Michael Howes

Kansas City MC USA Special Assembly Report

June 2, 2022 by Cindy Angela

From May 27-30, more than five hundred delegates from throughout Mennonite Church USA traveled to Kansas City, MO to worship, dialogue, and discern God’s future for our denomination. There were over 50 delegates from Mosaic Conference.

The assembly began Friday evening with worship, including the typical harmonious Mennonite singing in several languages and storytelling by three pastors.

***The Special Assembly of MC USA gathered 506 delegates from across the country on May 27-30. Photo by Dave Mansfield.***

Saturday morning’s worship included a sermon by Dr. Samuel Sarpiya, former Moderator of the Church of the Brethren, on the need for us to live with a spirit of unity in the midst of differences. After worship, the opening business session began with the approval of minutes and opportunities for delegates to get to know their assigned tablemates.

Delegates entered into a facilitated discussion of the “Clarification on Mennonite Church USA Polity and the Role of the Membership Guidelines of Mennonite Church USA” resolution. The purpose of this resolution was to retire the 2001 Membership Guidelines as the active polity of MC USA. Specifically, Section III of the guidelines says that credentialed pastors in MC USA may not perform same-sex covenant ceremonies. The facilitated discussion encouraged delegates around their tables to process how the membership guidelines have functioned in MC USA for good and for ill.

After lunch, there was a discussion and vote as to whether or not to process “A Resolution for Repentance and Transformation.” This resolution acknowledges and attempts to make right the harm suffered by LGBTQIA Mennonites due to MC USA actions and policies. The delegates voted 357-135 in favor of processing the resolution, so time to process and vote on the resolution was added to Sunday’s agenda.

Aldo Siahaan (*Philadelphia Praise*), Ertell Whigham (Nueva Vida Norristown (PA) New Life) and Marta Castillo (*Mosaic Associate Executive Minister)* at the KC Assembly. Photo by Hendy Matahelemual.

On Saturday afternoon, four church leaders, including Mosaic Leadership Minister, Aldo Siahaan, of Philadelphia Praise Center, shared how they have navigated the challenges of ministry during the global pandemic.

Sunday morning’s sermon by Dr. Samuel Sarpiya exhorted the delegates to be peacemakers in their contexts. After a facilitated community-building exercise, floor discussion began of the resolution to retire the Membership Guidelines. Many delegates spoke and it was obvious that feelings run deep regarding the treatment of LGBTQIA persons within Mennonite Church USA. A vote was taken, and by a margin of 404-84, the resolution was approved and the Membership Guidelines were retired as polity for MC USA.

After lunch, a facilitated discussion began of “A Resolution for Repentance and Transformation.” The intent of the resolution is to acknowledge the harm done by the church to LGBTQIA persons in the church, to repent of that harm, and to take some remedial steps, including eliminating the Membership Guidelines and adding representation on the Constituency Leaders Council for LGBTQIA persons. After the facilitated discussion, floor discussion was held. Many delegates shared. Many spoke in support of it, while some said they felt like they were being asked to repent for things they had not done. An unsuccessful motion to table the resolution was made. Delegates then voted, 267-212, in favor of the resolution.

Monday morning’s worship acknowledged the mix of emotions delegates were feeling. There was a facilitated discussion on the “For Justice” resolution, which had been presented as a study resolution not requiring a vote. The MC USA Accessibility Resolution was passed with a show of hands. Some delegates expressed regret that consideration of issues of justice and accessibility were crowded into the end of the agenda and not considered more fully. The assembly concluded with singing, “Blest Be The Tie That Binds.”

The delegates from Mosaic Conference gathered for a meal at a local restaurant in KC on May 29. Photo by Hendy Matahelemual.

The Mosaic Board will host post-Assembly listening sessions on June 6, 8, and 9 for further discussion. To register for the delegate listening sessions, please click here.

Sharing Joy through Overlapping Passions

August 11, 2020 by Conference Office

by Jennifer Svetlik, Salford congregation

Sue Conrad Howes and her husband, Michael Howes, live in Quakertown, PA and attend West Swamp Mennonite Church, where Michael is pastor. (photo credit: James L. Conrad)

“I love that my job is to gather articles that others have written about the amazing things going on in the conference, and then to be the conduit to share those things with a broader group of people,” says Sue Conrad Howes, editor for Mosaic Mennonite Conference. “This work has allowed me to get to know the conference at a much deeper level.”

Sue joined the conference staff in January 2020. Her part-time role primarily involves editing, writing, and overseeing the production of the weekly e-newsletter, Mosaic News. (Though the newsletter is automatically sent to pastors, credentialed leaders, and conference delegates, anyone can sign up here to receive it.)

Ideas for newsletter and blog articles often originate with conference staff. Sue also reviews bulletins and newsletters from conference congregations and Conference Related Ministries. Through reading these, she learns of events and stories to feature.

Sue grew up in Franconia Conference as part of the Blooming Glen (PA) congregation, but left eastern Pennsylvania for college. After 30 years, she has recently returned to her home area. Her husband, Michael, serves as pastor of West Swamp congregation (Quakertown, PA), where Sue is a member. Although Sue’s primary vocation is a trauma chaplain in two area hospitals, she feels grateful to reconnect with and serve the conference in her role.

Sue appreciates that her job is flexible and that she can work when she is not at the hospital, or when she gets the inspiration to write. Her role has evolved over time because as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the need for clear communication across the conference has increased.

An aspect of her role that Sue has particularly enjoyed has been coordinating the translation of the new conference website, as well as polity documents, and other information into five languages (Chinese, Haitian Creole, Indonesian, Spanish, and Vietnamese).

“I greatly appreciate the investment that the conference has made to ensure that documents are available in the many languages spoken in our conference,” Sue says. “And I have enjoyed getting to know people from different cultures who care deeply about the church and are also passionate about ensuring accurate translation,” Sue shares.

Sue is an ordained pastor in Mennonite Church USA and was a pastor for a number of years in Lancaster County (PA). Prior to this, she was a professor of communication at Goshen (IN) College. “I’ve had two tracks in my professional life: communication and church. When these two passions overlap, as they do in my current role, it makes me very happy,” Sue says.

Sue Conrad Howes performs her stand-up comedy routine at a comedy club in Lancaster, PA. (photo credit: Michael A. Howes)

Another passion in Sue’s life is finding joy and making people laugh. “Laughter is a huge part of my life, because of who I am, but also because my work as a trauma chaplain is intense,” she reflects. “I enjoy watching comedians and figuring out what makes them funny. I also have done some stand up comedy myself. It’s not your everyday hobby.”

Sue enjoys organizing things, whether it is a closet or an event. “I enjoy making things pleasant, joyful, and fun,” she adds.

She loves interacting with her nieces and nephews, who are a big part of her life. She also enjoys playing and watching sports, especially tennis. One of her life goals is to be a contestant on the game show, Wheel of Fortune, which she grew up watching with her mom and grandma. Don’t be surprised if someday you see her spinning the wheel and sharing her joy with the TV audience.

How Shall We Gather?

June 18, 2020 by Sue Conrad Howes

by Sue Conrad Howes, West Swamp congregation

Lynne Rush (center), music director at West Swamp Mennonite (Quakertown, PA), leads music during the June 14 drive-in service in the church’s parking lot. Pastor Michael Howes (left) and sound tech Tim Scheetz (right) *stand with masks on, at least six feet away.*

In March 2020, many churches were struggling with the need to close their doors for Sunday worship due to COVID-19. Now, three months later, some churches are struggling again: When and how do we begin to gather for corporate worship while still caring for the physical health of our congregation? Churches throughout the conference are trying a variety of approaches.

Some, typically smaller, congregations have begun worshiping in their church buildings while taking precautions. Wellspring Church of Skippack (PA) is gathering in person, but with written instructions to participants encouraging physical distancing and other guidelines. Offering is collected in plates at the exits, bulletin announcements are sent via email so there are no handouts, and hand sanitizer and masks are available to all. Persons who use the restrooms are asked to wipe down the surfaces after each use.

Mennonite Bible Fellowship (Morris, PA), has been meeting together since May 17. Congregants sit in every other pew, wear masks, and don’t shake hands. Pastor John Brodnicki commented that the “most inconvenient part of this arrangement is singing. It’s difficult to sing with a mask on.” They continue to monitor the number of COVID-19 cases in the area (their county has had relatively few). “If COVID cases were to spike, we may reconsider meeting together until the spike subsides,” Brodnicki added.

Since June 7, Franconia (Telford, PA) congregation has been gathering in its parking lot for worship. Using an outdoor sound system, FM transmitter, and a large LED screen to display the worship leader, musicians, and preacher (who are inside the church sanctuary), congregants sit in socially-distanced lawn chairs or in their cars. “The outdoor service,” according to Pastor Mark Wenger, “has been a great experience. This is the first step of gathering in person.”

Franconia has also utilized the rental of the LED screen to show family-friendly movies on the weekend, including many movie attendees who were not from the congregation. As a result, the church plans to continue offering movies periodically in the future as an opportunity for outreach.

*Congregants attend drive-in church at West Swamp (Quakertown, PA) via their vehicles. The worship service was available on car stereos via an FM transmitter.*

Pastor Beny Krisbianto shared how his congregation, Nations Worship (Philadelphia, PA), held worship in the park on June 14. When 40 people showed up for worship, church leaders decided to divide the group into two, as area restrictions limited gatherings to 25 people. Congregants wore masks and practiced social distancing while older members were encouraged to stay at home and participate virtually.

Some congregations are holding two services to limit the numbers in attendance. Perkiomenville (PA) congregation set up chairs in the worship space for appropriate distancing. They implemented a limit of 80 people per service and masks are expected for all who attend.

Meanwhile, Methacton congregation (Norristown, PA) has decided to wait until their county goes “green” before even considering meeting in person in any form. According to Pastor Sandy Drescher-Lehman, “We don’t have a plan yet for how to re-open since so much changes all the time.” Meanwhile, Methacton’s worship services are emailed to the congregation on Saturday afternoons, inviting people to worship on their own time. For Methacton, the question now is, “How much do we need to gather?” says Drescher-Lehman. “We’re still the church,” she reflects. “Sunday mornings are a great celebration that everyone will be happy to have again when the time is right, but I don’t think anyone is drying up spiritually.”

Listening for God’s Purpose

March 31, 2020 by Conference Office

by Michael A. Howes, pastor, West Swamp congregation

I grew up in southern Louisiana, attending church every time the doors were open. Sometimes my family were the ones who opened them.

I chose to become a follower of Jesus Christ at a young age and was baptized. My congregation had a very active youth program, and I was immersed in Bible study, worship, prayer, and mission projects all through junior high and high school. My youth group did everything from putting on musicals to visiting the state women’s prison to stage puppet shows. And I was in the thick of it all.

In eighth grade, my Sunday School teachers challenged us to read through the Bible, week by week. If you did the readings for the week, you got a gold star on a chart in our Sunday School room. For some reason, the idea of accumulating those gold stars was powerfully motivating to me; I read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation that year.

At the same time, I was absorbing from my youth pastor a life-changing truth: being a follower of Jesus didn’t only mean attending church and being a good person. Instead, Jesus wanted me to surrender my whole self to him so he could express his life through me. The inward spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer. and worship, combined with the outward discipline of service, worked together to deepen and broaden my life with God and prepare me to hear God’s call.

As my senior year of high school began, I tried to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up. As I had always been instructed, I prayed about it. All that came to me was that I really liked my youth group, so I decided that I would become a youth pastor.

Members of West Swamp congregation surround Michael Howes in prayer at his installation service in November 2019. (photo credit: Sue C. Howes)

That fall, at my youth group’s fall retreat, we were sent out into a field to listen in quietness for the voice of God. I didn’t have any patience with this. I sat down barely long enough for the dew to moisten my jeans, and then I bounced up and sought out my youth pastor. I was certain I had exciting news for him.

“Ken, guess what!?! I’m going to be a youth pastor, just like you!”

I expected him to say something along the lines of this validating his life’s work and about how excited he was.

Instead, Ken told me something I will never forget: “Michael, until you stop telling God what you’re going to do and start listening for God to tell you what to do, you’re never going to understand God’s purpose for your life.”

Umph! Not the response I had been hoping for.

But by God’s kindness, it was a teachable—if humbling—moment for me. I began to honestly seek God’s direction for my life, with no preconceived endpoint.

Six months later, my youth group was back in the same place, on our spring retreat. One evening, while watching a video about evangelism, I had an experience of hearing God speak to me. It wasn’t an audible voice, but I heard God call me to be a minister.

When I shared what I had heard with my congregation, they affirmed that they saw these signs of God’s gifts and call in my life. That was more than 30 years ago, and that experience of call has been what the Spirit of God has used to sustain me through the ups and downs of ministry.

The Work of Reconciliation in Quakertown

March 10, 2020 by Conference Office

by Sue Conrad Howes, West Swamp congregation

Over time, the Holy Spirit works, making the things that divide us seem so much less important than the things that unite us.

In 1847, a church split occurred over the style of coat worn by the pastor, keeping minutes at church meetings, and whether Sunday School was acceptable. We may laugh and even scoff at the topics that caused the split some 173 years ago, but the lines drawn during that split have been felt until just recently; in November 2019, Franconia Conference and Eastern District Conference voted to become one new conference, a reconciliation that went into effect in February 2020.

In the history books, the conference split was rooted in the history of two congregations: West Swamp Mennonite Church (which helped begin Eastern District) and Swamp Mennonite Church (which broke away from West Swamp and stayed with Franconia Conference). In the 19th century, West Swamp’s pastor John Oberholtzer was a leader in the 1847 division. The two congregations are now located just over a mile apart in Quakertown, PA.

Pastor Nathan Good (left) of Swamp Mennonite and Pastor Michael Howes (right) of West Swamp Mennonite serve communion to members of both congregations on March 1, 2020. Photo by Sue Conrad Howes

As a celebration of the reconciled conference, West Swamp and Swamp congregations worshiped together for two Sundays in March 2020. On March 1, both congregations gathered at West Swamp, enjoyed breakfast together, and worshiped with Pastor Nathan Good of Swamp preaching. The next Sunday, the two congregations worshiped together at Swamp, with Pastor Michael Howes preaching, and a fellowship meal following the service. Members of both churches participated in Scripture reading, worship leading, and music at each service. Perhaps most importantly, communion was celebrated both Sundays, together.

The theme for the two services was reconciliation. On March 1, Pastor Nathan invited the congregations to evaluate our conflicts, acknowledging that we all have them. He encouraged each person to engage our conflicts, for God’s sake, and to commit to genuine love. “God is bigger than our disagreements and God’s love frees us to love people despite our disagreements,” Pastor Nathan said.

Members of Swamp and West Swamp congregations gather around tables and take communion. Photo by Lynne Rush

“God is impartial,” he said. “In a divisive time, we need to be reminded that God is the God of all people. God is not ours; instead, we are God’s.”

The next Sunday, Pastor Michael invited the congregants to reach out to those in our lives with whom we need reconciliation. Referring to the Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau, Pastor Michael shared that it is not enough to hang back and let the other person make the first step. “Today the Holy Spirit is prompting you to initiate that reconciliation,” he encouraged. Pastor Michael focused on the ministry of reconciliation that all of God’s people are called to: “God says to us, ‘I want to make you an agent of reconciliation.’”

He acknowledged that the ministry of reconciliation is hard work. “Sometimes we need to say, ‘I forgive you,’ and other times we need to say, ‘I’m sorry, please forgive me.’”

Children from West Swamp and Swamp gather for children’s time on the topic of forgiveness and reconciliation during a joint worship service at Swamp Mennonite on March 8, 2020. Photo by Sue Conrad Howes

From the joyful hugs and delightful connections made in the foyers to the active conversations that happened across tables at the meals, you would not have known that these two congregations ever battled with each other to the point of locking each other out of their church building.

Sometimes it takes a long time to partake in the ministry of reconciliation. While these two congregations will return to their regular places of worship next Sunday, both groups welcomed the opportunity to celebrate the work of reconciliation and to commit to being agents of God’s reconciliation into the future.

Michael Howes

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