Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

West Swamp Mennonite Church

How Shall We Gather?

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by Sue Conrad Howes, West Swamp congregation

Lynne Rush (center), music director at West Swamp Mennonite (Quakertown, PA), leads music during the June 14 drive-in service in the church’s parking lot. Pastor Michael Howes (left) and sound tech Tim Scheetz (right) stand with masks on, at least six feet away. 

In March 2020, many churches were struggling with the need to close their doors for Sunday worship due to COVID-19. Now, three months later, some churches are struggling again: When and how do we begin to gather for corporate worship while still caring for the physical health of our congregation?  Churches throughout the conference are trying a variety of approaches. 

Some, typically smaller, congregations have begun worshiping in their church buildings while taking precautions. Wellspring Church of Skippack (PA) is gathering in person, but with written instructions to participants encouraging physical distancing and other guidelines. Offering is collected in plates at the exits, bulletin announcements are sent via email so there are no handouts, and hand sanitizer and masks are available to all. Persons who use the restrooms are asked to wipe down the surfaces after each use.  

Mennonite Bible Fellowship (Morris, PA), has been meeting together since May 17. Congregants sit in every other pew, wear masks, and don’t shake hands. Pastor John Brodnicki commented that the “most inconvenient part of this arrangement is singing. It’s difficult to sing with a mask on.” They continue to monitor the number of COVID-19 cases in the area (their county has had relatively few). “If COVID cases were to spike, we may reconsider meeting together until the spike subsides,” Brodnicki added. 

Since June 7, Franconia (Telford, PA) congregation has been gathering in its parking lot for worship. Using an outdoor sound system,  FM transmitter, and a large LED screen to display the worship leader, musicians, and preacher (who are inside the church sanctuary), congregants sit in socially-distanced lawn chairs or in their cars.  “The outdoor service,” according to Pastor Mark Wenger, “has been a great experience.  This is the first step of gathering in person.” 

Franconia has also utilized the rental of the LED screen to show family-friendly movies on the weekend, including many movie attendees who were not from the congregation. As a result, the church plans to continue offering movies periodically in the future as an opportunity for outreach. 

Congregants attend drive-in church at West Swamp (Quakertown, PA) via their vehicles. The worship service was available on car stereos via an FM transmitter. 

Pastor Beny Krisbianto shared how his congregation, Nations Worship (Philadelphia, PA), held worship in the park on June 14. When 40 people showed up for worship, church leaders decided to divide the group into two, as area restrictions limited gatherings to 25 people. Congregants wore masks and practiced social distancing while older members were encouraged to stay at home and participate virtually. 

Some congregations are holding two services to limit the numbers in attendance. Perkiomenville (PA) congregation set up chairs in the worship space for appropriate distancing. They implemented a limit of 80 people per service and masks are expected for all who attend. 

Meanwhile, Methacton congregation (Norristown, PA) has decided to wait until their county goes “green” before even considering meeting in person in any form. According to Pastor Sandy Drescher-Lehman, “We don’t have a plan yet for how to re-open since so much changes all the time.” Meanwhile, Methacton’s worship services are emailed to the congregation on Saturday afternoons, inviting people to worship on their own time. For Methacton, the question now is, “How much do we need to gather?” says Drescher-Lehman. “We’re still the church,” she reflects. “Sunday mornings are a great celebration that everyone will be happy to have again when the time is right, but I don’t think anyone is drying up spiritually.”

Listening for God’s Purpose

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by Michael A. Howes, pastor, West Swamp congregation

I grew up in southern Louisiana, attending church every time the doors were open. Sometimes my family were the ones who opened them.

I chose to become a follower of Jesus Christ at a young age and was baptized. My congregation had a very active youth program, and I was immersed in Bible study, worship, prayer, and mission projects all through junior high and high school. My youth group did everything from putting on musicals to visiting the state women’s prison to stage puppet shows. And I was in the thick of it all.

In eighth grade, my Sunday School teachers challenged us to read through the Bible, week by week. If you did the readings for the week, you got a gold star on a chart in our Sunday School room. For some reason, the idea of accumulating those gold stars was powerfully motivating to me; I read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation that year.

At the same time, I was absorbing from my youth pastor a life-changing truth: being a follower of Jesus didn’t only mean attending church and being a good person. Instead, Jesus wanted me to surrender my whole self to him so he could express his life through me. The inward spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer. and worship, combined with the outward discipline of service, worked together to deepen and broaden my life with God and prepare me to hear God’s call.

As my senior year of high school began, I tried to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up. As I had always been instructed, I prayed about it.  All that came to me was that I really liked my youth group, so I decided that I would become a youth pastor.

Members of West Swamp congregation surround Michael Howes in prayer at his installation service in November 2019. (photo credit: Sue C. Howes)

That fall, at my youth group’s fall retreat,  we were sent out into a field to listen in quietness for the voice of God. I didn’t have any patience with this. I sat down barely long enough for the dew to moisten my jeans, and then I bounced up and sought out my youth pastor. I was certain I had exciting news for him.

“Ken, guess what!?! I’m going to be a youth pastor, just like you!”

I expected him to say something along the lines of this validating his life’s work and about how excited he was.

Instead, Ken told me something I will never forget: “Michael, until you stop telling God what you’re going to do and start listening for God to tell you what to do, you’re never going to understand God’s purpose for your life.”

Umph! Not the response I had been hoping for.

But by God’s kindness, it was a teachable—if humbling—moment for me. I began to honestly seek God’s direction for my life, with no preconceived endpoint.

Six months later, my youth group was back in the same place, on our spring retreat. One evening, while watching a video about evangelism, I had an experience of hearing God speak to me. It wasn’t an audible voice, but I heard God call me to be a minister.

When I shared what I had heard with my congregation, they affirmed that they saw these signs of God’s gifts and call in my life. That was more than 30 years ago, and that experience of call has been what the Spirit of God has used to sustain me through the ups and downs of ministry.

 

 

The Work of Reconciliation in Quakertown

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by Sue Conrad Howes, West Swamp congregation

Over time, the Holy Spirit works, making the things that divide us seem so much less important than the things that unite us.

In 1847, a church split occurred over the style of coat worn by the pastor, keeping minutes at church meetings, and whether Sunday School was acceptable. We may laugh and even scoff at the topics that caused the split some 173 years ago, but the lines drawn during that split have been felt until just recently; in November 2019, Franconia Conference and Eastern District Conference voted to become one new conference, a reconciliation that went into effect in February 2020.

In the history books, the conference split was rooted in the history of two congregations: West Swamp Mennonite Church (which helped begin Eastern District) and Swamp Mennonite Church (which broke away from West Swamp and stayed with Franconia Conference). In the 19th century, West Swamp’s pastor John Oberholtzer was a leader in the 1847 division.  The two congregations are now located just over a mile apart in Quakertown, PA.  

Pastor Nathan Good (left) of Swamp Mennonite and Pastor Michael Howes (right) of West Swamp Mennonite serve communion to members of both congregations on March 1, 2020. Photo by Sue Conrad Howes

As a celebration of the reconciled conference, West Swamp and Swamp congregations worshiped together for two Sundays in March 2020. On March 1, both congregations gathered at West Swamp, enjoyed breakfast together, and worshiped with Pastor Nathan Good of Swamp preaching. The next Sunday, the two congregations worshiped together at Swamp, with Pastor Michael Howes preaching, and a fellowship meal following the service. Members of both churches participated in Scripture reading, worship leading, and music at each service. Perhaps most importantly, communion was celebrated both Sundays, together.

The theme for the two services was reconciliation. On March 1, Pastor Nathan invited the congregations to evaluate our conflicts, acknowledging that we all have them. He encouraged each person to engage our conflicts, for God’s sake, and to commit to genuine love. “God is bigger than our disagreements and God’s love frees us to love people despite our disagreements,” Pastor Nathan said.

Members of Swamp and West Swamp congregations gather around tables and take communion. Photo by Lynne Rush

“God is impartial,” he said. “In a divisive time, we need to be reminded that God is the God of all people. God is not ours; instead, we are God’s.”

The next Sunday, Pastor Michael invited the congregants to reach out to those in our lives with whom we need reconciliation. Referring to the Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau, Pastor Michael shared that it is not enough to hang back and let the other person make the first step. “Today the Holy Spirit is prompting you to initiate that reconciliation,” he encouraged. Pastor Michael focused on the ministry of reconciliation that all of God’s people are called to: “God says to us, ‘I want to make you an agent of reconciliation.’”

He acknowledged that the ministry of reconciliation is hard work. “Sometimes we need to say, ‘I forgive you,’ and other times we need to say, ‘I’m sorry, please forgive me.’”

Children from West Swamp and Swamp gather for children’s time on the topic of forgiveness and reconciliation during a joint worship service at Swamp Mennonite on March 8, 2020. Photo by Sue Conrad Howes

From the joyful hugs and delightful connections made in the foyers to the active conversations that happened across tables at the meals, you would not have known that these two congregations ever battled with each other to the point of locking each other out of their church building.

Sometimes it takes a long time to partake in the ministry of reconciliation. While these two congregations will return to their regular places of worship next Sunday, both groups welcomed the opportunity to celebrate the work of reconciliation and to commit to being agents of God’s reconciliation into the future.

Congregational Profile: West Swamp Mennonite Church

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Photo credit: Lynne Rush

West Swamp has a rich and long history, celebrating 300 years as a congregation in 2017. Now we strive for a vibrant present and fruitful future as we “reflect God in our living, loving and serving” in Upper Bucks County.

This year we went through a leadership transition as our pastor of almost 10 years retired. While we were looking for the next pastor God had in store for us, we heard from many guest preachers and also had people from our congregation fill the pulpit for half of those Sundays. This reinforced for us the Anabaptist idea of “the priesthood of believers.” Our new pastor, Michael Howes, began on October 1 and we look forward to partnering with him in God’s mission for West Swamp.

Our worship services include scripture and song, prayer and preaching. Music is important to us—we were the first Mennonite church in America to install an organ! Our services use a blend of traditional, contemporary and culturally diverse songs for a rich worship experience, further enhanced by our adult and children’s choirs and Chimin’ In, a tone chime ensemble.

All ages took part in our Comforter Blitz. Photo credit: Madison Mood

We take seriously our call to be the hands and feet of Jesus, supporting local ministries like Code Blue Emergency Shelter for the homeless and the Salvation Army Christmas Carnival. We have people who volunteer weekly at the Care & Share Shoppes of Souderton, quarterly at the Ten Thousand Villages warehouse in Brownstown, and every other year with SWAP (Sharing With Appalachian People). We have vibrant knotting and quilting groups that meet regularly, making comforters for MCC and quilting to raise money for missions. We just recently had a 2-day Comforter Blitz for MCC’s Great Winter Warm-Up.

Interactive worship service at Camp Men-O-Lan with Solidarity & Harmony Church. Photo credit: Marsha High

We work to build strong relationships within our church family and with all who come through our doors, as we seek to draw more people into God’s kingdom by his love and grace. One outcome of our transition time is our Fellowship Prayer Breakfast on the first Sunday of each month. We have been blessed through the years to build strong ties with Crossroads Community Center of Philadelphia and more recently, Solidarity & Harmony Church, a Haitian congregation of Philadelphia.

Prayer requests:

  • Pray that we can be bolder and more intentional in going out into the community to be witnesses of God’s love and grace.
  • Pray that we can grow our Sunday School so that more people are gaining a deeper knowledge of God and his Word.
  • Pray that God will make available the right house in the right place for our new pastor, Michael Howes, and his wife, Sue—in good proximity to the church and in a good area for community ministry.