Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

intercultural

Youth groups move from charity to justice

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by Angela Moyer, RIPPLE (Allentown, Pa.) & Ben Wideman, Salford (Harleysville, Pa.)

Salford and Ripple youthBen:  As Salford prepared to experience Mennonite Church USA’s biannual gathering in Phoenix, AZ we understood that this was going to be a different kind of experience.  We knew that there were a whole host of reasons that various churches were in favor of attending and not attending.  One of the dramatic factors of a trip to the Southwest was that several of our sister congregations would be unable to afford the travel expenses.

As we began to get a sense of what we could afford, and how much we could offer in support of other youth groups, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Angela share with a group of youth pastors that she was interested in taking a group from their congregation but needed financial assistance.  It seemed like perfect timing – not just for financial support, but for deepening relationships with a congregation we knew little about.

Angela:  The invitation for RIPPLE youth to join Salford’s youth group on their trip to Phoenix was a hope and a wish come true.  It was evidence that all of our talk about sharing power and resources had some feet.  And as we began to make plans and think about what it would take in order to make this a healthy and positive experience for both groups, I realized that this was going to be more than a simple act of generosity or charity.

I had no idea what it would be like for RIPPLE youth to experience Convention.  I knew that it would be different for them than for youth who grow up in fairly stable, middle class churches and communities but I could not anticipate what their experience would be.  What I did know was that they deserved the opportunity to go just as much as other youth, if not more.  As we began to make plans for how to make this a positive experience, we soon realized that it would be more than a one week event in Phoenix.  Relationships needed to be built prior to a week-long trip together.

Ben:  Angela and I were in agreement from the onset that this had to be a shared experience.  Salford had supported other churches in the past by simply writing a check, but this time our youth and sponsors wanted to have a deeper connection than that.  We knew that this would be challenging; the simple geographic barriers, nuanced cultural contexts, and busy schedules meant that we had to work to get just one or two opportunities on the calendar for the respective youth to connect with each other.

Angela:  Relationships between people with very different backgrounds take time and effort to develop.  After they’re developed, then true relationships need to be maintained at some level.  It’s one thing to receive one or two gifts graciously, but to continue to receive them is hard.  And to believe that the non-financial gifts that you have to offer back is just as valuable as money is hard too.

Then, in typical RIPPLE fashion, the needs grew faster than what I could keep up with.  Shortly after registering two youth and myself for Convention with Salford’s group, another responsible youth began attending and significantly contributing to RIPPLE.  Now what do we do about the youth trip to Convention?  Thankfully, in God’s abundance, Deep Run East Mennonite was willing to contribute finances for this third youth to attend Convention.

Ben:  It seems obvious now, but looking back, I was unaware of the complexity of planning a trip like this.  Families from both churches had life experiences come up that changed their summer plans.  Conference registration and payment is challenging enough for 20 people from one church.  Add in hotel reservations (and roommate assignments), plane tickets, airport transportation, and youth from a whole other church, and this trip became an interesting logistical challenge.

Angela:  But this was just the beginning of being overwhelmed with the gaps to be bridged between the two groups; this is why I think our collaborative effort begins to point towards justice rather than mere generosity.  The partnership between RIPPLE and Salford offered opportunity to those who otherwise would not have been able to engage, for both groups to learn from one another.  The relationship is ongoing; although one phase is over, much is still unfinished.  This collaboration was and continues to be overwhelming on a variety of layers requiring more than what can be anticipated and offered.  And yet this is the space where God’s Spirit seems to be moving and providing.

Ben:  The relationship between Salford and RIPPLE will continue to be a work in progress.  We are two sister congregations, but we are made up of a huge cross-section of families and perspectives.  Oftentimes it is uncomfortable to have to work through what it means to be relating to people beyond the walls of our church building, but we trust that there will be a blessing and growth in this process.  We hope to continue to build this relationship so that our youth will begin to see themselves as a part of something larger than our respective church family.  I hope Salford and RIPPLE (and many other churches too!) will reach a point where relating with people from other contexts is not simply tolerated, but expected and valued.

Advocating justice in our education system

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by Mikah Ochieng, summer writing team

Maria BylerPhiladelphia Praise Center is located in the heart of South Philadelphia, a neighborhood that captures all four corners of the world into a 20 block radius. If you know anything about South Philly, it’s that it’s constantly prone to social change. For over a century, the community has been heavily influenced by the Italian culture but recently it has become a cultural hub for the Hispanic and Asian communities. Like the 20th century immigrants who came before them, this new generational wave of immigrants have experienced what it’s like to face the specific challenges that culture and language bring to one’s life. That is why there are people like Maria C. M. Byler.

Prior to moving to Harrisonburg, Va. this fall to pursue an M.Div. at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Byler played a tremendous role in the life of Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC) and the lives of countless immigrants who have struggled to acclimate to a new environment.  As PPC’s on-staff social worker and in her position with Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition (SEEMAAC), an education, health, and social services agency, Byler committed to making the lives of others a better reality, both spiritually and economically.

Byler’s passionate and optimistic insight has always been a reliable source of inspiration for her work with students and parents in educational services. SEEMAC exposed her to various social services relating to education and school attendance for truant and absent immigrant students. Yet what Byler later discovered as she became more familiar with the educational system within Philadelphia both shocked and frustrated her in her work with students and parents.

On top of the overbearing obstacles that the Philadelphia school district is constantly facing, there remains the issue of deep discriminatory acts of segregation along economic and social boundaries. Byler discovered early on that the traditional motto of American education being “non-discriminatory and accessible to everyone” was simply not true for the people that she was serving. Commonly, Byler would work with bilingual parents who needed language services and programs in order to sufficiently interact with the schools that their children attended. Although these programs had been properly established, it seemed obvious to Byler that the system of education favored students whose primary language was English—educational equality was not accessible to Byler’s client families.

The problems of inner city education are most evident when comparing the education systems of the metro area and the surrounding suburbs. As one would expect, there are economic differences between the two demographic areas, economic differences that seem to be an injustice perpetuated by America’s oldest original sin: institutional racism. Byler has witnessed first-hand the lack of resources and opportunities that Latino and Asian families fail to receive as compared to families who send their children to schools in more affluent, suburban areas.

But it doesn’t have to stay this way, suggests Byler. The solution for this injustice is one that would positively revise the method of state and federal funding for education. Big-time legislators and hardworking parents can work together to provide immigrant students with the hope they receive from a good education, regardless of their nationality. All children, says Byler, should be recognized as unique and worthy of opportunity, not just educational opportunity, but opportunity in all of life.

Because God’s Kingdom is a manifestation of this hope, Jesus-followers are called to tear down the walls of institutional racism that seal away our community’s most powerless—our children—from the hope of an equal education.

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]

Intercultural ministry threatened by foreclosure

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NVNNLNORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania – Nueva Vida Norristown New Life Mennonite Church recently celebrated 23 years as an intercultural, multi-lingual congregation of 16 cultures of origin. The church’s witness in Norristown and beyond has grown. But the economic downturn of 2007–08 continues to threaten God’s vision and mission for the congregation.

A 2010 public value study of the church’s local outreach ministries alone was valued at $247,000/ year—what it would cost the city of Norristown to replace the shared space with a child care center, a community Internet café, housing ministry for single women, and involvement with collaborative ministries—a homeless shelter, thrift store, and the local ministerium’s anti-violence ministries. Members also provide leadership for mission work in Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, and Great Britain.

With the meetinghouse in full use, the congregation launched a major expansion and renovation strategy in 2007, including the purchase of an adjacent office building for expanding outreach to the community. But the difficult economy impeded the generation of rental income to fully cover the mortgage.  A mutual aid effort by Franconia Conference congregations and friends gave Norristown New Life a much-needed breather in 2011–12, and one tenant was acquired.

To date, Univest, the mortgage lender, has not been open to lower the 2007 interest rate of 7.25%. The office building and meetinghouse are held as collateral. A foreclosure process is underway.

“If the congregation was to lose its home base for ministry, the spiritual and economic fallout in our “working poor” and immigrant community would be a tsunami,” said Ertell Whigham, one of three on the intercultural pastoral team. The child care center is a “beloved community” for 65 children from 35-40 families. The Internet café bridges the digital divide for community residents with Internet service, computer training, and a Christian witness. Single women needing some living assistance thrive in a shared, Christian environment.

The impact of ASSETS Montco’s microenterprise training program can still be found in successful small businesses around town—and in the number of calls for training since the program, a former tenant in the office building, lost funding and closed in 2010.

The church continues to seek solutions to this crisis, including new tenants, refinancing, and financial support of partners who affirm the intercultural vision and mission God has given the congregation.

For more information, contact Ertell Whigham, 610-636-1772, or Jim Williams, 610-277-1729.

Justice includes compassion and mercy

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Bobby Wibowoby Mikah Ochieng, summer writing team

Compassion rarely surfaces as a topic voiced in the same breath with justice. Justice, after all, is commonly acquainted with the tenets of fairness, that is, what is deserved according to a set of commonly held laws and beliefs. Displaying a form of affectionate compassion, it would seem in most cases, would fly in the face of the outcomes of fairness. Think about helping people that you know, by all accounts, shouldn’t deserve help–isn’t this a breach in the case of enacting justice?

I had this discussion recently with Bobby Wibowo, a 23-year-old man born in Indonesia, who is now living in Philadelphia where we are part of the same church, Philadelphia Praise Center.  Bobby is a paralegal working mostly with immigration law.  He tells me that despite the machine-like tenacity of our legal system, he believes that compassion is an integral component in treating people justly. Bobby believes that people of privilege and power in law-making decisions often need a change in perspective. He asserts that mercy should be a lens by which law-makers interpret the law and arbitrate on people’s immigration cases.

I ask why.

“People in power have their own agendas,” Bobby says, implying a critical disconnect between the worldview and power of the socially influential from the experiences of the socially marginalized or powerless. Bobby’s insight evokes the adage: one cannot possibly hope to understand the “other” without first walking a mile in his or her shoes.

But what would mercy and compassion actually look like in the process of immigration justice and reform? In the case of immigration, Bobby suggests, people who have an order posted against them for deportation should, in certain cases, be excused. Bobby lists some cases where the justice system should reconsider the sentence of those awaiting deportation on the basis of extraordinary circumstances: if a dependent family member is suffering from poor health; if the deportee is strongly involved in the community, is seeking asylum, or if children with U.S. citizenship would be involved in the deportation process. These are all factors that need to be considered in cases that include deportation as an option, Bobby asserts.

Bobby retains a lot of faith in the justice system but he isn’t blind to unjust rulings in cases that pass through his hands at the law office. While translating and organizing documents and files that have gone to trial, he sometimes comes across a case in which he thinks the ruling should have been more lenient. Maybe if the justice system would be more willing to extend a hand of grace, he reflects, and recognize that the human dignity of offending immigrants is equal to that of U.S. citizens, we might reach a justice that more reflects what Christ demonstrated with us.

Seeing God around every corner in South Philly

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Ardi - 2013Summer Service Stories from Mennonite Central Committee

Last summer, Ardi Hermawan took MCC grocery bags, which are filled with non-perishable food and given to Anabaptist churches in Philadelphia to share in their communities, to the near-by Walgreen’s and handed them out to people who could use some food and appreciated talking to someone.  It went well and so over spring break this year, Hermawan arranged to do it again with a group of his fellow students from Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) who came to Philadelphia to spend their week. Hermawan is part of Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC), a multi-ethnic congregation whose members speak Indonesian, English, and Spanish.

Just a couple months ago, Hermawan returned home to Indonesia for a month-long visit. It was his first visit back since leaving for the U.S seven years ago when he was eighteen years old. Knowing there are many health needs in his home community, and that as a fourth year nursing student at EMU he has some knowledge about health issues, he set up a clinic in his house.  For four weeks, people lined up  in front of his family’s home at 6:30 in the morning to receive free screenings for things like high blood pressure and blood sugar levels. This was a service he could provide for those who didn’t have money to pay for these screenings elsewhere. In the evenings, he would give health lessons about diabetes, high blood pressure, and prenatal care.

Now, this summer Hermawan is a MCC Summer Service Worker with his church, Philadelphia Praise Center, and in his neighborhood.  You can just imagine all the different things that he is doing.  PPC recently finished their 3-week peace camp for 7-13 year-olds in the neighborhood.  Hermawan was right in the middle of it all, teaching and sharing his understanding of faith, love, and hope, in very practical terms. He is also accompanying his neighbors throughout the day and throughout the events of their lives, whether that is taking someone to the emergency room, teaching people newly arrived from Indonesian  how health insurance and hospital bills work in the U.S., or interpreting between a person and their doctor. Right now, he checks on a woman each day who recently had surgery and he is changing the bandages during this period of postoperative days.

Hermawan talks about how he is “so passionate” about connecting with other people; helping them, serving them, because he loves them. Simple as that. With a heart so wide open and a faith that follows where God leads, Hermawan is touching the lives of many people and is also being blessed by them. He watches and listens to his mentor, Pastor Aldo Siahaan of PPC, who, Hermawan shares, is so giving to the people around him, answering calls any time of day or night from people who are in need.  Siahaan teaches that “we are to be there for people 100%, not 75%, not 50%,” Hermawan says.

As Hermawan accompanies people and shares life with them, he sees how he has been accompanied by others who love and guide him.  He lost his father at an early age and years later came to the U.S. on his own.  All along the way, there have been male mentors who have fathered Hermawan, from his cousin to Pastor Siahaan to Steve Kriss, a member of the PPC community and a staff member of Franconia Mennonite Conference. He shares that God is always there when Hermawan takes a step out in faith.  This is what he is learning throughout his life and during this summer as he lives and works in his community as a MCC Summer Service Worker.

So, what is next? With four weeks left before Hermawan returns for his final year at EMU, he is helping PPC organize English classes for newly arrived refugee children in the neighborhood, making some space at PPC that is more kid-friendly, and interpreting between people and their doctors. Asked where he has seen God this summer, he replies, “Oh yes, God is around every corner.”

“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.