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Conference News

Winter Peace Retreat focuses on Muslim-Christian dialogue

March 12, 2008 by Conference Office

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.

lamp-and-peace-sign.jpg“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.

muhammed-imam-and-aldo-siahaan.jpgAldo 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.

ramadan.jpgWhen 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/.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

Third Thursdays Pastor's Breakfast: Creating Safer Spaces for Children in our Congregations

March 5, 2008 by Conference Office

Thursday, March 13, 2008
8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., breakfast will be provided

Join us for a conversation about the Franconia Conference Child Protection Initiative and some steps you can take to make your congregation a safer place for the children in its care. Julie Prey-Harbaugh will be speaking. She serves on Franconia Conference staff as Recommended Trainer in Child Protection and Child Abuse Recovery.

Franconia Mennonite Conference Center
771 Route 113
Souderton, PA 18964
(map)

Please register for this event by March 10, 2008, by contacting Jessica Walter, jwalter@mosaicmennonites.org.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

Randy Delp, joins MMA as Mennonite Foundation Representative

February 26, 2008 by Conference Office

randy-delp.jpgGoshen, 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.

Before joining MMA, Delp worked as development director for Philadelphia Mennonite High School for five years.

Delp holds a bachelor’s degree from Millersville University of Pennsylvania in business administration. He and his wife Brenda and their three children live in Telford, Pa., and they attend Plains Mennonite Church where he serves as an elder.

About MMA

MMA helps people manage resources in ways that honor God through its professional expertise in insurance and financial services. Rooted in the Anabaptist faith tradition, MMA offers practical stewardship education and tools to individuals, congregations, and organizations. To learn more, visit www.MMA-online.org or call (800) 348-7468.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

Vermont congregation severs ties

February 18, 2008 by Conference Office

Stephen Kriss skriss@mosaicmennonites.org

vt.jpgAfter 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.

Andover’s historic ties to Franconia Conference go back to its beginning as families with connections to conference congregations in Pennsylvania settled in Vermont in the 1960s. In recent years, the relationship had become more tenuous. Now, suggesting that the direction of the Mennonite Church USA was not in alignment with the congregation’s future, congregational members have sought to distance themselves further from the larger bodies that include the conference and the denomination. According to Donella M. Clemens, who serves as Franconia Conference’s liaison to congregations and ministries in Vermont, “In the seven years that I have related to the group at Andover we have enjoyed times of wonderful fellowship together. We wish them the grace and blessing of God as they tell of the good news of Jesus Christ through their congregational life and worship and in their witness to the Andover community.”

Franconia Conference ministries continue in Vermont with the Bethany (Bridgewater Corrners) and Taftsville congregations, Bethany Birches Camp and an emerging congregation in the Gass area.

“While it’s always sad and difficult to see a congregation move in a different direction,” says Franconia Conference Executive Minister Noel Santiago, “We recognize that they are pursuing what is God’s call to them at this point in time. Into the future, we are committed to deepening partnerships and ministries in Vermont. We celebrate the many persons have been faithful throughout the years in the work of Andover Community Church and we are grateful to God and each one.”

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News, National News

MMA Welcomes Three New Board Members

February 18, 2008 by Conference Office

mma-logo.jpgJennifer Landis of Souderton has begun a four-year term as a board member of Mennonite Mutual Aid (MMA).

MMA recently announced that Landis, along Larry Nikkel and D. Duane Oswald had all been appointed to its board of directors. They joined the twelve-member board in January.

Landis is a senior accountant, Baum, Smith & Clemens. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from Delaware Valley College and is a certified public accountant. Landis and her husband Christopher are members of Franconia Mennonite Church (Telford, Pa).

Larry Nikkel, Hillsboro, Kan., recently finished his tenure as president of Tabor College where he served since 1998. He is a former president and CEO of Mennonite Health Services. Nikkel holds a bachelor’s degree from Tabor and a master’s from the University of North Carolina. He and his wife Elaine are members of Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.

D. Duane Oswald, Fresno, Calif., is president and CEO of Avante Health. His career has focused on health care administration, and over the past 15 years, in the insurance sector of health care. He is a past moderator of Mennonite Church USA and currently serves on the board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fresno County. Oswald holds a bachelor’s degree from Goshen College and a master’s from George Washington University. He and his wife Kathi are members of Mennonite Community Church.

MMA offers financial and insurance services, as well as stewardship resources, to Anabaptist congregations and individuals. It is based in Goshen, In. and works regionally through offices in Telford, Pa, Lancaster, Pa and Harrisonburg, Va.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

Heather Kropf Live!

February 12, 2008 by Conference Office

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

Annual Junior High Lock-in set for Dock High School

February 10, 2008 by Conference Office

lock.jpgFranconia and Eastern District conferences are teaming up to again host a lock-in for youth in grades six through eight to be held at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School in Lansdale, Pa, on March 14-15, from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.

The speaker for this year’s gathering is Scott Roth, who is youth leader at New Eden Fellowship in Schwenksville, Pa. Nate Stucky, a student at Princeton Theological Seminary and former youth pastor from Holly Grove Mennonite Church in Westover, Md, will lead music.

The theme is “Be a bucket filler!” and will encourage attendees to fill the buckets of others–and their own–by saying and doing good things for other people.

The schedule for the evening includes everything from karaoke to dodgeball to giant Dutch Blitz. The event will close with breakfast and worship.

Pizza and breakfast foods will be provided.

kids.jpgSixth- 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.

Everyone should bring tennis shoes to use on the gym floor, and table games are welcome. Youth who want to sleep should also bring a sleeping bag. Separate sleeping rooms will be available for boys and girls.

Click here for registration, schedule, and medical release forms. The deadline for registration is February 29 and cost is $15 per person, including youth leaders.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

Third Thursdays Pastors' Breakfast Features Questions around Leadership and Authority

February 9, 2008 by Conference Office

breakfast.jpg

On February, 21, 2008, Franconia Conference’s Faith and Life Advisory Council (FLAC) will lead an interactive conversation on claiming and exercising authority as pastors and leaders in our congregations. The breakfast conversation will be held at the Mennonite Conference Center, 771 Route 113, Souderton, Pa.

In a recent Growing Leaders article, “A nervous embrace…Cultivating Leadership and Authority,” Long-time church leader and FLAC chariperson James Lapp, states, “During the past ten years, more than a dozen congregations in Franconia Conference have experienced a significant crisis in their life together. In nearly all cases, the themes of leadership and authority were important challenges that needed to be addressed in order for the body to be restored to health. In general, the role of the pastor, the organizational structures of the congregation, and patterns of decision-making needed to be revisited and clarified.”

Lapp goes one to ask, “What is happening that leadership and authority so often appear as front-burner agenda for the church?” Lapp, along with fellow FLAC members, Blaine Dewiler, Beth Styer, Micheal King, and Sharon Wyse Miller hope to provide a time for reflection and conversation over the challenges that are present on congregational leadership.

The breakfast will begin at 8:00 am. Please register for the breakfast by Saturday, February 16, 2008 to Jessica Walter at jwalter@mosaicmennonites.org

View flyer for more details

Top photo by Timoyer
Bottom photo by kreg Ulery

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

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