Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Franconia Conference

Whigham appointed to second term as Executive Minister

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Ertell Whigham
Ertell Whigham shares his vision for cooperation with Eastern District Conference in a May delegate forum.

Ertell Whigham has been appointed to a second two-year term as Executive Minister of Franconia Conference.  This term, which will begin in February of 2013, was approved by the conference board at their June 11 meeting in Harleysville, Pa.

Whigham, who has been on the staff of Franconia Conference since 2000, was first appointed to the position of Executive Minister in February of 2011.  He was tasked with helping the conference to work at being intercultural, missional and formational, “and to bring those to the center in such a way everyone embraces them as the driving force behind why we do ministry and how we do ministry,” Whigham said in an interview with Mennonite World Review soon after he began his new role.

The appointment to a second term reflects the board’s affirmation that he has successfully led the conference leadership and community through a time of restoration, healing, improved communication, and renewed vision, said conference moderator John Goshow (Blooming Glen congregation) last week in a letter announcing the appointment to conference staff.

Members of the board expressed glowing appreciation for Whigham’s work, acknowledging his energy in moving the conference toward shared goals and his healthy interactions with conference staff, said Goshow.

“He is a visionary leader who connects well with our churches,” said board member-at-large, Rina Rampogu (Plains congregation).  “His passion and energy are vibrant and we are truly blessed to have his executive presence not only in our local community but in the broader Mennonite church.”

Whigham has brought significant leadership experience to his role as executive minister.  In addition to working in management in the corporate sector for twenty-seven years, Whigham has served as pastor of Diamond Street Mennonite Church of Philadelphia and Bethel Mennonite Church of Norristown, Pa.  He is currently an associate pastor at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life.

“I continue to be blessed, humbled, and challenged in transformative ways as I learn more about God, myself and others,” said Whigham as he reflected on his appointment to a second term.  “I am also energized by the opportunities that are before us and believe I will continue to be equipped by God for the call to serve during this next season of ministry.  My sincere appreciation to the conference board, staff, and community for your prayers, grace, and spirit of cooperation.  I look forward with great expectation to the God possibilities!”

Spring Training 2012

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Franconia Conference credentialed leaders from up and down the east coast met on Saturday, April 21, at Towamencin Mennonite Church for the first annual Spring Training, a time of equipping planned by the conference as part of a commitment to continuing education.

The day focused on interculturalism and included times of worship, table conversation, resourcing, and, of course, food!

[tab:Podcast]

Morning Session #1 (1:02:37)

[podcast]http://www.mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Spring Training Session 1 (low).mp3[/podcast]

Morning Session #2 (43:29)

[podcast]http://www.mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Spring Training Session 2 (low).mp3[/podcast]

Afternoon Session #3 (57:37)

[podcast]http://www.mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Spring Training Session 3 (low).mp3[/podcast]

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View the photo gallery

[tab:Video]

Conferences discuss history, consider future in forums

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by Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

Jim Musselman and John Ruth
Jim Musselman, left, and John Ruth, unofficial historians for Eastern District and Franconia Conferences share the history of the 1847 split. Photo by Emily Ralph..

Members of Eastern District and Franconia Conferences of Mennonite Church USA met on March 29 at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School in Lansdale, PA, to continue conversations about a shared future.  This gathering, the first of two forums planned for Spring 2012, focused on developing a deeper understanding of the 1847 split in Franconia Conference that led to the formation of Eastern District Conference.

Although some people think that the merger between the two conferences is a done deal, that couldn’t be further from the truth, according to Ron White, moderator of Eastern District Conference and member of Church of the Good Samaritan.  Conference leadership has been following the delegates’ directive from the 2011 Assembly to move forward in exploring and listening, he said in his welcome.

When White asked how many people from each conference had attended an event or service in a congregation from the other conference, nearly every hand in the room raised.  “See, we’ve already been working together,” said White, “we just haven’t called it that.”

Jim Musselman, Zion congregation, and John Ruth, Salford congregation, unofficial historians for the two conferences, shared presentations on the history of the 1847 split, the tensions leading up to it, and the fallout in the years following it.  The progressives (a group which broke off to later become Eastern District Conference) were looking for modern administration, freedom in dress and conduct, education for pastors, and the creation of publications, said Musselman, Eastern District historian.  The years following the split were tumultuous for the new conference, he said, with further division as differing theological strains emerged.

“Almost every positive thing that the Eastern District leaders wanted eventually came to Franconia Conference,” said Ruth, Franconia Conference historian.  “It just took 100 years longer. . . . It would have come sooner to Franconia Conference if they all would have stayed together.”  In the end, said Ruth, both sides lost: “There was not much creativity in finding ways of love and respect for each other.”

After the presentations, participants talked around their tables to ask questions and reflect on the history. Photo by Emily Ralph

To this day, remnants of the 19th-century division remain in attitudes toward one another.  Eastern District Conference congregations often accepted into membership people who had been disciplined by Franconia Conference congregations, gaining them a reputation as a conference who will “take anybody,” said Musselman; Franconia congregations worried that this acceptance watered down the purity of the church body.

Following the presentations, the gathering broke into table groups to talk about what they had heard, formulate questions, and discuss together the implications of a shared future.  In reporting the highlights of their table conversations with the room, members of both conferences expressed concern about navigating theological differences within conferences and congregations, overcoming generations of “us/them” mentalities, and working through organizational and structural differences.

The group also wondered how there could be healing of the personal wounds that people still carried from the tension between the conferences.  “How can we gain empathy for each other’s narratives in moving forward?” asked Marta Castillo, assistant moderator for Franconia Conference and a pastor at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life.

These next steps will be discussed at a second forum, planned for May 24, 7pm, at Christopher Dock.  Forum 2 will look at present-day similarities and differences in vision and mission as well as strengths and weaknesses of the two conferences and begin a conversation on future possibilities.  A possible third forum may be scheduled if needed.

Sam Claudio, co-pastor of Christ Fellowship, came to the forum to gain further understanding of the histories of the community that he has joined in Mennonite Church USA.  “It’s good to see that I’ve become part of something that is in the midst of coming together, not in the midst of tearing apart,” he told the group.  “As we leave this place, let us remember that we are ministers—all of us, each of us—of reconciliation.  That is our mandate, to be reconciled one to another….  Let us work toward that goal as we leave this place.”

Listen to Forum 1:

[podcast]http://www.mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Forum 1 (March 2012).mp3[/podcast]

View the photo album

Historic forums planned for inter-conference dialogue

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Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

Delegates from Eastern District and Franconia conferences approve continued conversations on a shared future at the joint assembly in 2011. Photo by Emily Ralph

Eastern District and Franconia conference leaders have planned two delegate forums this spring to continue the exploration of a shared future.  The forums will be held on March 29 and May 24 at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School in Lansdale, PA and will include presentations from conference historians and conversations about the nature of each conference and possible next steps.

At the joint assembly in 2011, delegates of both Conferences expressed a strong desire to more fully understand the events that led to the 1847 split in Franconia Conference and the eventual formation of Eastern District Conference.  There was overwhelming support for continuing conversation as well as concern that these conversations be done with care and integrity, said Eastern District moderator Ron White, from Church of the Good Samaritan, in a letter to delegates.

Continuing to maintain two separate conferences, side by side, is the expression of an unhealed break in the Body of Christ, according to historian John Ruth, Salford congregation, who will be presenting at the March forum.  “It’s a statement that needs to be explained (or defended) to the current generation of church members . . . and the neighbors to whom we witness,” he said.

Beth Rauschenberger, associate pastor at Zion congregation, understands the need for these forums. She didn’t grow up within the Mennonite church and has always found the historic rift between the conferences puzzling, she said in a recent round table. “You have to hear those personal stories; you have to hear the hurt,” she explained.  “I don’t understand the hurt, so I want to hear the hurt that some people have gone through.”

Although all delegates are asked to attend, the forums are also open to anyone interested in learning more about the joint history of the conferences or participating in conversation about future possibilities.

In preparation for the forums, Franconia Conference has made available digital copies of three chapters of Maintaining the Right Fellowship, Ruth’s history of Franconia and Eastern District conferences.  These chapters describe the circumstances leading up to the 1847 split and the aftermath of the conflict.

These forums are historic, said Ruth, “because there has never been a serious, deliberate dialogue between the two conferences on this problem.”  The current dialogue, he added, could be transformative “because the core of the Gospel we profess is reconciliation.”

Forum One (March 29, 7-9 pm):  In this forum, Franconia Conference historian John Ruth and Eastern District Conference historian Jim Musselman will explore the differences that led to the 1847 split and the birth of the Eastern District.  A time for questions and conferring will be structured into the forum where participants will be invited to consider how this split has impacted our two conferences for the past 165 years.

Forum Two (May 24, 7-9pm): This Forum will focus on the current realities of our conferences.  What are the present-day similarities and differences in the vision and mission of our conferences?  What are the strengths and weakness of our two conferences?  Are there ways the 1847 split continues to cause tension between our conferences?  What have we learned from each other?  What are the next steps for our continuing dialogue?

What does Franconia Conference do together?

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by Steve Kriss, Philadelphia Praise Center, skriss@mosaicmennonites.org

Lani Prunes worked through Oxford Circle Mennonite Church's summer arts and education initiative that was supported through a Missional Operational Grant.

Franconia Conference: Together. Bersama, Juntos. Cúng Nhau.

This sense of togetherness, of Conference, is a relationship that is sometimes tense and sometimes harmonious, counter to the individualistic and isolationist impulses of our time. We are striving to be held together as congregations, under a common willingness to follow after Jesus, to live in this historic and contemporary Anabaptist stream, to give and receive counsel, to share our gifts and resources, all for the glory of God.

Together. Bersama, Juntos. Cúng Nhau.

Posters with these words were distributed at Conference Assembly 2011. But the question sometimes lingers—what does Conference do?

Equipping congregations

Franconia Conference, in the form of our new LEADership minister, Jenifer Eriksen-Morales, has been helping our ministry enormously these past 11 months. She began with a major review of my pastoral leadership and of the whole congregation that was so helpful in identifying strengths and issues for clarification.

—Dawn Ruth Nelson, Pastor, Methacton congregation

Franconia Conference equips healthy and growing leaders.

Primarily through the credentialing and accountability process for pastors, chaplains and ministers, Conference provides structures for leadership. The conference’s oversight platform—LEAD—is designed to equip and train congregations. Right now, there are over 120 credentialed leaders from the conference community serving in six states and three countries—probably an all-time high as congregations are calling for more pastors and the field of ministry continues to expand beyond traditional settings.

Empowering new congregations

This February, by God’s grace, Georgia Praise Center celebrated our one year anniversary. Throughout this year, Franconia Conference has graciously supported us in so many ways. We are very grateful for the encouragement, guidance, and financial support that have been given to us. We feel strengthened and honored to be a part of one big family of Franconia Conference. We pray that with God’s blessing, our family will grow even more in the years to come. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of our brothers and sisters in the Conference.

—Yunus Perkasa Tjeng, Pastor, Georgia Praise Center

Pastor Yunus of Georgia Praise Center, Atlanta, prays for congregation members PiPih and Ninis during an outdoor service. Georgia Praise Center received a Missional Operational Grant for their relaunch in February of 2011.

Franconia Conference works diligently to cultivate healthy and growing congregations.

Healthy and growing leaders will likely bring forth healthy and growing communities. While equipping leaders is the conference’s primary task, healthy and growing communities are tended by our relationships together. Conference staff members support congregations through transitions, reviews, and conflict—situations that up to 20% of congregations are facing at any one time! While ensuring ongoing health, Conference relationships provoke congregations toward missional experimentation and calling next generation leadership. This process becomes critical as congregations embody the Good News in our diverse settings from Vermont to Georgia.

Cross Cultural Exchange with Academia Menonita
Students from Philadelphia Mennonite High School went on college exploration, cross-cultural, and intercessory prayer trips, thanks in part to a Missional Operational Grant from Franconia Conference. PMHS Students Rashod (far left) Langston, Aaron, and Darnell (right) are pictured here with students from Academia Menonita.

Franconia Conference invites people into healthy and growing relationships with Jesus Christ.

Conference priorities include ongoing spiritual growth from cradle to grave—priorities evidenced in our congregations but also in our Conference Related Ministries, organizations that serve a cross section of people from both within and beyond our congregations. From schools to ex-offender ministries to senior living communities to service providers for people with disabilities to camps and retreat facilities, Conference Related Ministries extend the Good News alongside congregational discipleship. The formation work of Conference is also especially incarnated through conference staffing intended specifically for youth and young adults.

Through Conference’s endowed funds, Missional Operational Grants are provided to congregations for initiatives to further extend the Good News in their communities. All congregations are eligible for these funds, which are most often used for new missional initiatives that allow the life of the congregation to extend the reign of God both nearby and sometimes globally. In recent years, 10-20 initiatives have received grants annually; $68,000 has been earmarked for 2012 grants. Congregations may apply for funds through conversations with their LEADership ministers.

Equipping leaders: One significant role that Franconia Conference has played in the life of our church has been walking with us during our recent pastoral search process. Noah Kolb, as a Conference representative, was instrumental in providing a list of available candidates. As our team assessed and interviewed candidates, he was available for guidance and wise counsel along each step of the way. [And now] Franconia Conference provides further training and credentialing for this pastor. It is reassuring to us to know they are also part of evaluating and confirming this individual for service.

—Karen Moyer, pastoral search committee chair,Rocky Ridge congregation

Franconia Conference builds healthy and growing connections between congregations and the world.

Missional Operational Grants

February 2011-January 2012
$62,259.91

Boyertown Mennonite Church
Deep Run East Mennonite Church
Doylestown Mennonite Church
Frederick Mennonite Church
Georgia Praise Center
Good Shepherd Community Church
Greensburg Worship Center
Line Lexington Mennonite Church
Nations Worship Center
New Hope Fellowship
Nueva Vida Norristown New Life
Oxford Circle Mennonite Church
Perkiomenville Mennonite Church
Philadelphia Mennonite High School
Providence Mennonite Church
Ripple Allentown
Rock Community Church
Rockhill Mennonite Church
Souderton Mennonite Church
Whitehall Mennonite Church

Historically, Conference has been both a governance body and a mission agency. Franconia Mennonite Mission Board was incorporated into conference structures around the turn of the millennium. This has not always been easy. In recent years, Conference has sought to build relationships with other Anabaptist groups across the world, especially in the UK and Haiti. At times, Conference has picked up relationships and conversation that spans the globe on behalf of congregations in places like Indonesia, Mexico, and Chile. Conference has maintained historic connections to places where mission workers were sent in the 20th Century, specifically Cuba and Mexico.

When Mennonite Church USA was formed over a decade ago, Franconia Conference joined the new national body. Conference is the primary point of connection with the denomination, participating on behalf of its congregations along with 20 other conferences across the country. This means conference staff and board members regularly attend meetings and attend to relationships that are both near and far.

Empowering ministries

Christopher Dock Mennonite High School deeply appreciates the collaborative relationship with Franconia Conference. This year we have worked together to hire and share a campus pastor/conference youth minister. Ertell Whigham and John Goshow have been a wonderful face of Conference attending Dock events such as pastors’ day, and providing counsel throughout the year. Our journey together is energizing and life-giving as we surround our youth with the support needed to prepare them to impact our churches and world.

—Conrad Swartzentruber, Principal, Christopher Dock Mennonite High School

Franconia Conference: Together. Bersama, Juntos. Cúng Nhau.

Franconia Conference is a complex organism with partnerships and ministries that span the globe, with a history of over 350 years, older than the United States itself. It’s not easily explained, multi-faceted, and in many ways blessed by years of faithfulness evidenced in risk and caution, generosity and savvy stewardship. Our story is one of togetherness, of trying to stay rightly related in the midst of dramatic changes. Our history, the story of God’s movement through the generations, is ongoing. By the power of the Spirit, may we have the courage to not only preserve but to dream, to not only remain but to go, to not only endure but to flourish.

Ministry in “thin places” marks Frankenfield’s journey

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by Sheldon C. Good, Salford, with Stephen Kriss, Philadelphia Praise Center
shelds3@gmail.com, skriss@francoiaconference.org

After dropping her young children off for Sunday school, Marlene Frankenfield often sat on the sidewalk outside Salford Mennonite Church. She was “going through a time of disillusionment with the church,” and didn’t want anything to do with institutionalized religion. Instead, she wanted church to be “real.”

While lounging outside Salford, youth frequently walked past Frankenfield on the way to Sunday school. They soon began greeting her and making small talk.

“It wasn’t long before they’d sometimes skip Sunday school to come chat with me, sharing their real lives,” Frankenfield said. “That was the very thing I was longing for. Soon they were stopping by my house on Saturday nights.” That was over 20 years ago. Marlene’s journey moved from congregationally based youth ministry to collaborative work with Franconia Conference and Christopher Dock High School for over a dozen years.

Relationships with Salford youth awakened Frankenfield to the possibility of ministry and brought her back into congregational life. Her initial formal call to serve came shortly after those interactions with teenagers on the church sidewalk when the church invited her to serve alongside of a growing youth ministry. After eight years at Salford, she began in the joint role of conference youth minister and campus pastor. She was licensed for ministry in June 2002 and ordained in May 2007.

Frankenfield found herself ministering in what she calls the “thin spaces” between classes at Dock and working doggedly to bring youth ministry to the center of congregational life and faith formation across the Conference.

“For young people, there is so much going on in their faith and in life, you need to be a person that can listen,” she said. “You need to be a God bearer, listening through God’s ears.” A quotation from Douglas Steere shapes her work. “To listen another’s soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.”

As she moves on, Franconia Conference and Eastern District Conference have named a shared youth minister alongside the campus pastor role at Christopher Dock. Frankenfield says this is a sign that church leaders have noticed the need for steady youth leadership. “For so long, I felt like I worked in something separate from the vision of the conference, so to see so many people excited about youth, that other people are catching the vision, as I step away, is the biggest gift I could have,” she said.

Marlene offered this prayer and dream as she completed her work in consideration of the ongoing possibilities for youth ministry in and beyond Franconia Conference, “That adults will listen to our youth—the underrepresented, and pay attention to the diverse places where the Holy Spirit is at work. That Franconia Conference would provide ways for women young and old to be mentored and empowered. That Franconia Conference see to it that all people who work with children and youth be educated in child safety, which will provide a safe healthy environment for all. That God’s spirit would be present in each young person to feel God’s unconditional love and experience God’s grace within a faith community.”

As Marlene considered her decision to end in her dual roles, she said, “I made this decision to transition with much prayer and discernment and I felt like it was the right time to explore something new. I have faith that God will have a plan for me for the future and God also has a plan for the places where I’ve ministered. One of my goals when I started was to lead in a way that invited others to lead—to step out of the way and be a mentor and encourager for others—to create a safe place for students to explore leadership.”

After these years of leadership development at Christopher Dock and Franconia Conference through chapel-planning, retreat planning, walking with youth pastors, and calling forth new youth ministers and leaders, Marlene’s work shaped space for new leaders, even now, collaboratively, across boundaries and in-between spaces, with real hope and committed service even in the midst of questions.

Unexpected mutual aid helps save church building

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By Sheldon C. Good Mennonite Weekly Review

Nueva Vida Norristown New Life Church was on the brink of foreclosure of its 104-year-old meetinghouse in the summer of 2011. — Photo provided

When Nueva Vida Norristown (Pa.) New Life Church acquired a 9,000-square-foot office building adjacent its meetinghouse in November 2007, a local realtor projected it would only take six months to fill it with tenants. Then the Great Recession hit.

“Little did we know that a week after we closed on the building the economy — local, national and global — would tank,” said church member Jim Williams.

The six-month plan didn’t work. The building had one tenant, an attorney’s office, that relocated in 2010. ASSETS Montco, a small business training program, moved in as planned in 2008, but was hit by economic hard times and closed in 2010.

By last summer the congregation was on the brink of foreclosure of its 104-year-old meetinghouse, listed as collateral for the new building’s mortgage. The church property is less than 10 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

The past four years have tested the 100-member congregation’s faith that God will provide for a situation they discerned as God’s leading. Thanks in part to a mutual aid effort by Franconia Mennonite Conference churches, the Norristown congregation has extra time to firm up its financial footing.

From the beginning, the building purchase has been part of a larger congregational vision.

In 2007 Nueva Vida Norristown New Life launched “Enlarging Our Place in God’s World,” a $2 million capital campaign. The campaign seeks finances for the office building and meetinghouse renovations to create a base for intercultural ministries of racial justice and reconciliation, economic access and opportunity for disadvantaged people, and income generation to support the ministries.

Working with a church consultant and other professionals, the congregation developed a long-term strategy. It includes renting the office space to pay off the building’s mortgage and then to fill it with community-oriented ministries.

“People will go into an office building, but they might never go into a church,” Williams said. “If you can expose people to the gos­pel, there’s a chance they will begin to connect with the congregation.”

More than 30 potential tenants have looked at the building.

“Their reasons for not signing vary; most people cannot pay the going rate,” he said. “Market values for rent space have come down over the past few years, and the church is willing to take less than the going rate.”

Norristown Office Building
The 9,000-square-foot office building adjacent Nueva Vida Norristown (Pa.) New Life Church. — Photo provided

Without rental income, the church could only cover the interest on the office building’s mortgage.

“We have never missed a payment, even though we’re paying three points higher than today’s interest market,” Williams said.

Several pastors and leaders in Franconia Mennonite Conference, of which the congregation is a member, learned of the plight. Conference moderator John Goshow met with leaders from seven sister congregations to propose a mutual aid effort.

In September, they initiated a conference-wide appeal for $95,000 to satisfy the mortgage’s needs for a year. To date, 14 churches, businesses and individuals have committed $64,300.

Goshow said the situation shows how conferences and congregations can work together.

“A pastor told me recently that when a church is in trouble, we have to reach out and help,” he said. “And Nueva Vida Norristown New Life is a model church that is really making a difference in their local community.”

Williams said he never expected the conference to initiate a mutual aid appeal.

“It’s a display of true community,” he said. “They saw we were in trouble and said, ‘we want to help.’ We attribute it all to the movement of God.”

Even when they were almost foreclosed on, Williams said, the congregation still had faith God would provide. Through this journey, their faith has been strengthened.

“We still believe we’re doing God’s will in this,” he said. “We can fill a huge void in the Norristown area. We are prayerful and hopeful that we’ll be able to meet our obligations and move God’s vision forward.”

If the church can find tenants for all three floors, Williams projects good cash flow.

“We continue to receive inquiries, which is a good indicator that businesses are looking to grow again,” he said.

Reprinted by permission of Mennonite Weekly Review.

Christopher Dock, Conferences Name Youth Minister

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Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, Franconia Conference and Eastern
District Conference celebrate their ministry partnership by naming John Stoltzfus
Conference Youth Minister.

“Youth are a key segment of God’s community. They are ambassadors of Christ
here and now, but also the future leaders of our congregations,” said Dr. Conrad
Swartzentruber, principal of Christopher Dock. “It’s exciting to see two
conferences join our school in this focus on youth ministry. John Stoltzfus has a
passion for helping youth become radical followers of Christ. We are pleased to
welcome him to our team.”

In his new position, Stoltzfus will become campus pastor for Christopher Dock’s
365 students, and will encourage, support and promote youth ministry in the
churches represented by the two conferences, which are part of Mennonite
Church USA. It is the first time that all three entities have collaborated on a youth
ministry position.

“I look forward to youth ministry connections growing between our member
churches, our two conferences and the school community,” said Warren Tyson,
conference minister for Eastern District Conference and a member of the
Christopher Dock Board of Trustees.

Stoltzfus comes to his new position after 10 years as associate pastor at
Lombard Mennonite Church, which is part of the Illinois Mennonite Conference. A
graduate of Eastern Mennonite University and Eastern Mennonite Seminary
(Harrisonburg, VA), Stoltzfus has also served with a Christian Peacemaker
Teams in Colombia, and participated in China Educational Exchange, a program
of Eastern Mennonite Missions, Mennonite Mission Network and Mennonite
Central Committee that is now known as Mennonite Partners in China.

“I found John’s insight, understanding and commitment to engaging in the work
of intercultural transformation and relationships to be both relevant and sincere,”
said Ertell Whigham, executive minister for Franconia Conference. “This was
particularly evident as he shared experiences and learnings from his ministry in
China. I thank God that we are moving ahead and look forward to John’s arrival
and our work together.”

John with his wife Paula and children Justin, Lilianna, and Elaina. (They are expecting their fourth child in December).

The Youth Minister position is full-time, and involves partnering with youth
workers in congregations and at Christopher Dock to “actively invite every youth
to commit to a personal relationship and everlasting adventure with Jesus Christ,
mentoring them towards a supportive church community and empowering them
to bring healing and hope to the world.” In addition, Stoltzfus will be charged with
providing support, training and resources to those who minister to junior and
senior high youth, so that they are better able to carry out the youth ministry
mission and vision of Franconia and Eastern District Conferences. He will begin
his work in January.

“I am excited about this new venture of journeying together with the youth and
community at Christopher Dock and Franconia and Eastern District
Conferences,” Stoltzfus said. “I look forward to discovering how God is at work
among us and calling our young people to be faithful followers of Christ in our
world.”

John Stoltzfus will begin as Conference Youth Minister in January 2012.