AKRON, Pa. — Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has selected Bert C. Lobe to serve as interim MCC executive director for the next year. He will start Jan. 8.
“We had some very good candidates that we interviewed,†said Ron Dueck, chair of the MCC board. “Bert brings a wealth of experience and leadership from both within and from outside of MCC.â€
Lobe and his wife, Martha, live in St. Jacobs, Ontario, and will be moving to Akron. His appointment follows the Oct. 23 resignation of Robb Davis, who joined MCC as executive director in June 2005. Lowell Detweiler has served as acting director since October.
The Lobes first served with MCC in the 1960s in rural India in a famine relief program, and later, from 1977 to 1980, as directors of MCC’s program in India and Nepal. Bert Lobe has since served as MCC’s Asia director, overseas director for MCC Canada and director of China Educational Exchange. During the intervals away from MCC, Lobe was principal of a public high school in Saskatchewan and a Mennonite high school in Ontario and served as associate principal at the Hong Kong International School.
In 2005, the Lobes served a six-month term as interim country representatives for MCC in Bangladesh. Bert Lobe has most recently worked with MCC to develop a program to more deliberately engage youth and young adults in the organization’s mission. Lobe currently is vice chair of Conrad Grebel University College and moderator of the Waterloo Mennonite Church.
Dueck said the committee that selected Lobe was struck by his ability to provide leadership in the context of building a strong team, by his long history with MCC and by his good connections with churches in Canada and the United States.
After Davis’ resignation, the MCC executive committee asked MCC staff to continue moving forward key initiatives, such as changes in the MCC governance structure, network facilitation, international program initiatives, a salary review and human resources initiatives.
As he reflected on his new role with MCC, Lobe noted that the ultimate measure of an organization is not where it stands when circumstances are calm. “It has much more to do with how we find our way when there are challenges, and in a learning organization these are a constant,†he said. “To face the challenges with both a sense of gratitude to God and a passion for the dispossessed is the task of the church.â€
He draws on the words of Jean Vanier, author and founder of L’Arche communities, as he ponders the challenges ahead. The foundational principle for MCC, Lobe says, “is to open our hearts and minds to the needs of others.†This implies, he says, “a quality of observation and listening as well as a commitment to action.â€
Zion Mennonite Church will be hosting Tuesday Noon Organ Recitals each Tuesday during the month of January. The first Tuesday at Noon Organ Recital will be held on Tuesday, January 2, from 12 noon to 12:30 p.m. Zion’s Organist, Scott Myers, will perform. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia.
Please note the change of date from last week’s announcement!: Come and experience Sviatki — a Russian Christmas Celebration at Souderton Mennonite Church on Sunday, 7, 2007!  In preparation for Souderton Mennonite Church’s service trip to northwestern Russia in July 2007, the congregation invites everyone to enjoy a fully-catered Russian meal, learn Russian customs, and make special crafts, including coloring Matryoshka dolls.  There will be two meal seatings, 1 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m.  Tickets are $8 for adults, $4 for children 10 and under, and may be purchased by calling the church office at 215-723-3088.  All funds raised will assist in improving the lives of children in Russian orphanages through plans to repair and renovate living quarters, provide food and clothing, offer dental and medical assistance, and share time with children who rarely receive care or affection. Â
Treat yourself to a time of quiet as you begin a new year. Everyone is invited to an hour of candlelight, scripture, song, and silence at the monthly Evening Song and Prayer Service on January 14, 7 p.m., at Perkasie Mennonite Church. For more information, visit the church website at www.perkmenno.org or call 215-257-3117.
The Partner in Mission relationship between Perkiomenville Mennonite Church and The Tabernacle of Christ Church in Vina del Mar, Chile, continues to grow. What began with a divine encounter by the two pastors in New York City in 2002 has blossomed into an ongoing partnership of mutuality. Recent events have deepened this relationship.
With the help of Franconia Mennonite Conference, Pastor Alfredo Navea, was able to attend Franconia Conference Assembly in November. He was received warmly by conference participants many of whom, who greeted him in Spanish expressed interest in his ministry. Through the discussion of bylaws and other conference business, he received inspiration about organizational structure for the churches in Chile which he oversees.
In November the third mission team, from Perkiomenville in three years, traveled to Chile for ministry and work on the church expansion of their church building. They mixed and poured cement for the floor of the building addition and participated in several worship services. The Tabernacle of Christ Church had banners in the church and presented Pastor Charles Ness with a plaque celebrating their Partner in Mission relationship.
In January two young adults, one from Perkiomenville MC and one from Boyertown MC, will go to Vina del Mar, for approximately three months to assist with the first ever Summer Bible School Program. The Sunday school children at Perkiomenville collected money to pay the cost of the Spanish Bible school curriculum. They plan to hold Bible school in at least three locations in the three month period. The inspiration for Bible School came from a visit of nine persons from Chile in 2005 to assist with the Perkiomenville Summer Bible School.
This Partner in Mission relationship is a blessing to both churches. It is helpful to the church in Chile with financial and practical help with their building expansion. They benefit from the preaching and teaching ministry of mission teams as well as ideas about church management and structure ideas. Lifelong friendships are being formed.
It benefits Perkiomenville by providing opportunity for persons from the US to observe both social and church life in another culture. We experience the passion of worship and confident faith of the brothers and sisters in Chile. Each time as new persons go with a mission team, the vision of God’s Kingdom is expanded. Our congregation is enriched by this relationship.
Work also continues on the REAP Chile program which is seeks to establish a micro-finance program to assist church members to start their own small businesses.
Others are welcome share in the blessing of this partnership. The opportunities and needs are more than Perkiomenville can handle; specifically, the financial requirements of pastoral support and completion of the church building are beyond our ability to meet.
Charles Ness
Pastor, Perkiomenville Mennonite Church
For some months now I have been thinking about this question—with a growing sense of urgency for what it means for our future as congregations, as a conference, and as a denomination.
For the last decade or so, Franconia Mennonite Conference (FMC) and the broader Mennonite Church have been on a journey to recapture our voice. It has been a shift from decades and even centuries of being more inwardly focused and “the quiet in the land†to finding our voice as people that Jesus has called to live the Great Commission by sharing the Good News and making disciples.
One of the biggest struggles I see on this journey is our “peace position.†No, I’m not trying to walk away from it. In fact, that’s far from the truth. But in our society and even in our congregations today this is a loaded conversation. We have dichotomized Jesus’ call to be people of peace and to share the Good News as though either or both of them are optional.
And so we often find our FMC congregations in one of two camps—either we are trying to live out our call to be peace churches OR we are trying to win souls into the Kingdom. And it’s hard to have a civilized conversation about peace and evangelism at the same time. The tension is often palpable when these two values confront one another. Why?
I certainly don’t have the answers (in fact I don’t even have many of the answers!), but let me share a few of my observations:
“The Mennonite Peace Positionâ€: I don’t find it helpful to talk about “the Mennonite Peace Position.†I believe it’s much more than that. Jesus has called us to follow him and to live into the Kingdom of God here on earth … as much as that is possible. When we relegate Jesus’ call to follow him in a way of peace and as people of peace to “the Mennonite peace position,†we pose our world view as though it is an optional add on to following Christ. Jesus, the very Prince of Peace, has called us to follow his example. Truly we are called to live Christ’s Gospel of Peace, it’s not a “take or leave it†option.
Peace is broader than war: Being people of peace is more than the issue of whether we go to war or not. How is it that our conversation about being peacemakers so often goes right to that end of the spectrum? During my recent trip to the United Kingdom, I was struck by the way our Anabaptist brothers and sisters in the U.K. have a lot to say about being peacemakers and people of peace … and war is not the center of every conversation! More often I heard this translated into people taking seriously Christ’s call to care for the poor and those on the margins of society. Working for social justice is an important part of living out Christ’s way of peace.
Because of or in spite of? As we are beginning to understand what it means to be missional, new people are joining us. In some cases they are people who join us because of our core values. In the U.K. people from many walks of life consider themselves to be Anabaptists … even though there is only one Mennonite Church and two Hutterite communities. They embrace Anabaptist theology as something that completes their biblical understanding, something that they have been missing—they describe it as feeling like they have “come home.†We have those stories in our FMC congregations too.We also have those who feel at home among us “in spite†of our core value of Christ’s call to be people of peace. I embrace the shifted paradigm of people first belonging, then believing, and then having their behavior change. Too often in the past we have slammed the door on people’s fragile journey toward faith, driving them from us. But how can we be transparent and true to our core values at the same time that we invite people from very different places to follow Jesus’ example?
Lost language: Have we been “the quiet in the land†for so long that we have lost a healthy way of being able to talk about being people of peace? Have we learned this from our parents and grandparents, as they hunkered down under the persecution they faced as conscientious objectors? Can we find a new language for our continent, a language that is relevant to our culture (and cultural diversity) in the U.S. today? Can we find language that transcends old paradigm bounds of being persecuted/ethnic/cultural Mennonites of Swiss-German descent? Can we learn that language from our Anabaptist brothers and sisters from Asia and Africa and South America who today are living out what it means to embody Christ’s Gospel of Peace in churches, many of which face persecution, yet which are growing by leaps and bounds?
Our voice is desired: Among others, the Emergent church movement is inviting us to come to the table. They believe that Anabaptists have an important voice to add to the conversation of who the followers of Jesus are called to be. They are asking us to bring the light that Jesus has shown to us. None of us has the whole truth, but they want us to bring our best understanding of who Jesus has called us to be to a conversation of what God is calling the church to be in this rapidly changing world. (Emergent Village describes themselves as “a growing, generative friendship among missional Christians seeking to love our world in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.†Brian McLaren is a key leader in this group. For more information, check out their website: http://www.emergentvillage.com)
Evangelists: In Matthew 28, Jesus commissioned his disciples to share the Good News! Who of us can deny that as a commission that transcends the ages? For too long we have muzzled the Good News. Being commissioned is more than, “do it if it’s convenient or if you feel like it.†A commission is to be taken seriously. Our FMC history is littered with evangelists who could not find a place among us. They have gone out from us to found churches like Calvary Church of Souderton, BranchCreek Community Church, Living Faith, and more. The Kingdom is still blessed by their gifts, but how can we make space—and even embrace—evangelists to use their God-given gifts among us? What drives them out from us?
In this season, when we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, can we find ways to share the Good News that Christ has called us to … in all its fullness? Can we be evangelists that work for peace?
Note: In 2002 the Faith & Life Advisory Council wrote a document entitled, Franconia Congregations and Christ’s Gospel of Peace.
Phil Bergey is currently reading The End of Religion: an Introduction to the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus by Bruxy Cavey. He has also begun to organize his learnings from the past decade of transformation within FMC which will serve as the basis for his writing in the first half of 2007.
Gay Brunt Miller visited several congregations this fall including New Beginnings Community and Frederick Mennonite. She spent the first week of November in the United Kingdom exploring partnership opportunities with The Anabaptist Network. Gay also visited Germantown Mennonite Church for the ordination of the congregation’s pastor Mark Schlotterbeck. Finally, Gay attended the Missional Team meeting in Chicago and the Constituency Leaders Council.
Marlene Frankenfield attended the regional conference youth ministry gathering in New Jersey with Atlantic Coast Conference and Allegheny Conference. She has been offering support to the Blooming Glen and Franconia churches as they are in youth ministry transition and also paritcipated in Brad Alderfer’s commissioning at Salford. Marlene is assisting with Convention Worship Planning in San Jose. Finally, she conducted the annual youth Leadership Retreat where 19 congregations were represented.
Claude Good is currently writing to the many international students with whom we have had contact in the past 15 or so years. He recently ordered two million de-worming pills. One million will be going to Nicaragua for the fourth distribution. The other million will be going to a group that is distributing the capsules along with food supplements among the poor across the world.
Noah Kolb recently conducted the ordinations for Bill Kull at Methacton and Don McDonough at Spring Mount. He also attended the ordination of Michael Bishop at Blooming Glen. He met with several congregations in pastoral transition including Rocky Ridge and Vincent. Noah attended the pastors appreciation breakfast at Philadelphia Mennonite High School and the annual Conference Ministers’ gathering in Pittsburgh.
Pastoral Transitions
David F. Derstine, long-time minister in the conference, passed away December 15.
Credentials
Hien Truong was approved for ordination as a pastor at Vietnamese Gospel on December 6.
Conference Board Transistions
Rita Hoover and Roy Yoder finish their terms as Board members on December 31. Rita was also a member of the Executive Committee. Both have served with the Board for six years.
Jim Laverty (Souderton) and Vina Krisnadi (Philadelphia Praise Center) will begin three year terms with Conference Board on January 1.
Carolyn Egli, Jerry Musselman, and Ray Yoder will begin three year terms with the Conference Board Minsterial Committee on January 2.
New Beginnings Community Church is inviting all FMC staff, Board Members, and delegates to a special showing of the movie Akeelah and the Bee. Pastor Jon E. Moore was so inspired by this underground hit, which addresses issues of leadership cultivation and encouragement, that he bought a copy for all his members. Now Pastor Moore and New Beginnings would like to share this inspirational story with you. Refreshments will be provided.
Friday, January 12, 2007 at 6:30 p.m.
New Beginnings Community Church
5201 Lloyd Street
Bristol, PA 19007-3302
This picture was taken during Franconia Conference Assembly at Salford Mennonite Church. These three persons, who formed part of the intercultural praise band that led singing at the Assembly, represent in part, who Franconia Conference is becoming.
What I want to observe however is the wall behind the them. The stones of this wall came from a mill and a local mason put it together where it now beautifully adorns the front of the sanctuary at Salford Mennonite Church. This wall speaks to the history as well as the quality of workmanship and commitment of the people who both built and preserved these stones. We thank God for them.
What strikes me about this image is that both past and present are captured in a single photo. History continues to sing today in what that wall represents. History continues the melody in the faces of those joining the peoplehood of God and singing a new song.
Is it possible that God is continuing to ‘build his church’ in Franconia Mennonite Conference by communicating to us through such a picture? Are we living in the present with our past as a reference and the future as our preference?
As I reflect on who was present this night, it seems to me that God brought together this faithful people, old and new, who have journeyed and continue to journey, into the same room – a sanctuary.
However, does being in the same room at the same time with different connections, understanding and history, make us one in heart and mind? Our Assistant Moderator Blaine Detwiler noted, we are seeking to learn to speak a new language. This is not a one way process, but a mutual one.
God is indeed doing a new thing in our midst. The biblical question the prophet raised was “do you not perceive it?” The question I want to raise is “how do you perceive it?â€
Editor’s Note: Sandy Landes recently joined the FMC staff as a contracted Prayer Ministry Coordinator. She will be coordinating and connecting prayer support throughout the conference. Sandy is also Prayer Minister at Doylestown Mennonite Church.
Does our faith journey ever take us where we expect? About five years ago I felt God leading me to begin a prayer time during our Sunday School hour at my home congregation of Doylestown Mennonite Church. Out of that prayer time grew a prayer ministry involving many people as we opened our hearts to the incredible gift of prayer. My congregation has encouraged me in so many ways as we are learning together what it means to be a house of prayer. God has been gracious in leading us to develop a prayer room, to begin an intercessory prayer ministry during our Sunday morning worship service, and to initiate an active email prayer chain. Eventually I joined the staff of Doylestown as a prayer minister. I find my ministry fulfilling and challenging.
In the past year, while continuing to seek God’s leading on my faith journey, I felt led to take another step of working to help people pray. God is already at work building houses of prayer around Franconia Mennonite Conference as congregations are developing active prayer ministries. While Noel Santiago and Jeannette Phillips have worked at encouraging the intercessors, Noel felt the need to have someone on staff at FMC to encourage and connect the prayer ministries of the different congregations. In November I began a new position as Prayer Ministry Coordinator of Franconia Mennonite Conference. I plan to work at coordinating prayer coverage for the leadership of and within Franconia Mennonite Conference. I want to be available to provide resources and encouragement for those involved in the many different aspects of prayer ministry in congregations and conference related organizations.
It is a journey of faith, one in which I am unsure of the direction it will go, but I do know the promises of God’s word. As a conference of congregations we are all being led on a journey which sometimes leads us in unexpected places. The exciting thing about this trip is not where we are going but the One who is leading us. God is faithful and will do all that he has promised. My hope and prayer is that we will continue to grow in prayer and understanding God’s heart for us as a body. I look forward to the journey!
They were busy weeks of journeying, listening and leading. Beginning with a quick jaunt for an evening over chips and salsa in Vermont and concluding with a dinner at Perkins Restaurant just off Route 80 in Bloomsburg, PA, I had the opportunity and privilege (and sometimes burden) of listening and conversing with about 150 conference leaders through the Assembly Scattered gatherings this fall. I attended every session with the exception of one (Alpha, NJ).
While they don’t provide a coherent narrative, this triptik is about who we are and who we might be becoming. They give glimpses of both the faithfulness of the past and the struggle for the future. In all of the journeys, one thing emerged clearly. I began to see our conference as a body with a heart somewhere around the Route 113 corridor. The heart has some muscular responsibilities to pump out that which might refresh, energize, and renew and to recognize that the essential work of hands, feet, and head may be done in other places.
The first gathering was at Bethany Birches Camp,intended for leaders from Vermont our communication patterns were crossed and attendance was low. The lack of effective communication was emblematic to how it seems Vermonters might feel about their relationship to the rest of FMC–disconnected and distanced. I have reminded my colleagues again and again that Vermont’s not that far away, that a six hour drive is doable. The drive back from the weekend tired me out, to be honest, and I found myself looking for a hotel at 1 a.m. in New Jersey after having driven the bulk of the way back to Philadelphia. I became convinced that it wasn’t good for me or anyone else on the road to continue further down the Turnpike to Philadelphia.
At Franconia church, I stood in the lobby and in the parking lot until nearly 11 p.m. Though it seemed hard to dream and imagine where the conference might be going while we were sitting together from 7:30-9 p.m., it wasn’t hard afterward. I listened as a congregational leader described his hopes and dreams for his church, for all of us to be in the marketplace,sharing faith with open hands and hearts. What would it mean to open our churches to the community,he asked, not only on Sunday morning, but all week?
I arrived in Bally with time to grab something to eatat Longacre’s Dairy Bar, a community fixture. I had good homemade ice cream and a burger, watched and listened as high schoolers served food and two women next to me split a sandwich so that they’d have room for dessert sundaes. I took a quick drive up into the hills just outside of town, got my first glimpse of Barto and realized how beautiful this still somewhat rural area is. I spoke with Jim Longacre (Salford) at length afterward. Jim’s family has farmed in this community, initiated the dairybar that I enjoyed, and wondered what it would mean to search deeply for Anabaptist responses to the complicated realities of our time. Even at Bally, in the midst of a picturesque small-town, change is coming as suburbanization from Allentown creeps southward and Philadelphia creeps northward.
As I led our time together at Perkasie I was acutely aware for the first time, that I am still new to Franconia Conference. A tenure of a little over a year doesn’t do much within an organization that’s got more than 300 years of history. I felt vulnerable, both to the questions and the possibilities that persons were asking. I felt burdened to some degree, who am I to be entrusted with the dreams of these persons? Ertell Whigham, Leonard Dow, and Ken Burkholder, my vision and financial plan teammates were there, along with other conference staff; but in leading and inviting consideration of Scripture and dreams, there was a juxtaposition of new leaders, rooted ministry and ongoing questions. This was the first gathering where the tough question of what is going to happen to the Indian Creek farm emerged. We acknowledged it carefully. I read later in the responses from Perkasie that it would be helpful if the conference would find ways to inspire new vision.
It rained hard the night we met at Hersteins. I was surprised on my drive there to pass a Buddhist temple right in the middle of rural Montgomery County. The world has maybe already arrived here. The night was dark and the gathering in a narrow room at the rear of the sanctuary felt somewhat awkward because it was hard to see each other’s faces. I talked with Wes Boyer (Vincent) who was excited about all that FMC is doing, grateful for the way that the conference could move into influencing and shaping Mennonite Church USA and looking forward to hosting Jim Schrag on the Sunday morning following Conference Assembly.
As I arrived, somewhat late, at Line Lexington I noticed the cemetery, the generations of faithful who have gone before. I was aware of its presence behind me as I led that night and as I listened. I stayed late again listening to someone who wondered if change was really possible. I heard divergent viewpoints. I heard us wonder where the Conference might be going and how we might better understand it. I heard questions about whether the work that we had done in the past was recognized as significant. I wonder how those who have gone before us had experienced cultural changes? I heard one pastor remind us that our work is ultimately about sharing the Gospel. In this evening, I experienced much of our latent divergences in viewpoints. How do we move ahead? What is the significance of our institutions from previous generations? What is the role of evangelism? What are we doing in this visioning process anyway?
Gathering at the Gryphon Coffee Shoppe in St. David’s to meet with Mennonite students at Eastern University turned out quite differently from other Assembly Scattered. With this group of seven students, we (FMC staff Dave Landis, Jessica Walter, and I) listened and wondered. Students offered practical ways to connect and shared good ideas that ranged from supporting justice and peacemaking initiatives on campus to finding a way to play a giant game of Dutch Blitz with local Mennonite leaders. We wondered what our roles and responsibilities might be as followers of Jesus in the wealthy Philadelphia Mainline suburbs? The students who came that night were from different conferences. They didn’t know that it mattered whether they were from Lancaster or Franconia congregations. And maybe that in and of itself gives us a glimpse of our future.
The meeting at West Philadelphia was a cultural mix of folks. Here we were Franconia Conference—black, white, Indonesian, Slovak, Mexican; Pentecostals, cynical scholars, and peaceniks. Meeting in the basement of Calvary United Methodist Church in West Philadelphia in front of a large colorful mural created a different context from our other gatherings. Communication across cultures wasn’t easy for us. We strained to hear each other both figuratively and literally. People talked about how they might change their city. They wondered what resources the conference might have to help them do that. There was a presence of persistent hope tamed by a bit of cynicism, knowing that it’s never easy to change the city (or the organizational embodiment of the church) and the call to change the relational pattern of the city and the suburbs is a long, hard road.
By the time we met with leaders from Conference Related Organizations, I was tired. I knew that this was likely our most disparate gathering, it’s hard to corral the diverse ministries and possibilities of Franconia Conference CRO’s. What do our ministries share in common? Can our centeredness in Christ hold us together? I spent some time with Rick Young, the new executive director of Liberty Ministries, and he wondered if he was really allowed to dream and if his dream could include revisioniong the Indian Creek Farm? I told him we’d take his dream seriously. I hope we do. Where do our dreams overlap and exponentialize?
The last gathering was intended for Northern Pennsylvania church leaders. This was my first real immersion in the diaspora congregations north of I-80. They are almost as far apart from each other as they are from the Conference Center in Souderton. I picked what I thought was a central meeting location in Bloomsburg where I knew there was a Perkins Restaurant. Juanita Brodnicki remarked that it was close to where her dad (retired pastor at Mennonite Bible Fellowship) used to meet with his bishop (so at least we were in good historical company). We gathered together in a small room at the rear of the restaurant with a gracious waitress, quick smiles and hopeful conversation tempered by the lingering hard economic realities that persist in Pennsylvania’s mountain communities. I heard a poignant question, “When was the last time that someone sold a farm to do ministry in another community?†There were questions about whether it was time to do that again.
In these weeks of listening, we focused on passages from 2 Chronicles about Solomon’s conversations with God, his recognition of God’s faithfulness, and his petition that God might grant him knowledge and wisdom. It’s a prayer appropriate for our day in this time of discerning and listening, in hoping, doubting, and believing. We’ll need the wisdom that comes from God and the practical knowledge of experience and imagination that might carry us into what El Savadoran martyr Oscar Romero called, “the future that is not our own.†This is God’s future and we’re all invited to create, to enliven our own possibilities of work, and hope in a new day.
The Long Road to New Jersey
Karen Moyer
The trip to Alpha that should have been 45 minutes, turned into 95 minutes as Charlotte Graber Rosenberger and I struggled to interpret misleading software directions. This challenge of finding the church perhaps symbolizes the distance the gathered group that evening sometimes feels from the Conference. They asked for help to educate their congregations on the benefits of belonging to a broader body. They also invite representatives from churches from the “heartland†to occasionally worship with them. They dreamed of partnering with other congregations on joint work projects and developing relationships with other congregations and Conference leaders to strengthen their understanding of what it means to be Anabaptist/Mennonite in their communities.
AKRON, Pa. — Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has selected Bert C. Lobe to serve as interim MCC executive director for the next year. He will start Jan. 8.
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The Partner in Mission relationship between Perkiomenville Mennonite Church and The Tabernacle of Christ Church in Vina del Mar, Chile, continues to grow. What began with a divine encounter by the two pastors in New York City in 2002 has blossomed into an ongoing partnership of mutuality. Recent events have deepened this relationship.
It benefits Perkiomenville by providing opportunity for persons from the US to observe both social and church life in another culture. We experience the passion of worship and confident faith of the brothers and sisters in Chile. Each time as new persons go with a mission team, the vision of God’s Kingdom is expanded. Our congregation is enriched by this relationship.
For some months now I have been thinking about this question—with a growing sense of urgency for what it means for our future as congregations, as a conference, and as a denomination.
Evangelists: In Matthew 28, Jesus commissioned his disciples to share the Good News! Who of us can deny that as a commission that transcends the ages? For too long we have muzzled the Good News. Being commissioned is more than, “do it if it’s convenient or if you feel like it.†A commission is to be taken seriously. Our FMC history is littered with evangelists who could not find a place among us. They have gone out from us to found churches like Calvary Church of Souderton, BranchCreek Community Church, Living Faith, and more. The Kingdom is still blessed by their gifts, but how can we make space—and even embrace—evangelists to use their God-given gifts among us? What drives them out from us?
Editor’s Note: Sandy Landes recently joined the FMC staff as a contracted Prayer Ministry Coordinator. She will be coordinating and connecting prayer support throughout the conference. Sandy is also Prayer Minister at Doylestown Mennonite Church.