Conference News

Finland invites community to drive-thru

March 19, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Rose Longacre, Finland

It was a cold morning this week when four members of our church, Finland Mennonite, gathered to set up a table making a free “drive-thru” coffee stand. As usual, we looked forward to seeing our “regulars” and we prayed for new cars to stop by. Our normal conversations about sugar or creamer were replaced this particular Wednesday by something much deeper as a woman from the community pulled in, not for coffee or donuts, but asking if we could pray with her. She had been to our drive-thru in months past but today she was in search of something more. We prayed for her and cried with her and marveled at how Jesus is able to work through us to bring comfort to others, even through donuts and coffee.

About 3 years ago, when the economy was tough, some of our members at Finland began pondering how our church could reach out to the community and let them know we cared. On Fachtsnachts Day, while I was on the phone with a friend, she drove by a church where they were handing out doughnuts at the red light. That event sparked a new idea: we could give out free cups of coffee!!!

In April 2010 we began our once-a-month drive thru coffee ministry. On the Sunday before, we put out a sign saying that there will be a free coffee drive thru from 6:30-8:00 am on the following Wednesday. Each month since that April, year round, on the third Wednesday of every month, we are outside with free coffee and donuts for all who drive thru during that time.

We have a list of our “regulars” who we know by name and how they take their coffee. One regular stops by just for a donut, while some bring their own cups to be filled. We have a team of four regular helpers to fill cups, add the cream/sugar, load up the bags and add the donut. Juice boxes are given to families with children.

Helpers are busy behind the scenes as well. The Boys & Girls Club have begun to decorate the bags, which often say, “Have a good day!” or “Smile, God loves you!” Some months we allow our guests to choose from homemade baked items made by congregational members.

In addition, businesses from the community have joined us in our outreach effort. A neighbor who made donuts for Yum Yum’s in Colmar for 40 years began donating two dozen donuts each month—he would come off of his night shift and deliver them to us for our event. After he became ill and passed away, Yum Yums honored his commitment to serving by continuing to donate 2 dozen donuts each month. One Village Coffee found out about our ministry and has also given us free coffee from time to time.

We average right around 20 individuals each month and almost always have a new one who has seen the sign but never stopped before. We look forward to seeing our regulars each month and catching up on their lives, their grandchildren, their vacations.

It has been a fun way to see who drives by our church and an opportunity to share the love of Christ with our community, invite people to events at our church, and help our neighbors to begin their day with a smile and a warm cup of free coffee.

Conference leaders join multicultural national gathering

March 7, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

Hope For The Future 2013 — Roy Williams, a Mennonite Education Agency board member and former Mennonite Church USA moderator; and Madeline Maldonado, associate pastor at Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Arca de Salvación in Fort Myers, Fla., and a Mennonite Mission Network board member, participate in small group discussions during the Hope for the Future II Conference. (Photo by Carol Roth.)

Racial/Ethnic leaders from Franconia and Eastern District Conferences joined Mennonite Church USA leaders from around the country at the “Hope … for the Future II: Persevering with Jesus” conference, January 25-27 in Leesburg, VA. According to the conference’s press release, the purpose for the event was to “encourage unity, celebrate the denomination’s multicultural progress, and begin outlining specific ways to help the entire church thrive as its membership rapidly becomes more diverse.”

Yvonne Platts, a leader in Nueva Vida Norristown New Life (Franconia) attended with Ertell Whigham, Franconia’s Executive Minister, Ron White, Eastern District’s moderator, and Noel Santiago, Franconia’s Minister for Spiritual Transformation. The conference had an atmosphere of solidarity, Platts reflected, even a lightness of spirit despite the heaviness of the topic and weariness of travel. “I am always moved by the gatherings that bring people of color together in a significant way,” she said. It was a “chance to celebrate just how far we’ve come as a people of faith in helping the church to live out its call.”

White was particularly struck by the call to unity, noting that “our future work as a multicultural group will only go as far as our unity will allow.” In order to experience and express that unity, leaders need to learn about and understand one another’s cultures, he added, which could be a challenge since the diversity within the church is great. “It has to start with how we best demonstrate that we care about each other,” he said.

The conference included recognition of the number of positions filled by leaders of color on the national level, including positions in the denomination as well as in Mennonite agencies. It is a sign of progress, observed Whigham. “We are positioned to speak into the culture while the culture may not necessarily embrace what we bring.” Meeting together with other leaders and sharing similar experiences was powerful, he said. It was a time of naming the difficulty of leading as a person of color in the midst of the dominant white culture, “not to beat up on our white brothers and sisters,” he said, “but describing a reality … they might not be aware of.”

Representation in positions of leadership is increasing, but is still not what it needs to be, noted Whigham. A number of young leaders at the conference—gifted, intelligent, visionary leaders—“said to us older folk, ‘Don’t give up—we commit ourselves to take the baton and keep moving forward, standing on your shoulders and continuing to engage,’” Whigham said. “That was hopeful.”

That raises the question of how current leaders are working to expand the leadership capacity in people of color within the Mennonite Church, White said. “Are we putting our young people of color in position to be our future leaders and how can we best equip them and create effective leadership among our cultures, and what can we do to support each other in this work?” he asked.

A highpoint in the conference was a sendoff blessing for John Powell, who recently retired after 23 years of anti-racism work with Mennonite Mission Agency. It was a bittersweet moment for Platts, knowing that “his work and that of others confronting the powers-that-be to look at systemic racism has gotten us this far and in the room together but there still exist huge … challenges to overcome.”

The future challenges could be overwhelming, but Platts remembers the words of one of the songs they sang together: “The journey is long.” Going forward, she said, she will hold onto those song lyrics and “pray for the wisdom, strength, and knowledge about how to best work with others to advance the kingdom of God in my church community and … conference.”

Read the press release from Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Mission Agency, and Mennonite Education Agency, the conference’s sponsors.

Congregational leaders discuss Mennonite Education Plan

March 5, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Susan Gingerich, Christopher Dock Mennonite High School

Penn View Schoolwide Service Project 002 — Students from Penn View Christian School collect baby kits for MAMA Project. Penn View is a participating school in congregational Mennonite Education Plans.

Franconia and Eastern District conference leadership recently joined leaders from 10 congregations to discuss Mennonite education. This annual forum focuses on the Mennonite education support plan (MEP) that congregations provide for students of Quakertown Christian School, Penn View Christian School, Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, and Philadelphia Mennonite High School.

Attendees found this forum helpful as they shared successes, challenges, and opportunities related to mutual aid, accountability, mission, accessibility, and integrity for congregational support plans for students attending the three local Mennonite schools.

Several churches have committees that plan for and oversee the guidelines and financial status of the fund. The Mennonite Education Advocacy Team (MEAT) of Souderton congregation is one such special committee that was formed to advocate for Mennonite education at all levels and for the mission of MEP at Souderton. They have been successful in enhancing respect for informed and intentional choices in both Christian education and public school education. While MEAT looks after the financial piece for the church and families, they also remind the congregation of mutual aid, accountability, and accessibility in order to give the education plan integrity.

Table group discussions affirmed the Mennonite Education Plan as a missional opportunity for congregations to tend the well-being and spiritual development of young children and youth. Church representatives reported that not all congregants see MEP as missional, and a common challenge is meeting the MEP budget in this economic environment.

MEP is an opportunity for churches to invest in young people to raise faithful and radical followers of Christ. Attendees expressed a desire to validate families who choose to support public schools also.

In addition to a time of networking, the principal of each school shared stories of students whose lives are being impacted by MEP support. The schools plan to continue this annual forum to provide encouragement and to assist with programmatic challenges. Churches not involved with MEP that are interested in learning about a support plan may contact any of the participating schools’ principals.

Georgia Praise celebrates past, future on Lunar New Year

February 28, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

GPC 2nd Anniversary 2 — Members of Georgia Praise present the congregation’s children with traditional New Years gifts.

Georgia Praise Center celebrated its second anniversary on February 10 with worship, fellowship, and special performances. This year’s anniversary celebration coincided with the Lunar New Year. Conference executive minister Ertell Whigham and his wife Pat, Nueva Vida Norristown New Life congregation, drove to Atlanta to join Georgia Praise for the anniversary celebration. From the moment they walked in the door, they felt like part of the Georgia Praise family, Whigham said. “It was one of the most enriching, welcoming, and open church experiences I’ve had. It was an honor to be able to minister with them, to both give and receive a blessing.”

Whigham shared a message with the gathered congregation and presented them with a towel and a pitcher, which, he said, represented their baptism and their membership in the larger conference family; despite the geographic distance, he said, “we are a community together.”

Around 160 people gathered for the celebration including local pastors and members of the Indonesian community in Atlanta. Members of Georgia Praise performed vocally and through drama. Many wore traditional Chinese clothing in honor of the new year and celebrating their Chinese heritage. The majority of the congregation is of Chinese descent though their families most recently immigrated to the United States from Indonesia.

GPC 2nd Anniversary 1 — Ertell and Pat Whigham with Linda and Yunus Perkasa.

The atmosphere was one of joy and excitement, reflected Yunus Perkasa, pastor of Georgia Praise congregation. “We are so blessed to be part of the one big Franconia Conference family,” he said. “Throughout the past two years, we’ve learned to walk by faith and we have grown stronger in Christ. We believe that he will be guiding us for many years to come.”

Pastors walk through transformation together

February 27, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

Learning Community — Members of Salem, Rockhill, and Doylestown congregations pray for one another at their joint worship service on February 10.

by Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

When Larry Moyer, pastor of Rockhill congregation, was seriously injured after falling off of the roof of his home in 2011, Randy Heacock, pastor of Doylestown congregation, filled in to preach. Moyer’s recovery was long and difficult, but throughout the following year he was supported by Heacock and the other pastors in his Learning Community—Bruce Eglinton-Woods, pastor of Salem congregation, and Walter Sawatzky, a member of Plains.

“I valued the support of these pastors,” reflected Moyer, “the prayer support from their congregations, and Walter’s ongoing care of me personally and my family. Randy made personal visits to my home as I was not able to attend our monthly meetings and on one occasion, the group met at my house. I felt cared-for during my recovery journey.”

This care and prayer support is only one aspect of the Learning Community that these pastors formed in 2006 in response to conference encouragement to form pastoral support teams. They invited Sawatzky, who was a Conference Minister at that time, to join them for insight and encouragement.

This team of four has met monthly ever since, sharing their challenges and joys of ministry, introducing one another to new resources, and supporting one another with advice and prayer. “We wanted to meet together as we sensed our churches were on similar journeys and we wanted to share in mutual learning and encouragement,” Heacock remembered. “Though each of us are different and have our unique emphasis, we share a common vision for a future church that is about being real with who we are in Jesus Christ before one another.”

Small groups of like-minded pastors is not a new concept in Franconia Conference, Sawatzky observed; support, study, and prayer groups have existed in various forms for years. What has made this particular group successful has been both a commitment to one another and shared vision for what church could be. “They have organized their activities around their immediate shared concerns,” Sawatzky said. “[Then their activities] come out of relationship as these pastors have bonded as friends and in spiritual relationship with one another.”

Their congregations have also benefited from their relationship, both directly and through their growth as leaders, Eglinton-Woods said. “I have greater confidence and ability to lead transformation in our congregation as a result of being with other pastors who are doing the same thing. Continuing to teach, preach, encourage, and lead transformation in the face of comfortable Christianity has a cost but it has become an easier cost to bear [because of] being a part of this group.”

Soon after they formed their Learning Community, the group began working together to provide equipping events for their congregational leadership. These workshops eventually developed into joint worship services where the congregations met to share stories of transformation, including one in February in which the congregations worshiped, shared testimonies of God’s joy, and prayed for each other. This mutual prayer has always been a pivotal part of the pastors’ and congregations’ relationship, Heacock pointed out, because it keeps them from experiencing envy or from developing a sense of competition.

After six years, this Learning Community is still an important support for all three pastors—they rarely miss a meeting. “I look forward to them and receive encouragement, insight, and new life every time,” reflected Eglinton-Woods.

“I am grateful for our learning community,” added Heacock. “I believe God has brought us together…. Larry, Bruce, and Walter are men that are being transformed by and used by God. I am honored to walk and learn with them.”

Reading God’s word after 25 years

February 18, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

Tarun with his wife Suniti and daughter Tripti.

by Rebecca Hendricks and Karen Moyer, Rocky Ridge

January 19, 2013 was a day of celebration for a lifetime of work when a new translation of the New Testament in a people’s heart language was dedicated in Korba, India. The story of the connection between the translator, Tarun Gardia, and families and churches in Franconia Conference is a divine drama of God’s amazing leading to accomplish his purposes.

It began when Tarun Gardia came to the USA in 1987 to live with Wilbur and Becki Hendricks as participants in the Mennonite International Visitor Exchange Program (IVEP) which sought to promote international understanding (he was assigned as a classroom aide to Quakertown Christian School.)

While Tarun was here, Hendricks encouraged him to participate in a Bible memory program, which opened Tarun’s eyes to see that a real relationship with the God of creation involved his heart. He acknowledged the impact of this exercise, saying, “The Christian love there touched my heart and I gave my life to our Lord. They sent me to [a missions conference where] I heard a Wycliffe Bible Translator speak…. Later they took me to North Carolina to the JAARS Center (a partner in Bible translation). Visiting the Museum of Alphabets at JAARS was the key factor that finally led me to translation as God’s plan for my life. While visiting the museum, I went to the Indian language section where I saw a hand-written verse in my own Chhattisgarhi language pasted on the wall. I was told that the Bible needs to be translated in that language.”

Following his one-year IVEP assignment, Indian and American Christian friends found the necessary support for Tarun to attend seminary in South India and then linguistic study at the Wycliffe center in Singapore. Tarun then returned to the JAARS center in North Carolina, where he received computer training, a skill which would greatly reduce translation time. It was during this time that Rocky Ridge Mennonite Church (Quakertown, Pa.) commissioned him to do this translation and took on his full financial support. Following a language survey, he began actual translation work in 1996.

NTs being distributed at dedication — The Chhattisgarhi New Testaments are distributed.

We marvel at the journey God planned for Tarun, a boy from a small village in India who trained to be a teacher. God took this village school teacher out of his comfort zone to a foreign country where he lived with a family who loved God and then loved Tarun into God’s kingdom. Those years convinced Tarun that not only he, but millions of others, needed God’s Word in their language so that they could become children of God and share this exciting life of purpose and value.

In January, a delegation of four individuals from Rocky Ridge congregation journeyed to India to participate in the ceremony celebrating the completion of Tarun’s New Testament translation. The team flew to Raipur, a city of 1.3 million, where Tarun, his wife Suniti and daughter Tripti (18) live and worked on the translation. The Chhattisgarhi language in this region is the purest spoken form; there are 15 million Chhattisgarhi speakers in the whole state.

On Friday, January 18, the team and the Gardias traveled four hours by train to the town of Korba where the dedication was held with three hundred people in attendance. Entering the courtyard gates, we were overcome with emotion as we noticed the stacks of Bibles ready for blessing and distribution.

The program began with praise music and scripture songs in the Chhattisgarhi language led by several congregations’ worship choirs. Representatives from Wycliffe Bible Translation India and the team from Rocky Ridge honored Tarun and Todd Hendricks brought greetings from his parents, Wilbur and Becki.

Following the program, people flocked to the front to purchase copies of the New Testament. When Karen asked one young man why he was buying two Bibles, he replied, “I got one for myself and one for my older brother. All these years I have been reading the Bible in Hindi, but I want to tell others about God in a language they can comprehend. This will bring them strength.”

Pastor Ravi Baksh and Karen Moyer talk with a young man who purchased two New Testaments--one for himself and one for his brother. — John Kurian (Director-India, The Wycliffe Seed Company) and Karen Moyer talk with young man who purchased two New Testaments–one for himself and one for his brother.

That evening several of us sat with Tarun and asked questions about his journey to completing the New Testament. Tarun reflected, “ Sometimes I was discouraged as I was the only one working on the translation, but two of my uncles would encourage me quite often to keep on going.”

We were awed to experience God’s working in one man and his family’s life and their dedication to answer God’s call. Even when he was discouraged, he was committed to finishing the task, he said, because of his desire “for my people to be saved and have God’s word in their own language, to speak to their own heart.”

Rocky Ridge congregation invites your continued prayer for Tarun and his family in the next phase of their ministry as they seek ways of incorporating this “heart-language” translation into the daily lives of the Chhattisgarhi speakers. Check out Rocky Ridge’s Facebook photo album.

Christopher Dock Implements One-to-one Plan

February 13, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

The board and faculty of Christopher Dock recently announced the implementation of a 1:1 technology plan (one device to one student) for the fall of 2013. Dock will equip each student with a 3rd Gen iPad with the goal of providing equitable access to web resources and apps to enhance Dock’s mission and curriculum.

This program will enhance students’ preparation for college, career, and a technology-infused world. The instructional focus for the iPads will be active, engaged learning, and concentration on the national standards for technology. These standards are:

creativity and innovation
communication and collaboration
research and information fluency
critical-thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making

The funding for this program will not affect tuition rates. While there will be ongoing costs for technology each year, Dock is seeking over $200,000 in assistance this first year in order to implement the plan for its entire student body. The plan will be sustainable through the ongoing annual budget for educational resources.

Employers, businesses, parents, community members, and congregations who are interested in assisting with this initiative are invited to contact Susan Gingerich, Director of Advancement, to make a donation or to provide funding for a class of students. Susan can be reached at sgingerich@dockhs.org or 215-362-2675.

Hiding treasures where others may find them

February 12, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Sandy Drescher-Lehman, Souderton

Making safe space for people to experience the love of God has been a passion of mine ever since I can remember. That passion has been given life in camp settings, in prison cells, in our home and yard, in homeless shelters, on bicycle trips, in mental health facilities, and in churches.

Thirty years ago, after a profound experience at a retreat center of God’s love totally enveloping and holding me, my life verse became Isaiah 43: “But now, [Sandy], the Lord who created you says, ‘Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name. You are mine.’” Since that day, I have had the desire to live as many minutes of my life as possible in the heart of that much Love and to help others to connect with that much Love in whatever way they can experience it, thus receiving the healing we all need to become more fully human and to hold more of the Divine.

House of Prayer: Life's Transitions — House of Prayer: Life’s Transitions

A formative book for me was, “Prayer and Temperament” which taught me the different ways that different personalities pray. I resonated with Sue Monk Kidd, when she said “Symbols are the language of the soul” and Paul Tillich who called Christians to the revitalization of their inner lives through the recovery of symbols. I began to notice how not only symbols but color, also, called my soul to go deeper into the wordless heart of God.

Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach encouraged the practice of looking for God in everything. I noticed, as a worship leader, that when all of our senses are called for, people more easily engage in the heart of worship rather than only staying in their head with words and reasoning. And I’ve always loved the stories of Pippi Longstocking, who hid treasures in old tree stumps so she could watch her friends joyfully discover them on their “thing-finding” adventures.

So, when I became one of the pastors at Souderton Mennonite Church, I had the chance to combine all those learnings and passions! Joy Sawatzky and I began inviting people to special times of prayer to begin the Lenten season, combining input with times of silence; spending time alone with God in any of the several prayer centers we created, each with colors and symbols and scriptures. The variety was in the ways participants were invited to use their body or mind or taste buds or ears or sense of smell or sight. When we ended these retreats by “sharing the wealth” of our time with God, we were always overwhelmed to hear how God had come to each person in exactly the way that was most needed – far beyond anything we could have planned or imagined!

Then about 7 years ago, the ideas for different ways to pray suddenly exploded into 50 and then 60 centers, as more people joined the team, creating ways to express and make available to others how they prayed most easily. In experimenting with each other’s favorite methods and colors and symbols for praying, we discovered that when we try new ways of prayer, we sometimes go even deeper into the heart of God than engaging our usual patterns over and over. We organized the centers into rooms of a house – the kitchen (where we pray as we eat), the study (where we pray as we read and write and kneel and listen to music), the playroom (where tactile centers and craft centers help children play their prayers), the bedroom (where it’s enough to just BE; resting in God’s comfort), the art room (where all kinds of things to create wait to be discovered), and the great outdoors (where the sounds and smells and sights of creation invite us to pray in our walking and in noticing God in the world)

And my Pippi-heart loves to hide treasures in places where those who enter may or may not find them! The “House” symbolically calls us to see every room we enter as a place of prayer; every moment we live is another chance to be aware of God’s love and peace and mercy and grace and healing and whatever else we need from the One who created us and continues to create through us!

Souderton’s Lenten House of Prayer will be open February 8-18th, from 9am to 9pm in the congregation’s fellowship hall. All are welcome to visit. For more information or to access other Lenten resources from Souderton congregation, visit their website.

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