Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Swamp

Carried by God, in Love

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by Nathan Good

The following is an adaptation of reflections shared by Dana and Nathan Good at the funeral of their son, Amos Rhett Good. To hear their full reflections, please click here. 

We didn’t have long with Amos, but he left a lifelong impression. Our journey with Amos began unexpectedly. Having taken surgical means to not have children, Dana and I were surprised by her pregnancy in late 2023.  

Then the next twist in the journey came. We discovered over halfway through the pregnancy that he had Trisomy 18, a severe genetic disorder. 

Amos was born on May 28, 2024 and lived for five hours. Many from our family were able to come to be with him and us. Those hours were filled with unconditional love.  

God was never far away. Even though most of his life on earth was spent in the womb, God was holding him close even then. The evidence of God and his people are all over the story of our son, Amos, and as his parents, we couldn’t want for a better legacy for him. 

The name Amos means “carried by God.” The prophet Amos was a simple shepherd called by God to deliver a powerful message: “Worship without justice is idolatry.” I feel a kindred spirit with the prophet. 

Nathan and Dana Good with their newborn son, Amos Rhett. 

I didn’t set out to be a pastor. I told God I would go anywhere and do anything for Him. I imagined a place of poverty, caring for people burdened by post-colonial globalism. Instead, God sent me to my own community with a simple message: “Worship without justice is idolatry.” 

Dana chose the name Amos for our son. Together we decided this was a way of naming him after me.  

As followers of Jesus, we claim to worship the one true God, the God of love and justice. 

The Apostle John reminds us: 

“This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” 

I wonder what the world looked like from Amos’s perspective. For the entire time he was alive, Amos had his eyes open. I have never seen a newborn taking in their world the way Amos did. And I believe what he saw was love. 

Imagine if we discovered an animal species that developed an additional sense, knowing if one of their young would die prematurely. Rather than distancing themselves, they poured extra care upon the mother and the child. 

Imagine they created tools to provide oxygen to the baby, allowing the family to gather to hug, hold, and kiss the child before they passed away. If we found this in nature, we would hold it up as one of the greatest expressions of love. 

That was Amos’s life. 

I can’t help but think of those around us, walking through tragedy without a support system like this. I hope that the love we have experienced inspires all of us to feel the same love towards others. 

Love towards the 70 to 90 children in Quakertown School District without a house to call their own.  

Love towards the mother wrestling with a surprise pregnancy without family or anything that feels like a reasonable option other than terminating the baby 

Love towards the hundreds of thousands of babies who are aborted every year. 

Love towards refugees and immigrants who have traveled thousands of miles out of sheer desperation to provide for their children.  

Children without parents, parents without spouses, immigrants miles from home: orphans, widows, and foreigners. This is who God has called us to love throughout history and it seems just as difficult today as it was three thousand years ago. 

14 Seek good, not evil, 
    that you may live. 
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, 
    just as you say he is. 
15 Hate evil, love good; 
    maintain justice in the courts. 
Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy 
    on the remnant of [his people]. 

Amos 5:14-15

Nathan Good

Nathan Good is the Pastor of Swamp (Quakertown, PA) congregation.

Congregational Profile: Swamp Mennonite Church

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by Nathan Good, pastor

Swamp Mennonite Church (Quakertown, PA) is a community of people growing together in Christ as we celebrate God’s grace, encourage growth, and proclaim Christ’s victory over sin and death through the power of the Holy Spirit.  

We recognize our need for grace, with a recent focus being, “As we grow in our understanding of God’s love and grace, we will increase in our ability and willingness to share more of ourselves, deepening our relationships with each other and the community around us.”  We have a member on each of our Church Board and Ministry Team who are open about their journeys as recovering alcoholics.

This desire for honesty and openness in our life together led to last year’s focus of Seeking God Together by Praying Listening Following. Being a part of Swamp means committing to following Jesus daily and to the faith community where we are united to Jesus.  

Our focus for 2020 is Connecting for a Purpose. As the body of Christ, the contribution of each member is important, so we may be the salt of the world, praying and living in such a way that God’s will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Swamp has a long history of service and outreach in the local community. Many local families share stories of being impacted by Vacation Bible School and Mission Outreach programs over the years. We continually invest time and money in caring for those around us, from helping neighbors clean up after a fire to opening our homes to the homeless. Our ministry extends around the world through individuals in our congregation with active roles in Mennonite Disaster Service, Mennonite Central Committee, and more.

As the community around us transitions from a historic farming community to a mish-mash of rural and suburban, we continue to evaluate what it means to follow Jesus faithfully in this time and place. We support the work of Free Fall Action Sports that uses the local skate park to build relationships with at-risk teens, developing their skills and abilities, and offering the opportunity to believe in the hope of Jesus. We also support the work of Code Blue which offers emergency housing in Quakertown and RIPPLE in Allentown.

Our blended worship style is a perfect expression of the community life of the Swamp congregation. Swamp embraces each person as they are while encouraging everyone to grow further into the image of God through Jesus. This is supported by our vibrant Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Clubs Program. This love for learning and concern for the next generation is seen in the outpouring of love and support for our youth as we work to integrate them into the church. This past summer we had an intergenerational Sunday School class where everyone, from ages 10-100, sat around tables and discussed Scripture, prayed together, and asked honest questions about Christianity.

We are far from perfect. But through the power of the Spirit we are perfecting, as we covenant to growing together in Christ as God’s community of faith in the drained swamp surrounding Milford Township, PA.

Prayer requests:

  •  Pray that we would be faithful in the little things of daily life.
  •  Pray for elastic edges as we reach out to our neighbors.
  •  Pray for creative collaboration with The Church(es) of Quakertown as we work together for God’s kingdom.

Thanking God for new offices, my Mac and Skype

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by Stephen Kriss, director of leadership cultivation

transpacific interview
Steve, Mary, Aldo, and Verle Skype with Ubaldo for his credentialing interview.

In less than a decade, the Mennonite Conference Center has moved to its third location.   With increasingly dispersed staff, the Center has downsized to serve as a hub and back office for activity out and about.

My first day in the offices at Dock High School this week included crowding around my MacBook Pro with Verle Brubaker (Swamp) Mary Nitzsche (Blooming Glen), and Aldo Siahaan (Philadelphia Praise Center) for our first transpacific ordination interview by Skype.  We were interviewing Ubaldo Rodriguez, originally from Colombia, educated at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, who is now serving with SEND International in Manila, the Philippines.  Ubaldo is there to support and train mission workers from the 2/3rds world, hoping to build connections between Latin America and Asia.

Ubaldo is connected with a one of our partner congregations, New Hope Fellowship in Alexandria, VA, begun by Kirk Hanger after returning from a long term assignment with Franconia Mennonite Missions in Mexico City over a decade ago.   As a community, we keep being shaped and reshaped by our relationships and engagement in the world.  And now some of those connections are more easily sustained through technology like Skype, which we thanked God for in our interview.

Franconia Conference keeps changing and moving.  It’s not just our desks and cabinets, but it’s how we’re following the Spirit, paying attention to the pillar of fire that urges us to follow in the way of Jesus that moves us to be a part of God’s great redemption story in Souderton, Harleysville, Lansdale, Alexandria, Mexico City and Manila.

Town hall meetings offer clarification and questions

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Stutzman town hallby Stephen Kriss, director of communication

Earlier this month, nearly 250 persons from Franconia and Eastern District conference congregations came to ask questions and to listen to Dr. Ervin Stutzman, executive director of Mennonite Church USA.  Franconia Conference leadership invited Stutzman to two town hall meetings held at Swamp Mennonite Church (Quakertown, Pa.) on April 10 and Salford Mennonite Church (Harleysville, Pa.) on April 11.   With dozens of questions submitted beforehand to conference staff, Stutzman took time to explain the current landscape of Mennonite Church USA, addressing the consistent themes of those questions but also taking questions from those gathered.

The majority of questions related to the recent turmoil and controversy following the licensing of Theda Good, a woman in a committed same sex relationship, for ministry at First Mennonite Church of Denver by Mountain States Mennonite Conference and Eastern Mennonite University’s listening process to review policies for employment of persons in same sex relationships.

According to Franconia Conference executive minister Ertell Whigham, the meetings provided a unique opportunity for persons from “the pew to the pulpit” to engage the MC USA executive.   Stutzman calmly and transparently responded to an array of questions and explained the current circumstances in detail to offer a glimpse of history, complexity, theology, and possibility.

At the Salford meeting, Stutzman noted the tensions in the church but promised, “I don’t think there’s a single question that you can ask that I will try to avoid.”  He observed that this time of turmoil in the church has resulted in an amazing outpouring of communication, concern, and prayer.  “Our church cares deeply about this,” Stutzman reflected at the Swamp town hall.  “God has our attention in a new way.  We stand at the door of opportunities to be faithful.”

Franco Salvatori, pastor of Rocky Ridge congregation, particularly appreciated that Stutzman clearly explained the executive board’s process in response to Mountain States Conference.  “I desired to attend the town hall meetings because I believe that the issue of same sex relationships is critical for the church in our time,” Salvatori said.  “Unlike any other issue I have seen in recent history, this one seems to have the most potential for division, which always obscures the gospel.”

Stutzman articulated his own commitments to the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspectivebut admitted that the challenge from Mountain States Conference on the denomination’s membership guidelines will not likely result in that conference’s expulsion from Mennonite Church USA, a response which would require a 2/3 vote at the Kansas City 2015 convention.   He also highlighted the work of a task force designated by the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board to chart a way forward.  The task force’s recommendations will be discussed at the October meeting of the Constituency Leaders Council, a twice a year gathering with representatives of all Mennonite Church USA conferences and constituent groups intended to provide counsel to the denomination’s executive board and leadership.

Alice Eldredge of Ambler congregation appreciated the respectful way town hall participants interacted with Stutzman and one another.  “Even though it was evident persons felt deeply, they asked questions mostly in a respectful tone and with care,” she said. “I felt hope in the abilities of the leadership of Mennonite Church USA, with Ervin as a representative. My hope is that grace may abound among us and love and respect for one another may prevail in the midst of disagreement.”

Listen to the podcasts:

Thursday, April 10, 7pm at Swamp Mennonite Church (Quakertown, Pa.)

[podcast]https://mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Stutzman Town Hall (Swamp).mp3[/podcast]

Friday, April 11, 9:30am at Salford Mennonite Church (Harleysville, Pa.)

[podcast]https://mosaicmennonites.org/media-uploads/mp3/Stutzman Town Hall (Salford).mp3[/podcast]

Deep Run East joins MAMA Project in Honduras

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Deep Run & MAMA Project
The dedication service at Iglesia Evangelica del Principe de Paz.

by Barb Rice, Deep Run East

Ken Burkholder, pastor of Deep Run East congregation (Perkasie, Pa.), joined the 27th MAMA Project Team that Deep Run East has sent to Honduras since 2001.  Over the years, Pastor Ken had heard from teams reporting on their experiences and had met some of the MAMA Project partners on their visits to the US, but on March 15-22, he joined the team in Honduras.

On March 16, one day after arrival in San Pedro Sula, the team arrived at Iglesia Central Menonita (the largest Mennonite Church in the city) for an inspired and holy time of worship.  Wow… talk about a worship team and praise music!  Pastor Ken was invited to preach and his sermon followed worship, focusing on II Cor. 5: 17-21, “In Christ—New Creation.”  In the context of violence and poverty in Honduras, the call to reconciliation and being ambassadors and coworkers with Christ was powerful to all who were listening.

After the worship service it was good to play a little “Mennonite game,” meeting Honduran young persons who had been part of the Mennonite Central Committee IVEP program and also discovering that the worship band leader had attended Eastern Mennonite University’s Peace Institute.  What a blessing to fellowship with other believers around the world; Pastor Ken and another team member were visiting so long that the rest of the group left them behind!

Pastor Adalid Romero, president of the Honduran Mennonite Church, met with our team and explained how life in Honduras was lived in the midst of organized crime and corruption, with much illegal immigration to the US, Mexico, and Spain.  He shared that “the situation here would be that much worse than it already is, if it wasn’t for the presence of the churches in Honduras!”  The Honduran Mennonite Church works to teach peacemaking in schools where guns and knives show up routinely, introducing students to a different way of problem solving without violence.

That Sunday evening, the team headed to Iglesia Evangelica del Principe de Paz, a church in a poor community at the edge of the city.  The church is located in the middle of drug traffic and gang tensions, but the community loves our teams and helps to ensure we are protected.  Deep Run East and Swamp congregation (Quakertown, Pa.) have partnered with the pastor of this church, Juan Angel Ramirez, to work in this community.  A new church has been built over the last two years and, as we arrived, everyone was waiting outside for the “big reveal.”  The dedication service included ribbon cutting, with eight children dressed in rented wedding clothes holding the ribbons.  Pastor Ken, as the honored guest, was given the scissors.  The new building is an amazing testament of God’s desire for the church to be a beacon of hope, sitting up on the hill for all in the community to see.

Deep Run & MAMA Project
The worship space at Maranatha Menonita church.

That week we traveled to a remote community each day, setting up a clinic to give parasite medicine and vitamins and do medical consults.    In addition, a work project was planned in each community.  Our team organizer, Irma Dinora Molina, an involved member in the Honduran Mennonite Church, suggested working in some of the poor struggling Mennonite communities around San Pedro Sula.  This plan was a perfect fit for a team with a Mennonite pastor.  It was a highlight to see Ken connect, pray, and worship with the pastors in these communities.  These are some of Ken’s comments after our trip:

  • The Church is the Hope of the World – In the midst of the poverty, suffering, and brokenness that we encountered in Honduras, we witnessed how the church is a beacon of light and hope. I greatly enjoyed interacting with the pastors. They love the Lord, they love their communities, they believe in the power of prayer, and some of them are literally risking their lives to be pastors!
  • Power of Prayer – The people of Honduras pray often and fervently! We prayed together before beginning our work for the day, we laid hands on and prayed for a vehicle that wasn’t running well, and we experienced answered prayers from our Deep Run East and Honduran friends in various ways throughout the week.
  • Spontaneous Worship/Prayer Experience – Words simply cannot capture the one experience I had of spontaneous worship and prayer among a group of Hondurans as we were finishing a painting job. I clearly witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit and I would describe this as a “modern-day Pentecost experience.”

If worship experiences like these seem intriguing, think about joining even more powerful worship services at Mennonite World Conference in Harrisburg, PA, July 2015.  Our friends in Honduras are anxious to come too…please pray for the visa process.

Reflections on the Journey: celebrating the career of Noah Kolb

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Noah Kolb's Open House
Noah and his wife Sara talk with their guests at the December 11 open house honoring Noah’s years of ministry. Photo by Emily Ralph

by Krista Showalter Ehst, Bally congregation

For Noah Kolb, the journey has moved in unexpected places, bringing challenges and blessings alike. Reflecting on a 45 year ministerial career—the most recent 14 of which he spent in Franconia Conference leadership—Noah says, “I could not have dreamed this path and in many ways it has felt like God has nudged and moved me along step by step.” As Noah anticipates his retirement years, he continues to experience those divine nudgings, offering words of wisdom from his ministerial work.

Noah was born and raised in a farming family in Spring City, Pa. He felt the call to ministry at a fairly young age, and this call was drawn out and affirmed by many people along the road. Noah names teachers, in-laws, mentors, and seminary professors at Goshen Biblical as central to discerning and following his call. Perhaps most significantly of all, Noah’s wife Sara has brought wisdom and counsel—as well as her own gifts of hospitality and relationship-building—that have helped Noah live into his calling. As he says, “I would not have wanted to do the journey without her.”

Noah and Sara Kolb
Noah and Sara were honored at the Credentialed Leaders Appreciation Dinner on December 2 with a fraktur by Roma Ruth. Photo by Emily Ralph.

That journey took Noah and his family to many different ministerial settings.  He spent 24 years in pastoral ministry: beginning part time at Pottstown (Pa.) Mennonite, moving to Swamp congregation (Quakertown, Pa.) for 11 years, and then serving the Bellwood Congregation in Nebraska for 5 years.  The leadership skills he exhibited during those years resulted in his call into conference ministry. After serving as the only Iowa-Nebraska conference minister for a number of years, he returned to the east coast. Jim Lapp, his brother-in-law and a former conference colleague, remembers that transition. “Noah’s strength as a leader arises from his lack of pretense and aspiration for recognition and a genuine humility and gentle spirit,” Jim shares.  “It was his strong churchmanship and character that led us to call him in 2000 to serve as part of the Conference Ministry Team [of Franconia Conference].”

Conference ministry brought its own set of challenges and learnings. For Noah, one significant area of growth was in conflict management. Noah grew up with very little understanding of conflict and became quite anxious when faced with it. As a pastor and conference minister, however, he was quick to realize that “wherever you have two or three gathered, there will be conflict.” Noah worked hard to wrestle with his aversion to conflict and to develop a non-anxious presence. He tried to create safe spaces where people could gather to talk and to share openly about their differences. As is so often the case, Noah remembers his times of helping congregations to move through conflict as some of the most difficult and rewarding moments of his career.

Noah and Bobby
Noah discusses life and ministry with Bobby Wibowo (Philadelphia Praise Center) at the 2013 Conference Assembly. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.

As he’s worked alongside congregations, Noah has realized the importance of building relationships. He believes leaders cannot be effective without building trust with their congregations. Undoubtedly shaped by the many mentors in his own life, Noah has worked to build this trust by prioritizing one-on-one relationships with pastors, taking the time to listen to their stories and to know them more deeply. One leader who has benefited from this relational approach is , currently leading Peace Proclamation Ministries International in India and a member of Plains congregation, where Noah and Sara also attend. “Noah has energized me with his natural ability as a servant leader,” says.  “I have seen and experienced in him the qualities of gentleness and love.”

As he moves into retirement, Noah continues to model gentleness, strength, relationality, and the willingness to listen in the midst of difference. “We live with a lot of judgment towards each other and we don’t know how to receive and accept each other graciously as brothers and sisters in Christ even with our diversity,” Noah reflects.  “One of my deep convictions is that we need to work at a greater understanding of God’s grace and mercy—that God has received and uses us amazingly in our brokenness and that we can extend that grace to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. My deep yearning is that we can somehow learn to do that much better—not a sense that anything goes, but an extending of mercy and grace and compassion to each other in the midst of our brokenness.”

Noah and Nancy
MC USA Conference Minister Nancy Kauffmann joins Franconia Executive Minister Ertell Whigham and Eastern District Conference Minister Warren Tyson to pray for Noah at Conference Assembly 2013. Photo by Bam Tribuwono.

While Noah has faced challenges in the last few years of ministry as he struggled with failing vision, his care and giftedness as a pastor to leaders has continued to shine through. “While it is indeed true that he is having a struggle with his physical eyesight, the spiritual eyesight of my brother continues to grow,” said Ertell Whigham, Franconia’s Executive Minister, at the 2013 Conference Assembly in November.  “[Noah is] able to see the needs and the care and the encouragement and the guidance and the wisdom that our brothers and sisters who serve in ministry need.  And so, while indeed there may be some struggles with [his] physical eyesight, I thank God for [his] spiritual eyesight….  I have truly been transformed through our intercultural interaction.”

Hurricane Sandy leaves destruction and opportunity

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by Emily Ralph, eralphservant@mosaicmennonites.org

Three days after Hurricane Sandy swept through south-eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, members of Franconia Conference are still cleaning up from massive flooding, downed trees and power lines, and extensive power outages.

Communication has been challenging and reports are trickling in–entire communities are still without power, dealing with road closures, and running short on supplies as gas stations and grocery stores are also without electricity.

Some of the reports we have heard:

  • Power is still out at Deep Run East (Perkasie, Pa.), Doylestown (Pa.), Swamp (Quakertown, Pa.), Methacton (Norristown, Pa.) and Garden Chapel (Dover, NJ) facilities.
  • Most of the Garden Chapel congregation is without power, although there have been no reports of damage to homes or the church building.
  • Methacton had and continues to have flooding in their basement/fellowship hall.  Without electricity, they are unable to pump the water out.
  • Many members of congregations along the Rte. 113 corridor around Souderton, Pa., are without power, as are the Conference Center offices and the Souderton Center, which is owned by Franconia Conference.  Penn View Christian School—the site of next weekend’s Conference Assembly—is also without electricity.   These power outages extend as far north as Allentown and as far east as the Delaware River.
  • Despite reports of wider damage in Philadelphia, Franconia congregations in the city survived the hurricane mostly unscathed.

Zume after Hurricane Sandy
Ben Walter, Ripple (right), and his housemates at the Zume House intentional community in Allentown, hosted their “power-less” neighbors for dinner the night after the hurricane. Luke Martin, Vietnamese Gospel, was among the guests.

In the midst of such wide-spread destruction, conference congregations are finding opportunities to minister to one another and their communities:

  • A young mother at Doylestown congregation made meals and delivered them to members of her congregation who were without power.
  • Salford (Harleysville, Pa.) congregation, once their own electricity was restored, opened their facilities to anyone in the community who needed heat, bathrooms, clean water, or a place to plug in their electronic devices.  They also expanded their weekly Community Meal to include those who needed a hot dinner.
  • Individuals throughout the region have opened their homes to friends and neighbors without power, delivered supplies to those who are stuck at home because of blocked roads, and brought their chainsaws to aid in the cleanup.
  • Members of Ripple Allentown (Pa.) who were without power met at their pastors’ home for a meal and to “warm up a bit,” reported Carolyn Albright. “It was a holy, blessed time together.”

Noah Kolb, Pastor of Ministerial Leadership for Franconia Conference, received two emails from conference congregations encouraging members to share their resources with others in their congregation and neighborhoods.  “Often we try to get beyond these things to get to the work of church,” Kolb reflected, “but this IS church.  This is really the stuff of church.”

Because of the challenges of communication, conference staff has not been able to contact all conference congregations to learn of current conditions, needs, and relief efforts.  If you have any information, please report it to your LEADership Minister or any member of conference staff—don’t assume that the staff already know about it.

If your congregation and neighborhood has made it through relatively unscathed, please check in with other congregations in your region to see how you can help; also consider how your congregation’s facility or aid can help the greater community.

If you are aware of relief efforts or needs, please report these to conference staff so that they can connect needs with resources.  The conference email and phones are up and running.

On Monday, as the hurricane was approaching, Michael King, a member of Salford and the dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary (Harrisonburg, Va.), sent out an email to seminary students and staff.  “I don’t know precisely how we theologize at a time like this,” King wrote.  “Jesus teaches that the rain falls on the just and the unjust and that tragedies are not signs that we’re out of God’s favor. The Bible is also rich with images of God’s care, of God as the mother who shelters us under tender wings.  My loved ones, your loved ones, and all of us are in my heart and prayers amid the yearnings for God’s shelter.”

A Franconia Conference Summer

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We asked for stories from summer activities from around the Conference and got this jewel from Kim Moyer, Blooming Glen congregation:

The theme for our Summer Bible School was “Be Bold! God is with You!” The children learned through songs, dramas, stories, crafts, and games, that God is with them, even when they are scared. 

One mother told me a story about her 5 year old son who has always been afraid to go into the basement of their home by himself.  The week after SBS, he asked his mom to go with him to the basement so that he could get his blanket.  His mom couldn’t go with him at the moment, so he decided he would try to go by himself.  When he returned to his mom with his blanket, he told her, “I was able to go down in the basement because I kept telling myself, God is always with us, God is always with us.”

A piece of SBS that caused a lot of excitement among the children was an offering project competition between the girls and the boys.  The children were raising money for a Mennonite Mission Network project, which sends children in South Africa to Bethany Bible School, a camp that teaches the children about Jesus.  It costs $20 to send one child to the camp, and the boys and girls at SBS were competing against each other to send the most children to camp.  If the boys won, then the Children’s Ministry Director (me) would get a pie in her face, and if the girl’s won, then the Lead Pastor would get the pie in his face. 

The children took this competition seriously and were bringing in their piggy banks, doing extra chores to raise money, and asking grandparents to write out checks.  By the end of the week, the 70 children at SBS collectively raised $1,162.53, sending 58 children to Bethany Bible School!  Although the boys won, and I got a pie in the face, it was decided that the real winners were the 58 children that would now be able to attend the Bible Camp.

Thanks, Kim, and everyone else who shared their photos and stories this summer!  And if you haven’t already read them, check out these stories about Peace Camps, Bethany’s anniversary celebration, a special service at Plains, Salford’s listening project, Kingdom Builders construction in Philly, Germantown Historic Trust’s painting project … and this is just some of what has been happening in our Conference this summer.

Enjoy these fun photos that were taken at camps, picnics, outdoor services, Bible Schools, and more.  If you’d like to add photos from your congregation’s summer to this gallery, send them to Emily with captions and photo credits.

View the photo album