On Sunday, October 28 the following was sent to Franconia Conference pastors as they prepared to gather with our communities. May we continue to live into these statements as a […]
Peace
Pray, Fast, Lament, and Bear Witness: Nigerian Brethren Give Testimony
Indian Creek Church of the Brethren, Harleysville, is hosting Nigerian church leader Rev. Dr. Musa Mambula and his wife, Sarah, for a first-hand information session on Sunday, January 11, 5-6 pm.
Salford's Peace Camp joins Tom Chapin on Souderton stage
by Bob Keeler, Montgomery News (reposted by permission) When Tom Chapin took to the stage for his June 29 Concert Sundaes performance in Souderton (Pa.) Community Park, it was expected […]
The chaos isn’t going anywhere
“Why don’t you take off your coat and stay awhile?”
I couldn’t get my friend’s words out of my mind. I had been in my new home for four months and still my walls were bare. It was time.
Introducing Salford Mennonite Church
Salford Mennonite Church, located in Harleysville, Pa., was founded in 1717. An agrarian congregation throughout its history, the past 50 years has seen a transition to a suburban and professional […]
Brokenness and healing in Doylestown
On Sunday evening November 10th, a group of people from the community and from Doylestown congregation gathered to reflect on the painful parts of life and to seek hope in God’s Presence.
Gun to garden tool
Gary Lebo was on his cell phone 117 miles away in Dillsburg, Pa. Item number 104, a cultivator mattock, was up next at the Philadelphia Festival & Auction, which benefits Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).
Goshen College Announces Scholarship in Honor of Becky Felton
GOSHEN, Ind. – Becky Felton, Goshen College class of ’76 and a member of Perkasie congregation, was a champion of peace and justice. Even when faced with a terminal illness, she confronted it knowing that she was at peace with God and with others.
Before Becky passed away in November 2012, she and her husband, Jon, had the gift of time to talk about the organizations that were dear to her and where she would like their family support to go upon her death. There were many places where she had worked and volunteered that shared Becky’s vision of working toward a good and just world, and many of those places received memorials in Becky’s name.
Introducing Garden Chapel
We are “The Garden Chapel” from Victory Gardens, New Jersey. We are a small, diverse, loving, and growing congregation located in Morris County, New Jersey. The borough of Victory Gardens was founded in 1941 by the federal government to house workers from a nearby munitions factory. It was named after the vegetable gardens people planted during World War II in response to food shortages. It is the smallest municipality in size (91 acres) and population (1,520) in Morris County, but the most densely populated.
Seeking peace and pursuing it with Conference youth
What happens when a youth group from a 274-year-old congregation (Methacton) meets with the youth from a community outreach that is just about a year old (Arise)? What happens when you then pile those youth in a couple of vans and drive two hours to a cabin where they will be cooped up for a couple of days? What happens when you add to this mix three 50-something-year-old leaders who want to connect with these kids and have a serious discussion about being peacemakers? You get a weekend when all of us learned a lot about each other and probably a little more about ourselves, a weekend when we all learned that we can have a lot of fun together.
Preventing Gun Violence
Drick Boyd, professor at Eastern University, and Fred Kauffman from Mennonite Central Committee (both from West Philadelphia congregation) shared stories of gun violence and redemption and encouraged leaders to engage their congregations around the topic of gun violence and gun control. There are deeper issues in our culture, Boyd said, and getting rid of guns won’t remove those deeper issues, but “at least we’ll live long enough to address them.”
Incarnation in the suburbs
My fingers and toes are still somewhat numb as I sit down to write this account of the prayer walk in Hilltown Township (Pa.). I also feel somewhat numb on the inside. I wonder how I got here… the associate pastor who was just interviewed by a local news station for walking and praying on a neighborhood street. This is weird.
U.S. War-culture, Sacrifice and Salvation
This morning, Denton-Borhaug spoke at the Pastors and CRM Leaders’ Breakfast about the topic of her book, U.S. War-culture, Sacrifice and Salvation. A “war-culture,” said Denton-Borhaug, is the increasing interpenetration of the ethos and practices of war into ever-increasing facets of daily human life. Using information from economists, theologians, and philosophers, Denton-Borhaug gave illustrations of how this war-culture has developed and overdeveloped, especially in the years since 9/11, and how the language of sacrifice fosters what can be considered a national “war religion.”