Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Eastern Mennonite Seminary

Reflections for the future Church

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by Scott Hackman, Salford

Post-Christendom class 2012
Bobby Wibowo (Philadelphia Praise Center), Dorcas Lehman, Tracy and Barbara Brown, Scott Hackman (Salford), and instructor Steve Kriss (Franconia Conference director of leadership cultivation) traveled to the UK last month to study Anabaptism in a Post-Christendom context.

The Anabaptist movement has re-emerged in Post-Christendom Europe and it may give American Mennonites insight into our future.

Last month, I participated in a cross-cultural class through Eastern Mennonite Seminary that took us to Bristol, Birmingham, and London, England.  There my classmates and I saw glimpses of hope from the UK Anabaptist movement, where people are asking basic questions about the purpose of church and joining God’s mission of restoration in their context.

Post-Christendom is the transition from the church as the center of power in society to the church on the margins of society. This is often manifested in the embrace of other religions, even as Christianity is declining.  The Muslim faith community is growing rapidly in England; an estimated 50% of people attend a Mosque every week.

We went on walking tours to observe what God was doing in the context of each city and how the church was participating.  On one of these tours, after a late walk in the rain, we found a cab to take us back to our lodging.  The cab driver asked me if I was a Christian from America.  I disclosed my identity with hesitation but he looked at me and said, “Did you see me come out of that Mosque where I was praying? I am Muslim and I want you to know we are not all violent people.”

“I am a Christian from America and I don’t support our wars against your people,” I responded.  In that moment I began to understand our Post-Christendom context, where I could express my identity and have a conversation with my “enemy,” and all because he modeled this transparency with me.

Cross-cultural trip 2012
Class members investigate a peace garden in the center of Birmingham that stands on a site where a church was bombed during World War II. Photo by Scott Hackman.

On a walking tour in Bristol, we passed a church building that has been re-purposed into apartments and yet another that was used as an elderly care facility.  In London, the former church buildings were used for music venues and community centers.  These buildings stand as monuments to an era when the church shared power with the state.  As this authority is shifting, followers of Jesus are seeing “church” less as a place of worship and more as a practicing community on mission in its local context.

Anabaptists in the UK are asking different questions than the Mennonites of my faith community back home.  In one London neighborhood with 90,000 residents, for example, only about .5% of people enter a church each week.  We met with the community’s Christians, who asked, “What does the Gospel look like in this context?”  After years of prayer and hard work developing relationships with their neighbors, they built a playground in the middle of a marginalized community.

These Anabaptists are asking hard questions: What does the Gospel look like in our neighborhood?  What is church when no one understands the basic story of Christianity?  Who is the church for?   In their persistent engagement, I saw a glimpse of the kingdom; I am encouraged to ask these kinds of tough questions in my context, too.

As I return home, I continue to ponder what I heard and saw.  Our neighbors aren’t going to engage in the future church if they can’t bring who they really are to the community of faith.   They yearn to belong to a faith community before they will believe or behave differently.  They’re not going to believe in a loving God if they aren’t loved.  They’re not going to respond to the Gospel if it’s not a liberating move of love in their lives.

Anabaptist followers of Jesus in England have given us a glimpse into our future and it’s one that fills me with grief and hope: grief because of the pain we have caused in the name of Jesus through our colonialism and patriarchy and hope because people are expressing the Gospel message and following Jesus outside of the systems and hierarchy of religion.  They are being and becoming the people of God—church—in a context we have not yet but still may encounter as America moves towards its own version of Post-Christendom.

Scott Hackman is part of the missional team at Doylestown Mennonite Church and a student at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, PA campus.  He has received assistance in his education through the Area Conference Leadership Fund—to learn more about the ACLF or to make a contribution, click here.

A Combined Call

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Kirby Kingby Kirby King, Minister of Adult Formation at Souderton Mennonite Church

To speak about call in my life for church work requires that I speak about my call to teach at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School (Dock) as well as my call to become a licensed leader of adult formation at Souderton Mennonite Church. Both calls are so intertwined that I cannot separate them.

As a student at Lancaster Mennonite High School in the early ’80s I began to see myself as a person who could possibly have gifts in presentation and publicly leading or teaching a group. This is largely due to several teachers who gave me an opportunity to explore the “stage” of the classroom with presentations. My youth group at Maple Grove Mennonite Church complimented this by opening up leadership roles for me; specifically leading/teaching Bible study. A call was beginning to form inside me from those around me.

Fast-forward a few years, Laura Stoltzfus challenged me to go to college and become a teacher. I shared this with a small group and found support and encouragement. Again, the words from brothers and sisters of the faith sparked an internal call.

At present I have been teaching at Christopher Dock for 19 years. Even though I have completed my Master of Arts in Education, I have enrolled in Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) to work toward a second Master’s degree. I feel an internal call to continue my education but this call is also tested and confirmed by my colleagues at Dock, my professors at EMS, and my peers at church.

Over the past two years, my work in my congregation (Souderton Mennonite Church) has blended smoothly with my professional teaching career. I have been assisting and leading in the adult Sunday School classes as a support person, class room teacher, and mass session leader. I also have added what I can to the preaching rotation; some during the summer months and some during a pastor’s sabbatical leave.

Souderton Mennonite Church recently asked me to accept a call to become our first leader of adult formation. This fits well with my internal call to teach and my full time occupation at Dock. I remain open to God’s leading in this new role. Based on my experience with God’s call, some future calls will stir up within me and some future calls will be clarified or brought to light from those around me. My prayer is that I hear and listen to God’s call as this new role develops.

STEP Pastoral Training Expanding

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Pictured: Luc Pham and Khon Tran. Photo provided.

The STEP pastoral training program looks to grow in 2012 by forming two new cohorts of students simultaneously in both Philadelphia and Lancaster, Pa. for fall semester.

“Starting two cohorts of STEP students in one year signals another adventure for us,” remarked Mark R. Wenger, STEP program director.  “We are very pleased to see how STEP is addressing the urgent need for basic high-quality pastoral training of those in congregational leadership.”

The STEP pastoral training program emerged in 2004 in response to the need to provide more flexible, non-traditional Anabaptist ministry preparation.  STEP will hold its sixth annual graduation on May 12, 2012 for a cohort of students completing the three-year, part-time program.

The program first expanded from its Lancaster base in 2010 by working together with Anabaptist congregations in Philadelphia.  Those congregations are requesting an additional urban cohort.

Pictured: Fernando Loyola, Daniel Lopez, & Lam Nguyen. Photo provided.

The STEP curriculum is designed for adult learners in part-time study.  Actual ministry practice, coupled with assignments and teaching by experienced pastors, forms the basis for lively learning in community.

Each of the three years of STEP yields ten undergraduate credits at EMU.  Classes meet on Saturdays, once a month.  Students drive to class from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Ohio.

STEP is jointly owned by Eastern Mennonite University and Lancaster Mennonite Conference.  More information.

Global Faith: Local Context Class scheduled for March 2012 at the Mennonite Heritage Center

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The Mennonite Heritage Center, 565 Yoder Road, Harleysville, announces a class on “Global Faith: Local Context” scheduled for Thursday evening March 1, 8, 15, and 22, 2012 from 6:30-9:15 pm. The course, sponsored by Eastern Mennonite University Seminary, will be taught by Dr. Derek Cooper, assistant professor of Biblical Studies and Historical Theology at Biblical Seminary, Hatfield, Pa.

The Global Faith class will discuss the four most influential and global non-Christian faiths by focusing on the history, sacred texts, and key events and persons associated with these religions. It also will explore how these religions are not just isolated or in far-away places, but how they are alive and thriving in our local contexts.

Participants can receive a continuing education unit for the course through Eastern Mennonite University.  Pre registration is required and is due by February 24, 2012. The cost of the course, including the continuing education credit, is $65. Those wishing to audit the course may do so for $55.  No refunds are given unless the class is canceled for insufficient enrollment.  The following book: A World Religions Reader by Ian Markham and Christy Lohr (3rd Ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) is required for students taking the class for the 1 CEU credit through EMU and is suggested for those not taking this class for credit.  Due to the book’s expense, participants may want to purchase it used or to share it with another student. For information and to register for the course, contact the Mennonite Heritage Center at: www.mhep.org, email info@mhep.org or call 215-256-3020.

New fruit, rooted in history at the Mennonite Heritage Center

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by Sarah Heffner, Hereford

The Mennonite Heritage Center, Harleysville, and Eastern Mennonite Seminary cosponsored a class on Anabaptist History and Theology: An Introduction to Basic Themes and Perspectives on four Tuesday evenings in October.  Instructors John Ruth and Steve Kriss and 23 participants considered critical themes running throughout Anabaptist history.

Steve Kriss instructs the Anabaptist history class at the Mennonite Heritage Center. Photo by John Ruth.

The class syllabus described this introduction as “acquainting students with the almost 500-year sweep of Anabaptist/Mennonite history, experience and theological reflection since 1525. This story of a movement and faith communities will be viewed against the background of the spiritual, social, geographical and cultural dimensions both historically and from today’s perspective.”

An ambitious agenda for the four evenings, but an excellent opportunity for participants to ponder what Ruth described as “a small chapter in a specific story with universal meaning”. During the first class, the instructors gave a quick overview of early European Christian history leading up to the Reformation period. From the early beginnings as a persecuted church until Christianity became legitimized as a religion after the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, the church grew and spread throughout Western Europe. Kriss noted that although the church became rich and institutionalized, it was still the voice of Jesus Christ through the centuries.

Ruth, who has led many trips to the Anabaptist European roots in the Netherlands and the Palatinate, discussed the early European reformers’ objections to the corruption of the official state church during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The religious fervor, persecution and social upheaval of this period led to the development and growth of the Anabaptist churches. Ruth noted that the development of the printing press played an important role in the ability of the common person to learn and study Scripture and theology for themselves. The insularity of the local Mennonite culture began to change with the modern era. “Mennonites of this region were in a thermos bottle for three centuries and their warmth was retained,” Ruth said.

Kriss spoke about the mission effort of the mid to late 20th century as one of Christianity’s major efforts, noting that the mission efforts sometimes lacked in cultural understanding. “We are now in another reforming time,” Kriss said. “The good news goes out even though the church goes through upheaval. How do we play in the global church reality?”

The last evening was spent looking at the global Mennonite story and the rising presence of the global church in local Mennonite conferences. Franconia Conference is growing because of the new immigrant congregations. Kriss noted that we will need to graft the stories of the historic congregations and the new congregations together—the fruit might look different but the harvest is there. The desire is to have our roots planted seriously but with a strong sense of the global community.

Both Kriss and Ruth enjoyed the challenge of teaching this topic. “Teaching with John Ruth is a privilege and challenge,” Kriss noted. “I appreciate his wisdom, wit and experience. In our teaching together, I hope that John and I are able to model the struggle and possibility that exists within our time with respect to history and hope for the future, knowing that we’re living a story still being written by God and that we are characters in this ongoing drama across the generations—of creation, learning and redemption in the way of Christ.”

Anabaptist History and Theology Course offered at the Mennonite Heritage Center

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The Mennonite Heritage Center, 565 Yoder Road, Harleysville announces a four session course on Anabaptist History and Theology on Tuesday evenings October 4, 11, 18 and 25, 2011 from 6:30 to 9 pm.

The course will be taught by John Ruth, historian and author, and Steve Kriss, Franconia Mennonite Conference Lead Minister and Eastern Mennonite Seminary Instructor. They will address the critical themes of Anabaptist beginnings, migration, modernization and global community.  The course will look at key texts, questions and movements that have guided the Anabaptist tradition from the Radical Reformation to today’s global Mennonite community.

Join the discussion to examine both the roots and possibilities, to have honest conversation about historic differences and divisions, and to wonder how the Mennonite Church might continue to build on Christ’s foundation, extending hope and healing in today’s world.

Required texts for the course (included in registration cost ) are Through Fire and Water: An Overview of Mennonite History by Steven Nolt and Harry Loewen and What We Believe Together by Alfred Neufeld.  Participants can receive continuing education units for the course through Eastern Mennonite University.  The cost of the course with credit is $100. Those wishing to audit the course may do so for $75.  Pre-registration is required, no later than September 15.

For information or to register, go to www.mhep.org, email info@mhep.org or call 215-256-3020.

Consistently Pro-Life: Conference-rooted EMU instructor releases new book

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by Jim Bishop

HARRISONBURG, Va. – “This is a book about killing.” That’s the opening descriptive line in Eastern Mennonite Seminary grad Rob Arner’s new book.

Arner, of Holland, a village in Bucks County, Pa., is a 2007 master of arts in religion graduate of the seminary. His recently- published Consistently Pro-Life: The Ethics of Bloodshed in Ancient Christianity is an extension of his master of arts in religion thesis at EMS. Arner is a member of Doylestown Mennonite Church.

The book was chosen for publication by Pickwick Publications, a division of Wipf and Stock.

Arner, who grew up United Methodist, came to EMS hoping to better understand pacifism.

Pacifism attracted the author to EMS “I chose EMS because I wanted to explore the peace church trajectory as a faithful calling of Christian discipleship,” said Arner.

“During ‘Christian Tradition’ class my first semester, I heard about the Constantinian shift,” he said.

“I learned that one of many changes during this time was that the ancient Christian church changed from being pacifist and opposed to war to embracing violence. This intrigued me, and I began reading the works of the ancient Christian church find out more,” Arner continued.

“A theory began to suggest itself to me- no matter which century in the early church, or which part of the empire, every early Christian author that I encountered denounced human bloodshed in a variety of contexts – from abortion, to killing in war, and everything in between, espousing and living a consistently pro-life ethic.

“In this book I want to challenge both liberal and conservative readers on their assumptions about the taking of human life,” Arner stated. “The gospel of Jesus is neither liberal nor conservative, and I make the case in this book that the Christians of the first three centuries consistently maintained that ALL killing is incompatible with the teaching and example of Jesus.”

In a review of the book Mark Thiessen Nation, professor of theology at EMS, said, “No one has reminded us as clearly as Arner, in this compelling and wonderfully written book, that if we are to be true to the substance of the teachings of the Ancient Church, true to the Spirit by which it was animated, then we must recover their commitment to a Consistently Pro-Life theological ethic.”

Arner is currently working on his PhD at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He is also an adjunct instructor at Chestnut Hill College and Eastern Mennonite Seminary’s Lancaster campus.

Arner’s 152 page book is available through Wipf and Stock online at wipfandstock.com for $13.60.

Eastern Mennonite Seminary is a graduate school of theological education on the campus of Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., offering three-, two- and one-year programs of study.

Pastoral Training Program 'Steps' into Philly

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Eastern Mennonite Seminary at Lancaster’s STEP program (Study and Training for Effective Pastoral Ministry) will offer its first cohort session in Philadelphia in September 2010. This cohort is a move by the seminary to offer pastoral training to urban and racially and ethnically diverse pastors.

“This is a big deal for us,” said EMS at Lancaster director Mark R. Wenger. “EMU is responding to dynamic church growth, community outreach and ministry in Philadelphia.”

Every year since STEP began in 2004 church leaders from Philadelphia have participated in the program. But it required driving every month to Lancaster for sessions.

“Offering STEP in Philadelphia fits with my vision for taking high quality pastoral training as close to the local congregation as possible,” Dr. Wenger said.

Karen Jantzi, adjunct instructor at Temple University and member of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church, served on the advisory committee for the STEP Philadelphia cohort. She will also teach in the program.

“I believe that everyone needs to have an introduction to basic theology and biblical studies,” Dr. Jantzi said. “I’m excited about this program because it indicates that the Pennsylvania conferences and the denomination understand the importance of nurturing leadership within the city.”

The advisory committee, made up of pastors and leaders in Philadelphia, helped Wenger and EMS determine the feasibility of starting a cohort in the city. They also helped shape the program to make it relevant to the urban context.

Wenger is expecting 8-15 persons for this year’s cohort in Philadelphia. Participants will be Anglo, African-American, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Latino. While most will be from urban settings, at least one pastor from a rural congregation will join them.

“The sociological study by Conrad Kanagy titled ‘Roadsigns for the Journey’ spoke about racial/ethnic congregations being the growing edge of the denomination. This is what I’m observing in Philadelphia,” said Wenger. “Working in an urban setting will have some challenges,” he continued. “One is that many of these churches don’t have the resources that more
rural congregations have to help educate their pastors.”

To help with affordability, Wenger is raising money to provide $1,000 scholarships for each participant.

The STEP program (Study and Training for Effective Pastoral ministry), a partnership between Lancaster Mennonite Conference and Eastern Mennonite University, provides training for people who are licensed for pastoral ministry or who have been encouraged to consider pastoral work, but may not have had college, Bible school or seminary.

For more information on the STEP program, contact Mark Wenger at 717-397-5190 or by email at wengermr@emu.edu