Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Conference News

Teaching a practical skill in Chile's summer sun

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During a recent visit Pastor Alfredo Navea of the Tabernacle of Christ Church in Viña del Mar, Chile learned of the canning process many EuroAmerican Franconia Conference congregation members use to preserve harvests of seasonal garden fruits and vegetables. Navea was visiting Pastor Charles Ness, Perkiomenville, and his wife, Janet, at the time and told them, “You must come to Chile and teach us how to do this so we can preserve the fruit we have in the summer for use in the winter.”

In mid-February this year Charles and Janet, Merv and Lois Zook, also from the Perkiomenville congregation, and John Kulp and his family, Franconia congregation, will do just that. The group will spend seven days in Viña del Mar teaching members of Tabernacle of Christ how to can and preserve the abundance of summer fruits during what is late summer in the southern hemisphere. This project will help the members of Tabernacle of Christ and other Chileans meet their winter food needs, especially in the mountain areas of Chile where food shortages are common in winter months.

“We believe that this is a unique way to use a process that many of us learned from our parents and take for granted to bless others in need,” notes Pastor Charles Ness. “This cross cultural exchange is another expression of being Partners in Mission.”

Tabernacle of Christ congregation and a network of churches in the Viña del Mar area are Franconia Conference Partners in Mission and have a thriving relationship with the Perkiomenville, Boyertown and Whitehall congregations.

In order to fund this initiative the team is hoping to raise support from across Franconia Conference communities. Donations will provide canning supplies, jars, lids and help cover the costs of airfare for the team.

If you would like to make a donation toward this initiative please send a check to Perkiomenville Mennonite Church marked “Chile Canning Project” at the following address:

Perkiomenville Mennonite Church
PO Box 59
Perkiomenville PA 18074

For more information contact Charles Ness at 215-234-4011 or perkmc@verizon.net

Donated funds beyond what is needed for the canning project will go toward the $50,000 needed to finish Tabernacle of Christ Church’s building construction.

WPMF congregant publishes memoir of father's legacy

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In February DreamSeeker Books will release a memoir of a father’s life, legacy and death, entitled Long After I’m Gone, by Deborah Good of West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship. A recent Cascadia Publishing House news release described the book as follows:

    In this unique and compelling memoir, the voice of a well-loved father intertwines with that of his twenty-four-year-old daughter, as he fights the ravages of a cancer that eventually takes his life.

    Deborah Good was living in Philadelphia,when her life was hit suddenly with terrible news. Her father’s CT scans showed multiple spots of cancer. Deborah moved back in with her parents, Betty and Nelson Good, in Washington, D.C., and as Nelson approached death, spent hours sitting with him while he reflected back on the interlocking pieces of his unconventional job life. Nelson was neither a saint nor a celebrity and, by many measures, was a rather ordinary person, yet he lived with a humble integrity and a commitment to others that touched many.

    From his spot on a padded green recliner, Nelson told the stories of seven projects, communities, and organizations he had cared about: a neighborhood community center, an experiential education program for college students (Washington Community Scholars Center of Eastern Mennonite University), an alternative day school for foster children, a retreat center, a house church, a historic building restoration and a unique house renovation.

    After Deborah listened, took notes, and tape-recorded their conversations, she added her own reflections. The resulting memoir is a unique intertwining of a father’s history-telling with a daughter’s personal journey of remembrance, loss and grief.

Deborah Good is a writer, editor and, currently, a student and research assistant at Temple University, where she is pursuing a Master of Social Work. Her short essays and poetry have appeared in What Mennonites Are Thinking 2002 (Good Books), Crossroads, The Other Side and Dreamseeker Magazine.

For more information about the book click here.

Christopher Dock principal named to Mennonite Education Agency

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The Board of Trustees of Christopher Dock Mennonite High School (Dock) today announced that Principal Elaine A. Moyer has accepted the position of Associate Director of Mennonite Education Agency, the oversight organization for education in Mennonite Church USA, and will be concluding her service to Dock at the end of the school year.

“Elaine has faithfully served Dock for the last 26 years—the past 20 in the role of principal,” said J. Philip Bergstresser, chair of the Dock Board of Trustees. “Throughout her tenure, Elaine led the school through significant growth, while strengthening our mission and boldly opening doors to Christ-centered education in our area.”

Moyer is Dock’s fifth chief administrator, and the first woman to fill the role of principal. Her participatory leadership style affirms people in their gifts and abilities. Under her leadership, Dock has built a strong leadership team that will serve the students and community well for years to come.

“Elaine has cultivated a vibrant community of faculty, students, parents and administrators who are committed to excellence in learning, from an Anabaptist/Mennonite perspective,” said Martin Wiens, Dock’s assistant principal.

Over the past 26 years Elaine played a key role in growing and enhancing Dock’s mission, while also championing Anabaptist education and ideals in our region, and around the country. She collaborated with Penn View Christian School and Quakertown Christian Schools to align K-12 curriculum and create the GPS 2012: Boldly Opening Doors to Christ-Centered Mennonite Education strategic plan. Elaine also played a key role in creating the Mennonite edition of Validating the Vision, an accreditation tool used by the Middle States Association, and serves on the Executive Committee of Mennonite Schools Council, a national body dedicated to advancing Anabaptist education.

At Dock, Elaine worked with faculty to enhance the learning experience, introducing such programs as Building Community, which provides students with opportunities to build healthy relationships within the school community and exposes them to service opportunities in the broader community and the world. She also successfully led multimillion-dollar campaigns to build the Longacre Center, which includes a theater, gym and fitness center; the stadium and field house; art building; maintenance building; caretaker’s house; and most recently the Rosenberger Academic Center which includes state-of-the-art science, computer and family and consumer science labs, a library and a guidance suite.

“I have been blessed by the experiences and relationships that Dock has afforded me,” said Moyer. “My love for and commitment to Mennonite education was supported and allowed to flourish. After this school year, I will leave Dock in excellent hands, and will pray for God’s continued blessing on Dock’s mission of developing ‘the God-given abilities of our students, in preparation for responsible stewardship of life as members of God’s people in a global society.’”

The Board has established a Transition Committee that will develop and oversee a leadership transition plan and recruit the next principal for Dock.

“Elaine has built an outstanding team that will ensure continuity of our mission and help to take us to new heights in the future,” continued Bergstresser. “We are grateful to Elaine for her service, and look forward to working with her in her new role with Mennonite Education Agency.”

For more information about the upcoming transition click here to download a letter from J. Philip Bergstresser.

That illusive something: Historic Peace Church gathering includes a public witness for peace

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J. Fred Kauffman, MCC East Coast

“God is trying to show us something, and we’re just not getting it! Something is right here…” Rev. Elisha B. Morris leaned ahead and gestured, “…right in front of us, and we can’t see it.”

That illusive “something” began to emerge on a June day in Fr. Isaac Miller’s small office within the cavernous 1897 Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia. Priest at this Episcopalian church, Fr. Miller was hosting a small group to begin shaping the public witness of a national conference called “Heeding God’s Call: a Gathering on Peace” planned for January 2009 at the Arch Street Friends Meetinghouse.

We were meeting to seek God’s leading and power to confront the deadly gun violence that threatens so many urban youth. Some in the group like Rev. Morris, from Jones Memorial Church of God in Christ, sees the ugly side of life every day as he counsels survivors of gun violence. Fr. Miller, veteran of the civil rights movement, searched for words. “I have no idea how the youth in my church cope with this constant threat. I never had to live with that.” So, what was that illusive “something” that Rev. Morris glimpsed?

Fast forward to October. A diverse animated task group of 10 is meeting around a table and a plan is emerging. We explore civil disobedience as a way to express the seriousness of the issue. Suddenly Rev. Morris gets up, walks around, comes back to sit down and beaming says, “This is the ‘something’ that God had for us back in June! This is it! I can see it now!”

As his message sank in we sensed hope and energy rising as we are finding ways for Christians and other citizens to confront this plague of violence.

The public witness on gun violence, called “We’ve Got Work to Do!” will be held on Saturday, January 17. In preparation for the Saturday action we will focus on a gun shop known to be a source of handguns for street corner dealers and ask the owner to sign a “Code of Conduct.” Developed by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and signed by Wal-Mart, the 10-point code aims to limit the flow of guns to the illegal market. If the owner signs the Code, on January 17th we will rally to celebrate; if not, we will rally to pressure him. We hope to create models for communities to take direct and immediate action to confront the scourge of illegal handguns in addition to our important long-term task of pressing for legislative reform to reduce gun violence.

Heeding God’s Call is a “working gathering” for 700 participants planned for January 13 – 19 and sponsored by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, Church of the Brethren and Mennonite Church USA. The vision of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. is at the heart of the conference. One of his co-workers, Dr. Vincent Harding, will serve as Elder for the Gathering. Each sponsoring denomination will send 100 participants, and an additional 300 have been invited from a wide range of other denominations.

The public witness, which will be held on the final day of the conference, will include many other participants as well. Ten congregations in Philadelphia will each partner with two congregations from rural and suburban areas. Anabaptist congregations that plan to participate include: Blooming Glen Mennonite, Circle of Hope (Brethren in Christ), Frazer Mennonite, Oxford Circle Mennonite, Philadelphia Praise Center and West Philadelphia Mennonite. Others plan to join in the Saturday action but not as one of the “triplet” congregational groups. National Gathering participants will join these congregations and hundreds of others from around the city, for morning worship and education about handgun violence. After lunch, all will meet for combined worship and a closing sermon by Dr. Harding. From there we will march to the gun shop for the public witness against illegal handguns.

The Saturday action is an opportunity for active public witness for peace which brings together people of faith from many denominations and faiths, national and local church leaders, the predominantly European American “historic peace churches” and African American congregations working for peace on the streets, as well as urban, suburban and rural churches.

If you and/or your congregation are interested in more information, please contact Fred Kauffman at jfk@mcc.org.

Announcing the Birth of “Living Branches”: Dock Woods and Souderton Mennonite Homes Finalize Affiliation

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The Board of Directors for the new parent company of Souderton Mennonite Homes and Dock Woods Community announced on Wednesday, November 26, that the affiliation of the two communities is finalized, and the new parent company will be called Living Branches. Together, the communities that comprise Living Branches serve more than 1,350 residents and employ 600 team members on campuses in Souderton, Lansdale and Hatfield, Pa.

The name was created by Varsity, a leading marketing firm based in Harrisburg that specifically targets the 55 and over population. Varsity collected information from many residents, staff members, volunteers and leaders, which formed the foundation for the new name.

“Living Branches refers to John 15:5, where Jesus tells his disciples that he is the vine and the disciples are the branches, and that if they stay connected to him they will bear much fruit,” explains Edward D. Brubaker, President and CEO of Living Branches. “Our branches are Souderton Mennonite Homes and Dock Woods Community, our strength and inspiration comes from God, and our mission is life-giving to all who live, work and serve in our communities.”

Like both Souderton Mennonite Homes and Dock Woods Community, Living Branches is sponsored by the Franconia Mennonite Conference, an area conference of Mennonite Church USA headquartered in Souderton.

“Through our parent company, Living Branches, we will continue to strengthen the ministries of Souderton and Dock Woods, while also extending the reach of Anabaptist senior care services in southeastern Pennsylvania,” continued Brubaker. “And, of course, both communities are committed to providing consistent, high quality services our residents have come to expect.”

About Living Branches
Living Branches is a not-for-profit organization serving the needs of older adults and families, with roots in the Franconia Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA. It is comprised of two continuing care retirement communities, Souderton Mennonite Homes in Souderton, Pa, and Dock Woods Community in Lansdale and Hatfield, Pa. Through Dock Manor and Dock Village, affordable senior and family housing is also offered to those who qualify for rental assistance. The Living Branches communities employ 600 people who serve more than 1,350 residents.

» download brochure

Salford student featured on NPR’s “This I believe”

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Along with two other Goshen College students, Sheldon Good, a member of the Salford congregation, wrote an essay for NPR’s “This I believe” project that was selected to be aired on the public radio station in Elkhart, Ind., WVPE-88.1 FM.

“This I Believe” is a national media project engaging millions of people in writing, sharing and discussing the core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives. National Public Radio (NPR) has aired these short essays since April 2005. “This I Believe” is based on a 1950s radio program of the same name, hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow.

Good’s essay entitled “Sharing a Way of Life” explains his particular belief in the value of sharing food. His essay was aired on Tuesday, November 18 and is now available to read online at thisibelive.org.

Essays by Goshen students Annalisa Harder and Julia Baker were also featured on the Tuesday before and after Good’s air date.

The three students wrote their essays for Goshen College communication courses taught by Professor of Communication Duane Stoltzfus, who encouraged students to submit their work for publication or broadcasting.

Damascus Road Anti-racism Training held in Philadelphia

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The 10th annual Damascus Road Anti-racism Analysis Training for the greater Philadelphia region will be held at Vietnamese Mennonite Church, February 27- March 1, 2009.

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 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’s Damascus Road Antiracism Team, Nueva Vida Norristown New Life’s Stand Together Ministry Team, and Philadelphia Urban Ministry Partnership (PUMP), Crossroads Community Center, Kingdom Builders Anabaptist Network, Mennonite Central Committee East Coast, Mennonite Central Committee Philadelphia, Vietnamese Mennonite Church, and 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@DesignForMinistry.com.

When Coordination “Just Happens”: Introducing the Worm Project’s Worm Warriors

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Elizabeth Swartley Stover, Dock Woods Community
with Claude Good. Worm Project Coordinator

On the evening of October 8th Franconia Heritage Family restaurant served a meal of rice and beans, coleslaw and jello served so good that even a famous local chef wanted the recipe for the beans!

That evening 135 caring people met at the restaurant to hear how God brought together a “special forces” team to do battle against one of humanity’s most loathsome enemies: food-depriving intestinal worms in poverty-stricken areas of the world. The weapon of choice in this battle is a small pill costing less than two cents. For that small amount at least five to ten lbs. of “groceries” can be “bought” for a child over a six-month period (the amount the worms would eat if still there).

God knew that this battle needed passionate, well-trained “warriors” to fight against these hidden enemies. He brought them together in his own way in answer to prayer. Each one has expertise in essential areas.

Worm Warrior Sid Gholson is retired, having worked for Georgia Pacific as a procurement person. His work took him all over the world giving him much experience and knowledge about how the world moves. Sid, and his Warrior wife Crystal, decided to use part of their retirement funds to de-worm children in orphanages around the world. Now they have expanded their ministry beyond orphanages and they have reached 26 countries. They call their ministry, “WOW NOW” or “WIPE OUT WORMS NOW” a name suggested by their ten-year-old granddaughter.

Another Warrior is Aaron Jackson. The 27 year old is the “John the Baptist” of the team, wearing a T-shirt, cotton slacks, a knitted skullcap and red shoes! He gave up his apartment in order to use the rent money he saved to help get Haitian children into orphanages. For a while he slept on the floor of a homeless shelter. Now he travels the world starting orphanages and getting de-worming medication to children. He was asked to appear on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 and Larry King Live. As a result, the funds he has raised are sending millions of pills to countries such as Haiti, The Dominican Republic, Sudan, Kenya and Cameroon.

Known as the “Sparkplug”, Warrior Andrew Crawford works for Food for the Hungry in Phoenix, Az. Previously Andrew worked for a pharmaceutical company in their children’s department but he felt a yearning to do something for the poverty-stricken children of the world. The efficiency of de-worming, bringing added food to malnourished children, attracted Andrew to this kind of ministry. Now he and his organization take care of all the many details connected with shipping the pills to the different countries including the cost. He and his organization have now been distributing millions of pills on their own. Their latest goal is to treat 1.5 million families in the country of Burundi – a total of 7.8 million pills for each six-month distribution!

The fourth Warrior is Scott Hendrix. Scott owned a business in Chicago. He sold it because God called him “to work for him.” Within a week Campus Crusade for Christ International contacted him. Now he is in charge of GAiN (Global Aid Network) the humanitarian aid arm of Campus Crusade. Scott and his staff take care of the very difficult custom’s and warehousing issues. But because of their vast experience around the world they know the best routes through the ports.

Thanks to people like Andrew and Scott, 100% of donated funds go to purchasing the pills. There are a lot of “just happens” (God initiatives) in this ministry. One of them was when Andrew and Scott both were delayed overnight in New Orleans due to a canceled flight. They “just happened” to be on the same flight. In the hotel room that night they found common interests and the Worm Project has not been the same since!

Besides other warriors out in the field distributing, there were other warriors present that evening like Beth Beson who flew in from Michigan. She was inspired by Aaron to do something for the country of Cameroon. She is purchasing 1 million pills for that country. Another was Dr. Priscilla Benner and the MAMA Project team. She and the Worm Project are collaborating by sending 2 million pills to Honduras. One other warrior, Howard Schiffer of Vitamin Angels was not able to be present. Their group sends out high-potency Vitamin A capsules (to prevent blindness) also distributed every six months. Now they are piggy-backing the worm pills with their very large distributions.

These warriors work against poverty around the world. If they can keep up to 25% of the children’s food from the parasites, even the food supply of a nation is increased. This team prays for God’s guidance; they see him as the “Great Coordinator,” who wants His children, the least of these, fed.