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Franconia Conference offers support for Cuban ministries

December 10, 2007 by Conference Office

beatriz.jpgCuban pastor Beatriz Lopez arrived in the United States earlier this month on an invitation to visit with leaders from several church organizations, including Franconia Mennonite Conference. Beatriz is the President of the 55-year-old Pentecostal Holiness Church in Cuba, an organization of 30 churches, 16 missions, and a number of house churches throughout the island.

The Pentecostal Holiness Church of Cuba receives support through a partnership between Calvary Chapel Norristown (PA) and Franconia Conference, which has a historic relationship with Christian ministries in Cuba. The support received has provided leadership training through seminars and workshops for pastors and lay leaders in Cuba’s churches. The partnership has also helped repair and update facilities at the national camp of the Pentecostal Holiness Church where retreats for men, women, and children, an annual national convention, and a school for leadership training are held. The resources and people provided throughout the years have helped build and repair the camp’s church, bathhouse, guesthouse, and kitchen. Currently the partnership between Franconia Conference and Calvary Chapel of Norristown is helping the camp to construct a new worship space so that the current space can be converted into a dormitory.

Pastor Beatriz is the first woman serving as president of the Pentecostal Holiness Church in Cuba and has been serving in that role for six years. She is also a single mother of two sons in their 20’s. As a teenager Beatriz felt the calling to serve the Lord and began seminary at age 15. By age 19 she was an experienced evangelist and beginning her first pastorate. Beatriz noted that while pastoring and and working is tough, the ministry and business worlds in Cuba have long been accepting of and invitational towards women leading.

The president of Cuba’s National Council of Churches, where Beatriz is a member, is also a woman. The Pentecostal Holiness Church in Cuba has a good relationship with the state of Cuba and is active in the National Council of Churches.

After her visit with Franconia Conference, Beatriz visited congregations in Boston, Oklahoma, Alabama, and North Carolina before returning to Cuba. Adamino Ortiz, a member of Nueva Vida Norristown (PA) New Life has initiated the relationship with Calvary Chapel and serves as liaison and coordinator in the Cuba partnerships with Franconia Conference.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: global

Mennonite Central Committee responds to the damage left by Cyclone Sidr

November 30, 2007 by Conference Office

mcc_icon.jpgOn November 15, powerful winds swept in from the Bay of Bengal creating a surge of water that rolled up rivers and streams, deep into Bangladesh. Cyclone Sidr was the worst cyclone in more than a decade. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless, left with nothing but what they could carry as they fled to the safety of shelters. Crops, schools, and roads were destroyed and livestock swept away. According the news reports, the cyclone claimed more than 3,400 lives. The United Nations estimates that more than 273,000 homes have been destroyed and 650,000 damaged in the country.

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) workers Larry Fisher, formerly of Churchville, VA, and Mokhles Rahman, of Bangladesh, visited the southern Bangladeshi districts of Bagerhat and Pirojpur from Nov. 19 to 21 to survey the damage. Larry writes, “We came away with the feeling that the need is indeed very great and that we should respond in a significant way.”

In response to the need for housing and food MCC, along with partners, has promised a response valued at $500,000 that will: provide food immediately for 10,000 families for one month by making local purchases of rice, lentils, oil and salt ($38 provides these items for a family of 5 for one month); and reconstruct up to 1,500 homes ($200 provides material to rebuild one bamboo/slat home). More families are likely to receive food as MCC Bangladesh establishes additional distribution channels.

For information on MCC’s relief efforts on Bangladesh and how you can help please visit www.mcc.org.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: global

Goshen College student studying in Peru

September 13, 2007 by Conference Office

GOSHEN, Ind. — A Franconia Conference native is participating in the Goshen (Ind.) College Study-Service Term (SST) in Peru during this fall, along with 15 other students.

Katharine E. Derstine, daughter of John and Sheryl Derstine, is majoring in business. She is a 2005 graduate of Christopher Dock Mennonite High School and attends Blooming Glen Mennonite Church. The SST is being led by Duane Stoltzfus, associate professor of communication, and his wife, Karen Sherer Stoltzfus. The group will return at the end of November.

Web updates and photos from the group are available from Goshen College’s SST Web site at: www.goshen.edu/sst/perufall07. Stoltzfus is also keeping a blog about his observations at dstoltzfus.wordpress.com.

Located in South America along the Pacific Ocean, just south of the equator, Peru is a country of contrasts. It is home to the Andes Mountains, the Amazon rainforest, a desert blanketing the coast and a wealthy capital surrounded by shantytowns. Indigenous people make up 60 percent of the country’s population.

Students will spend the first six weeks studying Spanish and learning about Incan history, the 1980s civil war and the women’s movement in Peru. During the second half of their stay, students will spread out across the country to live with families and volunteer at service assignments.

Since SST began in 1968, more than 6,500 students and 230 faculty leaders have traveled to 20 countries; the college currently organizes SSTunits to study and serve in China, Germany, Cambodia, Senegal, Peru, Jamaica and Nicaragua. Goshen established an SST unit in Peru in 1995.

Photo by: Eric Kennel

Filed Under: News Tagged With: global

Franconia Conference partner Grace Assembly Network impacted by Hurricane Dean in Haiti

August 25, 2007 by Conference Office

Franconia Mennonite Conference Partner in Mission, Grace Assembly Network, felt the personal impact of Hurricane Dean last week. Pastor Lesly Bertrand, church planter and president of Grace Assembly, wrote this week about the hurricane and the opportunity to partner with him in emerging ministry opportunities:Last Sunday evening Hurricane Dean crossed between Haiti and Jamaica, hitting the southern end of our island. According to the Haitian Government report, roughly 10 people died, 450 houses were destroyed, and 3,000 people are homeless. Among those victims are some members of our churches. One of our pastor’s reports that houses around him were destroyed and he lost his entire garden. Some families are currently living in the church building because they lost their houses. It is very possible that famine will result in the coming weeks.Grace Assembly Network consists of 24 congregations, three church plants, seven schools, and 30 pastors. Evangelism and equipping leaders are two central values for this growing and vibrant network of churches. Ministry is challenging in a country hampered by extreme poverty and political instability. Franconia Conference has partnered with Grace Assembly Network over the last several years in leadership development as the congregations have faced threats and addressed possibilities for ministry and hope. Grace Assembly also partners with the Hopewell Network of Churches and is connecting with Mennonite World Conference.

(click) for more photos!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: global, National News

Mennonite Mission Network Collaborates with Franconia Conference in first Youth Venture Experience in Israel

March 22, 2007 by Conference Office

naz1s.jpgFranconia Mennonite Conference (FMC) and Mennonite Mission Network (MMN) plan to collaborate in first Youth Venture experience to Nazareth Village, Israel.

Since 1985, more than 700 persons have participated in Youth Venture, a program that provides opportunities for youth and young adults to join together for service and learning experiences, seeking to capture the imagination and passion of youth and young adults to invest their lives in bring healing and hope to the world. Youth Venture offers the offers the opportunity to join with other young Anabaptists for one to four weeks of service in July or August in various North American and international mission projects.

In July and August of 2007, Franconia Mennonite Conference will partner with Mennonite Mission Network to offer a collaborative experience for youth and young adults at the Nazareth Village in Israel. This is the first time for such a collaboration, and both parties hope that by working together, a more effective and networked program can be developed for participants. David Landis, Associate for Communication and Leadership Cultivation for Franconia Mennonite Conference, will serve as team leader.

Five years ago Mennonite Mission Network began a vision of collaborating with Mennonite Church USA conferences and other affinity groups, seeking out ways to live into what networking really means. Del Hershberger, MMN Director of Christian Service, states “We believe that networking with other folks who have a passion for ministry creates new, exciting possibilities that we never could have thought of or done by ourselves. I see this as a first step in FMC and MMN each bringing our ideas, passions and resources together to enhance the faith formation and leadership development of young adults.”

Participants in the Youth Venture trip to Nazareth Village will discover the land where Jesus walked while serving at a recreated village of first century Nazareth, working on maintenance projects, at a hospital or a children’s camp. Living with local Arab Christian families will provide opportunities to understand God’s continuing work in the Middle East. Many assumptions about the way the world functions are challenged as participants discover and exercise their gifts. The experience aims to explore real ways for participants to see God’s love and concern for the connected world far beyond anything they’ve imagined.naz3s.jpg

Stephen Kriss, FMC Director of Communication and Leadership cultivation says, “I’d hope this represents a new way to embody the network paradigm that both Franconia Conference and MMN are living into in these days of rapid change and global connectivity. In working together, we’ll share our resources to create opportunities to engage the world and to find new possibilities to incarnate the Good News that speaks to a new generation, our congregations and the world.

For more information on Youth Venture, go to http://www.mennonitemission.net/Work/Service/YV/. The Nazareth Village experience will be held from July 23 to August 10, 2007, flying in and out of Philadelphia.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News, global, National News

Iran delegation members reflect on the fruit of years of work

March 6, 2007 by Conference Office

ahmadinejadquilt.jpgIn a February visit where U.S. religious leaders were told they were the first American delegation to meet face-to-face with a sitting Iranian president in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Mennonite Central Committee’s Ed Martin saw an unexpected fruit of nearly two decades of MCC work in Iran.

“I would have never dreamed that our work in Iran would lead to such a meeting. We usually work at a community level. Yet, through the relationships built up over the years, to be suddenly sitting in the presidential offices was amazing,” said Martin, who is director of MCC’s Central and Southern Asia programs and has overseen the Iran program for 17 years.

MCC began working in Iran after a devastating earthquake in 1990, providing the humanitarian aid the organization is known for. Through years of work on other relief projects, as well as a student exchange program founded in 1997, MCC built networks of ties that led to the February delegation.

The 13-member group of U.S. religious leaders, co-sponsored by MCC and American Friends Service Committee, included representatives from the United Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic, Mennonite and Quaker churches as well as representatives of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, Pax Christi and the National Council of Churches. They were in Iran Feb. 19-25 and plan to visit U.S. policymakers in Washington, D.C., on March 6-7.

Having leaders of other groups, such as the United Methodist Church and Sojourners, really multiplies the impact of the visit, said J. Daryl Byler, a delegation member and director of the MCC Washington Office.

“They represent huge networks of people, and they can share the experiences through those networks,” Byler said.

Delegation members from MCC say they are encouraged by the conversations they had with leaders in Iran, that they will continue work to call U.S. government leaders to meet with Iranian leaders and that they hope U.S.

Christians continue to pray for and remember Iran and its people.

And they find themselves reflecting back on how long-term MCC work led to ground-breaking conversations.

Between two narratives

Delegation leader Ron Flaming, MCC’s director of international programs, said as the delegation met with leaders in Iran, he was struck by the realization that how Iranians view the country’s history differs sharply from how most Americans would view it.

For Iranians, the overthrow of a democratically elected government in 1953 and the installation of the Shah by the U.S. government was a sore point, as was U.S. support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The delegation met with Iranian leaders who described the Shah as a brutal dictator known for his opulent living. The overthrow of the Shah, from this point of view, was a liberation movement.

Americans, on the other hand, remember the overthrow of the Shah as the hostage crisis, the 444 days that Americans were held hostage. Night after night, television news would broadcast images of angry Iranian students and U.S. hostages. More recently, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, George Bush cast Iran as part of an “axis of evil.”

“I think the delegation was keenly aware we sat between these two narratives and found how difficult it was to make the bridge,” Flaming said.

On the other hand, Iranian religious leaders spoke passionately of the need to work for peace. An Armenian Evangelical pastor said even small steps are important. Sometimes in building a bridge, he told them, you must begin with placing a few pebbles to start a foundation.

“It feels like what we need right now is somebody to help start building a bridge,” Flaming said. “We’ve got two governments who are posturing – neither wants to seem weak. If somebody would start a dialogue, there’s the possibility of the other responding.”

“The other impression I got over and over again is the Iranian people feel they are not respected,” Flaming said.

He said Iranians asked delegates to consider the country’s track record.
“They say with some intensity that they have never invaded another country, have never used weapons of mass destruction even though Iraq used them against Iran,” Flaming said. Iraq used chemical weapons in the Iraqi-initiated war with Iran in the 1980s.

Flaming and Martin said the group was told over and over again that Islam prohibits the development, stockpiling and use of any weapons of mass destruction. “While it doesn’t guarantee Iran would never develop a nuclear bomb, it makes it clear there’s a very strong public and religious consensus against it,” said Flaming.

As the delegation learned about Iran’s ancient culture and its emphasis on education, they also found that Iranians, from religious leaders to the President, were well-versed in Christianity.

One of the inequalities that Martin has noticed in years of working at Christian and Muslim relations is how much Muslims know about Christianity, Jesus and the Bible – and how little most Christians know about the Quran. “If we’re going to have serious dialogue, we’re going to have to know more about the Quran,” Martin said, noting scholars he’d met in Qom who have read the entire Bible several times and can readily recite from it.

Moving forward

The group released a statement calling on the U.S. and Iranian governments to immediately engage in direct, face-to-face talks and to cease using language that defines the other using “enemy” images.

“Our two governments need to find a way to engage each other, and that’s critical. If that doesn’t happen, the current tensions are not going to get resolved,” Flaming said.

Delegates came away convinced they needed to work diligently to call on the U.S. government to talk to Iran about the current tensions between the two nations. They are also hoping that Christians in the U.S. will contact their lawmakers to express their desire for talks between the U.S. and Iran.

“If governments aren’t talking then it’s still a very dangerous situation,” Byler said.

Two days after the delegation returned, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that the United States will participate in Iraqi-led talks with Syria and Iran, to seek ways to stabilize Iraq. “This could be a good first step toward direct bilateral talks with Iran on a range of issues,” said Byler.

The delegation’s statement also calls on governments of the two countries to promote more people-to-people exchanges including religious leaders, elected leaders and civil society.

Any points of contact can help lay the foundation for relationships and peace, Flaming said.

Light of peace

In addition to contacting lawmakers, U.S. Christians are invited to pray for the people of Iran and its leaders.

The group took small ceramic oil lamps, along with wall hangings, to give as gifts. “We told people the lamps are a symbol of our commitment to remember the Iranian people in our prayers at this time,” Flaming said.

Now, he said, “We are inviting churches to also use oil lamps to remember Iran in this time of difficulty and to pray for its leaders and its people.”

For years, MCC workers in Iran have known that small gestures of gratitude, thoughtfulness and welcome can mean a lot. On this delegation, Flaming gave the President a note from sixth-graders at Akron Mennonite Church, saying they were praying for the President and for peace between the two countries. It made a visible impact on the president, and he said he would like to write a response to the children.

Flaming noticed that when delegates gave the gift of a handmade wall hanging, people’s faces lit up. “That was the time in the conversation where they were the most animated – the twinkle in the eye, the warmth in the smile, the firmness of the embrace,” he said.

Looking back

MCC’s involvement in Iran began with the giving of gifts of another kind – material aid for people caught in a devastating earthquake in 1990. MCC worked through Iranian Red Crescent Society and later worked with the Iranian government’s Housing Foundation to construct 15 village health clinics in earthquake-affected areas. MCC workers in 1991 served in an Iraqi refugee camp in western Iran, reaching out to some of the more than 1 million Iraqi refugees from the Persian Gulf War. MCC has also worked with Afghan refugees in Iran.

In 1997, MCC began a student exchange program to bring U.S. or Canadian Mennonites to study in Qom, Iran’s holy city, and Iranians to study in Ontario. As Martin set up the program, people told him they knew about MCC because of its work with the Red Crescent Society. MCC began to sponsor Iranians to attend the Eastern Mennonite University’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI).

In September 2006, MCC was asked to organize a meeting in New York of U.S. religious leaders and the Iranian president – an unexpected outgrowth of the relationships that had been built one-by-one over nearly two decades of work.

“It was a clear result of a network of relationships built over years,” Martin said. “MCC’s strength, I think, is developing relationships with people with whom we work and act.”

And now, as delegates go back into their communities, Flaming is cheered by how MCC has built on those relationships with this delegation, widening the ties between the people of Iran and the United States. “There is something that feels good about being able to broaden the net, to welcome the broader church on the journey with us,” he said.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: global

Franconia Mennonite Church celebrates 15 year partnership with Iglesia Maranatha

February 15, 2007 by Conference Office

04.jpgArnold & Marlene Derstine, Franconia Mennonite Church

It’s hard to believe that 15 years have passed since our congregation first began to relate to our sister church in Puebla, Mexico. Little did we know that what began as an initiative of Franconia Mennonite Conference and the Conference of Mennonite Churches in Mexico would eventually become a thriving relationship between our two congregations.

Last week a group of 6 persons from our congregation (Pastor John Ehst, Bill Gotwals, Alex and McAllister Tellado, David Landis, Arnold and Marlene Derstine) attended the anniversary weekend of our sister church. This annual celebration of God’s faithfulness in the life of the church seemed an appropriate setting to also recognize and celebrate 15 years of walking beside each other as congregations. It was a time to both reminisce about the past as well as dream about the future.

Initial conversations with the Maranatha congregation began in 1992. In the spring of 1993, the first of many exchange visits took place. A team of four persons from Franconia went to work along side our Mexican brothers and sisters who had recently purchased a new property for the church. Over the years many from our congregation have been encouraged and blessed as the chorus, young adults, youth teams and mixed groups have had the privilege of visiting with Maranatha and participating in the life and ministry of their congregation. Throughout the years we have also been blessed to receive groups from Maranatha through which many significant relationships have been established.

02.jpgOur weekend together was a significant reminder of the many meaningful relationships that have developed and grown over the last 15 years. It was also a reminder that our relationship together actually began long before the sister relationship emerged.

Perhaps the most meaningful part of the Sunday morning celebration was giving thanks for and recognizing the dedication and service of faithful leaders both past and present. It was a blessing to have David and Shirley Yoder there with us. David and Shirley are the original church planters of Maranatha. The congregation was moved as David expressed the overwhelming joy he and Shirley experienced in coming back to the church for the first time in 35 years and witnessing God’s faithfulness in bringing forth fruit from the seeds that were sown.

Maranatha is indeed a congregation that has come a long way since the early 1960’s when David and Shirley used the living room of their home as a chapel for Sunday morning services and weekly bible studies. On this Sunday the auditorium was full of people and praise as we celebrated God’s faithfulness together through inspiring worship, prayer and hearing God’s word.

It was encouraging to reflect on how God has brought us together – two congregations with distinct cultures but the same vision and desire to be salt and light here on earth. Throughout the weekend we took time to think, dream and pray about our future together as partners in the Gospel. We look forward to how God will continue to use this relationship to further His kingdom.

posted from Franconia Sampler, A weekly newsletter of the Franconia Mennonite Church
03.jpg

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News, global

The Ripple Effect: How a Path Encounter is Leading to Better Health for 50,000 Children

February 8, 2007 by Conference Office

Elizabeth Stover and her husband (Preston) of Dock Woods Community were out walking on the path in the beautiful woods connected to the Community. Coming toward them was a young man with his small playful child. He was hanging on to his legs so it was a “conversational moment.” The young man (Insoo Lee) said that he was Korean and the youth pastor of a local Korean church in Landsale. Elizabeth invited them to their home for a dinner. Since she was a leader of a prayer group at Dock Community she also invited Insoo to come and speak to the prayer group.

At that meeting Insoo found out about the Worm Project and invited Claude Good and his wife (Alicia) to present the project to the young people of his church. They were met with overwhelming enthusiasm by the Korean young people in addition to the wonderful Korean food served by the group. Some of them wanted to take the contribution containers to their school classrooms to encourage their classmates to contribute as well.

That small group of enthusiastic young people was able to pull together $1,000.00 in a few months! The Worm Project is able to buy a de-worming pill for just $0.02 each when bought by the million. It is a mint-flavored, chewable pill that only has to be administered once every six months. That one pill can save enough food from the worms to help a child have, on average, an extra 10 lb.of food during those six months. So at $0.02 each, $1,000.00 will buy enough pills to treat 50,000 children! But it will be even more than that – Insoo says that the youth want to keep the contribution containers to continue raising funds for the very poor “wormy” children of the world!

Additional information: The Korean church, as of January 1, has moved to the Hatfield Church of the Brethren and has become one church in Christ as Grace/Hatfield Church of the Brethren. Now they have an English service at 10am and a Korean service at 11:30am.They are planning to provide bilingual service soon.

dscn4307.jpgPresentation of $1,000.00 from the Korean Youth Group to the Worm Project
First row from left to right:Yoon Kim, Julia Min, Esther Choi, Anna Kim.
Middle row: Insoo Lee, (Youth Pastor), Preston Stover, Grace Min (president of Grace Christian Church Youth Group), Claude Good, (Coordinator of the Worm Project), Alicia Good
Back row: Noel Santiago (Executive Minister), Elizabeth Stover, Michelle Kang.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Conference News, global

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