Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Javier Marquez

New Wine Mennonite Church: A Mosaic Church Plant in Florida

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By Javier Márquez

Members of Iglesia Seguidores de Cristo, a Mosaic church in Sarasota, FL, are embarking on the challenge of starting a new ministry in Bradenton, FL.

Pastor Jimmy Henriquez, a 62-year-old Honduran, arrived with his wife and two children in the US a little over two years ago. Pastor Juan José Rivera, and the followers of Iglesia Seguidores de Cristo have supported the Henriquez family during this time of transition.  

Pastor Jimmy is now leading this new ministry initiative in Bradenton, FL, which begins like almost every new work: with very few things in hand, an empty trunk filled mostly with hopes and dreams, and the image of a large expansive area waiting to be seeded. 

The motivation for Pastor Jimmy to leave his home country, where he had many years of ministerial experience, was, “To take on new ministerial challenges.” And without fail, that is what he is doing. There is no better word to describe the project of a new church than challenging. Since Pastor Jimmy and his family arrived, they have had a mix of challenges, but have continued to be faithful to their call.  

Pastor Jimmy Henriquez and his family.

Although not yet officially birthed, though breathing and crawling, the new ministry already has a name: New Wine Mennonite Church.  Why New Wine? Because, Pastor Jimmy said, “God will do new things.” For now, the church is already seeking a meeting space and have set times of prayer and Bible study to be held on Wednesday nights, which they call Growth Groups. 

“Bradenton is a town of workers and there is a significant Hispanic population,” explained Pastor Jimmy. “It’s where the cars start from in the morning and where they return to in the evening when they come from Sarasota.”  

The mission is to bring the Kingdom of God closer to those who are working with their hands to build a future. Our prayers and best wishes for this immense project that is already in the heart of Jesus. 

Pastor Jimmy Henriquez and his wife.

Fernando Pérez and his Wife Rebeca Torres Building a Mennonite Community in the State of Morelos, Mexico

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In the State of Morelos, Mexico, is the eternal springtime. Throughout the year the sun falls on the heads of all its inhabitants but crossing the meadows and coming down from the mountains comes a breeze that makes living in Morelos a much more bearable activity.

In this place live our friends Fernando Pérez and Rebeca Torres, pastors of many years and who served not long ago in Denver, Colorado, together with the Mennonite Church helping immigrants.

Today they have a mission there and the Mosaic Conference is strengthening ties with them while looking at ways to help and cooperate with this ministry.

For Fernando and Rebeca, it is very important to introduce themselves to the community first as neighbors and create bonds of friendship and trust before going “door to door, street to street” preaching. They say that the most important thing is to be a community, long before CREATING an Anabaptist community. That is why they have also connected with different spheres of neighborhood help.

But in parallel, two meetings for prayer and biblical reflection have also begun, one virtual and the other face-to-face. The virtual community that started in 2020 already brings together 11 people, it is called LOS ANABAPTISTAS DEL CAMINO, and it brings together, above all, brothers, and sisters with a professional profile.

The other community, the face-to-face, is with the residents of the community of Morelos. They meet on Thursdays to pray and read the Bible. It still does not have any official Anabaptist character because for Fernando and Rebeca the most important thing is the exercise of theology more than the discourse… that story is explained in due time.

But the mission does not end there, our brothers are also connected with a center to help Central American migrants in the town of Cuautla and with a group of families who are looking for those who have disappeared due to violence.

“We would like the Mosaic Conference to have in the future an accompaniment represented by volunteers who come to learn about the mission and to help, also from a cultural exchange perspective. It is also important to promote the projects, with the help of some financial resources. What we do with immigrants, for example, is often very limited by the limited capacity for action that we have” explains Fernando Pérez.

Healthy Niños of Honduras Shares Food and Mattresses with Victims of Storms of Dread ETA and IOTA

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This article is translated to English by Andrés Castillo. Original article appears in Mosaic News En Español: Healthy Niños de Honduras Comparte su Comida y Colchones a Afectados Por Las Tormentas de Espanto ETA y IOTA por Javier Marquez

A few months ago I spoke with Herman Sagastume of the project Healthy Niños (“Healthy Children”). Along with getting to know about Healthy Niños, we discussed the Shalom Fund created by Mosaic Conference to deal with money shortages in communities in Honduras with which it works, in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Photo from the official Healthy Niños Facebook Page

A Small Sprout of Light

This time I spoke with him to ask about a similar topic: the situation of these communities after Honduras received two hurricanes, ETA and IOTA, in November. The outlook is not always uplifting; but in the gloom, it has always been possible to see a small sprout of light. 

Storm of Dread

Chaos is inexplicable. First it was ETA, which, coming from the south, reached Honduras with less fury than when it passed through neighboring countries. Either way, it produced losses and grave complications like floods and minor landslides. After the never-ending rain, during the days where people had time to readjust and repair the damages, IOTA arrived as a storm of dread. It painted the landscapes with images of plains where there used to be houses, lakes where there used to be fields of crops, lines of people seeking refuge, roofs of houses floating like canoes, paths crossed by fallen tree trunks, and trees crushed by the weight of the rain or destroyed by the strong winds.

With IOTA, it is estimated that the injury count surpasses 2 million

The northern part of Honduras was the most affected, and what makes this situation worse is that the country depends on the productivity of this area for between some 60-65% of its economy. A few months ago, we narrated the difficulties which, in these countries, took the form of a sanitary crisis during the pandemic due to their shortcomings in the health system and of the distribution of money. In the same way today, complications for this hurricane arise due to the unstable infrastructure that the country possesses. 

Herman explained all of this for the knowledge of all the churches of Mosaic Conference. He has lived many years in the state of Virginia, is Honduran, and his work with Healthy Niños is objectively focused on his country of origin. He tells us that he has never before seen so much destruction in Honduras, including when hurricane Mitch passed through the country in 1998. With IOTA, it is estimated that the number of affected persons surpasses 2 million. 

The poor are the most affected

In Arepo, an area where Healthy Niños does its work with basic education and malnutrition, given that people who live there are too poor and have seen themselves forced to construct their houses in places with high risk, the danger reaches critical levels for the project.

Letter to Julia Where I Speak of the Unimaginable Marta Castillo and her Organic Ministry

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This article is translated to English by Andrés Castillo. Original article appears in Mosaic News En Español: Banda de Cinco Niños Hacen Travesuras, Hablan por Señas, Corren a Escondidas de Ana y Estudian en Computadores Carta a Julia Donde se Habla de la Inimaginable Marta Castillo y su Ministerio Orgánico by Javier Marquez

Dear Julia, 

The cold has not stopped, and you more than anyone knows that the cold creates bad music in my heart. I haven’t forgotten last winter, when we had the fortune of studying together in the city where you were born and that you love more than any other. Where we shared, apart from readings, a teapot to prepare your tea of aromatic plants, and heat up the water for the coffee that I prepared myself, refusing to use the coffee maker. 

As I promised you before leaving for the mission that you’ve given me, I’ll now begin to tell you through this letter of the findings of my surveying, which you have arranged for me during your kind and noble tutoring and discipleship.

After so much effort of long readings, serious reflections, and faithful service, your wise will has understood that the next thing to do is set out on this search of, as you have described it to me, “finding the deep parts of the heart of God in the people I meet and the actions I witness” on this research trip.

It hasn’t been long since I left the comfort of your tutorials, and I now have the joy of being able to tell you of my very first findings. I’ve seen God, in the sense that you’ve incited in me, as the result of a marvelous conversation with a woman who presented a few shards of her life to me—shards which have been more than enough to begin to better understand what “finding the deep parts of the heart of God in the people I meet and the actions I witness” means.

Luego de tanto esfuerzo de lecturas largas, reflexiones serias y servicio fiel, tu sabia voluntad ha entendido que lo siguiente es emprender esta búsqueda de, como bien me lo has descrito, “encontrar lo profundo del corazón de Dios en las personas o en los hechos que conozca en mi viaje de investigación”. 

Her married name is Marta Castillo. She lives in Norristown, a place in Pennsylvania that I wasn’t sure was a small city, or a large town. She has lived in this place for many years, where she married years back and raised two sons, Andrés and Daniel. Her husband is from Cali, Colombia, and his name is Julio. Similar to yours—a calendar name. 

However, she didn’t always live in Norristown. She is the daughter of two missionaries who brought her up and educated her in Indonesia. Already with only these short lines I am giving you a sheet of implicit information. A childhood in Indonesia, a country of islands and spiciness; the wife of a Colombian, people of coffee and music; plus the ingredient of her United States nationality, a people who you know better than I—but I rise to say about them that they are people with an admirable capacity of curiosity, and of a country with much geographical variety. Marta told me that ever since she was a child she always felt like part of a ministerial team, because her parents always involved her and her younger brother in their work of serving. 

She enjoyed this life of service so much that, when she learned that she would have to leave Indonesia, she wanted to travel to any other country that wasn’t her parents’ home country in order to be able to continue with her life of service. This didn’t happen, but as she herself commented in our conversation, “God always has his own plans.”

She studied to be a teacher and after graduating, she volunteered for three years to teach English to children with learning difficulties in Washington, D.C. This gave me an idea of her levels of patience. Afterwards, she was called to lead a youth program at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life (NVNNL—Norristown, PA), with the detail that when she arrived, she would be the only young person to lead in the program. Despite this small inconvenience, she remained at NVNNL, a place where she found an honest community that warmly received everyone, and that held its services in different languages, uniting multiple cultures. There, as you have surely begun to suspect with your shrewdness, she met Julio, who she married barely fourteen months after beginning to date. Love is more simple than what one figures.

At this moment our conversation was momentarily interrupted because the waitress brought us hot drinks and some sweet bread that we had ordered a few minutes before. Just then, I noticed a book that Marta had in her bag: Re-discipling the White Church. She noticed that I had turned my attention to her book, and she briefly told me that it contained reflections of a Christian man who had gone through many intercultural experiences, and in that way was able to talk to his brothers and sisters of white churches about what he learned.

At NVNNL, she helped in each corner of the camp. She carried out each task necessary, and one day was offered to be pastor. It was a calling that built up throughout the years. At first, it was a difficult thing for Julio. He wondered, “What does it mean to be the husband of a pastor?” Marta wanted his support, and after about a year, Julio heard God telling him that he couldn’t be an obstacle in the way of his wife’s calling, but rather the total opposite—her support.

In that way started her pastoral ministry that lasted 10 years—a period in her life where she learned something fundamental to her, the importance of sustaining her job as a pastor on the basis of relationships, walking alongside others, conversing with and accompanying people. When the time came when this stage of her life ended, confirmed by a dream of God, she found herself working with Mosaic conference, supporting three churches as Leadership Minister. Today she continues, and it seems that next year she will work with a total of eight. She is also a member of the intercultural team, a job that doesn’t seem easy. She says that working with people of different nationalities and cultures demands flexibility and humility.

Well, the afternoon passed very rapidly despite the cold. But, before I say goodbye to you I’ll share a few words from Marta that I’ve liked: 

  • “I’ve always liked challenges, my position is to always say yes to God. When one doesn’t feel prepared, or that he or she isn’t capable, God will provide.”
  • “At NVNNL I learned from the latino congregation to pray with more freedom. I feel more comfortable and free praying in Spanish than in my own language.”
  • “That feeling of never being completely prepared, but always ready.”

I hope to write to you soon about a new discovery on this trip. See you soon, Julia. Protect yourself from the cold and respond to me about your impressions of the first results of my mission. Apologies for the lengthy letter, as I know you’ve repeatedly told me that they’re not your favorite.

With care,
The one you only call by the nickname of the Curioso Impertinente (“the Curious Meddler”).

What Can We Do?

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How the Shalom Fund Offered Help in Mexico

By Javier Márquez, Conference Communication Intern

There is a crisis happening in Mexico, due to COVID-19. Pastor Oscar Dominguez shared about the situation many people are facing today in Mexico and the work being done by Anabaptist churches to respond to the famine and economic insecurity that families are experiencing.  

A delighted woman in Mexico receives a food bag during COVID-19. Food was provided by Mennonite Churches in Mexico, Mosaic Mennonite Conference Shalom Funds, and Mennonite Central Committee.

In Mexico, the public data regarding the pandemic is being underreported. Data from private, non-profit institutions are showing much higher numbers than data from the Mexican government. Knowing this, the brothers and sisters of the Conference of Evangelical Anabaptist Mennonite Churches of Mexico (CIEAMM) began to take measures of mutual collaboration with the aim of surviving the imminent period of scarcity that was approaching like a wave on their coast.  

Pastor Oscar said, in addition to a time of challenges, it was a moment that allowed them to discover the talents of different people in the churches that are oriented to mutual care and service.  

The first weeks of the pandemic were a period of transition for the churches in Mexico when each one needed to adapt to new technologies, utilize others’ resources, and face their limitations. 

“If the virus didn’t kill them, hunger would kill them. It was important for the church to ask itself how to help and find ways to do it.” – Pastor Oscar Domínguez

Each church started looking for ways to help out by giving baskets of donated food, contacting food banks, and sharing leftover food with other families. In Pastor Oscar´s church, they coordinated monitoring situations among the members of the congregation to determine needs, as some lost jobs, others had more mouths to feed, and some were single parents.  

  “The important thing was to share with love, to take care of each other, but also to share
with those who have the least.  People who are not even part of our churches but are part
of the community need help. We listen –without   any type of religious proselytizing. It
has always been a matter of genuine generosity, an explicit action of love.” – Pastor Oscar
Dominguez.

Members of Mennonite Churches in Mexico give and receive food during the pandemic. Mosaic Mennonite Conference Shalom Funds were used to support this work.

Pastor Oscar highlights that everything has been maintained, thanks to the generosity of church members and donations. Two of these donations, of great worth, were the donation of the Shalom Fund from Mosaic Mennonite Conference and the donation of food pantries by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Pastor Oscar told the story of Sister Adela, a senior citizen in a wheelchair, who upon receiving a food pantry, sent him a photo of herself with her grandchildren as a thank you.   

“The eyes of those children when they received the bag full of food … how they looked at and contemplated every little thing in the basket… they said to the grandmother, “We are rich,’”  reported Pastor Oscar, as he himself makes an effort not to cry. 

Pastor Oscar also shared about a blind man for whom Sister Eloida, an elderly woman and widow, prepared a box of food with what little she had in her pantry. She asked the blind man to go collect the food, but on the way his cane broke. Faced with this new challenge, another act of generosity was awakened by the members of the church; they bought him a new cane. 

Backpacks for the Border

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by Javier Marquez, intercultural communication associate, with Emily Ralph Servant

On the night of October 18, 2019, a group of adults and children worked for several hours at the Material Resource Center, a part of Mennonite Central Committee’s ministry in Harleysville, PA. The objective of the project was to put together kits of basic supplies that will be delivered to migrants who crossed the border from Mexico. Members of Franconia Conference contributed the helping hands and gave resources to make the project a reality: 370 kits were packed that night, and the rest of the $20,000 donated by the conference (via churches, individuals and a matching grant) will be sent to MCC Central States to purchase additional supplies.

The kits consisted of a set of useful products such as towels, notebooks, pens, water, and other basic necessities for people who have recently been released from migrant detention camps.  Although simple, these kits represent a direct and tangible way to contribute to the needs of immigrants who enter the United States looking for a new home.

The work on the 19th was an example of solidarity and mutual help.  Thanks to 20 volunteers from three southeast Pennsylvania churches (Indonesian Light Church, and Philadelphia Praise Center, Plains Mennonite Church), the kits were efficiently packed in a large collection of green backpacks and were ready in time to be sent from Harleysville to be distributed through MCC Central States.

Each of these churches, in addition to belonging to Franconia Conference, is a community that includes many first- and second-generation immigrants. Although these immigrants come from different places on the map, such as Indonesia and Mexico, they each have left behind what is familiar to embark on a trip, marked by difficulties and uncertainty.  In understanding and solidarity, they gathered to fill backpacks as people who are aware of the pain and joy of migration.

The children were encouraged to share which countries they were from and they diligently helped for the almost-two-hours that the work took. After the backpacks were filled, the workers gathered together to join in a prayer led by Pastor Hendy Stevan Matahelemual of Indonesian Light Center.  They prayed specifically for those who would receive the kit and in general for each person who undertakes the trip and who seeks a place that guarantees their rights and, even, saves their lives.

Learning to be a Peacemaker

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(leer en español)

by Jennifer Svetlik, Salford congregation

Javier Márquez, IVEP’er serving with Franconia Conference

“One of my greatest dreams is to learn how I can be a peacemaker. But before I go to the peace academy, the best way for me to learn is from other communities. I want to learn about their pain, their happiness, dreams, frustrations, and concerns. So I want to learn about you,” says Javier Márquez, an intercultural communication associate with Franconia Conference this year. 

Javier is a member of Mennonite Central Committee’s International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP). His placement is to work with the Conference communication team and record immigrant stories. IVEP is a yearlong volunteer work and cultural exchange opportunity for young adults.  

“I have been considering this opportunity with IVEP for a long time. I am so excited to have this amazing work,” Javier shares. 

Celebrating his sister’s birthday with two of his four siblings and his parents at their apartment in Bogotá.

Javier grew up in his ancestral home of Suacha, a city in the center of Colombia. He now lives in Bogotá, the capital. He has four siblings and his family is large, “like most Latin families,” Javier says. He is part of Teusaquillo Mennonite Church in Bogotá, and he is proud of his community because they take very seriously the call to be peacemakers.

Javier has also taken this call seriously; he refused Colombia’s obligatory military conscription for young men, and in doing so entered a two year legal process. With the support of the Mennonite church in Colombia and the nonprofit organization Justapaz, Javier finally won his case as a conscientious objector. “I believe that the nonviolent path of Jesus goes beyond refusing to be a part of wars and violence but also to work for peace with passion and commitment,” Javier reflects. 

Four years ago with friends and the support of the Mennonite church and Justapaz, Javier began an activism project about becoming a conscientious objector. The group is now called CoNova and is comprised of many different kinds of young people: students, writers, nurses, DJs, lawyers, psychologists, and more. 

Javier dancing salsa with Evie, an IVEPer from Canada at Orientation in Akron.

“Colombia is the land of coffee, salsa and Vallenato music, orchids and emeralds, traditional dishes litke sancocho (soup), aguapanela (hot sugary drink), arepas (cheese and corn flour cake), ajiaco (chicken, potatoes, and corn on the cob) and bandeja paisa (fried pork belly, red beans, plantains, and more),” Javier says.  “And it is impossible not to mention that Colombia is the land of Love in the Time of Cholera (a classic novel by Gabriel García Márquez) and of Macondo (the fictional town in another famous work by García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude).”

Javier arrived in Pennsylvania in mid-August and is living in South Philadelphia. Each morning he drinks Colombian coffee and tries to read a poem in English to learn new words. He is still learning what a typical day will look like; so far he has tried to always listen with intense focus and open his eyes to everything around him so that he can understand the different ways of doing things here. 

“I have learned that the streets are too similar here; I say this jokingly because I have gotten lost twice. Never in my life have I learned so many new words, but at the same time, I’ve never been so quiet. I have learned a lot,” Javier shares. 

Javier has been visiting immigrant churches such as Centro de Alabanza, Philadelphia Praise Center, and Indonesian Light, to connect with people and write about their immigrant stories. He hopes to meet others who dance salsa, as he loves to do. When he returns to Colombia after his time with IVEP, Javier would like to work in community-oriented journalism.