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Frederick

Congregational Profile: Frederick Mennonite Church

May 20, 2020 by Conference Office

by Greg Law

Frederick Mennonite Church began around 1950 when some Perkiomenville Mennonite Church members wanted to expand their outreach further west. The original meeting place was the Bertolet Meetinghouse (which had no indoor water or bathrooms) in Frederick, PA. In 1966 our current location was built (with indoor plumbing) across the street from the Bertolet Meetinghouse with an addition in 1994.

The first minister was unsalaried which was common for the time. Gradually, we moved along until we had a full-time pastor.  After his departure, we had a half-time interim pastor. Over the past few years, we mostly utilize a “self-employed truck driving preacher” from within the congregation as our main speaker.

Once a month we forgo the normal Sunday morning routine and have a potluck breakfast together in the fellowship hall. This is followed by a free form gathering around the same tables where each person is encouraged to share. We share prayer requests, concerns, how God is speaking to us, and sometimes choose a song to sing together.  We really do feel like a family!

Being a small congregation presents challenges, but it also provides the opportunity of being able to know each other pretty well.  We have a weekly women’s Bible study and a monthly men’s breakfast which are both open to anyone from Frederick or beyond.

The Bertolet meetinghouse

Twice a year we partner with several other small Mennonite congregations for a joint service and picnic in the summer and a rotating Thanksgiving service.  Frederick also hosts two hymn sings in the old Bertolet Meetinghouse in June and October.  For many years there has been a nursery school in our church building that runs during the school year.  This has provided some connections to the local community.

Our location does not help us in our desire to be more connected to the community, since we are not on a main road nor centrally located. However, we are on the same road used to get to the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival, so we do get a lot of traffic for a few days in August. We open our church building for interaction, prayer, cold water, and bathrooms during the festival.

Perhaps the biggest recent change for our congregation has been having a “roommate.”  Through a God-led encounter, we connected with a small Assemblies of God congregation (“Ignite”) that needed to relocate its meeting place.  From that encounter, we now have two congregations using the same building at different times.  Frederick uses the building first, then Ignite follows.  Both of us overlap in the lobby between services and we have been known to even sneak in on each other’s services.  The shared space has worked well and we are grateful that our church building is being used more regularly.

We love what Jesus has done for us and want others to know Him too!  The pandemic has changed worship patterns, and we’ve seen many views of Grant’s sermons on Facebook.  Only time will tell if any of those watching from home choose to unite with local congregations. We’d love to see new faces.

Frederick Mennonite is like a gem: small but precious, hidden until you can see the inner beauty. Come visit us – if you can find us! (526 Colonial Rd, Frederick, PA 19435)

Filed Under: Congregational Profiles Tagged With: Frederick, Frederick Mennonite Church

Ministerial report (September 2013)

October 10, 2013 by Emily Ralph Servant

The Ministerial Committee met on September 4:

  • We took action to grant a specific license to Tim Hart to serve as pastor of revitalization for Garden Chapel.
  • We approved ordination for Emily Ralph from the Salford congregation who has been called to an associate pastor position at Sunnyside in Lancaster.
  • We granted a license toward ordination to Tami Good who is serving as minister of worship and music at Souderton.
  • Arnold Derstine and Mike Ford have resigned from the pastoral team at Franconia.
  • Blooming Glen has hired Mike Ford as youth pastor.
  • Frederick and Lakeview are seeking interim pastoral leadership.
  • Perkiomenville is seeking an associate pastor and Alpha and Taftsville congregations are looking for pastoral leadership.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Alpha, Arnold Derstine, Blooming Glen, Conference News, Emily Ralph, Franconia, Frederick, Garden Chapel, Lakeview, Mike Ford, ministerial, Perkiomenville, Salford, Souderton, Taftsville, Tami Good, Tim Hart

Adopt a Street: Franconia Conference congregations participate in prayer evangelism

June 15, 2011 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Emily Ralph

Harleysville, PA — “Doing church is pretty difficult today,” admitted Charlie Ness, pastor of Perkiomenville Mennonite. This wasn’t new information for the other pastors gathered for the June 9 Pastors Breakfast.

“For 40 years I thought I had to build the church,” he said. Then he realized that Jesus promised in Matthew 16:18 that HE would build the church. And it was like a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

Ness, along with Scott Landes of Frederick Mennonite and Peter Smith of Hope Community Church, were sharing their vision for prayer evangelism. On its most basic level, prayer evangelism is talking to God about people before talking to people about God, Smith said.

All three pastors are involved with UPPEN: the Upper Perk Prayer Evangelism Network, a network of churches in the Perkiomen Valley (eastern PA) that works together to bring about transformation in their region. Their most recent project is Adopt a Street, a movement that covers 100% of the streets in their region with prayer.

“Adopt a Street is about changing the spiritual climate in your community,” said Smith. Then he asked, “What would happen is all the streets in your community were being prayed for daily for the next twelve months?” To illustrate his point, he showed a video of the Adopt a Street movement in Newark, NJ. In the first month of Newark’s program, the crime rate dropped by 33%.

Landes has experienced this transformation firsthand as he and his family pray for their street every day. According to Luke 10, there are four steps to prayer evangelism in your neighborhood, he said: first, praying blessings over your neighbors; second, engaging in fellowship with them to create connection; third, ministering God’s love to your neighbors by caring for them; and finally, proclaiming the kingdom by sharing God’s Word.

“Adopt a Street is not a program, but a lifestyle,” Landes shared. It’s about “being available to God for divine appointments each day.”

For more information about UPPEN or Adopt a Street, visit PrayUpperPerk.org.

**************************************

[podcast]http://www.mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/Adopt-a-Street.mp3[/podcast]

Adopt a Street Handout
Adopt a Street Information Packet

Filed Under: Multimedia, News Tagged With: Community, Emily Ralph, Frederick, Hope Community, missional, Perkionmenville, Prayer

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