Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Vibrant Mosaic

Introducing Oasis, An Expanded Nations and Generations Gathering

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by Danilo Sanchez

On Nov 1, 2024, the Mosaic Conference Intercultural team hosted the annual Renewing Nations and Generations gathering for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) leaders within the conference. As in past years, it was a joyous event where leaders could network, enjoy fellowship, and be equipped for their roles. We were honored to have Rev. Dr. Dennis Edwards as our keynote speaker, who shared wisdom from his book Might from the Margins. 

The Conference-Related Ministry the Mennonite Heritage Center opened its doors to us and Executive Director Joel Horst Nofziger shared some Anabaptist history and highlighted the changing realities of Anabaptism. Participants were invited to explore the exhibit hall and visit the archives. Nofziger encouraged us to add artifacts from our congregations so that the stories of Anabaptism told at the center would include ours too. 

Dr. Rashard Allen, of Neffsville (Lancaster, PA) Mennonite, led us in Spirit-filled worship that incorporated our various languages. Dr. Edwards inspired us to live boldly as diaspora people. Our bellies were happily filled with delicious Ethiopian food provided by the Horst Nofziger family. The night ended with a Spirit-led time of prayer. 

The Origins of Renewing Nations and Generations 

When Renewing Nations and Generations was formed in 2018, the number of BIPOC leaders with Mosaic was small. The gathering was created to carve out space from the dominant culture and discuss issues we were facing in our churches. We had aspirational goals of training the next generation of leaders and to work at belonging in the conference.  

Our conversations and goals were not coming from a mindset of “us vs. them,” and yet we recognized that we all have biases, and those biases can do harm when we live and worship together as a conference. The gathering was a place where we felt connected and less alone, didn’t have to monitor our bodies or the volume of our voices, and could speak freely in our native language without constant explanations. 

Meeting the Needs of Mosaic Leaders Today 

Today, BIPOC leaders make up a larger percent of the leaders within Mosaic, but there is still a need to network, build relationships, and be equipped. While Mosaic has grown in its intercultural capacity, there is still more to learn and develop. 

As our group looks to the future, the Intercultural team is pleased to have this BIPOC gathering be a key part of Vibrant Mosaic. Thanks to the Lily Endowment Inc., the Showalter Foundation, and Everence, this evening event has been expanded to a 2.5-day conference that will support our BIPOC leaders within Mosaic.  

The expanded conference will take place every other year and has been renamed OASIS, inspired by John 4:14, reminding us that Jesus is our Living Water and in him we will never go thirsty. The first OASIS will take place in Tampa, FL from May 29 to June 1, 2025.  

Danilo Sanchez

Danilo Sanchez is the Leadership Minister for Intercultural Transformation for Mosaic Conference. Danilo Sanchez lives in Allentown with his wife Mary and two daughters. He is a pastor at Ripple and leads in the areas of leadership development, discipleship, and teaching.

First Vibrant Mosaic Cohort Will Strengthen Rootedness and Increase Capacities

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by Jennifer Svetlik

Healthy, vibrant Mosaic congregations are shaped into the image of Jesus (our formational priority), transformed by relationships with others (our intercultural priority), and engaged in the healing of our world (our missional priority). Vibrant Mosaic, which provides congregations and their leaders with opportunities to increase congregational health, build common mission, and foster community by integrating conference priorities into church life, has announced the first Learning Community cohort of five congregations: Ambler (PA) Mennonite, Blooming Glen (PA) Mennonite, Encuentro de Renovación (Miami, FL), Faith Chapel (Los Angeles, CA), and Peña de Horeb (Philadelphia, PA).  

Four leaders from each congregation will gather in person and virtually throughout 2025 for learning, spiritual practices, and deepening mutual relationships. The cohort will build resilience, common mission, and a sense of belonging as they participate in two intensive classes with the support of Learning Community Coaches, who will help the leaders to integrate their training and experiences into the life and ministry of their congregations. 

“It’s exciting to see Vibrant Mosaic coming to life after nearly two years of planning,” shared Vibrant Mosaic Co-Director Emily Ralph Servant. “In a world divided by conflict and distrust, it feels holy to create an environment for discipleship and building friendships among individuals and congregations who wouldn’t otherwise find themselves in the same space.” 

The cohort was selected seeking to balance congregational size, geography, language, culture, and existing relationships. Noel Santiago (Leadership Minister for Mission) and Josué Gonzales (Resplandece Mennonite) will serve as Spanish-English translators and facilitators.   
 
“English and Spanish are the top two spoken languages within the conference. We have multiple Spanish-speaking staff members and a growing number of Spanish-speaking congregations, so for this reason we chose Spanish and English for the languages in our first cohort,” shared Vibrant Mosaic Co-Director Danilo Sanchez.  

“It is a way to honor our current reality and help us live into our identity as Mosaic.” There are plans for the second cohort to be in Indonesian and English.  

In late February, the cohort will take the Introduction to Mosaic Conference course, led by Rose Bender Cook (Leadership Minister for Formation) and Jordan Luther (Methacton [PA] Mennonite). This course provides opportunities for each participant to explore their own pathway to Anabaptism in conversation with communal stories from Mennonite tradition and conference history.  

The students will visit churches and historical sites in southeastern Pennsylvania and learn about the spiritual discipline of rest and sabbath. They will also learn about church polity and how the church has traditionally made decisions about theology and practice.  

Though the courses within Vibrant Mosaic are similar to what has been previously offered through Mosaic Institute, the curriculum has been rewritten for congregations, rather than credentialed leaders, as the primary audience, and to include more intercultural content, teaching techniques, and the contextualization of learnings, with the support of Eric Law of the Kaleidoscope Institute.  

This summer, the cohort will gather in Miami, FL for the Building Mosaic Relationships (intercultural) Course. The cohort will also periodically meet to explore how to integrate their learnings and experiences into their congregational life.  

In the second half of the year, participants will lead their congregation in a process of naming an area of growth and, in conversation with their coach, learning community, and Leadership Minister, develop a learning plan for congregational growth. The congregational project may include external resourcing, programming, or events that can be underwritten by a grant of up to a total of $5,000 per congregation. 

The cohort has enrolled in a one-year formation process with the option to re-enroll for a second year to complete the program. 

“Vibrant Mosaic will allow our congregations to learn together, to explore together, and to build relationships across our geography and within our breadth of diversity from coast to coast,” shared Executive Minister Stephen Kriss.   

“This supports our strategic plan work of building leaders, relationships, and shared identity as Mosaic communities. I continue to be grateful for this work to help us fully embody our vision and mission together.” 

In addition to the learning communities and congregational experiments, the third component of the Vibrant Mosaic Program is support specifically for Leaders of Color. In addition to the annual Renewing Nations and Generations gathering that takes place before the annual Conference Assembly, an extended retreat opportunity will be offered for leaders of the Global Majority every other year.  

The first of these retreats will be held May 29-June 1, 2025, in Tampa, Florida. The extended time together will allow BIPOC leaders to build relationships, receive resourcing, and cast vision for their congregations in a restful space. In addition to Vibrant Mosaic’s funding from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., funding for these retreats is provided through a charitable distribution from the Schowalter Foundation.  

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. 

Mosaic Board Paves the Way for Annual Assembly and Beyond

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by Jennifer Svetlik

On September 30, 2024, the Mosaic Board’s agenda focused on actions for the November 2 Annual Assembly and Mosaic’s future. The Board opened with the week’s praying scripture, Heb 13:1-3, and reflected on what it means to keep on loving each other as siblings in this moment.

The Board unanimously approved the membership of Bethel Worship & Teaching Center (Levittown, PA), Ark of Christ (Orange County, CA), Resplandece Mennonite (Miami, FL and Barranquilla, Colombia) as congregations of Mosaic, and The Worm Project as a Conference-Related Ministry. Profiles of these four communities will be released in October in Mosaic News so that they can be introduced prior to being welcomed at Assembly.

“These four ministries represent the diverse languages, cultures, and contexts of Mosaic with both local and global impact,” shared Executive Minister Stephen Kriss. “We are grateful for the opportunity to embrace and recognize each as a new member with their unique gifts and possibilities.” 

The Board also reviewed feedback from the seven delegate preparation sessions that took place throughout September. These sessions were an opportunity to learn more about Mosaic’s strategic plan, the Vibrant Mosaic program, and the Pathway Steering Team (PST)’s recommendation on affiliation with Mennonite Church USA (MC USA), and to respond and ask questions. Delegates were highly engaged in these meetings. Many delegates indicated trust in the PST’s discernment process over the past two years, and desired more understanding of how a partnership, rather than membership, with MC USA might work. 

“There was a lot of gratitude for the work of the PST, the work that God is doing amongst us, and the abundant opportunities that lay before us,” shared Conference Moderator Angela Moyer Walter. “Many delegates also need time to digest and reflect on what the PST had two years to work with.”

In response to delegate feedback, the Board shaped a resolution that gives space and a timeline for a more fully developed plan for partnership with MC USA. 

It reads, “To affirm, with gratitude, the work and recommendation of the Pathway Steering Team to establish a robust partnership with Mennonite Church USA, and to bring recommended bylaw amendments for delegate discernment at the 2025 Mosaic Conference Assembly.” 

On Oct. 2 delegates received the Assembly docket, which includes this resolution and a supplemental document that offers more information about the rationale and implications of the board’s resolution. The resolution does not include a bylaw change at this year’s Assembly. 

“The Board discerned that this resolution is the best next step for Mosaic Conference to move forward together and live into our Conference vision and priorities. Partnership allows us to do that best; it does not mean withdrawal from MC USA, nor does it mean the status quo,” explained Kiron Mateti, Board member and PST member (Plains [Hatfield, PA]).  

“So much changed in the last month in terms of public communications that shaped what kind of partnership could be available. This resolution provides more space for clear, healthy discussions between Mosaic staff and MC USA and opportunities to provide more understanding to all about the hard work partnership would entail,” Mateti continued.

“Sometimes it feels like the opportunities that Mosaic has in our new strategic plan to live more deeply into our mission and vision have been overshadowed by the question of affiliation with MC USA, a question that affects some communities more than others,” Moyer Walter added. “There are congregations that have long-standing relationships within MC USA, and others who have much less relationship with MC USA.”  

Responding to the text of the resolution, MC USA Executive Director Glen Guyton shared, “Mosaic Mennonite Conference is a beloved part of MC USA. We value the relationship that we share and will continue to share with the people who comprise Mosaic. The Executive Board and Staff welcome continued dialogue and collaboration with Mosaic leadership as we discern together.”

Mosaic Conference’s Annual Assembly, the third-ever in-person gathering of the delegate body, will feature Rev. Dr. Dennis Edwards sharing with groups of leaders on Friday, and preaching on biblical humility during Assembly worship. 

“God has brought us this far and will continue to be with us. I am very excited about the opportunities ahead of us, and what the Spirit will do among us,” Moyer Walter encouraged.  

Jennifer Svetlik

Jennifer Svetlik is the Editor/Development Coordinator for Mosaic.

Growing into a Mosaic with Antiracism Training 

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by Janet Panning

Editors Note: The anti-oppression training that Mosaic leaders received is one of the first activities of the Vibrant Mosaic Program.    

In early September, I participated in an Antiracism Analysis Training led by the nonprofit organization Roots of Justice. Our training took place at the new Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC) building on South 18th Street in Philadelphia. Our tasty Indonesian meals were catered by members of PPC, and Pastor Aldo joined us for the two-and-a-half day training. Around half of the participants were white and half were persons of color. Most of us were connected to Mosaic Conference, as board, staff, committee members, pastors or other leaders.  

We started on Thursday evening by adding to drawings of giant icebergs scattered around the room. The icebergs represented periods of the history of the United States, from the 1600s to the present. The iceberg, our trainers explained, is a metaphor for racism. A small part can be seen while much takes place out of sight. The out-of-sight part includes the systems and structures that perpetuate racism.  

Participants view the icebergs upon which they had written acts of racism and resistance within various time periods of U.S. history. 

Our opening task was to remember U.S. history and write actions of oppression on the inside of the iceberg and actions of resistance on the outside. We filled the icebergs with notes about slavery, red-lining, destruction of Black business districts, Jim Crow, family separations, segregated schools, the Indian Removal Act and Trails of Tears, Indian boarding Schools, and more. The acts of resistance included the underground railroad; the development and flourishing of Black institutions such as mutual assistance associations, universities and colleges, business centers and banks; civil rights actions, and more.  

The realities of racism and oppression that our small group was able to identify in such a short time saddened me. It is a depressing reminder of our history of depravity as a country and too often as a culture, particularly as we see instances in our own time, and sometimes within ourselves. The pairing of acts of resistance in the same historic period, however, is a reminder that there has been resistance to racism and oppression from the beginning. Our task today is to continue the work.  

Through exercises and caucuses, we looked at examples of systems and structures that support the entrenchment of racial injustice today and we talked about our roles in maintaining or dismantling systems of racism. We talked about the benefits that our current system allocates to persons who are white and the barriers and harm our current systems create for persons of color.  

As a white person, for instance, I have never had to give my children “the talk” of how to keep safe from persons in authority that might view them as a threat. My husband and I don’t think about getting pulled over in our cars when we drive at night. I have confidence when I go to the doctor that I will be heard. Prior to 2022, if I had chronic kidney disease and needed a kidney transplant, the risk scale used to assess my need would put me ahead of the black woman who had the exact same condition. 

At Mosaic Conference, we have a God-given opportunity to live in to our intercultural commitment as we continue to grow. This richness gives us an opportunity to share in each other’s gifts, experiences, perspectives, and burdens. This work will include listening to each other and listening for opportunities to support God’s work in diverse communities, including working for a more just and equitable country. 

Participants and trainers were hosted by Philadelphia Praise Center. 

Janet Panning

Janet Panning serves on the Mosaic Board and is the Ministerial Committee Chair. Janet is actively involved at Plains (Hatfield, PA) Mennonite Church where she serves as an elder. She is employed by Montgomery County’s Office of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health. Janet is married to Steve and they have two daughters, Megan & Molly.