Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Stephen Kriss

Review Steering Committee names co-chairs and calls the conference to prayer

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Stephen Kriss, skriss@mosaicmennonites.org

The newly configured Franconia Conference Review Steering Committee met for the first time on April 21, 2010, at the Mennonite Conference Center in Harleysville, Pa., to continue to set a course for the review scheduled for release in mid-May 2010. The review, performed by LaVern Yutzy, consulting associate with Mennonite Health Services Alliance, is intended to offer recommendations and set a direction for the Conference toward a hopeful future. The committee’s next meeting is April 28, 2010, with additional meetings scheduled over the following months to guide processes on decision-making and communication.

In this week’s meeting, the committee named Mike Derstine, pastor of Plains Mennonite Church, Hatfield, Pa., and Joy Sutter, Executive Director, Bux-Mont Oncology Hematology Medical Associates and member of Salford Mennonite Church, as co-chairpersons. The committee reported a positive response to opportunities to provide information by email, postcard and through personal contact with LaVern Yutzy and recommended an extension of consulting hours to fully process and consider the volume of responses. Along with Sutter and Derstine, team members include Donella Clemens (Perkasie congregation), Randy Heacock (Doylestown congregation), Beny Krisbianto (Nations Worship Center, Philadelphia), Jim Laverty (Souderton congregation) and Karen Moyer (Rocky Ridge congregation at Quakertown, Pa.).

With the deadline for responses set for April 24, 2010, the committee and Franconia Conference Board of Directors will meet together on May 4, 2010, to consider the review and the situation going forward. The review is not intended to answer all questions about the recent events regarding staffing decisions, but is focused on finding a path forward together. The report will be crafted by Yutzy upon completion of all interviews and consideration of comments submitted by email and postcard. The committee’s intent is to provide guidance for establishing patterns of communication, discernment and decision-making for the upcoming report and recommendations that will be posted at www.mosaicmennonites.org in mid-May 2010.

The committee continues to call the conference to prayer—communally in the worship life of congregations as well as individually that together we might continue to proclaim and incarnate Christ’s way of peace, healing and hope.

Collaborative missional learning task force formed for Indian Valley initiatives

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by Stephen Kriss

Leaders from ministries and organizations connected with Eastern District Conference and Franconia Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA met on April 5 at Dock Woods Community at Lansdale, Pa, to initiate a conversation about future partnerships toward collaborative missional learning. The gathering has implications for broader cooperation and included representatives from Living Branches (an affiliation of Franconia Conference-related retirement communities), Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Pennsylvania and Biblical Seminary in Hatfield, Pa. The meeting included board members, business leaders, pastors, conference staff and organizational leaders in conversation together.

The group met to discuss possibilities and to engage in storytelling on the movement on education and equipping within a variety of contexts, considering from the pew to pulpit as well as later year learning. Though an informal conversation, the group named a task force to continue the conversation toward more practical realities and paths for mutual enhancement of mission and vision for extending the reign of God and missional engagement locally in Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania.

Franconia Conference is undergoing a conference-wide review while regional conferences of Mennonite Church USA, including Harleysville-based Eastern District Conference, continue to explore collaborative equipping and learning opportunities from an Anabaptist perspective. Christopher Dock Mennonite High School is also in the midst of a marketing review along with Penn View Christian School in nearby Souderton, Pa. Both Biblical Seminary and Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Pennsylvania are expanding options to serve emerging congregational leaders in the Philadelphia region considering both urban and suburban constituencies. With the recent affiliation of Souderton Mennonite Homes and the Dock Woods facilities under the name Living Branches, there is a new opportunity to explore lifelong living and learning among a community of 1500 residents.

The group named a task force set to include:

  • Phil Bergstresser, board member Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, broker/owner, Bergstresser Real Estate
  • David Dunbar, President, Biblical Seminary
  • Steve Kriss, Director of Leadership Cultivation for Franconia Conference of Mennonite Church USA
  • Rich McDaniel, board member Biblical Seminary, president of College Retail Alliance
  • Conrad Swartzentruber, Principal, Christopher Dock Mennonite High School
  • Mark Wenger, Director of Pastoral Studies, Eastern Mennonite Seminary at Lancaster (Pa)
  • Warren Tyson, Conference Minister, Eastern District Conference of Mennonite Church USA

Franconia Conference Review Steering Committee invites additional members

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Stephen Kriss

The Franconia Conference Review Steering Committee received nearly 80 nominations for the available sixth position on the recently formed committee. In consultation on April 8, 2010, at the Mennonite Conference Center in Harleysville, PA, the committee moved to increase its numbers and to adjust its members based on feedback from conference constituency.

Additional committee members include:
• Mike Derstine, pastor, Plains Mennonite Church at Hatfield, PA
• Beny Krisbianto, pastor, Nations Worship Center, Philadelphia
• Joy Sutter, Salford Mennonite Church at Harleysville, PA
Previously named member Gerry Clemmer, lead pastor, at Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church has removed himself from the committee to allow space for additional members to represent broader conference constituency. The committee of seven now includes three Franconia Conference board members and four representatives from the Franconia Conference constituent community.

The committee is set with the task of establishing patterns of communication, discernment and decision-making for the upcoming report on the conference-wide review, currently in process under the leadership of LaVern Yutzy, consulting associate with Mennonite Health Services Alliance. The report is intended to shed light on recent events in Franconia Conference; to provide better understanding of issues that will need further processing and to find a path toward a hopeful future while not intending to answer all questions. The report will be available to delegates and constituency by mid-May. The committee intends to have a full report posted at www.mosaicmennonites.org

Yutzy expects to complete his final day of open listening sessions on April 21, 2010, at the Conference Center in Harleysville. To schedule a conversation with LaVern, contact Carla or Melissa, at the Conference Center at 267-932-6050 or email office@mosaicmennonites.org Postcards with questions for perspectives and comments have been sent to all conference delegates and congregations. Postcards should be returned or responses emailed to feedback@mosaicmennonites.org by April 24, 2010. All responses are confidential.

Franconia Conference names steering committee and review timeline

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Stephen Kriss

The board of directors of Franconia Conference has named a Conference Review Steering Committee to provide oversight for the assessment being performed by consultant LaVern Yutzy. The committee includes:

  • Donella Clemens, Perkasie (Pa.) Mennonite Church
  • Gerry Clemmer, senior pastor, Souderton (Pa.) Mennonite Church
  • Randy Heacock, pastor, Doylestown (Pa.) Mennonite Church
  • Jim Laverty, pastor of equipping and discipling, Souderton Mennonite Church
  • Karen Moyer, Rocky Ridge Mennonite Church at Quakertown, Pa.

The committee will be expanded to include a sixth person. Suggestions of persons who might be considered as a sixth member are welcome from all constituents. Please send suggested names to feedback@mosaicmennonites.org by April 6, 2010, for consideration.

The review being conducted by Yutzy, consulting associate with Mennonite Health Services Alliance, is intended to shed light on recent events in Franconia Conference; to provide better understanding of issues that will need further processing and to find a path toward a hopeful future. The process is designed to review the role, structure and staffing of Franconia Conference, clarifying issues around recent events and underlying concerns while not intending to answer all questions.

The review listening process began on March 18 and initially focused on conversations with 14 Conference staff. Yutzy met with 15 persons on March 29 and 30 including delegates, pastors and other interested persons from the Conference. With guidance from the Conference Review Steering Committee, Yutzy will continue the listening process. He will be available on April 8 and a second April date later in the month. Persons who would like to share their perspective are invited to call the Conference Center at 267-932-6050 and speak to Carla or Melissa to arrange a time to meet with LaVern or email office@mosaicmennonites.org to schedule a face-to-face meeting time on either of those dates.

Yutzy has received a number of e-mails and invites persons to continue to share their perspectives and counsel. Feedback about this communication and any aspect of the review process is welcome. Though LaVern may not be able to respond to every e-mail, counsel and comments are valued and appreciated at feedback@mosaicmennonites.org.

The Conference will send postcards with response questions to all congregations and delegates encouraging feedback into the process by April 24, 2010.

Recommendations that emerge from this review are likely to require further review and processing with persons and groups involved in order to determine appropriate direction. The Conference Review Steering Committee will develop a potential process for reviewing the recommendations and a path for decision-making regarding those recommendations. The report is expected to be available to the board and delegates in mid-May, 2010.