Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Spring Assembly

Mosaic Conference’s Spring Assemblies Nurture Identity and Dialogue

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by Jennifer Svetlik

More than 170 people gathered across the country and online this spring as Mosaic Mennonite Conference held a series of Spring Assembly gatherings designed to deepen relationships, explore shared identity, equip leaders, and receive feedback. 

Throughout April and early May, seven Spring Assembly events took place in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, and via Zoom, with an additional equipping session held in South Texas for Partners in Ministry from Colombia and Texas. These gatherings were offered in English, Spanish, and Indonesian, with interpretation provided in many settings. 

Recognizing a widespread desire for more in-person dialogue, these regional assemblies offered a relational and formational touchpoint for Mosaic Conference participants. All credentialed leaders, 2024 and 2025 delegates, and any interested individuals were invited to participate. Unlike Mosaic’s fall Assembly, the spring gatherings did not include decision-making votes but focused instead on equipping and working toward greater clarity and a strengthened sense of identity. 

“Meeting together with other South Florida Mosaic pastors and leaders in Lakeland for Spring Assembly was a very precious time,” reflected Pastor Pavel Gailans of Homestead (FL) Mennonite. “We are learning about shared spaces and how to welcome people where Jesus is already present to heal their broken lives. Thank you for the Spirit filled fellowship.” 

The Florida Spring Assembly took place on May 3, 2025 at Iglesia Menonita Luz y Verdad (Lakeland, FL).

Each Assembly opened with worship and prayer led by board members, who also shared Mosaic’s vision and mission. Conference staff introduced a sample lesson from the new core priority guides, tools being developed to bring some clarity and a common vocabulary around Mosaic’s vision, mission, and priorities, as well as to support Mosaic congregations in their formational, intercultural, and missional work.  

Participants experienced a lesson from one of the three priority guides: 

  • Formational: Becoming like Jesus (shaped in the image of Christ) 
  • Intercultural: Loving like Jesus (transformed by relationships with others) 
  • Missional: Living like Jesus (engaged in the healing of the world) 
Those who participated in the Spring Assembly on April 26 at JKI Anugerah (Sierra Madre, CA).

Each lesson incorporated a circle reflection question, an encounter with scripture, and a spiritual practice.  

Feedback from these sessions is informing the final versions of the guides, which congregations will be invited to use in Bible studies, small groups, retreats, or alongside sermon series to further their formational, missional, and intercultural growth.  

In addition, congregations, partners in ministry, and Conference-Related Ministries who are exploring a connection or membership with Mosaic will be able to utilize these guides to better understand Mosaic Conference.  
 
Equipping was also offered during the Assemblies on the concept of Centered-Set Church — a theological approach that orients community life around movement toward Jesus, rather than fixed boundaries of belief or behavior. 

A visualization of a sample of the responses to the question, “What does being intercultural mean to you?”

Staff members helped participants reflect on how this framework—characterized by high expectations, accountability, and wide welcome—can reshape church identity and witness. It was developed in a missional context, as a way of making it easier to reach out to people who are not yet part of the traditional church structure. 

Leadership Minister Josh Meyer noted, “In a time when polarization and boundary-making often define the Church, equipping Mosaic leaders with a Centered-Set approach helps us orient around Jesus as the true center.” 

He added, “Centered-Set theology reflects the heart of the Gospel — that discipleship is less about who’s ‘in’ or ‘out’ and more about walking together toward Jesus with humility, grace, and shared discipleship. We trust that mutual transformation comes as we fix our eyes on Christ and invite others to do the same.” 

While many found the Centered-Set model compelling, participants also expressed a desire for more concrete examples of what it looks like in everyday congregational life—particularly in moments of tension, disagreement, or ambiguity. 

The group gathered at Nations Worship Center (Philadelphia, PA) for Spring Assembly on April 30, 2025.

Mosaic Conference extends deep gratitude to our hosts for these gatherings, for their hospitality and support: Blooming Glen (PA) Mennonite, JKI Anugerah (Sierra Madre, CA), Nations Worship Center (Philadelphia, PA), Iglesia Menonita Luz y Verdad (Lakeland, FL), and Iglesia Menonita del Cordero (Brownsville, TX).

Jennifer Svetlik

Jennifer is Director of Community Engagement & Editor for Mosaic. She grew up near Houston, TX and spent a decade living in intentional community in Washington DC, before moving to Lansdale, PA. She serves as Children’s Faith Formation Director at Salford Mennonite (Harleysville, PA).

Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To share your thoughts or send a message to the author(s), contact us at communication@mosaicmennonites.org.   

A Glimpse Inside Eastern District's Annual Family Reunion

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by Scott Roth, Interim Executive Conference Minister of Eastern District Conference

When spring is in full swing,  Eastern District Conference (EDC) annually gathers to celebrate being family. Many times, congregations lose sight of the fact that they are not alone. In the hustle and bustle of our churches’ weekly gatherings, engaging in each other’s lives, and trying to make the world a better place by showing people the beauty of a relationship with God, we get bombarded with the concept of our local church. Many times, our local church becomes our focus and Conference turns into this “thing we do” versus this “thing we belong to”.  We even go as far as calling it family.

The Spring Assembly for EDC is not a gathering to do business, but to be family. The 10 churches of EDC have an opportunity to embrace the beauty of God’s family through the expression of the Mennonite lense. Our churches all have their local context, but this bond we have through our Mennonite Anabaptist heritage draws us together. Whether you are a congregation that is 300 or 10 years old, you are family in EDC.

Many wonder, what does this Spring Assembly look like? Over the years it has been a time of workshops, conference related ministries sharing their passions, and story-telling of God’s movement within our own contexts as congregations. Over the years we have found that Spring Assembly is a moment to pause and have a family reunion. Each year it is a time to refresh and see what God is doing amidst us!

This year the agenda was simple and interactive. 32 people gathered at Zion Mennonite Church and sat at round tables and began to engage each other. The morning was a time of reporting from Jim Musselman, Conference Moderator, and Pastor Scott Roth, Interim Executive Conference Minister. These reports talked of what is happening in the denomination, specifically in relation to the Journey Forward process and Constituency Leadership Council (CLC). We were reminded that the Journey Forward is a chance for churches to engage at a local level around what it means to be Mennonite Church USA. The hope is that every church will engage the Journey Forward study material that is being provided by Mennonite Church USA, so that when we go through the Journey Forward process in 2019 we’ll be equipped and ready to engage on how to move forward as a denomination. We, as local congregations, have this chance to interact around the materials that will shape our future denomination.

Time was then spent in circle tables reflecting and discussing the hopes and fears of joining with Franconia Conference and becoming one. This created dialogue to open up our hearts and minds to what it means to be conferences within the Mennonite context as well as being part of the Kingdom of God. Realizing that our two systems (Eastern District and Franconia) have a good working relationship, we know that at a local level, there are hurts that lie in more personal engagement stories. This being said, the hope is that we can both look at each other as conferences and view each other well when this process is all said and done, regardless of how a vote comes out.

To end the day, each church had time to share their stories of how God is working in their midst. Testimony was given to the presence that God has with us. God was seen in missions trips, community interactions, and new ways of discipling within our congregations.

When it was all said and done, EDC gathered together and had communion. They broke bread and gave witness to the daily work God is doing through us, remembering what God has done for us and continues to do with us. The Spring Assembly continues its tradition as a space for renewal, marking a moment of who we are as family in the Kingdom of God.