Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

James Lapp

A Call to Trust, to Lead, to be Collegial, to Seek the Spirit: A Response to the Mennonite Church USA Survey

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by James M. Lapp

jim lapp cropped 3-26-15On March 14, 2015, about 40 Franconia Mennonite Conference leaders gathered to discuss the response of credentialed leaders in our conference to the Mennonite Church USA survey on issues related to people in same-gender relationship in the church. Conrad Kanagy, a sociologist and pastor from Elizabethtown, Pennyslvania, who compiled the results of the survey, provided interpretation of the results with particular reference to its meaning for our conference.

In a nutshell, we learned the credentialed leaders in Franconia Conference (and six other Mennonite Church USA conferences) are fairly evenly divided in their response to people with same-gender attraction. Perhaps that is not a surprise to most people. Kanagy observed that these responses offer a “proxy” for deeper themes that contribute to our current tensions. In other words, when we discuss our different responses to homosexuality, there are other themes that feed these differences, like how we understand Scripture, Jesus, mission and the church.

We are left with the question of what we do with our differences. As Kanagy reported, these convictions run deep and are not easily changed; for a variety of reasons, we will likely always disagree on this and other important questions. Is that unlike the New Testament church where Paul addressed questions on which they strongly disagreed? Of course our issues always seems different and more serious than their issues—but are our disagreements more substantial than Acts 15 and the inclusion or exclusion of Gentiles in a Jewish church?

We hear reports of those who think they must break ties with the Mennonite Church USA over this issue of same-gender relationships. That is a common response when we disagree–to separate and form a new alliance of like-minded people on this issue. The body of Christ, including Mennonites, reflects a great assortment of people who claim to follow Jesus but disagree on some point of doctrine or practice. To divide reinforces our sense of faithfulness and purity, but does it honor Christ and the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17?

In our “third way” church, might there not a third way response on this issue? What if our focus shifted from boundary maintenance to the “center” we all claim to have in Jesus Christ? How might that focus cast our disagreements in a different light? Might the tone of the conversation soften and we discover more grace for one another? We can still debate and argue and exhort one another on our understanding of Scripture, while still extending to one another the respect and love in keeping with the first and greatest commandment incumbent on us all. What holds the body together is our common allegiance to Jesus, not theories of inspiration, atonement, details on being peacemakers, or our views on same-gender people. Must our disagreements break relationships in the body of Christ?

God seems to have created us to be different. Paul makes clear in I Corinthians 12 that our diversity is not an accident, but God’s design for the church. It becomes our laboratory for learning to love even when we disagree. The New Testament letters repeatedly urge, indeed command us to love one another, extend kindness and grace toward each other, forgive quickly, and respect our brothers and sisters with our different personalities, convictions, and styles of living out our discipleship.

Some years ago I recall reading a statement by John Esau, a sage in the field of pastoral leadership, who said that churches do not leave conferences. Pastors lead congregations away from their conference or denominational connections. The way congregations respond in this season of high tension and stress will often reflect the tone and character of us as pastoral leaders. Does our own anxiety spread to those we serve? Do we plant seeds that undermine trust in relationships or do we engender hope and generosity? Do we emphasize boundaries and who is in and who is out, or do we call the people to a magnanimous love and grace toward others, as Conrad Kanagy invited us to exhibit, when discussing contentious topics like sexuality? Leaders make a powerful difference in the direction a church takes.

We need not minimize the importance of sexuality. But neither dare we abdicate our leadership role in providing pastoral direction on these hard questions that often quickly become polarized. The Holy Spirit of God has come to provide inner clarity and wisdom to leaders (John 16:12-13). May we be attentive to the Spirit and not allow the forces of society and the strong voices around us to determine our direction.

This survey was only a tool to greater awareness. Let’s allow these survey results serve as the impetus for collegially reaching out to each other as pastors in mutual support as we seek to discern and carry out the will of Jesus, the Lord of the church, on this and other important challenges we face.

James M. Lapp serves with his wife Miriam Book as interim pastors at Zion Mennonite Church in Souderton, Pennsylvania. He is a credentialed pastoral leader in Franconia Conference.

Reflections on the Journey: celebrating the career of Noah Kolb

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Noah Kolb's Open House
Noah and his wife Sara talk with their guests at the December 11 open house honoring Noah’s years of ministry. Photo by Emily Ralph

by Krista Showalter Ehst, Bally congregation

For Noah Kolb, the journey has moved in unexpected places, bringing challenges and blessings alike. Reflecting on a 45 year ministerial career—the most recent 14 of which he spent in Franconia Conference leadership—Noah says, “I could not have dreamed this path and in many ways it has felt like God has nudged and moved me along step by step.” As Noah anticipates his retirement years, he continues to experience those divine nudgings, offering words of wisdom from his ministerial work.

Noah was born and raised in a farming family in Spring City, Pa. He felt the call to ministry at a fairly young age, and this call was drawn out and affirmed by many people along the road. Noah names teachers, in-laws, mentors, and seminary professors at Goshen Biblical as central to discerning and following his call. Perhaps most significantly of all, Noah’s wife Sara has brought wisdom and counsel—as well as her own gifts of hospitality and relationship-building—that have helped Noah live into his calling. As he says, “I would not have wanted to do the journey without her.”

Noah and Sara Kolb
Noah and Sara were honored at the Credentialed Leaders Appreciation Dinner on December 2 with a fraktur by Roma Ruth. Photo by Emily Ralph.

That journey took Noah and his family to many different ministerial settings.  He spent 24 years in pastoral ministry: beginning part time at Pottstown (Pa.) Mennonite, moving to Swamp congregation (Quakertown, Pa.) for 11 years, and then serving the Bellwood Congregation in Nebraska for 5 years.  The leadership skills he exhibited during those years resulted in his call into conference ministry. After serving as the only Iowa-Nebraska conference minister for a number of years, he returned to the east coast. Jim Lapp, his brother-in-law and a former conference colleague, remembers that transition. “Noah’s strength as a leader arises from his lack of pretense and aspiration for recognition and a genuine humility and gentle spirit,” Jim shares.  “It was his strong churchmanship and character that led us to call him in 2000 to serve as part of the Conference Ministry Team [of Franconia Conference].”

Conference ministry brought its own set of challenges and learnings. For Noah, one significant area of growth was in conflict management. Noah grew up with very little understanding of conflict and became quite anxious when faced with it. As a pastor and conference minister, however, he was quick to realize that “wherever you have two or three gathered, there will be conflict.” Noah worked hard to wrestle with his aversion to conflict and to develop a non-anxious presence. He tried to create safe spaces where people could gather to talk and to share openly about their differences. As is so often the case, Noah remembers his times of helping congregations to move through conflict as some of the most difficult and rewarding moments of his career.

Noah and Bobby
Noah discusses life and ministry with Bobby Wibowo (Philadelphia Praise Center) at the 2013 Conference Assembly. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.

As he’s worked alongside congregations, Noah has realized the importance of building relationships. He believes leaders cannot be effective without building trust with their congregations. Undoubtedly shaped by the many mentors in his own life, Noah has worked to build this trust by prioritizing one-on-one relationships with pastors, taking the time to listen to their stories and to know them more deeply. One leader who has benefited from this relational approach is , currently leading Peace Proclamation Ministries International in India and a member of Plains congregation, where Noah and Sara also attend. “Noah has energized me with his natural ability as a servant leader,” says.  “I have seen and experienced in him the qualities of gentleness and love.”

As he moves into retirement, Noah continues to model gentleness, strength, relationality, and the willingness to listen in the midst of difference. “We live with a lot of judgment towards each other and we don’t know how to receive and accept each other graciously as brothers and sisters in Christ even with our diversity,” Noah reflects.  “One of my deep convictions is that we need to work at a greater understanding of God’s grace and mercy—that God has received and uses us amazingly in our brokenness and that we can extend that grace to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. My deep yearning is that we can somehow learn to do that much better—not a sense that anything goes, but an extending of mercy and grace and compassion to each other in the midst of our brokenness.”

Noah and Nancy
MC USA Conference Minister Nancy Kauffmann joins Franconia Executive Minister Ertell Whigham and Eastern District Conference Minister Warren Tyson to pray for Noah at Conference Assembly 2013. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.

While Noah has faced challenges in the last few years of ministry as he struggled with failing vision, his care and giftedness as a pastor to leaders has continued to shine through. “While it is indeed true that he is having a struggle with his physical eyesight, the spiritual eyesight of my brother continues to grow,” said Ertell Whigham, Franconia’s Executive Minister, at the 2013 Conference Assembly in November.  “[Noah is] able to see the needs and the care and the encouragement and the guidance and the wisdom that our brothers and sisters who serve in ministry need.  And so, while indeed there may be some struggles with [his] physical eyesight, I thank God for [his] spiritual eyesight….  I have truly been transformed through our intercultural interaction.”

Reflections on one day with MDS on Staten Island

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by James M. Lapp

On November 8, following Superstorm Sandy, I was privileged to participate with one of the early Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) teams to Staten Island.  There amidst the front end loaders lifting wet debris from the streets into dump trucks, we encountered a busy community of local people and volunteers like us attempting to be helpful.  One thing became immediately clear.  MDS and Mennonites did not have a corner on compassion and care.

Along the street in front of the Oasis Christian Center building, men worked over a grill preparing chicken for anyone, including us, to eat for lunch.  The church (with partial Mennonite roots) had moved their worship to another setting to make the building available as a center of distribution for clothes and food.  In the background we heard the purr of generators providing power for the activities going on in the church.  Beside the church, at a makeshift table under a canopy, two people gave direction to the many people milling about who were seeking to be helpful.

Located only a few blocks from the bay, this church, like all the homes in the area, was vulnerable when the high tide and storm surge came roaring down the street.  Across the front of the church a distinct waterline indicated the height of the water during the storm—about neck high for an average-sized adult.  Basements and the first floor of homes throughout the neighborhood had been flooded.  Near to the church were several homes where the residents had drowned.

Inside the church, we sorted clothes and food donated for those in need.  “Do you have any hooded sweat shirts?” someone inquired.  Such a request was not hard to understand on this cold November day.

“We lost everything,” a woman reported through tears, with deep gratitude for jackets to wear.

Toiletries, clothes, and food of every kind appeared.  Twice during the day a U-Haul truck pulled up to the curb with contributions gathered around the city for distribution.  Others in our group worked at restoring electrical systems destroyed by the water, or in removing drywall so that the interior of the walls could dry without mildew.

The residents of this Staten Island community have lived near the water all of their lives.  Never has anything of this sort happened before.  How quickly the fury of the storm shattered the lives of these otherwise stable middle-class families!  It was hard for them and for me to make sense of such devastation.   I could almost hear in the background the taunting voices the Psalmist experienced in the wake of such a personal tragedy: “Now where is your God?”  (Psalm 42:3)

About dark we began our journey back to Lansdale, Pa., and to the safety of our homes. The team was united in gratitude for being able to participate in such a day of service to others.  But beneath the reward of having been privileged to serve, I sensed an unspoken sober awareness of the fragility of life, and the reality that natural disasters such as we witnessed were seemingly becoming more frequent.  At least that is what some of our public figures suggest.  What might that mean for our nation, for us?  That question, plus the inexplicable destruction we had just witnessed in this Staten Island community remained for us to ponder as we returned home that evening.

Jim Lapp is a retired Franconia Conference pastor who has served broadly in congregational, conference and denominational roles.   He and his wife Mim Book have returned to Southeastern Pennsylvania this fall after serving in an interim pastoral role in Nebraska.

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Individuals and teams from many Franconia Conference congregations have served with Mennonite Disaster Service since Superstorm Sandy, including Salford, Plains, Philadelphia Praise Center, Doylestown, Salem, Blooming Glen, and Ambler.  If you have served in this way and have reflections to share, email your thoughts to Emily.