Thursdays, September 11 & 25
and October 9 & 23, 2008
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Mennonite Conference Center (map)
771 Route 113
Souderton, PA 18964
Churches everywhere are learning, sometimes the hard way, that child safety planning is an important part of providing high-quality ministry to children and young people. It is often a challenge, however, to know where to start when creating a child safety plan. The process is certainly time-consuming and can seem overwhelming, especially if a church’s leadership senses it might be difficult to make the changes within their congregation. Child Safety 101 is intended to help address those issues and help congregations create a comprehensive child safety plan in just a few weeks. With the support of instructor, Julie Prey-Harbaugh, and their classmates, participants will thoroughly understand the issues at stake and come away ready to implement a solid child safety plan in their congregations.
Registration Fee: $200 per team*
*Please note: Due to the practical nature of this resourcing event we ask that congrega-
tions send their entire Child Safety team/committee; no church should register less than two people.
Julie Prey-Harbaugh (One Childhood Consulting) is a licensed minister of Franconia Mennonite Conference and their recommended trainer in child protection and child abuse recovery. She is a member of West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship and serves as an on-call chaplain at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In 2004, Julie received her MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary, where she focused on theological and pastoral responses to survivors of abuse. Julie has extensive experience working with children and survivors of abuse in the Philadelphia area—as a social worker, support group facilitator, youth sponsor and activist. Recently, she led trainings in child protection at Eastern University, Princeton Theological Seminary, the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention and the Mennonite USA Churchwide Convention.
LANCASTER, Pa. – Want to learn more about pastoral care, non-violence or congregational revitalization? 
Before the meeting began, Lakeview Pastor Blaine Detwiler gave a tour of Lakeview’s scenic location in the hills near the border of Pennsylvania and New York. Pastor Detwiler also shared the rich history of the Lakeview congregation and its current missional vision.
After lunch, the board re-convened for the Conference Leadership Team ministry updates. Noah Kolb shared how there are many able pastors in Franconia Conference who are ready for ministry. Gay Brunt Miller reported on the partnership with Anabaptist leaders in the United Kingdom and their recent and positive visit with the conference. Since Steve Kriss was leading ViaVerano in Spain, John Tyson (a summer ministry intern from the Souderton congregation) reported on his behalf that the leadership cultivation and communications department is vibrantly moving in the right direction with a large number of Ministry Inquiry Program participants and a communications sector ahead of the local market. Conference financial advisor Conrad Martin shared updates on the financial viability within Franconia Conference. And finally, Noel Santiago shared about emerging partnerships and new congregations working alongside Franconia Conference.
“The pastor mentioned that one of the needs that came to their mind right away was their Vacation Bible School, which turned out to be planned for the same week as ours. We offered to incorporate them into our morning VBS, or let them use our building for their evening plans. They chose the latter, so we will both have VBS the first week of August. They also asked for our prayers which we assured them they would have, and added to our corporate prayers on the next two Sundays, the option of a special offering that people could give for their needs. We are also collecting the supplies they’ll need for their VBS activities,” said Associate Pastor Sandy Drescher-Lehman.
Both communities are sponsored by Franconia Mennonite Conference, an area conference of Mennonite Church USA which is headquartered in Souderton, Pa. Since the early 1970s, Souderton Mennonite Homes and Dock Woods Community have periodically explored the possibility of joining their efforts to best meet the needs of older adults and families in the Indian Valley and North Penn regions.
The symposium, which took place on May 31, “came out of the desire to investigate spirituality in order to preserve and interpret its meaning for today’s church community,” said symposium organizer Forrest Moyer, who works at the Mennonite Heritage Center in Harleysville, Pa. “Spirituality is a relevant topic. There is interest growing in Catholic spirituality, but we want to look at our own heritage.”
Another scholarship recipient, Topher Maddox of NewStart Fellowship, came to the conference–as some others–rather unfamiliar with the how Mennonite spirituality had been expressed in the past. “I desire to understand the history of Mennonite spirituality in this community; I want to hear the stories. It is important, however, to learn how to marry them with new traditions of spirituality. I appreciate and value the emphasis of artistic spirituality as seen in the art of designing fraktur.”
The 2008 graduating class at