Conference News

Broken bread for a broken system

October 4, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

It’s a misty evening as I sit cuddled under a blanket with my laptop and a snoring dog, watching the presidential debate. Even as I type, President Obama and Governor Romney are debating the economy.

I feel my temperature rising, and it has nothing to do with the blanket. I grew up in a family in which “debate” sounds more like calm discussion and a stern voice feels like yelling. Just watching the debate is feeding my anxiety.

And, if anyone else experiences conflict like I do, the election this coming November could be incredibly divisive for the church. And how much moreso, when you mix people like me with those who are very comfortable with debate, raised voices, and hearty conversation? How do we keep our eyes focused on our shared allegiance—to Jesus Christ—in the midst of such diversity and disagreement?

Leaders in Mennonite churches across the nation suggest a simple answer: Election Day Communion. “Election Day Communion is a way of engaging and resisting the world,” reflected Joe Hackman, pastor at Salford (Harleysville, Pa.) congregation, who will be hosting Election Day Communion this November. “It’s a small demonstration of being the peace of Christ in a noisy, partisan culture—a sort of countercultural statement about what we believe ultimately holds our politics together.”

“During the day of November 6, 2012, we will make different choices for different reasons, hoping for different results,” the Election Day Communion website says. “But that evening while our nation turns its attention to the outcome of the presidential election, let’s again choose differently. But this time, let’s do it together.”

Tuesday night communion is not a new idea—Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches have held Tuesday communion services for generations. And Election Day Communion doesn’t just belong to Mennonites. Doylestown (Pa.) congregation will be hosting an ecumenical service, according to associate pastor KrisAnne Swartley. “We are inviting other area churches outside the Mennonite denomination to partner with us in planning the service,” she said. “We want to cross all kinds of cultural dividing lines in this communion service—we know that God’s Kingdom of love also crosses all boundaries.”

Wayne Nitzsche and the elder team at Perkasie (Pa.) congregation plan to keep the service simple. “Our church mission statement is ‘to model Jesus,’” Nitzsche said. “As we come together the evening of November 6, we’ll model Jesus in some small way as we remember that Jesus non-violently addressed the political powers and established a new [politic] of love. We love as he loved as we eat and drink with those who voted and those who didn’t. ALL will be welcomed at the table.”

As I type, I feel my heartbeat slowing. Governor Romney and President Obama are still battling it out in the background, but the rhetoric no longer feeds my anxiety. There is hope. “God continues to demonstrate that another world is possible,” said Chris Nickels, pastor of Spring Mount (Pa.) congregation. “There is a path that leads out of a divisive cultural reality and Christ invites us to come to the table to take a step forward together.”

Dignity & Hope: Moving Toward Equal Access in Norristown

September 27, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

NVNNL Voter ID clinics — Sharon Williams and Donna Windle train volunteers from Montgomery County to run a voter/photo ID clinic. Pictured, counter-clockwise from the left, Williams, Windle, Rita Heinegg, Carol Newman, G. Hulings Darby, and Dot Martin. Photo by Ertell Whigham.

by Samantha Lioi, Minister of Peace and Justice

It started with a simple Facebook exchange. Donna Windle of Nueva Vida Norristown (Pa.) New Life noticed a friend’s comment reacting to controversy over recent laws requiring the presentation of a government-issued ID to vote.

Her friend said she would get IDs for people quickly, to show how easy it was. Windle—a social worker serving as Assistant Director at Coordinated Homeless Outreach Center of Montgomery County—knew from wading through hours and days of red tape that it was much more involved than her friend might think.

At that moment, she remembers, “I hit send and heard God’s voice say, You have the skills…why don’t you do something about it?”

Windle approached a Bible study group in her congregation that shares her concern for justice. She and Sharon Williams decided they would run a clinic on the second Saturday of each month for people in Norristown who needed assistance in applying for a government-issued ID. Many people who’ve come are working two or three jobs, don’t have a case worker, and don’t have the time to spend navigating the system and learning the changing requirements for IDs. They also might not have the money to pay for out-of-state birth certificates or replacement/renewal ID cards.

Transportation to ID-issuing centers is a challenge for many eligible voters because of low income, lack of access to a vehicle, and in rural areas, few options for public transportation. Many ID-issuing offices are open infrequently, or only during working hours, so that those in poverty who are working would have to take time off to apply for an ID. According to Keesha Gaskins and Sundeep Lyer of the Brennan Center at NYU’s law school, “1.2 million eligible black voters and 500,000 eligible Hispanic voters live more than 10 miles from their nearest ID-issuing office open more than two days a week. People of color are more likely to be disenfranchised by these laws since they are less likely to have a photo ID than the general population.”

Not only that, but not all IDs are free. The free “voter only” IDs are not useful for other things and, depending on the documentation needed to get a photo ID – such as an out-of-state birth certificate – the cost of obtaining the ID can be prohibitive for low-income people. Birth certificates alone range from $8-50.

Knowing the political landscape, before beginning their clinics the two women contacted the offices of both the Republican and Democratic parties to let them know their plans and to be clear that they were non-partisan. In fact, Windle says, while helping people get an ID for voting is important, it is not her only or even her primary concern.

“Voter ID is important, but in general, people need an ID. You can’t get a job, housing, or travel if you don’t have it,” she said. Many of those who come to the clinics fall within the Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) definition of people who are precariously housed—“like Jesus,” says Windle, they piece together their housing needs by sleeping on friends’ couches or renting a room until their money runs out.

Likewise, some who come to the Norristown clinic don’t care about being registered to vote; they just want to get their ID and get going. Windle remembers a volunteer saying, “’But she’s not going to vote.’ I said that’s fine; I didn’t ask her to vote. . . . It’s about building relationships, taking care of getting what she needs. Her main concerns are where is she going to eat, where will she find a bathroom, and where is she going to safely sleep. Voting is too high a [goal] at this point.”

As word got around about the clinics, volunteers came from Pottstown, Philadelphia, Harrisburg and even Boston. Since the clinics began in May, Windle and Williams have trained over 70 people to operate clinics in their home communities. Working alongside the volunteers has also been an unexpected opportunity to educate about issues of poverty and racism, and to share Nueva Vida’s testimony.

The church has received donations to support the clinics. Grants from Franconia Conference and a black fraternity, designated for work on justice issues, covered supplies and money orders for photo ID renewal/replacement cards. To avoid abuse of their small system, the money orders are made out to PENNDOT. Donors have also provided snacks, pizza gift cards for volunteers’ lunches, and stamps.

Realizing that the need goes much deeper than the desire to exercise the right to vote, they plan to continue to offer clinics once per quarter after the election. Windle continues to hold both values as she works.

“More will be coming; am I going to get them all registered to vote? No,” she said. “But they will get their ID’s and the things they need… I don’t want them to be denied the right to choose who is representing them because they can’t afford an ID.”

Although Windle wants every eligible voter to have the chance to vote, she is concerned for the bigger picture of their quality of life and their struggle to provide for themselves. This long view, valuing people’s dignity and holding hope for the livelihood of other Norristown citizens, enlivens Nueva Vida’s ongoing work, partnering with a God who became “precariously housed” to bring the kingdom of love and justice near.

Hazardous: Committing to the Cost of Following Jesus

September 19, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Derek Cooper, Deep Run East

If you are anything like me, you struggle with Jesus’ command to his disciples to “put God’s kingdom first.” I struggle with this because I tend to put my own needs first: to satisfy my own desires and interests before thinking about those of others, let alone God’s. I tend to put others’ needs before mine only occasionally, and not always like I really should.

But this is not the way of the kingdom.

Christians do not go their own way. Instead, they are defined by who they serve and, as such, seek to align their desires and interests according to their master’s desires and interests. God wants people who are totally committed to him. God wants people who worship him “in spirit and truth.” God wants people who serve him day and night, seven days a week, four seasons a year. In fact, we have a term for this deep level of commitment and loyalty: it’s called discipleship, and it’s quite challenging.

Over the past few years, pastors and Christian leaders have begun to rethink the importance of discipleship in the lives of North American churches. Although many churches will continue to obsess about attendance numbers and making their budgets, it’s encouraging to see that some are becoming less focused on things like church membership and more focused on making disciples.

Given the importance of this discussion in North American churches, I have recently co-written a book on discipleship entitled Hazardous: Committing to the Cost of Following Jesus. I wrote this book for two main reasons. First, although it is often said, it bears being repeated again: Jesus has entrusted the church with one primary task – to make disciples, not just believers or mere church members. Jesus’ last words, according to the Gospel of Matthew, were not breathed with the intention of his followers sounding good, paying bills, or looking professional; they were breathed to give life to a perpetual generation of Spirit-led, God-loving Jesus-followers (Matthew 28:19). The second reason why I wrote this book is because I have discerned that, despite the growing number of sermons, radio broadcasts, and books that discuss the topic of discipleship, too few spell out the specific costs of discipleship from the perspective of it being a very challenging and demanding enterprise each and every day. In running the risk of oversimplification, it’s far too easy to look upon discipleship like a Disneyworld roller coaster: sure, there are some downs along the way, but the journey is mostly for personal fulfillment and the costs of going on a ride are fairly minimal.

I agree that there are enjoyable moments on the road to following Jesus, but I think we do a serious disservice to Christians when we paint a picture of discipleship as a joy ride that takes us to our dream job, a bigger house, and a hassle-free existence.

Without denying the jobs and homes many Christians have (and love) and the stress-free lives we enjoy in relation to history and the rest of the world, following Jesus is hard, difficult, and challenging for the very simple reason that the eclipse of God’s kingdom on earth has yet to take place. And to state the obvious in our technology- and comfort-driven society, God is not a vending machine who mechanically and impersonally distributes riches to Christians like a game-show host. On the contrary, if you ask God for patience, you will most likely not be zapped with an abstract attribute; rather, you will be put in challenging circumstances where you will have to demonstrate patience as you rely upon God’s Spirit.

All of this is to say: Discipleship is a hazardous enterprise, and it is a topic that we need to think about with more seriousness and with more biblical and practical depth. If you would like to explore this kind of discipleship for yourself and for your church, I encourage you to read Hazardous and to think anew about what it means to follow Jesus in a culture that constantly competes with relevancy, independence, wealth, busyness, and comfort.

Dr. Derek Cooper is assistant professor of biblical studies and historical theology at Biblical Seminary, where he directs the LEAD MDiv program and co-directs the DMin program. He and his wife Barb are members at Deep Run East Mennonite Church. His most recent book is entitled Hazardous: Committing to the Cost of Following Jesus.

Seeking Shalom at Peaceful Living

September 18, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Ella Roush, peacefulliving.org

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs us to pray, “…Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

These words guide Peaceful Living Executive Director Joe Landis in his work with people with disabilities and their families whose lives, when pushed to the fringes of society, often unfold as less than heavenly. He sees his job as “helping to build God’s kingdom here on earth” by reaching out to these families, congregations, and the community at large to join together to seek peace.

“The word that best expresses what peace can be for Peaceful Living is shalom,” Joe says. “It suggests a wholeness, a completeness in relationship with God, and with yourself as a person fully integrated with your group, your town, and the world. It starts with every individual and every act of kindness we do, regardless of how small.”

Those acts of kindness, or living shalom, are demonstrated through the nonprofit’s Friendship Connection Program that connects a person with a disability with a caring friend in the community. Friendship Connection director Loretta Moyer, Rockhill congregation (Telford, Pa.), has facilitated matches for 80 individuals.

One such friendship developed between Phillip, who is served by Peaceful Living, and Aaron Leatherman, Towamencin congregation (Lansdale, Pa.). When they had been friends for about three years, Phillip underwent major surgery. Aaron visited Phillip regularly while he was in the hospital. “It meant so much to me to have Aaron there,” Phillip told Loretta.

“When I visited Phillip in the hospital, he got tears when I arrived…,” Aaron commented. Aaron had never had a close connection to a person with a disability, but he noted that a short time after their matching they had established a “real” friendship. Aaron said, “We are friends now, and there is no going back.”

Everyone reached by Peaceful Living is continually giving and receiving these sometimes small, sometimes large, acts of kindness. Another way Joe Landis says his organization pursues peace is by listening to each other. He includes everyone: staff, people served and their families, board members, stakeholders, and community partners. Open-hearted, open-minded listening is a rare gift that Joe fosters throughout the organization. He believes careful listening allows us to uncover the God-given gifts in others and ourselves so that each person can feel the satisfaction of contributing to, as well as receiving the benefits of, an inclusive community.

Dictionary.com provides a useful definition of peace in the context of Peaceful Living’s work. It defines peace as, “a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, especially in personal relations.” The word, “mutual,” is crucial to the work of Joe and his staff. At the very heart of the organization’s philosophy lies the premise that serving people with disabilities and their families provides mutual benefit such that the line between the servant and the served becomes blurred. Another Friendship Connection story sheds light on this idea.

In 2008, Loretta Moyer shepherded a friendship match between Bob, a person with a disability, and Jeff Metz. Jeff soon made Bob a part of his family. Whatever fun activities Jeff’s family was doing – picnics, Eagles or Phillies games – Bob was right in the middle of things. Then came the bad news. Jeff had cancer. It was fast moving, and he soon passed away.

Jeff’s widow Janet confirmed her family’s desire to maintain their connection with Bob. So strong is their love for Bob that when Jeff and Janet’s daughter Elisabeth was planning her wedding, she asked Bob to walk her down the aisle in her father’s place. The wedding took place in 2011 with Bob fully involved in wedding party activities. As the planning was taking place, Janet said, “I am looking forward to Bob walking my precious daughter down the aisle…If Jeff can’t do it, then Bob is the next best person to do it.”

The beauty of this relationship is that both Bob and the Metz family mutually exchanged love and support for one another as equals – not as someone better than reaching down to help someone less than. True friendship, real harmony, living shalom emerges in the moment when we look into the eyes of another, and the Christ in them (regardless of religion) touches the Christ in us.

About Peaceful Living

Peaceful Living, a Conference Related Ministry of Franconia Conference, works to build lifelong relationships for individuals with disabilities within congregations and the community. Peaceful Living provides a Congregational Coaching program with area faith communities. The 12-year-old Harleysville-based nonprofit has grown from serving one person in 2000 to serving 75 people each day through in-home services, small residential homes, and the Creative Gifts Program. Creative Gifts gives individuals the opportunity to explore the arts as a vocation or a hobby. The Friendship Connection program has matched 80 individuals with disabilities with caring friends in the community. Led by executive director Joe Landis, Peaceful Living serves primarily residents of Montgomery, Bucks, and Berks counties. Contact Peaceful Living at 610-287-1200.

2012 Peace Camps: Love on a Local Scale, part 3

September 10, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Samantha Lioi, Minister of Peace & Justice

Ripple peace camp — Children from the neighborhood join in the Peace Camp held by Ripple Allentown. Photo by Angela Moyer.

What does Anabaptist witness look like? It looks like a neighbor who listens in order to understand, learns from difference, and wants to join in God’s recreating what is broken. In Allentown, we are slowly learning to know—and so to love—our neighbors.

Ripple-Allentown’s first go at a peace camp – three evenings, Wednesday through Friday – was full of important learning. We showed up at Franklin Park, just behind St. Stephen’s Community Outreach Center in west Allentown, a park that is a center of play and activity and the location of the Peace Pole planted last year as part of marking Pastor Tom Albright’s ordination.

Each evening we played team-building games, created small works of art, and sat in a circle for a Scripture story and brief discussion using the “Peace Scarf” – a variation on a talking stick and an effort to practice listening to each other. Only the child with the scarf was to speak, and “if you don’t have the scarf, it’s your turn to…” “Listen!” they answered.

We followed Salford’s structure of learning to respect differences, learning small ways to care for creation, and imagining creative ways to address conflicts. After the Scripture story each evening as we sat cross-legged on blankets covering the blacktop, we passed the Blessing Cup—a small ceramic chalice designated for this purpose. Each evening as I poured the white grape juice, I reminded us that this was a sign that God loves us more than we can imagine and wants us to learn to love each other and God’s world, too. Each evening we repeated a phrase as each child took a sip. The children participated and remembered the phrases from previous nights.

But the last night, the time focused on learning to address conflict peacefully, there was mild mutiny around the Blessing Cup. I had told the story of Peter visiting the house of the centurion, Cornelius, a man who represented the violent oppression of Peter’s people and an unclean Gentile besides. We talked through a modern example of a police officer coming to take one of the girls’ older brother away when he hadn’t done anything—and, even given a bad history between police and the Black American community, somehow showing love and living peaceably with that officer. “The Spirit of Jesus brings peace between enemies,” we said together.

But this time, it didn’t take. When we’d spoken about alternatives to fighting, very few of the children had ideas, and one of the boys was especially insistent that all he could do was hit someone who challenged him.

“The Spirit of Jesus brings peace between enemies.”

Except that night the idea of sharing a cup was particularly distasteful, and a couple kids passed it up, beginning a trend.

“The Spirit of Jesus brings peace between enemies.”

Another child passed the cup without drinking.

“The Spirit of Jesus brings peace between enemies.”

I felt the discomfort of learning the hard way, and the irony was not lost on me. We were passing a common cup, and most of us were opting out. The church is not unfamiliar with such opting out when things are uncomfortable, unusual, or tense. Why had I expected that these kids, who see or experience violence regularly, would feel that they had alternatives? Why did I expect them to immediately accept a good news that requires them to take real bodily risks that I know little about? I learned more about my neighbors in those three days than I had for many months of living in Allentown. Loving them—and loving them enough to be publicly peaceable among them—will mean knowing them even better.

Each congregation moves closer to Jesus as we meet our neighbors where they are, at the point of their uniqueness as God’s deeply loved children, and at the point of their need. As we see them for who they are, we also touch places of our own need, of our own weakness, and of our participation in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. This Jesus strips fear of its power, walks with the smallest among us as they learn their strength to do what is right, and teaches us as we move out to speak peace and learn peace among our neighbors.

Samantha would love to hear from you! For more information about holding your own Peace Camp, or to share ways that your congregation is living justice and peace in your community, or to request resources on peace, justice, and conflict resolution, contact samantha@interculturalchurch.com.

← Previously, Philadelphia Praise Center

Teens’ China service brings comfort with the unknown

August 29, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Wil LaVeist, Mennonite Mission Network

Swartz-China — Radical Journey participants Laird Goertzen (left) Kate Swartz and Paul Dyck recently completed a 1-year service assignment in China. Photo provided by Mennonite Mission Network.

When many Radical Journey participants prepare for their first overseas mission assignment, they tend to use words such as “paralyzed” and “blurry” to describe their thoughts. A year later, they use words such as “maturation” and “new perspective” instead.

This is how participants Kate Swartz, Salford congregation, and Paul Dyck of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, described their experiences. Along with Laird Goertzen of Goessel, Kansas, they formed a three-member team that recently returned from a year-long stint in China as part of Radical Journey, a Mennonite Mission Network international learning and service program for young adults.

There, they taught English classes at North Sichuan Medical College and at Sea Turtle, a foreign-language training center for children. They learned Mandarin and connected with China’s culture and people as they explored God’s work in China and ways to join in.

Radical Journey participants are typically divided evenly among recent college graduates, college students, and recent high school graduates. In addition to China, two served in South Africa, five in Paraguay, and three in England.

Swartz, 19, said she was not ready to “jump right into college,” but knew that she wanted to explore mission work at some point in her life.

“I decided to just let them place me where they wanted to,” Swartz said. “I had preconceived notions about all of the places … I just allowed China to choose me.”

Dyck, 19, also found himself in the city of Nanchong in the province of Sichuan without a clear calling to serve in China.

“The only concrete ideas I carried with me were the same blurry and rather idealistic intentions that I had before I signed up for the program,” he said. “I was excited to behold the open canvas that this year could be, and start painting a picture, even if I didn’t know what colors were available.”

As Swartz and Dyck started their assignments, mingled with Chinese neighbors, and explored their surroundings, their minds began to transform.

“I learned that the majority of people are caring, complex, and are worth getting to know,” Swartz said. “The world is huge and infinitely more complex than I originally thought, and (the experience) expanded everything that I think about or perceive.”

Dyck cited an excursion he, Swartz, and Goertzen took during the winter break as one of their more enjoyable and bonding moments. They took the “scenic route” by train back from a conference in Hong Kong, and hiked with a Chinese group to the peak of the Tiger Leaping Gorge. They had to speak Mandarin with fellow hikers.

“China is actually a really diverse place, and it was amazing to see all the differences and awesomeness that is all a part of the culture in China,” said Dyck, adding that the trip was fun and educational. “Living off our wits and with our language skills for a month on the road gave our team lots of challenges and opportunities to bond and grow,” Dyck said.

They also benefited from frequent visits with mission workers Don and Marie Gaeddert of Larned, Kan., who are in the middle of a two-year assignment with Mission Network. Swartz said that spending time with the Gaedderts helped her to feel at home.

“They invited us over for a Western meal with regularity, and that was always really, really appreciated, as it would often be our only spaghetti or biscuits or whatever for the month or so … They were loving and welcoming, and it was wonderful to share portions of our time with them.”

The Gaedderts, who became mission workers after becoming empty nesters, said they were impressed that young people fresh out of high school would be willing to go across the world to serve.

Upon returning to America and Canada respectively, Swartz, whose home church is Salford Mennonite Church, and Dyck of Charleswood Mennonite Church, are still processing their experiences. Both said they’re more open to the unknown of where God is leading and that they’re ready for college. Swartz will attend Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., and Dyck will attend University of Winnipeg this fall.

“Even taking spiritual and personal growth aside, this year was worth it just for the academic onslaught of insights on such an interesting culture,” Dyck said. “When you live abroad, one thing that is really clear is that everyone around the world is the same (sharing similar values such as family, community, and a need for love and affirmation). But the other thing that’s also clear is that everyone around the world is completely different (such as cultural perspectives and approaches to life). In China, everything seemed to have contrast, and it was a great space for us to look at the uniqueness of ourselves as we became more a part of these other people.”

“I’ve grown more confident, more at home with myself, and more at peace,” Swartz said. “I’ve also developed more tolerance and acceptance toward people who are different from me. The two are more likely than not directly correlated to each other. I want to connect more personally with others, as I’ve connected more personally with myself.”

This article was originally posted by Mennonite Mission Network and is reposted by permission.

2012 Peace Camps: Love on a Local Scale, part 2

August 27, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Samantha Lioi, Minister of Peace & Justice

Just as Salford Peace Camp planners work from their awareness of local needs, newer, urban Anabaptists continue to nurture and shape their children’s imaginations toward creative peacemaking.

Philadelphia Praise Center planned a two-week Peace Camp which stretched into three this summer by popular (eager parental) demand. They met from noon to 4pm, providing a nutritious lunch for the children, all of whom live within ten blocks of the church building in South Philly. Ardi Hermawan of PPC, a senior nursing student at EMU hired by his home congregation for the summer and summer Ministry Inquiry Program intern Erika Bollman worked together to develop the program.

This fall Erika enters her second year of Eastern Mennonite University’s Conflict Transformation masters program—but she is studying peace at the policy level and came into the summer with no experience working with kids, so there was much to learn. She had spent a year in Indonesia, however, with SALT (Serving And Learning Together) between college and grad school, so she brought some cultural understanding and was able to speak with parents in Indonesian. This was particularly helpful since she and Ardi went house to house picking up and dropping off all the children at the beginning and end of each day.

Ardi was inspired by his experience in the Bronx over Spring Break with nine other EMU students through the college’s YPCA (Young People’s Christian Association). Visiting, singing, and sharing stories with patients who are HIV-positive at a clinic and spending time with a woman at a “day care” for elderly folk whose families could or would not care for them, Ardi was amazed by the compassion and connection that can form quickly between two strangers.

In response, Ardi added the theme “faith, hope, and love” to PPC’s Peace Camp during the final week to help the children learn how to do something for the neighborhood. “South Philly [looks] very fragile and broken from the outside,” Ardi reflected. “From the inside, I think there’s something God really wants to do [that has been left] unexplored.”

In its third year, PPC’s Peace Camp introduced the children to a different hero of peace each day, beginning with Anabaptist reformer Menno Simons and including Martin Luther King, Jr., Susan B. Anthony, Mother Teresa, and the local founder of what he hoped would be “a peaceful woods,” William Penn. Pastor Aldo Siahaan chose stories from Scripture according to the theme of the day, teaching about God peacefully splitting land between Abraham and Lot, the just resistance of the Egyptian midwives in refusing to kill Hebrew babies, and the four friends who cared for another enough to carry him to Jesus to be healed. (Gen 13, Exod 1:15-22, and Luke 5:17-26)

They worked on a tight budget, but they still managed to offer several field trips to broaden the experiences of the children who tend to live very locally, grounded in the richness of their Indonesian, Latino, and Vietnamese cultural contexts. They visited the justice and peace-themed exhibits of the Liberty Museum, toured the aquarium in Camden, NJ, created a scavenger hunt throughout South Philly, and one day even handed out cupcakes in local businesses and to passersby on the streets. “The kids were so excited to give away those cupcakes,” Erika recalled, as they were able to connect with people in their neighborhood through simple, joyful generosity.

PPC’s content included appreciating diversity and difference, caring for each other and the earth, and learning to resolve conflict peacefully. “Three weeks is not enough to transform them,” Erika said, “but I hope they get the concepts early on, so as it comes up again and again, they start to think it’s really possible [to choose peaceful ways to engage conflict].”

Indeed, Ardi saw God at work in the minds and hearts of the children they worked with. “These kids… if you listen to them, you’d be amazed. When they open up and are very vulnerable to you… when I listen to them I think, Wow, God has something to do with these kids, and it’s part of my job to give guidance.”

Philly Praise clearly reached beyond themselves this summer, drawing ten kids from a local daycare and thirty from the neighborhood who are not regular participants in the congregation. These children—from many cultural experiences and some of different faiths—became so attached to one another during Peace Camp that PPC chose to welcome them back for a “reunion” every Friday until August.

And it wasn’t only the children’s faith and imaginations that were being formed. “I think a lot about the purpose of my life,” says Ardi. “What do I really want to do with my life? I had the chance to serve at PPC and got to apply some of what I learned in the Bronx. [During that trip] we realized this life is not about ourselves, but it’s about God and how you build some connection with other people.”

← Previously, Salford Next week, Ripple-Allentown →

2012 Peace Camps: Love on a Local Scale, part 1

August 23, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Samantha Lioi, Minister of Peace and Justice

What does Anabaptist witness and ministry look like up-close? When summer comes, for some folks it looks like teaching a second-grader to explore ways he can care for the earth, or giving a 10-year-old creative ways to deal with conflicts she’ll face at school. Congregations from Allentown to Philadelphia have created summer Peace Camps as practical places to live Christ’s transforming love among their neighbors. In some ways, the camps function similarly to traditional Vacation Bible Schools, but with content deeply relevant to the conflicts and crises kids face in our increasingly fragmented culture. Peace Camps can offer space for children to claim their identity as God’s children, to believe they can be active in stirring up hope in their part of the world.

In the next few weeks, Samantha Lioi, Minister of Peace and Justice for Franconia and Eastern District Conferences, will take a look at three conference Peace Camps that are giving space to putting here-and-now flesh and bone on our Anabaptist understandings of Christian faith, beginning with Salford Mennonite Church in Harleysville, Pa., then moving on to Philadelphia Praise Center in South Philly, and finishing with Samantha’s own experience helping to lead the Peace Camp for Ripple Allentown.

Since 2007, Meredith Ehst of Salford has brought her experience in public education to her leadership of the congregation’s summer Peace Camp, a week-long evening program serving children from Kindergarten through fifth grade. This year they welcomed 75 children, their largest camp yet, drawing 46 kids from the area who are not directly connected with the congregation.

The camp was born in 2006 after the community’s Vacation Bible School had lost energy. Mary Jane Hershey, a Salford elder in the realm of peacemaking and justice-building, saw an advertisement for a Peace Camp run by Quakers in nearby Gwynedd. She asked if she could come and observe, and left with copies from their notebooks and eagerness to try it back home.

Each year Salford chooses a theme verse and age-appropriate learning goals for the week. The youngest learn that they are loved by God and created with unique gifts. They learn to accept the differences between themselves and others and celebrate what each person brings through self-portraits.

Second and third-graders are old enough to learn about peace with the earth, touring and working in Salford’s community garden. They create original “ads” that they post on paper grocery bags to encourage the public to make ecologically responsible choices. This portion of the camp is grounded in what the kids already know when they arrive, and they have the chance to build on this and take ownership for making a difference in their community. Meredith laughed remembering that each year, inevitably, this group decides they can go without electric lights, and they spend the rest of the week in a slightly darker classroom!

The oldest children engage a curriculum called Talk It Out, gaining skills for reconciling conflict without resorting to physical force. Everyone spends some time in the classroom, some playing cooperative games, and some sitting down to eat together.

In fact, sitting around tables for dinner is one of the most significant parts of the Peace Camp, says Pastor Joe Hackman, as it provides a practice and space for community that is unusual for some of the children. This ministry is giving birth to possibilities for new forms of witness; this year included an adult portion of Peace Camp and a barbeque for the parents on Friday as part of their closing celebration.

Peace Camp has become a way to spread practical knowledge and skills for peacemaking to people around them – ministering from a place of knowing their neighbor’s needs as well as their own children’s needs. “We always have children with no fixed address,” says Mary Jane. “We send out mailings and some come back.” They are glad to know they are connecting with kids who experience frequent transitions, which can foster feelings of insecurity and deepen the need for an identity as God’s beloved child—and for skills to handle differences and disagreements.

Next week, Philadelphia Praise Center →

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