Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Eastern Mennonite University

The travels of a missional minister

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KrisAnne Swartleyby KrisAnne Swartley, Doylestown congregation

I am grateful for Doylestown leadership’s blessing to travel March 24-29. My first stop was at Eastern Mennonite University for three days. I met with various campus leaders including President Loren Swartzentruber, athletic director Dave King and undergraduate campus pastor Lana Miller, as well as several professors in both the college and seminary. It was a privilege to hear them talk about the passion they have for creating a learning environment that includes high quality training for vocation as well as a solid foundation of faith.

The best part of my visit was meeting students who have a desire to pursue ministry. They asked questions like: How do you find time to refresh your own soul?  What is the most difficult part of pastoring?  What is the best part? I have great hope for the future of the church after meeting these young adults. I was privileged to speak in seminary chapel on Thursday about Ruth and Naomi and Boaz, and how making space for outsiders creates space for God to work miracles in our midst. I shared several stories of what that looks like for us at Doylestown as we continue on the missional journey.

The second part of my trip took me to Alexandria, Virginia where I attended the Fresh Expressions National Gathering. The group of 200+ was made up of Southern Baptists, Anglicans, Anabaptists, Presbyterians and more!

We discussed the rapidly changing culture in the USA and how to connect with people who don’t know Jesus and have no interest in attending a church on Sunday morning. We talked about the need for discipleship and the ways the Holy Spirit leads us to “improvise” in whatever local context we find ourselves, much like the early church in Acts. I heard stories of coffee houses, single parenting groups, married couples opening their homes for family-style meals with neighbors, after-school tutoring centers, a “messy church” built around doing crafts and science experiments and a “sweaty church” built around active games and sports. It affirmed much of what we are learning at Doylestown about the missional journey, and it also inspired me to continue to encourage the ideas and dreams that are bubbling up within our congregation.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the weekend:

  • When you choose to keep company with Jesus, you give up the right to choose the rest of the company around you. You keep company with whoever Jesus chooses.
  • “These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise and its mission to seek out new life and new civilization…to boldly go where no one has gone before.” That is for us, Church! And if you can’t boldly go, then for heaven’s sake, at least GO!
  • If you are comfortable more than 70% of the time, then there is a problem, because the church in Acts was hardly EVER comfortable. They were always racing to catch up to what the Spirit was doing next.
  • Grace engages the world as it is now. The fact is, the world has changed, though we never gave it permission to do so. Acting as if it hasn’t changed and continuing to do the same old things, simply is not faithful.
  • 40% of new leaders in these new, creative ministries are LAY LEADERS–not clergy or professional ministers. These are courageous, everyday people.
  • God is into the multiplication of the small. You don’t have to lead a “mega”-anything.

Important info about the Feb 8 Delegate Meeting

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  • Date: February 8, 2014
  • Time:  9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
  • Location: Franconia Mennonite Church

Registration:  Please click here to register your attendance. We apologize if you tried earlier and were unable to register. We have experienced some technical glitches in our website that are now fixed. Your registration will help us be better prepared for our time together.

Description: The purpose of this meeting is to share a synthesis of the information gleaned from your input at Conference Assembly in November and develop a direction for how we will live into what Conference leaders heard you say during those sessions.

 Desired Outcomes:

  • To identify areas for mutual support and engagement
  • To grow in our understanding of one another as people of mission and ministry
  • To share ideas about how we can strengthen and develop relationships that allow us to become more collaborative
  • To create opportunities to hear one another for open and generative conversation

Attached are four documents:

  1. An an overview of a Strategic Direction for 2014 and 2015.
  2. Compilations of your 2013 Conference Assembly input:
    –How you see God Still@Work.
    –Your SWOT Analysis of the Conference Board Statement for Conferring.
    –Your reflections on the future of the conference from the afternoon workshop.

Please take time to review these documents in advance in order to make better use of our time together on Feb. 8.

A number of persons have urged Conference leaders to use the February 8 meeting as a time to discuss issues of human sexuality following the recent action of Mountain States Mennonite Conference to grant pastoral credentials to a woman in a same-sex relationship and the six-month listening process begun by Eastern Mennonite University’s trustees to review the university’s employment practices as they relate to persons in same-sex relationships.

However, the focus of the February 8 gathering will not be discernment around human sexuality. Conference leaders have responded to the two incidents with recent communication.  You should have received an emailed letter (English, Indonesian, Spanish, Vietnamese) from Franconia Conference moderator, John Goshow, which included a Call to Prayer by Mennonite Church USA’s executive director, Ervin Stutzman (English, Indonesian, Spanish, Vietnamese) along with the Mennonite Church USA Membership Guidelines (Spanish).  In response to Ervin’s call, we will spend time in corporate prayer on February 8.  This delegate gathering will also be the first step in the 2014-15 strategic direction that suggests ways we can work toward processing this and other potentially difficult conversations.

Franconia Mennonite Conference is all of us: congregations, delegates, pastors, and Conference Related Ministries. Your presence is important!   Be part of shaping our shared future on February 8.

Congrats to this year's seminary grads!

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Danilo Sanchez graduated from EMS this yearCongratulations to our Franconia Conference seminary graduates this year. Our conference had five individuals graduate from Eastern Mennonite Seminary: Danilo Sanchez (pictured), Boyertown congregation, graduated with a Master of Divinity; Scott Hackman, Salford congregation, graduated with a Master of Arts in Church Leadership; Emily Ralph, Salford congregation, graduated with a Master of Arts in Religion; Anne Yoder, West Philadelphia congregation, graduated with a certificate in ministry; and Tom Albright, Ripple congregation, graduated with a certificate in ministry.

HARRISONBURG, VA — The following Franconia Conference students were recognized as members of the dean’s list for the spring semester at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va.

Madeline Clemens, a first-year business administration major from Harleysville, Pa. She is the daughter of Douglas and Rebecca Clemens and attends Blooming Glen.

Hannah Clemmer, a senior psychology major from Harleysville, Pa. She is the daughter of Michael Clemmer and attends Towamencin.

Jonathan Drescher-Lehman, a junior biology major from Green Lane, Pa. He is the son of Jon and Sandy Drescher-Lehman and attends Souderton.

Anna Hershey, a senior biology major from Harleysville, Pa. She is the daughter of James and Brenda Hershey and attends Salford.

Brianna Kauffman, a first-year accounting major from Harleysville, Pa. She is the daughter of Steven and Lisa Kauffman and attends Franconia.

Laura Keppley, a senior biology and music major double-major from Boyertown, Pa. She is the daughter of Carl and Alice Keppley and attends Perkiomenville.

Morgan Kratz, a sophomore social work major from Souderton, Pa. She is the daughter of Douglas and Marice Kratz and attends Plains.

Samuel Moyer, a senior nursing major from Harrisonburg, Va. He is the son of Stephen and Naomi Moyer and attends Bethany.

Megan Nafziger, a sophomore nursing major from Mohnton, Pa. She is the daughter of Don and Rose Nafziger and attends Vincent.

Benjamin Nyce, a senior liberal arts and kinesiology & sport studies double-major from Perkasie, Pa. He is the ons of Timothy and Teresa Nyce and attends Deep Run East.

Matthew Nyce, a sophomore Spanish major from Perkasie, Pa. He is the son of Timothy and Teresa Nyce and attends Deep Run East.

Konrad Swartz, a senior English and writing studies double-major from Spring City, Pa. He is the son of Timothy and Rachel Martin Swartz and attends Salford.

Ryan Swartzendruber, a sophomore mathematics major from Sellersville, Pa. He is the son of Conrad and Sharon Swartzendruber and attends Plains.

Aaron Wile, a first-year psychology major from Telford, Pa. He is the son of Daniel and Kristi Wile and attends Franconia.

To qualify for the dean’s list a student must achieve a semester grade point average of at least 3.750 or above and complete at least 12 semester hours of credit.

Eastern Mennonite University is a Christian liberal arts university of about 1,500 students, located in Virginia’s scenic Shenandoah Valley. EMU is guided by the peace principles of Mennonite Church USA, educating students to serve and lead in a global context through cross-cultural study and an interdisciplinary curriculum. Established in 1917, the university offers over 40 undergraduate majors and six graduate programs offering nine master’s degrees. Eastern Mennonite Seminary is part of the university, as is the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.  See more at: emu.edu/about.

Who am I? (To Mennonite Blog #1)

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by Emily RalphEmily Ralph

The rolling hills surrounding Harrisonburg, Virginia are beautiful this time of year.  In some ways, they remind me of the mountains and farmland back home in Pennsylvania and I’m not surprised that Mennonites migrated here in the 18th century—it must have felt like home!

It’s my first visit to the main campus of Eastern Mennonite University, and as I drove down the highway toward EMU’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute last week, the familiarity of the mountains and grazing cows only fed my anticipation.  I was looking forward to studying with other leaders from around the world, cradled in the arms of a warm Mennonite community of scholars and practitioners.  In other words, it would be a home away from home.

I was in for a wakeup call.  As a Pennsylvania-based Mennonite pastor participating in this event on global peacebuilding, I am an oddity.   Although I recognized, in theory, that I would be surrounded by diversity, I don’t think I truly prepared myself for what I have experienced.  I have found myself floundering, trying to figure out how I fit in here, when the people around me don’t speak the same religious language, when their eyes don’t light up in recognition after I say I’m from Franconia Conference in Pennsylvania, when I struggle to express why I’m at a peacebuilding workshop as a leader in the American church and not as an activist on the front lines of war-torn Syria.

While I am cherishing new friendships with extraordinary people from around the world, I hadn’t anticipated the loneliness, the feelings of separation from my community in a place where I expected to experience that community more strongly.  And the irony of ironies?  I’m taking a class on identity.  Never did I think that I would be struggling with mine, even as I wade through the intensity of this ten-day experience.

Our identities form how we see and are seen by the world.  They are so foundational to our lives that often we are unaware of how they color everything we say and do.  And when our understandings of who we are come into friction with others’ understandings of who they are, conflict erupts.

It’s no wonder, then, that our Mennonite identity has caused so much tension in the church.  Some hold this identity as sacred, while others argue that their identity is first and foremost as a Christian, not a Mennonite.  The rhetoric gets passionate and divisive.

This time, a year ago, I was in a different class, this one at EMU’s Lancaster campus.  We were discussing change and conflict in the church and someone asked the question: What if we saw our roles as verbs instead of nouns?

So, for instance, instead of being a father, one would father.  Or instead of being a student, one would student.  As I pondered this concept, I was struck with a much deeper question: what would it mean to Mennonite?

What if we viewed our identities as followers of Jesus who Mennonite?  What if we saw Mennonite not as our identity, but as our practice?  What would the practices for the verb Mennonite be?

There is something reconciling about using Mennonite as a verb.  It allows us to form a community around these practices, regardless of how long any one of us has been in the Mennonite denomination.  It strips away any claim of ancestry and builds bridges among us, regardless of ethnicity, gender, generation, or life experiences—we can Mennonite together.

Menno Simons, who unwillingly gave his name to this verb, was passionate about the practices of Jesus-followers.  He would have defined Mennonite as doing works of love, resisting temptation, seeking and serving God, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, comforting the troubled, sheltering the miserable, aiding the oppressed, returning good for evil, serving and praying for persecutors, teaching and challenging with God’s Word, seeking what is lost, healing the sick and wounded, and rejoicing in persecution (Why I Do Not Cease Teaching and Writing).

And so, as I struggle with being one of the few Mennonites on campus, even as I am surrounded by ninety-two other leaders who are working for peace and justice in communities around the world, I ask myself, What makes me Mennonite?  Is it my ethnicity?  My theology?  Where I live?  Or is it a certain way of understanding Christ’s call to radical discipleship, an understanding that is lived out in practice?

This summer, leaders from all over Franconia Conference and beyond will wrestle with these same questions in a new blog series: What does it mean to Mennonite?  What practices shape us as followers of Jesus who Mennonite together?  Next week, we’ll hear from Dennis Edwards, last year’s Conference Assembly speaker and the former pastor of Peace Fellowship Church in Washington, DC.

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)

Philadelphia Praise Center to host EMU ministry intern

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by Mike Zucconi, EMU

EMU MIP Program
EMU's MIP students, from left to right: (first row) Rose Jantzi, Rebekah Enns, Erika Bollman, (second row) Jossimar Diaz-Castro, Joel Nofziger. Photo by Mike Zucconi.

A group of Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) students will begin summer internships with congregations throughout the U.S. as part of Mennonite Church USA‘s Ministry Inquiry Program (MIP).

Funded in part by Mennonite Church USA, the MIP program gives students an opportunity to explore their gifts for ministry and to test their possible calling to longer term service work for the church.

“The opportunity for students to test their gifts and to be mentored by seasoned pastors is truly invaluable,” said Carmen Schrock-Hurst, instructor in the Bible and religion department and director of MIP at EMU.  “The insights that these students then bring back to the classrooms in the fall will greatly enrich the learning environment on campus.”

Erika Bollman, a second-year student in EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and a member of Emmaus Christian Fellowship in Boise, Id., will intern at Philadelphia Praise Center in Philadelphia, Pa. “The purpose of Erika’s placement is to that she can be a part of the urban immigrant congregation,” said Aldo Siahaan, pastor of Philadelphia Praise Center.  “It will help her to understand our challenges and the function of leaders and the church in our context.”

Other participating students

  • Jossimar Diaz-Castro, a junior philosophy and theology major and a member of the Early Church in Harrisonburg, Va., will intern with Iglesia Discipular Anabautista in Harrisonburg. Diaz-Castro has the opportunity to “go deeper into the areas of teaching, preaching and working with the youth,” said Schrock-Hurst.
  • Rebekah Enns, a junior history, peacebuilding and political studies major and member of River East Mennonite-Brethern Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, will intern at Fourth Street Community Church in Washington, D.C. Enns will be working with the homeless population, providing meals and legal counseling. In addition, Enns will host youth groups from suburban Korean congregations who come to the city for an immersion experience.
  • Rose Jantzi, a sophomore elementary education major and member of Iglesia Discipular Anabautista and Harrisonburg Mennonite Church, will intern with Highland Retreat in Bergton, Va., serving as staff chaplain and Christian nurture coordinator. Jantzi will be involved with pastoral care, teaching and worship planning with both staff and campers.
  • Joel Nofziger, a junior history and peacebuilding major and member of Pilgrims Mennonite Church in Akron, Pa., will intern with the Washington Community Fellowship Center in Washington, D.C. Nofziger will be working with a multi-denominational evangelical congregation affiliated with the Virginia Conference of the Mennonite Church located near the Capitol.

Hands-on experience

At the completion of their 11-week placement, students in the MIP program receive stipends towards their continuing education at a Mennonite college. In addition to Mennonite Church USA, funds come from EMU, the host congregation and conference, and the student’s sending congregation and conference.

“The MIP program is a win-win for the denomination, local congregations, students, participating colleges and for the broader church,” said Schrock-Hurst.

This summer, Mennonite Church USA anticipates having over 20 students in the MIP program from five Mennonite colleges participating in the program.

For more information on the Ministry Inquiry Program visit emu.edu/bible/ministry-inquiry/.

 

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.

From Mozart to U2 with the EMU Chamber Singers

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Marking the season of Lent, the Chamber Singers of Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) will be singing a concert that draws from from Mozart to U2 during their Feb. 24-26 tour.  The tour includes stops at Philadelphia Praise Center, Salford, and Blooming Glen.

Conductor Kenneth J. Nafziger said prayers and readings from the Psalms will be woven throughout the concert.  “There are very direct biblical psalms with parallels to popular music that explore a common spiritual life,” Nafziger said.

The repertoire will range from introspective and penitential texts, several versions of the Kyrie eleison, and popular songs that share Lenten themes, including U2’s “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

“It is such a joy to bring our music to the churches and communities that we visit and see the way that our audiences respond to our music,” said Heidi Bauman, a senior at EMU. “I am particularly looking forward to singing an arrangement of ‘What wondrous love is this’ as well as Mozart’s ‘Laudate Dominum.’”

Aldo Siahaan, pastor of Philadelphia Praise Center, one of the churches that will be hosting the Chamber Singers during their Pennsylvania tour, is looking forward to the praise and worship with the choir.  The EMU Chamber Singers will be joining the congregation for an interdenominational prayer meeting held at another Indonesian church in Philadelphia.  Siahaan hopes that this will build relationships with other Indonesian churches “plus let the other churches know that PPC has wide connections in the Mennonite family.”

For more information contact Marci Myers, special events assistant, at
540-432-4589 or email myersmk@emu.edu.

***Tour schedule***

Friday, Feb. 24, at 7:30 p.m. – Indonesia Full Gospel Fellowship Church (Philadelphia Praise Center, host)

Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. – Salford Mennonite Church

Sunday, Feb. 26, at 9:30 a.m. – Blooming Glen Mennonite Church

Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. – Pinto Mennonite Church

Owen Longacre: "You've got to help your team"

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Owen Longacre (Swamp), a junior forward on the men’s basketball team at Eastern Mennonite University, is making a name for himself.

Owen Longacre scored a career-high 15 points in the Royals' 74-71 win over Randolph on Saturday, playing on a painfully sore injured ankle. "I don't really think of myself as tough," Longacre said, an assessment his coach and teammates disagreed with. Photo by Wayne Gehman.

In many ways, the 6-foot-6, 220-pounder stands out by not standing out. He isn’t flashy or demonstrative on or off the court. He plays with a reserve that stands in contrast to the running and gunning style that made EMU an Old Dominion Athletic Conference power the previous two seasons.

But even as the Telford, Pa., native was fighting for playing time on stacked EMU teams led by George Johnson and Todd Phillips – teams that played fast and above the rim and had no shortage of swagger – Longacre was popular with both the fans and his teammates.

“He always fit in really well,” EMU coach Kirby Dean said. “… He works really, really hard and he does his own thing, but he doesn’t do it in such a way that, because you’re different he thinks less of you, because he doesn’t. That allowed him to really mesh well with those guys.”

Despite being likeable and hardworking, Longacre – a history and education major who enjoys reading mysteries and is learning to play the guitar – still found himself buried on the depth chart behind the Royals’ star players as a freshman and sophomore. He got some minutes but was a role player.

At times, EMU has struggled to retain players who didn’t quickly make the starting lineup. At Division III, where players don’t get athletic scholarships, the prospect of paying tuition just to ride the pine often drives people to transfer.

“I don’t think there’s any question that he’s the exception to the rule,” Dean said. “In a society of instant gratification, `I want what I want and I want it right now,’ you just don’t see guys who predominately sit for two years and patiently wait their turn. What a privilege it is to have a kid like that in the program.”

Longacre, from Christopher Dock Mennonite School in suburban Philadelphia, played just over five minutes a game as a freshman at EMU – the year the Royals went 25-5 and won three NCAA tournament games before losing to Guilford. A year ago, when the class of Johnson, Phillips, Eli Crawford, D.J. Hinson and Orie Pancione were all seniors, he played just over eight per outing.

This year, he’s a starter and is averaging 8.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game for the young Royals (8-10 overall, 3-6 in the ODAC).

He’s done it all while battling through a bevy of injuries – four concussions, a broken hand, bruised chest and shoulder surgery after his freshman year.

“I don’t really think of my self as tough,” Longacre said, an assessment his coach and teammates disagreed with. “It’s more the mindset of, if you can get out there any way, you’ve got to help your team. I just think if I can get out there, I’m going to try.”

Longacre scored a career-high 15 points in the Royals’ 74-71 win over Randolph on Saturday at Yoder, playing on a painfully sore injured ankle.  When he fouled out with just under four minutes to play, the crowd showed its appreciation for one of its own.

“Our women’s soccer coach said, `Man, when Owen fouled out he got the loudest ovation I’ve ever heard in there,'” Dean said.

Among those applauding was Quincy Longacre, Owen’s older brother and a basketball player at EMU from 1996-2000. Quincy – who played at EMU before it opened Yoder Arena and before it routinely drew crowds of more than 800 people – was a member of the 16-9 Royals squad that had the best record in program history until Dean put together the 2009-10 juggernaut.

Longacre said he was familiar with EMU because of Quincy’s time here but didn’t set out to pick a Mennonite college to continue his basketball career. With the Royals, Longacre said he just found the right fit – athletically, academically and socially.

For his part, Longacre said he enjoys the love he gets from the fans. “A lot of the guys on the team comment on that, how I have the most fans,” Longacre said. “I guess part of that is I can relate to a lot of different groups on campus. I feel like I can relate a lot with the fans in the stands, relate to the students. I get a lot of razzing from Coach and the other guys but I don’t feel any extra pressure. I just feel even more support.”

Reprinted by permission from the article “The One & Only” by Mike Barber, Daily News Record, Harrisonburg, Va., January 26, 2012.