I have known Rich Moyer for most of my life. Rich baptized me, he was the pilot on my one and only toboggan ride, and he introduced me to computer solitaire. If I don’t stop myself, I can lapse into all of my Rich stories here and now. It is a common inclination among others I talked with who know Rich.
Conrad Martin, Rich’s coworker at Franconia Mennonite Conference, shared about a time when there was not a secretary at the office and Rich unquestioningly assumed duties that were not his own. Lee Howard, Rich’s good friend since their college years, told me about the day he walked into Dayton Mennonite Church in Virginia, not intending to attend the church more than once, and was greeted by Rich at the door. He stayed for years.
My father, David Benner, has known Rich since they were children. Many times I have heard the story from Dad’s bus driving days when he subdued an unruly nephew of Rich’s with the mere mention of his name. Fern, Rich’s wife, reflected back to Rich’s role as a Sunday School teacher during their years in Boston. We who know Rich cannot help but tell stories about him.
Maybe we get our inspiration from Rich’s example. In preparation for writing this article, I sat down with Rich for breakfast at the Energy Station inVernfield where Rich told me about his life. Rich tells his own stories straightforwardly without excessive detail or explanation. An insertion of any sentimental digression is poignant. I realized, as we spoke, that I never really knew much about this man who had grown up across the creek from my father, had been my pastor, and always asked earnestly about me.
Rich grew up on a Salford Township farm full of honest work that prepared him for a life of service. Growing up in the Perkiomenville Mennonite congregation, Rich was exposed to examples of leadership both in his own family and in the church body. These role models set the ideal for Rich’s life in ministry. “They gave hours to study, picking up people for church, teaching classes,
and praying for those not committed to Christ.â€
Rich and his wife Fern went to Boston to offer a few years of their lives to peace and healing in the city in response to the military draft, and the pattern of service in their life was set. Soon after they returned from Boston the first time, they were called to return as “career disciples†who would work in the community while supporting an Anabaptist church in the area. They stayed for six years living in a culturally diverse neighborhood where they saw both tension and growth among their neighbors.
Rich and Fern adapted even further when the draft ended, reducing the flow of young Anabaptists into Boston. The church eventually closed.Rich was disappointed, but they remained in Boston and joined an Assembly of God congregation. Rich began taking courses at a local college and something clicked. “My mind was opening up again,†he reflected.
The Moyers traveled to Eastern Mennonite College to explore the possibility of further training. Rich completed his undergraduate degree in three years and spent a year in seminary. As school was finishing, Rich remembers feelings of uncertainty that plagued him at the time. He was left, like many young graduates, asking the questions, “What do I do now? Where do I go?â€
In September of 1979, the congregation at Perkiomenville was looking for a pastor and called Rich to serve. It was not a full-time role. Rich worked a few days a week at Franconia Mennonite Conference. Since Boston, where he had worked his way to supervisor in cost accounting for a meat packing company, Rich has been managing the books in one way or another.
Rich’s friends and family atttest to his integrity. “My goal is to be able to have people who send money to the conference know that they can trust that the money will be handled with integrity, with no concern for fraud.†As treasurer, Rich worked with congregations to manage their money and understand the ins and outs of budgeting. He expressed special concern for people who were new to the job, who would not
otherwise know how to handle the complicated finances and tax forms for their congregations.
Rich’s interest in people extends beyond confusion over tax forms. Rich has appreciated the connections that his job allowed him to make. “I met church people, new people in the church, missionaries, pastors . . .†In the work of the conference, Rich acted as pastor and bookkeeper simultaneously.
Gulf States Mennonite Conference leader Steve Cheramie-Risingsun said last month at Deep Run East that the church needs Franconia Conference congregations to be strong and healthy. He said that in native tradition the strong, straight trees growing around Deep Run’s meetinghouse suggested good earth and good care-taking.
Steve’s assertion and observation made me ask questions. What does it mean for congregations to be strong and healthy? How is that achieved or maintained? How do centuries old communities remain healthy and strong rather than fragile and disintegrating? What does it mean to be strong, well stewarded and rooted in good earth?
Strong and healthy congregations are careful about what they consume and what consumes them. We live in an age of buffets (both China Wok and Shady Maple) with so much food in the offing that we can easily overeat and ingest more resources than necessary. Consuming too much makes it difficult to move quickly and stresses our bodies. We live in an age of access to information and images that enables us to graze and gaze in ways we never could before. This access can move us into a stupefying information overload in which we confuse knowing, caring, and acting. We even become consumers of the most holy actions – service, worship, learning, travel, rest – which rather than bring us closer to God serve to disconnect, disengage, and disenchant.
Strong and healthy congregations stretch while strengthening their core. I took a pilates class once and the instructor insisted that the body’s core is strengthened through sometimes painful and awkward stretching. The instructor said the body’s core bears much of the ability to move and to deal with tension. Jeanette Baum writes about Deep Run East’s experience building a home for “Shelter of Life†which led to Steve Cheramie-Risingsun’s visit which led to an article in the Allentown Morning Call and regional Native leaders visiting the congregation. In strengthening a core of service in the name of Christ, the church is being stretched in unexpected ways.
Strong and healthy congregations develop relationships that result in new commitments and growth. In Blaine Detwiler’s encounter with Anabaptists in the United Kingdom, we witness a challenging and hopeful emerging relationship. What does it mean for the Western Hemisphere’s oldest Mennonite community to learn from new Anabaptists across the pond?
Could these new relationships and fresh commitments inspire us to create communities that might look radically different from our historic realities? Could the British perspective provide a path for new generations to embrace Anabaptism in a postmodern, global information age? Both the Franconia congregation and Philadelphia Praise Center are building new relationships with Spanish-speakers in their settings. These possibilities have grown from Franconia Conference relationships in Mexico. What commitments will
emerge as these relationships grow?
Strong and healthy congregations train and practice in preparation for witness, response and decision-making. As followers of Jesus, we train and practice our actions in community. Training and practice builds strength and capacity for public witness and response. We sing and pray together. We listen and study together. We eat, laugh, disagree and cry. We wash each other’s feet both literally and figuratively. We share our questions, doubts and possessions. We practice the faith so that we are fully prepared to give witness to the nonviolent way of Christ relevantly and redemptively. According to Mennonite Weekly Review, the top media stories about Mennonite life in 2006 were related to radical forgiveness (the Amish at Nickel Mines and the holding of Christian Peacemaker Team members in Iraq). These moments of profound public witness are rooted in practiced shared action and commitment.
Menno Simons would suggest that strong and healthy congregations are active and cannot be dormant, becoming all things to all people in diverse incarnations of the love that is God. It’s not enough for congregations to be strong and healthy for our own sake, aiming alone to build edifices and program. Instead, this health and strength enables us to move toward vulnerability, openness and risk that becomes the presence of Christ in the world.
On the fourth day of our London journey after Charlie and Sarah had put their three young children to bed, the four of us adults took up an energetic conversation. Charlie is a pastor who along with his wife Sarah were giving Matt Hamsher from Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference and me the benefit of their waning hours of Sunday work. Nearing 10:00 and sensing the tone of conversation had gone irretrievably theological in nature, Sarah smiled and excused herself for the night. Before she left, Matt and I thanked them both for their hospitality. I related to them my best understanding of ‘hospitality’ being one in which both ‘guest’ and ‘host’ come away from a table being richer from the experience and that for my part, at least, I could say that my three days with them in their London house had been rich indeed.
Earlier that day I accompanied Sarah and the children to worship at Holy Spirit Church Centre on Ferrier Estate. Church of England is its official registry but through a unique arrangement Charlie Ingram, a Baptist, provides leadership to this congregation. Charlie explained to me the term ‘estate’ in British parlance is an area defined by similar housing units. Ferrier Estate is a section in south London on which government funded housing units were built to accommodate low income residents. Built with the Utopian ideals of early 1970’s Ferrier Estate his since fallen into a state of decline, both structurally and socially.
Charlie admitted his inspiration for serving on Ferrier Estate came from Jesus’ own lips, about preaching ‘good news to the poor…’ words that provoked a near riot in those gathered for a pleasant Sabbath in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30). He is keenly aware of the accumulative effect on the human spirit that prolonged neglect can have; how suspicions arise and how alternative lifestyles emerge when the life of a community, its stores and services, close their doors. Noises echo off the vacant buildings which surround Holy Spirit Church Centre but Charlie is committed to his community and determined their church be a place of blessing to those who profoundly need one.
While Charlie is purposed and measured in his demeanor, Sarah, displays unusual calm given the circumstances. They long agonized but then decided for safety reasons and for the sake of young children to purchase a house within brief walking distance off the Estate. As Sarah readied her three children all under the age of five for the Sunday walk to church she displayed an almost ‘holy’ composure. None of the dangers Charlie earlier related to us such as robbery, general hooliganism and the progression of knives to guns on Ferrier Estate seemed to deter Sarah and the children from their purpose.
Sarah’s poise reminds me of Mary, Jesus’ mother, who, for all of what we can garner, took with assurance the news of God’s pregnancy. When I looked at Sarah and Charlie I gained a real sense of the radical risks involved with the kingdom of God and I gained confidence for any future absurdities I may be confronted with at Lakeviewor at Franconia Conference. I took from the table of Charlie’s and Sarah’s hospitality a clear impression of Jesus’ words ‘do not be afraid’ and can only wonder what I might have given them in return.
This learning trip was designed to explore and better understand the present unfolding phenomenon dubbed ‘post-Christendom.’ English author Jonathan Bartley refers to its precedent ‘Christendom’ as ‘an arrangement’ or a ‘ power structure’ and as having ‘a culture’ of its own. Christendom is the marbling of Jesus’ gospel with the power brokers of a given political system. As such, Christianity has long been granted ‘pride of place’ within the functioning of an empire and has long been assumed to be of great benefit to the state. However, in many settings that place of privilege is shifting and we’re entering a new and unsettled age.
On day two of our journey, several of us boarded a red double-decker bus towards our appointed meeting time with Jo Frew. She had just gotten off work and when the nine of us had gathered in the street she scouted the neighborhood for her choice of a suitable meeting place. It turned out to be the rear of a rather noisy pub. After ordering, we sat down to eat and to hear her talk about her work with SPEAK, a network of young people with a bent for prayers and fairness and the kingdom of God. Jo sat in the center of our table. One other person sat between us but I could not hear Jo. I bent my ear and strained to no avail. A pub is an active place and the din proved to be the winner that night. Jo is a pensive, soft spoken woman. She did not force the issue.
In Jo, I saw a spiritual presence, a posture I saw represented in others we met as well. If ‘Christendom’ favored ‘dominance’ and ‘compliance’ what I saw in her and others differed considerably. Where ‘Christendom’ sought order and preferred visible delineated structures, what I began to see was more fluid and engaging. Where Mennonites in the US have been more keen on
properly maintained boundaries of community and theology and would much prefer to meet in areas set aside for sacred activities, Jo took us to a pub. It seemed to matter not so much where we met but whom we were with. I took note. Anabaptists in the UK are a series of networks, people connected by e-mail, interest and Jesus. Dotted throughout their land from London to Lockerbie, from Oxford to Bristol all the way to Northern Ireland is a network of learning communities. Anabaptism in the UK is more of a verb than a noun, a movement seemingly born by search. I got a real sense that UK Anabaptism lives, as a movement, a verb, acting very consistently with something Jesus once said about the kingdom, that it is like “…yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.†Seeing Jo Frew, dressed in a mottled ensemble of colors, seated in the rear of a London pub may press for some the matter of ‘post-Christendom’ past comfortable, but for me it was a focused picture of church on the margins. It was a reminder that although Jesus went to local synagogues and to Jerusalem’s large temple, the places he so often showed up at were because of people already there. We must not forget that.
It is Jesus talk. I know Jesus didn’t say it, but many of the Christians I saw in the UK lived into their post-Christendom disadvantage, graciously. I saw in the Ingrams’ and others a truly attractive approach to their work. If asked to account for the buoyant spirit of the folks we encountered on this journey, I would guess it has to do with their status. In ‘Christendom’ the issue was citizenship. ‘Post-Christendom’ is the birth pangs of a new and unsettled world, but it comes with a healthy recognition that, in the realm of God, one is a pilgrim, with freedom and confidence to be on the move.
For Peaceful Living’s founder Joe Landis, growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania’s oldest Mennonite community has been to know what a family singing circle felt like. At home the sensation focused in table fellowship and story-telling. At church there was the sacrament of singing together in a folk harmony. He joined this harmony singing as a child, hardly noticing how he had
learned to do so. “We thought anybody could sing like that,†he reflected.
Both home and church singing settings nurtured a powerful, yet sometimes taken for granted, sensation of being included. Even the voices of those, like Joe’s father’s seemingly ancient greatuncle Jonas L. Alderfer whose learning disability kept him from learning how to sing the right notes, were folded into the haunting sound, not of performance but community. “Joney†and his peers were there at the table and in the hymns. Only with such taken for granted completeness did the sacraments of table and church fellowship feel valid. Only with those hoarse voices did the harmony sound fully like home.
Hymns endear us to each other. Old ones connect us with souls who sang them before we were born and those who will sing them when our own voices fail. Hymns connect us with moments in the unfolding of our own individual and communal faith stories. New words, tapping deep wells, enrich old truths and surprise us with their gift of insight. Both singer and hearer are blessed in reprising foundational thoughts of supplication or praise in a medium that lends to our ordinary minds the superior gifts of poet and composer. We make great hymns our personal property. We lift our hearts corporately reminding each other that we belong to God together.
Not only persons familiar with traditional acappella congregational singing can be touched by its sense of family as the four-part sound creates an air of community. Often, even persons unfamiliar with the experience respond to its warmth. Joe thought this experience ought to be shared but wondered how.
Joe and a friend took sometime imagining what it would be like to hear humble meetinghouse strains profoundly ennobled by the string section of a major orchestra. While realizing that it was beyond anyone’s means, they knew the music would be nice. With the sense of family our hymns produce, Joe invited friends to bring those encircling harmonies, on a chamber rather than symphonic scale, into an album. In April and June 2005 Stan Yoder, an instrumental music teacher and performer, led a string quartet to accompany an ensemble of mostly nonprofessional singers who have sung since childhood in local congregations. The album, Spring Hymn Sing, was released last year.
The seventeen hymns and spiritual songs can all be found in Hymnal: A Worship Book (1992), the collection currently in use at many Mennonite and Brethren congregations. The album includes a cavalcade of Isaac Watts, Count von Zinzendorf, Beethoven, African-American spirituals, Brian Wren, and the list goes on. With such teeming memories and a God who, the Psalmist reminds us, “setteth the solitary in families,†how can we keep from singing?
Story behind the cover art:Cover art for “Spring Hymn Sing†was created by Ramin Dabiri of Wynnewood, PA. Ramin is a participant in Peaceful Livings’ Creative Gifts Community Mentoring Program. He has a cognitive disability due to a birth defect. Ramin enjoys the ability to express himself through art. He also enojoys music and is fluent in three languages including Turkish, Persian, and English.
In 1539, Menno Simons said: “True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant, it clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds up that which is wounded, it has become all things to all men.â€
At Rockhill Mennonite Community we attempt to express true evangelical faith as the residents in all levels of care are encouraged to live these words of Menno Simons.
Residents in the Healthcare Center may require 24 hour nursing care, but that does not stop them from exercising this kind of faith. Each month, the residents run a “Cookie Monster Sale†making homemade cookies and selling them to staff and their fellow residents. This money is then given to their Resident Council that decides how the money is divided.In the past, monies have been given to Mennonite Central Committee for use in disaster relief. Locally, the Resident Council supports the Sellersville Fire Department. They also provides bikes and helmets to Pennridge FISH (Fellowship In Serving Humanity), a non-profit organization that serves the needs of the low income families in the Pennridge School District, during the Christmas season.
But the Healthcare resident committee does not stop there. They also support their own, providing electric door openers to different areas of Rockhill to make all areas more accessible to the residents. In addition, they are sure to thank those that support them, by making handmade thank-you gifts for their caregivers during National Nursing Home Week. The Healthcare unit is active in many other areas of service that keep everyone’s evangelical faith from growing dormant while at Rockhill.
Our Healthcare residents are not the only ones who are busy living out this faith. Independent Living residents run a convenience store on-site, called Josey’s Store. Josey’s not only gives the residents the convenience of grocery shopping within the community but the profits from the store are used to support service projects at Rockhill and around the world. Many Independent Living residents are pending their retirement as volunteers with local organizations like the Care and Share in Souderton and Grand View Hospital. And not to be forgotten, the Assisted Living residents recently raised money for the Pennridge FISH “Bear†project.
Even the participants in the Adult Day Care Center express this faith by celebrating Christmas twice each year. Adult Day Services holds two food and dried goods drives for Indian Valley Opportunity Center, one in December and one as part of a Christmas in July celebration. They also make bookmarks a few times a year for patients at Grandview Hospital.
Sunday morning worship brings together residents from the entire community. The first Sunday of every month an offering is taken for a different charity. For instance, in February the offering went to support the Global Family Program of MCC. In a setting like this it is possible for our world to become rather small. These opportunities to support ministries near and far help expand our horizons and push us to keep in focus a world bigger than RMC.
Rockhill Mennonite Community relies on the aid of volunteers acting on these words of Menno Simons. Without the help of volunteers, Rockhill would not be able to continue to offer the broad spectrum of activities and events that its residents enjoy. Anyone interested in volunteering is urged to call Mary Bleakly at (215) 257-2751.
Jeanette Baum, Deep Run East rjebaum@verizon.net A columnist in the Allentown Morning-Call suggested that Mennonites (along with Quakers, Buddhists and Unitarians) might be able to solve the problems of the world when he heard about our congregation’s efforts. It’s definitely true that the “Shelter for Life†initiative has begun to transform our church at Deep Run East. Through “Shelter for Lifeâ€, we decided to build a house for an elderly couple who had lost their home to Hurricane Katrina. The house is being built in Pennsylvania in sections and will be taken to Louisiana by truck. There was a good buzz of excitement as the builders were trying to read the difficult blueprints.And we had questions. Would the truck drivers be able to navigate the small bridge that needed to be crossed to get to the building site? With some photos and calculations by an engineer from our congregation the good news was that they would not need to unload the tractor trailer on one side of the bridge and reload it on the other.As part of our building and connecting efforts we invited Gulf States Mennonite Conference leader Steve Cheramie-Risingsun to speak during a weekend event at Deep Run East. Steve is a Native American of the Chinamache tribe and a Mennonite pastor. He ministers with two Native American Mennonite congregations that are four hours apart, one in Alabama and the otherin Louisiana. He is a great storyteller and humble servant of God. Steve, his grown children, his mother and siblings also lost all their material possessions to Hurricane Katrina but he does not talk about his own hardships. His priority is to help others.
A gourmet banquet with a Louisiana flair began the special January weekend on Saturday evening. A woman, obviously unfamiliar with our congregation, arrived at the church at the same time as me. Over dinner, I learned that Danawah was Cherokee and a community activist. I discovered how little I knew about native cultures, practices, and beliefs. Our congregation learned that there is an active Coalition of Native Americans in Bucks/Montgomery Counties when a whole delegation arrived for Steve’s presentation after dinner.
There was an overwhelming response from the congregation and community along with gracious articles in the Allentown Morning-Call. During Saturday evening donations were collected from congregational members, the personal contacts from the congregation’s “Shelter for Life†committee with local businesses, and broader community response and as a result the house is now paid for, around $53,000!
In Steve’s Sunday morning sermon, he voiced his appreciation for our congregation’s music. He told us that the only instrument in one of his congregation’s is a guitar with a couple of strings missing.Then he affirmed our congregation for our witness and we listened. The story of his church’s guitar has lingered with me since that Sunday and challenged my thinking. What are the possibilities that might emerge if we partner with a Native American congregation and dare to begin a relationship?I was impressed by Steve’s humility and knowledge. In the question and answer time that took place during our adult Sunday School, we learned much about the way of life of our Native American brothers and sisters and about the hardships they have endured not only in the past but even now, as Euro-Americans continually take advantage of them. While Steve knows and feels the hurt of these injustices he does
not dwell on them. He is passionate and committed and radiates God’s love.
The weekend brought many moments of awareness inspired by God. Our time together brought to light things we were not aware of regarding our Native American brothers and sisters. We learned about the astounding devastation that continues from Hurricane Katrina, the difficulties that people continue to deal with as their homes remain uninhabitable and they live in the cramped quarters of temporary trailers. It is exciting that 15 of our men, including two truck drivers, volunteered to go to Louisiana and build this house so that they can see it through to completion. Our challenge is to continue to take on these opportunities to serve that are so close to home that there is no passport required! To hear the content of the whole weekend on CD or for information on building a Shelter for Life house, call Deep Run East Mennonite Church at 215 766 8380.
Jeanette, from Perkasie, PA, is a mother, grandmother and caretaker for her parents. She is currently involved in music ministry at Deep Run Mennonite Church East. She has an avid interest in missions. She, along with her husband Richard, has taken missions trips with Mennonite Mission Network, MAMA and Agros International.
When should I speak and when should I listen? I wrestled with many questions like this as I worked with Native Mennonite Ministries and Poarch Community Church to host 400-500 people for the bi-annual Native Assembly of the Mennonite Church in Atmore, Alabama.
Due to the enormous burden of responding to the needs of Hurricane Katrina survivors in the Gulf Coast region, the on-site planning for Native Assembly was severely delayed. As unmet deadlines passed by, the organizing loomed large for Pastor Steve Cheramie-Risingsun, the host chair. Meanwhile Blooming Glen’s Damascus Road Team was praying for appropriate ways to involve their congregation in Hurricane Katrina recovery. Team members Rick and Barb Gebelein met Pastor Steve at a Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) gathering and began devising a plan to provide administrative assistance and web site development for the Native Assembly. Laura Kanagy from Lancaster Mennonite Conference and I were called to go to Atmore at various times while Blooming Glen members and others provided funds that were matched by Franconia Conference. As July arrived, much work remained and it was discerned that I should return to assist during the Assembly itself.
The coming together of the Native peoples from various tribes in the US and Canada was a wonderful celebration. Leaders and participants shared marvelous testimonies of their faith in Christ and their hopes for the Church through their native languages, stories, music, customs, dress and artwork. As I engaged in the intense cross-cultural experience, many questions arose which I still ponder. How should I show respect for the Poarch congregation and Assembly participants when I am unfamiliar with their cultures? How could I maintain proper perspective when showered with much heartfelt appreciation? How should I respond when the lines of responsibility blur? For a gathering so special as Native Assembly, should I even be here to witness it? As Christians I think we need to wrestle with these kinds of questions as we attempt to cross cultural and ethnic boundaries locally, in the US and abroad.
Elizabeth Stover and her husband Preston who live at Dock Woods Community were out walking on the path in the woods connected to the retirement community. Coming toward them was a young man with his small playful child hanging on to his legs. Insoo Lee introduced himself and said he was the youth pastor of a nearby Korean church. Elizabeth invited Insoo’s family to her home for dinner and to speak with the prayer group that she leads at Dock Community.
At that meeting Insoo found out about the Worm Project and invited Alicia and I to present the project to the young people of his church. We were met with overwhelming enthusiasm. Some students wanted to take the contribution containers to their school classrooms to encourage their classmates to contribute as well.
That small group was able to pull together $1,000.00 in a few months! The Worm Project is able to buy a de-worming pill for just two pennies each when bought by the million. One pill can save enough food from the worms to help a child have, on average, an extra 10 lb. of food every six months. So at two cents each, $1,000.00 will buy enough pills to treat 50,000 children! But it will be even more than that - Insoo says that the youth want to keep the contribution containers to continue raising funds to treat more children around the world.
Insoo’s congregation has recently merged with Hatfield (PA) Church of the Brethren becoming one congregation – Grace/Hatfield Church of the Brethren. They worship in English at 10 a.m. and in Korean at 11:30 a.m. on Sundays. A bilingual worship is in their plans for the near future.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?†For generations, adults have asked children this familiar question and I never had a very good answer. For awhile, my quick response was “teacher†because at eight years old I liked to play “school†with my younger sister. But as I grew, I realized I really didn’t know.
In high school the idea of majoring in communication began to creep into my mind. Specifically I liked the idea of working at a non-profit organization that helped people. I decided to major in Organizational Communication because the blend of communication and business classes seemed like a way to facilitate my lingering desire to work in the non-profit realm. As I went through college I held out hope that my major would allow me to do something worthwhile with my vocation.
On my graduation day at Tabor College in Kansas the question of what I wanted to do when I grew up stared me in the face with ferocity. How was I going to use my gifts, my abilities, and my education in the real world? I made a decision to trust that even though I never had a lightening bolt moment of clarity, God would how me the next step. I believed that the promise of Philippians 1:6 was true for me: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesusâ€.
Recently I began looking at the possibility of working with Franconia Conference as Administrative Services Manager. The position brought together several of my interests and in supporting the staff I could support the conference’s mission of “equipping leaders to empower others to embrace God’s missionâ€. At just the right time a new step in my life was revealed, one that will challenge and stretch me. Most importantly, I know God will continue to work in my life, growing me into the person I was meant to be.
Melissa began her new role in January. She is married to Isaac Landis and attends Franconia Mennonite Church. A graduate of both Hesston and Tabor Colleges in Kansas, Melissa grew up in Nebraska.
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I have known Rich Moyer for most of my life. Rich baptized me, he was the pilot on my one and only toboggan ride, and he introduced me to computer solitaire. If I don’t stop myself, I can lapse into all of my Rich stories here and now. It is a common inclination among others I talked with who know Rich.
Rich’s friends and family atttest to his integrity. “My goal is to be able to have people who send money to the conference know that they can trust that the money will be handled with integrity, with no concern for fraud.†As treasurer, Rich worked with congregations to manage their money and understand the ins and outs of budgeting. He expressed special concern for people who were new to the job, who would not
Gulf States Mennonite Conference leader Steve Cheramie-Risingsun said last month at Deep Run East that the church needs Franconia Conference congregations to be strong and healthy. He said that in native tradition the strong, straight trees growing around Deep Run’s meetinghouse suggested good earth and good care-taking.
It is Jesus talk. I know Jesus didn’t say it, but many of the Christians I saw in the UK lived into their post-Christendom disadvantage, graciously. I saw in the Ingrams’ and others a truly attractive approach to their work. If asked to account for the buoyant spirit of the folks we encountered on this journey, I would guess it has to do with their status. In ‘Christendom’ the issue was citizenship. ‘Post-Christendom’ is the birth pangs of a new and unsettled world, but it comes with a healthy recognition that, in the realm of God, one is a pilgrim, with freedom and confidence to be on the move.
For Peaceful Living’s founder Joe Landis, growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania’s oldest Mennonite community has been to know what a family singing circle felt like. At home the sensation focused in table fellowship and story-telling. At church there was the sacrament of singing together in a folk harmony. He joined this harmony singing as a child, hardly noticing how he had
Story behind the cover art: Cover art for “Spring Hymn Sing†was created by Ramin Dabiri of Wynnewood, PA. Ramin is a participant in Peaceful Livings’ Creative Gifts Community Mentoring Program. He has a cognitive disability due to a birth defect. Ramin enjoys the ability to express himself through art. He also enojoys music and is fluent in three languages including Turkish, Persian, and English.
A columnist in the Allentown Morning-Call suggested that Mennonites (along with Quakers, Buddhists and Unitarians) might be able to solve the problems of the world when he heard about our congregation’s efforts. It’s definitely true that the “Shelter for Life†initiative has begun to transform our church at Deep Run East. Through “Shelter for Lifeâ€, we decided to build a house for an elderly couple who had lost their home to Hurricane Katrina. The house is being built in Pennsylvania in sections and will be taken to Louisiana by truck. There was a good buzz of excitement as the builders were trying to read the difficult blueprints.And we had questions. Would the truck drivers be able to navigate the small bridge that needed to be crossed to get to the building site? With some photos and calculations by an engineer from our congregation the good news was that they would not need to unload the tractor trailer on one side of the bridge and reload it on the other.As part of our building and connecting efforts we invited Gulf States Mennonite Conference leader Steve Cheramie-Risingsun to speak during a weekend event at Deep Run East. Steve is a Native American of the Chinamache tribe and a Mennonite pastor. He ministers with two Native American Mennonite congregations that are four hours apart, one in Alabama and the otherin Louisiana. He is a great storyteller and humble servant of God. Steve, his grown children, his mother and siblings also lost all their material possessions to Hurricane Katrina but he does not talk about his own hardships. His priority is to help others.
There was an overwhelming response from the congregation and community along with gracious articles in the Allentown Morning-Call. During Saturday evening donations were collected from congregational members, the personal contacts from the congregation’s “Shelter for Life†committee with local businesses, and broader community response and as a result the house is now paid for, around $53,000!
Elizabeth Stover and her husband Preston who live at Dock Woods Community were out walking on the path in the woods connected to the retirement community. Coming toward them was a young man with his small playful child hanging on to his legs. Insoo Lee introduced himself and said he was the youth pastor of a nearby Korean church. Elizabeth invited Insoo’s family to her home for dinner and to speak with the prayer group that she leads at Dock Community. 
“What do you want to be when you grow up?†For generations, adults have asked children this familiar question and I never had a very good answer. For awhile, my quick response was “teacher†because at eight years old I liked to play “school†with my younger sister. But as I grew, I realized I really didn’t know. 