Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Conference News

Brokenness and healing in Doylestown

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VETS DAY 2013 -PRAYER SERVICE DOYLESTOWN
Chaplain George Lindsey and KrisAnne Swartley at Doylestown congregation’s Veteran’s Day prayer service. Photo by Randy Heacock.

by KrisAnne Swartley, Doylestown congregation

On Sunday evening November 10th, a group of people from the community and from Doylestown congregation gathered to reflect on the painful parts of life and to seek hope in God’s Presence.

Chaplain George Lindsey of the local VFW, spoke honestly and with vulnerability about the depression he felt while deployed in Iraq, as well as the PTSD he struggled to overcome when he arrived back home. He also spoke with great confidence about God’s comfort and the many ways God has healed and continues to heal him.  George led us in singing “Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand!”

Ron and Robin Miller also spoke about the hope they find in Jesus as they continue to grieve the loss of their son, Brett. They read from Psalm 22, “from birth I was cast upon you, God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near.”

In the candlelight and silence, with broken pieces of slate in our hands to symbolize how broken we sometimes feel, we waited on God. We could hear one another weeping. And then we prayed that God in Jesus would make all things well, even in the midst of suffering.

After the service was over, many of us stayed to talk and pray with one another. It was a healing time of honesty and hope, this beautiful evening that broke down barriers between “church” and “community.”

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.

Christopher Dock joins clothing drive to assist Syrian refugees

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syrian clothing drive
Christopher Dock senior Johnathan Capp, left, and assistant principal Martin Wiens with some of the collected clothing. (The Reporter/GeoffPatton)

Adapted from an article by Jennifer Lawson, The Reporter (original article)

TOWAMENCIN — The number of Syrians who have fled the violence in their country has surpassed two million, creating a humanitarian crisis in the countries that have set up refugee camps.

Christopher Dock Mennonite High School and the Mennonite Central Committee’s Material Resource Center in Harleysville launched a short-term, intensive clothing drive last month to help the refugees, with assistance from the local community.

About a dozen bags of clothing had already been donated over the weekend before assistant principal Martin Wiens and senior Johnathan Capps announced the effort during the school’s chapel hour on September 16.

“It’s become so politicized, but people want to know, ‘What can I do to help?’ ‘What’s something tangible we can do?’” Wiens said. The students collected blankets, coats, sweaters, long pants, ankle-length skirts, long-sleeved shirts, shoes, backpacks, and toys.

This is part of a larger effort — the clothing drive was coordinated by the Material Resource Center’s headquarters in Ephrata, Pa., and other church communities across the country are also holding drives.

Dock’s involvement seemed fitting because juniors and seniors are learning about the refugee crisis in Bible class and social studies class, Wiens said, and school leadership thought it was important to get students invested in the movement to help.

“They seem pretty interested,” Capps said, adding that he heard from some classmates over the weekend who wanted to know more about the clothing drive and how they could help.

In total, the drive collected nearly 50 cubic feet of donations, which were then sent to Ephrata and processed, then sent to Lebanon, said Sharon Swartzentruber, director of the Material Resource Center in Harleysville.

“We’re trying to get everything to Lebanon before the weather turns too cold, and it takes a long time for shipments to arrive — five or six weeks,” she said.

Although the clothing drive has ended, the Material Resource Center is still collecting hygiene kits and relief kits, which are distributed in areas of crisis around the world, including the Middle East. For more information, please call the MRC at (267) 203-8074.

Ministerial report (September 2013)

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The Ministerial Committee met on September 4:

  • We took action to grant a specific license to Tim Hart to serve as pastor of revitalization for Garden Chapel.
  • We approved ordination for Emily Ralph from the Salford congregation who has been called to an associate pastor position at Sunnyside in Lancaster.
  • We granted a license toward ordination to Tami Good who is serving as minister of worship and music at Souderton.
  • Arnold Derstine and Mike Ford have resigned from the pastoral team at Franconia.
  • Blooming Glen has hired Mike Ford as youth pastor.
  • Frederick and Lakeview are seeking interim pastoral leadership.
  • Perkiomenville is seeking an associate pastor and Alpha and Taftsville congregations are looking for pastoral leadership.

A window into the life of some Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonites

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John Ruth Memoirfrom Mennonite Heritage Center

“A first-born and only son, I opened my eyes in a sprawling 122-year-old farmhouse along a pleasant creek in southeastern Pennsylvania,” writes Mennonite historian, John Landis Ruth, in his forthcoming book, Branch: A Memoir with Pictures. As eighty-three year old Ruth tells his story through photos and essays, readers get a rich glimpse of his life but also the Mennonite family and community in which he was raised.

The narrative begins at his birthplace, the 1809 Lower Salford Township farm along the East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek to which, at age 57, he returned with wife Roma and two sons’ families. The early tone is set by the 1940’s photography of his father Henry L. Ruth, a Bucks County-born farmer.  “Those are the scripture verses that little John L Ruth learned by memory when he was a little boy of 4 years old,” writes John’s maternal grandmother in a diary entry included in one of the book’s intimate and evocative photos.

After attending school in Lower Salford and Lancaster County, Pa., and Virginia, in 1950 at the age of 20 the future historian was chosen to be a Mennonite minister by the casting of lots.  Subsequent studies took him to Harvard where he earned a Ph.D. and became a Professor of English at what is now Eastern University, St. Davids, Pa., with a sabbatical as Guest Professor of American Literature at the University of Hamburg, Germany.

Back in Pennsylvania, Ruth accepted a call in his mid-forties to work on themes of Anabaptist-Mennonite heritage in a popular rather than academic mode.  His first book, commissioned by Conrad Grebel College, appeared in 1974.  Photographs from the following decades of cross-country teaching, film-making, writing, speaking at historical observances and tour-leading are interspersed in the memoir with scenes from family, church, and the author’s changing southeastern Pennsylvania community.  “In the end this is a love story—love of family, love of community and church—all anchored in an enduring, classic Mennonite faith,”  observes Dick Benner, editor of The Canadian Mennonite.

In small coffee-table-style, each of the 210 two-page spreads opens to a mini-essay paired with a full-page picture.  Ruth chose this format “to explore synergy between a lifetime’s collection of pictures and the words they may call forth.”

The 432-page, hard-bound memoir, priced at $25, is scheduled to be released at book-signings at the Mennonite Heritage Center, Harleysville on November 21 at 7:30 p.m; on November 22 in Lancaster County at Landis Homes at 10:00 a.m., Garden Spot Village at  2:00 p.m., and at a pictorial presentation on “Travel in the Anabaptist Historical Landscape” at the Martindale Reception Center at 7:30 p.m.; on November 23 at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society at 10:00 a.m.  The release in Canada is scheduled for Tourmagination’s 45th Anniversary Celebration at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo on November 28.

Copies will be available for purchase from TourMagination, www.tourmagination.com and the Mennonite Heritage Center (215 256 3020), 565 Yoder Road, Harleysville, PA 19438, www.mhep.org.

Youth groups move from charity to justice

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by Angela Moyer, RIPPLE (Allentown, Pa.) & Ben Wideman, Salford (Harleysville, Pa.)

Salford and Ripple youthBen:  As Salford prepared to experience Mennonite Church USA’s biannual gathering in Phoenix, AZ we understood that this was going to be a different kind of experience.  We knew that there were a whole host of reasons that various churches were in favor of attending and not attending.  One of the dramatic factors of a trip to the Southwest was that several of our sister congregations would be unable to afford the travel expenses.

As we began to get a sense of what we could afford, and how much we could offer in support of other youth groups, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Angela share with a group of youth pastors that she was interested in taking a group from their congregation but needed financial assistance.  It seemed like perfect timing – not just for financial support, but for deepening relationships with a congregation we knew little about.

Angela:  The invitation for RIPPLE youth to join Salford’s youth group on their trip to Phoenix was a hope and a wish come true.  It was evidence that all of our talk about sharing power and resources had some feet.  And as we began to make plans and think about what it would take in order to make this a healthy and positive experience for both groups, I realized that this was going to be more than a simple act of generosity or charity.

I had no idea what it would be like for RIPPLE youth to experience Convention.  I knew that it would be different for them than for youth who grow up in fairly stable, middle class churches and communities but I could not anticipate what their experience would be.  What I did know was that they deserved the opportunity to go just as much as other youth, if not more.  As we began to make plans for how to make this a positive experience, we soon realized that it would be more than a one week event in Phoenix.  Relationships needed to be built prior to a week-long trip together.

Ben:  Angela and I were in agreement from the onset that this had to be a shared experience.  Salford had supported other churches in the past by simply writing a check, but this time our youth and sponsors wanted to have a deeper connection than that.  We knew that this would be challenging; the simple geographic barriers, nuanced cultural contexts, and busy schedules meant that we had to work to get just one or two opportunities on the calendar for the respective youth to connect with each other.

Angela:  Relationships between people with very different backgrounds take time and effort to develop.  After they’re developed, then true relationships need to be maintained at some level.  It’s one thing to receive one or two gifts graciously, but to continue to receive them is hard.  And to believe that the non-financial gifts that you have to offer back is just as valuable as money is hard too.

Then, in typical RIPPLE fashion, the needs grew faster than what I could keep up with.  Shortly after registering two youth and myself for Convention with Salford’s group, another responsible youth began attending and significantly contributing to RIPPLE.  Now what do we do about the youth trip to Convention?  Thankfully, in God’s abundance, Deep Run East Mennonite was willing to contribute finances for this third youth to attend Convention.

Ben:  It seems obvious now, but looking back, I was unaware of the complexity of planning a trip like this.  Families from both churches had life experiences come up that changed their summer plans.  Conference registration and payment is challenging enough for 20 people from one church.  Add in hotel reservations (and roommate assignments), plane tickets, airport transportation, and youth from a whole other church, and this trip became an interesting logistical challenge.

Angela:  But this was just the beginning of being overwhelmed with the gaps to be bridged between the two groups; this is why I think our collaborative effort begins to point towards justice rather than mere generosity.  The partnership between RIPPLE and Salford offered opportunity to those who otherwise would not have been able to engage, for both groups to learn from one another.  The relationship is ongoing; although one phase is over, much is still unfinished.  This collaboration was and continues to be overwhelming on a variety of layers requiring more than what can be anticipated and offered.  And yet this is the space where God’s Spirit seems to be moving and providing.

Ben:  The relationship between Salford and RIPPLE will continue to be a work in progress.  We are two sister congregations, but we are made up of a huge cross-section of families and perspectives.  Oftentimes it is uncomfortable to have to work through what it means to be relating to people beyond the walls of our church building, but we trust that there will be a blessing and growth in this process.  We hope to continue to build this relationship so that our youth will begin to see themselves as a part of something larger than our respective church family.  I hope Salford and RIPPLE (and many other churches too!) will reach a point where relating with people from other contexts is not simply tolerated, but expected and valued.

What’s in a Vacation?

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MCC East Coast bike ride
Front row – Ruth Walter (Souderton), Sandy and John Drescher-Lehman (Souderton) Vernon Martin (Salford) Daryl Derstine (Blooming Glenn). Back Row – Len Walter (Souderton) Gene Kropf (Salford) and Steve Histand (Blooming Glenn)

by Sandy Drescher-Lehman, Souderton

Why would these 8 people from three different churches in our conference choose to spend 5 of their lazy days of summer vacation together, being NOT-lazy?

  1. They enjoy making the wheels on a bike go round and round.
  2. They wanted to help raise money to support Mennonite Central Committee’s project of planting trees in Haiti.
  3. Biking is their favorite way to stay in shape.
  4. They enjoy meeting other people from across North America who are making the same vacation choice!.
  5. They’re WILLING to sleep in tents for a week.
  6. They like to eat good food at the beginning and end and in-betweens of a good, hard day of biking.
  7. They know what an incredible gift it is to experience the beauty of God’s world, intersecting with healthy bodies and wholesome fellowship, all wrapped up in a good cause.

When I say that “All of the above” are the true answers, you’re likely asking, “Who WOULDN’T want to use their vacation to do that and how can I join this great endeavor?” Well, know that you, too, are welcome to join this ride the next time around!  Read on to learn some of the possible benefits.

Every year for the past 20, Mennonite Central Committee has sponsored a bicycle trip as one of its fund-raisers, alternating routes on the east and west coast.  Michigan and Ohio have also run similar trips of their own. This year, during the first week of August, the East Coast MCC ride was in the beautiful hills, under the voluptuously clouded skies, surrounding three of the Finger Lakes in northern New York. The group of 50-some bikers, including members of Souderton, Salford, and Blooming Glen congregations, plus another dozen staff who took care of the trip details of eating, sleeping and getting from place to place, raised over $60,000.00 – an exciting new record!  Thank you to each of you who sponsored one of us and to everyone who shares our passion for spreading God’s love throughout the world through the ministries of MCC.

I loved that bikers from 16 to 81 years of age, at all skill levels, could enjoy the same roads, worship in all of our different ways of noticing God’s presence, sing and pray together, and find out about each other’s families and the ministries we were returning to at the end of the week. Uniting around the things we had in common was energizing.  Sharing the tasks of camping was fun. Hearing new ways, from each other, of being God’s messengers in the world was inspiring.  And pedaling 300+ miles of roads that were hardly ever flat, was downright exciting, often exhausting and occasionally exhilarating!

Intercultural ministry threatened by foreclosure

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NVNNLNORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania – Nueva Vida Norristown New Life Mennonite Church recently celebrated 23 years as an intercultural, multi-lingual congregation of 16 cultures of origin. The church’s witness in Norristown and beyond has grown. But the economic downturn of 2007–08 continues to threaten God’s vision and mission for the congregation.

A 2010 public value study of the church’s local outreach ministries alone was valued at $247,000/ year—what it would cost the city of Norristown to replace the shared space with a child care center, a community Internet café, housing ministry for single women, and involvement with collaborative ministries—a homeless shelter, thrift store, and the local ministerium’s anti-violence ministries. Members also provide leadership for mission work in Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, and Great Britain.

With the meetinghouse in full use, the congregation launched a major expansion and renovation strategy in 2007, including the purchase of an adjacent office building for expanding outreach to the community. But the difficult economy impeded the generation of rental income to fully cover the mortgage.  A mutual aid effort by Franconia Conference congregations and friends gave Norristown New Life a much-needed breather in 2011–12, and one tenant was acquired.

To date, Univest, the mortgage lender, has not been open to lower the 2007 interest rate of 7.25%. The office building and meetinghouse are held as collateral. A foreclosure process is underway.

“If the congregation was to lose its home base for ministry, the spiritual and economic fallout in our “working poor” and immigrant community would be a tsunami,” said Ertell Whigham, one of three on the intercultural pastoral team. The child care center is a “beloved community” for 65 children from 35-40 families. The Internet café bridges the digital divide for community residents with Internet service, computer training, and a Christian witness. Single women needing some living assistance thrive in a shared, Christian environment.

The impact of ASSETS Montco’s microenterprise training program can still be found in successful small businesses around town—and in the number of calls for training since the program, a former tenant in the office building, lost funding and closed in 2010.

The church continues to seek solutions to this crisis, including new tenants, refinancing, and financial support of partners who affirm the intercultural vision and mission God has given the congregation.

For more information, contact Ertell Whigham, 610-636-1772, or Jim Williams, 610-277-1729.