Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Tim Weaver

No Longer Strangers and Aliens but Fellow Citizens

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by Tim Weaver

So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

Ephesians 2:19-20, NRSV

I have been traveling to Honduras for more than 20 years to support initiatives to improve children’s health in under-resourced rural areas with the Conference-Related Ministry Healthy Niños Honduras. My commitment to this work is born out of living and serving in Venezuela in the 1980s, global economic inequality and disparity, and the growing awareness of being part of a global community of believers.

As conflicts in the U.S. over immigration have festered for more than 20 years, I have welcomed the opportunity to serve in a small way in one of countries most affected by inequality. I have seen poverty, malnutrition, and violence in Honduras.

Healthy Niños has a nutrition center where mothers and malnourished children can live for one or two months while the malnourished child receives attention from doctors, social workers, teachers, and faith leaders. There are also staff who identify and train community leaders to support this work.

I have worked alongside Hondurans who are committed to helping their fellow citizens better their living conditions. These Hondurans are not strangers or aliens to me but fellow citizens of the household of God.

I am also aware of the lost hope with which many Venezuelans and Hondurans currently live. Poverty and violence are a deadly combination. For some, it leads to seeking a better future through an arduous journey of immigrating to the United States. Contrary to popular opinion, most who make that journey are hardworking people seeking to escape violence and send money back to their families. The rate of violent crime among immigrants is significantly less than that of those born and raised in the U.S.

The day after I returned home from Honduras last January, the new president shut down the CBP One app which immigrants used to schedule asylum appointments at the U.S.-Mexico border. ICE is now permitted to enter “sensitive locations” including schools, hospitals, and churches. I know numerous immigrants in the agricultural, meat packing, and health care fields who are devastated by fear of what may happen next. They are not strangers or aliens but fellow citizens in household of God with me.

As a follower of Jesus, my travels to Central America as well as friendship with immigrants living in the U.S. remind me of several truths. First, I am a member of the global community of faith with many nationalities and languages. The color of my skin, the language that I speak, and the place where I live should not give me any preferred status or power in the global community of faith.

Secondly, I must resist the current political rhetoric that stereotypes immigrants as despicable, violent, and taking benefits away from me. Immigrants paid $51 billion in taxes last year and received nothing in return.

Thirdly, Jesus’ teachings invite our mission to be the same as his as stated in Luke 4:18-19, to “bring good news to the poor, release to the captive, recovery of sight to the blind, and let the oppressed go free,” NRSV. Jesus also reminds his followers how to live in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5 and Luke 6).

My life has been enriched by fellow citizens in the household of God whose skin color and language are different from mine as we share space around the table of Christ.

Fifteen visitors from the U.S. join 15 Honduran Healthy Niños staff and community members. Photo provided by Tim Weaver.

Tim Weaver

Tim Weaver is a Leadership Minister for Mosaic Mennonite Conference. His pastoral ministry included New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Central America and South America.  

Mosaic values two-way communication and encourages our constituents to respond with feedback, questions, or encouragement. To contact Tim Weaver, please email tweaver@mosaicmennonites.org.

Supporting Each Other in Following Jesus

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by Jennifer Svetlik

“I am looking forward to walking with a variety of congregations (and leaders) as they seek to follow Jesus,” shares Tim Weaver, who became an interim Leadership Minister for Mosaic Conference in September 2024.  

In mid-2024 two long-time Mosaic Leadership Ministers retired, and with congregations continuing to join the Conference, Weaver was invited to consider joining the staff in this role.  

“I appreciated the insight, wisdom, and guidance I received from mentors and Leadership Ministers during my years of ministry,” reflected Weaver.  

“I believe the way of Jesus is to learn and support each other as we live out the values of the Kingdom of God. It is an honor to walk with others on this journey and together seek to live out the way of Jesus in this broken world.” 

Weaver’s life has been dedicated to serving the church. Weaver moved into Mosaic Conference (then Franconia Conference) in 1992, when he began to serve as Lead Pastor at Deep Run East (Perkasie, PA) until 2003. Following that role, he worked in business and was an interim pastor at West Swamp (Quakertown, PA) and Upper Milford (Zionsville, PA). In 2022, he retired after seven years serving as Chaplain for The Community at Rockhill (Sellersville, PA).  

Earlier in his life, Weaver had studied at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, served as 2-year interim minister at Waterford Mennonite in Goshen, IN, and for three years in Venezuela with Eastern Mennonite Missions. Weaver grew up in Bath, NY. 

Weaver is a curently member of Souderton (PA) Mennonite. He has participated in various Conference events in the past, including the intercultural book discussions.  

He currently serves on the boards of two Conference-Related Ministries, Healthy Niños Honduras and the Mennonite Central Committee Material Resource Center. Weaver has traveled for one to two weeks a year to Honduras with Healthy Niños Honduras for the last 23 years to support nutrition initiatives for children. 

Weaver in Honduras where he have traveled for 23 years with Healthy Niños Honduras. (He’s also wearing a Green Bay Packer hat, a team with which he has an ownership share!) 

Something unique about Weaver is that he is a shareholder of the Green Bay Packers, the only publicly owned team in the National Football League. He enjoys music and attended the record-breaking music festival at Watkins Glen, NY in 1973, with over 600,000 other people. 

Weaver plays in a senior golf league, and he loves spending time with his two grandchildren, daughters and son-in-law, and three granddogs. “We recently brought home a mini Aussiedoodle puppy which is keeping me young!” Weaver shares.  

Jennifer Svetlik

Jennifer is Editor & Development Coordinator for Mosaic. She grew up near Houston, TX and spent a decade living in intentional community in Washington DC, before moving to Lansdale, PA with her spouse, Sheldon Good. She is a graduate of the University of Texas and Washington Theological Seminary. She serves as Children’s Faith Formation Director at Salford Mennonite (Harleysville, PA). Jenn has two elementary-school-aged children and loves biking, camping, gardening, and vermicomposting with her family. 

Been in the Struggle

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Reflections on Mosaic’s Intercultural Book Study

by Tim Weaver

The book, Been in The Struggle: Pursuing an Antiracist Spirituality, invites the Anabaptist community to examine our history of resistance to antiracism work in light of our commitment to following the way of Jesus.  The authors, Tobin Miller Shearer (a white man) and Regina Shands Stoltzfus (an African American woman), have worked together for more than 30 years around the task of antiracism. They shared stories of both grief and joy in examining the church’s willingness to address white supremacy in our life together. I was part of a Mosaic Conference discussion group for this book.  We were an even mix of men and women, with people of color being the majority represented.   

“An Antiracist spirituality is a way of being in the world that draws on the Spirit to encourage, empower, and enthuse the action of undermining systems of White supremacy around us.” Our group learned that an antiracist spirituality is a resource to sustain the struggle against racism, to invite growth in our lives, and to help us learn to be humans who refuse to give in to white supremacist power.  It is learning to love with integrity and to be authentic in our work and our witness.   

An antiracist spirituality values stories and relationships. There was a profound respect among us as our group met together.  As we shared, it was sobering to hear accounts of white supremacy in our neighborhoods and our churches.  Our faith stories center on our conviction that God loves ALL the world.  Life has not been equal for people of color, even within the church.  Even though Jesus indicated that the Kingdom of God has come near, many people of color have found themselves to be second class citizens in the church.  

We examined how Whiteness has often been seen as the norm and how segregation did not happen accidentally.  An insight that was new to me was how Whites often view racism in interpersonal ways, which made me wonder, as a White man: Have I demonstrated racism in any relationships that I have?  However, African Americans often understand racism as systemic in nature and not in specific interpersonal relationships.   

An antiracist spirituality does not ignore the past, yet it calls us to move forward.  It names our errors when we have fallen short, and it boldly makes public our commitment to being antiracist.   It is done effectively as we work together as a community.  We need the voices of the elders who have been in the struggle before us and to listen to their words of wisdom for our current time.   

As we completed our book study, I found myself reminded that in Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, male or female.  The book of Revelation says there will be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, and language—and here and now, I want to surround myself with a community that is committed to telling the truth about our history, working to interrupt systems of oppression, and seeking the healing of those who have been or continue to be harmed.  Will our church communities be places that focus on the hurts of the world and that respond with courage and integrity? 

Tim Weaver

Tim Weaver recently retired as Chaplain from The Community at Rockhill (Sellersville, PA).  His ministry experience included leadership training in Venezuela, pastoring three congregations, and several interim pastorates. His spouse, Juanita, is a professor at Villanova University and they are parents to 2 daughters and have 2 grandchildren and 3 granddogs. Tim lives in Perkasie, PA and attends Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church.  He has traveled to Honduras annually with Healthy Ninos Honduras for 20+ years.