Conference News

Paint a Piece of History!

July 26, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Liz Einsig Wise, Executive Director, Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust

Germantown Historic Meetinghouse — Volunteers from around Pennsylvania helped paint the historic Germantown meetinghouse in June. Photos courtesy of Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust.

The historic 1770 Germantown Mennonite Meetinghouse is a powerful symbol of the origins of the Mennonite experience in America and an important touchstone of the Anabaptist faith. Now cared for by the nonprofit Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust (a Conference Related Ministry of Franconia Conference), the Meetinghouse hosts hundreds of visitors each year, from school groups learning about early Mennonite history to genealogy enthusiasts and others generally interested in American colonial life. Others discover the Meetinghouse in the context of visiting Historic Germantown, learning for the first time of the Mennonites’ central role in early Pennsylvania and about the Mennonite influences contributing to America’s first written protest against slavery.

With a very small staff (less than one full time equivalent) and a modest budget, most of the grounds upkeep for this historic site is done by volunteers. On June 9-12, GMHT’s Paint a Piece of History! Work Week hosted 50 volunteers from all over the region who donated over 237 hours of labor to spruce up the Meetinghouse and grounds.

Two primary tasks awaited: repainting the 1908 Sunday School Room and the wrought iron fence that runs the length of the property. With ready enthusiasm, volunteers from Souderton Mennonite Church, Boy Scout Troop 1719, Frazer Mennonite Church, Oxford Circle Mennonite Church, Germantown Mennonite Church, Circle of Hope Brethren in Christ Church (Broad & Washington and Frankford & Norris campuses), VolunteerMatch, and others all pitched in. Skilled volunteers also began work on the exterior wood trim of the Meetinghouse.

Even with so many hands, work remained unfinished at the end of the official work week. Fortunately, during the last week of the month, another group from Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church, in Philadelphia for a work week with Kingdom Builders Construction, helped finish the project (and even more grounds work!) with another 175 hours during one of the hottest weeks of the summer.

Before the paint was even dry, the Meetinghouse hosted a tour group, a jazz concert and a game night! Coming up, the “Dog Days of Summer” on August 11 will feature GMHT’s 3^rd Annual Rook Tournament & Barbecue sale, as well as live music and frozen treats on the lawn. Later this year, their beloved Christmas Candlelight Service, featuring special ensembles from several congregations as well as a cappella congregational singing, will be held on Saturday, December 8.

Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust welcomes individuals and groups for tours by appointment, or during Historic Germantown’s “2^nd Saturdays” on the second Saturday of every month from May through October from 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. A special presentation customized for your group may also be arranged at your location. For more information or to schedule a tour, please contact GMHT at (215) 843-0943 or gmht@meetinghouse.info.

To face the violence in courageous ways

July 19, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

Franconia Conference members joined Christians from all over the Philadelphia region for a Good Friday vigil outside a gun shop. Photo by Jim McIntire.

by Amy Yoder McGloughlin, Germantown Mennonite Church

One Sunday night in February, my husband, Charlie, and I awoke to lights flashing outside of our house. We live on a quiet street in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, and nothing much happens here, so the lights surprised us. We expected to see the fire department outside, but it was the SWAT team.

A disabled neighbor had been murdered by a guest of his roommates. That man was armed and hiding somewhere in the building.

It was unsettling that something like that could happen on our sweet, family-centric block, a place where we knew each other’s names, and shared each other’s stories. But even more unsettling was that the next morning it was as if nothing had happened. No one was talking about it, there was no police tape, and kids played on the sidewalk and porches, just feet from where this man’s life was taken.

Charlie and I couldn’t get past the reality that we had never met this neighbor, didn’t know his name, and couldn’t even contact his family to extend our condolences. Violence in Philadelphia, and in cities all over this country, is swift and deadly. But it’s also quickly erased.

A few weeks ago, a young couple at our church moved onto a struggling block in East Germantown. After spending a hopeful weekend with their neighbors on an adjoining block, cleaning up trash and hanging large pieces of art, they learned that within twenty-four hours a dead body had been dumped there. They could not stop the violence despite their good-faith efforts.

Another young woman from our congregation was recently assaulted at her neighborhood corner store. After being committed to making Germantown her home, she began to have doubts. Could she look this kind of violence in the eye every day and keep her passion for justice and sensitivity towards others?

At Germantown Mennonite, rooted solidly in the Anabaptist tradition, we long for peace in this world, for a day when violence will end. We stand in front of gun shops to protest illegal gun sales, we try to make safe spaces in our neighborhoods, we call our state representatives to let our voices be heard. But we are only human. We grow weary. Violence is overwhelming and we grow tired of hearing the stories. There’s just too many of them. And they can become too heavy to hold.

Inspired by Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), we long to be in solidarity with people who are hurting. But, it’s clear that we do not always have the tools to do this in our own context.

Germantown Mennonite is exploring the possibility of a CPT delegation to Israel/Palestine next summer. We hope to be joined by other Christians from the Philadelphia area who are committed to non-violence in our own communities and throughout the world. Our prayer is that as we look at violence in another place and see how communities of faith face the violence in courageous ways, we will be inspired, encouraged, and given new visions and new tools to answer the violence we see in our own communities.

If you are interested in a Philadelphia CPT delegation to Israel/Palestine, Germantown Mennonite will be hosting Tarek Abuata, the Israel/Palestine coordinator, at our congregation on Sunday, August 5^th. After we worship together at 10am, we will follow with a potluck, then a time to speak candidly with Tarek about interest in a delegation of this kind. All are welcome to join us as we explore this possibility. If you are interested, but cannot attend a meeting, please contact me at pastoramy@germantownmennonite.org or 215.843.5599.

IVEP participants enrich host families’ lives

July 11, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

By Emily Wil, Mennonite Central Committee

IVEP hosts — Bonnie and Dave Moyer currently are hosting Elisabeth “Lisa” Spredemann of Brazil, right, a participant in MCC’s International Volunteer Exchange Program, in their home. (Photo courtesy of Bonnie and Dave Moyer)

AKRON, Pa. – Over the years, Bonnie and Dave Moyer, Zion congregation, have provided a home away from home to four young people from around the globe. In the process, their own lives have been enriched.

The Moyers, in their mid-50s, have hosted four young people, two from Indonesia and one each from Brazil and France. The three women and one man lived with the Moyers at different times as part of Mennonite Central Committee’s (MCC) International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP).

“Each is as different from the other as night and day, but each is special,” Bonnie said. “They are strong in their personal faith and courageous to leave everything they know and come here.”

Now in its 62nd year, IVEP provides cross cultural experience to Christian youth, many but not all from Anabaptist congregations from around the world, said Andrea Geiser, coordinator of the IVEP U.S. program. In July, 53 young people will finish a year of IVEP service in Canada and the United States.

A new group will arrive in early August, and openings for hosts in Canada and the U.S. are still available.

“This is a chance for us to show hospitality to a brother or sister in Christ,” Geiser said. “Part of the program is to live with a local host family to learn the local culture and connect with a community. It does take extra time to host an IVEP participant, but hosts say again and again how their lives are enriched, their children learn and they have a very positive experience.”

The Moyers believe many people deny themselves the joys of hosting IVEP participants because they harbor unrealistic perceptions of what’s involved. The Moyers themselves worried whether they could fill the role.

“We wondered if we could do it without child-raising experience of our own, and we thought we were too boring for the younger set,” Bonnie said. What’s more, they each work more than 40 hours a week.

However, the couple is committed to international understanding. Bonnie manages a Ten Thousand Villages store in Souderton, which sells fairly traded crafts from around the world, and Dave served with MCC in Belgium from 1978 to 1980.

In 2005, a sponsor contacted Bonnie directly with an urgent need for someone to host an IVEP participant. She and Dave made a quick decision to participate as hosts, and they have never looked back. Dave said his concern about keeping an IVEP participant engaged and active was unfounded because the young people also become involved in their workplaces and congregations.

The Moyers adopt a low-key approach – giving their guests some individual living space while including them in family meals and as many or as few of their activities as each desires.

“They are young adults, not children. They have a purpose in being here and a job to go to. Their brains are tired at the end of the day, and they need some space,” Bonnie said.

However, Dave was thrilled when Edwin Hindom, who is from Papua, Indonesia, took a lively interest in his activities.

“He always wanted to be at my side and was fascinated by tools and machinery,” Dave said. “Edwin liked yard work and really enjoyed helping me with anything that involved the chipper/shredder especially, but also the lawn mower, weed whacker, power saw, cordless drill and snow blower.”

Food is one area where the Moyers try to accommodate their guests’ personal preferences. “You can make someone feel at home if you give them something familiar to eat,” Bonnie said.

Bonnie plans frequent meals with pasta for their current IVEP guest, Elisabeth “Lisa” Spredemann from Brazil, who says she could eat it every day. They found hot sauce for Nur Ninda Natalia “Lia” from Java, Indonesia, and for French woman Lucille Toilliez, who loved crepes, Bonnie would make a batch and freeze them so that Toilliez could help herself each morning.

Spredemann said her biggest worry coming into the program was whether her limited English would hamper her efforts to do a good job at her assignment as a recreational activities assistant at two retirement homes.

This is a common worry, Bonnie said, but she thinks IVEP participants are too hard on themselves. Host families help their guests build confidence with simple reassurance that they’re doing their jobs well and that their English is understandable and improving.

To learn more about the IVEP program, visit ivep.mcc.org.

Reading the Bible “through the eyes of another”

July 10, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

Worship Cohort — Bobby Wibowo, Philadelphia Praise Center, and Keith Schoenly, Bally, share song ideas at the monthly intercultural worship cohort at the Conference Center. How are members of Franconia Conference working interculturally? Browse old posts here.

Taking up the risk and hope of Intercultural Bible Reading

by Samantha Lioi, Peace & Justice Minister

Eastern District Conference and Franconia Mennonite Conference encompass many very different groups of people who experience a variety of “borders” in relating with each other and with wider U.S. society. At times some of us are unaware of these borders; at times we talk about them. Some of us live every day with an unavoidable awareness of them. And sometimes we surely avoid talking with each other about topics that might highlight differences.

Could reading the same biblical story and exchanging our questions and understandings across cultural and language lines be transformational in our context? What would it be like to listen to each other and the Spirit around one biblical text for a time? What if we chose a passage of Scripture for small groups across the conference to read? Ideally it would be a narrative that groups would engage as they gathered for Bible study, and these groups would be paired with other groups of believers within our conferences, using online forums to correspond.

Given our relative geographic proximity, we could also visit one another at some point during these exchanges. We would enter into this expecting to hear different understandings of Scripture, to learn to know one another better, to learn who makes up the “we” of Franconia and Eastern District, and to be open to God’s call coming to us from the Scriptures “through the eyes of another.”

Where did this idea come from?

From approximately 2001-2003, ordinary readers, teachers and scholars from five continents participated in the Intercultural Reading of the Bible project, using the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Sponsored by a network of people and institutions who formed the Intercultural Bible Collective, readers ranging from Latino men in a U.S. prison to Dutch Protestants to Colombian Catholics in Bogotá (and many more) formed partner groups and exchanged descriptions of the context of their everyday lives.

They met locally in small groups to study the John 4 text, sent reports of their interpretations to Amsterdam for translating, and received a report from their partner group in another part of the world. Then they read the biblical story a second time, through the eyes of the partner group, and asked themselves: What were similarities and differences? What role did culture play in the reading? Could anything be learned from the partner group? Were there new discoveries in the text on this second reading? Was there a change of perspective? After the second reading, they sent a response to the partner group, usually by letter. Then each group responded to the responses of their partner group, reflected on the process and chose whether to have further contact.

According to Hans de Wit, a leader in this project, “The core question of the project was: What happens when Christians from radically different cultures and situations read the same Bible story and start talking about it with each other? Can intercultural reading of Bible stories result in a new method of reading the Bible and communicating faith that is a catalyst for new, trans-border dialogue and identity formation?”

Those who undertook this project were concerned with the effects of globalization and persistent inequities and were looking for ways to engage Christians in communication which would broaden our awareness of each other’s lives, gifts, and challenges. Not expecting a crystalized, universal meaning of the scripture, they mainly hoped for new perspectives and relationships to emerge.*

Will you join us?

In my early work as Peace and Justice Minister I have begun to test interest in these exchanges and we have a couple of willing pairs that will begin in the fall. I will act as a liaison to check in with Bible Reading groups and to facilitate communication and connection between groups who have agreed to correspond.

Each pairing will have their own online forum to post 1) a description of themselves and their setting, 2) a brief written account of results of their first reading, 3) a response to their partner group’s first reading, 4) the results of a second reading and 5) a response to their partner group’s second reading.

Conference staff will also work with translators to be sure each group can write and receive feedback in their first or preferred language, and to facilitate face-to-face meetings between groups who are developing relationships around the reading of this common text and/or who wish to continue communicating beyond the formal process of the Intercultural Bible Reading project.

Would you like to join us? We welcome multiple small groups from each congregation–existing Bible studies or new groups formed just for this. For more information or to sign up, send me an email: samantha@interculturalchurch.com.

*This too-brief summary is drawn from the book, Through the Eyes of Another: Intercultural Reading of the Bible, edited by Hans de Wit, Louis Jonker, Marleen Kool, and Daniel Schipani. Elkhart, IN: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2004.

Creative invitation brings new life to Bally

July 5, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Klaudia Smucker, Bally

Bally Mennonite Church has always been a place where creativity has blossomed, but like many small churches, we have been facing declining numbers of children. Our community preschool, which meets daily in our building ten months out of the year, has continued to flourish, but this growth hasn’t been reflected in our Sunday school program.

We had what looked like two main problems: first, our Sunday school preschool class, which sometimes had just a couple preschoolers, was, for a while, combined with an older class and this wide age range seemed to be daunting for the children as well as the teacher; and second, despite many opportunities, we seemed unable to get our preschool families to come to church.

After one Sunday, when there were only one or two preschoolers, Kathryn Schoenly, the preschool Sunday school teacher, and Connie Jones, a parent of a preschooler and a board member for our community preschool, started brainstorming about what they could do to get more children here.

“The preschoolers do come to our Vacation Bible School in the summer,” Kathryn observed. “I wonder if we could interest some of the parents in bringing their children to our Sunday school?”

“Could we just invite them to drop off their kids on a Sunday morning using the preschool entrance?” Connie wondered.

She mentioned it to the preschool board that same evening and Kathryn asked me what I thought about it.

“Go for it!” I said. “What a great idea!”

Almost immediately, Kathryn made an invitation and sent it home with the preschool children.

The next week, two families accepted our invitation and brought their sign-up forms to preschool. The following week, one more came, and Kathryn now has a regular class of about 7 preschoolers.

It is a win-win situation for us all. Our Bally Community preschoolers get to hear about God’s love for them on Sundays and throughout the summer and preschoolers from our congregation have a full class on the same grade level.

We had a few kinks to work out, but as we recognize them, we try to learn from them. When our worship services go longer, someone needs to remember to go downstairs and be ready to welcome the preschoolers. Overall, it is exciting to see the smiling faces of all the preschoolers as they enthusiastically run into class: a safe, warm, and welcoming space.

And all because a couple of people were willing to think outside the box and let the Spirit move!

Conferences contract Peace & Justice Minister

July 5, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

HARLEYSVILLE, PA: Eastern District and Franconia Conferences have contracted a new Peace and Justice Minister to resource congregations in a deeper witness of “shalom,” a holistic understanding of peace rooted in Christ. Samantha Lioi, Whitehall congregation, began work for the conferences in May.

Lioi, a graduate of AMBS with a concentration in peace studies, is passionate about God’s concern for both mercy and justice as expressed in the prophets and the life and teachings of Jesus. “My experiences in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at the Penn Foundation over the past year with people facing and working to heal from their addictions has highlighted the need for these complementary movements of mercy and justice,” said Lioi, “finding oneself loved by a Creator and welcomed in the midst of sin and brokenness, and being invited to claim responsibility for one’s actions and make amends.”

But the roots of her fascination with the ways different people perceive and interpret the world and their place in it go back even further. They can be traced through her curiosity and attentiveness as a child during missionary visits to her congregation, her introduction to Mennonite faith and practice while attending Houghton College, intercultural experiences in college and seminary, and a trip to Colombia last year with Christian Peacemaker Teams. “[That trip] confirmed my desire to continue connecting—through friendship and partnership—with people working for justice and dignity in international relations,” Lioi said.

Lioi moved to Allentown in November 2010 to give additional leadership to the Whitehall congregation and help birth the Zume House, an intentional community that includes pastors from the Whitehall and Ripple congregations. Lioi finished her short-term service at Whitehall in January, but continues to be involved in the life of both of these congregations.

“I envision Samantha’s ministry developing relationships between rural, suburban and urban congregations,” said Warren Tyson, conference minister for Eastern District Conference. “I look forward to seeing how Samantha’s vision and passion for peace and justice ministries will affect Eastern District Conference and Franconia Conference congregations living out God’s missional call in local settings.”

Lioi is contracted through the joint Peace and Justice Committee of both conferences, a committee she joined in March 2011. She will serve as a liaison to strengthen relationships among faith communities, facilitate mutual resourcing, and encourage congregations to be bold in following the Spirit’s prompting. (Read the full job description here.)

“I’m excited about the collaboration with Samantha and Eastern District Conference,” said Ertell Whigham, executive minister of Franconia Conference. “I believe it’s the next step of our conferences working together toward understanding peace and justice as the core of what it means to be the intercultural people of God.”

****

Samantha is in the process of meeting with pastors and other leaders to learn how congregations are already modeling God’s peace and what kind of resourcing would be helpful. To schedule a meeting with Samantha, contact her at 484.632.2651 or samantha@interculturalchurch.com.

Eastern District Conference will be handling Samantha’s financial support package. All gifts to support this ministry should be made payable to Eastern District Conference, Roger Perry, treas., 734 Martingale Rd, Schwenksville, PA 19473, memo: Peace and Justice Minister support.

Whigham appointed to second term as Executive Minister

June 26, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

Ertell Whigham has been appointed to a second two-year term as Executive Minister of Franconia Conference. This term, which will begin in February of 2013, was approved by the conference board at their June 11 meeting in Harleysville, Pa.

Whigham, who has been on the staff of Franconia Conference since 2000, was first appointed to the position of Executive Minister in February of 2011. He was tasked with helping the conference to work at being intercultural, missional and formational, “and to bring those to the center in such a way everyone embraces them as the driving force behind why we do ministry and how we do ministry,” Whigham said in an interview with Mennonite World Review soon after he began his new role.

The appointment to a second term reflects the board’s affirmation that he has successfully led the conference leadership and community through a time of restoration, healing, improved communication, and renewed vision, said conference moderator John Goshow (Blooming Glen congregation) last week in a letter announcing the appointment to conference staff.

Members of the board expressed glowing appreciation for Whigham’s work, acknowledging his energy in moving the conference toward shared goals and his healthy interactions with conference staff, said Goshow.

“He is a visionary leader who connects well with our churches,” said board member-at-large, Rina Rampogu (Plains congregation). “His passion and energy are vibrant and we are truly blessed to have his executive presence not only in our local community but in the broader Mennonite church.”

Whigham has brought significant leadership experience to his role as executive minister. In addition to working in management in the corporate sector for twenty-seven years, Whigham has served as pastor of Diamond Street Mennonite Church of Philadelphia and Bethel Mennonite Church of Norristown, Pa. He is currently an associate pastor at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life.

“I continue to be blessed, humbled, and challenged in transformative ways as I learn more about God, myself and others,” said Whigham as he reflected on his appointment to a second term. “I am also energized by the opportunities that are before us and believe I will continue to be equipped by God for the call to serve during this next season of ministry. My sincere appreciation to the conference board, staff, and community for your prayers, grace, and spirit of cooperation. I look forward with great expectation to the God possibilities!”

Beauty, Mosquitoes & Service in Alaska

June 21, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

From June 2-9, 22 a group of 22 people from Souderton Mennonite Church and 6 friends traveled to Alaska to serve at two summer camps. The Victory Bible Camp group included Glenn Bauman, Wendy Clemmer, Linda Gehman, Steve Halteman, Alan Landis, Merrill & Nancy Landes, Earl & Betty Mininger, Keith & Dottie Reed; and friends – Phil Gehman, Linda’s son, and Debbie Landis, Alan’s sister. The Camp Li-wa group included Ed Brubaker, Don Housel, Austin & Julie Landes, Drew Mininger, Dottie Mininger, Jon Moyer, Merrill Moyer, Tim Moyer, Gary & Phyllis Sellars; and friends, Justin & Melissa Metzler and Dave & Ruthie Mumbauer from East Swamp Church. Click here to see more photos from their trip. Members of each group wrote reflections on their experiences.

Working in God’s Beautiful Wilderness at Victory Bible Camp

By Dottie Reed

Alaska Victory Camp backhoe — Phil Gehman used the track hoe to backfill a trench at Victory Bible Camp in Alaska.

The thirteen participants who arrived at Victory Bible Camp (a two-hour ride from Anchorage) were awed by the creative splendor of our Lord in this area. Though it was cool and often rainy, the group worked hard, many times outside in the weather. We built three flower beds, constructed an outside bench, fixed benches around the fire rings, built a box around the phone in the gym, weeded a very large rock garden, cleaned the chapel and Miracle Lodge (dining and conference rooms, restrooms), relocated switches in restrooms, wired exhaust fans, replaced light bulbs, cut holes and framed areas for exhaust fans, cleaned the kitchen, cut croutons from frozen bread, unloaded the large truck full of groceries and supplies since they only go to Anchorage once a week… and anything else they asked us to do!

On Sunday we all attended Glacier View Church where our group of 50 counselors and staff from the camp made up more than half of the congregation. Devotions were held for us every morning at 7:30 a.m. on the camp theme, Truth.

Since it never gets very dark during the summer, we were able to do a number of fun activities after dinner. We toured the four smaller camps that make up Victory Bible Camp. We enjoyed dessert with Earl and Elaine Anders and Nadine Gillespie (92) who founded the camp with her husband. Many of us also visited and walked on a glacier, hiked to Inspirational Point, rode on a river ride in the rain, hiked many trails and mountains, and observed loons, muskrats, swans, curly-horned sheep, and many moose and their babies.

The first group of campers arrived on Wednesday for a short week. They seemed to enjoy themselves and some even went swimming in the beautiful lake in 38 degree water! All of the camp counselors and staff are volunteers who are supported by their friends and home churches. Our week was a great experience working in God’s beautiful wilderness.

Faith in Action… Swatting Mosquitoes

By Austin & Julie Landes

Alaska Liwa Wood — Ed Brubaker, Drew Mininger, and Phyllis Sellars split and stack firewood at Camp Li-Wa in Fairbanks, Alaska.

We are in the throes of parenting, so it felt almost like a vacation to head 4,300 miles to Fairbanks, Alaska to serve at Camp Li-Wa for a week. Leaving our two little girls in the care of their wonderful grandparents, we boarded three flights and exchanged our duties as mom and dad for almost constant daylight, moose sightings, and swatting mosquitoes–otherwise known as the state bird, according to Don Housel!

Our group reinforced and extended a hay loft 60 feet, built a fence around a petting zoo, split and stacked firewood, helped finish a new log cabin for the campers, sewed curtains, worked in the dining hall, and accomplished many other tasks around the camp. The highlight of our week was a day trip to Denali National Park – it was simply a surreal experience viewing some of God’s most amazing creation.

And then, three long flights back home…exhausted and back to parenting, back to work, back to our responsibilities. Why?

“So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” James 2:17 (NLT)

Service projects have been part of our yearly routine since we were married. It is faith in action for us. At first, they were almost built-in to our schedule when we were senior youth advisors for seven years, but now we intentionally fit them in. Serving is worth the expense. It is worth the sacrifice of your time and your finances. It has strengthened our marriage and united us as a couple. It has helped to adjust our perspective. And there is something about traveling and living with a random group of people from your church that is just plain fun. If you ever get the chance – whether it’s serving a zip code or a country away – take it, you will be blessed.

Conference News

Working in God’s Beautiful Wilderness at Victory Bible Camp

Faith in Action… Swatting Mosquitoes

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