodied that community. She appreciated the way the congregation reached out to the community, partnered with other churches, and the intentionality with which they planned gatherings and worship services.

She also valued being able to wrestle with her own sense of being called to ministry, after growing up in churches that didn’t allow women to lead.

In her work with the Conference, Barbie is looking forward to working with churches to fulfill the mission and vision that Christ has for them. She is most excited, she says, “about helping churches be the best they can be.”

In her free time, Barbie likes to paint and be outside. She is also passionate about issues of prison reform and incarceration, and facilitates victim-offender dialogues for the Pennsylvania Office of Victim Advocates.

She lives in Northwest Philadelphia and has been connecting with Ambler Mennonite Church.

Bike to GROW: Former MEDA interns cycle for a cause

April 29, 2015 by Conference Office

by MEDA staff

Sarah French and Mary Fehr aren’t your typical 20-somethings and their upcoming adventure is no different. Both were recently part of the intern program at Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA): Sarah worked on an agriculture project in Nicaragua, Mary on a health project in Tanzania.

Sarah French and Mary Fehr kicked off the speaking part of their tour with an event in Leamington, Ontario on April 13.

After seeing the impact of MEDA’s work helping women to get out of poverty and live healthier lives, they wanted to get more involved. In May, the pair will embark on a four-month bike ride across Canada to raise $150,000 for MEDA’s GROW (Greater Rural Opportunities for Women) project in Ghana.

“The GROW project is assisting 20,000 women farmers and their families to sustainably emerge from poverty. Mary and I wanted to support a project that focused on women because we saw the gender inequalities while on our own internships,” said French. “It couldn’t be more symbolic: Two women cycling across Canada representing independent, self-sufficient women.”

Bike to GROW will begin May 18 in Victoria, British Columbia, and conclude September 5 in Leamington, Ontario. On the way, Sarah and Mary will stop at MEDA chapters, churches and community centers to speak with locals about MEDA, the GROW project, and their experiences.

“I love to take on a challenge and prove to myself that absolutely anything is possible with willpower and determination,” Fehr said. “Sarah and I cannot fail, especially with the amazing support we’ve received. We’re no longer just biking for ourselves but for all of MEDA, MEDA’s supporters and of course, the women and families in Ghana.”

“It’s really inspiring to see Sarah and Mary’s passion for how MEDA works and their determination to succeed for women in Ghana,” said Ethan Eshbach, coordinator of engagement initiatives. “Bike to GROW has encouraged many people to join us in our mission to create business solutions to poverty. Anyone can help by offering financial support, a place to sleep or by organizing a local event.”

GROW is helping women soybean farmers in Northern Ghana increase agricultural production, strengthen their links to markets, diversify the food they produce and understand more about nutrition. Funded by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), this six-year project will improve the incomes and food security of 20,000 women and their families.

“We”re so blessed and honored that women like Sarah and Mary want to support our efforts to empower women as entrepreneurs here in Ghana,” Catherine Sobrevega, GROW country project manager. “These women work hard and persevere every day to provide for their families. You can see their smiles when they learn new things, produce a good harvest and have income because of our support. It’s exciting to know their life-changing stories are going to be shared across Canada. Our team will include both of them in our prayers. May they remain strong and safe throughout this memorable journey for GROW.”

“It only feels right to use this ride as a chance to give back to the wonderful work MEDA does every day,” say Sarah and Mary.

Conference News

Attend the Leadership and Congregation Training on New Pennsylvania Child Protection Law

Footer