Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Garden Chapel

Congregational Profile: Garden Chapel

by

by Maria Hart

The Garden Chapel is located in Victory Gardens, New Jersey and is the only church in the town. In 1941, the borough of Victory Gardens was acquired by the federal government to build a housing project for war industry employees. The borough was named for the “victory gardens” planted at private homes during World War II.  The chapel where our congregation meets originally housed military personnel.  After the war ended, the building was eventually re-purposed to foster peace and was established as a Mennonite church in 1971.   

Since its inception in 1972, Garden Chapel, the chapel at the “bottom of the hill,” has served Victory Gardens and its neighboring communities in many ways.  Led by Claris and Mavis Baker, the Sprouts Garden Club welcomes youth and grown-ups each spring to help grow a garden full of kale, eggplant, carrots, string beans, strawberries and more to share with the community.  

WALL (Worship Arts League), founded by Maria Hart, provides quality music instruction for those who desire to play an instrument but may not have the resources for lessons. Annual performances are held to showcase the students’ gifts as well as to inspire others to use their gifts in the arts to make a positive difference in society.  Our Summer Program had traditionally provided quality childcare in a vibrant summer camp setting focused on teaching Christian values as well as the Arts. It is momentarily paused until building repairs are completed.  

Members from Garden Chapel participate in worship. Provided by Maria Hart.

We currently are led by two pastors who tirelessly work for the good of our church and community. Pastor Timothy Hart grew up in the Dover, NJ area and attended the chapel during his childhood.  Prior to his ministry at The Garden Chapel, he was a Youth Pastor in Bloomfield, NJ.  In 2010, The Garden Chapel invited Pastor Tim to “revive” the ministry of the church.  

Now, a decade later, Pastor Tim continues to pastor the church as he serves the community and beyond, with his wife, Maria, and daughter, Melody.  “Team Hart” brings forth a vision of a church that embraces people from all walks of life and different places of the world in order to share and celebrate the grace and goodness of God.  

In 2015, a bilingual service was introduced to better serve those who speak Spanish but are not quite fluent yet in English. Pastor Héctor Quiñones was ordained and installed that year.  He initiated free ESL classes and continues to help residents who need to learn English for employment and attain basic English literacy.  His wife, Lisa Quiñones, brings her expertise in music and has richly grown the bilingual worship team and choir groups. “Team Quinones” (which includes Lyah, Josias, and baby Yannah) have blessed us with their passionate pursuit to do all for the glory of God. 

Pastors Tim Hart and Héctor Quiñones. Photo provided by Maria Hart.

The Garden Chapel Council is a team of leaders who are committed to being diligent stewards of the house of God.  They give generously of themselves and offer tremendous support to The Garden Chapel. Presently, they are: Aileen Ince, president; Jeannine Adams, vice president; Donna Patierno, treasurer; Mavis Baker, and Maria Hart, secretary.  

The Garden Chapel’s mission “to love God, love our neighbors, and love each other” simply expresses the heart of every activity and event held within and outside the walls of the church. It is our love for God and the love for all people that underlies the ministry and inspires the Garden Chapel team to serve relentlessly. 

Prayer requests:

1. Pray for guidance/wisdom in regards to reopening the church. Pray for the leadership team, especially that they stay in accord with God’s will. 

2. Pray for protection and provision over the congregation & their community.

3. Pray for God to heal those who are ill.

Arts Contest to Help Give Hope

by

By Maria Hart, Garden Chapel (Dover, NJ)

In times of darkness and crisis, Garden Chapel (Dover, NJ) desires to help and give to those in need.  The COVID-19 pandemic has left members of Garden Chapel feeling immobile, questioning their ability to fill needs because this situation is so new and unique.

One area of concern is the challenges children and youth face amidst this crisis.  It is a significant adjustment for them. Educational practices have changed. Daily news reports talk about healthy people nearby who are becoming very ill, even dying.  It has become the new norm, sadly. The pandemic is emotionally, mentally, and spiritually challenging for many young people.

Members of Garden Chapel have a special passion for the arts, as the arts serve as an outlet to express human emotions and our faith.

While so many are focused on the pandemic, Garden Chapel wants to redirect attention and resources to the arts with our “Delivering Hope Arts Contest.”  As most everyone is needing to stay at home these days, now is a good time to use the gift of music, fine arts, video, and literature to spread hope. Adults, too, are invited to participate, as many have lost jobs and are home, faced with great uncertainty and possible despair.

As news reports continually report on the growing rise of COVID-19, the body of Christ is called to spread an even larger dose of hope. This invitation to share the gifts of music and art is one way we can do that.

See the flyer for all the details (English & Spanish) and a registration form.

Partnerships Embodying Christ’s Way of Redemptive Peace

by

by Mary Nitzsche, Associate Executive Minister

The slogan, “Doing together what we cannot do alone,” was put into action on Friday evening, September 28, when three Franconia Conference congregations partnered in mission to assemble relief kits. After hearing about Mennonite Central Committee’s (MCC) plea to send 10,000 relief kits around the world this year, Blooming Glen Mennonite Church invited Deep Run East Mennonite Church and Perkasie Mennonite Church to join them in collecting money to purchase supplies and assemble the relief kits. Initially, the hope was to donate enough money to assemble 300 kits, but more than $9,000 was contributed, enough to buy supplies for 610 kits.

Approximately 90 people of all ages, ranging from 3 to over 80 years old, gathered to share a meal and fellowship around tables. Following the meal, each table group relocated to another table to assemble kits which included rolling and tying over 2,000 towels, packaging shampoo in plastic bags, placing an MCC sticker on the bucket, or securing the bucket lids. After nearly 1 ½ hours of this multi-generational, cooperative, “worker bee” effort, 610 buckets were loaded into trailers. The evening ended with a group picture and prayer of blessing that these kits share God’s compassion, healing, and hope to people suffering the devastation of disaster or war.

Throughout the Franconia Conference website we are reminded of partnerships that span the globe providing opportunities to learn and share resources to embody and extend Christ’s way of redemptive peace. The relief kit partnership prompted me to explore how other Franconia Conference congregations are pooling money, skills, or resources to worship together, host community forums or events, or provide ministry in their communities. Many of these events are multi-generational, cross cultural, or cross denominational, reflecting the expansiveness of God’s way of peace. Some of these local partnerships have been highlighted in Intersectings articles over the past year. Others I learned about recently and will briefly describe.

Several congregations partnered with organizations and people in their broader communities to foster awareness and understanding, promote justice, and take action to address issues. Garden Chapel partnered with their community in Morris County, New Jersey, to host a forum on opioids and addiction providing education and prevention strategies for addressing the problem. Salem, Rocky Ridge, and Swamp Mennonite congregations are partnering with community non-profit organizations and the Quakertown Borough to address the opioid crisis in their community. A meeting place is provided for adults and “directionless” youth to build relationships and engage in meaningful activities. Perkasie Mennonite partnered with trained conflict facilitators to host a community event encouraging civil and respectful conversations about gun policies.

Participants from Blooming Glen, Deep Run East and Perkasie gather together, after assembling over 600 MCC relief kits.

Other congregations planned celebrations and invited the community to participate. Plains Mennonite and Evangelical Center for Revival hosted a community Fourth of July Commemoration to celebrate and embrace diversity. Methacton Mennonite hosted a block party featuring a variety of food and music along a local dance/drum group. Ripple Church uses the sanctuary space of the St. Stephens Lutheran Community Center for worship services and shares several activities with the Christ Lutheran congregation. These activities include a Pesto Festival at the end of the summer using basil from their community garden, and a “Trunk or Treat” event in October to pass out treats from car trunks to the neighborhood children. Ripple also partners with Whitehall Mennonite to provide a Summer Bible School in the park.

Salford Mennonite and Advent Lutheran have partnered in sharing a community garden and providing food to those in their community; hosting educational events on anti-racism and other issues; worshipping together at an annual Thanksgiving service and taking an offering to support local and global ministry.

Several congregations planned joint worship services and opportunities for fellowship this summer. Nations Worship Center traveled to Deep Run East for worship and an intercultural fellowship meal. Centro de Alabanza and Towamencin Mennonite met for a joint baptism service followed by an intercultural fellowship meal. Our California congregations annually gather for worship, fellowship, and resourcing.

Some partnership stories have yet to be told, imagined, or planned. May these brief stories continue to encourage local and global opportunities to learn and share resources in our communities and beyond as we seek to embody and extend Christ’s way of redemptive peace.

God is Working God’s Purpose Out

by

by Marta Castillo, Leadership Minister of Intercultural Formation

When I was a child on furlough with my family, we used to visit different churches every Sunday to share our stories about Indonesia and what God was doing there.  I remember singing the song “God is working his purpose out” by Author: Arthur Campbell Ainger (1894). The lyrics say:

“God is working his purpose out, as year succeeds to year, God is working his purpose out, and the time is drawing near; nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be, when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

From utmost east to utmost west, wherever feet have trod, by the mouth of many messengers goes forth the voice of God, ‘Give ear to me, ye continents, ye isles, give ear to me, that the earth may be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.’

What can we do to work God’s work, to prosper and increase the love of God in all mankind, the reign of the Prince of peace? What can we do to hasten the time, the time that shall surely be, when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea?”

Garden Chapel celebrates the licensing of Pastor Hector Quinones.

Every year we join together at assembly to celebrate what God is doing, to spend time together as God’s people, and to make plans together discerning God’s purpose for us.  We discerned a few years ago to put approve a Church Together Statement Going to the Margins: Kingdom Mission Strategy stating that as followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to solidarity with those on the margins of the Christian community, our neighborhoods, and society at large, seeking transformation in ourselves, those to whom we minister, and the unjust systems we encounter. This statement was a building block on our Franconia Conference priorities of being “missional, intercultural, and formational” as we work to fulfill our mission to “equip leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission.”

Henri Nouwen writes, “Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus we are called as members of the Church to keep going to the margins of our society. The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters – they require our first attention. We can trust that when we reach out with all our energy to the margins of our society we will discover that petty disagreements, fruitless debates, and paralysing rivalries will recede and gradually vanish. The Church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care. The blessing of Jesus always comes to us through the poor. The most remarkable experience of those who work with the poor is that, in the end, the poor give more than they receive. They give food to us.” (henrinouwen.org/meditation/going-to-the-margins-of-the-church/)

Along with celebrating their 9th anniversary, Centro de Alabanza held a graduation ceremony for IBA (Instituto Biblico Anabautista – Anabaptist Biblical Institute).

We may or may not be consciously working out this “Kingdom Mission Strategy” in our congregations and daily lives. Our pastors and leaders may or may not even remember this conversation and agreement from even a few years ago. The conversation, however, did help us set priorities and to consider God’s plans and purposes for us in ministry and mission. Whether we recognize it or not God is working out God’s purpose.

As was stated in the Church Together Statement, “In Scripture, we see Jesus affirming the value and image of God in those on the margins of his culture and society: tax collectors, women, lepers, the ceremonially unclean, Gentiles, etc. Today, marginalized people groups include but are not limited to individuals and families experiencing mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, physical and intellectual disabilities, incarceration, racism, poverty, war, oppression and exclusion. Who are the marginalized individuals and families in your context and how are you intentionally reaching out and entering their lives with the love and hope of Jesus Christ? If we are to be faithful disciples of Christ and make seeking God’s Kingdom our number one priority, these are the people with whom we must be in solidarity.”

Nations Worship Center held a Bible Camp for community children with the theme “Raising the Standard”, thanks to the support of a Missions Operational Grant and teaching supplies from Salford Mennonite Church.

My testimony today is that this kingdom work is happening through the work of the Holy Spirit in the congregations of our Conference. Through pictures and descriptions, we celebrate today that God is working God’s purposes out in our communities. In the last few weeks I had the privilege of witnessing this in some of our immigrant communities, who minister in communities affected by drug and alcohol addiction, and are affected by racism and injustice. 

Psalm 33:11 says, “But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that will surely be, when the earth is filled with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea.”

Help and Hope for Morris County

by

In a testimony to community collaboration and an example of “going to the margins”, Garden Chapel opened their doors to leaders, law enforcement and local neighbors in Morris County, New Jersey for a special forum on opioids and addiction.

Local leaders join together with HOPE One, to bring hope and help to those struggling in New Jersey.

This free event held at Garden Chapel on Saturday, April 28 was, on the surface, a resourcing fair – raising awareness of the opiate epidemic, highlighting positive prevention strategies, and connecting people with local treatment and recovery services.  But for anyone who’s dealt with substance abuse and mental illness or knows someone who has, this event connected on a deeper, more critical level.

Data released by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office shows that drug overdose deaths in the state to be on a record-shattering pace in 2018.  Pastor Tim Hart knows all too well the effects of the drug crisis, having lost both his brother and best friend to the epidemic. “I have participated in way too many funerals for friends, parishioners and their children due to this crisis,” he says. “I have been to at least 12 funerals in 2017 and 2018, just from opiate, fentanyl, and heroin overdoses. I believe this is the devil’s imitation of the Holy Spirit, to steal, kill and destroy lives and families.”

Over the course of the day, thirty-four individuals received free training on administering Naxalone (Narcan), which could potentially save the life of someone overdosing on opioids.  Morris County’s HOPE ONE program was on site, offering access to services and treatment facilities to anyone in need.  The entire event was presented as a part of the countywide Stigma-Free Initiative, which aims to eradicate the stigma associated with mental illness and substance use disorders.  “To truly change the way society views individuals with substance abuse and mental illness disorders, we must change our language, attitude and be more compassionate,” said Dover (NJ) Mayor James P. Dodd. “Regardless of the spectrum, we all know or have people in our lives who face these challenges.”

Volunteers greet guests with information and assistance.

Friends and pastors at Garden Chapel did their part as hosts, running a children’s program and providing Spanish translation, and are already seeing results.  The event has assisted at least 10 people to take the first step and enter detox or rehab, some of whom have direct connections to Garden Chapel, and calls are still coming in.

“We can extend our hand out to someone in need, who can grab it and get the help he or she needs,” says Victory Gardens (NJ) Mayor David L. Holeman.  Undoubtedly the hands of Garden Chapel will continue to be among those extended.  “All that know me know how dear this topic is to my heart,” says Pastor Tim, “and my passion is to never stop fighting for the lives of those struggling with this addiction.  I will continue to cry out to GOD while putting my faith into action, by partnering with anyone and everyone to make a difference.”

Garden Chapel to Address Opiate Epidemic

by

Garden Chapel is partnering with community and local leaders in Morris County and Dover, New Jersey to address the opiate and heroin crisis in a special public forum on Saturday, April 28, from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm.

Speakers will include Morris County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Brad Seabury and Sheriff Jim Gannon. The focus of the program will be to provide an overview of the heroin and opiate epidemic and to inform the community about what is being done by law enforcement to combat the problem.

Representatives from CARESNJ, Hope One and the Town of Dover Municipal Alliance Committee will present strategies to help families who have been touched by addiction including CARES RECOVERY CENTER and HOPE ONE.  Volunteers whose lives have been touched by heroin and prescription drug addiction will also be present to have one on one discussions during and after the event.

Doors open at 12 pm to highlight and showcase recovery and treatment facilities and strategies for prevention through education and recovery.  Education and awareness tips will be available, and resources for children including hands on activities will be available.

Garden Chapel's Pastor Tim Hart Receives Service Award

by

Tim Hart with his wife, Maria, and daughter, Melody.
Tim Hart with his wife, Maria, and daughter, Melody.

The Red Bandanna Service award is given to an individual or group who has shown initiative and dedication in support of children in need. In addition to his work as pastor at Garden Chapel (Dover, NJ), he also works at a local state university and spends his time mentoring youth in the community. He can be found playing basketball with them, just hanging out, even assisting them in finding treatment for addiction and walking with them through court proceedings. We are blessed to have Pastor Tim and Garden Chapel as a part of our Franconia family! Read more about Pastor Tim and the award he received here: http://www.nj.com/messenger-gazette/index.ssf/2016/09/red_bandanna_service_award_to_be_given_to_the_rev_timothy_hart.html .

One Stitch at a Time

by

A member at Methacton Mennonite Church, Tiana Martinez, was stirred to action by a sermon delivered by a guest speaker, Pastor Juan Marrero from Crossroads Community Center in Philadelphia, a ministry to those in recovery or recently released from prison who need a place to stay. Pastor Juan noted a need for blankets, and Tiana felt the Spirit’s nudge. She set a goal to donate 100 afghans to Crossroads by December 2015 thus launching, “One Stitch at a Time Ministry.” Tiana wondered is others across Franconia Conference would be interested in joining her in this endeavor. She contact her LEADership Minister, Jenifer Eriksen Morales, who helped Tiana connect with other congregations. So far, members of Methacton, Alpha, and Garden Chapel are working together to meet this goal. Participants were able to gather together to crochet and fellowship with each other, building relationships based in ministry between congregations.

The Missional Operations Grant helped to cover the cost of yarn and other necessary supplies to support One Stitch at a Time.