Grant Rissler, Mennonite Central Committee
More than 70 people from churches in Central and Eastern Pa., Ontario and New Jersey gathered Feb. 8-10 to learn more about how to build dialogue between Christians and Muslims at the annual Eastern District/Franconia Conference Winter Peace Retreat, held at Spruce Lake Retreat near Canadensis, Pa.
“My hope for this retreat,” said Evie Shellenberger, former Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) worker in Iran, “is that we can rid ourselves of the blindness we have towards our Iranian neighbors and Muslim neighbors.”
Shellenberger, along with her husband Wally, provided primary input for the weekend, sharing a range of stories showing how their MCC assignment in a student exchange program in Qom, Iran gave them a chance to live a life of dialog with Muslims in that region.
Noting that in three years of living and traveling in Iran no one ever expressed hatred towards them because of their U.S. citizenship, Wally shared that they had a “strong sense that everywhere we went, God had preceded us.”
Through story, Evie shared several lessons she had learned during those years about dialogue, including one from an Iranian professor who told them not to let their Christian faith weaken. “The stronger you are in your faith,” the professor said, “the better our dialogue will be.”
The Shellenbergers suggested that though most Christians in the U.S. do not have the same first-hand experiences, they can counteract hatred between Christians and Muslims if they don’t “feed into conversations that are negative and degrading” towards Muslims as a group.
Also, Evie noted that there are many opportunities in the U.S. to develop relationships with Muslims here at home.
Aldo Siahaan and Muhammed Imam of Philadelphia Praise Center shared a concrete example of how the congregation reached out to Indonesian Muslim community in Philadelphia by opening up their church for Muslims to pray during the holy month of Ramadan. About 80 Muslims accepted the invitation and more relationships were formed when 30 members of the congregation joined their Muslim guests in a meal in the evening.
“This is the way we show our love,” said Siahaan. He shared that one of the Muslim leaders told him that “if we had this type of relationship in Indonesia, we wouldn’t have a problem” referring to outbreaks of violence between Christians and Muslims there.
When a local TV station did a story on the church opening its doors to Muslims, Siahaan said he received angry calls from other Christian pastors who told him it was wrong to allow Muslims “to step on the holy ground” of the church.
Siahaan said that some Muslims have come back to the church since then and worshipped with the congregation.
Twenty youth also attended the retreat and with leadership from Scott Hutchinson, pastor at St. Andrew’s United Church of Christ in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, focused their discussions on the topic “Living with Diversity.”
The annual retreat is organized by The Eastern District/Franconia Conference Peace and Justice Committee. The focus of next year’s retreat will be restorative justice. For more information about other events, please check out the committee website at http://efpjc.ppjr.org/.
Goshen, Ind. — Randy Delp has recently been named as a Mennonite Foundation Representative by MMA. He is now serving families and businesses throughout eastern Pennsylvania in charitable gift planning.
After decades of partnership, both formal and informal, Andover (Vt.) Community Church and Franconia Mennonite Conference have disengaged. Most recently, the Andover congregation had been considered a Partner in Mission through the credentialing of the congregation’s pastors, Dan and Christine Chapman. After the termination of the Chapman’s leadership of the congregation and upon further consultation, the relationship effectively ended in November of 2007.
Jennifer Landis of Souderton has begun a four-year term as a board member of Mennonite Mutual Aid (MMA).
Franconia and 
Sixth- and seventh-graders should bring a snack; eight-graders are asked to bring a bring a two-liter bottle of soda or other drink. Coordinators are also asking that each youth bring children’s vitamins to donate to the MAMA Project in Honduras.