Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Dennis Edwards

Anabaptist Theologians to Teach Pastors & Lay Leaders

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by Sharon Williams

Laura Brenneman, Terry Brensinger and Dennis Edwards are the featured speakers for “The Bible through Anabaptist Eyes: Christ at the Center,” on Saturday, April 18, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Penn View Christian School.

The three Anabaptist biblical scholars will interact with participants through presentations and discussion.

Laura Brenneman (Photo by Jackie Wells)
Laura Brenneman (Photo by Jackie Wells)

Laura Brenneman will start with “Biblical Interpretation in an Anabaptist Perspective: Joshua, Jonah, Jesus.” She teaches at Eastern Mennonite University and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, as well as the University of Illinois, including a program in a men’s prison. Brenneman previously taught religious studies at Bluffton University, and is the co-editor of Struggles for Shalom: Peace and Violence across the Testaments.

 

 

Terry Brensinger
Terry Brensinger

Terry Brensinger will present on “Reading the Old Testament with ‘New Eyes.’” He is vice president of Fresno Pacific University, dean of the Biblical Seminary, and professor of pastoral ministries. Brensinger is best known to Mennonites as the author of Judges, in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series by Herald Press. He previously taught Old Testament studies and chaired the Biblical and Religious Studies Department at Messiah College (Grantham, Pennsylvania). Brensinger is an ordained minister in the Brethren in Christ Church and trained spiritual director. Most recently, he served as the international pastor/teacher for the International Brethren in Christ Association, a position that took him around the world to train pastors.

Dennis Edwards
Dennis Edwards

Dennis Edwards will teach about “Word and Spirit: Interpreting the New Testament.” He is the senior pastor at Sanctuary Covenant Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. A biblical scholar and chemical engineer by training, Dennis has been in urban ministry for more than two decades, having served at churches in Brooklyn, New York and Washington, D.C. He has taught New Testament studies at St. Mary’s Seminary and University and Bethel Seminary of the East. 

“The Bible through Anabaptist Eyes” is sponsored by Franconia Conference’s Ministerial Committee, in response to conference delegates’ interests in biblical interpretation from an Anabaptist perspective. This free event is open to everyone; credentialed leaders, teachers, delegates and lay leaders are especially encouraged to participate.

Registration is required; to register, go to the conference website or call 267-932-6050, ext. 110 or 610-277-1729. Donations for lunch will be accepted.

Penn View Christian School is located at 420 Godshall Road, Souderton.

Sharon K. Williams is a musician, editor and congregational/non-profit consultant. She serves the Lord with the Nueva Vida Norristown New Life congregation as minister of worship.

A lesson from Rwanda

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Dennis Edwards
Dennis Edwards at Conference Assembly 2011. Photo by Stacey Salvatori.

by Dennis Edwards, credentialed pastor serving in Minneapolis, MN

I recently spent several days in Rwanda as part of a teaching team for the Shepherd’s Leadership Conference, a weeklong conference for Rwandese pastors and other church leaders. There is much to share, especially having been there so close to the 20th anniversary of the genocide (April 6th). I hope to post several reflections on my time in Rwanda. This first is not about the genocide, but about my interactions with a pastor who attended the conference.

Pastor Vincent sought me out after one of the teaching sessions. He appeared to be young, maybe not yet 40 years old. He smiled broadly, eager to greet me. I listened as he reflected, in English, on the session entitled, “The Church and Social Justice,” where I had been the speaker. Pastor Vincent embraced the ideas of my message and wondered how he could help his many members who struggle just to survive. Pastor Vincent serves people who barely have enough food and whose daily lives are more difficult than most of us can imagine. I felt somewhat helpless at that moment. I thought about the things we often talk about in the USA regarding urban ministry, such as strategic partnerships where churches with more resources can share with those who have less.

Pastor Vincent said that his small church outside of Kigali does not have a “mother” congregation and he often feels isolated. Much of what he was saying reminded me of my first church-planting experience. Twenty-five years ago, I struggled to start a church in Brooklyn, NY. My wife and I burned out trying to meet the practical, emotional, and spiritual needs of a young congregation with limited resources. I developed some partnerships with suburban churches so that some money came in to help us, but I still had to work as a teacher to supplement my income and not be a burden to my congregation. My struggles in Brooklyn allowed me to relate—even if just a bit—to Pastor Vincent’s predicament, yet I knew his situation was much harder than mine was.

Sadly, much of my experience with churches in the USA reflects how spoiled many American Christians are. We fuss over things like musical styles, the color of walls and carpets, and whether we were duly entertained on some particular Sunday. Church has become—at least in many evangelical sectors—a contest. Church leaders struggle to be hipper, cooler, and more entertaining than other churches so they can find their niche in the marketplace formed by Christian consumers. At times I have become very cynical over such ways of doing church. Many American Christian writers and bloggers pontificate over how the contemporary church needs to be more like the early Christians seen in the Book of Acts, but honestly, we are far from that picture. We are simply too affluent and self-centered to be like that community of sharing, caring, learning and growing that we read about in the New Testament.

This is not to say that contemporary churches lack charitable enterprises. Some give a good deal of money, food, clothes, and other practical things away to those who have less. But even in the midst of our generosity, we are slow to share our lives with others—particularly with others who are different from ourselves racially, ethnically, and economically. Sometimes even our financial generosity is a way of saying “You stay over there, while I stay over here.” The power dynamics are reinforced even though we think we are helping.

Perhaps the simplest thing is for me to send Pastor Vincent some money. But I know from my experiences that money is not always the best solution. The real solution, the biblical dynamic that is often missing from our contemporary churches when compared to the early Christians, is community. It is connection. It is being sister and brother, across the lines of geography, ethnicity, nationality, gender, economics—whatever.

Pastor Vincent and I have already been in email communication. His broken English is better than my non-existent Kinyarwanda. Am I willing to see how God will let us be brothers, and not just me be a benefactor? Am I willing to learn from Pastor Vincent and not assume that I have answers to his questions?

I never got to take a photograph of Pastor Vincent, but in my mind’s eye I see his smiling face and how happy he was to have a conversation with me. I know how it feels to have someone listen when I am struggling in ministry—especially someone who has been speaking to a large group and appears to be an expert. Those sorts of people never had any time for me when I was a younger pastor. I wanted to make sure Pastor Vincent had my time and interest. Maybe that’s the place to start. I will trust God to guide Pastor Vincent and also to guide me. But at this moment, I am simply grateful that God allowed me to meet this brother in Rwanda.

In light of the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, we will likely hear more news over the next few days. As you do, please take that as an opportunity to pray for Rwanda: the nation as a whole, the leaders, the churches, and for pastors like Pastor Vincent.

Dennis blogs at dennisredwards.com.

Ministerial Update (June 2012)

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An update from Noah Kolb, Pastor of Ministerial Leadership, on behalf of the Ministerial Committee

Rose Bender Ordination
Rose Bender was ordained at Whitehall on May 27.  Photo Gallery
  • Derek Cooper, assistant professor of Biblical studies and historical theology at Biblical Seminary in Hatfield (Pa.) was approved for a two-year license toward ordination. He and his family are members at Deep Run East (Perkasie, Pa.). The seminary, through his congregation, requested a ministerial license for his work in preparing pastors.
  • Joy Sawatzky was approved for a two-year license toward ordination for her ministry as chaplain with Living Branches. She presently has a license for specific ministry. She is a member of the Plains (Hatfield, Pa) congregation.
  • Don McDonough resigned from his associate pastoral role at Spring Mount (Pa.) to give leadership to a missional experiment called Arise in the Harleysville, Pa. area. He is accountable to Chris Nickels and the Spring Mount congregation.
  • Randy Good resigned as pastor at Taftsville (Vt.). He will complete his ministry there at the end of August.
  • Blaine & Connie Detwiler completed their pastoral leadership at Lakeview, (Susquehanna, Pa.) at the end of May. They have accepted pastoral leadership at the Marion Congregation in Franklin Conference.
  • Scott Landes has resigned as pastor at Frederick (Pa.) and completed his ministry there on June 15.
  • Rose Bender was ordained  on May 27 at Whitehall (Pa.). Steve Kriss and Noah Kolb officiated. A large crowd of church community and relatives were present.
  • Ubaldo Rodriguez was appointed to fill an opening on the ministerial committee. Ubaldo is the church planter at  New Hope Fellowship/Nueva Esperanza (Baltimore, Md.), a church plant of New Hope Fellowship Iglesia Nueva 
  • Dennis Edwards, pastor of Peace Fellowship (Washington DC) has resigned as pastor. He has accepted a pastoral position in Minneapolis, MN. Dennis has been credentialed with Franconia serving a Partner in Mission congregation.

Serving Christ with our heads and hands

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Dennis Edwards(To Mennonite Blog #2)

by Dennis Edwards, Sanctuary Covenant Church

“To Mennonite” means to translate faith in Jesus Christ into concrete actions.

I have been a believer in Jesus for over 40 years but for most of my life, Christian faith meant being able to recite the right doctrinal positions. I became keenly aware of this during my college years at a secular university and then later at a prominent Evangelical seminary. In both settings Christians often asked each other, “Do you believe_____?” and that blank would be filled by some debated issue such as “that woman can preach” or “in speaking in tongues” or “that Jesus will return before the Tribulation.”

Expressing one’s faith meant laying out the correct stance on an issue, one that was held by many of the popular Christian writers or teachers.  Models of the faith were people who spoke or wrote.  Those who “did” the faith were missionaries or saints who lived in some bygone era. I hardly ever heard people challenging each other in how we should live out our faith in the world.  As a matter of fact, when it came to living out one’s faith, the emphasis was on personal piety which meant avoiding certain noteworthy sins (such as extra-marital or pre-marital sexual activity, drinking alcohol, smoking, and gambling).

During a Christian Ethics class in seminary, the instructor, a known anti-abortion activist, spent about five out of ten weeks discussing abortion. When I asked about racism as a possible topic for the course, he sighed, rolled his eyes, and made it clear that it wasn’t really an issue for our class.

I was hurt as well as disappointed.  It seemed that Christian ethics was defined as having the right arguments on certain societal evils—but only those evils that seemed relevant to white evangelicals. By way of contrast, one of my first introductions to people who were “Mennoniting” was a presentation on dismantling racism. I was impressed that rather than just talking or writing statements—both good things—there was also activism. People were actively promoting an anti-racism strategy.

I realize that avoiding certain evils may continue to define Christianity for some people, and I dare say that for some “to Mennonite” may include that very perspective. I’m not naive to the reality that many Christians in America, including Mennonites, define holiness as simply avoiding certain sins.

By the time I decided “to Mennonite,” however, I was aware of relief and development work. I was aware of activism for justice. I was aware of the centrality of peacemaking—even loving one’s enemies. I took the opportunity “to Mennonite” as an invitation to join with others who believe that faith was to be demonstrated in acts of compassion, mercy, and justice. “To Mennonite” means to live at peace with all people. It means to love others as oneself while loving the LORD with whole hearts, minds, and strength. It means to care for the “least of these” because that is the way of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I must point out that sound doctrine is very important to me; I even have a PhD in Biblical Studies because I am passionate about what the Scriptures say and that we should “rightly divide” them.  I respect that there are Mennonite institutions where people can learn and have their academic interests nurtured. But I know that Christians are not just about what is in their heads. To me, “to Mennonite” means to serve Christ with our heads and our hands, flowing out of the love that is in our hearts.

Dr. Dennis Edwards was pastor of Peace Fellowship Church in Washington D.C., a partner in mission of Franconia Conference.  In May of this year, he moved to Minnesota to pastor Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis.  Blessings on your new endeavor, Dennis!

Next week, Donna Merow, pastor of the Ambler congregation, will share her experience of Mennoniting through simplicity and service.  How do you “Mennonite”?  Join the conversation on Facebook or by email.

Who am I?  (To Mennonite Blog #1)
Serving Christ with our heads and hands (To Mennonite Blog #2)
Quiet rebellion against the status quo (To Mennonite Blog #3)
Mennoniting my way (To Mennonite Blog #4)
Generations Mennoniting together (To Mennonite Blog #5)
Body, mind, heart … and feet (To Mennonite Blog #6)
We have much more to offer (To Mennonite Blog #7)
Mennonite community … and community that Mennonites (To Mennonite Blog #8)

Gathering on Holy Ground

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by Stephen Kriss, Philadelphia Praise Center

Rev. Dr. Dennis Edwards encourages Franconia and Eastern District Conferences to follow the example of Christ. Photo by Stacy Salvatori.

Gwen Groff, pastor at Bethany Mennonite Church in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont, drove the seven hours south for the joint Franconia and Eastern District Conference Assembly on November 11-12 for what she suggests became a “beautiful cacophony.”

Groff and more than 300 others from across both Conference communities along with Mennonite Church USA representatives gathered Friday night at Penn View Christian School in Souderton, Pa, in the first joint worship service for both Conferences since 1999. The opening worship, which featured a combined cross-conference, multi-ethnic and multilingual worship team, kicked off the gathering switching swiftly back and forth between Creole, English, Indonesian, Spanish and Vietnamese—the worshipping languages of the 60 congregations that make up both conferences.

The worship team lead by Emily Ralph gathered for months together in preparation to lead interculturally and multilingually in Creole, English, Indonesian, Spanish and Vietnamese. Photo by Stacy Salvatori.

Groff describes her experience, “I always look forward to the singing at Conference Assembly worship services. Coming from a small congregation, I enjoy the big sound, the full harmony. When I come into an Assembly worship space, if I see that we’ll be using the blue Worship Book hymnals I like to sit in the center of it all to be surrounded by the four part harmony. When I see a screen and projector, instruments and microphones, I usually take a seat on the periphery.

“This year I found myself most moved by the kind of singing I usually hang back from. Singing all together, with some singing in Indonesian, some in Spanish, some in Vietnamese, some in English and some in Creole, was disorienting in a way that was challenging, enlightening and beautiful.

Friday worship. Photo by Stacy Salvatori.

In worship there is often an invitation to sing or pray each in our own language, but this year the multicultural worship team was leading in all the different languages, switching languages between verses, between lines, singing in different languages at the same time. There was no right language to be singing in at any particular moment. We all could experience how it felt to be singing new words and not knowing if we were pronouncing them correctly. We all knew how it felt to be a little off balance. It wasn’t about political correctness (or it was what political correctness should be). It was about leveling the ground as we worshipped together, and it was holy ground.”

While energetic music and multiple languages marked the shape of the worship, Rev. Dr. Dennis Edwards, pastor of Peace Fellowship Church in Washington, DC, a Franconia Conference Partner in Mission, focused intensely in an evening message that explored the possibilities of the assembly theme, “Unity and Maturity in Christ” based on Ephesians 4. The whole of the worship gathering was broadcast in five worshipping languages and available online through a live stream. Over a dozen persons from a variety of congregations helped to coordinate technology, translating, and communication for the event.

Saturday joint session. Photo by Emily Ralph

The spirit of gathered worship was framed further through Saturday’s joint delegate session held around tables that considered the further cooperation between both Conferences in a move toward healing the 1847 historic rift between the groups. Overwhelmingly, representatives from both conferences gave permission by raising green cards that suggested a continuation to explore life together more extensively and collaboratively. Considering the future of the conferences, Sam Claudio, Jr., associate pastor at Christ Fellowship in Allentown said in a time of reporting, “Hopefully we’ll be able to be a positive witness [in a way that people will say], look how they came together after this long division in love, in peace, in charity, in grace.”

After recognizing the affirming move, Dave Hersh, moderator of Eastern District Conference responded, “I’m really excited about what we’ve accomplished. Your direction to us is loud and clear. We’re going to continue working together.” The conferences divided for business sessions, but re-gathered for lunch and a commissioning worship that recognized each person’s role and contribution in both conference communities.

Brent Camilleri, Deep Run East, and Derek Cooper, Doylestown, enjoy Friday’s ice cream social. Photo by Stacy Salvatori.

In general business, Eastern District Conference marked the transition of Ron White of Church of the Good Samaritan (Holland, Pa) into the moderator role succeeding Hersh of Grace Mennonite Church (Lansdale, Pa). Marta Castillo of Nueva Vida Norristown (Pa) Mennonite Church was affirmed as assistant moderator for Franconia Conference for a special one year term.

First time Franconia Conference delegate Derek Cooper of the Doylestown (Pa) congregation said, “I appreciated the worshipful tone. Beginning and ending the assembly in worship united the community and guided our interaction throughout the weekend. I also appreciated the prayer ministry. It created a Spirit-led presence that saturated the building.”

Reflections on Conference Assembly 2011:

Mary Martin (left), shown preparing to lead worship with fellow worship leaders and church friends Tuy Tran and Hoai Huynh from Vietnamese Gospel. Photo by Stacy Salvatori.

“I enjoyed singing with young people in several languages. I was inspired in (the) bringing together (of) a group of singers and instrumentalists with limited preparation time.” —Mary Martin,  Vietnamese Gospel

I thank God for what felt like a renewed sense of vision, energy and hope among our Conference body. Worshiping our Lord together in several languages was inspirational! God is preparing us for heaven, where followers of Jesus “from every tribe and language and people and nation” will bow down before the Lamb in worship. (Rev. 5:9) — Steve Landis, Franconia

For me the recognition, acknowledging, and welcoming of the different leaders was very inspiring; I believe the greatest asset of any organization is people. As someone from the global South, I still feel that we have a long way to go in order to have some of our leaders in higher leadership positions. — Ubaldo Rodriguez, New Hope Fellowship, Baltimore

Friday worship. Photo by Stacy Salvatori

It was particularly touching to see elements of my parent’s homeland incorporated in the assembly. When I asked my mother afterwards on Saturday what she had thought, she smiled and said the celebrating, unity, and sense of community made her feel warm inside. —  Theresa Nguyen, Plains

Assembly was a welcome opportunity to share space across our cultural diversity. Especially Saturday morning, moving in the direction of healing the long time division between Eastern District Conference and Franconia Conference. — Bob Walden, West Swamp

I think that Friday and Saturday was just a glimpse of what the kingdom of heaven will look like and that is a certain hope that God puts in us. The longing to just worship God regardless of our differences. I appreciate the fact that the Holy Spirit is moving around and uniting people from different languages. — Adrian Suryajaya, Philadelphia Praise Center

Thank you to:

  • Penn View Christian School for the use of facilities and the support of janitors, staff, and audio/visual personnel.
  • Dancers from Nueva Vida Norristown New Life for sharing your gifts as we gathered for Friday night worship.
  • Worship Planners and Worship Team Members for the time and energy you invested into planning, practicing, and leading our congregation in worship.
    • Saturday delegate session. Photo by Emily Ralph
  • Translators for helping us to understand one another.
  • Everence for sponsoring Friday night’s ice cream social and Bally Mennonite Church for providing and serving the ice cream.
  • One Village Coffee for donating coffee for the weekend.
  • Perkasie Mennonite Church for providing snacks and serving coffee on Saturday morning.
  • Zion Mennonite Church for use of your hymnals
  • Salford Mennonite Church for providing and serving lunch.
  • Franconia and Eastern District Board and Committee Members for supplying baked goods and deserts.
  • Litany Writers for your creative energy in tying everything together.
  • Prayer Ministry Participants for covering the gathered assembly in prayer.
  • Technology assistants who insured that the glitches were managed and that the flow of the worship was enriched and participation enhanced through our use of the web.

 

Eastern District and Franconia gather on “holy ground”

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by Stephen Kriss, skriss@mosaicmennonites.org

Gwen Groff, pastor at Bethany Mennonite Church in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont, drove the seven hours south for the joint Franconia and Eastern District Conference Assembly on November 11-12 for what she suggests became a “beautiful cacophony.”

Groff and more than 300 others from across both Conference communities along with Mennonite Church USA representatives gathered Friday night at Penn View Christian School in Souderton, Pa, in the first joint worship service for both Conferences since 1999.   The opening worship, which featured a combined cross-conference, multi-ethnic and multilingual worship team, kicked off the gathering switching swiftly back and forth between Creole, English, Indonesian, Spanish and Vietnamese—the worshipping languages of the 60 congregations that make up both conferences.

Groff describes her experience, “I always look forward to the singing at Conference Assembly worship services.  Coming from a small congregation, I enjoy the big sound, the full harmony. When I come into an Assembly worship space, if I see that we’ll be using the blue Worship Book hymnals I like to sit in the center of it all to be surrounded by the four part harmony. When I see a screen and projector, instruments and microphones, I usually take a seat on the periphery.

“This year I found myself most moved by the kind of singing I usually hang back from. Singing all together, with some singing in Indonesian, some in Spanish, some in Vietnamese, some in English and some in Creole, was disorienting in a way that was challenging, enlightening and beautiful. In worship there is often an invitation to sing or pray each in our own language, but this year the multicultural worship team was leading in all the different languages, switching languages between verses, between lines, singing in different languages at the same time. There was no right language to be singing in at any particular moment. We all could experience how it felt to be singing new words and not knowing if we were pronouncing them correctly. We all knew how it felt to be a little off balance.  It wasn’t about political correctness (or it was what political correctness should be). It was about leveling the ground as we worshipped together, and it was holy ground.”

While energetic music and multiple languages marked the shape of the worship, Rev. Dr. Dennis Edwards, pastor of Peace Fellowship Church in Washington, DC, a Franconia Conference Partner in Mission, focused intensely in an evening message that explored the possibilities of the assembly theme, “Unity and Maturity in Christ” based on Ephesians 4.   The whole of the worship gathering was broadcast in five worshipping languages and available online through a live stream.   Over a dozen persons from a variety of congregations helped to coordinate technology, translating, and communication for the event.

The spirit of gathered worship was framed further through Saturday’s joint delegate session held around tables that considered the further cooperation between both Conferences in a move toward healing the 1847 historic rift between the groups.  Overwhelmingly, representatives from both conferences gave permission by raising green cards that suggested a continuation to explore life together more extensively and collaboratively.  Considering the future of the conferences, Sam Claudio, Jr., associate pastor at Christ Fellowship in Allentown said in a time of reporting, “Hopefully we’ll be able to be a positive witness [in a way that people will say], look how they came together after this long division in love, in peace, in charity, in grace.”

After recognizing the affirming move, Dave Hersh, moderator of Eastern District Conference responded, “I’m really excited about what we’ve accomplished. Your direction to us is loud and clear.  We’re going to continue working together.”

The conferences divided for business sessions, but re-gathered for lunch and a commissioning worship that recognized each person’s role and contribution in both conference communities.  In general business, Eastern District Conference marked the transition of Ron White of Church of the Good Samaritan (Holland, Pa) into the moderator role succeeding Hersh of Grace Mennonite Church (Lansdale, Pa).   Marta Castillo of Nueva Vida Norristown (Pa) Mennonite Church was affirmed as assistant moderator for Franconia Conference for a special one year term.

First time Franconia Conference delegate Derek Cooper of the Doylestown (Pa) congregation said, “I appreciated the worshipful tone. Beginning and ending the assembly in worship united the community and guided our interaction throughout the weekend.  I also appreciated the prayer ministry. It created a Spirit-led presence that saturated the building.”

View the photo album

An invitation to Conference Assembly

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David Hersh – Moderator, Eastern District Conference
John Goshow – Moderator, Franconia Conference

For the first time since 1999 Eastern District Conference and Franconia Conference will hold their annual assemblies together at Penn View Christian School on November 11 and 12. We want to extend our personal invitation to all members of both conferences to attend Assembly 2011.  On Friday evening at 7 PM we will join together in worship with Rev. Dr. Dennis Edwards from Peace Fellowship in Washington D.C.  Dr. Edwards is known widely for his energetic preaching style and his gifted teaching of the Word.  On Saturday we will meet both jointly and individually to do the business of our respective conferences.

In 2001 the General Conference Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church joined together to form one denomination, Mennonite Church USA.  Now, all of the congregations affiliated with Eastern District Conference and Franconia Conference are members of MCUSA.  Our two conferences send delegates to the MCUSA’s biannual convention, we participate together in the Constituency Leadership Council (CLC), and we collaborate together with other MCUSA conferences on the east coast through Atlantic Northeast Conferences (ANEC) in outreach and church planting efforts.  As moderators we have been blessed and inspired by the many ways our two conferences work together locally as well as with MCUSA.  Recently we announced that our two conferences and Christopher Dock Mennonite High School have collaborated to hire a full time Youth Pastor. In the past we have partnered with Frederick Mennonite Home and Mennonite Health Services to offer a training opportunity for Conference Related Ministries.  And our conferences share office space which provides many opportunities to work together.

In the past year we have met a number of times with Ron White, Eastern District Moderator-Elect and our Conference Ministers, Ertell Whigham (Franconia) and Warren Tyson (Eastern District) to think about how we can work together to do God’s Kingdom work.  We believe that this collaboration is good and that it will add value to both of our conferences; we look forward to finding many ways to work together in the future.

So, we think this year’s assembly symbolizes our growing desire to continue to find ways of working together to do God’s work and to do this in such a way that the rich histories of each conference are respected and appreciated.  We are open to the leading of God as we continue to be faithful to discover how we can advance the Kingdom together.

It is our hope that the chapel at Penn View Christian School will be filled on Friday evening with members of our two conferences worshiping God together, united in the desire to do God’s work.

Meet Dennis Edwards, speaker for Conference Assembly

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by Randy Heacock, Doylestown Mennonite Church

Franconia Conference Annual Assembly focuses this year on Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ, from Ephesians 4.  As we gather together on Friday, November 11, we will worship in song, through story and in listening to the word of God communicated in a fresh and compelling way through Dennis Edwards, pastor of Peace Fellowship Church in Washington, DC, a Partner in Mission of Franconia Conference.

Dennis is credentialed as a Mennonite minister through Franconia Conference.  He is married to Susan and together they have four adult children.  Dennis plays several instruments and enjoys the sax the most.  If you follow Dennis on Facebook, you’ll know that he regularly checks-in at Gold’s Gym.  Originally from Queens, NYC, he is a faithful fan of the New York Jets.

Dennis is a Biblical scholar: he received a master’s degree and doctorate in New Testament Studies from Catholic University and holds a Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.  (He has a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell, by the way).    Dennis has taught for Eastern Mennonite Seminary along with other schools of higher education, and currently serves as adjunct professor at The Ecumenical Institute of Theology and Bethel Seminary of the East.   Even with his busy schedule, Dennis still finds time to serve with community pastors, coordinate meetings with local Mennonite workers, and write.

I have known Dennis for 15 years as a friend and colleague and, while some may appropriately be impressed with his academic achievement, his keen intellect, or his musical giftedness, I can easily say above all else he is a gift to us as a faith community.    As a scholar both of the Bible and culture, Dennis is able to provide keen insights about what it means to be a follower of Jesus today.    Dennis has a distinctly Anabaptist perspective both in his teaching and practice of Christian faith.    He continually communicates and demonstrates a desire for people both individually and corporately to experience more fully the kingdom and presence of God.

Though a powerful preacher, Dennis is a gentle and loving man.   His love for God is easily witnessed in his love for people.   My wife and I both noticed this when first getting to know Dennis and his family.   The way he interacted with his family and in turn the respect and kindness that his two sons extended to their two younger sisters spoke clearly that love was the foundation of their family.   I have had the privilege of watching that love flourish in his children, his faith community, and in all his interactions.

If you want to meet and hear from someone who follows Jesus, is a Biblical scholar, and is able to encourage others on their own path in following Jesus, I suggest you attend the worship service during Conference Assembly on Friday, November 11, 7pm at Penn View Christian School in Souderton (or streaming online at mosaicmennonites.org).   Please join me in beginning to pray for Dennis as he comes to share and for our hearts and minds to be open to what God has for us.   I am sure God will show up!