Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Pathway Steering Team

Surrendering Our Desires, Becoming Fully Mosaic

by

by Danilo Sanchez

September 14 was the start of the series of the 2024 delegate preparation meetings for Assembly delegates to have conversations regarding Mosaic’s Strategic Plan, Pathways Recommendation on Affiliation, and learn about the Vibrant Mosaic Program. Prior to and in these meetings there is a lot of information to absorb.  

In working with our consultant, Grovider, the Pathways Steering Team (PST) created a strategic plan that would guide the work of Mosaic for the next three years. The strategic plan was borne out of the listening tour and Grovider compiled the data from that listening and gave the PST five clear themes which we used to develop the Pillar Statements for the Strategic Plan. Those five pillars are Reconciliation, Relationship Building, Clarity and Identity, Leadership Development, and Communication.  

The PST devoted several months to crafting objectives and activities aligned with them. It was hard to imagine what Mosaic could look like in three years and what was necessary to reach those goals. We recognized that as a conference we are conflict avoidant, so we listed activities that support communication and conflict resolution skills. For clarity and identity, we devised ways to live into our three priorities and help everyone in the conference understand them. We wanted to move the conference to a more “centered-set” model rather than a “bounded-set,” so we included reviewing our conference documents and statements. For leadership development, we included elements of the Vibrant Mosaic Program, trusting that we would receive grant funding to do so.  

Our hardest work was on the recommendation for affiliation. We spent a lot of time hearing from one another and discerning together. Ultimately, we decided “partnership, rather than membership” was the best approach for affiliation with MC USA. As stated in the rationale, our recommendation gives space for those who disagree to covenant as one body, while maintaining some level of relationship. Some congregations in Mosaic want to remove themselves from MC USA because of the Repentance and Transformation Resolution, while others affirmed the resolution and are excited about being members of MC USA. As a newly reconciled conference, it felt most important to figure out how to live into our name “Mosaic” and find space for each of those groups to belong.  

Another dynamic in our recommendation is that as Mosaic has worked at its missional and formational priorities, new global, Spirit-led relationships have emerged naturally. Mosaic Conference has a history of being experimental and entrepreneurial. Being a member of MC USA has posed a challenge to us that limits establishing those new relationships. As members, we would not be able to credential those leaders or have those communities join our conference. Being a partner with MC USA would let us live out our priorities and form deeper local and global relationships. 

I recognize that being on the PST has allowed me to process this recommendation and my emotions about it before others in the conference. I entered this process wanting very strongly to remain members of MC USA. I was going to fight for it. I value the relationships, networking, and resources the denomination provides. I have positive memories of attending various events and Convention.  

My stance changed during this process as I learned to practice “holy indifference” which calls us to set aside our own will and desired outcome and allow the Holy Spirit to transform in ways we need to be transformed. I heard concerns from affirming pastors and traditional pastors about the direction of our conference and how we should affiliate with MC USA. On the PST, I had to wrestle with different viewpoints and concerns of my teammates. In the end, the Holy Spirit took over the Pathways process. We all surrendered our desired outcomes to discern what was best for us as a conference and our pathway forward.   

We are excited about the strategic plan and how it will transform us as a conference. We are excited about the Vibrant Mosaic Program and the new opportunities it will create. And we are hopeful about the recommendation that it will shape new models for relating in institutions and allow us to be fully Mosaic. 

Danilo Sanchez

Danilo Sanchez is the Leadership Minister for Intercultural Transformation for Mosaic Conference. Danilo Sanchez lives in Allentown with his wife Mary and two daughters. He is a pastor at Ripple and leads in the areas of leadership development, discipleship, and teaching. Danilo also works part-time with the housing program of Ripple Community Inc as the Community Life Director.

A Pathway Doxology 

by

by Marta Castillo

“O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!  
‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?’  
‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?’  
For from him and through him and for him are all things.  
To him be the glory forever! Amen.”  

– Romans 11:33-36, NIV 

When our children are young, we limit their choices. We say, “Do you want the red cup or the yellow cup?” As their world expands, they realize that there are blue cups, green cups, and all kinds of cups to choose from. Having many choices can be lifegiving and can be overwhelming. 

When Mosaic’s Pathways Steering Team was charged with developing a strategic plan and bringing a recommendation of affiliation with MC USA, I went in with a two-path mentality. In Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”, he suggests that there are two roads and that we can choose only one of them. The less-traveled road would lead to another, and it is unlikely we could go back. 

Pathway Process Steering Committee Members

  • Brandon Bergey – Bethany (Bridgewater Corners, VT)
  • Brent Camilleri – Deep Run East (Perkasie, PA)
  • Bronwyn Histand – Blooming Glen (PA)
  • Cherokee Webb – Faith Chapel (Los Angeles, CA)
  • Danilo Sanchez – Ripple (Allentown, PA), Mosaic Staff
  • Jenny Fujita – Upper Milford (Zionsville, PA)
  • Jim Musselman – Zion (Souderton, PA), Mosaic Board
  • Haroldo Nunes – Seguidores de Cristo (Sarasota, FL)
  • Kiron Mateti – Plains (Hatfield, PA)
  • Mark Reiff – Doylestown (PA)
  • Marta Castillo – Nueva Vida Norristown (PA) New Life, Mosaic Staff
  • Regina Valensia – Philadelphia (PA) Praise Center

Learn more

That may be true. However, when a group like our diverse Pathways Team works together, the choices of pathways become much more complex and roundabout. There are not just two paths but a city with miles of streets. It’s possible to turn right, left, or go around the block to return to the same place. There are some one-way streets we can’t enter, and we must go around the block and choose another way. 

Our team knew that finding a path forward would be difficult and would mean committing to God, one another, and the journey. We believed our desire to seek God’s will would please God, and that God would be faithful to show us the way. We kept saying to one another, “If our group can come to agreement on the way forward, then there is hope for the conference to come to agreement.” 

Our team was asked to focus first on the strategic plan and our identity as Mosaic, and then consider our recommendation for affiliation with MC USA. We were asked to consider but decenter the LGBTQIA conversation and instead center on our identity as a conference, our vision, mission, and priorities.  

The focus areas that emerged were clarity/identity, communication, relationship building, leadership development, and reconciliation. When we learned of the probability of receiving the Vibrant Mosaic Program grant, we incorporated those activities into the plan. Many of us felt excited about all that could happen over the next three years. 

After turning the strategic plan over to our consultants for refinement, we turned to discernment on our recommendation for affiliation with MC USA. It was a disconcerting moment, and we asked ourselves, “How do we decide? What process do we use?” 

We gathered information and had direct and deeper conversations with groups in Mosaic around the three options that had emerged – independence, renewed commitment, or partnership and collaboration. We considered the implications of each option.  

From our conversations, we heard that a split to independence was supported by only a few, a renewed commitment to MC USA was encouraged by a higher percentage, and the option to leave as a member but continue as a partner brought the most energy and felt mostly lifegiving by a wide margin. 

After processing the feedback, our last step was to discern and decide which recommendation we would make to the Board. In a meeting, each team member presented and explained their recommendation, from their own areas of influence and connections within the conference. There was a clear majority recommending collaboration and partnership, with several advocating for continued commitment, so we decided to take additional time for discernment.  

Two weeks later, we met and received a more detailed list of ways we might be able to collaborate with MC USA, and each team member again shared their recommendation. That evening we came to consensus to recommend collaboration and partnership with MC USA. 

For me, it was a joyful culmination of the work the Holy Spirit had done in our group. We had committed to each other and to the work, even in disagreements. Each person’s gifts were used, and each person remained engaged throughout the almost two-year process. The ebb and flow of the process showed us who we can be in community. Together we wrote our final recommendation and rationale. 

We offer it to you as a labor of love, representing many hours of prayer, conversation, and discernment. To the delegates, it is now your choice!  

“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

Romans 11:35, NIV

Marta Castillo

Marta Castillo is the Associate Executive Minister for Mosaic Conference. Marta lives in Norristown, PA, with her husband, Julio, and has three sons, Christian, Andres and Daniel and one granddaughter, Isabel.

August Board Meeting Sets the Pathway for Mosaic’s Future

by

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  

by

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.