Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

formational

Gathering with Elizabeth Soto Albrecht

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Elizabeth Soto AlbrechtElizabeth Soto Albrecht, the new moderator of Mennonite Church USA, recently completed a 3-week journey around the United States visiting Mennonite Church USA congregations.  Elizabeth joined pastors and Conference Related Ministry leaders on August 23 to share her learnings and challenges from that journey and hopes for the future of the church and to listen to stories and answer questions from Franconia and Eastern District leaders.

[podcast]http://www.mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Elizabeth Soto Albrecht.mp3[/podcast]

“Dominance is a blinder:” Introducing Drew Hart

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Drew Hartby John Tyson, summer writing team

Drew Hart’s journey has pulled him into uncharted territory. His theological work is an encounter at the borderlines between black liberation theology and Anabaptism.

Rarely linked in academic circles, Hart argues that the shared pursuit of justice equips these two traditions to be complimentary conversation partners. Although, Hart emphatically adds, “Anabaptism needs black theology more than black theology needs Anabaptism.”

The origins of black theology can be traced back to the publication of James Cone’s Black Theology & Black Power in 1969. Black theology is a multidimensional approach to theological reflection. Born out of the ongoing experience of oppression endured by the African-American community in the United States, black theology draws from Christianity, the Civil Rights movement, and Black Power. Like feminist, womanist, or Latin American liberation theology, black theology communicates that God is partial to the struggle of those who are the most invisible and least powerful in our culture and society.

The tone of black theology is overwhelmingly constructive. The hope of black theology is not only the radical liberation of the African-American community from racial prejudice, but the emergence of a renewed society, one that provides equal power to all.

Hart’s own engagement with black theology began during his undergraduate studies in Biblical Studies at Messiah College. His discovery of Anabaptism came at the tail-end of his Masters of Divinity work at Biblical Theological Seminary, Hatfield, Pa. Now, as a doctoral candidate at Lutheran Theology Seminary in Philadelphia, Hart is focused on creating scholarship that furthers the conversation between the two traditions that have shaped his faith story.

Hart’s desire to draw resonances between black theology and Anabaptism is as promising as it is timely. In the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin verdict, many Christians concerned about racial justice sought to lament the ruling. Hart has used his vibrant theology blog as a medium to analyze the verdict’s social and political implications in light of Christ’s resurrection and subsequent defeat of the powers of violence. On his blog, Hart writes, “God invites us to be part of his Resurrection world that overcomes the violence and oppression of this current world and to participate in the world to come, where the vulnerability of young men like Trayvon (and our loved ones) will no longer happen.”

As an associate pastor at Lansdale’s Montco Bible Fellowship and a developing teacher, Hart is passionate about helping Christians of all colors follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Indeed, the sub-title of Hart’s blog, “Taking Jesus Seriously,” always means paying attention to – and having the eyes to see – how social power is unjustly determined by race and class dynamics in our present context.

This challenge is especially hard for white Christians, who often take for granted being in positions of social dominance.

“Dominance is a blinder,” says Hart, and the possibility of overcoming racial injustice involves allowing those in positions of social prestige to be haunted by an uncomfortable challenge: “Can we, despite all of our instincts, truly and fully trust the experience of the other?” This question is, for Hart, a question that Anabaptists are uniquely suited to ask as underdogs in the history of the church. Intentionally working to process our social locations through stories and experiences told by the “least of these,” according to Hart, is something Anabaptists have always attempted to do, albeit imperfectly.

As a leader in both the church and academy, Hart is driven by a vision of justice. It is a vision, though, that is energized by a prayerful patience that God’s solidarity with the oppressed and the biblical promise of a reconciled world will overcome injustice. For Hart, the church is “called out” to be an agent of God’s healing so that the watching world might “catch a glimpse of Jesus’ life.” The church’s public witness is most powerful when it engages in, Hart says, “concrete acts of wrestling with a society in relationship to what it might become” rather than accepting what it may be in the present.

In order for the church to bear witness to God’s dream of a just world, the continual work of overcoming internal divisions and tensions is critical. The church worships each and every Sunday under the gaze of a watching world, a world that is increasingly longing for an encounter with the reconciled people of God. With a pastoral spirit and a vibrant theological vision, Drew Hart is a leader who will continue to help us discern how to embody justice in our communities.

Justice in the Streets

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by Mikah Ochieng, John Tyson, & Jacob Hanger, summer writing team

Mikah
Mikah

What is justice?

In a famous essay, Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas considers the possibility that pursuing justice is a bad idea for Christians. Hauerwas is not against justice per se, but against theories of justice born in traditions outside of the church, and thus susceptible to social strategies that might contradict the Christian confession that Jesus is Lord. Hauerwas instead encourages Christians to turn to practices of justice inspired by their own scripture and tradition.

John
John

With the emergence of each new era, however, those practices take new shapes and forms. Finding an answer to our opening question can only begin by turning to our sisters and brothers who are presently engaged in the struggle to embody the prophetic spirit of Micah 6:8 – to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with God in the streets.

This blog is the first in a fall series on justice. The purpose of this project is to explore the stories of various Anabaptist-influenced sisters and brothers engaged in responding to injustice in their personal contexts. Each of our writers resides in a different location: Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and the suburbs by way of Princeton, New Jersey. Through our conversations, we intend to create a learning space to incite further dialogue on this matter. Each story will be different because every context brings its own struggles and solutions.

Jacob
Jacob

This project has three primary objectives:

  • To highlight the evolving narrative of justice emerging in our communities.
  • To distill common themes present in the public imaginations of individuals who believe justice is relevant to following Jesus in this world, and
  • to inspire more to seek justice.

Our own reflections will be steeped in our respective contexts. We understand that they provide only a fragmented picture of our communities, yet it is our hope that these conversations produce new learning that can be applied and practiced in a multitude of different contexts.

Successful Conference, Seminary partnership concludes

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IME
Steve Kriss (top right) and Derek Cooper (second row, fourth from the right) have partnered for five years to take seminary students on intercultural learning trips, including this spring’s trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. Photo by Dennis Dong.

by John Tyson, Salford congregation

Theological educators believe headfirst immersion into unfamiliar cultural terrain is a requirement for preparing church leaders in the context of the twenty-first century. For students at Biblical Theological Seminary (Hatfield, Pa.), a lifelong commitment to intercultural ministry begins at the second year mark of their LEAD Master of Divinity Program.

To meet the complex and unconventional demands of intercultural education, Biblical Seminary and Franconia Conference have partnered together to create the Intercultural Ministry Experience (IME). For the past five years, Franconia’s director of leadership cultivation, Steve Kriss, and Biblical’s director of the LEAD program, Derek Cooper, have led a total of seventy-five students on journeys far and wide, from Israel/Palestine to Italy to Cambodia and Vietnam.

For Dr. Derek Cooper, the ten-day trips abroad produce formative insights and questions that dwell with students well beyond their time in seminary. “It is my favorite component of the LEAD program, and students receive a very concentrated educational experience,” said Cooper. “Students always come away from the trip changed, challenged, and more culturally aware. It’s completely transformative.”

“We also talk a lot about contextualization, and we learn much about how the local Christian community addresses issues relating to history, culture, politics, and world religions,” Cooper added.

Josh Meyer, associate pastor of Franconia congregation (Telford, Pa.), participated in the 2011 trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. Meyer identified practices of learning and listening as the educational core of his experience. “This was not a mission trip where rich, white Americans did a service project and ‘brought Jesus’ to the forgotten corners of the globe,” he said.  “Rather, this was a learning experience where we went as students, not saviors; as listeners, not experts; as those interested in exploring ways in which God was already living and moving and active in the culture, not as those bringing Jesus to a place where, prior to our arrival, God was not present…This approach to cross-cultural study resonated deeply with my own wariness of short-term missions and helped to shape my thinking on how we as people of faith engage with the rest of the world.”

The required IME provided Donna Merow her first opportunity to explore spaces beyond U.S. borders. Now pastor of Ambler (Pa.) congregation, Merow recalled how her trip to Israel/Palestine transformed both her understanding of ancient scripture as well as the present Israeli/Palestinian conflict. “The reality of walking where Jesus did, of visiting his birthplace, the village he called home, the Sea of Galilee, and the site of his death has changed the way I read the Bible,” Merow explained. “Seeing and touching the separation wall, staying in the homes of Palestinian Christians, and visiting one of the multigenerational refugee camps has made me ask hard questions about government policy and church practice.”

For many travelers, encountering weathered, historically nuanced places reveals how tender the balance is between the past and the future. This was one of the major lessons absorbed by KrisAnne Swartley, associate pastor of Doylestown (Pa.) congregation, on her trip to Italy. “I was struck by the history there, and how it is preserved and revered, and how that can be both a strength and a weakness,” Swartley reflected. “The strength is in remembering our story, remembering how the faithful who went before us worked through questions of faithfulness in the midst of change/struggle. The weakness can be that we are so trapped by traditions of the past that we become irrelevant in the present and into the future. I continue to think about this balance, to pray that I remember and learn from the church of the past but also [have courage] to walk into the future bravely, not afraid to let go of what was as the Spirit gives new wisdom.”

While this spring marks the end of the Biblical/Franconia IME partnership, its conclusion is cause for celebration, according to Kriss. “The model proved to be an effective partnership because both the seminary and the Conference benefitted,” he said. The Conference offered resources of intercultural education and global networking, he observed, while the seminary provided students who were positioned to deeply engage.  “The surprising outcome,” Kriss said, “was to build relationships with Anabaptist students on campus which helped Conference congregations to have new connections with potential pastors.   And these new potential pastors had already been shaped somewhat by Anabaptist ways of engaging the world.  It was a fruitful endeavor, not without struggles at times, but one that represents effective and strategic partnering in healthy ways.”

We see ourselves

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Gutsy women
Elizabeth Soto Albrecht and Patty Shelly ask Phoenix delegates if they are ready for two women to lead Mennonite Church USA. Photo by Emily Ralph.

I would have told you that I didn’t need a woman leading our denomination.

I would have been wrong.

When Elizabeth Soto Albrecht was given her charge as moderator of Mennonite Church USA on July 5, I felt a thrill run through me.  We had been on the road for a week at that point and I wondered, “Is this what a campaign worker feels like when she sees her candidate take the oath of office?”

A few moments later, Elizabeth and Patty Shelly, the moderator-elect, stood before the delegate body and asked, “Are you ready for two women to lead Mennonite Church USA?”  The crowd applauded and I almost bounced up and down with excitement.

Where was this coming from?  There have been other women who have served as moderator, although most of them were before I was involved enough to be aware.  Why was Elizabeth’s appointment so special for me?

In our first trip together, Elizabeth and I traveled to New York City.  As we ate dinner with a Mennonite pastor in Brooklyn, his face lit up.  “This is an important day,” he said.  “For years, we urban Mennonites have been looking at our leadership, looking for a face we recognize.”  And now, with Elizabeth as the first Latina moderator of Mennonite Church USA, they finally looked to their leadership and saw themselves.

Everywhere we have traveled so far, Elizabeth has been greeted with enthusiasm and warmth.  But when we visit Hispanic congregations, something is different; the energy in the air is palpable, the prayer is fervent.  These congregations sent her to Phoenix in the same way that God sent prophets to Israel: as one individual representing something greater than herself.

I knew this was the case; I have even explained to others on a number of occasions how important Elizabeth’s appointment is to the Hispanic community.  Until the moment when she received her charge, however, it was just knowledge.  In that moment, I felt a dawning awareness of how personal that identification could be: This is what it feels like to look at the moderator and see myself.

When I told my spiritual director that I was going to be traveling with Elizabeth this summer, she laughed.  “That’s one gutsy woman,” she said.  Then she stopped and looked at me.  “But you like gutsy women.”

It’s true.  I do like gutsy women.  And my heart’s desire is that I will be one.

To all the gutsy women who have challenged the status quo, battled through sexism, engaged the hard questions, bridged cultures and theologies and relationships, and sacrificed for the good of the wider church, thank you.  May you more and more often look to our leadership and see a reflection of yourselves.  And may our children and grandchildren look to our leadership and see you.

Taste and see

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Meridianby Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

Sitting at the kitchen table, savoring a vegetarian groundnut stew with Catherine and Michael and their two boys, I listen as they describe the racist direction of recent laws passed by the North Carolina legislature.  Christians in their community have mobilized, joining weekly protests and acts of civil disobedience.  The members of their small congregation in Chapel Hill continue to wrestle with their response as people of privilege in the midst of overwhelming injustice.

I taste.

Juanita’s eyes twinkle as she greets us at the door of her congregation’s meetinghouse in Apopka, Florida and leads us to the banquet table.  “Everything is homemade from scratch–my husband said the house smelled like Christmas this morning!” she laughs.  “It is like Christmas, because we’re going to celebrate!”  MC USA’s first Latina moderator is visiting Juanita’s congregation, and they are beaming with excitement as they urge her to fill her plate, present her with gifts, anoint her with oil, cover her with prayers.

It is good.

Elaine cooks one-hour grits (no instant here!).  The time it takes to prepare that staple of the American south reflects the relaxed pace of life in Meridian, Mississippi.  Church leaders serve themselves from a counter laden with southern goodies surrounding a vase of brown-eyed Susans and settle in for a chat around a table that seems to stretch on forever.  Their communities are struggling with an economic depression, outbreaks of violence, and rampant alcoholism.  Yet their stories show that, in the midst of this brokenness, church is a refuge, a companion.  Native Americans from the Seminole and Choctaw tribes worship alongside Anglo and Latino/a brothers and sisters, a sign of hope and reconciliation.

I taste.

With outstretched hands, four pastors in Dallas lead their congregations in prayer over our new moderator, a cacophony of intercession and praise to a God who cares for the orphan, the widow, and the “alien” among us.  Their delight overflows into a time of fellowship after the service as they gather in the parking lot to laugh and drink arroz con leche.  The sky darkens, but the conversation continues for hours.

It is good.

Each stop on our journey is too brief, but each face, each language, each food brings out another flavor of God, reminding us that the God who made us all is more than the idol we’ve built in our own image.  Each encounter is an invitation to taste and see that the Lord is good.

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Emily is traveling with Elizabeth Soto Albrecht, the new moderator of Mennonite Church USA, on a three-week journey around the country.  

Celebrating ACLF

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Last EMS History Sessionby John Tyson, Salford

A decade ago, Franconia Mennonite Conference leadership noticed a critical problem: seminary-trained leaders were increasingly in short supply. So when Delaware Valley Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), a conference-related ministry, turned over a well-funded college tuition scholarship program to the conference, a solution soon emerged.

Conrad Martin and Donella Clemens of Franconia Conference partnered with Henry Rosenberger and Dave Landis of MEDA to form a committee charged with developing a plan for the use of the newly-received asset. According to Rosenberger, it became quickly apparent that continuing to use the fund for its previous purpose of providing small college tuition scholarships was becoming less meaningful in light of the meteoric rise of college costs.

“At the same time in our Conference history, there seemed to be an increasing number of pastors being called to congregations with little or no Anabaptist training or cultural knowledge of Mennonites,” said Rosenberger. “Concern for the effects this lack of training had in our congregations, I believe, prompted the Board of MEDA to see this fund as a way to enhance the training for persons moving into leadership.”

As a result, the Area Conference Leadership Fund (ACLF) was born. Future leaders from both the Franconia and Eastern District conferences now had a new financial option to help address the costs of seminary and higher education. The committee chose to accept ACLF applications from members in both the Franconia and Eastern District conferences to recognize the involvement of the two conferences in Delaware Valley MEDA.

In 2002, the first scholarships were disbursed and over the past decade, 60 leaders have received financial assistance from the fund. Soon, scholarship recipients began to reflect emerging shifts in the leadership demographics of Franconia Conference: twenty percent of recipients were people of color and one-third of recipients were women. The ACLF allowed Franconia Conference to invest in the future.

As Franconia Conference’s director of communication and leadership cultivation, Stephen Kriss immediately recognized the value of ACLF. “The amazing thing is how many people ACLF assisted who are serving the church both within and beyond Franconia and Eastern District conferences. These gifts were amazing investments in current and future leadership. ACLF enabled us to call forth, train, and equip dozens of leaders effectively, generously, open-handedly,” said Kriss.

Angela Moyer graduation
Angela Moyer graduated from Eastern Mennonite Seminary last year. Photo by Julie Siegfried.

Recipients of ACLF scholarships appreciate the confidence and support of the broader church community.  For Angela Moyer, a member of the pastoral team of Ripple congregation, (Allentown, Pa.), the support of ACLF provided the freedom to explore seminary at a comfortable pace. “I never thought I would go to seminary. I started by just taking two classes at a time—I just had a few questions… I had no interest in pursuing a graduate degree. Little did I know how formative seminary would be in finding my identity as a pastor. Receiving funds from the ACLF was the broader church community nudging me, telling me it was okay to pursue this call even when I didn’t believe it myself.”

As the Lead Pastor of Salford congregation (Harleysville, Pa.), Joe Hackman believes that his leadership abilities have been significantly nurtured by the ACLF scholarship. “The ACLF fund allowed me to feel the support of the wider church community. The financial investment the church made for my education has helped me enter into my current leadership role with a greater sense of preparedness and confidence.”

In the words of Rosenberger, a core aspect of the original ACLF vision is to ensure that emerging “leadership was firmly based in Anabaptist theology and nonresistance.” This vision is coming to fruition in the work of Beny Krisbianto, Lead Pastor of Nations Worship Center (Philadelphia). “ACLF is helping me to finish my Capstone Project at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. My capstone project has taught me how to believe that ‘The Culture of Peace’ is still possible,” says Krisbianto. “Inspired by the struggles, prejudices, and broken relationships in my context of ministry in Philadelphia, peace is not theory, too big or unrealistic, but it is God’s calling and it does still work today.”

Despite occasional contributions, the size of the ACLF scholarship was considerably reduced in 2012 and leaders will no longer have access to substantial ACLF scholarships. This, however, does not mean that there is no longer a need for talented future church leaders. According to the Conrad Martin, Franconia Conference’s director of finance, the need for future church leaders is still there, as is the need to assist them financially so that they can pursue a quality Anabaptist education. Contributions into the ACLF continue to be welcomed.

Bringing Scripture to life

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Corinthians
Two “members” of Chloe’s house church preside over the bread and juice served at the agape meal held at the end of a chapel service at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, Va.

by Reta Halteman Finger, Harrisonburg, Va.

As a little girl growing up at Salford Mennonite Church, I remember my father telling stories directly from the Bible to me and my younger brother Jimmy. After a particularly dramatic or gruesome account, Jimmy would gasp, “Did that really happen?”

“Oh, yes!” the literal-minded Wilmer Halteman would affirm.

In my teens I would help teach the pre-schoolers during Summer Bible School at Salford. One story stands out: the calling of the boy Samuel. “Be very quiet! Samuel is sleeping. Can you hear someone calling his name?”

Though I inherited a love of scripture from my dad, I never imagined for many years that one could make a career out of teaching it. In those growing-up decades, I suppose being born female didn’t help either.

Through my adult years of working with children (including my own) and high school students and editing a small magazine, I pursued my interests in Bible and theology on the side, usually one or two courses at a time. Finally, pondering what to do with the second half of life, I entered a doctoral program in New Testament at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL, not far from my home in Chicago.

I wanted to study with Dr. Robert Jewett, a Pauline scholar at Garrett. But Romans was the only course he offered that fall of 1991. I was not pleased! I was more interested in the archeology and social backgrounds of Paul’s letters than what I assumed was the more tedious systematic theology of Romans.

Imagine my shock at our first class when Jewett read and discussed his paper on “Paul, Phoebe, and the Mission to Spain”! I didn’t know Spain was mentioned in the New Testament, and I didn’t have a clue about Phoebe’s immense importance in Paul’s missionary plans.

In class after class, I was stunned by this new perspective on Romans. The previously boring list of 29 names in Romans 16 now became living characters from five different house churches, including 9 women leaders.

“How come I never learned this in Sunday school?” I would lament. Finally I realized that this material had been so recently researched that no layperson was learning it anywhere. But could it be taught in Sunday school? Is there a way to re-create these little house churches so Christians can imagine their way back into the earliest Jesus Movement and thus better understand what Paul said and how to apply it today?

Thus was born the idea that eventually became Paul and the Roman House Churches: A Simulation (Herald Press, 1993). It was set up to be used in Sunday school, as well as in other settings. I taught New Testament 14 years at Messiah College until retiring in 2009. Each fall, my Encountering the Bible class of incoming first-year students role-played the five house churches in Romans 16 for a month. Each student played a different character—Jew or Gentile, liberal or conservative, poor or not-so-poor. We’d end with a Roman meal complete with costumes, candles, communion, and a lentil-ham option to tempt the observant Jews!

I always wanted to write another simulation for 1 Corinthians—a far more juicy, earthy letter. Several years ago, a long-time friend, George McClain, and I decided to work on this together. As we wrote and rewrote, I was teaching 1 Corinthians at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and also in Sunday school at my present congregation, Community Mennonite in Harrisonburg, VA. We simulated just one larger house church, divided into four argumentative factions. Each of us heard Paul very differently depending on what social class and religious background we came from. As we lived into our characters, the time gap between then and now would narrow, and often I would hear participants say at the end of a role-play, “Wow! This sounds just like my church!”

Today we are so pleased that MennoMedia is helping us reach a wider audience through Creating a Scene in Corinth: A Simulation (Herald Press, 2013) and I am returning to my old stomping grounds to teach a class based on our book for Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Pennsylvania campus.  My father’s love of scripture has borne fruit in me as I seek to help the letters of Paul come alive for my students, stepping back into the world of the first century, a world that is still relevant today.

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Join Reta’s Corinthians class, which will run bi-weekly on Fridays, September 13 to December 20 at the Mennonite Conference Center in Harleysville, Pa.  For more information, visit Eastern Mennonite Seminary, PA’s website.