Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Conference News

Conference partners to present leadership forum

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“Leadership is the art of inspiring others to want to work toward a shared vision” was the framing quote for the day long leadership forum, entitled Finding Our Way Together: Leadership in Challenging Times, held at Frederick Mennonite Community on February 12th. The day long forum was the result of a partnership between Eastern District Conference, Frederick Mennonite Community and Franconia Conference’s School for Leadership Formation.

More than 60 pastoral, lay and professional leaders, representing 17 different congregations and para-church organizations from across Southeastern Pennsylvania attended the forum led by Mennonite Health Services (MHS) Alliance’s Rick Stiffney.

Bringing participants current context to the forefront, Stiffney, who serves as the Presidnet/CEO of MHS Alliance, began the day by showing the group a montage of current national and local headlines. Participants then spent the day working together in their organizational teams through three interactive modules on leading, planning and building a strong team. The modules focused on the nature of the call to serve, exploring how leaders, whether pastor or CEO, can create effective partnerships with boards to carry forward long-range planning in their particular context.

Erin Price, Zion Mennonite Church, appreciated Stiffney’s practical apporach, “I found the training refreshing and energizing. It was great to take time out of the normal day to day business of a board and discuss where we want to go and how we can work better together. Rick’s simple and basic teachings gave us applicable things we could take with us as a board and put into practice. I’m not only inspired me to be a better leader, but also to mentor and encourage other leaders.”

Karen Moyer, Rocky Ridge Mennonite Church, also noted the significance of taking time off from the business side of board meetings, “The self-assessment for leadership practices and then the opportunity for individual reflection and discussion within our team was most valuable for us. As leaders, we too often meet for ‘business’ without reflection or feedback on how our leadership is perceived or received.”

“What was most valuable to our team was being given the time to process, dream and plan together in a way that is not normally possible,” noted Brent Camilleri, Associate Pastor of Deep Run East Mennonite Church. “I think that each of us felt challenged to reevaluate our leadership approach and to look at how we lead our congregation with a new sense of focus and purpose.”

Perkasie Patchwork Coffeehouse features DayBreak

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On February 21, one of Perkasie Patchwork Coffeehouse’s favorite bands returns to sing and play the night away as we look forward to spring. DayBreak and opening act Glass Roses will perform folk music at the Perkasie Patchwork Coffeehouse in the Perkasie Mennonite Church hall at 4th & Chestnut Streets in Perkasie, PA. Experience the warmth and energy of DayBreak on a winter’s night.

Doors open at 7 pm with performances at 7:30. Adults $9, Adults over 65 $7, Students 13 and up $4, 12 & under free. Refreshments will also be available for purchase.

The musicians of DayBreak have been harmonizing together in and around the Lehigh and Bucks Counties of Pennsylvania since 1990. The group includes Cliff Cole playing the hammered dulcimer, guitar, and percussion; Anna Lisa Yoder on the violin, mandolin and bouzouki; Rob Yoder on concertina, guitar, bodhrán, harp and mountain dulcimer. DayBreak also incorporates the musical skills of their children: Emily Cole on voice and pennywhistle, Trudy Yoder on cello, Lydia Yoder on violin and bodhrán, and Seth Yoder on hammered dulcimer and keyboard. Everyone lends their voices to a growing repertoire of winsome and compelling songs. DayBreak has performed in various settings including The Bethlehem Musikfest, Longwood Gardens, Godfrey Daniels Coffeehouse, The Allentown Mayfair, Foy Hall at Moravian College, Celtic Classic, Perkasie Patchwork Coffeehouse, Kutztown Pennsylvania German Festival and at various clubs and churches. Along with their three recordings, DayBreak is featured in the soundtrack for Expressions of Common Hands, a documentary on Pennsylvania German folk arts. Visit www.daybreakfolk.com for more information.

Opening act Glass Roses features daughter/father duo Emily Rose and Cliff Cole in combination with friend Rob Fedorczyk. This team combines hammered dulcimer, voice, tin whistle, slide and electric guitar, bass guitar, and percussion in genres from folk to folk rock. All three are experienced musicians and composers.

Check out our website at www.perkmenno.org for directions or more information, or call 215-723-2010.

Upcoming Perkasie Patchwork Coffeehouse shows:

  • March 21 – Wayfarers and Company + Steve Begley
  • April 16 – Ken Kolodner + Boys of County Bucks
  • May 16 – Kim & Reggie Harris
  • October 17 – Gordon Bok
  • November 21 – Charlie Zahm & Tad Marks + Unsafe At Any Speed

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.

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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.