Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Conference News

Prayer network “adopts” street in Perkiomen Valley

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by Peter Smith, Upper Perk Prayer Evangelism Network, peteresmith4@comcast.net

“Adopt A Street,” in its simplest form, is a prayer strategy that focuses on changing the spiritual climate in your community. What would happen if 100% of the streets in your community were being prayed for daily for the next 12 months? The “Adopt A Street” prayer strategy brings unity to churches in any given community or city, energizes the local church in prayer, and it begins to bring transformation to the church and community that is visible and to a large degree, measurable. Prayer evangelism in its most basic form teaches that God wants us to talk to God about people, BEFORE we talk to people about God.

Prayer evangelism and the “Adopt A Street” prayer strategy, over time, contribute to the reduction of systemic poverty in the region where they are implemented. The strategy is one of the most effective ways for local church pastors to physically implement Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8. The strategy is much more than a “prayer strategy;” it is a comprehensive missions strategy that allows the Holy Spirit to lead the transformation process. It can impact and transform every segment of a community including the church, businesses, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and the family. One of the keys to its effectiveness is unity among churches in any given community or region. The greater the unity, the greater the possible transformation.

UPPEN (Upper Perk Prayer Evangelism Network) is a growing network of churches in the Upper Perkiomen Valley school district and surrounding region that has been in existence since 2003. Currently, there are 11 churches in this network and it continues to grow. Together, through prayer evangelism and a spirit of unity, they are seeing God changing the spiritual climate of their community and the surrounding region.

The UPPEN network had been praying during the first half of 2010 for a long-term prayer strategy for the Upper Perk region. UPPEN became aware of the Adopt-a-Street prayer movement in Newark, N.J. in the summer of 2010 and began to pray about the possibility of using the strategy in this region. After much prayer, UPPEN launched the Adopt a Street prayer strategy for their region on January 30th, 2011. Lloyd Turner and a team from Newark came to Upper Perk to participate in the launch of “Adopt A Street”. They held a training class for pastors, church leaders, and intercessors. Now the seeds of “Adopt A Street” have begun to spread across southeastern Pennsylvania. Two prayer networks in Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton decided at an informational gathering in March to implement the “Adopt A Street” prayer strategy for their region. Other regions and regional prayer networks are launching or praying about launching this prayer strategy. Please pray with UPPEN for these seeds to spread across the greater region.

UPPEN leaders, Peter Smith (Hope Valley Community Church, Red Hill), Charlie Ness (Perkiomenville Mennonite Church), and Scott Landes (Frederick Mennonite Church) gave an “Adopt A Street” presentation on June 9th at a Leadership Breakfast at the Mennonite Conference Center in Harleysville, PA. They shared about the UPPEN church network and the vision for the “Adopt A Street” prayer strategy.

UPPEN leaders are available to come and speak at churches, prayer networks or pastor networks in the region. For more information on “Adopt A Street,” prayer evangelism, or the UPPEN network, contact them at PrayUpperPerk.org, 215.541.4888 or peteresmith4@comcast.net.

Editorial: Effective strategy requires passionate engagement

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by Ertell Whigham, Nueva Vida Norristown New Life

The Encarta dictionary defines passion as “intense or overpowering emotion.”

In this edition of Intersections we have several stories and testimonies of what happens when the passion of God’s purpose gets hold of people. Passion seems to me to be at the core of any fruitful (God given) vision, mission, purpose or strategic plan. That is the element of passion.

This is not passion just within leadership but the passion of everyone who feels called to be a part of a particular organization or organism. In this time and place as Franconia Mennonite Conference, we are called to be passionately strategic about the immediate priorities of being missional, intercultural and formational.

One of the ways to facilitate engagement at a level of passion—that connects us to God’s direction and vision for our work together from Georgia to Vermont an beyond, increases clarity of understanding, purpose and commitment and gives us the energy to keep moving and growing towards transformation—is to simply deepen our community relationships through prayer, openness, clarity, collaborative leadership and sincerity.

While there are many ways to work at passionate relationships and strategic planning for living into the vision and mission of our conference, conference leaders continue to hear a call from the constituent community to: spend time in the same space; sit together and engage in relevant conversations; ask questions and share information within the context of our mutual priorities.

We hear a need to celebrate Gods message of alignment and a call to be open to the Spirit’s power to help us hear one another in spite of the distractions that entangle us. During the coming months, we must all find at least one part of the vision, mission and priorities where we can passionately connect and communicate who we are and what God has called us to be and do together as Franconia Conference. We must be willing to carry the message and have clarity of purpose that both honors God and extends the Gospel. This is a responsibility that goes beyond our organizational structure but must be owned and proclaimed by each of us.

Among many of the passions expressed by our constituency, there is a need to be heard, included and considered as we continue to plan our direction and work at decision making processes. There is a passion and need to feel appreciated and to trust that we are all called to this journey together as well as to understand our place and possibilities.

As conference leaders continue to meet with congregational and credentialed leaders, congregations, Conference Related Ministries and Partners in Mission, we are listening and moving toward clarity of commitment, direction and most importantly considering the cost of being a people called to live into the realities, priorities and understanding of being intercultural, missional and formational— transformed for the purpose of God’s reign.

We’ve heard congregations ask for continued commitment to missional movement, contextual support and ongoing development of equipping leaders to empower others to embrace Gods mission from the LEAD (Leading Equipping and Disciplining) platform.

We’ve heard Conference Related Ministries ask for clarity of how we can work together in mutually beneficial ways to support one another and establish deeper relationships with congregations.

In addition, Franconia Conference continues to appreciate our Mennonite schools and the Anabaptist distinctive that directly impacts spiritual formation that cultivates values and vision for equipping future leaders. While we indeed realize that Christian formation is happening effectively beyond our Mennonite schools, we affirm the community witness our schools offer in nurturing our young people to be radical followers of Jesus Christ and instruments of God’s peace and justice.

We heard PIM (Partners In Ministry) express appreciation for ongoing support and encouragement in walking beside them as they minister in new and exciting ways.

We must continue to listen together and hear God’s Spirit calling us to find the passion that will give life to God’s strategic plan and priorities as a conference community living witnessing what it means to be missional, intercultural and formational.

Sounding the Gospel of our common Christ: Lutherans and Mennonites move toward right relationships

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by Dr. John Ruth, Salford Mennonite Church, and Bishop Claire Burkat, Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The history of Lutherans and Mennonites has not always been one of mutual appreciation. The Mennonite Church is a church of Anabaptist heritage. The name Anabaptist was first used in the 16th century by Lutheran reformers. “Anabaptist” literally means re-baptizers, because of the practice of believers’ baptism. This was not used as a term of respect; in fact the early Lutheran reformers used the name in derision, condemning Anabaptists as heretics and accusing them of sedition.

In the 16th century, Lutheran invectives against Anabaptists were treacherous and produced serious harm and death to the historic members of the Mennonite community. Hundreds of Anabaptist Christians were put to death, imprisoned, and persecuted by Lutherans. Lutherans by and large developed an historical amnesia about this shameful part of their Reformation heritage.

Last summer in Stuttgart, Germany, the Lutheran World Federation presented a statement of regret to the Mennonite World Conference, asking forgiveness from God and from their Mennonite brothers and sisters. The expression of a “deep and abiding sorrow and regret” from Lutheran people of the 21st century for atrocities perpetrated by their ancestors almost 500 years earlier, is a confession and subsequent reconciliation which God has desired for centuries.

Ripples from those deep events have reached the backwaters of the Delaware Valley, to a place watered by the Indian Creek, once known to both Mennonites and Lutherans as “Indianfield.”

This landscape still carries names of historic memory: at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School in Lansdale, Pa., there is Grebel Hall; in Allentown, Pa., there is Muhlenberg College; in Souderton, Pa., a Zwingli United Church of Christ.

These names are reminders of people and events that shaped our history and our identity; things that happened in European cities like Wittenberg, Zurich and Augsburg—and, after nearly five centuries, last summer in Stuttgart—still affect us today.

Yet our joint history is not just one of animosity and persecution. Over three hundred years ago, Mennonite and Lutheran refugees made their way to Pennsylvania to enjoy a religious freedom that they had never before experienced. The immigrants got along remarkably well together in Penn’s Woods.

One of the Lutheran’s early leaders was Henry Muhlenberg. Even after Muhlenberg had a beautiful new church built at Trappe, he allowed one of his members, who had been living among the Mennonites of Skippack, Pa., to bury his aged mother’s body in the graveyard of the Mennonite congregation. Of course the service would be conducted by the Lutheran pastor, who was considered the best preacher of the gospel in the region.

The day was very hot, so Muhlenberg proposed to preach under a large tree. He was surprised that the Mennonite leaders present urged him instead to come into what he called their “roomy” meetinghouse for the service.

Hesitantly but respectfully accepting this invitation, Muhlenberg found himself nevertheless cautioned at the meetinghouse door by an elderly Mennonite minister, who hoped that the Lutheran pastor would not include any “strange ceremonies” in his service. Yet after the service came another surprise, when the same old man thanked Muhlenberg—with tears—for “sounding the Gospel” in their Mennonite meetinghouse.

Three hundred years later, in a gesture unimaginable for early Mennonites, Lutherans once again held a service in one of their roomiest houses of worship, Franconia Mennonite Meetinghouse in Franconia, Pa. This time, as part of their annual business meeting on May 6, 2011, the Lutheran Synod of Southeastern Pennsylvania extended their own apology for the oppression of the past, reminding those gathered that reconciled communities are not about abstract relationships; instead, the forgiveness and healing between Mennonites and Lutherans is a family matter.

As Charlie Ness, pastor of Perkiomenville Mennonite Church, responded to the apology, he echoed the words of the President of the Mennonite World Conference Danisa Ndlovu, saying, “Today, in this place, we together—Lutherans and Anabaptist Mennonites—are fulfilling the rule of Christ. We cannot bring ourselves to this table with heads held high. We can only come bowed down in great humility and in the fear of the Lord. We cannot come to this point and fail to see our own sinfulness. We cannot come to this point without recognizing our own need for God’s grace and forgiveness.”

Once again on that sunny May morning, the Lutherans were sounding the Gospel—for what is the good news but the news of the reconciliation of all things in heaven and earth and under the earth, worked and revealed and offered by Christ on his cross? As at Skippack, that day in Franconia, Lutherans accepted Mennonite tears of joy for their gesture, this request for forgiveness. And on that day, their witness to our common salvation, sounding out in the Mennonite’s roomy meetinghouse, was the Gospel of our common Christ.

Adapted from remarks shared at the Eastern Synod of the ELCA gathering on May 6, 2011 by Dr. John Ruth, historian for Franconia Mennonite Conference, and Bishop Claire Burkat, bishop of the Eastern Synod of the ELCA.

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Healing Memories, Reconciling in Christ: A Lutheran-Mennonite Study Guide for Congregations

Franconia Conference and Eastern District Conference announce joint assembly

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By Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

Franconia Conference and Eastern District Conference of Mennonite Church USA will hold a joint conference assembly this November.

“We felt that this is an exciting opportunity resulting from a long standing conversation about what it means to work together for God’s purpose and ministry in our region from Georgia to Vermont,” says Ertell Whigham, Franconia Conference’s executive minister.

The annual gathering, which will be held November 11-12 at Penn View Christian School in Souderton, Pa., will be planned by a team consisting of members from both conferences.  Although some details are still in process, the event is already scheduled to include a joint worship service on Friday evening and then separate delegate sessions on Saturday.

The purpose of this joint event, says Eastern District executive minister Warren Tyson, is to strengthen the unity of the two conferences and continue to move forward in common work in this region.  Added benefits would include costs savings and increased value for Conference Related Ministries, who would only have to set up booths at one event instead of two.

This is not the first partnership between Franconia and Eastern District Conferences: they already share office space and staff and are in the process of hiring a joint conference-wide Youth Minister.  The conferences also share resources and training events, so the joint conference assembly is a logical next step.

“It feels natural and timely,” says Whigham.  “We are excited about the possibilities of what it will mean for our future together.”

Steel City congregation blessed and released

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By Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

Harleysville, PA – Franconia Mennonite Conference released Steel City Mennonite Church to transfer its membership to Conservative Mennonite Conference.  The request for transfer came after a significant period of discussions related to theology, vision, mission perspectives and scriptural understanding, according to Franconia Conference Executive Minister and Steel City’s former Conference Minister, Ertell Whigham.

Some of the questions leading to this decision revolved around differing interpretations of Biblical perspectives specifically related to issues of women in leadership.  “It was with a heaviness of heart that I shared with the elders in September 2009 that a time was coming soon when I couldn’t in good conscience have my ministerial credentials held by the Mennonite Church USA and Franconia Mennonite Conference,” said Steel City’s pastor, David Kochsmeier.

Soon after, Steel City’s leadership began to look into other options for affiliation.  They discovered agreement with the positions of the Conservative Mennonite Conference, a denomination founded in 1910 which has been based at Rosedale, Ohio, since the 1960s.  On May 2, 2010, the congregation voted to leave Franconia Conference and Mennonite Church USA and join the Conservative Mennonite Conference, a transfer that was completed in February of 2011.

Noah Kolb, Franconia Conference’s Pastor of Ministerial Leadership, walked with Steel City through the release process.  “I feel a sense of loss and grief over losing the Steel City congregation, which I think has been a creative, missional congregation over the last few decades,” he said, reflecting on the experience.

Part of the blessing was a service of transfer which was held on March 6, 2011.  Members of both Franconia and Conservative Mennonite conferences were present for a symbolic releasing of the congregation.  As he shared his heart with members of Steel City, Kolb held a candle representing the congregation.  “Your light has burned brightly since your beginning,” he said.  “I believe God has been glorified through you and your witness and service. . . I hold this candle with thoughts and longing filled with much joy and hope for you.”

Turning to Steve Swartz, Executive Secretary of the Conservative Mennonite Conference, Kolb offered him the candle.  “Steve, in the name of Christ and for his glory, I release Steel City from the care of Franconia Conference into your care and oversight.  May God be glorified in this new relationship.  May the presence of the Kingdom grow ever stronger in this community.”

“We hope Steel City will continue to find direction for what God is calling them to be and do in ministry,” said Whigham.  “We will find ways to continue to be in relationship with them.  Even now, we’re working together to find ways to connect and collaborate.”

Gardeners sow seeds of sharing

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Volunteer Marylee Chittick gets rid of weeds in the community garden near the Doylestown Mennonite Church on Saturday. Half of the produce will go to area food pantries. Photo by Kim Weimer--Intelligencer staff photographer.

by Christina Kristofic
Intelligencer Reporter
phillyBurbs.com
ckristofic@phillyburbs.com

Once or twice a week for the past several weeks, folks from the Doylestown community have gathered at Doylestown Mennonite Church to work the soil. They have sweat under the hot sun as they have planted varieties of tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, squash, carrots, beans, herbs and flowers.

But when it comes time to harvest the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor in a few months, the gardeners will take home only half of the produce — maybe less.

And they think that’s great.

The men and women who have been working in the Sandy Ridge Community Garden agreed from the beginning to give at least 50 percent of the produce they grow to local food pantries and soup kitchens.

Ginny Kane, a retired secretary who lives in Plumstead, said she’s “absolutely thrilled” to be able to fulfill a need in the community.

“This time and age, especially with the economy and everything, people are lookin’ out for themselves,” said Dave Pinchick, a master gardener from Buckingham who has been working in the garden.

“This reminds me so much of my days at Millersville with the Amish. These people are real salt of the earth — they work together as a community for the community. They give up so much of their time and efforts for the benefit of everyone.”

The Sandy Ridge Community Garden was started by Sharon Shaw, a landscape designer who lives in Doylestown Township. Shaw had volunteered in community gardens in other communities and wanted to start one close to home. She drove past the Doylestown Mennonite Church every day and saw a field of sunflowers, and thought that field would be just the place for a community garden.

So Shaw stopped in to visit the church’s pastor, Randy Heacock.

Heacock said, “A number of years ago, we tried to think about… How do we use our facilities for ministries? That land out there, we often thought it would be neat to do something of this nature on. But we never had anyone come forth and say, ‘Hey, I’ll organize it. I’ll pursue it.’ When Sharon stopped in one day, it was an answer to prayer.”

A few members of the church help out with the garden. But many of the volunteers on Shaw’s e-mail list are from outside the church.

Heacock said the community garden allows church members to “rub shoulders with people that probably in many ways are very close to us geographically and we never had the opportunity to meet or didn’t make it happen. It opens up the opportunity for them to understand who we are, what we pursue and opportunities to share similar joys or similar concerns, and to pray with them.”

The church is not just there for its members, Heacock said, “What we have is for all. And Sharon’s desire to have the garden reach out to food pantries, that just sits very much with our desire (to give to the community outside the church). There are people in need and we can easily help with that.”

Shaw’s plan to give produce to local food pantries and soup kitchens grew from her volunteer work at a soup kitchen in Lansdale. She said: “When you work there, you get a sense of the menu. The menu is a lot of processed food, a lot of canned foods. Really, nothing fresh comes in the door. More and more, we’re hearing a lot of stories about how important that is — good nutrition, fresh local foods. I want to make sure people have the same access to good, fresh local foods that we do.”

New Britain resident Dave Horn has been volunteering with the food larder at New Britain Baptist Church for about 10 years; he said the organization doesn’t get much fresh food in donations. He figured helping out in the garden would be a way to get some fresh produce for the larder.

The land at Doylestown Mennonite Church is a “nice area,” Horn said. “It’s got good soil there, compared to a lot of areas around.”

The community garden has had quite a bit of help from community members and businesses. Shaw has donated machinery for tilling and other parts of the project through her landscape design and construction business, Martin Shaw LLC. Histand’s Equipment donated hoses and gardening tools, Jeffrey Sparks Excavating donated compost, Bucks Country Gardens donated seeds and landscaping design company Just One Seed donated seedlings. Several other gardening businesses and private gardeners also donated seeds or seedlings.

Many of the plants are starting to grow.

“Hopefully, it will continue,” Horn said. “Hopefully, the weather cooperates. That’s always the big thing.”

If you want to give your time or seedlings to the Sandy Ridge Community Garden, you can “like” the garden on Facebook or send an e-mail to buckscommunitygardens@gmail.com.

© 2011 phillyBurbs.com . All rights reserved. Reposted by permission.

Formation class crosses into Allentown in considering the church and mission

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Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

Allentown, PA—New Franconia Conference pastors experienced life in the city on May 14 as their Formation Class took them into the heart of Allentown.  The day included Bible study at the Zume House, a prayer walk through the neighborhood where Ripple ministers, a meal with the Vietnamese Gospel Mennonite Church, and an afternoon discussion on crossing borders.

Formation Classes are required for every newly credentialed pastor in Franconia Conference as well as those who are new to ministering within Franconia Conference congregations.  This class’ trip to Allentown reflects a return to the traditional function of the Formation Class—to orient new pastors to the Franconia Conference story.  “A picture is worth a thousand words,” said Gay Brunt Miller, coordinator of the School for Leadership Formation.  “Being there is so much better than sitting in a conference room hearing about it.  It’s the full sensory experience.”

The day began with a time of reflection and discussion at Zume House, an intentional community birthed out of Whitehall Mennonite congregation.  Zume’s Rose Bender and Samantha Lioi shared about their vision of being yeast in their neighborhood (“Zume” is Greek for “yeast”).  It’s a process that takes time and an image that challenged the pastors about their own contexts.  “It means that church is going into the community,” pondered Tim Moyer, pastor of Vincent Mennonite Church at Spring City, PA.  “Am I equipping my congregation to be yeast in our community?”

A highlight of the day was the prayer walk, led by Ripple pastors Tom and Carolyn Albright.  “I saw how the Lord is doing a new thing,” said Ubaldo Rodriguez who leads Nueva Esperanza—Baltimore.  “We heard each other’s stories, listened to a new generation’s dreams and hopes.”  Among their stops was Franklin Park, where Allentown Mennonites recently “planted” a peace pole, and a Thai restaurant where Peter, the owner, spoke about doing business in the city.  Connie Detwiler, associate pastor of Lakeview Mennonite in Susquehanna, PA, was particularly moved by Peter’s witness.  “He was a light in a very dark place,” she reflected.  “I felt the presence of God there.”

The pastors were warmly welcomed to share lunch with members of the Vietnamese Gospel Mennonite Church.  Pastor Hien Truong worked as a leader in the persecuted church and with human rights law in Vietnam and Cambodia before he was forced to flee to the US.  He asked his colleagues to remember his people in their prayers: “The Lord has been noticing our small congregation and caring for us.”

Luke Martin, former missionary to Vietnam and long-term Allentown resident, shared about his life of “border-crossings.”  “I went there as a missionary, I came back as a missionary,” he explained.  It only seemed natural to continue his mission work in Allentown, a place he’s called home for over 30 years.  Much has changed in that time, but he still thrives in being a part of God’s work.

“The big changes and border-crossings in his life were from mustard seeds of faith,” Fuller Theological Seminary student and guest Joe Paparone of Saratoga, New York, reflected as he listened to Luke’s story.  “We have to trust those mustard seeds of faith.”

And these border-crossings surround us in our own neighborhoods and within our relationships in Franconia Conference.  John Goshow, Conference Moderator, and Ertell Whigham, Conference Executive Minister, led a conversation on the Conference’s work to be formational, intercultural, and missional.  “We need to be able to articulate this in our own particular contexts,” explained Whigham.  The group was particularly interested in what it meant to be intercultural.  “I am glad that the Mennonite Church in the US and Canada is inviting other voices from the global south,” said Rodriguez, originally from Colombia.  “We need each other!”

Going to Allentown allowed leaders to engage with and learn from their peers in a practical way, said Steve Kriss, Director of Leadership Cultivation for Franconia Conference.  “We were offered the opportunity to be in a place that is not only historically significant in the missional journey of Franconia Conference but also where the Spirit is stirring up new things.”

Church leaders discuss ways to build bridges with Muslims

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by Emily Ralph

Dr. Andrew Bush leads a conversation on building bridges between Christian and Muslim faiths. Photo by Emily Ralph.

Norristown, PA — “The greatest challenge the church is facing today is the rapid rise of Islam around the world.” It was a bold statement, but Dr. Andrew Bush, a missionary, church planter, and professor of missiology, believes that this challenge is one the church is called to engage.

“As representatives of Christ we stand at a historic hour in which we have the opportunity to show the true love of Jesus to the Muslim world,” said Bush at a workshop on improving Muslim-Christian relations held at Methacton Mennonite Church on May 5.   Bush is a professor at Eastern University in St. David’s, PA and attends Methacton Mennonite Church.

The growth of Islam is not just on foreign soil–Pennsylvania has one of the largest Muslim populations in the US.  Courtney Smith of Lansdale, Pa., noted that several of her neighbors were Muslim.  And that her ongoing conversations have at times left her unsure about the relationship between Islam and Christianity.  “Muslims insist that we worship the same God, the God of Abraham,” Bush responded.  But if that’s the case, “we have different understandings of God.”  Islam believes that Jesus was the world’s greatest prophet, next to Muhammad, but it rejects Christ’s divinity and crucifixion, believing instead that Jesus was taken up alive to God.

And that, Bush said excitedly, is where conversation can begin.  “Jesus is alive—we both agree on that.”

Jesus is highly respected in the Muslim faith as a teacher, moral leader, and even the Messiah.  The tragedy, in Bush’s view, is that in the rejection of the cross Muslims miss the victory of Christ’s work.  Considering the story Jesus told of the shepherd searching for his lost sheep, Bush pointed out, “Jesus is probably spending more time among Muslims than among us.”

Friendships with Muslims begin with the conversion of your own heart, according to Bush.  Those who want to build relationships must become students of Islam, learning to understand the faith as Muslims understand it.  Although the Bible also has verses that are hard to explain, Muslims are often harassed for portions of the Quran that Westerners consider offensive.  But keep an open mind, Bush encourages, because “you can’t judge a religion by its worst verse.”

Islam has already made up its mind about Jesus, so why should we care about building bridges? “It is the revelation of the love of Jesus that compels us,” responded Bush, a former missionary to Mexico and the Philippines.  “My concern is that Muslims hear the gospel of Jesus, see the gospel of Jesus. . . experience Jesus.”

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Listen to highlights from the May 5th breakfast with Dr. Andrew Bush:

[podcast]http://mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Building Bridges with Muslims (full).mp3[/podcast]