Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Conference News

Damascus Road Anti-racism Training held in Norristown

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The 11th annual Damascus Road Anti-racism Analysis Training for the greater Philadelphia region will be held at Partners for Families, February 26 – 28, 2010.

The training, derived from the Damascus Road Anti-Racism Process of Mennonite Central Committee US, is designed to equip participants with a biblical basis and an analytic framework for dismantling systemic racism in the church and church related organizations and ministries. This event will help participants lay the groundwork for the long-term work of dismantling racism in congregations, conferences and institutions by training teams, leaders, and supporters from those organizations.

The School for Leadership Formation is a co-sponsor of the event, which is recommended for all conference, congregational, Conference Related Ministry & Partner In Mission leaders; it is open to everyone interested in this work. Dismantling systemic racism is an integral part of Franconia Conference’s vision to be missional, intercultural, and transformational in every aspect of ministry.

For more information, in English and Spanish, on this training; including registration, directions, schedule and lodging; visit damascusroad.mosaicmennonites.org.

The Damascus Road Process (www.mcc.org/damascusroad) of Mennonite Central Committee US provides antiracism educating, organizing, and consulting through congregational and institutional antiracism teams throughout the United States. Additional training and spiritual retreats are available for new and current teams.

Other sponsors for this event include: Blooming Glen Mennonite Church’s Damascus Road Team, Eastern District Conference, Kingdom Builders Anabaptist Network, Mennonite Central Committee Philadelphia, Nueva Vida Norristown New Life’s Stand Together Ministry Team, Peace & Justice Committee of the Eastern District and Franconia Conferences, Philadelphia Urban Ministry Partnership (PUMP), White Anti-Racists Caucus East.

For additional information or for comments or questions please contact the event coordinator, Sharon Williams at 610-277-1729 or sharonw@cavtel.net.

Fall Gateway Course: Anabaptist Mission and Peace

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This course explores redemption and reconciliation as the heart of Anabaptist-Mennonite response to God’s call to mission. Students will study the Biblical foundations of mission as the invitation to God’s shalom revealed in the mission of Jesus Christ and the formation of the church through the power of the Holy Spirit. The course probes the Anabaptist story of a people called into mission and peacemaking, as well as detractions from that calling. Special focus is on contemporary challenges and examples of mission and peace.

    Instructor: David W. Shenk
    Dates: October 30-31 and December 11-12, 2009
    Friday 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
    Saturday 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
    Location: Conestoga Mennonite Church
    2779 Main Street
    Morgantown, Pa 19543
    Cost: Graduate credit for two (2) semester hours- $734 , Non-credit cost- $195 (Textbooks and field trip transportation not included)


Church members, pastors, youth, Sunday School teachers and any who think learning is fun are encouraged to register.

For more information and to register click here.

The Corinthian Plan moves forward

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The Corinthian Plan will become a reality January 1, 2010. The health care access plan of Mennonite Church USA reached its revised goal, and project director Keith Harder expects that nearly 70 percent of the denomination’s eligible, credentialed pastors will be on the new plan.

“I am especially grateful for the assistance that will be going to more than 50 congregations and their pastors who currently have no health care coverage,” Harder says. The 450-plus congregations expected to participate will generate more than $500,000 for the Fair Balance Fund which will provide assistance for these pastors. Some congregations have indicated their intention to contribute to this fund even if they will not be full participants in the plan.

Harder reports “a flood of enrollments and inquiries” the last two weeks of September as congregations anticipated the October 1 deadline.

To facilitate this interest, The Corinthian Plan Project Team has extended the enrollment deadline to November 15. This will give congregations just now learning about The Corinthian Plan or beginning to consider its possibilities more time to make informed decisions.

Applications for assistance also will continue to be received until November 15 or until the fund is exhausted.

While the original participation goal of 80 percent of all Mennonite Church USA congregations will not be met, The Corinthian Plan project team, including MMA staff and actuaries, agreed that there is sufficient participation to have a plan that will have a solid financial foundation.

“We believe that we have adequate participation to create a strong and viable plan,” Dave Gautsche, MMA representative on the project team, says. “Plus, it will meet the goal for access that the denomination set out to address.”

Harder reports that there are still more than 250 congregations that have yet to decide about The Corinthian Plan; 190 congregations have indicated they are unlikely to participate.

“There is great need for better access to health care among our pastors and a great desire in many congregations to respond to this need,” Harder says. “For many congregations The Corinthian Plan is seen as a means to practice mutual aid and work for greater justice. Paul’s vision in 2 Corinthians 8 of a fair balance between congregations has struck a positive chord.”

For more information about The Corinthian Plan, contact Keith Harder at 866-866-2872 (toll-free) or keithh@mennoniteusa.org.

Mennonite Publishing Network appoints new editors

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Sharon Williams, Norristown, Pa., believes that Bible study is an important part of Christian life and discipleship. That’s why she’s looking forward to her new assignment as editor of Adult Bible Study, produced by Mennonite Publishing Network (MPN).

For Carol Duerksen, Hillsboro, Kan., being named editor of Purpose magazine is an “exciting opportunity to help people find ways to make their faith practical for their daily lives.”

Williams and Duerksen replace retiring James E. Horsch, who has edited Adult Bible Study and Purpose since 1984. They begin their new assignments in October.

“Studying the Bible with fellow believers in the faith community is an important spiritual discipline for Anabaptists,” says Williams. “My goal is to assist leaders and Bible study groups as they engage God’s story and vision, challenging their personal lives and congregational mission.”

Williams holds a double degree in Christian education and music from Messiah College and a master’s of divinity degree from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. She has served two co-pastorates and as a conference staff person for Franconia Mennonite Conference. Williams is currently minister of worship at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life Mennonite Church. She is also a member of the congregation’s Stand Together Ministry Team, which works at deepening the congregation’s understanding of anti-racism and cultural bias to strengthen the church’s mission.

Duerksen, a member of Tabor Mennonite Church near Newton, Kan., edited With Magazine for 18 years and is a writer and editor for Gather ‘Round, as well as other Christian education curriculum. With her husband, Maynard Knepp, she co-authored nine self-published Amish novels and two children’s books. She also wrote a devotional book, Now It Springs Up, with Michele Hershberger and Laurie Oswald Robinson.

“My hope is that Purpose will be able to share many stories and poems that are both lively and inspirational and that a variety of readers will grow in their faith and consider their time well-spent with this little magazine,” Duerksen says. “A story is the best way to make a lesson for life memorable.”

Adult Bible Study provides a quarterly study of the Bible from an Anabaptist perspective. Lessons are based on the International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching by the Committee on the Uniform Series. In addition to weekly lessons, Adult Bible Study also offers daily Bible readings, a weekly online essay and suggested resources for additional study.

Founded in 1968, Purpose is a monthly magazine that features inspirational articles, illustrations and verse that encourage Christians in their daily walk with Christ, along with regular columns on food, peace, humor and resources for faithful living.

For more information about Adult Bible Study, visit www.mpn.net/abs. For more information about Purpose, visit www.mpn.net/purpose. MPN can also be reached by phone at 1-800-245-7894 (U.S) or 1-800-631-6535 (Canada).

Mennonite Publishing Network is the publishing agency of Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada, providing materials that equip the church to experience and share the gospel from an Anabaptist perspective.

Perkasie congregation screens award-winning documentary

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by Becky Felton, Perkasie

Perkasie Mennonite Church screened a newly-released international documentary film this September to congregational and community members. The film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, tells the inspirational story of women caught in the middle of a vicious civil war in Liberia who banded together to find ways to bring peace.

Thousands of women — ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim — came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Despite bullets and threats of death and torture, the women prayed, demonstrated for nine straight months and helped negotiate a ceasefire and a transitional government which ousted dictator Charles Taylor.

One of the leaders of the movement, Leymah Gbowee, helps narrate her story. Gbowee later was a student at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. She has won numerous humanitarian awards.

A New York Times columnist described the movie as a story of the “power of ordinary people to intervene in their own fate.” It was directed by Emmy-winning director Gini Reticker.

Contact Becky Felton at Perkasie congregation if interested in purchasing or borrowing a DVD of the film at info@perkmenno.org The film was screened at hundreds of locations in the U.S. and Canada in honor of the International Day of Peace, September 21.