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Conference News

Offering another way: Countering military recruiters

November 21, 2006 by Conference Office

AKRON, Pa.  Organizers and participants in a November counter-recruitment conference sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) U.S. say they hope that the event will inspire churches to work together to further develop strategies for countering the lure of military recruiters.

About 75 people attended the Nov. 3-5 conference in San Antonio, Texas.

There were military veterans, pastors, church youth and student activists who are organizing campaigns countering the promises of military recruiters.

Each year, about 180,000 young people enlist in the U.S. military.

Titus Peachey, director of peace education for MCC U.S., said the conference intended to provide a forum where churches could learn more about the realities of military recruiting, become familiar with some models for countering the lure of the military and, perhaps most importantly, begin to share with other churches some of their own grassroots strategies.

We now have a lot of information to take home to our church members, people in our community, and the other youth who did not come to the conference, reported Verel Montauban, of a Haitian Church of the Brethren congregation in Brooklyn, N.Y. The commitment I found here is to help other people how to stay away from the military and teach them that their body belongs to God, not to the military. I believe we have to live for the glory of God not live to kill each other.

Another participant from the congregation, Sandra Beauvior, reported that she walks away from the conference believing that war is not an option. She, like others in the group, said they want to talk with other teenagers to help them commit not to join the military.

On many high school campuses, military recruiters have a strong presence. Students talked of how they circle during lunches and at the career center. One Army veteran said that the military recruitment was so heavy at her school that she didnt realize until later that colleges too recruited students. At the high schools I went to … I never saw colleges ever, Mari Villaluna said.

The military is passionate about enticing young people in and spends an enormous amount of money on recruiting  including paying scores of recruiters who are dedicated only to figuring out how to best entice more young people to join, said former Marine recruiter and Mennonite pastor Ertell Whigham.

Anabaptist church leaders and members may talk passionately about helping people avoid the military, Whigham said. But rarely does that translate into a paid position.

Just as the military has people who are dedicated to recruitment, we ought to be putting into place people who are counters to that, Whigham said.

Norristown (Pa.) New Life, where Whigham serves as an associate pastor, has appointed a full-time minister of youth and community outreach who works to identify opportunities for education and training that youth in the church can tap into. He dreams that more congregations will put money into such positions or that churches would join together to hire a person who could pinpoint resources for their youth.

In the urban setting, he said, the decision to go into the military is often spontaneous  and driven by immediate needs of the family or by a strong desire for education. When youth begin to ask, How can I make things better for me? How can I make things better for my family? the military has a ready answer. The church, too, needs to have an answer ready for them, Whigham said.

That includes setting the stage for alternatives years before students start to ask.

I think we need to be working with young people long before they get to high school, Whigham said. And the focus needs to be not so much on avoiding the military as on building a strong foundation of beliefs in peace and justice. Ideally, he said, when they get to high school, the military will be the last option on their list.

Whigham said he and Norristown plan to work at creating a manual of ideas and resources that can undergird area churches efforts to counter military recruiters. In addition, he hopes to contact people interested in replicating Norristowns model of providing a staff person to research and talk with youth about alternatives to the military.

Peachey said MCC U.S. will continue to develop resources related to countering the lures of military recruiters and that he hopes local groups will begin to build networks to carry out this work at a grassroots level.

Counter-recruitment provides a great opportunity for congregations to make the way of peace practical inlocal communities, Peachey said. It was exciting to see the conference bring together both the people and resources needed to help this work growamong the Anabaptist family of churches.

To learn more about counter-recruitment, go to www.mcc.org/us/co/counter.

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

Mennonite Disaster Service partners for rebuilding in Binghampton area

November 17, 2006 by Conference Office

by Scott Sundberg, MDS

doug-and-lewlyn.jpgEditors note: Broome County, New York, particularly the Binghampton area is the home of numerous persons who attend Franconia Conference’s Lakeview congregation in Susquehanna County, PA.

Conklin, NY–The fall colors and slow flow of the Susquehanna River belied the reality that was June 27 just this last summer. Standing on the banks of the river, the cold October air was threatening snow,

but around us were images that seemed to have more in common with the Gulf Coast than with this part of New York State. A FEMA trailer occupied a driveway to the right, and to the left, a gutted house stood, mold reaching up the siding, and a large spray-painted “X” decorated the window telling whether there were any fatalities in this particular house.

As a nation still focused on the devastating affects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, towns in this area of New York suffered the worst flooding in their memory. One disaster management official was recently heard recently saying that he thought the area was all taken care of.

Working together with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) on rebuilding the area is Lorna Kinsman, who is working with Presbyterian Disaster Service (PDS). Kinsman said she appreciated the loyalty of those who realize that the area is not “taken care of.” She added, “Every time we hear the Mennonites are coming, it’s just a gift from God.”

MDS and PDS are working together. PDS is helping to secure funding and accomplish the weighty task of casework and MDS is working on how and when to start working on the many devastated homes. “Maybe those who are close by would consider coming here rather than go south, as long as they don’t mind getting their fingers a little cold,” said Llewellyn Zehr, MDS Unit Chair for New York, who is coordinating MDS’response.

This severity of flooding basically unheard of.

The rains started on a Tuesday night, and by morning, houses were flooded. People were being evacuated by helicopters to islands of high ground. Some houses saw water up to their gutters. One man tried to escape the waters by climbing into his attic with his dog, while the waters lapped at his feet.

The Conklin Fire Station became a temporary refuge for many. Some churches that were not affected offered showers for people, as well as cots. The Conklin Presbyterian Church at one point was serving 1,500 meals a day, and started assisting people impacted by the flood the day of the flooding. People whose houses were not impacted by the flood also opened their homes for volunteers. Local food distributors also donated food. The Salvation Army was in the area early, providing initial cleanup and food.

Almost all mobile and trailer homes in the area have been destroyed, and there are virtually no rentals available. Single-family homes that had seemed secure on their foundations floated downriver.

Reports have stated that as many as 1,000 homes were destroyed in the Southern Tier area of New York, and as many as 3,500 homes were damaged. Some 500 homes in Conklin alone, just north of the Pennsylvania border, were damaged. Some have been gutted, others need gutting, and still others that were condemned have been burned down.

Though the flooding only lasted a day or two, its impact is still strongly felt today. Driving through just this one town of Conklin one sees house after house empty, moldy, marked on the window with the infamous “X.” Numerous businesses have failed to return.

The work is more than any one community, group or organization can manage on their own.

“The community is strapped, and it is hard for them to help themselves. It needs outside help, moral support and a persistent presence that will show the community that others care and are concerned,” said Doug Horne, volunteer coordinator with the Presbytery of the Susquehanna Valley.

FEMA trailers that dot the town are some help, but they have not been built for winter in New York. Mud, leftover silt and debris from the river, still fill many yards. Mold can be seen colorfully decorating the sides of many homes, and the high water mark is still evidenced above some garage doors. Soon after the initial cleanup, debris and flotsam filled one store’s parking lot end to end, and was 30 feet high.

While many volunteers look for opportunities in the Gulf States this winter, MDS is mindful that local units have projects that offer many of the same challenges for fulfilling MDS’ mandate of responding, rebuilding and restoring. MDS will be one of the only volunteer groups working in the area over the winter. “We’re in a little different situation up here: we’re not in the Gulf where it doesn’t freeze,” commented Zehr. As one volunteer said, “There’s going to be a lot of work–a lot.”

mds-logo.jpgMennonite Disaster Service is a channel through which various constituencies of the Anabaptist church can respond to those affected by disasters in North America. While our main focus is on clean up, repair and rebuilding homes, this activity becomes a means of touching lives and helping people regain faith and wholeness.

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

Franconia Conference gathers Centered in Christ, Empowering Others: A historic Pennsylvania meetinghouse is filled with new music and languages

November 15, 2006 by Conference Office

Steve Kriss, Director of Communication and Leadership Cultivation

Friday Evening WorshipAnna Musselman, minister of church programs at Salford Mennonite Church, told her congregation that the walls of their historic meetinghouse would hear new songs and sounds during the Franconia Conference Fall Assembly held at the church on November 10-11 near Harleysville, PA. Musselman was right. Praises rang out for 24-hours with words spoken in Indonesian, Spanish, and Vietnamese (the worshipping languages of the conference’s congregations) while leaders gathered to celebrate, discern and learn.

Kicked off with energetic worship led by a multiethnic, multilingual worship team composed of members of Nueva Vida Norristown (PA) New Life, a multicultural, bilingual conference congregation, and Philadelphia Praise Center, a congregation composed mostly of recent immigrants from Indonesia, the assembly focused on the theme of “Centered in Christ, Empowering Others.” Conference delegates and guests gathered from as far away as Chile to celebrate connections that cross lines of ethnicity, language, and denominational differences. The 24-hour worship featured groups from congregations with a variety of affiliations.

The assembly included the affirmation of Philadelphia Praise Center as the conference’s newest member congregation. In the litany read by conference leaders they said together, “In the spirit of God’s biblical mandate to protect the vulnerable and in the spirit upon which Dutch forebears 300 years ago sent pastors to shepherd fledgling congregations in the New World, we acted on behalf of Franconia Mennonite Conference, risking protocols and precedents to use our 300-year old residency in this land to . . . provide leadership for a fledgling congregation in Philadelphia.” The conference’s board acted in June to accept PPC as a member in order to secure pastoral leaders for the rapidly growing congregation.

While worship and discernment are traditional features of the conference’s gathering, this year “equipping” seminars included opportunities to hear from denominational leaders, James Schrag (Mennonite Church USA) and Stanley Green (Mennonite Mission Network); conference leaders Gay Brunt Miller and James M. Lapp; biblical scholar, Laura Brenneman from Bluffton University and young adult leaders David P. Landis of Harleysville, PA and Felicia Moore from Bristol, PA. Seminars were packed with attendees spilling into the halls of the recently renovated meetinghouse.

While the walls of the Salford meetinghouse heard new songs and sounds, the conference ended its work for the day with a decades-old affirmation of simple and nonresistant faith this time read in Indonesian, Spanish and Vietnamese as well as English.

Browse Conference Assembly Multimedia

        • Photo Gallery
        • Highlight Video

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

Franconia Conference announces interim conference ministry assignments

November 9, 2006 by Conference Office

In the midst of staffing changes, Noel Santiago, executive minister announced the following realignments for conference ministry responsibilities, effective immediately.

Walter Sawatzky has been named as an associate conference minister on a contractual basis serving with Line Lexington, Plains, Rockhill, Souderton, Vietnamese Gospel congregations.

Steve Kriss, Director of Communication and Leadership Cultivation, will serve as primary liaison with Lakeview, Mennonite Bible and New Life (Athens, PA) congregations as well as an emerging faith community in the Poconos that has its roots in the former Spruce Lake Fellowship. Kriss will continue to serve as primary contact with Philadelphia Praise Center.

Noel Santiago will now serve as conference minister with Partner in Ministry congregation, New Hope Fellowship in Alexandria, Virginia. He will continue to serve the congregations of the Berks-Montgomery area, the Lehigh Valley as well as Nueva Vida Norristown New Life and Perkasie congregations.

These appointments emphasize the conference’s commitment to congregations and relationships. These shifts, though to some degree temporary, represent commitments to serve with congregations in ways that uphold Anabaptist and missional convictions while new conference ministry models are explored.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

Conference Assembly and 24 Hour Worship: Centered in Christ, Empowering Others

November 2, 2006 by Conference Office

Franconia Conference is set to gather for worship, discernment and equipping at Salford Mennonite Church in Harleysville, PA on November 10-11. This year’s conference will explore the theme, “Centered in Christ, Empowering Others.” The gathering will be translated for the first time into all of the conference’s worshipping languages: Indonesian, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Along with Conference Assembly this year, there will be 24-hours of worship lead by groups from across the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 24-hours of worship commences at 6pm on Friday, November 10th led by a multicultural and multilingual team from Nueva Vida Norristown (PA) New Life and Philadelphia Praise Center congregations. Opening assembly worship at 7pm will celebrate new and past ministries within the congregations and ministries of the Conference that spread from Philadelphia to Vermont.

Business sessions on Saturday morning will explore new directions for the conference’s vision and financial plan; a look at the emerging plan for Christ-centered Mennonite education in Bucks and Montgomery counties of Pennsylvania and discernment of leadership processes.

The assembly will conclude with equipping sessions and lunch. Equipping sessions will be lead by local and churchwide leaders including:

  • James Schrag, Mennonite Church USA
  • Gay Brunt Miller, Franconia Conference
  • Dr. Stanley Green, Mennonite Mission Network
  • Dr. James Lapp, Franconia Conference
  • Dr. Laura Brenneman, Bluffton University
  • Sheldon Good, Goshen College/Salford congregation
  • Felicia Moore, Indiana University of Pennsylvania/New Beginnings congregation

Conference Assembly Schedule

Friday

6:00 24-Hour Worship begins

Pentecost (Nueva Vida Norristown/New Life) and Philadelphia Praise Center

7:00 Conference Assembly Worship

Pentecost (Nueva Vida Norristown/New Life) and Philadelphia Praise Center
Led by Ertell Whigham with stories from Philadelphia Urban Ministry Partnership, “Empowering Others”

  • Praying with and for those newly credentialed
    • Brent Camillieri, Mark Derstine, Angela Moyer, Joy Sawatzky, Angel Tamayo (licensed)
    • Michael Bishop, Bill Kull, Don McDonough (ordained)
  • Recognizing the ministries of ministers who have gone before us
    • Alvin Detweiler, Leroy Godshall, Nelson Reinford, Harold Weaver
  • Celebrating the membership of Philadelphia Praise Center
  • Honoring the ending of ministry
    • Spruce Lake Fellowship (Canadensis, PA)
    • Shalom Mennonite Church (Pennsburg, PA)
  • Blessing the Vision and Financial Plan Team
    • Greg Bowman, Ken Burkholder, Chris Chapman, Blaine Detweiler, Leonard Dow, Joe Hackman, Brent Kolb, Steve Kriss, Karen Moyer, Charlotte Graber Rosenberger, Ertell Whigham

Translation available in Franconia congregation worshipping languages: Indonesian, Spanish, Vietnamese

Terjemahan akan tersedia pada hari Jumat/ 10 November dari jam 7pm-9pm dan Sabtu 11 November jam 9-12pm, menyadari bahwa Tuhan mengundang banyak jiwa dari berbagai bangsa,suku dan bahasa dalam kekuasaanNYA.

Por lo tanto para todos aquellas personas que hablan español, habrá traducción el dí­a viernes, 10 de noviembre desde las 7 hasta las 9 de la tarde. También el sábado, 11 de noviembre desde las 9 hasta las 12 del medio dí­a. Sabemos que Dios esta invitando a todas las naciones, tribus y lenguas a unirse al reino de Dios.

Vay, se co thong ngon dich qua tieng Viet tai hoi dong toi Thu Sau, ngay 10 thang 11 tu 7g den 9 g, va sang Thu Bay, ngay 11 thang 11, tu 9g den 12 g trua, vi biet Chua dang moi that ca cac quoc gia, chung toc, dan toc va ngon ngu vao su tri vi cua Duc Chua Troi.

9:00pm Worship continues overnight

Saturday

9:00 Conferring and Discerning

  • Vision and Financial Plan considerations for our shared future
  • GPS 2012 update on Christ-Centered Mennonite education
  • Consideration of new bylaws for service and leadership
  • Updating a plan to recreate nominating processes
  • Conferring and considering new leaders
  • Affirming our nonviolent faith

12:00 Lunch provided by Salford Mennonite Church

Workshop 1 and 2
Worship continues

1:00 Lunch provided by Salford Mennonite Church

Workshop 3 and 4
Worship continues

2:00 All workshops (1-4)

3:00 Conference Assembly ends, 24-Hour worship continues
6:00 24-Hour worship ends

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

Conference Minister to present at Military Counter-Recruitment Conference

October 26, 2006 by Conference Office

Ertell Whigham, Franconia Conference Minister and associate pastor at Norristown (PA) New Life congregation, will present at a conference in San Antonio, Texas, on Military Counter-recruitment, November 3-5. The conference sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee sets to counter military recruitment efforts through gospel nonviolence.

Whigham served in the US Marines in Vietnam and became a military recruiter, before as he suggests God spoke to his heart asking “How can you share the Love of Jesus with someone and want to take their life?” At that point Ertell knew it was not only about the alternatives offered by the Mennonites he had encountered, it was about the way of the gospel.

  • Additional conference information from Mennonite Central Committee

  • NEW: Mennonite Mission Network News: Recruitment Reaction: Churches Counter Military

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

Perkiomenville Mennonite Church breaks ground for new church and community building

October 24, 2006 by Conference Office

Residents along Route 29 in Perkiomenville saw a strange sight early Sunday afternoon: two large hay wagons being pulled by a tractor, filled with men, women, and children all in their Sunday best. It was the entire congregation of the Perkiomenville Mennonite Church, currently located on Deep Creek Road, going to the ground breaking ceremony at their new property on Route 29.

Perkiomenville Mennonite Church (PMC) was founded in 1935 as a Sunday School for the community children. Now, over 70 years later, it continues to be a vital force in the community with two Sunday services, Sunday School for all ages, Vacation Bible School, and a variety of programs that touch not only the lives of the surrounding community, but reach as far as Mexico and Chile where the congregation helps support two sister churches abroad.

In response to the growth of the church and the desire of the congregation to increase their involvement with the community, PMC purchased 20 acres of land on Route 29 several years ago, with a vision of raising a new building. That vision is now becoming a reality. The new building will not only house the church itself, but will offer a day care facility for local preschool children. The congregation hopes in the future to add counseling services, sports activities, and charity programs to benefit all the families in the community.

The ground breaking ceremony was filled with song and laughter, and everyone present had the opportunity to turn over shovelfuls of the thick, dark soil. With one voice, the congregation affirmed that the new building would be “used for worship, education, youth activities, recreation, and as a resource center for the community.”

Pastor Charles Ness summarized the purpose for the new building during the ceremony: “We break ground for this building in order that it may become a center of faith and renewal, a place of healing and hope.” And all those present responded, “As we break ground this day, we step boldly into the future, and we do so to the glory of God.”

The congregation anticipates opening the doors of the new building to the community by fall 2007.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News

FMC’s Claude Good receives Distinguished Service Award

October 16, 2006 by Conference Office

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Alumni Association of Eastern Mennonite University honored two of its graduates Sunday, Oct. 15, for their work in reflecting the school’s vision, mission and values.

Claude Good of 275 Dock Drive, Lansdale, a member of the graduating class of 1954, received the “distinguished service award,” during the Sunday morning worship service of homecoming and family weekend.

The annual “distinguished service” award seeks to recognize graduates who have demonstrated in notable ways the Christian service and peacemaking emphases of the university.

Good and his wife, Alice Longenecker Good, also a member of the class of 1954, lived among the Triqui Indians in Mexico for 25 years while translating the New Testament into their language.

With intestinal worms a major medical problem among the children they served, Good looked for ways to treat malnutrition caused by roundworms that can devour 25-30 percent of the food eaten by a child each day.

His investigations resulted in the “Worm Project”, a medical treatment that, for about two cents a pill, can eradicate most parasitic worms in a child for up to six months.

“We hope to have at least 12 million pills distributed by the end of 2006 in about 70 countries,” Good noted, adding a wish that his receiving the “distinguished service award” will “help publicize something that the world truly needs.”

As part of his work with the Worm Project, Good frequently addresses groups who might contribute financially; these audiences sometimes include school-age groups. His soft and easy manner, as well as his general appearances, has resulted in his being dubbed “Mr. Rodgers.”

Good continues to work with international students from the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, connecting them with families and churches in the Philadelphia area. He also has an international scripture ministry in the Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church where he and his wife are members.

Catherine R. Mumaw, also a 1954 EMU graduate and veteran educator from Corvallis, Ore. received EMU’s 2006 “alumna of the year” award during homecoming weekend.

Dr. Mumaw, a home economics graduate of EMU, returned to teach courses in that discipline at her alma mater, 1957-74. She earned a master’s degree in 1958 and a PhD in 1967 from Penn State University.

She was professor and chair of the home economics department at Goshen (IN) College, 1974-86, and served as associate professor in the Human Development and Family Studies department at Oregon State University, 1987-95.

Through OSU, she helped Bunda College of Agriculture in Malawi update their home economics and human nutrition programs and took part in a faculty exchange program with Avinashilingam Deemed University in India.

The award is presented annually to a graduate who has been recognized for significant achievements in their profession, community or church.

You can read more about Claude in EMU’s Crossroads article, available here.

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

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