Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Mosaic Board

August Board Meeting Sets the Pathway for Mosaic’s Future

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by Jennifer Svetlik

On the evening of August 19, 2024, the Mosaic Board met with a full agenda for their bimonthly meeting. Grounded in Psalm 118:1-4, the Board received a positive net income finance 2023-24 report and a report on the recent Thriving Congregations Initiative grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. Additionally, they set the annual Assembly schedule and prepared to receive three new congregations and one new Conference-Related Ministry (Ark of Christ [Orange County, CA], Bethel [Levittown, PA], Resplandece [Miami, FL and Baranquilla, Colombia], and The Worm Project. These will be introduced in Mosaic News prior to Assembly).

The Board also affirmed and adopted the strategic plan that the Pathways Steering Team has crafted with the support of consultant Grovider.

The strategic plan, which will guide the work of the conference from 2025-2027, includes five pillars: Clarity/Identity, Communication, Leadership Development, Reconciliation, and Relationship-Building. These pillars were based on the key themes that emerged from the listening tour findings and will be interwoven with Mosaic’s missional, formational, and intercultural priority areas.  

The Strategic Plan overview from Grovider is available here. Additional framework for this report will be forthcoming. 

The Pathways Steering Team, made up of 13 individuals from congregations across Mosaic Conference, includes two board and two staff members. The team was charged with a two-year process of overseeing a listening tour, reflecting on the tour’s feedback, aligning the feedback with existing priorities, and creating a three-year strategic plan and a recommendation on the question of Mosaic Conference’s affiliation with Mennonite Church USA (MC USA).

The Pathways team brought to the August 2024 meeting this recommendation for the Mosaic Board:  

We, the Pathways Steering Team, recommend a pathway forward of partnership and collaboration for Mosaic Mennonite Conference’s relationship with MC USA.  

We believe that partnership, rather than membership, allows our diverse conference to focus on our vision, mission, and priorities as we engage with each other and the broader body of Christ in each member’s unique context. 

We believe a partnership can help MC USA and Mosaic congregations and Conference-Related Ministries discover innovative ways to journey together toward healthier relational patterns. We believe Mosaic has much to offer in shaping a new model of relationship. 

We believe a partnership gives space for those who disagree to covenant as one body while we continue to learn and grow together in Christ-centered discipleship and peacemaking. We desire to avoid the schisms of our past and acknowledge that neither this recommendation nor any other will resolve all tension with recent MC USA resolutions and the diversity of belief within Mosaic.  

We thank the Holy Spirit for empowering us as we have worked together in our discernment and decision making. We have sensed the Spirit leading us forward through our times of listening and sharing, agreeing and disagreeing, praying, silence, and Scripture. Partnership was the pathway the majority of the Pathways Team was drawn toward, and where we found consensus. This recommendation comes with a sense of peace, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and indeed it is a “pleasant place” (Psalm 16). 

After extensive conversation, the Mosaic Conference Board, with strong support, “affirmed the work of the Pathways team and recommends the affiliation proposal to the delegates.” 

“We deeply appreciate the dedicated, faithful discernment process of the Pathways team,” shared Conference Moderator Angela Moyer Walter. “We look forward to who we are becoming as we commit together to do the work of the strategic plan.”  

Moyer Walter continued, “Each piece of our mosaic is valuable and contributes to the whole. There are many perspectives, but God unifies us, even in disagreement. I invite us to surrender to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and recognize the breadth of God’s beauty represented in all of us.” 

Each piece of our mosaic is valuable and contributes to the whole.

angela moyer walter, mosaic moderator

“The Pathways team was very successful in what they were asked to do,” shared Mosaic’s Assistant Moderator Roy Williams. “No one approach will satisfy everyone. We as a board accepted this recommendation as such. We invite the Assembly delegates to wrestle with this recommendation and come together at the delegate preparation meetings to share their feedback. We’ll take all of it under advisement.”  

In reflecting on the affiliation recommendation, Executive Minister Steve Kriss shared, “This ‘third way approach’ will require work, patience, and creativity as we discern a possible new pattern of relating with our siblings across Mennonite Church USA. We value the space a new arrangement might give toward both focused and expanded possibilities within the global Anabaptist community.” 

“I feel grateful to be part of the Pathways Steering Team, though our time of prayer and discernment was not easy,” shared Haroldo Nunes (Seguidores de Cristo [Sarasota, FL]), who joined the Pathways Steering Team in January 2024. “We had disagreements, worked on many language changes, and needed to listen to each other well and compromise. We worked with respect and love for each other, knowing that the results will benefit the conference.” 

Also reflecting on her experience on the Pathways Steering Team, Bronwyn Histand (Blooming Glen [PA] Mennonite) offered, “I recognize that our path was difficult; we did not initially know one another, we primarily worked virtually, and our task grew out of a significant conflict. However, with persistent listening, scripture, prayer times, and lots of emails, both the strategic plan and the affiliation recommendation became clear. I particularly felt the Holy Spirit leading us as we grappled directly with the affiliation question. We talked openly, shared perspectives, agreed and disagreed, asked questions, and ultimately came to consensus. I felt a sense of God’s creative spirit flowing like a river as we embraced a ‘third way.’”

Feedback from the delegate preparation meetings in September will help to shape the action that the Conference Board will bring to the annual Assembly. The next meeting of the Conference Board will take place on Sept. 30, 2024.  

Jennifer Svetlik

Jennifer is Editor / Development Coordinator for Mosaic. She also serves as Children’s Faith Formation Director at Salford Mennonite (Harleysville, PA).

Conference Board Affirms Anchor Statements for the Strategic Plan  

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Mosaic board members gathered at Bethany Birches Camp for a retreat. 

On May 17-19 the Mosaic Conference Board met at Bethany Birches Camp (Plymouth, VT) for an offsite, in-person retreat. The Conference Board, which meets 6 times a year, supervises the business of the conference, including conference committees, and ensures that the conference is maintaining alignment with its vision and following the lead of the Spirit into areas of growth and change.  

The group gathered for worship, prayer, relationship building, and an equipping session on discernment and decision making, led by Mosaic Leadership Ministers Rose Bender Cook and Noel Santiago. The board also affirmed the Anchor Statements from the Pathway Team Strategic Plan.  

The anchor statements form the framework for the strategic plan, which is currently being developed by the Pathway Steering Team with support from the consultant organization Grovider. The anchor statements cover five areas: reconciliation, leadership development, relationship building, clarity/identity, and communication and articulates how Mosaic will work toward those five areas. Each anchor statement has corresponding objectives and activities in the strategic plan that are currently under development. (download the Anchor Statements here in English, Spanish or Bahasa Indonesia) 

“I affirm the hard work, which is not fast work, of the Pathway Steering Team to attend to all of the details of creating the strategic plan,” shares Conference Moderator Angela Moyer Walter. “They have been discerning tangible steps for us to live into our vision, to embody the reconciling love of Jesus in our broken and beautiful world.”   

During the board meeting, members of the board echoed this sense of affirmation of the frequent meeting, listening, discernment, and planning that the Pathways Steering Team has done. They affirmed the process so far and invoked God’s continued blessing on the work.   

“The Pathways team has gone through the forming, norming, and storming stages, and I think we are entering the performing stage,” reflects Kiron Mateti (Plains [Hatfield, PA]), board member and member of the Pathway Steering Team. “Getting concrete steps on paper is encouraging. All these strategic words are a little new to me, but they are just tools to communicate the concrete ways Mosaic can live out our Mission and Vision, keeping our Missional, Formational, and Intercultural Priorities in mind.”  

Mateti continued, “The session with Rose and Noel could not have come at a better time. I am quick to enter “decision-making” mode and weigh the data and steps in a logical way but entering into “discernment” is a practice and a habit. As Noel put it, ‘discernment is what God reveals and decision-making is what we do with that.’”  

The Pathway Steering Team will provide the Board with the Anchor Statements (done), strategic plan, and affiliation recommendation (in progress). Graphic by Kiron Mateti. 

The full strategic plan, and a recommendation around the question of affiliation with Mennonite Church USA, will be brought by the Pathway Steering Team to the board meeting on August 19. By the end of August, the board will set the agenda for the November Assembly.  

“Now is the time for praying for the Pathways Steering Team. These commitments are the crux of moving forward together as Mosaic, and they give me hope,” Moyer Walter reflected.  

We encourage you to reach out to your Lead Ministers, or the Pathway Team members, with your questions and feedback.   

Pathway Steering Team and Consulting Firm Announced

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As part of the Pathway Process that was affirmed by a majority of delegates at the November 2022 Assembly, the Mosaic Board continues to move ahead with the plan the Board developed following Assembly, including naming the Pathway Steering Team.  

The proposed process included naming a Pathway Steering Team made up of 6-12 members, including a mix of Board, staff, and Mosaic Conference members who bring a strong commitment to Mosaic’s missional, formational, and intercultural priorities and our shared vision.  Nominations were invited and gathered from across the Conference in December and January.  

The Mosaic Board has affirmed the following Pathway Steering Team members: 

  • Aldo Colon (Iglesia Luz y Vida, Orlando, FL)1
  • Brandon Bergey (Bethany Birches Camp, Plymouth, VT and Bethany Mennonite Church, Bridgewater Corners, VT)
  • Brent Camilleri (Deep Run East Mennonite Church, Perkasie, PA)
  • Bronwyn Histand (Blooming Glen [PA] Mennonite Church)
  • Cherokee Webb (Faith Chapel, Los Angeles, CA)
  • Danilo Sanchez (Mosaic staff; Whitehall Mennonite Church and Ripple, Allentown, PA)
  • Jenny Fujita (Upper Milford Mennonite Church, Zionsville, PA)
  • Jim Musselman (Mosaic Board member; Zion Mennonite Church, Souderton, PA)
  • Kiron Mateti (Mosaic Board member; Plains Mennonite Church, Hatfield, PA)
  • Mark Reiff (Doylestown (PA) Mennonite Church)
  • Marta Castillo (Mosaic staff; Nueva Vida Norristown (PA) New Life Mennonite Church)
  • Regina Valensia (Philadelphia (PA) Praise Center)

To read more detailed information about each Pathway Steering Team member, please click here (updated in May 2024). 

“I’m amazed and grateful for the breadth and depth of skills and giftings in this group,” said Mosaic Moderator Angela Moyer Walter. “I’m grateful for their love and dedication for the Church and their willingness to say ‘yes’ to this work when they could share their gifts in many other places.  I’m eager to see the wisdom that emerges from this group and this process.” 

The Steering Team will contribute to the strategic planning process outlined by the Board within the two-year Pathway timeline, along with an outside consulting firm. Since December, the Board received proposals from numerous consulting options who fit Mosaic’s specific needs of experience. After reviewing these proposals and interviews, the Board has agreed on partnering with Grovider, a consulting firm based in Center City Philadelphia. 

Executive Minister Stephen Kriss worked at cultivating and receiving proposals from possible partners for the Pathway process. “We solicited proposals from consultants across the country, receiving several strong proposals,” said Kriss. “We had stipulations that consultants have experience working with communities of faith and a capacity to work with the diversity of our Conference. Grovider impressed us with their capacity, congeniality, commitments and professionalism.” 

Since 2017, the Grovider firm has partnered closely with foundations, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions to design learning agendas and provide data-informed strategic support.  A strength that the Grovider team offers Mosaic is their focus on diverse social identities and unique experiences. Their approach to data collection “invite[s] voices from a range of positionalities—seeking to use data as a means to tell stories, unearth needs, reveal complexities, and determine the pathway to more significant impact.” Grovider received strong affirmation from their previous work with faith-based institutions in the Philadelphia region. 

The Board, Steering Team, and consulting firm will at times be working independently, but also together, within the two-year timeline proposed in the Pathway Document. The Steering Team will be working diligently in the next eight months to bring their first presentation of their activity to 2023 Annual Assembly to be held on November 4 at Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church. 

  1. As of May 2024, Haroldo Nunes (Seguidores de Cristo, Sarasota, FL) has replaced Aldo Colon on the Pathway Steering Team. ↩︎

How Does Mosaic Select a New Assistant Moderator?

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The Mosaic Conference Board has elected Roy Williams, Pastor of College Hill Mennonite Church in Tampa, FL, as the Assistant Moderator-Elect for Mosaic Conference. The election of Williams is a new process, as this is the first time since the origin of Mosaic Conference in 2020 that we will be naming a new Assistant Moderator. Here are a few details, based on the by-laws of the Conference, on how this appointment is made.  

Appointment: 

The Assistant Moderator is elected by the Mosaic Conference Board by a majority affirmation. At the November Conference Assembly, the Delegate Assembly will be given the opportunity to affirm this appointment through a ballot process with a 50% vote of affirmation required.  

Criteria for determining who is appointed: 

All Conference Board members must be 18 years of age or older and a member of a Mosaic congregation. To be considered for the Assistant Moderator role, the person needs to have served on the Conference Board at least one term. 

While other criteria have not been specified in the Conference by-laws, qualities similar to delegates are considered: commitment to following Jesus, spiritual discernment and mature judgment, active involvement in their congregation or in the Conference, experience serving on committee or boards, and attention to geographic and cultural representation of our Conference members. 

Length of Service: 

A term for Conference Board and Committee members is three (3) years. The Assistant Moderator serves for one term in this role and ascends to the role of Moderator with approval of the Conference Board. The Moderator serves for one term. 

Responsibilities of Assistant Moderator: 

The Assistant Moderator serves as vice chair of Conference Board and Chair of the Nominating Committee. In addition, the Assistant Moderator will chair Board and Executive Committee meetings in the absence of the Moderator or fulfill other duties as assigned by the Conference Board or Moderator. 

Transition: 

Technically, our by-laws state that the new leaders will commence serving in their role at the first meeting after affirmation by the Delegate body. This means the transition from Assistant Moderator to Moderator takes place January 1. If approved by the Delegate Assembly, Williams will become Assistant Moderator and Angela Moyer Walter will become Moderator on January 1, 2023 . Ken Burkholder will conclude his term as Moderator on December 31, 2022. 

If the Assistant Moderator role is vacated between terms, chooses not to ascend to the Moderator role, or if the ascension of the Assistant Moderator is not approved by a majority vote, the remaining Board members may make an appointment by majority vote.