Conference News

Jennifer 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.

Franconia 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.

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.

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.

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

Youth, sponsors, and pastors from 15 area congregations gathered recently for the annual Youth Leadership Retreat at Spruce Lake Retreat Center. Participants came from the Franconia, Eastern District, and Atlantic Coast conferences, as well as Christopher Dock High School. The theme of the weekend was “Leading with Heart, Soul, and Mind: Exploring the Practice of Discernment” and was led by Mennonite Mission Network Service Adventure leader Curt Weaver.

The retreat was planned by Curt; Marlene Frankenfield, Franconia Conference Youth Minister; Scott Benner, Eastern District Youth Minister; and a team of local youth pastors and sponsors. The planning committee found inspiration for the theme of dirscenment for the weekend from David F. White’s recent book, “Practicing Discernment With Youth: A Transformative Youth Ministry Approach,” realizing that with all the choices in life, discernment would be a great topic for the leadership weekend.

Curt noted that his challenge for the weekend was to emphasize “the art of discernment without laying out a specific way of discerning.” Using Matthew 22:37, Curt encouraged the youth to think about “what it means for [them] to be loving enough to discern.” One of his goals was to “uncover the Christian impulse to be loving and affirming of differing view points.”

Curt opened the gathering with a call to create an intentional community for the time spent at Spruce Lake. He acknowledged that youth, with their curiosity and tough questions, have the ability to challenge adults to recommit to their faith. During the weekend, Curt used a spiritual type tool published by the Alban Institute entitled “Discover Your Spiritual Type.” It was followed by a case study that revolved around challenging leadership decisions in congregations. The case study involved discerning a request from Britney Spears to be baptized and become a member in one of the group’s congregations. This exercise helped youth better understand the messy side of leadership because of differences that exist in personal and spiritual lives, as well as in youth groups and churches. The youth were asked to think about what it means to lead a group of people with such diverse outlooks on life and faith.

Brittany Kiser, who is a member of Rockhill Mennonite Church and a student at Christopher Dock High School, really appreciated the spiritual type tool because it helped her “see that there is a place for everyone in the church.”

During the closing session, Curt encouraged everyone to practice Christian traditions and rituals that will shape future acts of “Christ-infused” love. Youth groups ended their time writing a blessing or image on each other hands as a way to remind each other to imitate Jesus with all their hearts, minds, souls and to love others as they love themselves.

Participants enjoyed different aspects of the weekend. Emma Nafziger, of Vincent Mennonite Church and a student at Christopher Dock High School, appreciated the time to reflect, worship, and “recover from a stressful week.” Kate Bender, of Rockhill Mennonite Church, is a student at Souderton High School and was concerned that it would be hard to relate to the youth from other schools but she was pleasantly surprised at how friendly and welcoming everyone was.

The weekend included worship led by Nate Stucky, who is currently a student at Princeton Theological Seminary. There were also workshops for youth and sponsors, with topics such as leading worship, choices after high school, discerning God’s will on the “long- haul journey,” recognizing that life is a puzzle and spirituality can be messy, and acknowledging that when it comes to intercultural leadership and communication there is “no right way to fry a chicken.”

Emma, Kate, and Brittany attended two workshops together. They said the workshops were relevant, more interesting than anticipated, and that they had been challenged to think differently about the issues addressed in each session.

The workshop for sponsors was on mentoring youth. Mike Ford, a youth pastor at Franconia Mennonite Church, facilitated a time of sharing mentoring ideas and resources. The sponsors’ forum on Saturday afternoon centered around paying attention to youth transitions, from junior high to high school to post-high school.

This was Marlene Frankenfield’s tenth Youth Leadership Retreat. She enjoys seeing the relationships between youth pastors and sponsors and student leaders strengthened during the gathering, which is a very important part of the retreat for her. She also appreciates the expertise youth sponsors and pastors bring from their different congregational experiences, which they share with each other. Overall, Marlene enjoys the “informal connection and networking around the edges.”

View the photo album

 

The 9th annual Damascus Road Antiracism Analysis Training for the greater Philadelphia region returns to the Campolo School for Social Change, at 10th and Spring Garden Streets, Friday-Sunday, February 22-24.

The training is designed to equip participants with a biblical basis and an analytic framework for dismantling systemic racism in the church.

The School for Leadership Formation is a co-sponsor of the event, which is recommended for all conference, congregational, Conference Related Ministry & Partners In Ministry 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.

The training schedule and online registration are available here.

Co-sponsors include the Blooming Glen Mennonite’s Damascus Road Antiracism Team, Nueva Vida Norristown New Life’s Stand Together Ministry Team, and Philadelphia Urban Ministry Partnership (PUMP).

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.

Leaders of seven Mennonite Church USA conferences gathered this month in Lancaster, PA, as they have done regularly over the last seven years. The meetings have fostered relationships between representatives of the Allegheny, Atlantic Coast, Eastern District, Franconia, Franklin, Lancaster, Virginia and New York conferences. The gatherings have also grown something else: a shared vision to reach the megalopolis that extends from Boston to Richmond with an Anabaptist witness for Christ.

Over the years, strategies have been suggested to work at this vision, but little has emerged in very concrete terms; this time something different happened. Because leaders from each conference had previously committed to keeping everyone informed of new initiatives that might cross the traditional geographic boundaries of conferences, leaders from Franconia requested agenda time to share new church initiatives that were emerging.

When tested with the broader group, Warren Tyson, Executive Conference Minister for Atlantic Coast and Conference Minister for Eastern District, proposed expanding the agenda to invite all conferences to report on church planting initiatives now taking place. Tyson asked the group to place dots on a map of the eastern United States which represented all initiatives less than three years old and to identify additional localities where conversations of “early discernment with clusters of residents or working with on-site leaders” were happening.

“I think it would motivate all of us to see what is already happening in numerous locations across our region,” said Tyson, and he was right. To the amazement of the participants, the dots accumulated as each conference shared its list. When everyone had finished, forty-seven dots, spanning from Maine to Georgia, covered the map. Conference leaders noted that many of these church plants are led by racial/ethnic Mennonites. They also openly acknowledge that these new church initiatives have emerged organically, without strategic planning, studies, or heavy financial investments, but clearly as the movement of God.

Gay Brunt Miller, Director of Collaborative Ministries
Franconia Mennonite Conference

By J. Fred Kauffman jfk@mcc.org

Pennsylvania State Representative Rick Taylor recently invited five Mennonite leaders to his Horsham, Pa. office to talk about ways of reducing the amount of illegal handguns in Pennsylvania’s cities. Representative Taylor, who is an active member of Ambler (PA) Mennonite Church, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2006.

“Our meeting today is an opportunity for us as Anabaptist leaders in Philadelphia to continue moving forward to proclaim the ‘Shalom of the City’ in the marketplace,” said Pastor Leonard Dow of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church, who led the delegation. “We understand Shalom [and] peace as a key component of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.”

Dow was joined by Lancaster Mennonite Conference Bishop Freeman Miller; Aldo Siahaan of Philadelphia Praise Center; Messiah College student Amanda Arbour, who is also member of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church; and Mennonite Central Committee Philadelphia Program Coordinator Fred Kauffman.

Taylor said he wanted the Mennonite witness to be “heard in Harrisburg as a part of the discussion on handgun legislation.”

“Speak from the heart,” he urged the group. “There is too much political posturing. We need to hear you address this issue from a clear perspective as followers of Christ.”

Representative Taylor has co-sponsored two bills to reduce illegal handgun trafficking: “One handgun a month” (HB 22) and “Lost and Stolen” (HB 29). The first bill would limit the purchase of handguns–not hunting guns or antique guns–to one per person per month and the second would require gun owners to report a lost or stolen weapon within 24 hours. Both bills would slow the flow of handguns from legal gun shops to illegal gun dealers, who are the source of most weapons used to commit a crime.

Taylor himself grew up in the Minneapolis area. He was raised by a single mother and struggled to stay out of poverty. Taylor became cynical about organized religion and stopped attending church, but in 2000 he moved to Ambler and happened to purchase the home of Ambler Mennonite’s previous pastor, Joe Haines. One of his neighbors was also a member of Ambler Mennonite, and through that friendship, Taylor rediscovered faith and joined the church.

“I did not get into politics because of my faith,” says Taylor. “I found faith through my commitment to work for justice in the public realm. My faith is a source of hope and energy to continue working for justice. As long as children go to bed hungry, as long as they do not have health care or good education, and as long as they live in violent neighborhoods—those are my priorities. I want my faith in Christ and my political role to both serve this end.”

At Taylor’s urging, Fred Kauffman participated in the “Speaker’s Symposium on Crime and Violence” which took place in Philadelphia the following day. The event, chaired by Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Dennis O’Brien, brought together twenty-five urban leaders who spoke about ways to reduce violence. Said Kauffman, “Much opposition to rational handgun legislation comes from white men who call themselves Christian. This is not a problem created in North Philly. My plea is that all who claim the name of Jesus recommit themselves to the peace and compassion that Jesus taught and modeled.”

House Bill 22

House Bill 29