Mosaic Mennonites
Missional - Intercultural - Formational
In 2015, Franconia Conference provided a Missional Operations Grant to assist Nueva Vida Norristown New Life in a partnership with CIMPEC (Cuba’s national pastors’ and ministers’ association). According to CIMPEC president, Pastor Angel Cordero, 70% of the pastors in Cuba have never attended a Bible school or seminary. This MOG was able to assist in providing 6 days of training for these pastors.
Make It Rain grew out of Souderton Mennonite Church‘s young adult ministry. Julie & Austin Landes, youth group advisors, found one of the best ways to engage young adults was to build community while serving the needs of people locally and globally. Individuals from Souderton Mennonite Church and numerous others have participated in Make It Rain service projects.
With the help of Franconia Mennonite Conference’s Missional Operations Grant, Make It Rain was able to successfully accomplish thier fourth and largest trip to Haiti with 25 volunteers spending two weeks in-country. This trip was a Make It Rain-initiated collaboration with Water For Life and CitiHope International with big plans to impact a school and multiple communities. The “rain made” was a downpour!
large cabinets from scratch to add to the classrooms. They also were able to unload the large playground set, donated by Ridgeline Community Church in Souderton, they had packed and shipped in the month leading up to the trip. It was an incredible sight to see the little ones move, explore, and get their energy out as they played on a jungle gym even kids in America would love the opportunity to go crazy on!
according to a 2004 study by the Pan American Health Organization. After months of stateside preparation, Make It Rain’s skilled volunteers were able to put their trades to use installing a solar well pump in the woods in Cotes-de-Fer. This particular well was strategically placed at a higher elevation to not only provide clean drinking water, but also irrigation for the local farmers; combatting two of the most prominent issues inhibiting good health. In addition to the local community, approximately 30 farmers will greatly benefit from this water source.
“We were honored to have Franconia Mennonite Conference’s support this year for our recent community projects in Haiti. Make It Rain was able to once again bless many individuals in various Haitian communities by matching people’s gifting with the great needs in-country.” – Austin Landes, Founder/President
“The most impactful moment of the trip for me was flipping the switch to the freshly installed solar well pump. It was a beautiful site as 30 Haitians gathered around to see it instantly start pumping out 12 gallons of water a minute to revolutionize the way the community lived, all thanks to free energy from the sun!” – Eric Sirianni, Project Manager
“Over nine churches were represented in our group – it was such a blessing to work alongside a broad community of believers.” – Julie Landes, Co-Founder
by Noel Santiago
From February 25 to March 1, 2016, I had the privilege of visiting Mexico for the first time in four years. The occasion, the Annual Red de Iglesias Misioneras Internacionales (RIMI) Leaders Conference. Translated into English, RIMI means the International Network of Missionary Churches. This network was founded by Kirk and Marilyn Hanger, of New Hope Fellowship along with Ruben and Guadalupe Mercado, Mennonite Church leaders from Bolivia.
When asked about RIMI Kirk shared: “In 2003, after 11 years of church planting ministry in Mexico, Franconia Conference encouraged me to continue as a mentor to the churches that had emerged from our ministry with a vision of continued church multiplication. This is when RIMI was born. Counsel and encouragement from Franconia Conference, were critical in the birth and continued growth of RIMI. Over the years, I’ve made regular trips back to Mexico.
Today, RIMI is made up of 28 churches and church plants in Mexico from the states of Oaxaca to Jalisco. In addition to the churches, RIMI also includes a radio ministry, a Bible Institute, a short term mission’s school and a leadership school, both affiliated with Global Disciples, a medical ministry, a prayer network and two rehabilitation centers. RIMI uses the Mennonite Confession of Faith and has a vision of continued church multiplication, leadership development, and the sending of missionaries to the least reached parts of the world.
Every February, we have our RIMI Conference in Mexico. Pastors and leaders from Mexico and other countries will gather for a time of worship, teaching, fellowship and planning together. Last year, Pastor Charles Ness, from Perkiomenville Mennonite Church, was one of our conference speakers, along with Pastor Bob Stevenson, from Iglesia de la Tierra Prometida (also known as Monte Maria).”
This is what I had the privilege of attending and sharing in, the RIMI’s leaders conference. Connecting and hearing the stories of God’s moving and transformation was powerful! Those marginalized because of addictions, abuses, crime, pain, trauma, but also those who lived religiously empty lives, living good but unsatisfied lives, living without purpose or meaning, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof; then discovering through the Gospel message being shared with them that they can draw near to God through the good news of the transforming work of Jesus Christ.
Indeed, the call to go to the margins is a missional call; a call to not only share the transforming Gospel message of Jesus Christ, but to share an intimately lived experience of this relationship; a call to be transformed ourselves as we go to the least of these.
Franconia Conference has had a tremendous legacy of disciple making through church planting, evangelism, and missional engagement. In recent years it seems that Franconia Conference has necessarily tended to its internal life. As this internal tending has now brought clarity of direction, is it time to once again continue the legacy of disciple making through missions, evangelism, church planting and the sharing of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
I came away with the deepened assurance and eye witness accounts of the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to save that which was lost; to live a life after the Kingdom of God that set’s the captives free, to die on the cross and shed his blood to forgive us of our sins, to be raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of God where we too are seated, so that we are once again restored to our relationship with our heavenly Father. Then we go to share this good news of restored relationship through Christ to a hurt and dying world.
Going to the margins with a missional lens isn’t just about the present but also the future. So the question I ask us all is: What legacy do we want to leave the next generation?
This past year we saw the credentialing of some of our youngest leaders, including the ordination of our first millennial, with these young leaders coming on board is it time for Franconia Conference, to once again put out a call to the next generation of young people to consider their call and purpose in life like these have? Is it time to identify the next generation of disciple makers to be raised up, equipped and sent on a mission to share the good news of Jesus Christ through starting new churches, evangelism and missional engagement?
Jesus said in John 20:21 (NIV) – “…Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” I believe it’s time. So if you are interested in learning more how you can engage in missions, if you feel a call to make disciples of all nations through evangelism, starting new churches or being engaged in missions, be in touch with your conference LEADership Minister or myself, so we can start a conversation and explore the possibilities of connecting.
Noel Santiago is a LEADership Minister for Franconia Conference.
More information from Kirk on RIMI: “Strategic relations have developed with churches in other countries as well. In addition to Mexico, RIMI now has churches in Guatemala, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile and the United States. The vision is that networks of churches will develop in these countries as we support each other in our common vision. Two years ago, we started an international youth conference called “Generación Sana” (Healthy Generation). In 2014, the event was held in Bogota, Colombia with about 80 young people from several countries. In 2015, the event was held in Vina del Mar, Chile and in August 2016, it will be held in Quito, Ecuador.”
by Esther Good
Following the terrorist attacks in Paris, France in November, and in San Bernardino, California in December, many have struggled with the question of how we should relate to our Muslim neighbors. Tensions have remained high, exacerbated by the election season, and the answer to this question has reared its head in the form of some ugly anti-Islamic sentiment, including harassment and acts of vandalism against mosques in the Philadelphia area and around the country. Several congregations in Franconia Conference have asked this question in a different way: How can we relate to our Muslim neighbors in a way that is Christ-like?
Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC) is one congregation that has a long history of interacting with its surrounding Muslim community. Shortly after PPC was first started in 2006, Pastor Aldo Siahaan, himself an immigrant from Indonesia, reached out to the Imam of a group of Indonesian Muslims and offered them the use of the church building for evening prayers during Ramadan. They didn’t accept his invitation that year, but called back the following year and asked to use the space, beginning a longstanding friendship between PPC and what is now Masjid Al Falah.
Lindy Backues, an elder at PPC, joined the church when he and his family were deported from Indonesia after living there for 18 years. “I’ve been ‘sent home’. I know what that feels like,” he says in response to national comments against Muslim immigrants. “I don’t want to send Muslims ‘home’. They’re my friends. So at PPC, we’re trying to be different—to reach out to visitors and guests and the sojourner in our midst. In the process of receiving the other, we become who we are, because God received us when we were the other.”
Salford Mennonite Church also has a longstanding relationship with its Muslim neighbors which began when Salford reached out to them in friendship after the events of 9/11. Out of that gesture began a close relationship with a family from Lebanon who lives nearby. And in turn, that family has walked alongside and assisted Salford as it has resettled Muslim refugees from Iraq and Iran.
After recent Islamophobic rhetoric hit national news, Salford contacted the Imam of North Penn Mosque. “We had a meeting to express that as Christians we desire to have a relationship with him and his community,” says Joe Hackman, Lead Pastor. “We want to let them know that we’re there for them to offer support in whatever form they might need. As Anabaptists, we know what it is to be persecuted because of our faith. So it makes sense that we would want to protect other religious minorities who are experiencing persecution.”
For Doylestown Mennonite Church, which has recently become a co-sponsor for a Muslim refugee family from Afghanistan, the decision to reach out was simply an act of love, says KrisAnne Swartley, Minister for the Missional Journey. “This is just a way for us to live out faithfulness to Jesus.”
The Bible is full of verses regarding loving our neighbors. In Mark 12 as Jesus is questioned by the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem they ask what the greatest commandment is, to which Jesus answers in verse 30-31, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” It is great to see Franconia Conference churches living their faith by loving their neighbors.
Esther Good is a member at Whitehall Mennonite Church.
by Barbie Fischer
There has been a buzz around the past few weeks as news came that Lois Gunden, the first woman to teach a Sunday School Class at Plains Mennonite Church and one of their first elders, was to be honored as Righteous Among the Nations at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. on January 27. She was first given the award in 2013, but only now was the ceremony taking place, the first such official ceremony held in the United States. Lois and three others were honored at the event in which President Barack Obama spoke. She is one of five Americans to ever receive the award. The award is given through the Yad Vashem, a living memorial to the holocaust, a prestigious award in the Jewish community. When I heard the news of the ceremony, it was a joyous moment and one that provided me with a renewed sense of hope.
The past year has been a roller coaster for my identity. With discussion in MCUSA and our conference around the on-going war between Israel and Palestine, the findings discussed at Mennonite World Conference that Mennonites may have played an active role with the Nazi regime in World War II, and the fact that more and more people seem to be assuming that being Jewish means you support the state of Israel, I have been led to often stop and contemplate: is it really possible for me to hold these two pieces of my identity together, can I really be a Jewish Mennonite?
I was raised in an Anabaptist home and when it comes to being Jewish, my family is far more Anabaptist then Jewish. My parents were both raised as Christians and don’t observe any Jewish traditions. However, at a young age I became enamored with stories from the holocaust and reading about the lives of Jews in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I was struck by stories like Lois Gunden’s of people who risked their own lives to save others.
I remember my father once saying that Jesus was a Jew and the Gentiles were grafted into the olive tree, so Judaism is the trunk and roots of Christianity (Romans 11:11-24). It was soon after that that my family allowed me to begin to observe some of the Jewish traditions. These traditions have always been life-giving to me; times of reflection and deeper contemplation on God’s word, often reaffirming my faith in Jesus Christ.
Recently, however, I have found this piece of me often in conflict with my more-predominant Mennonite side and it has been difficult for me to grasp why. James Hamrick, of North Suburban Mennonite Church in Libertyville, Ill., recently wrote an article that appeared in The Mennonite entitled, Jesus was a Jew: A challenge to anti-Judaism in our churches. As I read the article it resonated with me. I have felt this growing tension between my being a Mennonite and a Jew. It is not a new tension — after all I am the descendant of recent German immigrant and a European Jew. Recently, though, as we work to stand with the Palestinians and bring voice to their plight, our words and actions have felt harsh to my Jewish side. As a peace church we work so hard to stand with the oppressed and right now in the Middle East, it is clear the Palestinians are more oppressed than the Israelis. Yet this war has a deep complex root system that I think we often fail to recognize. As Mennonites we also have a deep complex history when it comes to the people involved in this conflict. There is a tension here, a tension to pick sides, yet as a peace church, as peacebuilders, are we not called to build bridges between the sides?
The President began his remarks at the Righteous Among the Nations ceremony with a teaching from the Talmud I have posted in my home: “if a person destroys one life, it is as if they’ve destroyed an entire world, and if a person saves one life, it is as if they’ve saved an entire world.” The teaching says “person”, not Jew, not Israeli, not Palestinian, or any other people group — just person. When I look at my best friend’s husband, I do not see a Palestinian born in Jerusalem, even though that is who he is. I see my brother, my fellow Christian, my friend, a person.
Lois Gunden went to France in October of 1941 in her early twenties to work with refugee children. As deportations began, she protected the Jewish children from inevitable death at Auschwitz. President Barak Obama stated at the event, “The four lives we honor tonight make a claim on our conscience, as well as our moral imagination. We hear their stories, and we are forced to ask ourselves, under the same circumstances, how would we act? How would we answer God’s question, where are you? … Would we have the extraordinary compassion of Lois Gunden? She wrote that she simply hoped to “add just another ray of love to the lives of these youngsters” who had already endured so much. And by housing and feeding as many Jewish children as she could, her ray of love always shone through, and still burns within the families of those she saved.”
As we look to the on-going war between Israel and Palestine, as we go to the margins, as we live out being the peace church we are, sharing God’s love, may we acknowledge our own role good or bad in history and present day, may we learn from the past, and may we remember the story of Lois Gunden and others like her. As she did, may our rays of love always shine through, to all people in all places.
To read more about the life of Lois Gunden in France click here: https://themennonite.org/feature/righteous-gentile-lois-gunden-righteous-gentile/
For more on how Lois was nominated click here: http://mosaicmennonites.org/lois-gunden-clemens-named-righteous-among-the-nations/
by Stephen Kriss
I was struck by the powerful words of the songs that we were singing together on Sunday in this former-thrift-store-turned-worship-space packed to nearly overflowing: we are not afraid… we believe… The words were punctuated with amens, raised hands, “Gloria A Dios.” This is Centro De Alabanza, an outgrowth of Philadelphia Praise Center, now a congregation of its own among the growing Spanish-speaking population in South Philadelphia. We were singing redemption songs that add strength and meaning to immigrant life in this thriving and sometimes dangerous city.
On Sunday we celebrated the pastoral licensing of Fernando Loyola and Letty Cortes as ministers in Franconia Conference. Letty was radiant, clothed elegantly with gifts she said were from women in the congregation. Fernando, steady, firm, serious as usual in the task of leading. They lead together as a team, the boomerang of the fruit of Mennonite mission efforts from Franconia Conference to Mexico City in the 90’s. No one would have expected that support for Kirk Hanger, who left his role at Methacton Mennonite to work at church-planting in Mexico City, would have meant that Centro de Alabanza would emerge to join Franconia Conference.
God multiples the small things and the licensing of Fernando and Letty are proof of that. Fernando tells the story of his conversion as one that takes a lifetime. Letty is the first woman of color recognized as a pastoral leader in Franconia Conference, over 25 years after the first woman (Marty Kolb-Wycoff) was credentialed for ministry in Vermont.
In working with credentialing new leaders and in the slow work that we do in establishing new congregations, I cannot help but see all of the connections that make new things possible. I notice the small things along the way that when invested in the dream of God, result in unexpected blessing and possibility. It is the widow’s mite given in faith and generosity, the mustard seed that grows into a tree, the leaven that transforms the whole loaf of bread.
We ate together after the two-hour plus worship. There was chicken, rice and beans, Coke along with orange, grape and pineapple soda. I thought of how similar it felt to the times I’ve visited with Mennonite Churches in Mexico City, yet I was still in my home city in the state where I was born. I fumbled through conversations in Spanish, but remembered best the words that I learned from Ruth Hunsberger, my Spanish teacher at Johnstown Christian School, who learned Spanish herself while working in Puerto Rico in the 40’s. My Spanish will thus always sound both a bit Pennsylvania Dutch and a bit Puerto Rican.
We bring all of those gifts and parts, all of who we are, all of the possibilities and relationships into the great Matrix of God … and they are used. Nothing is lost, everything is found and even the smallest thing can mean real transformation. Kirk told the story of meeting Letty while washing dishes in Mexico City. A wholly ordinary conversation that has led eventually to this new community flourishing in South Philadelphia and the naming of the first Latina Mennonite minister in Franconia Conference. And for those small things, which become eternally significant, and the ability to notice them later and to celebrate together over pollo, frijoles y arroz, I am grateful.
Stephen Kriss is Director of Leadership Cultivation & Congregational Resourcing at Franconia Conference.
By Barbie Fischer
Over the last month Philadelphia has been abuzz with the news that Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter planned to reverse the city’s “sanctuary order” that has been in place since April 2014. The sanctuary order protects Philadelphia residents from deportation by preventing the police from collaborating and sharing information with the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. This news impacts the Conference’s city-based congregations, particularly those with significant numbers of recent immigrants including Centro de Alabanza de Filadelfia, Indonesian Light Church, Nations Worship Center and Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC).
Pastor Aldo Siahaan, Philadelphia Praise Center and Conference LEADership Minister, stated that the reversal of this order “affects the safety of our congregation and community.”
As a largely immigrant congregation, Philadelphia Praise Center became a member of the New Sanctuary Movement in Philadelphia more than five years ago. The New Sanctuary Movement is a faith-based immigrant rights organization whose mission is to “build community across faith, ethnicity, and class in [their] work to end injustices against immigrants regardless of status, express radical welcome for all, and ensure that values of dignity, justice, and hospitality are lived out in practice and upheld in policy.”
Pastor Aldo said, “The New Sanctuary Movement is answering and helping with the needs of PPC in terms of immigration matters.”
On December 11, when Mayor Nutter was to sign the reversal of the sanctuary order, New Sanctuary Movement called on faith leaders to join an action at City Hall to show the disagreement with the reversal of the sanctuary order which organizers of the action said puts families at risk of being torn apart and the language used by the Mayor’s administration about the reversal has perpetuated Islamaphobia that is currently widespread in the country.
Pastor Aldo, along with others from PPC, Fred Kauffman, interim pastor at Methacton congregation and Amy Yoder McLaughlin, pastor at Germantown Mennonite Church, with many others from Philadelphia and the surrounding area, immigrants and non-immigrants, documented and undocumented, answered the call.
Bam Tribuwono, a member of PPC and a photojournalist, was one of those who answered the call to action on December 11th. He said, “As an immigrant and Christian, I have been in situations where I’ve faced the possibilities of being deported. The immigration system is so broken. For me it’s pretty simple, let’s get back to what Jesus said in Ephesians 2:19-22. Jesus clearly said that we are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens and members of the household of God. We are all family and we have to protect each other. To give sanctuary for those who need protection.”
(Click on thumbnails to see images — all photos courtesy of Bam Tribuwono; used with permission © bambang tribuwono photography)
The action included speakers at a rally in front of City Hall, along with a time of prayer. A few New Sanctuary Movement leaders went into City Hall and requested to speak with Mayor Nutter. At that time, others in the movement blocked the entrances to the building to raise awareness about the possibility of Mayor Nutter signing the reversal of the sanctuary order.
“I’ve been attending a few New Sanctuary Movement rallies,” said Pastor Aldo, “but at this one the police were very harsh and I had never seen this before, how the police pulled on the protestors.”
When asked about his reasons for attending the action, Pastor Aldo said, “As a Christian this is the way that we show our care about foreigners and strangers. From Matthew 25, we are told to welcome strangers and foreigners; maybe we are entertaining angels or Jesus. As a Mennonite and a Christian we need to act the words of God — not just read them and meditate on them. That is why it is important for Christians to support this kind of movement, standing with our immigrant brothers and sisters.”
Fred Kauffman, stated the he had heard of the action being planned at City Hall but had not planned on going until the night before at a Kingdom Builders Network Bible study when he learned of Pastor Aldo’s involvement with the organization coordinating the action. He said, “At that point I knew that I had to go, because this was an important action to Pastor Aldo and the people in his congregation. At the action I was pleased to see Pastor Amy Yoder-McGlaughlin as well as Pastor Aldo and other friends that I knew. I prayed for the protesters risking arrest, ‘May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’”
Mayor Nutter did not sign the reversal on December 11th, but did do so three days later. Without the sanctuary order, Pastor Aldo says, “we live in fear and live under the radar. We hide. I need to comfort and protect my congregation and make sure they are ok. How can I tell them to be a blessing if they live in fear and hide themselves?”
With a new year, came new hope, and a new mayor. Mayor Jim Kenney took office on Monday, January 4th and one of his first actions as mayor was to reinstate the sanctuary order. Many rejoiced over this news.
Pastor Aldo has said it is important that those among us who are immigrants feel welcome and supported. This can be done through prayer, fellowship and supporting the efforts of people like the those in the New Sanctuary Movement.
A current campaign of the New Sanctuary Movement that could use support is their efforts to have driver licenses accessible to undocumented people in Pennsylvania. Eleven states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico currently offer driver licenses to those who are undocumented. Not having access to a driver’s license means that a person undocumented risks deportation anytime they drive — whether to go to work, school, to access health care, or to buy groceries.
To learn more about New Sanctuary Movement visit: http://www.sanctuaryphiladelphia.org/. To visit PPC, Indonesian Light Church, Centro de Alabanza or Nations Worship Center, visit the conference directory here for service times and locations; all are willing to translate their services into English as needed.
by Colin Ingram
Care & Share Thrift Shoppes is a conference related ministry of Franconia Conference and an independent organization that is part of the Mennonite Central Committee Thrift Shop Network, a bi-national group of shops that support the mission of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). According to Sarah Bergin, executive director of Care & Share, the mission of Care & Share is to seek to model God’s love and care for the earth and its people through recycling efforts and a positive shopping experience, with a purpose of funding MCC’s ministries around the world. Since 1976, Care & Share has given around 15 million dollars to MCC.
The Care & Share Thrift Shoppes opened in 1975 as one shop of 8,000 square feet. Today they have grown to 6 stores covering over 31,000 square feet at the Souderton Shopping Center off of Route 113 and Bethlehem Pike in Souderton, PA. Within their stores one can find furniture, used books and clothing; there is a variety store, a thrift outlet, and they operate a shop on ebay.
The shopping center where Care & Share is located is owned and operated by the Franconia Mennonite Conference Board of Missions and Charities, and Bergin notes “in the beginning each Franconia Conference church gave a financial contribution towards the rent.” She noted that the conference and congregations continue to support Care & Share through their donations and by volunteering in the clothing store on a certain day of each month, a system continuing from the founding days of the thrift shoppes.
The impact of Care & Share is felt both locally and worldwide. Locally, Care & Share provides affordable clothes and goods along with the employees and volunteers of the shoppes spreading God’s love through serving with kindness.
One shopper, Jacqueline from Abington, Montgomery County, who bought a baby stroller to bless others shared “when you walk in the store you get this warm vibe. You don’t get that in every store you walk in.” She said, “I like what they do… I think it’s the understanding of the faith that they have with God.”
Care & Share has always been a place of hospitality to those in need. Refugees have been given the chance to select what they need from the clothing shop free of charge. Bergin also says the thrift outlet within the shopping complex allows for affordability for any budget. Then the usefulness of the unsold clothes continues when the store gives them to the MCC Material Resource Center in Harleysville; the resource center ships hundreds of tons of basic supplies, such as blankets, canned meat, and kits, to people in need around the world every year. The items they receive from Care & Share are either bailed and sold to a buyer with the funds going to MCC or sent to people around the world in need of the items.
The scope of impact surpasses Care & Share’s locality, because of its funding to MCC. Therefore, Franconia Conference, alongside Care & Share, is contributing to minister in Africa, Asia, South and Central Americas, and everywhere MCC serves.
By partnering with Care & Share, the conference is feeding the hungry in Nepal, building water dams in Africa, and helping locals sustain themselves agriculturally in Bolivia, as A Common Place reports MCC is doing.
Bergin stresses that this work would not happen without the over 1,000 volunteers giving their time at Care & Share.
Florence Histand, who has volunteered as a donation sorter for over 10 years said, “I enjoy doing this, and I’m retired so I volunteer instead of sitting at home in a rocking chair.”
Most volunteers come from Franconia and Eastern District Conferences, and work alongside other volunteers from the Brethren in Christ Church and other denominations.
Not only is Care & Share helping those in need — they are also conscious of being good stewards of the earth and work to limit their environmental footprint. The thrift outlet within the Care & Share complex –clothes being sold in bulk by the pound — keeps things out of the landfill. Bergin says they also try to keep the clothing in the United States to save on the impact of fuel and shipping to the environment.
By providing affordable clothing, friendly service, and funding for MCC (and its worldwide ministry), and with environmental conservation in mind, Care & Share and Franconia Conference are engaging the world and empowering people to embrace God’s mission.
Bergin says, “To keep growing, and to keep giving to MCC and to keep supporting those programs, we continue to need resources from the community — your donations as well as your volunteer time.”
Continue the mission by attending Care & Share’s 40th year gala April 26 at Calvary Church off of Route 113 in Souderton.
Visit their website for more information on how to support the ministry of Care & Share: http://www.careandshareshoppes.org/.