Notes to Pastors

Congregational Leadership Brunch
A congregational leadership brunch focusing on the inclusion of persons with disabilities will be held at Salford Mennonite Church on Thursday, September 13, from 9 – 11 a.m. This event is sponsored by Peaceful Living. Bill Gaventa, Director of Community and Congregations Supports at the Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities and Associate Professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, will be the speaker. For more information, contact Jan Landis at jklandis@peacefulliving.org or call 610-287-1200.

Authors Visit
Carol Duerksen and Maynard Krebbs will be in Eastern PA from November 10 through November 15 to speak at the Delaware Valley/ Bux Mont Librarian’s Association workshop on November 10 at Zion Mennonite Church. Carol has recently co-authored a 365 day devotional book with Michele Hershberger and Laurie Oswald Robinson entitled Now It Springs Up. Carol and her husband Maynard have co-authored many series books for young people about the Amish. She is also editor of With magazine. Maynard, who grew up Amish, recently traveled to South Africa following the path of canned goods from the MCC canning project. They are active youth advisors, host foreign exchange students in their home, and on a regular basis open their farm to the public for visits. They would be available on Nov. 10, 14 and 15 for evening events with youth in local churches. Their fee is $100 per presentation. Call Marj Geissinger, 610-966-2733 or email RussMarj64@enter.net if you would like to book them for any of these dates.

9/6/07

Eastern Mennonite Seminary courses available online this fall!

Mennonite Faith and Polity

This course examines two aspects of contemporary Mennonite reality. First, what the Mennonite Church has said and, especially, what it is currently saying about what it believes concerning the Christian faith; and second, how it structures itself in the light of those beliefs to carry out its ministry in the world. Focus will be on the expression of faith, its features and trends, in the last half century in the General Conference Mennonite church and the Mennonite Church, now integrated as Mennonite Church USA. Polity at the denominational, area conference and congregational levels will be studied with special interest in the emerging structures of the integration process. Particular attention will be given to polity and ethical guidelines for ministerial leadership.

Professor: Del Glick
Cost: $830
Credit Hours: 2

Mennonite History

A study of the emergence and growth of Anabaptist-Mennonites from their origin in the 16th-century Reformation in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands to Russia, North and South America, and the third world. Attention is given to modern renewal movements in the tradition.

Professor: Nate Yoder
Cost: $1245
Credit Hours: 3

Contact Don Yoder at EMS to enroll 540-432-4000. Consider these courses as a possible substitute for Gateway courses required for newly credentialed Franconia Conference leaders. Contact Steve Kriss at skriss@mosaicmennonites.org with questions.

Financial assistance is available through the Area Conference Leadership Fund, contact Conrad Martin for details on application, ccmartin@mosaicmennonites.org

Calling all Worship Teams! Join the 24-hour round the clock worship at Franconia Conference Assembly, November 9-10, from 6pm to 6pm at Franconia Mennonite Church. Worship will occur concurrently with the delegate sessions. If your congregation would be interested in filling a two hour time slot, contact Joyce Moyer at joycemoy@gmail.com or
610-306-1898 by September 30.

Christian Ministry in a Red & Blue World
Politics pits people against each other – even Christians against Christians. Should Christians be involved in politics? Would Jesus belong to a political party? Can we talk with each another (and listen!) when we disagree? Come to Hesston College, October 19 – 21 for “Christian Ministry in a Red and Blue World.” Greg Boyd (well known speaker and author of the New York Times Best seller The Myth of a Christian Nation), John D. Roth (Goshen College professor and popular speaker) and a host of workshop presenters will lead us in our conversation. Check the link on the Hesston College website (www.hesston.edu) to register.

Save the Date!
Franconia Conference Assembly will be held at Franconia Mennonite Church this year Friday evening, November 9, and Saturday, November 10. The theme is “Embracing God’s Mission.” Gilberto Flores, Mennonite Church USA, will be the keynote speaker Friday evening. Saturday will feature worship, discernment, and equipping seminars. Plan now to attend!

A note for pastors from Dawn Ranck, pastor at Plains Mennonite Church

In Philip Yancey’s book Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference, he writes that “Praying can be a risky enterprise, I have found, as the Spirit often convicts me of the very thing I am praying about. ‘Lord, help my neighbor, a single mother, in her hard life.’ Hmm, have I offered to take her son skiing lately?'”
At Plains, we have been praying for Iraq since before the war began over four years ago. Recently Lutheran Children and Family Services learned that up to 100 Iraqi refugees will be arriving in Southeastern Pennsylvania in the next few months. We are realizing that we can, in part, be God’s answers to our own prayers for peace in Iraq by hosting an Iraqi family in our community. Will you join us in answering prayers by hosting a family at your church? Lutheran Children and Family Services is in desperate need of congregations to assist. Yancey continues, “Those of us who struggle with unanswered prayer dare not overlook an important theological truth about how God acts in this world today. The church is the body of Christ, and as such it does God’s work . . . God has chosen to express love and grace in the world through those of us who embody Christ.”
For more information about hosting an Iraqi family contact Lyn Back at (215) 747-7500 Ext. 207 or email her at lynb@lcfsinpa.org or Janet Panning (215) 747-7500 Ext. 209; janetp@lcfsinpa.org.

Franconia Conference Staff Blogs
Check out the staff blog updates on www.mosaicmennonites.org throughout the summer, as various staff and summer interns will be sharing their thoughts on questions emerging from their work with the conference. New entries will be highlighted on the website’s homepage, while a full list of all previous blogs can be accessed under the “Publications” tab of the site.

Responding to Justapaz break-in

On June 14, 2007 the Bogota, Columbia office of Justapaz (Christian Center for Justice, Peace, and Nonviolent Action) was broken into and several computers with very sensitive information were stolen. This is one in a series of politically motivated break-ins of human rights organizations. Janna Hunter Bowman, Documentation and Advocacy Coordinator of Justapaz and native of Bally (PA), has been helping to finalize plans for a Justapaz delegation to respond to the robbery and accompany affected churches. Justapaz will be holding the delegation in Bogota alongside Witness for Peace from August 17-25, 2007. This will be an opportunity to learn about the peace ministries of Mennonite and other Protestant churches and support their work. It is hoped that representatives from Franconia Mennonite Conference churches will be present at the delegation and take back their learnings and experiences to their home congregations. For anyone interested in this important opportunity, contact Krista Ehst at kehst@mosaicmennonites.org.

Summer Mental Health & Wellness

Considering the ongoing struggle with mental wellness in the upcoming season and to follow up with the recent May Intersections article featuring Penn Foundation on suicide, John Goshow, of Penn Foundation recommends ongoing information from Mental Health Ministries. Sign up for a newsletter or visit the site for ongoing updates considering pastoral care. Check mentalhealthministries.net.

Marlene Frankenfield’s Ordination
Everyone is invited to the ordination service for Marlene Frankenfield, Franconia Conference Youth Minister/Campus Pastor at Christopher Dock. The service will be on Monday, May 7, at 9:25 a.m. at Christopher Dock in the Clemens Center Chapel.

“Deep and Wide – Expanding Hospitality in the Faithful Church”

Keynote Speakers – Dr. Eddie Gibbs, Fuller Seminary
Dr. Ron Sider, Evangelicals for Social Action

At Franconia Mennonite Church – Telford, PA – Tuesday, May 8 from 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM

Workshops: “The First Thirty Seconds”
“Pastoral and Lay Leadership”
“Calling a Truce to Worship Wars”
“Assimilation and the Church”
Another by Keynote speaker, Eddie Gibbs

You may choose two from these selections

Early Bird Registration – $109 per person
$99 per person for 2-4 from a congregation
$89 per person if 5 or more from a congregation

Includes two delectable meals again catered by Wegmans! And also a free book just being published entitled Deep and Wide: Hospitality and Assimilation in the Faithful Church. This book speaks to the issue of how to retain and include new attendees in your congregation.

For additional information contact New Life Ministries – and talk to Kristen at
800-774-3360, or give Ed Bontrager a call at 540-434-9727.