Conference News

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

Telford, Pa. — Jeffrey Godshall has recently been named trust representative by MMA. Working in the Telford, PA, office he is now serving individuals and institutions throughout eastern Pennsylvania with trust and investment services. Before joining MMA, Godshall worked as controller for Richard B. Souder Masonry, Inc., Telford, Pa., for nine years.

He graduated Suma Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a pre-MBA minor from Philadelphia University. Godshall received the Sara Tyler Wister Award for excellence in scholarship. Living in Harleysville, Godshall and his wife Donna attend Franconia Mennonite Church. He serves on the board of directors of Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania as treasurer and is past secretary of Mennonite Disaster Service of Southeastern Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

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.

Franconia Mennonite Conference has added two new part-time staff, Tim Moyer of Perkasie, Pa. and Lora Steiner of Madison, N.J. Both will work with the communication team.

Tim Moyer continues on staff after serving as an intern during the summer and early fall through a grant from Eastern Mennonite Seminary. Tim, who is a student at the University of Arts in Philadelphia, is responsible for keeping the web site up-to-date, and also serves as a photographer.

Tim is a member of Blooming Glen Mennonite Church originally from Perkasie, Pa., although he’s come to appreciate the diversity and surprise of living in the city. He would like to encourage people from suburban churches connect more with churches in the city. “People view the city as a whole other world,” he says. “It’s really not.”

For Tim, the favorite part of his job is the people with whom he works. “I get excited to work with people who are so skilled and excited about life and enjoy exploring questions and not getting upset when they don’t have an answer for things, but enjoy the process.”

Lora Steiner began working with the conference in August. She is a student at Drew University Theological School, in the Masters of Divinity program. Lora will be responsible for writing news articles and editing press releases. She previously worked with Mennonite Central Committee’s Washington Office.

Lora was raised in the vicinity of Kidron, Ohio, but counts the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia as her second home. She is looking forward to learning about the work of churches that make up Franconia Mennonite Conference, and is excited about having a job that helps her stay meaningfully connected to the Mennonite church while studying in a United Methodist school.

“I’ve come to appreciate many things about the Mennonite church,” says Lora, who is a member of Community Mennonite Church of Harrisonburg, Va. “And I look forward to being involved in a way that will help to challenge me as well as allow me to continue challenging others in the church.”

“I continue to be amazed at God’s faithfulness in bringing to us young, creative and passionate leaders,” says Noel Santiago, Executive Minister of Franconia Mennonite Conference (FMC). “Tim brings a creative, artistic expression that reflects God’s creating nature. Lora brings a passionate gift to craft words that communicate with power. Franconia Conference will continue to grow as these young adults serve and lead in our midst.”

Top photo by: David Landis
Bottom Photo by: Timoyer

The annual Youth Leadership Retreat, held jointly with Franconia Conference, Atlantic Coast Mennonite Conference and Eastern District Mennonite Conference is set for November 16-18, at Spruce Lake Retreat, Canadensis, Pa. Early registrations are due by Friday, November 2.

This year’s theme is Jesus: Heart, Mind and Soul, facilitated by Curt Weaver with worship leading by Nate Stucky. Curt is a former conference youth minister with Lancaster Mennonite Conference, most recently worked with Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary’s !Explore initiative and RAD and now works as a leader for Mennonite Mission Network’s Service Adventure program in Oregon. Nate, originally from Kansas, was a youth pastor at Atlantic Coast Conference’s Holly Grove Mennonite Church in Westover, MD, and is currently a student at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Over 100 high school youth and youth leaders are expected to attend this annual event intended to equip and empower toward embracing God’s mission. Saturday workshop leaders include Sheldon Good (Goshen College), Neil Richer (Mennonite Mission Network), Wayne Speigle (West Swamp Mennonite Church), Elizabeth Clemmer (Souderton Mennonite Church), Yvonne Platts (Philadelphia Urban Ministry Partnership) and Steve Kriss (Franconia Conference).

KATHMANDU, Nepal (Mennonite Mission Network) – Few people connect Nepali cuisine to frozen pizzas and tater tots. Yet when Reena Thapa goes to work, she stands at a counter, smoothing bright red sauce over eight circles of pale pizza dough. Her long dark hair is swept neatly under a hair net and streaks of dusty, white flour smudge her apron.

Thapa works at Top of the World, a small business named in honor of Nepal, whose borders encompass eight of the world’s ten tallest peaks. Her experience has taught her more than how to assemble frozen pizzas or fry aalu chop, a spicy local version of tater tots. Thapa and her fellow employees learn to take responsibility and practice integrity in the workplace.

They also have a chance to discover and explore faith in a safe, non-threatening setting.

When she began working at Top of the World, Thapa, frequently fasted and offered penance as a devout Hindu. Born and raised in the village by an alcoholic father and an indifferent mother, she was treated as a second-class citizen because of her gender and low caste. As a result of her social status, she never received treatment for a correctable hearing problem.

Slicing potatoes alongside Bethsaba Nafziger gave Thapa an opportunity to dissect her faith as well. Nafziger, who serves in Nepal through Mennonite Mission Network and Mennonite Central Committee, shared openly of her convictions, but did not push her faith. She did, however, use her knowledge as a part-time nurse to arrange the minor operation needed to improve Thapa’s hearing.

As ingredients of faith simmer alongside the sauces, Top of the World’s kitchen provides jobs for local women in a safe, clean environment. In a country where unemployment in the formal sector hovers close to 50 percent, many young Nepali women are lured to neighboring countries by the promise of a job. When they arrive, they discover that the promised job is working in a brothel against their will. In some regions, Nepali women are prized for their lighter skin that brings higher prices from clients.

“It is a national tragedy – that is played out every day, in front of our very eyes,” said Dale Nafziger, Bethsaba’s husband.

Bethsaba Nafziger began running the business out of her home four years ago. Inspired by a United Mission to Nepal frozen French fries project, Nafziger worked with tater tots, which use up the waste portion of the potato not large enough to cut into fries. About one year ago, they began pizza production.

Basic training at Top of the World begins with the rules of personal hygiene for food preparation. Then the employees learn about taking responsibility and how to measure ingredients fairly. Leaders and participants also discuss business concepts, such as how to make a profit ethically.

“By now, the three [current] workers are completely competent and able to carry on in my absence,” Nafziger said with pride.

In June, Top of the World produced 90 frozen pizzas, 150 pounds of frozen French fries and 20 pounds of tater tots and aalu chop. By September, these numbers should double, said Dale Nafziger, citing the summer monsoon season as the reason for slower business.

Since an abundance of vendors already sell traditional treats that many locals enjoy, Top of the World’s products aim at a specific niche market – upper class Nepalis and resident expatriates.

While working at Top of the World, Thapa began probing deeper into questions about God and salvation. About two years ago, she accepted Christ, and soon thereafter married Prakash Thapa, another believer in the community. Today, the Thapas have a 1-year-old daughter and are actively involved in the local church – a newly established congregation of 40 that dedicated their recently-completed building on July 29. Thapa has invited many others to join, including her formerly unsympathetic mother.

“The greatest reward is seeing these women both grow in their own faith and also draw others to faith through the changed lives that these others see,” Bethsaba Nafziger said.

The Nafzigers serve as partners in Nepal with a number of Franconia Mennonite Conference congregations–Doylestown, Vincent, Rockhill and Providence Mennonite churches.

Photographer: Dale Nafziger

Original Article written by Mimi Hollinger Janzen

Quakertown, Pa. Ivan H. Moyer was recently honored for 32 years of service to Quakertown Christian School (QCS). Current QCS board chairman Andrew Brunner presented Moyer with an engraved plaque in recognition of promotion of excellence, faithful leadership and selfless service as an alumnus, parent and board member.

Moyer is co-owner of Moyer’s Chicks, a 15,000 square foot facility located in Richland Township, Bucks County, PA. The company, founded in 1946 by Moyer’s father, Ernest Moyer, is one of the few independent chicken hatcheries remaining within the United States. Moyer, along with his siblings Leon and Eileen and brother-in-law Jerry Knechel, continue a commitment to the local community with an agricultural-based business that ships chicks across the United States and Canada.

Moyer has also carried on another family commitment: Moyer’s father helped to establish Rocky Ridge Mennonite School (now Quakertown Christian School) in 1951. Moyer’s passion for Christian education has led him to serve as chair of the school board as well as a member of various committees. He was instrumental in the construction of the school’s new campus, located on Paletown Road. Moyer strongly supports preserving the history and beginnings of the school so that future generations will be able to know and appreciate its foundation of faith.

Moyer has served in as the chair for the finance committee of Franconia Mennonite Conference and currently serves as a board member for Christopher Dock Mennonite High School. Moyer and his wife, Evelyn, have three children and seven grandchildren. He and his family are members of Rocky Ridge Mennonite Church.

When Philadelphia pastor Leonard Dow was invited to participate in a dialogue between U.S. and Canadian religious leaders and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he accepted because he felt that the gathering had implications for his own work.

“What’s going in Iran affects Philadelphia,” says Dow.

The event was convened by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and supported by a number of organizations including the American Friends Service Committee, Mennonite Church USA and the Church of the Brethren General Board.

More than 100 people gathered in New York at the the Church Center for the United Nations to listen to President Ahmadinejad and ask questions on topics ranging from the Holocaust to Iran’s nuclear program.

The September 2007 meeting is a part of an on-going effort by MCC to facilitate discussion between Christians in the United States and the people and government of Iran. MCC began its work in Iran in 1991, following an earthquake in the region.

Dow, who was invited to participate by Mennonite Church USA, says that the dialogue helped him to better understand the issues surrounding U.S. foreign policy as well as Christian-Muslim relations, issues which relate to his neighborhood. Dow is African-American and pastors a multiracial congregation, and notes that the numbers of Arab Muslims as well as African-American Muslims is growing in cities across the United States. He says that religious diversity is increasing all around the city– in west Philadelphia, Germantown, and even at the corner of Howell and Landgon, where Oxford Circle Mennonite Church (a Franconia Conference Partner in Mission congregation) is located. Imams and mosques can now be seen in the community working on housing, food programs and other justice initiatives traditionally served primarily by churches.

“The Muslim community here is keeping a close eye on how we interact with those they would affirm as their brothers,” says Dow. With the rumors of war and U.S. intervention in Iran comes another concern: the possibility of a military draft. Dow has a number of teenagers in his congregation and wonders what would happen to them if there were another war.

“I hope that we won’t go to war,” he says. “That another life will not have to be lost . . . That our young people in our community who do not even know who the president of Iran is, will not be placed in a position where they’ll be called to kill.”

For Dow, having a better understanding of these issues “is very beneficial” but that doesn’t mean that he agrees on all points.

“I don’t think that just because one is in dialogue, one is in agreement,” he says. Dow wants to make it clear that participation in these discussions is not an affirmation of any of Iran’s policies, but hopes instead that such meetings might help to reduce the possibility of war.

“If we are interacting, if we are conversing, there’s hope. I believe the church, not the state, has the ultimate responsibility of moving towards that hope.”

“We really do have to try to reduce the lunacy of a war,” he adds. “Those conversations are a piece of the puzzle that would reduce the likelihood of the U.S. and Iran entering into a conflict.”

Dow says that given his limited interaction with President Ahmadinejad–a four-hour event–he can’t speak with certainty to the charges leveled against the man, but says that he’s not a lunatic. But the event did allow participants to ask very pointed, strong questions and raise criticisms related to the Holocaust, the damaging language Ahmadinejad uses to refer to Israel, nuclear proliferation and human rights violations.

Prior to attending the meeting, Dow was concerned about how his presence at the meeting might be interpreted, and how easily it could be misunderstood. But he hopes there will be more opportunities for people to sit and talk about international issues, issues that are being played out in the streets of Philadelphia and other cities around the United States.
“We can’t just wait to do what’s popular, we have to be there standing in the gap. We’re a peace church; if we’re not there, who else is going to be there? If not us, who? If not now, when?”

photos by Melissa Engle/MCC