Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Missional Operations Grants

Spanish Ministry at Garden Chapel

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Garden Chapel has a thriving children’s ministry that has grown out of their flourishing summer camp, community garden club, and a music ministry with community children. As more and more children form the community have become involved in the church there is a growing need to connect with their parents who are largely Spanish speakers.

The Missional Operations Grant provided by Franconia Conference to Garden Chapel is to support he congregations partnership with local pastor, Hector Quinones, who has a heart for the immigrant community. In addition, the grant will provide leadership and intercultural training,  written materials in Spanish, aid for bi-lingual service and to support a monthly Spanish service.

Bike and Sol

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Perkiomenville Mennonite Church has been partnering with Project Haven and their new project Bike and Sol, “providing an environment for students and individuals to learn and experience cycling, skating, biking and other wheeled activities in a student managed business setting, modeled through Christian principles.”

It is a Teens Teaching Teens program utilizing volunteer students who are mentored and: 11181710_1490602524567520_2419440798036187107_n

  • learn the bicycle shop trade,
  • develop skills in management and
  • work ethics through Christian principles.

Bike and Sol recycles bicycles and then sells them as well as services bicycles in the community through its service center. You can visit the bike shop which is located behind the Upper Perk Community Life Center.

The Missional Operations Grant provided by Franconia Conference assisted with start up costs, funding a bike shop manager and the start up costs of parts and marketing. Perkiomenville Mennonite members donate to the bike shop and to have their own bikes repaired.

Conference Finance Update: October 2011

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The 2011-12 fiscal year is two-thirds over. Congregational giving has fallen behind expectations these past two months by $16,500. Expenses have exceeded the budget by $7,500 at this point in the year. This is the time of year when we typically would see the conference fall behind on its net income, but we’re a little more behind than expected.

A sampling of the various activities of the conference during the months of August & September:

Bobby Wibowo, Philadelphia Praise Center, and Keith Schoenly, Bally (Pa.) Mennonite, work on a new song at the Eastern District and Franconia Conferences Worship Cohort, which met this autumn in preparation for the joint Conference Assembly.
  • $10,050 in Missional Operations Grants (MOG) was disbursed during this period. Two congregations received grants for leadership development (Georgia Praise Center and Oxford Circle Mennonite). Two other congregations received grants for outreach ministries (Greensburg Worship Center and Nations Worship Center). To apply for a MOG, see your LEADership Minister.
  • $15,393 in Area Conference Leadership Fund scholarships were disbursed during this period for 8 current and future ministry leaders.
  • Franconia Conference hosted the “In The City For Good” church planters conference in Allentown, in cooperation with Mennonite conferences from Virginia to Ontario. About 80 persons from nearly a dozen ethnic and language groups attended.
  • Franconia Conference launched a new website, which we hope will be more user-friendly. We have also started live video-streaming Pastors and Leaders Breakfasts and other conference events. If you have not been able to attend these events, look for them online.
  • Noel Santiago led a seminar “Transforming Our Region: Church and Marketplace Partnerships” for local pastors and business leaders.

Other tidbits:
LEADership Ministers logged over 19,000 miles on the road so far this year, mostly in meetings with their assigned congregations and leaders.

Where do funds for Missional Operations Grants (MOG) come from? Estate gifts are put into the Ministry Resource Fund, held with Mennonite Foundation. Twenty percent of this fund is used annually for MOGs. Please keep MOGs in mind when you are doing your estate planning.