Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Conference Related Ministries

Conference Related Ministries (CRM) Profile: Peace Proclamation Ministries

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Supporting the Church in India
by Kendra & Jim Rittenhouse

Peace Proclamation Ministries (PPMI) began in 2011 by Paulus and Sumatha Thalathoti with the blessing of their Plains (Lansdale, PA) congregation. PPMI works primarily with churches in south east India. Christian churches are dotted throughout the countryside, with members who were converted to Christianity one or two generations ago but left alone as islands in a sea of other religions.

The Thalathotis have spent the last nine years in countless late night phone calls and multiple trips to India in order to build a network of support for these isolated churches. The network is sectioned by regions into smaller networks. Pastors who wish to join PPMI are thoroughly vetted with a minimum of one year of discernment for each. Not all pastors are accepted, as some join to seek monetary gain. 

Pastors’ wives in Kammam, India receive spiritual nourishment and education through PPMI. Photo credit: Kendra Rittenhouse

PPMI has grown from eight to 70 churches. In 2012 the Thalathotis began the first annual pastors’ conference, a 3-day retreat for spiritual enrichment with a Jesus-centered, Anabaptist view. Mennonite pastors, teachers, and lay persons have traveled from Pennsylvania to India for this purpose. Along with biblical enrichment and year-long counsel and support, congregations may also receive monetary assistance when medical needs or church repairs arise. 

Many of the people who attend PPMI congregations live in the poor, rural communities of India. They do not have food reserves or access to food on a regular basis. With the economic effect of COVID-19, these communities in India have been severely affected due to the lack of day labor jobs and cash reserves. 

Recently, PPMI doubled the normal monthly support to our pastors so that they could purchase food for their respective communities and families. Because of established networks for communication and finances, this happened efficiently.

A local homeless man receives food sent for relief from a PPMI pastor in Guntur, India. Photo provided by PPMI

Even though PPMI is typically not in the food distribution business, we used our network to make a difference by reducing the pain caused by the effects of a virus. Sometimes God calls us to action beyond our own comfort zones. Since May this year, it’s been meaningful to be able to provide the next meal for many who live so far away.  

One thing we don’t question is the inner strength and faith in God of the PPMI pastors and spouses. They have seen miracles when there was no hope. When all seems lost, they do not give up. They use everything they have and pray more. They love God deeply. They love others daily. May God continue to give them strength and hope.

Conference Related Ministries (CRM) Profile: Bethany Birches Camp

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Donated Land Becomes Camp with a Mission
by Bethany Birches Camp Staff

Distanced fireside worship during a pandemic. Photo Credit: Capjoy Photography

Bethany Birches Camp began in 1965 when Lloyd and Alice Moyer gifted land in Plymouth, Vermont to be used as a summer camp for young people. The Moyers had noticed that many area summer camps were very expensive. They wanted a place for children from modest families to have options for constructive summer activities. Nevin Bender, the pastor of nearby Bethany Mennonite Church at that time, became the first camp director, and served, with the help of his wife Lourene, until 1980. 

Bethany Birches had modest beginnings with volunteer staff, tents as the only lodging, and days filled with old fashioned camping fun. Since then the camp has grown both in sophistication, programming, staffing, and facilities while still maintaining its rustic roots and core values.  Today we run summer and winter camps, rent the facilities, and seek financial and volunteer support so we are able to provide our programs affordably.

The core mission of Bethany Birches Camp is to help young people develop their relationship with God by providing them with a Christ-centered camping experience in a natural and nurturing environment. The leadership team assembles summer and winter staff teams who are committed to this mission. 

Cooling off in the mud pit during Messy Monday at Bethany Birches Camp.PC: Capjoy Photography

Each year over 400 children, ages 6-17, attend Bethany Birches Camp and many attend for multiple weeks. True to its original mission of accessibility, about half of the campers can attend because they receive financial assistance. Most campers do not attend church. Only 17% report active engagement in a church, and only 16% feel their faith is strong and supported at home. 

With careful guidance, training, and supervision, we craft programs within our core values of community, fun, nature, and God. We build relationships, care for each other, and live together in family-sized camping groups. Campers and counselors live together in the woods on the Bethany Birches property in the Green Mountains of Vermont during both summer and winter.  

We at Bethany Birches Camp are thrilled to be salt and light as we live in the Way of Jesus among those who may have never read the Bible, heard the gospel, or encountered Jesus.  We have seen growth, transformation, and new life among our campers.

Campers enjoy climbing the pavilion chimney. PC: Capjoy Photography

Bethany Birches Camp is the result of much support and effort from Vermont and Pennsylvania church communities. As Laurene Bender said, “We say ‘with God all things are possible.’ However, it takes people willing to do the sweat work and who have the vision.” 

Each year volunteer groups come for a week to help maintain and improve the property. Mowing, woodcutting, office, and accounting work has been consistently done with the help of volunteers. Help is always needed during the summer and winter in the kitchen as well. Campers are sponsored through the Kids to Camp fund and counselors receive support that the camp matches.  

Anyone interested in investing their time and resources in the lives of children should email camp@bethanybirches.org or call 802-672-5220.  

Please consider joining us for our annual benefit auction (virtually) November 6-8, 2020.  Visit www.bethanybirches.org/benefit-auction/ for more info and to get signed up for emails. 

Prayer request:

  • Help Bethany Birches Camp to utilize the experience they gained from running summer camp during this pandemic. Help them move forward to benefit and love their community this fall and winter.
  • Lord, make yourself visible to the summer campers who shared the difficulties they are experiencing being stuck at home.  Give them hope. 
  • Give strength, creativity, and peace to parents who are struggling to tend to their responsibilities while their children are learning from home.

Conference Related Ministries (CRM) Profile: Penn Foundation

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Penn Foundation: A Model for the Country and the World
by Penn Foundation

Dr. Norman Loux was a Souderton, PA native and member of Franconia Mennonite Conference. He was a family physician who helped to found Penn Foundation, a “psychiatric program for the community in the community.” PHOTO CREDIT: Unknown

Penn Foundation’s history is one of unique community partnerships around a shared vision of providing the most leading-edge and highest-quality mental health care for the community, in the community.

Penn Foundation was founded in 1955 by Dr. Michael Peters, then Chief of Medicine at Grand View Hospital, and Dr. Norman Loux, a Souderton, PA native and family physician who recognized that many of his patients had “emotional problems.” These two men garnered the support of other area business leaders to establish a community-based mental health center, a novel concept at that time. 

Their vision, which was tremendously innovative, was recognized in 1962 when the National Institute of Mental Health called Penn Foundation a “model for the country and the world.”

We have continued to strive to be a pioneer and leader in our field to this day, providing high-quality, innovative, evidence-based mental health and addiction treatment and prevention programs to our community. With headquarters in Sellersville, PA, Penn Foundation employs 455 compassionate professionals that serve more than 20,000 children, adolescents, and adults each year with integrated, holistic care designed to meet the unique needs of each person. We also partner with businesses, schools, churches, law enforcement, physicians and healthcare providers, and others to shine a light on mental health and addiction issues and provide education and resources on these topics. 

Penn Foundation believes in treating the whole person – mind, body, spirit. Chaplain, Rev. Dr. Carl Yusavitz (center), Mosaic Mennonite Conference member, provides spiritual support to Penn Foundation clients of all faith backgrounds. PHOTO CREDIT: Lowell Swartley Photography

Building community has always been part of Penn Foundation’s mission. We do this in a variety of ways: 

  • offering innovative, responsive care
  • creating a welcoming, safe community among our clients and residents that supports their journeys of change and recovery
  • being responsible stewards of the generous gifts and resources that we have been given
  • participating in community events and supporting partner organizations. 

As we look to the future, we remain committed to effectively meeting the needs of our community. We will continue to reimagine the services we provide, remain a pioneer in our approach to care, and seek strategic partners who want to help us advance our mission. 

Community support was instrumental to the founding of Penn Foundation, and it continues to be a key factor in our ability to provide mental health and addiction care to our community. We are incredibly grateful to our caring community, which has generously answered our calls for help over the past six decades. To learn more about Penn Foundation, or to give the gift of hope and ensure that mental health and addiction services continue to be available, please visit our website at www.PennFoundation.org or contact Kim Detwiler, Vice President of Advancement and Communications, at (215) 453-5190.

Building community has always been part of Penn Foundation’s mission. PHOTO CREDIT: Lowell Swartley Photography

Prayer Requests

  • For Penn Foundation’s Board of Directors as they imagine how to best serve our community through these uncertain COVID-19 times
  • For Penn Foundation’s administration who have to navigate financial and legislative decisions beyond their control 
  • For Penn Foundation’s staff who have to juggle child-care and schooling along with their work at Penn Foundation
  • For Penn Foundation’s Recovery Center staff and the dedicated work they do 24/7 with people struggling with debilitating and devastating addictions
  • For the safety and well-being of Penn Foundation’s residential program staff
  • For psychiatrist Dr. Vernon Kratz (Ambler (PA) congregation) as he retires after 47 years of faithfully serving the community

Conference Related Ministries (CRM) Profile: Delaware Valley MEDA

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by Lucy Brubaker, DelVal MEDA chair

The mission of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) is to provide business solutions to poverty. This international organization began 65 years ago. Today MEDA has projects in 69 countries throughout the world.

MEDA aspires to eradicate poverty by 2030. By providing loans and expertise and by involving local partners in the projects, MEDA clients are able to experience success and independence. To learn more about this work, go to www.meda.org/about/about-meda.

There are local chapters (hubs) in the US and Canada that work to connect and engage local people with MEDA’s mission. The local chapters strive to inspire members within their community to incorporate their faith values into their daily work. The Delaware Valley MEDA hub (formally the Clayton Kratz Fellowship) has a board of ten members and meets 4-5 times a year.

From October to May, our local hub hosts a monthly Third Thursday breakfast at the Franconia Café in Souderton, PA, from 6:30-7:30am. Each meeting features a guest speaker who shares a “Faith in the Marketplace” story. All are welcome to attend.

Ruth Leaman, MEDA Development Officer, speaks at a Third Thursday breakfast.

Our group also offers MEDA scholarships to young people attending college with a declared major under the umbrella of traditional business/management disciplines and who fulfill the criteria.

Each year, we plan one or two fundraising events to raise money for MEDA projects. Our special event, “An Evening to Remember Clayton Kratz and Benefit Ukraine,” originally scheduled for October 19, 2020, is rescheduled for the spring of 2021. This event will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the disappearance of Clayton Kratz in 1920 while on a relief mission with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to Russia.

In November, the bi-national MEDA convention will be held virtually this year. We encourage attendance at the convention to learn more about MEDA’s work and to be inspired by engaging speakers and seminar leaders. To learn more about the MEDA convention, go to www.meda.org/meda-convention.

This week, the local Delaware Valley MEDA hub is participating in a MEDA Move-a-thon to raise money for MEDA projects. There was a virtual kickoff on August 14 and the closing is on August 22.  An anonymous donor will match up to $5,000 in donations.

We invite you to join us in prayer for:

  • our clients who are experiencing setbacks in their businesses because of COVID-19, natural disasters, and government resistance to their work.
  • MEDA president, Dorothy Nyambi, and her staff, as they make important decisions regarding MEDA’s work.
  • our local Delaware Valley MEDA hub as we strive to increase awareness of MEDA’s mission and vision (That all people may unleash their God-given potential to earn a livelihood, provide for families and enrich communities).
 

Conference Related Ministries (CRM) Profile: Care & Share Thrift Shoppes

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In the mid 1970’s, several women and men in their thirties got thinking, “How can we take the Sunday morning message of serving others and put that call into action during the week?” After some brainstorming, Care & Share Thrift Shoppes in Souderton, PA was born. 

Care and Share Thrift Shoppes in Souderton, PA donated over $1 million dollars to the work of Mennonite Central Committee in 2019.

From its very beginning, Care & Share has been in the Souderton (PA) Center on Route 113. Currently, there are 5 shoppes – Furniture, Clothing, Books, Variety, and the Outlet. Care & Share also has an online presence on eBay. We are grateful for the quality and volume of donations we receive from our generous donors. These donations have made us well known for selling “high quality” products. 

The dollars spent at Care & Share impact thousands of lives. In 2019, over 200,000 transactions took place at our registers. Further, we were the first independent, non-profit thrift store in the US or Canada to give over one million dollars to charity in one calendar year (2019).  Since 1975, over 19 million dollars have been given to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) as a result of purchases at our shoppes. 

Care & Share is not only about raising money for MCC. It stands as a place where community is built. We hear from customers and volunteers – Care & Share is “church” for them. 

Volunteers at Care & Share Thrift Shoppes in Souderton, PA gladly display some of the variety of items for sale.

This non-profit business is run by 52 paid employees who bring an enthusiasm for empowering our volunteers who are the heart of Care & Share. It is the volunteer’s gift of time and talent that creates our success. 

We welcome a wide range of volunteers – ages 8 to over 100 years old. Some join us through the more “traditional” route as they are looking for “something to do” in retirement. Volunteers also join us through a group, such as a youth, work, school, family, or service group. We host those who need to serve hours for court ordered community service. Other individuals are volunteering, with staff support, from 40+ organizations who work with folks with disabilities. They may come for one reason, but they stay because they found a home in the community. 

The Care & Share community is greatly impacted by the pandemic. During the three months that we were closed, we did our very best to stay connected to our “community.” We shared inspiring phone calls, increased the distribution of our e-newsletter, and created a live cooking show on Facebook. Our community greatly missed us, almost as much as we missed them! 

A group of summer volunteers at the Care & Share, which helps support Mennonite Central Committee.

By mid-June, we re-opened two shoppes, with modified hours, run by our paid staff. We are following the state guidelines with masks/face shields, social distancing, and increases in cleaning. These steps have added significant costs to our operation. 

Fortunately, by July, we had enough volunteers to open another shoppe. Only 30% of our 1,000+ volunteer base has returned to serving. We will need many more helping hands, on a regular basis, to reopen all of our shoppes. We do not want our volunteers to return until they are comfortable to do so. We will be patient! 

Please pray for the pandemic to end. Our customers, volunteers, and employees are struggling under the increased anxiety and isolation it is causing. Please pray that Care & Share can continue to be a light in our community. Please refer us as a place to volunteer. We can accommodate larger groups even with social distancing in place.

Please consider making a financial donation to MCC. The loss of donations from thrift shops and relief sales is causing MCC to rely on individual donors more than ever. Care & Share is grateful for your support.

Conference Related Ministries (CRM) Profile: Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania

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by Mennonite Heritage Center staff

The Mennonite Heritage Center in Harleysville, PA collects, preserves, and shares the Anabaptist/Mennonite story and welcomes visitors to learn and contribute to their collection. Photo credit: Forrest Moyer

The Mennonite Heritage Center (MHC), is a nonprofit museum and historical library located at 565 Yoder Road, Harleysville, PA. It is home to the Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania (MHEP) that were founded in 1974. Our mission is: To educate, inspire and witness to the church and community by collecting, preserving and sharing the Anabaptist/Mennonite story.

The MHC keeps the records of the Mennonite communities in Eastern PA who began immigrating from Europe in 1683. For centuries, these primarily Pennsylvania German congregations lived quiet lives, separated from other communities, maintaining their own schools until the mid-19th century, and speaking the Pennsylvania German dialect until the mid-20th century.     

The MHC historical library has volumes relating to Mennonite and local history, faith, and life and an archive that includes rare books, manuscripts, and other printed materials. Manuscript collections vary from farming records to personal diaries and photographs. Many of the local congregations and Mosaic Mennonite Conference have chosen us to preserve their records.   We invite people to use the library to do genealogical research. 

One of the most significant museum collections is the fraktur collection.  Fraktur is a kind of colorful illuminated manuscript. It is called fraktur because of the broken or fractured style of German lettering.  The artifact collection also includes quilts, coverlets, samplers, clothing, furniture, farm implements, housewares and musical instruments.  

Collections Manager Joel Alderfer stands with a display of early Bibles in the Mennonite Heritage Center in Harleysville, PA. Photo provided by MHC.

Because of the pandemic, we were closed from March 12 until July 1 and have been featuring posts on our website (mhep.org), our Facebook page, and the Pa Dutch at Home Companion blog, a joint project of the MHC and the Goschenhoppen Historians Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center.

In a more typical year, the MHC features exhibits and programs on Anabaptist and local history topics. Saturday workshop participants enjoy learning traditional crafts such as basket weaving, paper marbling, and fraktur drawing. The Whack & Roll Croquet Tournament that usually happens in spring, is now scheduled for Saturday, August 29 and is a fun competition with teams from area nonprofit organizations vying for cash prizes. 

The annual Apple Butter Frolic, our fall harvest festival, will not be held this year but we are working on an event which will include pick-up sales of delicious traditional foods. The MHC will be sharing a portion of the proceeds from this revised October event with the Conference Shalom Fund to be used for food insecurity needs. Watch for information about this fall food celebration!    

Our board and staff are thinking about our role as a place for Mennonites and the broader community to learn about the Mennonite heritage.  We want to become more reflective of the growing diversity of the local Mennonite community today. We especially encourage people and congregations of color to visit the Mennonite Heritage Center, and contribute your family and faith stories to our collections, exhibits, and programming. Items can also be submitted for the archives digitally. We welcome volunteers to host in the museum and help with events and projects such as installing exhibits or archival sorting.  You can also support the MHC with an annual membership. Memberships begin at $55/$45 annually and members receive our quarterly publication and discounts on workshops/purchases. Please contact us at 215-256-3020 or info@mhep.org for information on volunteering or becoming a member.

Why We Are Still Here

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by Danilo Sanchez and Sherri Brokopp Binder

(A version of this article originally appeared in The Mennonite.)

When the COVID-19 crisis hit, many organizations and social service agencies in our area of Allentown, PA made the decision to close their doors. That was understandable. 

But closing was not an option for Ripple Community, Inc., a conference-related ministry. We needed to maintain contact with families in our community-supported housing program, since many of their supportive services were closed and their lives could quickly spiral out of control. We also needed a stable presence at our day center, which primarily serves people experiencing homelessness. Stay-at-home orders are meaningless for people who don’t have homes. 

We are still here, doing what we have always done, but things look different. Everyone who enters our day center has their temperature taken, is asked some medical questions, and gets doused with hand sanitizer. We do our best to maintain safe physical distancing. Our staff members wear gloves and masks. Being open during the pandemic is how we make sure our friends know they are not forgotten or abandoned.

Even under normal circumstances, our unsheltered friends and neighbors live precarious lives. COVID-19 has shone a bright, public light on cracks in the system through which we have watched our friends fall for years.

One day, Rafael came into our community center as he does most days. He appeared more tired than usual, but his temperature was normal, and he didn’t have any obvious respiratory symptoms. 

Rafael found a chair at an empty table and enjoyed his meal. He usually moves between his table and the coffee station, but today he rested. Later, we noticed he had fallen asleep in his chair. Occasionally, his body jolted from a deep cough. We took his temperature again, and it read 99.5.

Following our COVID-19 protocols, we moved Rafael into a separate room and called the hospital hotline. The nurse on the phone asked Rafael a series of questions. She counseled him to come to the hospital and get tested. We arranged for a medical taxi to transport Rafael. Then we sat with him and waited for the taxi. He didn’t appear to be afraid, but he had a lonely look on his face.

Who was caring about Rafael? We didn’t want him to feel alone. If nothing else, at least he has us. Before Rafael got into the taxi, we made sure his cell phone was fully charged. 

We called him two hours later. Rafael answered, but his voice was strained. He sounded stressed but resigned. He had been tested and told it would be two to three days before he received the results. The hospital staff instructed him to go home and self-isolate until they got the results.

“That’s a little hard to do when you’re homeless, you know?” Rafael said. We asked him to come by the community center the next day. He spent the next three days wandering the streets with a cough and a fever.

Rafael’s story is tragic, infuriating, and quite common these days. We know we can’t fix every problem or meet every need in our community. But we are determined to continue to be a stable, consistent presence. This has always mattered in our community, but it seems particularly important now. Our staff of five has been working harder than ever, with less help than normal, and we are exhausted. Yet we wouldn’t have survived without the support from our local community and churches and conference. Communities will take time to build, but if we all work together, we will be resilient.  

Welcoming New Conference Related Ministries

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by Sharon K. Williams, Nueva Vida Norristown New Life

What does Indonesia, India, Honduras, and Allentown have in common? See if you can figure it out!

At our upcoming Conference Assembly (November 1–2), Franconia Conference will welcome four exciting and unique organizations as Conference Related Ministries (CRMs).

Taproot Gap Year is a ministry with post high school young adults who are seeking a different way of living and exploring the world. Students can take a semester or a full year to live in Indonesia with homestay families, learn a new language, go to class, serve in internships, explore new places, and learn tools that help develop one’s faith and identity.

Taproot focuses on guiding students on their journey to understand who they want to be in this world, so what they do is fully professional, hands-on, and rooted in love and their calling. Taproot is a ministry of Philadelphia Praise Center, led by Pastor Aldo Siahaan, Lindy Backues, and staff of young adults who are passionate about supporting the witness of Christian young people in the world.

Peace Proclamation Ministries International (PPMI) is an evangelistic and church planting ministry with those living in India and in the USA. PPMI’s vision is to minister to and serve the unreached with God’s Word, which can lead into a personal encounter and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. PPMI focuses on training pastors, pastors’ wives, and youth through annual conferences, retreats, and gospel meetings. PPMI also supports the ministry of congregations through eye clinics and borewells, and practical ministry tools such as megaphones, bicycles, and sewing machines.

PPMI is led by Paulus and Sumatha Thalathoti (Plains congregation) and a very enthusiastic board of directors.

Healthy Niños Honduras focuses on helping children and their families beat the ravishes of malnutrition and poverty. The child survival programs include a residential nutrition center, deworming, water filtration systems, medical and construction brigades, and preventive health education. Currently, Healthy Niños works in the San Francisco de Yojoa, Cortes, area of Honduras. 

Healthy Niños is one of the outgrowth ministries of the MAMA Project. Herman Sagastume serves as the executive director, with board members representing several Franconia Conference congregations.

Ripple Community Inc (RCI)  is guided by its vision of Allentown as a community where everyone has a role to play, a diverse network of social support, and a connection to the place they call home. Its programs serve over 150 Allentown residents. RCI’s Community Building Center is the only day center in Allentown that is open to the public. RCI Village is the first permanent, community-supported, affordable housing program in Allentown. RCI uses restorative practices to foster a safe, healthy, and supportive community among its participants.

RCI emerged from the work of Ripple Church, which ministers with people who are on the margins of society in Allentown to restore critical relationships, build community, and address material and relational needs. RCI was founded in 2015 to take the work of Ripple Church into the broader community. Sherri Brokopp Binder serves as executive director, along with staff and board members from Ripple Church and the Allentown community.

These four organizations are manifestations of the growth of God’s kingdom in our midst! Each ministry, in its own way, is sharing the gospel of Christ in an appointed area, as well as building relational bridges with our conference community. Join us at our Conference Assembly (worship on Friday, November 1, 7 p.m., and business sessions on Saturday, November 2, 9 a.m., Souderton Mennonite Church) to celebrate this movement of God among us!