Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Faith and Life

Small Gathering, Big Ideas

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by Mike Spinelli

A youth pastor once told me he looked forward to youth meetings no matter how many kids showed up. “When you throw a party, you dance with those who come!” 

A group of three gathered at West Swamp Mennonite (Quakertown, PA) for the in-person Faith and Life gathering in December. We missed having others, but our time together was full as we learned more about one another and how we each heard the message of Acts 15. 

The passage describes a vigorous debate on the issue of circumcision and its relationship to the gospel. We could sense how this issue could derail the church and needed to be worked out. We shared some common questions: What was true of those believers that allowed them to have a spirited conversation? What did those of the circumcision group do in light of the outcome? Could we see ourselves coming together for such a debate?   

This pointed out a clear growth area for us. Our tendency as Mennonites is to avoid or mute conflicts. It seemed to us that it is easier to value the appearance of peace rather than learn to “fight fair” with one another. This made me think of how my wife and I keep learning to “fight fair,” a skill that takes time to develop.   

While the church’s debate led to a helpful outcome, the chapter ends with Paul and Barnabas deciding to go separate ways after a similarly vigorous discussion.  Both had an impulse to build up others; Paul wanted to build up the churches while Barnabas saw the need to build up John Mark. We never sense that Paul or Barnabas avoid or vilify each other in this process. They still parted in the end. 

This had us thinking, again, that we should not be conflict-avoidant, even if the outcome is uncertain. Working through conflict is what leads to true peace. I certainly wish Paul and Barnabas could have worked it out, but they did work at it. 

We also saw that good conflict can be aided by good discernment. What beliefs can we hold lightly, and which ones define where we draw the line? It appears that Paul and Barnabas had different priorities, which each owned. Their points of view were also true to their nature–Paul the evangelist and Barnabas the encourager.   

I concluded that issues do not complicate conflicts as much as personal perspectives and the willingness to engage with others. It takes trust to share one’s point of view and humility to hold it loosely alongside competing ideas. As we reflected on the needed combination of trust and humility, I wondered what more can be done to build the necessary trust to “fight fair?” 

I trust those gathered that day left with similar (or better) insights that will help them in their ministry and relationships. It might have been a small group, but it yielded some big ideas for our shared future. 

Mike Spinelli

Mike Spinelli is pastor of Perkiomenville (PA) Mennonite. When not engaged in pastoral duties, Mike likes to read, hike, and enjoy the outdoors.  A native of California, he can root for the Philly sports teams as long as they are not playing the 49ers or baseball Giants.

August 2024 Faith and Life Gathering

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by Andrew Zetts

The Faith and Life Commission of Mosaic Conference provides space for pastors and credentialed leaders to build ties of friendship and support. We convene quarterly to discuss scripture and listen to how we might interpret and apply those scriptures. We pray for each other and our congregations in light of our reflections. We seek to develop relationships of mutual trust and accountability, deepening our convictions and  involvement in the congregations we lead. 

It is common for congregants and community members to ask questions of pastors. So, what happens when pastors get together? Who asks the questions? It turns out, they all do.  

At the most recent in-person Faith and Life Gathering that was hosted on August 28 at Swamp (Quakertown, PA) Mennonite, seven Mosaic pastors from different ministry contexts gathered to be formed by scripture and community with each other. The discussion centered around Matthew 16:13-20 and the foundations of the Church.  

While the discussion and interpretation moved in a variety of directions, it was rooted in an important revelation in the text: Jesus is the Son of Man, God among us. 

In a room of well-trained, highly experienced pastors, there was an air of humility and openness at our gathering. Pastors are famous for being verbose and ready to engage an audience. This wasn’t that kind of meeting.  

Rather, it was a room full of questions, curiosity, and vulnerability. Throughout our hour and a half together, I heard things like: “I don’t know, what do you think?”, “What’s it like for you and your congregation?”, “I used to think about it this way, but my years of ministry have led me to think differently…”, and “I’m not really sure, how has your church handled it?”  

At first, I was hesitant to attend. Life in ministry is busy, and the gathering was one of many color-coded rectangles on my Outlook calendar. I confess, I even arrived late.   

But I left the gathering refreshed and renewed. Something transformative happens when we are in each other’s company, open ourselves up to the Spirit and each other, and prepare to be moved. My peers’ posture toward questions rather than certitude made mutual transformation even more likely.  

In divisive times, gathering is essential. One of the participants reflected at the end of our meeting, “I’m glad I came today; this was a really humanizing experience.”  

I’m grateful that Mosaic makes these Faith and Life gatherings possible, and I hope to do my own part in supporting the effort. I hope to be at the next one on November 6 in person or November 7, 2024, on Zoom. See you there! 

Andrew Zetts

Andrew Zetts is Associate Pastor at Salford Mennonite (Harleysville, PA).

May 2024 Faith and Life Gathering: The Foundation of the Church 

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by Charlene Smalls, Noel Santiago and Hendy Matahelemual

The Faith and Life Commission of Mosaic Conference provides space for pastors and credentialed leaders to build ties of friendship and support. We convene quarterly to discuss scripture and listen to how we might interpret and apply those scriptures. We pray for each other and our congregations in light of our reflections. We seek to develop relationships of mutual trust and accountability, deepening our convictions and the involvement we have in the congregations we lead. (based on the reflections of Lindy Backues [Philadelphia Praise Center]) 

Captions: Participants gather virtually for the May Faith and Life Gathering. Photo by Hendy Matahelemual.
Participants gather at Wellspring Church of Skippack (PA). Photo by Noel Santiago. 

Gathering online one day and in person the next, credentialed leaders from around Mosaic gathered to read, reflect, share, and pray for each other during the May 2024 Faith and Life Gathering.  

The theme for this gathering’s focus was the Foundation of the Church. Using 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, three questions opened the conversation: 

  1. Building is a process. Building communities, relationships, and the Kingdom of God here on earth requires work. What can we hold on to and what can we release so that together we strengthen the foundation? (One waters, one plants, God gives the increase). 
  2. How are we building the church or laying the foundation in the context of our priorities – Formational, Missional, and Intercultural? 
  3. What partnering has helped deepen and strengthened you and your ministry? 

A sampling of what participants shared included: 

  • How do we move on and make peace with the people that have not returned to our congregations, after attempts to reach out and embrace what is new?  
  • A recognition that if we cannot talk to one another, how can we talk to or share Good News with others? 
  • Always bring the process of building back to Jesus. 
  • How well do we understand one another’s context, recognizing the differences within the Mosaic Conference? 
  • Having a clear articulation of who we are and not allowing our political views to interfere with Kingdom work, which can pose a danger to the strength of the building.  
  • The importance of being rooted in our gifts and learning from each other, staying humble despite our differences, and remaining open to transformation. 
  • Heartfelt, deep sharing and praying 

While those gathered were small in numbers, the wisdom, care, sharing, and prayers abounded. May God continue to help us build the church on the foundation of Jesus! 

Charlene Smalls

Charlene Smalls is co-pastor of Ripple in Allentown, PA.

Noel Santiago

Noel Santiago is the Leadership Minister for Missional Transformation for Mosaic Conference.

Hendy Matahelemual

Hendy Matahelemual is the Associate Minister for Community Engagement for Mosaic Conference.

Diversity of Gifts, Unity of Spirit

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FAITH AND LIFE GATHERING REPORT

by KrisAnne Swartley

As we gathered on the morning of February 8 at Perkasie (PA) Mennonite Church around tables to read scripture, share, and pray, I was struck by the humanness in the room: some expectant mothers or new parents, some approaching retirement age, some in mid-life juggling the needs of multiple generations as well as congregations. Our humanness means vulnerability.

The table group I participated in brought that vulnerability to the text of Ephesians 4. Whether gifted as apostles or prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers, we acknowledged our limitations to exercise these gifts perfectly. There are times when some of these gifts have not been well-cultivated in historically Mennonite churches. We also recognized the limitations of our conferences or denomination to welcome and bless the diversity of these gifts. 

At the same time, we were also able to celebrate that faithful people exercise these gifts, often in positions not formally recognized by church bodies. In doing so, they have built up the church and equipped believers in powerful ways. Sunday school teachers, youth group volunteers, and kitchen and janitorial volunteers sometimes act as evangelists and pastors to people in surprising and faithful ways. 

In this complexity and diversity, there is unity. Right now, unity is a complex word for Mosaic Conference. Perhaps it always has been, but this feels like a unique and difficult moment for us. Our table noted that there is a difference between unity and uniformity. Unity can exist amidst differences in perspective and practice. Uniformity demands same-ness. We did not come up with any easy answers for living with diversity in unity without uniformity, but as we talked honestly from our different stages of life and ministry context, there was clear humility and a desire for loving conversation. In our human limitation, perhaps that is miracle enough. 

Photo from Unsplash

Paul talks of loving conversation as “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).  Someone around the table remarked how that phrase can be used as a weapon instead of cultivating a spirit of humility as Paul meant here. I wondered aloud, if we don’t have love, are we really speaking truth? If God is love and we recognize God as our source of truth, is it even possible to speak truth without love? We probably could have spent the rest of the day wrestling with our definitions of both love and truth! 

Most powerful for me during the morning was our time of prayer. Each of us prayed for someone else around the table and asked God’s blessing on our sister or brother. We had all briefly shared our hopes, fears, and challenges in life and ministry. The genuine prayers for God’s presence and power in the midst of our vulnerability were tender and faith-filled. The morning was a breath of fresh air in the middle of the demands of the week. We left there, still human, but blessed. 

KrisAnne Swartley

KrisAnne Swartley currently serves as Pastor of Worship and Administration at Doylestown (PA) Mennonite Church. She has served there in various roles since 2011. KrisAnne and her husband, Jon, have two children, Heidi and Ben. She enjoys being out in nature, coloring books, a strong cup of coffee, and hanging out with her cat and dog.

Jesus’ Prayer for the Disciples (and for Us)

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FAITH AND LIFE GATHERING REPORT

By Jessica Miller

Less than a week after our Mosaic Annual Assembly, credentialed leaders came together in November for the final Faith and Life gatherings of 2022. At these meetings, we spent time reflecting on Jesus’ prayer for his followers in John 17 and praying for our Conference and one another. It seemed appropriate, after the first in-person assembly of Mosaic Conference and a time of difficult conversations and discernment, to spend time praying and dwelling on what it was that Jesus prayed for his disciples and for all who would follow him.  

As we read through John 17 together, we were struck by the tone of deep care and compassion that Jesus expresses for his followers. Jesus’ deep love for them overflows as he prays passionately for their spiritual and physical well-being, the way we might pray for a dear friend or family member. He knows that following his death and resurrection, the disciples will face many challenges and difficulties. He knows that they will be threatened physically by corrupt empires and spiritually by forces of hatred and division (v. 14), and he wants them to be able not just to survive, but to thrive despite all they will face.  

Jesus must have known that his followers would face these same challenges for generations to come, because he prays for all who would eventually follow him (v. 20), including us. We marveled at the fact that the deep love and care Jesus expressed for the disciples in his last days extends to us as well. We too are friends of Jesus, and he prayed passionately for our well-being and the well-being of our Conference.  

With a prayer for unity of purpose (vss.11 & 21), Jesus prays that we would have the joy of Jesus made complete in us (v. 13) and that we would know just how much God loves us (v.23).  Jesus prays:  

“… that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.”  – John 17:22b, 23, 26 (NLT) 

According to Jesus, it is the love of God in us that unifies us and shows the world who he is.  

As we closed our time of reflection, we shared what we believe this text is inviting us to in Mosaic Conference and prayed for our future together. Jesus’ prayer for unity through God’s love invites us to commit to building relationships amid our diversity.  

We prayed that in the midst of the glorious, messy, and hard work of being church together,  

  • we would be able to find the joy that Christ has for us. 
  • we would bear witness to the truth of God’s love by how well we love each other. 
  • we would trust that all of us are friends of Jesus so that we might love one another. 
  • our love for one another would bring glory to God, so that the world might know that we are followers of Jesus.  

As we enter a new year and a new phase of life together in our Conference, may it be so. May we in Mosaic, empowered by the Holy Spirit, become together, a true embodiment of Jesus’ joy and God’s love. 

Jessica Miller

Jessica Miller is the Associate Pastor of Perkasie (PA) Mennonite Church. She and her husband, Patrick, enjoy traveling, reading, yoga, cooking, and anything related to Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.

Reflections on the Great Commission

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Faith & Life Gathering Report

As leaders, we are part of many groups with various ideas that could be used to divide rather than unify.   We hear stories of people choosing to segregate because of race, privilege, sexuality, and politics.  

But when we get right down to it, does it really matter?  Isn’t it God who sorts it all out in the end?  Our one job is to love and show each other Christ’s love.  When we sit next to each other at a sport’s event, or church pew, should it matter whom our seatmate is?  

What matters is that this person woke up and decided to go to the “House of the Lord.” They did not come to disrupt someone’s pew seat, beliefs, or faith. They came because they needed to be here.  They came to hear teaching or guidance about this Lord that has beckoned them.  They wanted to know if Jesus could help them. 

“They wanted to know if Jesus could help them.“

I can’t tell you how many churches I visited before settling on a place that wasn’t rude to me.  I settled on a place that didn’t care about the shade of my skin, or if I wore pants, how I wore my hair, or if my husband was with me or not.  

One time my sister and I went to a church visitation for a friend who had passed on. We entered the vestibule and signed the memorial book. Before proceeding further, an usher advised us that we would not be permitted inside, unless we changed our clothes.  Women were not allowed to wear pants in this church, so we were turned away.  (We actually had on culottes, wide pants that go below your knees that look like a skirt.)  

That experience left a sad memory in my mind. I decided, if Jesus was in a church like this, I didn’t want their Jesus.  I would stay home and seek my own relationship with God.  

Even alone, God did not disappoint.  He is faithful!  I would build up my Jesus muscle on my own, because something was continually tugging and calling me closer.  I eventually found a church to attend regularly, but my sister still does not go to a church building.     

I am not the only one with such a church story. There are probably many in your church, and more who are not willing to come to your church, with such stories. Therefore, I believe the message from God to us is,  “Love everyone, I’ll sort them out later.”

At the May 2021 Faith and Life Gathering, we discussed Paul and Barnabas’ challenges in Acts 15.   What did God say about Jews and Gentiles? How do you interpret what God meant?  

We have to communicate clearly what the great commission means and how we are to go about doing it, because we still have work to do.  

Peter said, “Some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.  God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did us.  He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the neck of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?” (Acts 15:7-10, NIV)

The Faith and Life Commission Gathering – Cultural Place, Identity, and Mission

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The Faith and Life Commission of Mosaic Conference provides space for pastors and credentialed leaders to build ties of friendship and support between each other.  We convene quarterly in order to discuss scripture and to hear stories of how we might interpret and apply those scriptures. We also pray for each other and our congregations in light of our reflections. We seek to develop relationships of mutual trust and accountability, deepening our convictions and the involvement we have in the congregations we lead.

Over the course of this past year, we have taken a look at the theme of local mission, breaking it down into several sub-themes: sexuality and gender (February 2020), national and political identities (May 2020), socio-economic status (August 2020), and pastoral identity (November 2020).

This February, we gathered virtually to discuss how local mission relates to our cultural identity and to our positions within our communities. We also examined how our identities might make things more challenging for us to minister effectively there.  

Through Zoom, we broke into groups of 4-5 people and reflected upon John 4:4-26 in light of that topic.  Given Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, we asked ourselves the following questions:

  • How did Jesus’s communal, cultural, and religious identity as a Jew impact his ability to engage with this woman?
  • How might that interaction have been different had they discussed things outside of a Jewish town, instead of a Samaritan town?
  • How can sense of place and identity found in our own ministry contexts bring about unique challenges and opportunities in our attempts at missional involvement?
  • How might we better equip people in our ministry contexts to become more aware of the challenges and opportunities presented by our cultural identities and positions within our communities?

With these questions before us, my group recognized that our ministry sites experienced significant change over these past several decades. Many of us now find ourselves in congregations nested in suburban contexts with a lessened sense of community and an increased capacity toward mobility. Such a context has considerable impact upon how our church members now relate to each other.  

We paused for a fresh look at the idea of “place” and the role it plays for our church members and their identities.  Several in our group noted that they often still consider their locations as agricultural, even though the actual surroundings are increasingly suburban.  Many of our church buildings are located on pieces of land that once were farms, but are now located next to shopping malls, business districts, or within suburban housing developments.  Church members often no longer live near our churches, and many drive significant distances to attend church services.  

Our group noted, however, that things were not so simple: not all of us minister in the same context.  One in our group ministers within a retirement facility, where residents are not mobile but instead come from a variety of cultural and religious traditions.  

Our group noted, however, that things were not so simple: not all of us minister in the same context.

The retirement home is very different from the more mobile, but culturally homogenous, nature of many churches. We wondered how we might better live as Anabaptists, valuing who we have become and our history, given our current contexts.  

In Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman and our discussion, we realized we need to rethink what it means to be church today.  We closed in prayer, provocatively challenged, increasingly aware that we need God’s help with this issue and with the renewed leadership roles it places before us.

Faith and Life Gathering

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Mosaic Conference’s quarterly “Faith and Life gatherings” of pastors have been created to strengthen our relationships with one another, to discuss Scripture together, to hear each other’s stories, and to pray for one another. It is good church. 

This year our Faith and Life gatherings have focused on identity: gender and sexual identities, national and political identities, socio-economic identities, and life stage identities. Three of the four gatherings have been held remotely. Table groups are now Zoom break-out rooms. Scriptural texts, graphics, and charts appear on shared screens. Conversations happen in chat boxes. But we’ve found, to our great relief, that story-telling and prayer do not suffer from the distance. 

In preparation for the November 18 and 19 gathering, participants were asked to do some personal reflection in advance. Participants were invited to create a personal timeline showing the evolving stages of our ministry. The Faith and Life commission offered us some guiding questions to assist us in seeing our development in various ministry settings and roles. 

Two suggested scriptures, John 21:15-19 and 1 Peter 5:1-7, also guided us. Both passages draw on the image of a shepherd for a model of pastoral leadership, and both texts explicitly address the differences between young and old leaders. Because we are all working within the restrictions and unknowns of a pandemic, one of the texts seemed a fitting metaphor for all of us in these uncertain times: “When you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18b, NIV).  

Faith and Life conversations take place within a covenant: to exercise humility when discussing Scripture, respect when listening to others, and honor the confidentiality of all stories shared. Again, that’s good church. 

But the agreement to not tell other people’s stories without permission can complicate sharing our learnings from these fruitful conversations. One story was too good not to share. With her permission to share, Pastor Sandy Drescher-Lehman (Methacton congregation in Norristown, PA) shared a story about her first inklings of her pastoral skills. 

Drescher-Lehman recalled one summer when she was a young teenager. J. Lorne Peachey, editor of WITH magazine and also her youth group leader, asked Drescher-Lehman and her friend Carmen to create a calendar of daily activities, to be published in WITH magazine. The purpose was for young Mennonites across the country to feel a sense of connection, knowing they were all doing the same thing on the same day. 

One of the calendar days, which happened to be a Sunday, Drescher-Lehman and her friend had designated everyone to wear their hair in braids. When they arrived at church, they found that all the women in their congregation, especially those who normally wore their hair pinned up in buns under their coverings, were wearing their hair down in braided pigtails.  

Drescher-Lehman reflected, “It was more formative for me than I knew at the time, in affirming my future of writing and leadership. I remembered the joy of their recognition of us that day.”

Most likely, J. Lorne Peachey had suggested to the women in their congregation to do what the girls had designated for that particular Sunday, but what Drescher-Lehman remembered was the affirmation she felt. Peachey was creative in the ways he drew out and affirmed leadership gifts and writing skills in young people. 

We were reminded during this gathering of 1 Peter 5a, which says, “You who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another” (NIV).  Sometimes when all of us clothe ourselves in humility, it may be the elders who submit to the leadership of those who are younger.