Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Randy Heacock

Great (Pastoral) Expectations

by

by Randy Heacock, Leadership Minister

Over the past few years, I worked with several congregations as they looked for a new pastor.  I appreciate the opportunity to learn the joys and challenges of a search process with congregations.  I have also had interesting discussions with potential pastors regarding their expectations in a new setting. While we want good sermons, we desire a person who is relatable, the right age, properly educated, and, of course, experienced.

While looking for the right pastor, many questions arise. What do we actually want a pastor to do?  What do we hope pastors accomplish?  Who is it that influences such conversations?    

How we answer these questions, might lead to more questions. How might our pastoral job descriptions and memos of understanding increase the chance for our congregations to become healthy?  Is it possible that a different focus could empower congregations to reach out to others more effectively?  Could greater clarity enable a given pastor to make best use of his/her gifts?  

I encourage congregational leaders and pastors to give these questions more intentional time and energy.  It seems some of our congregational patterns need attention.  

The following are three areas that may benefit both congregations and pastors to develop greater clarity and focus.  

  1. Do we hire pastors to do the work of the church or do we hire pastors to lead and equip individuals to carry out the ministry of the church?  This may seem simple, but many churches hire a pastor believing the pastor is responsible for caring, outreach, growth, spiritual nurture, and more. 

Clarity on this will help determine how we expect a pastor to spend her time. It will also raise expectations for congregational participants. Such clarity will encourage pastors to develop the varied gifts of people God has given a particular congregation. 

  1. Accountability is a crucial area where clarity is needed.  A number of years ago a friend declared, “Seminaries train pastors to be lazy.” Though I strongly disagreed with his opinion, pastors need to be responsible and welcoming of accountability.  Too often, however, I see boards and elders try to work at this by micro-managing the pastor. 

Three keys areas that can create accountability are task completion, accessibility, and
responsiveness.  

Does the pastor get his work done in a timely and thoughtful way? Is the pastor
approachable, both with her time and her spirit of openness to the concerns of
others?  Does a pastor thoughtfully respond to situations and conflict or just react/ignore?    

  1. Finally, are the patterns of communication open and clear so as to develop trust that empowers both pastor and laity?  Well-developed trust can provide freedom and the space to risk. Too often, however, hidden agendas sabotage the development of a trusting relationship. If a pastor feels the freedom to try something different, creativity can lead to spirit-led movement.  At the same time, honest feedback can help a pastor learn and understand context and impact.  

I am certainly grateful for a congregation that has shaped me and contributed to my growth in this way.  Pastors and churches need to find healthy patterns of communication and not just wait for an evaluation or assume silence is golden.

There are many wonderful congregations and potential pastors looking to lead. May we do our work to clarify expectations so we can better serve together!

A Wedding & A Funeral: Pandemic Life Realities

by

by Randy Heacock, Leadership Minister

Randy Heacock and his daughter, Vanessa, at her recent wedding. The bride’s grandfather’s boots, seen in the photo, represent Randy’s father.

As we continue, day after day, in this time of social distancing, there are moments I find myself feeling like I have discovered a bit of a routine. Meanwhile, there are moments of hazy confusion, when I need to remind myself what day of the week it is. One moment there seems like there are a lot of new things going on; the next it seems like another 24 hours of the same old thing.

In the last 3 weeks, I experienced the high of seeing my daughter get married and the low of burying my father.

With this weird mix of highs and lows, busy and bored, normal and unusual, I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 3. Perhaps you remember the song by The Byrds, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” which states much the same:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.  -Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NRSV)

This text comes out of the wisdom literature of the Bible. It contains the wisdom of the people of Israel as they learned both from God and from the circumstances of daily life. There is the awareness that there are different seasons to life. It acknowledges what appear to be opposite ends of the spectrum, such as a time to gather and a time to throw away. Often we tend to embrace one of these ends, and consider it good, while trying to avoid the other, and labeling it as bad.

Perhaps we are to live more in the tension, somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, rather than merely embracing one place and running from the other. For example, in both the wedding and the funeral I attended recently, there were tears of loss but also celebrations of profound joy.

In relationships, it is always good to be at peace. But there are times, even in our best relationships, when we experience conflict, which may feel like war.  If we hold these things in tension, while looking to God, we can find hope and energy. Perhaps the call is to simply remain present and wait on God.

A few people have expressed to me how this pandemic has provided them the space to sort out things they have neglected for many years.  In a culture that believes busyness is better than stillness and accumulation is better than reduction, consider what we can learn from the biblical wisdom that proposes a time for everything.

How might we continue to learn what God has for us?  What new practices might we develop as we come out of social distancing?  There is a time to reflect and a time to practice.

Lifting Up the Gifts of Others

by

by Jennifer Svetlik, Salford congregation

Randy Heacock particularly enjoys helping congregations think through their communications processes. “Many congregations tend to do a lot of informal communication, which can privilege the inner, familiar circles and unintentionally leave a lot of people out,” he reflects.  “It is lifegiving to help congregations better understand what they’re trying to accomplish and to communicate more effectively.” 

Randy serves as a leadership minister for Bally, Rocky Ridge, Towamencin and Wellspring congregations. In this role, he seeks to accompany and encourage not only the congregation’s pastors, but the congregation as a whole. He occasionally speaks in these congregations and meets bimonthly with their pastors and annually with church leadership.

“I enjoy watching congregations own their decisions, lean into them, and try to be faithful to what God is calling them to do,” Randy says. Recently he has been an observer and cheerleader to Tim Moyer at Bally as the church seeks to move to from a membership-driven to a “centered set” approach to church life. 

As a leadership minister he also seeks to be available to the congregation during times of transition, such as with Towamencin, where he serves on a search committee looking for a new lead pastor. Accompanying congregations through transition includes being available during times of crisis or loss.

“In December 2018, [Pastor] Mike Meneses passed away, and that was an intense time of walking alongside Mike as well as the Wellspring congregation,” Randy reflects. 

Randy became a leadership minister in January 2017. He had served as lead pastor of Doylestown congregation since 2001 and was drawn to the leadership minister position as an opportunity to share what he has learned with other pastors, as well as to bring back to Doylestown what he learns from other congregations.

Previously, Randy served in ministry with the United Methodist Church (UMC). “The faith I was raised with was more intellectual and theological, and I found myself attracted to the more relational approach of the Mennonite Church, as well as the call to love our enemies and those different from us.” 

Randy and wife Nancy

His time with the UMC still influences the way that he sees leadership. “As pastors we do have authority and we shouldn’t be afraid to exercise it. At times the servant leadership model in the Mennonite church has made us shy away from the responsibility we have to exercise that authority for the good of the community.”  

In 2000, Randy had a “gap year” between pastorates, something that he recommends for every pastor. Through a year working in a chime factory, Randy developed a deep appreciation of entrepreneurs and small business owners who treat their employees respectfully and carry the stress of providing jobs and creating a successful business.  

The experience prompted him to identify ways to lift up the gifts of small business owners. “We have not known well in the church how to engage entrepreneurs and their creativity. We are risk-averse and afraid of failure in the church, and that tends to choke out entrepreneurs. Businesses move on from failure much better than churches,” he reflects.

More broadly, working outside of ministry has helped remind Randy of what daily life looks like for most churchgoers, and how to better serve them. “As pastors we focus too much on what happens in church. Church is a small piece of what people do. We should instead focus on how to help people connect their experience in church with how they engage in the world.” 

Randy also emphasizes the importance of pastors having a life outside of work. “I think it’s vital for pastors to have circles outside of their church to be themselves and have fun. It’s not healthy to be too identified to your work,” Randy encourages. 

For Randy, this looks like playing trivia weekly at a local establishment with a group of friends, hiking, being outdoors, and fixing things. Notably, he finds regularly waxing his car enjoyable and relaxing. 

Learning and Celebrating Along the Way

by

by Randy Heacock, Leadership Minister

In my work both as a pastor and for the conference, one of my greatest rewards is the opportunity to learn from and with others working in God’s Kingdom.

This display from Sandy Landes’ ordination represents God‘s power to transform what was once a barren desert into a lush land.

In the first congregation I served as a young minister in the United Methodist Church, the board of ordained ministry was wise enough to pair me with an older minister (younger than my current age) to mentor me.  Charles and I were very different both in our theological perspective and in our view of worship; however, he taught me the importance of accepting affirmation and “to let it sink deeply into your entire being.  Challenges and criticism will come frequently enough and you will need to have a strong bank account of affirmation to keep your balance.”  Fast forward to my current work, I file notes of affirmation and appreciation with a prayer of gratitude as evidence of God’s grace.

More recently, in working with the pastoral search committee at Towamencin, a person called to share concern regarding our process.  As I listened, I gained a fuller understanding both of what happened at our last meeting and how we could find our way forward.  Grateful for the honest feedback, I reached out to some other people for wisdom and discerned an approach for our next meeting.  The meeting was vastly improved with more vigorous engagement.  On the ride home, I thanked God for the varied gifts people contribute to the church. 

I recently met with Tim Moyer, pastor of Bally congregation, for breakfast at his house.  Let me first say that Tim knows how to fix breakfast!  As we talked, his excitement and energy was contagious.  The Bally congregation is working to learn about and practice a centered-set approach.  Tim shared how this focus is uniting the congregation.  They are also rethinking and reshaping who they are as a church.   I give thanks for the fresh wind of God creating new expressions.  I look forward to what God is yet to do at and through Bally. 

At Doylestown, where I serve as pastor, we recently celebrated the ordination of Sandy Landes.  Sandy’s ordination was a tribute to God’s constant pursuit and Sandy’s willingness to say “yes.”  Many people present would have witnessed Sandy’s transformation through the process of refusing, then reluctantly leading, and now leading boldly in a public setting.  Former members, family, neighbors, colleagues, and friends celebrated Sandy’s faithful example of answering God’s call.   The day after Sandy’s ordination, I rejoiced for the many people who nurtured and participated in this work of God. 

The photo above is a display that was present during Sandy’s ordination.  It represents God‘s power to transform what was once a barren desert into a lush land.  As in the little stories I have shared, it visually reminds us of God’s life-giving power.  May we all give thanks for the ways we have witnessed God’s transformational power.  May we continually learn to wait on God. 

 

 

Learning to Pray In New Ways

by

By Randy Heacock, Leadership Minister and Pastor at Doylestown Mennonite Church

Is it possible to teach an old dog new tricks?  Many of us have heard or said this phrase over our lifetime. We say this to state the challenge when trying to change patterns or habits. Those of us in congregational leadership can name our fair share of experiences that indicate old dogs do not learn new tricks. However, I want to celebrate a congregation that is learning to pray in new ways.

For some time I have been disturbed by the focus of our prayers. Back in 2013 while on sabbatical, I visited 10 congregations to see how they did prayer on a Sunday morning and to discover what their practice communicated about the purpose of prayer. Though some churches were quite liturgical and others more informal, my overall conclusion of the purpose of congregational prayer was that God needed to be directed what and how to help those we love. In talking with individuals, I discovered people had formulas and for some, their prayers were bargaining sessions with God.

I struggled to align this with Jesus’ teaching, “thy kingdom come and thy will be done.”  Our prayers seem to call on God to make our will be done and our kingdom be ordered as we see fit. However, I knew changing our prayer habits would not be easy. Even the suggestion that our practice of prayer needed to be altered raised some eyebrows. For the past several years, we at Doylestown Mennonite have tried a few different ways to pray. I preached differently about prayer and we offered some additional training.

Recently, we invited Noel Santiago, Franconia Conference Leadership Minister for Missional Transformation, to lead us in four sessions on prayer. Though we have only had two of the four sessions thus far, there is clear evidence that we are learning to pray in new ways. Noel quickly developed a level of trust with those present and encouraged us to believe for our time together that God will speak to us if we listen.  Rather than starting with our need, Noel encouraged us to seek what God wanted and then pray for that rather than our own desire. While it would be too lengthy of an article if I went into all that Noel has shared in our two sessions, I can tell you people are being changed.

People from the age of 18 to 89 are reflecting together on what God has said to them.   Tears have been shed for prayers people have crafted for one another. A younger person declared only God could have given those specific words of encouragement. Noel then pointed out that we prophesied over one another. We are a long way from mastering this new way to pray as we raise questions and acknowledge some awkwardness. Yet there is no doubt the Spirit is moving and God is stirring deep within us.

Please pray for us as we have two sessions yet to complete, but also as we seek to continue to practice and learn what God has for us in prayer. I am grateful that Franconia Conference is willing to hire such people like Noel with different gifts to equip us as churches. I have witnessed people of all ages, learning new ways to approach God in prayer!

 

Leadership Ministers Reflect and Refine

by

by Stephen Kriss, Executive Minister

For generations, one of the primary tasks of Franconia Conference was to provide leadership accompaniment with congregations and credentialed leaders.  The call to serve as a bishop was a serious call to lead, serve and offer wisdom and counsel.  It was a weighty role.  I grew up with a bishop in my home community in Allegheny Conference and for some of us in Franconia, we remember those days, too.   Our bishop still wore a plain coat on Sundays and he preached long sermons.  I still remember being surprised to see him visiting his sister one day while working on the garden to pick green beans and he was wearing a flannel shirt, conversing (not preaching) and laughing.

For almost a decade now, our conference has framed this work as leadership ministers.  We have attempted to find footing alongside congregations to invite, provoke and accompany during rapid cultural changes.  Our conference is now served by a team of ten leadership ministers: men and women from different generations, with different cultural backgrounds and different language capacities to continue to cultivate God’s dream among our 45 congregations.  It’s a key task and incarnation of what we do together.

Our leadership ministers met the end of March, during what we hope will be the last heavy snowstorm, at Mariawald Retreat Center near Reading to review and reimagine our work together.  Some of us weren’t able to get there due to the snow, so we used Zoom to connect with these colleagues.  Some colleagues left early and some stayed later to wait out the storm.  In the meantime, we enjoyed the lovely and hospitable space of Mariawald, hosted by Catholic nuns from Africa who are now in Berks County as part of their vocation of serving God and the church.  The snow was stunningly beautiful even though we may have been ready to move onto spring.  It was in some ways metaphoric of the difficulty and possibility of doing our work in this time and space.

Together we began the task of refining our work.  We will continue to work around the Conference’s approach to ministry and leadership which is formational, missional and intercultural.  We will continue to align our ministry staff around those ongoing priorities.  We are beginning to work together to understand how to include congregations at our farthest distances now with a staff representative based in California to serve our congregations there.  And we’re evaluating best practices to serve congregations that are close by to us too, sometimes just blocks from where we live or less than a mile from the Conference office at Dock Mennonite Academy.

Franconia staff: (front) Aldo Siahaan, (L to R) Mary Nitzsche, Wayne Nitzsche, Noel Santiago, John Stoltzfus, Jeff Wright, Mike Clemmer, Randy Heacock and Steve Kriss.

I am grateful now for a full staff team after over a year of navigating through changes.   We are beginning to learn together, to laugh, to build deeper trust.  We are leaning in toward our individual gifts and callings recognizing our invitation to serve God in the way of Christ’s peace through our historic and growing community.   As a Conference, we are privileged to be resourced well through ongoing generosity and wise stewardship.   I continue to be grateful for the sense of care and mutuality that we have together and the divine invitation to continued transformation by the power of the Spirit in this journey of faith, hope and love together.

Great Gifts Among Us

by

Franconia Conference continues to follow God’s call, sharing the Good News of Christ Jesus and empowering and equipping others to, as well. Executive Minister Steve Kriss said, “We have much to do and much possibility.” This work is not possible without the many gifted individuals God has blessed the Conference with.

In January, as Steve Kriss took the reins of Executive Minister, a time of transition was announced that included introducing three interim LEADership Ministers, one even serving as Interim Director of Congregational Resourcing. As the time of transition comes to a close, so too comes some changes.

One of those interim LEADership Ministers has agreed to extend their interim role. Wayne Nitzsche will continue through September in his role as interim LEADership Minister, working with Alpha, Bally and Taftsville congregations. The other two interim LEADership Ministers, Emily Ralph Servant and Randy Heacock, have agreed to stay on as contracted LEADership Ministers. Emily concludes her work as Interim Director of Congregational Equipping and Resourcing this month, but will continue to serve as a LEADership Minister with Ambler, West Philly, Plains, Methacton, Perkasie and Spring Mount congregations. Randy will continue working with Wellspring, Towamencin and Rocky Ridge congregations.

July 1 brought two new faces to the Conference office. As previously announced, Mary Nitzsche began as Associate Executive Minister. Her area of focus will include the ministerial committee, work with retired pastors, women pastors, interim pastors and chaplains.  Mary will serve to represent the Conference in times when Steve is not available and an “executive” presence would be deemed helpful and important.  Per the original announcement, Executive Minister Steve Kriss wrote, “Mary’s gifts will help add depth and care to our ministry and leadership team.  I’ve experienced Mary as someone who genuinely exhibits the fruits of the Spirit in her life and trust that she’ll bring that fruitful presence further into our life together.”

Another new addition to the Conference office in July is Juanita Nyce, who will work as an Engagement Advisor for the Conference.  Juanita will help Conference Leadership and staff look at how to develop connections with their constituency and beyond that help to extend the Conference vision and mission together.  Juanita is part of Salford congregation and previously worked at Rockhill Mennonite Community.

Franconia Conference is a blessing to have so many gifted and talented children of God to work together spreading God’s love and light in the world.

Bitter or Sweet

by

By Randy Heacock, Interim LEADership Minister

In the family in which I was raised, going to the theater was not acceptable. The one exception that was granted was to see “Mary Poppins” for a friend’s birthday party.   The line, “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,” I have never forgotten. As a kid, the idea of taking nasty tasting medicine in order to feel better had little value. However, mix that same medicine with a little sweetness and somehow it was doable.

I grew up using my fair share of sugar. A good bowl of cereal ended with drinking the milk from the bowl with its clumps of sugar. I married into a Mennonite family who loves to bake and sugar was not sprinkled, but rather dumped into the homemade applesauce.    Even fresh strawberries needed a little touch of sugar to bring out the flavor. No Mennonite gathering seems complete without food in general and specifically sweet baked goods. It seems many of us have a pretty large sweet tooth.

As much as I love sweets, I draw the line with coffee.  I like it black. No sugar and no flavored creams. Though I love ice cream, I do not like any coffee flavors.  Coffee is best when bitter.   When a friend recently heard of my preference to keep sweetener out of my coffee, he commented that it fits my personality and pastoral approach.  Perhaps this should offend me but his explanation seemed accurate.   He suggested that I do not sugar-coat my observations and understandings. My friend affirmed me for being bitter and for providing space in which others can share of life’s bitterness.

An old movie, my love of sweets, and coffee preference seems like an odd combination to write about. However, it has given me much to think on. While I do not strive to be bitter, I do wish to be open to the bitter truth God has for me.  I want to find ways to lower my defenses regarding what others say about me to hear the truth they offer.  I long to expand my palate to those experiences that may not seem sugar-coated.  I hope to increase my ability to sit with others in their bitterness without needing to eat shoe fly pie.

I am pretty sure I will keep enjoying sweets.  I pray I can grow to embrace bitter as being equally good.  I believe it is time for a good cup of coffee!