Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

vision and finance plan

Franconia Conference moves toward a debt free 2013

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Souderton CenterFranconia Conference is entering the new year debt-free after receiving payment for the sale of the Indian Creek Road Farm’s development rights late last week.  The proceeds of the sale were used to pay off around 90% of the mortgage on the Souderton (Pa.) Center on December 27, 2012, according to the conference’s director of finance, Conrad Martin.  The remainder of the mortgage was paid using funds from the center’s Capital Improvement Fund.

This marks the fulfillment of a process set in motion in 2007 by the Vision and Finance Plan Team formed by the Franconia Conference Board to align the conference’s resources to the call for contextual and contemporary ministry.  The VFP team recommended in 2009 that the conference sell the development rights for the farm (near Harleysville, Pa.) and use the proceeds to pay off the Souderton Center’s ten-year-old mortgage.  With the mortgage paid off, this will free over $13,000 per month to replenish the improvement fund and support conference ministry.

The conference is positioned to start 2013 on solid financial footing, said Conference executive minister, Ertell Whigham.  “Along with anticipated increased giving from our congregations, this will enable us to invest more financial resources into ministry,” Whigham reflected.  “We are grateful for those who had a vision for how the Souderton Center could bless the conference. What a way to start a year and celebrate God’s ongoing provision!”

Selling the development rights to the farm acreage means that the land cannot be further developed and will likely remain in agricultural use.  The Vision and Finance Plan also recommended that the Indian Creek Road Farm be leased to an organization that would use the land to develop sustainable creation-care oriented ministries that recognize the nature of the preserved open space.  As a result, the property was leased in 2010 to Living Hope Farm, a non-profit sustainable agricultural CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm led by Jill Landes of Blooming Glen congregation.  Franconia Conference and Living Hope Farm are currently in conversations about beginning a Conference Related Ministry relationship.

In addition to property proposals, the VFP included recommendations about increasing continuing education expectations for credentialed leaders, creating grants for missional experiments, downsizing and relocating office space, and stabilizing the conference’s annual operating budget. The repayment of the mortgage was the final step in fulfilling the VFP’s recommendations. In early 2012, the conference board and staff acknowledged the fulfillment of the Vision and Financial Plan and moved toward a new set of working priorities (described in detail here). “We are pleased that the mortgage on the Souderton Center is paid off and that Franconia Conference is now debt-free,” said John Goshow, the board chair.   “This will allow us to focus even more intently on growing God’s Kingdom.”

Conference focuses leadership and ministry priorities

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by Stephen Kriss, skriss@mosaicmennonites.org

Board and Staff Retreat
Members of Franconia Conference's board and staff discuss vision and priorities at a January 2012 retreat. Photo by Emily Ralph.

Earlier this year, Franconia Conference’s board identified  the fulfillment of its Vision and Financial Plan through the realignment of resources and the movement toward cultivating healthy and growing disciples, leaders, congregations, and connections. In response, the board and Executive Minister Ertell Whigham have discerned continuing priorities for conference staff and ministry.

These priorities are rooted in the intended outcomes of the Vision and Financial Plan along with an emphasis on building formational, missional, and intercultural communities that are witnesses of the peace and love of Jesus Christ.

According to Whigham, “This is not a house cleaning, not a reinventing, this is focusing our work together in a time of needing to more carefully, courageously, and diligently carry out our work of equipping, empowering, and embracing God’s mission from Georgia to Vermont.”

These priorities are an extension of the ongoing work and ministry of Franconia Conference, while recognizing a need to focus ministry and staffing in a way that stewards both financial and human resources.   With this focusing, Conference intends to move toward a reduction in staffing while cultivating further opportunities for ministry within and between conference congregations.

Priority #1: Developing missional initiatives

Over the last years, Franconia Conference has provided Missional Operations Grants for congregations and ministries to promote risk-taking for the sake of the Gospel.  Over the next years, Conference will renew a focus on these initiatives across conference congregations, to build relationships among congregations and to promote the development of leaders toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission.  These grants will be available to all congregations toward creative partnerships and new possibilities for missional engagement both distant and nearby.  These partnerships will be intent on mutuality, rooted in considerations of justice, building on strengths, and calling forth new and next generation leaders.

Priority #2: Networking and cultivating intercultural ministry relationships

This process will include an assessment of current and emerging relationships that work cross-culturally while building further capacity toward mutually beneficial relationships among ministries and congregations.  Increasingly, these relationships will be defined by reciprocity and transformation rather than paternalism and patronization.  Relationships will be built around both work and celebration and both doing and being together.

Priority #3: Building leadership capacities across geographies and generations

Committed people are Franconia Conference’s greatest resources. We are blessed and privileged with a diversity of gifts and high levels of commitment from our congregations and leaders. This is a strength to be further developed toward a goal of creating opportunities for more involvement of leaders from all congregations. Conference will focus on building further capacities in areas of mediation, peace and justice, and other ministries further working toward relevant and excellent venues for training and equipping. Conference staff will be focused toward these considerations with ongoing evaluation and performance reviews in order to be further equipped for future support of the constituent community.  Due to decreased congregational giving, however, conference staffing will likely be reduced.

While the overall projection of priorities includes a reduction in staffing and continued work at careful stewardship of conference human, spiritual, and financial resources, Whigham said when he unveiled the priorities to staff this week, “ultimately our goal is to glorify God and to bring others into a relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Conference leadership will begin implementation of priorities immediately; conversations with staff were initiated earlier this year and will continue through 2012.

In a letter released to all conference delegates and credentialed leaders on May 11, 2012, board chair John Goshow (Blooming Glen congregation) and Whigham wrote:

“We believe that God is capable of fulfilling our prayers beyond our dreams.  At the same time, we believe that God is honored when we listen and lead in a way that invites us to fulfill our mission with excellence and with justice.  This is where it seems God is calling us together, what God is inviting, and where hopefully we’ll have the courage to go in the way of peace.

“We’ll continue to keep you updated as we further develop these priorities.  We plan to set up community conversations in the next few weeks for face-to-face time together. We’re going to learn some things. We’re going to make some mistakes. We’re going to have some successes. And we’re going to continue to be willing to witness of faith in Christ, till the kingdom comes.”

Conference board and staff review vision & finance goals

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by Emily Ralph

board and staff discuss vision
Staff members listen intently as board members take turns in the “fishbowl,” discussing the VFP.  Pictured here are board members (L to R, inside) Rina Rampogu, Beny Krisbianto, Nelson Shenk, and Randy Nyce and staff members (L to R, outside) Steve Kriss, Noah Kolb, and Conrad Martin.  Photo by Emily Ralph.

Franconia Conference board and staff decided last month to phase out the conference’s Vision and Finance Plan.  The two groups gathered at Wellspring Church of Skippack (Pa.) on January 30 for a day-long retreat to discuss vision for the next five years.

Board and staff members reviewed and discussed the conference’s “E-3” vision (Equipping Leaders to Empower Others to Embrace God’s Mission), priorities (formational, missional, and intercultural), and the Vision and Finance Plan (VFP).  The group moved to consensus that the VFP, which was created in 2007 to give recommendations for decision-making about properties, staffing, and the implementation of the “E-3” Vision, had served an important function but had reached the end of its helpfulness.  The VFP was due for review this year.

The VFP worked to align vision with conference resources and was adopted by delegates at the 2007 Conference Assembly, according to board member Joe Hackman, Salford congregation, an original member of the VFP team.  “The plan was intended to frame the work of conference staff – to give a better picture of what conference is doing, why they are doing it, and how they are doing it,” he said.

Some of the specific goals of the VFP have been accomplished: development rights for the Indian Creek Farm are being sold with plans to pay off a portion of the mortgage on the conference’s Souderton Center property; the conference office was relocated and downsized; new modes of continuing education for credentialed leaders have been implemented.

Other goals remain important and ongoing, specifically the emphasis on healthy and growing churches, leaders, and connections.  “This is what I believe,” said Noah Kolb, pastor of ministerial leadership, as he reflected on the E-3 vision. “God is looking for communities of believers who are able to follow Jesus as he followed God, who are able to read the signs . . . and respond in specific ministries. But who leads [the disciples] with a sense of knowing where to go and what to do and how to listen? . . . It is well equipped leaders.”

The board and staff agreed that the main role of conference structures and staff was to equip, resource, and connect congregations, conference related ministries, and leaders.  To do this, the VFP will be phased out with new immediate, short-term, and longer range priorities established.  Conference Board will develop these priorities to be reviewed and implemented by staff.

“The church is the primary vehicle for God’s expression in the world,” said board member Jim Longacre, Bally congregation, as others nodded in agreement, “not individuals, but a community.”  The role of the conference, he suggested, is to do only what congregations can’t do alone.

And, added assistant moderator Marta Castillo. Nueva Vida Norristown New Life, to focus on God’s mission. “As we pray for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we know that the church is only an instrument in God’s hand and our work is to be a part of missio Dei [mission of God],” she said.  “At this time, for Franconia Conference, it means that we have to change.”

Even in a time of change and movement, some things will remain the same, said Ertell M. Whigham Jr., executive minister.  “The ageless goals are . . . equipping healthy and growing leaders.  That doesn’t change—it doesn’t matter how many years have passed.”

February 22 (Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent) has been set aside as a day of prayer and discernment for conference board and staff as they continue to seek God’s vision for the conference together.  Please continue to be in prayer for conference leaders; contact Sandy Landes, prayer coordinator, for more information on how you can support this day in prayer.