missional

2012 Peace Camps: Love on a Local Scale, part 1

August 23, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Samantha Lioi, Minister of Peace and Justice

What does Anabaptist witness and ministry look like up-close? When summer comes, for some folks it looks like teaching a second-grader to explore ways he can care for the earth, or giving a 10-year-old creative ways to deal with conflicts she’ll face at school. Congregations from Allentown to Philadelphia have created summer Peace Camps as practical places to live Christ’s transforming love among their neighbors. In some ways, the camps function similarly to traditional Vacation Bible Schools, but with content deeply relevant to the conflicts and crises kids face in our increasingly fragmented culture. Peace Camps can offer space for children to claim their identity as God’s children, to believe they can be active in stirring up hope in their part of the world.

In the next few weeks, Samantha Lioi, Minister of Peace and Justice for Franconia and Eastern District Conferences, will take a look at three conference Peace Camps that are giving space to putting here-and-now flesh and bone on our Anabaptist understandings of Christian faith, beginning with Salford Mennonite Church in Harleysville, Pa., then moving on to Philadelphia Praise Center in South Philly, and finishing with Samantha’s own experience helping to lead the Peace Camp for Ripple Allentown.

Since 2007, Meredith Ehst of Salford has brought her experience in public education to her leadership of the congregation’s summer Peace Camp, a week-long evening program serving children from Kindergarten through fifth grade. This year they welcomed 75 children, their largest camp yet, drawing 46 kids from the area who are not directly connected with the congregation.

The camp was born in 2006 after the community’s Vacation Bible School had lost energy. Mary Jane Hershey, a Salford elder in the realm of peacemaking and justice-building, saw an advertisement for a Peace Camp run by Quakers in nearby Gwynedd. She asked if she could come and observe, and left with copies from their notebooks and eagerness to try it back home.

Each year Salford chooses a theme verse and age-appropriate learning goals for the week. The youngest learn that they are loved by God and created with unique gifts. They learn to accept the differences between themselves and others and celebrate what each person brings through self-portraits.

Second and third-graders are old enough to learn about peace with the earth, touring and working in Salford’s community garden. They create original “ads” that they post on paper grocery bags to encourage the public to make ecologically responsible choices. This portion of the camp is grounded in what the kids already know when they arrive, and they have the chance to build on this and take ownership for making a difference in their community. Meredith laughed remembering that each year, inevitably, this group decides they can go without electric lights, and they spend the rest of the week in a slightly darker classroom!

The oldest children engage a curriculum called Talk It Out, gaining skills for reconciling conflict without resorting to physical force. Everyone spends some time in the classroom, some playing cooperative games, and some sitting down to eat together.

In fact, sitting around tables for dinner is one of the most significant parts of the Peace Camp, says Pastor Joe Hackman, as it provides a practice and space for community that is unusual for some of the children. This ministry is giving birth to possibilities for new forms of witness; this year included an adult portion of Peace Camp and a barbeque for the parents on Friday as part of their closing celebration.

Peace Camp has become a way to spread practical knowledge and skills for peacemaking to people around them – ministering from a place of knowing their neighbor’s needs as well as their own children’s needs. “We always have children with no fixed address,” says Mary Jane. “We send out mailings and some come back.” They are glad to know they are connecting with kids who experience frequent transitions, which can foster feelings of insecurity and deepen the need for an identity as God’s beloved child—and for skills to handle differences and disagreements.

Next week, Philadelphia Praise Center →

Bethany celebrates 60 years with stories

August 23, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

On August 12, Bethany Mennonite Church in Bridgewater, Vermont, celebrated their 60^th anniversary. As part of their celebration, people from the church, community, and the conference shared their memories from the last sixty years. The following article is adapted from those stories.

Bethany 60th — Izzy Jenne, Anna Hepler, Annabel Hershey Lapp enjoying themselves at Bethany’s 60th anniversary celebration. Photo by Karen Hawkes.

Sixty years ago, it became a congregation. Three of the four families that came from Franconia Conference to start the mission church gathered for “The Picture.” We all looked so excited and full of energy. This is the look that people get when they don’t have a clue what the future will bring.

I remember some things from those early years, the 50s: sliding down the old stair railing (adults didn’t seem to realize God meant it to be part of the children’s playground); multigenerational church socials in the damp and dark church basement; sitting in the hay wagons every fall eating crisp Macs on hayrides through those dark back roads of Vermont. I learned to keep an eye out for the tree branches that might sweep down and get you.

I remember growing up in two worlds, the church world and the Vermont secular world. They seemed very different. We all kind of learned the hard way, as individuals, families, and a congregation, that transplanting ethnic Mennonites into a “foreign culture” was probably not the best way to plant a church. Hard lessons were learned, maybe too hard sometimes. I saw my parents having to learn and relearn and still remain faithful to their call.

I remember once when we had a “breaking of bread service.” It wasn’t a regular communion service. Each person was given a small bread roll, and we went around and broke off a piece of our roll and gave it to someone else until our roll was gone. That service felt like a great big pair of arms was holding the whole congregation in a big hug.

Summer Vacation Bible School was a BIG, two-week affair. I went door to door asking if families would like to send their children and we drove them every day in a vehicle owned by the church and then the town school bus. When we grew to over a hundred children, teachers came from the other churches in Bridgewater and from the community as well as Bethany.

One year, I had a class of 4-year-olds with six girls and one boy. That boy could swear up a storm. He never had pennies for the offering. One morning he had a jingly pocket. I asked him what that was. He said, “Pennies.” I asked why he hadn’t put them in the box. He said he didn’t have them then. I asked where he got them. He said out of the box. I asked him why he had done that. He said it was because he never had any pennies. “Well,” I said thoughtfully, “you will from now on.”

Bethany worked closely with the other churches in the area, especially with the Congregational Church in Bridgewater. When [Pastor] Nevin had a brain aneurysm, the Bridgewater church was very supportive of this congregation in many ways. They held a fund raiser for Nevin by having a community potluck meal that brought many, many people together.

I saw God’s face in the early morning walks and talks through many back roads with other women through the years. We would gather at the church with our flashlights before our day of work began. We valued friendship, faith, and health.

I saw God’s presence in families from the village who brought their young children to the parsonage for childcare. Conversations relevant to life happened at daily drop-off and pick-up times. I felt joy watching my children play among many others in the field in a safe, open environment.

The first thing that struck me when I came to Bethany for the first time was the beautiful singing with everyone doing harmony and no choir. We were all the choir!

There are many more stories to share. Sixty years of them. And it makes me wonder, “What if?”

What if a group of church leaders from Franconia Conference in the middle of the 20th century hadn’t decided there was a need to start a church in Vermont called Bethany Mennonite…?

On realizing what it means to be a Mennonite

August 22, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

To Mennonite Blog #12

by Aldo Siahaan, Philadelphia Praise Center

In the past week, Muslims around the world ended their 30 days of fasting for the month of Ramadan. It was around this time of celebration, five years ago, that I realized that I am a Mennonite.

The church I pastor, Philadelphia Praise Center in South Philly, officially became part of Franconia Mennonite Conference in the middle of 2007. The leaders and I were still learning to know more about Mennonites that year and what our membership in the Conference might mean.

I am originally from Jakarta, Indonesia, where Christians are the minority. In Philadelphia among Indonesian immigrants, however, there are more Indonesian Christians than Indonesian Muslims; still, I have Muslim friends.

In the month of Ramadan 2006, knowing the feeling of being a minority, I offered the Indonesian Muslim community the use of our worship space for prayer during their holy month. I spoke with one of the leaders but she never called me back with an answer.

A year later, Ramadan 2007, the same leader called me and asked, “Aldo, do you remember that last year you offered us your church so we can pray? Is the invitation still open?” I told her that for me personally the answer would be yes, but that I would need to talk with our congregation’s leaders first.

After I shared my conversation with the leaders and members of the church, no one objected. The leaders and I remembered, though, that we were now part of Franconia Mennonite Conference and we didn’t know if opening our church building would be the right thing to do according to Mennonite values.

In conversation with Conference leadership, I asked carefully, “Is opening the church building to Muslims a Mennonite way?”

Steve Kriss, our conference minister, responded, “Aldo, that’s what Mennonites do. We build relationships with people, our neighbors, even other faiths. We forgive. We share what we have.”

I realized that that this was Mennoniting—following Jesus’ command to love one another (John 15:17).

Next week, Franconia Conference Director of Communication and Leadership Cultivation Steve Kriss will reflect back on the summer of blogs. Have there been any insights that have touched you, made you think, connected with your experience? How do you “Mennonite”? Join the conversation on Facebook & Twitter (#fmclife) or by email.

“God is profoundly at work” in Hatfield

August 15, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

Joint service Plains and Grace — Musicians from both Plains Mennonite and Grace Lutheran lead singing at the joint service. Pictured, from Grace: Lori Pluda, baritone, William Shaffer, trumpet, and Betty Murray, vocalist; from Plains: Dawn Derstine, songleader, and Janet Panning, piano. Photo by Emily Ralph

The story of Jesus calming the storm had special significance for Stacie Dougherty, interim pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, as she shared her message on Sunday during a joint service with Plains Mennonite, Hatfield. “In our lives, too, storms will come along—forces out of our control,” she said. “Things like … a devastating fire.”

This past New Year’s Eve, Grace experienced just that—a fire that destroyed the church’s educational building and left their Stepping Stones Nursery School without a facility. When their proposed new facility fell through, they were left frantically looking for an alternative.

Meanwhile, at Plains, members of the congregation approached the pastoral team. “‘They were saying, ‘We have to do something about this’ and ‘What are we going to do?’” said Dawn Ranck, the congregation’s associate pastor. For her, it was obvious. “[We have Plains Park] because we want to be good stewards of our land and this is another way—we have the space. It’s what God calls us to do.” So the nursery school moved in.

Eight months later, the school is preparing to move out of their temporary space at Plains into a larger facility, the building which used to house the St. Maria Goretti School in Hatfield. The two congregations gathered at Plains for worship and a picnic to celebrate.

Sometimes God uses people to bring calm in the storm, Dougherty said in her sermon. “You, our sisters and brothers here at Plains Mennonite, took the concern and burden for the preschool from us when you so graciously offered your space. . . . And by doing this, you lifted one of the worries caused by the fire and helped us on our way to peace and healing.”

Mike Derstine with Menno and Luther — Mike Derstine, Plains congregation, shares paintings of reformers Martin Luther and Menno Simons with the children during the joint service with Grace Lutheran. Photo by Emily Ralph

The partnership between Lutherans and Mennonites has not always been so easy. The rift between the two denominations has existed since the 16^th century, when followers of reformers Martin Luther and Menno Simons did not always see eye to eye on matters of life and theology. In recent years, efforts have been made at reconciliation between the two denominations on local, national, and even global levels.

“You know what’s a good thing to do. . . when you’re trying to make peace with somebody?” asked Mike Derstine, pastor at Plains, as he showed paintings of Simons and Luther to children from Grace and Plains. “To find out something about that person that you like.”

Both reformers brought important ideas to the church, Derstine said. Simons urged the church to show their faith by helping others and Luther reminded the church that God’s love and salvation are free gifts—these are important ideas to keep in balance, Derstine told the children.

In the same way, even though Plains shared their resources with Grace, the gift was not one-sided, according to Ranck. “It gave us a chance to be a part of something bigger than Plains, something bigger than ‘Mennonite,’” she said.

And she’s going to miss having the children around. “I can’t imagine them not being here,” she said with a sigh. “A couple of the kids, when I talked to them about leaving and I said, ‘I won’t be going,’ they’re like, ‘But there are offices over there!’”

Although Mennonites had been known for centuries as a people-group who kept to themselves, a growing ecumenical emphasis on Christian engagement with their community—which is manifested in programs like Plains Park and Stepping Stones—allows congregations to move past differences, according to Derstine. “I think it’s easier for us [now] because we have a [new] outlook on the world that shapes our relationships across some of these barriers,” he reflected. “We’re united in the same mission.”

Plains and Grace picnic — Joyce and Tom Salter from Grace Lutheran visit with Richard Lichty from Plains Mennonite at the post-service picnic at Plains Park. Photo by Emily Ralph

“When the people of Plains invited us to share in the [worship service and picnic], my first reaction was ‘Absolutely, we need to do this,’” said Frank Stone, congregation president at Grace. “It was such a joy for us to worship with and to meet other believers in our community, especially those who so unselfishly reached out to us in our time of need.”

The joint worship, including a shared Eucharist, was significant for both congregations, added Derstine. “I think our Communion today was a reminder that God is profoundly at work in bringing us together across our differences.”

To "Mennonite" when we're each other's enemies

August 13, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

To Mennonite Blog #11

by Michael A. King, dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary (Salford)

Michael King — Photo provided by Eastern Mennonite University

Pondering what it may mean “to Mennonite” reminds me of a friend who leads a state agency serving persons with disabilities. Just returned from Washington, D.C., he reported a grim picture: the likelihood that a divided Congress won’t get its act together to release funds his agency relies on. Any cuts will hurt people with faces I cherish, because my friend has come to lead this agency as an outgrowth of love for his own children with Down Syndrome.

I found our conversation chilling. Has it come to this? Are we so divided we can’t find common ground even to support persons with disabilities?

This is not to minimize complexities; it’s appropriate to ponder the roles of, say, government versus church in caring for “the least of these.” But my friend works tirelessly to raise funds from church folk—yet they provide a fraction of the needed revenue.

So how have we reached a juncture at which even seeing some role for government to play in funding my friend’s agency—why should my taxes support those takers!—may pull me into the vortex of mutual hate which seems the only thing we now know how to build together?

My point isn’t to argue specifics of one more divisive matter. It’s to grieve what seems our loss of ability to work across legitimate differences to discern solutions. And it’s to suspect that an important meaning of “to Mennonite” in such bitter times is for us to learn and maybe model what love amid division can look like.

From our beginnings Mennonites have sought a “third way,” an understanding of Bible, faith, and life that doesn’t quite fit into Protestant or Roman Catholic categories though it can enrich and be enriched by both. Key to third-way understandings has been unusual passion to take Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount literally. This in turn has led Mennonites to believe that Jesus actually meant for us to love even enemies (Matt. 5:44)—here, now, concretely.

Perhaps our most prominent expression of such love has been through conscientious objection to killing enemies in wartime, and this remains a vital Mennonite conviction. Increasingly, however, I wonder if we risk so focusing on enemies out there that we fail to learn how to love the enemies we make of each other.

When we differ over today’s hot issues we seem ever more inclined not to treat persons who hold different views as fellow pilgrims seeking, with us, to hear God’s voice amid our common finitudes and frailties. We seem ever less inclined to trust that God could be threaded through any view other than our own. Rather, we seem ever more ready to believe that if you hold a view other than mine you are my enemy.

Maybe with so much alienation swirling, the one who is not my friend is, precisely, my enemy. But even if we accept such a troubling conclusion, to Mennonite our way through it may then be to ask what it means to love the viewpoint opponents we have made our enemies.

Amid my own limitations of vision, let me not offer a formula for navigating such complicated terrain. Yet let me at least suggest that to Mennonite our way through a time in which we turn even other Christians and Mennonites—not to mention, say, atheists or Muslims or Republicans or Democrats—into enemies is to find ways to repay even what we consider evil with good (Rom. 12:21).

When I was growing up, I saw my parents model what such Mennoniting might look like: no matter how much they might disagree with a person’s beliefs or choices, precisely because they always took seriously that even the enemy was to be loved, they always spied treasure in the other. It might be tarnished; it might need polishing; the light of Christ might barely brighten it. But it was there—and thus was something even in the enemy that could be cherished, learned from, not merely vanquished. I would like to try Mennoniting like that in today’s world and see where it takes me and us.

Our summer blog series will soon be wrapping up. Have there been any insights that have touched you, made you think, connected with your experience? How do you “Mennonite”? Join the conversation on Facebook & Twitter (#fmclife) or by email.

Construction projects build kingdom in Philadelphia

August 1, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

by Sheldon C. Good
Mennonite World Review

PHILADELPHIA — Nearly two dozen adults and youth from Franconia Mennonite Church served here recently as part of an effort to literally build the kingdom of God.

The volunteers ventured from suburban Telford to work with Kingdom Builders Construction, an Anabaptist-related nonprofit, on July 21. They nailed, drilled and hauled materials to help convert a 6,000-square-foot section of a large warehouse.

Kingdom Builders Construction, or KBC, is turning the old warehouse into a multipurpose space that will include a workshop, offices, material storage and rooms to host volunteers.

Also, a new congregation, Christ-Centered Church, will eventually worship there in a makeshift sanctuary.

Read the full story at Mennonite World Review

Bekah Ford, Issac Moyer and Derek Cassel, volunteers from Franconia Mennonite Church in Telford, Pa., place a chalk line on a tool storage structure being erected in Kingdom Builders Construction’s future headquarters in a North Philadelphia warehouse. — Photo by Sheldon C. Good/MWR

Mennonite community … and community that Mennonites

July 24, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

To Mennonite Blog #8

by Alex Bouwman, West Philadelphia Mennonite Church

It is not easy separating the noun “Mennonite” and the verb “to Mennonite.” I think it is because the terms are not mutually exclusive. Those of us who identify as Mennonite, ethnically or culturally, and practice a Mennonite faith are likely already Mennoniting. Here are a few examples that come to mind that demonstrate the close relationship between our beliefs (as Mennonites, the noun) and our practices (as we Mennonite, the verb):

We have taken to heart Jesus’ call from the Sermon on the Mount to be peacemakers. Much of our identity involves nonviolence, yet peacemaking is a verb.

We believe in maintaining a close relationship with God, praying, and striving to do God’s will. But what does the Lord require of us? I read about the verbs acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.

We believe in living in right relationships, not as individuals on our own, but remaining connected to one another. We follow the practical Ten Commandments as well as Jesus’ explanation of the greatest commandments. Here we are told to love God wholly and our neighbors as ourselves. Love is a verb.

I am proud (wait, can I say that?) of the ways we lovingly Mennonite all over this world for peace and justice. Any of the verbs mentioned above are worth their own blog entries. I would like to share just two simple examples from our church of Mennoniting, or doing community, together.

Last fall our youth group hosted another Mennonite youth group from Lancaster County for a day. They rode the train into Philadelphia and transferred to the trolley, which dropped them off right at our church’s doors. We cleaned up trash at one of our parks, enjoyed lunch together, and did a long two or three mile scavenger hunt walking tour of our neighborhood. This fall we plan to make a trip to their church to enjoy the neat aspects of their rural community, something we city-folk don’t often experience. I sense the Holy Spirit moving as we intentionally get together with those we otherwise might not, finding points of commonality, and learning about the benefits of both city and rural living.

A few years back our church had a meeting to discuss various possibilities for new small groups. Out of that meeting came the desire for more frequent potlucks. We enjoy our monthly church fellowship meals, but this would be a casual weekly meal. There were other small groups that involved bible studies, book clubs, or discussion topics. That involves preparation and a necessary commitment. We wanted something a little different.

Thus our Togethering small group was formed. We meet every Tuesday evening for a potluck meal and fellowship in one of our homes. In the beginning a core of us (probably 8 or so) met weekly with various families joining for a week to check us out. At one point we had over 20 coming! We now consistently have about 10-12 each week. It’s a great way for someone who is visiting for the first time to get connected with a smaller group of people without the pressure of long-term commitment. It is a wonderful gift to share with each other about what is going on with our lives and in the world.

I don’t believe I’m going out on a limb when I say every Mennonite church has ways of doing community, loving God and neighbors as themselves, and working for peace and justice. The way I see it, whether we do them as part of our identity as Mennonites or the way we put our faith into action—or some engrained combination of the two—what matters is that we are living our faith in the real world with love, justice, mercy, and humility.

Next week, Ervin Stutzman, executive director of Mennonite Church USA, will share his experience of Mennoniting through community discernment. How do you “Mennonite”? Join the conversation on Facebook & Twitter (#fmclife) or by email.

Who am I? (To Mennonite Blog #1)
Serving Christ with our heads and hands (To Mennonite Blog #2)
Quiet rebellion against the status quo (To Mennonite Blog #3)
Mennoniting my way (To Mennonite Blog #4)
Generations Mennoniting together (To Mennonite Blog #5)
Body, mind, heart … and feet (To Mennonite Blog #6)
We have much more to offer (To Mennonite Blog #7)

Welcoming ex-offenders: Pastors Breakfast with Liberty Ministries

July 19, 2012 by Emily Ralph Servant

Jonathan Lewis and Charlie Ness — Charlie Ness, pastor of Perkiomenville congregation, and Jonathan Lewis, director of the residential program at Liberty Ministries, share about their experiences with post-prison ministry.

Liberty Ministries exists to serve offenders in prison and ex-offenders in the community by showing God’s love, providing practical assistance, and supporting Biblical standards of justice. At Wednesday morning’s breakfast, Bob Thompson, executive director, Jonathan Lewis, director of the residential program, and Charlie Ness, pastor of Perkiomenville congregation and one of the ministry’s founders, shared from their experiences of walking with ex-offenders who are moving beyond their past in the healing community of the church.

Listen to the podcast

[podcast]http://www.mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Liberty Pastors Breakfast (July 18).mp3[/podcast]

Watch the video

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