Good condition used books and/or rare books are being accepted now through July 10 for the Mennonite Heritage Center’s Annual Used Book Sale, July 19-21. Bring donations to the Mennonite Heritage Center, 565 Yoder Rd., Harleysville, PA. Also needed are good condition used CD’s, DVD’s, videos and puzzles. Please, no textbooks, phone books, magazines, Reader’s Digest Condensed, or cassettes. For more info call 215-256-3020 or visit www.mhep.org.
Beginning July 1, the Mennonite Heritage Center will be open on Sunday afternoon by appointment only. Groups are cordially invited to come for a Sunday afternoon visit by scheduling in advance. We will also be available for church groups on Sunday mornings (please schedule in advance). Bring your Sunday School class to the Mennonite Heritage Center to learn the faith stories of our fathers and mothers. We will continue to hold special scheduled events on Sundays; please check the MHEP Quarterly Newsletter events calendar or visit www.mhep.org for program announcements. Regular museum hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The historical library is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday evenings from 7 - 9:30 p.m.
You are invited to Free Friday Family Films on July 6 at Perkasie Mennonite Church, 4th and Chestnut St., Perkasie. Enjoy outdoor fun for whole family, including free popcorn. The movie, projected on a 30-foot screen, begins at dusk (8:30 p.m. or so). Bring lawn chairs. Movies are also scheduled for August 3 and September 7. Call 215-257-3117 for titles. Bring a bag of paper, magazines, or junk mail for recycling and get free drinks.
Job Opportunities
Grace Mennonite Church, Lansdale, PA is looking to fill the part-time position of Coordinator of Congregational Services. This will be a 20-22 hour per week position. Main duties will include typing and printing the weekly bulletin, answering phones, and coordinating church calendar among other secretarial duties. Please call the church office at 215-855-7718 and speak to Marc Hershberger if you are interested in this position.
Deep Run Mennonite Church East is currently seeking an Office Administrator. For the complete job description, visit www.deepruneast.org/officeadmin.pdf . This is a part-time (approximately 25 hours per week) day shift position offering competitive hourly wages and benefits. Please send your resume to: Deep Run Mennonite Church East, 350 Kellers Church Road, Perkasie, PA 18944, Attn: Ron Dise, Church Council vice Chair.
Six Franconia Conference young adults plan to participate in leadership development programs this summer. Four high school students will take part in Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary’s (AMBS) !Explore program, while two young adults will engage through Eastern Mennonite University’s (EMU) LEAP initiative traveling to Guatemala for two weeks.
Christopher Dock Mennonite High School students Brenden Derstine (Franconia congregation in Telford, PA), Lauren Derstine (Blooming Glen (PA) congregtion), Emily Graber (Methacton congregation in Norristown, PA), and Larissa Landis (Souderton (PA) congregation) have all been accepted into !Explore, a theological program for high school youth that provides juniors and seniors with “an experience designed to encourage the development of their gifts in leadership, expose them to the world of theological ideas, and foster in them a call to vocation in the church.” The students will participate in an 18-day immersion, with six days being spent exploring urban ministry and six days learning about theology and Anabaptist history on the AMBS campus. Brenden Derstine’s group lasted June 11-28, while the second group will begin July 9.
Lauren Derstine is especially interested in translating what she learns in !Explore to experiences at her home congregation. “My hope is to come out with a broader understanding of the Mennonite church as I explore different aspects of Blooming Glenn,” Derstine said.
Franconia Conference Associate for Communication and Leadership Cultivation Jessica Walter and Philadelphia Praise Center’s Bobby Wibowo will spend part of July in Guatemela through the LEAP program, in order to gain a better understanding of the global church and God’s overall work around the world. LEAP, which stands for “Learning, Exploring, and Participating,” provides young adults with an opportunity to “explore how they can use their gifts to serve the church.” Walter and Wibowo will begin their orientation on July 18 at EMU before flying to Guatemala on July 28.
Franconia Conference Youth Minister Marlene Frankenfield supports these young adults in their decision to engage in these faith-based exploration programs. “I am excited to see that they have an opportunity to be with other young adults from all over the U.S. and Canada, and to build lifelong relationships as they discern their passions and gifts for future leadership in the church,” Frankenfield said. “They will be gifts to their congregations as they share from this experience of personal spiritual growth and bring back new insights for the church.”
Both programs are oriented for youth to gain a better understanding of Anabaptist/Mennonite history and theology as they each personally reflect on their personal call from God to be young leaders in the church.
Visit the following websites for more information:
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary — www.ambs.edu
Eastern Mennonite University — www.emu.edu
Christopher Dock Mennonite High School — www.dockhs.org
As our rental mini-van approached the Twin Cities, Steve Kriss turned down the radio and raised his voice a few notches so those of us curled up in the back seat could hear. Steve, Jessica Walter, Ale Lopez, Felicia Moore, Sheldon Good, and I had driven for two days, as we kicked-off a week long Midwest road trip. Steve offered a reminder of the purpose of our trip before we pulled into our first official destination. I was surprised when he started talking about the early church, thinking to myself how driving cross-country with our iPods, laptops, and gas station stops related to the early Christian church. But as Steve began telling the story of those early churches that spread quickly and sprang up all over the Roman empire, I felt some of Steve’s excitement and understood his comparisons.
The early church was not a massive body concentrated in one place or community, but consisted of diverse groups of people spread far and wide. This did not mean, however, that individual churches existed independently or were completely isolated from one another. The Silk Road system, which Steve titled the “e-mail of the Roman empire,” enabled people from various churches to visit one another and made it possible for letters and writings such as Paul’s epistles to move between groups. No doubt each church functioned differently and faced unique challenges, but they were able to support one another and strengthen their bonds as followers of Christ through travel on the road.
The connections were not hard to find. Here were the six of us, each excited about and committed to the church, traveling across interstates and city streets and small town roads to meet with, support, and learn from people in places and spaces different from our own. We would worship with a small, non-traditional church in Minneapolis that is passionate about living out Jesus’ call radically within their unique and diverse neighborhood streets; be introduced to the Christ Community congregation, a “new” Mennonite church in Des Moines, Iowa that seeks to express and ground their theology in worship, creating a fascinating blend of Mennonite theology and Catholic-style of liturgical worship; visit with the pastor of Walnut Hill Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana and hear about the ongoing struggle it is to be a voice in the local community and live out their particular sense of calling. In the latter two congregations, we had the obvious connections of knowing John Tyson and Jordan Good, summer Ministry Inquiry Program participants who both attend Franconia Conference congregations, and a large part of our purpose was to be supportive of them as a group of young adults who could understand their experiences when they return home. But the trip became so much more than that as we engaged with other communities and experienced some of the many ways to articulate and be Mennonite — to be church.
I spent this past spring semester in Cambodia as part of Goshen College’s Study-Service Term. As I anticipated this time, I expected that my faith and relationship with God would grow and that my excitement about the global church would rise. Once in Cambodia, however, I found myself immersed in a culture with drastically different world views and unfamiliar expressions of Christianity. I wasn’t ready for how much these differences would impact me. Rather than turning to God in this new space, my faith felt irrelevant and unhelpful. I had a difficult time resonating with many of the forms of Christianity I encountered and wondered whether — in this place with non-Western world views that has experienced so much pain and suffering — Christianity and the God I worship are really what is needed for healing and wholeness.
These questions were unsettling, to say the least. Throughout my college years, I have come to believe deeply in a God who crosses all boundaries and whose Spirit is active and present in the world; I have found faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, trusting that he provides salvation from the cycles of violence of our world and enables every one of us to find healing and wholeness amidst our brokenness. I began to wonder: what if these beliefs were only relevant in a community I was at ease in? What happened if faith and salvation only worked and felt right when I was surrounded by people who came from the same place as me, articulated their theology similarly, worshiped in ways I enjoyed and connected with? I always thought I embraced diversity, but what if deep down I wanted everyone to be the same kind of Christian and same kind of Mennonite that I am?
I continued wrestling with these questions as I returned home and transitioned quickly into an Anabaptist Mennonite History tour in Europe where my classmates and I had many conversations about what the global church means and how we can be connected with and have fellowship among groups who express their faith and theologies in so many contexts and forms. Is faith in Jesus Christ a strong enough connection, or does there need to be more in common? Of course, these discussions and thoughts are not only relevant across international boundaries, but within our own country. I think I have always known that neither Christianity nor Anabaptist/Mennonite identity can be neatly packaged or clearly defined, but my travels over the past six months have brought that reality to the foreground. This Midwest tour was no exception, as I was reminded that churches within the same town, let alone the same country, can look totally different.
While I was in Cambodia, these differences daunted me. In Europe, I started processing them. During and after our Midwest trip, the differences began to excite and enliven me. When we stopped at Missio Dei, a church in Minneapolis that is beginning the process of joining Mennonite Church USA and trying to learn about Mennonites, our host Mark Van Steenwyk asked each of us what is the most frustrating or irritating thing about being Mennonite. I answered that I sometimes get frustrated by how ambiguous the term “Mennonite” can be; that I sometimes wish for a clearer definition or a more consistent expression of Mennonite faith and beliefs. These frustrations are real: it is hard for me to engage with fellow Mennonites who worship and believe much differently than I without being at least a little judgmental or skeptical. But as the trip progressed and I thought back to that conversation, I realized those frustrations are greatly outweighed by the blessings of being in such a diverse and multi-faceted body of believers who all resonate with the same tradition and broader identity.
Each congregation we visited connected with the Anabaptist tradition and Mennonite church, and each expressed this connection in different ways. None was perfect but each taught me or reminded me of something of great value. Missio Dei is excited by the radical nature of the early Anabaptist movement and by the strong focus Anabaptists/Mennonites place on scripture and the teachings of Christ. They reminded me that it is possible to live our faith radically and that many times the words of Christ lead us to radical action. The Christ Community congregation of Des Moines focused strongly on bridging the gap between academic theology and the life of the congregation, which gave me some exciting ideas for how congregations can begin developing and articulating their theologies. Pastor Jane Buller, who met with our group at Walnut Hill, spoke of how a space was made for her to enter into leadership, reminding me that there is a place for me in this church that I claim as my own.
If I were to spend more time with these congregations, I would undoubtedly find things that turn me off, just as I was critical of some parts of churches I met in Cambodia. But if I were to allow those points of tension to shut me off or divide me from other bodies, I would be missing out on opportunities to grow, learn, and broaden my own sense of Mennonite and Christian identity. Looking back on my experiences of the Christian church in Cambodia, I am able to move beyond some of my critiques and recognize the hope and healing many Cambodians are finding in this crazy thing called Christianity. Our common source of hope is surely enough to cross boundaries and enable us to learn from one another.
Considering Steve’s minivan lecture, it is fascinating to think that — although on a smaller scale — the church has been both struggling with and benefiting from diversity within its midst since the very beginning. I am sure many of those early churches had a hard time understanding one another. Our differences can be difficult, even painful, but if we let them push us into conversation and contact with each other, rather than isolating ourselves, our limited understandings of God and salvation in Christ will likely be strengthened and deepened.
Krista Ehst of Bally, PA, will be a senior at Goshen College this fall, majoring in Bible, Philosophy and Religion. She is currently interning at Franconia Conference as part of Goshen College’s Service Inquiry Program. Last summer she interned with Emmanuel Mennnonite Church in Gainesville, FL. Krista is a member of the Perkasie (PA) congregation and a graduate of Christopher Dock Mennonite High School.
When considering what a typical Franconia Conference gathering might look like, most people familiar with the conference would probably not describe an intergenerational and multiethnic gathering in an urban meeting space. On Saturday, June 9th, this was indeed the picture as thirteen persons gathered for the first session of the School of Leadership Formation, held at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life, a Franconia Conference congregation in Norristown, PA, located just outside of Philadelphia.
Led by Franconia Conference staff Steve Kriss, Director of Communication and Leadership Cultivation, and Ertell Whigham, Director of Congregational Equipping and Resourcing, the School for Leadership Formation aims to better equip people for conference and congregational leadership roles. The school includes possibilities for equipping pastoral and congregational leaders while creating broader accessibility for all persons within Franconia Conference congregations to respond to their sense of call as leaders and contributors within the conference community and broader reign of God.
The School for Leadership Formation will likely take many forms, from providing graduate level studies, to holding workshops for young leaders, to meeting with individual congregations. No two persons or groups will participate in the same way, but the classes held this past Saturday will be a standard for everyone intending to serve in conference leadership roles. These classes, entitled “Called to God’s Work” and “Intercultural Leadership and Service,” exemplify the goals of this program.
Thirteen people met for this first training session, representing six conference congregations: Alpha (NJ) Mennonite, Franconia Mennonite (Telford, PA), New Beginnings Community Church (Bristol, PA), Nueva Vida Norristown New Life, Philadelphia Praise Center and Perkasie (PA) Mennonite. With an array of experiences, backgrounds, and ways of serving as leaders, the initial group found points of connection in their desire to serve within the Mennonite church.
Whigham led the first session, titled “Called to God’s Work,” using Isaiah 61:1-4 as a lens for discerning a personal sense of identity and calling in Christ. Several voices from the group led out in repeated readings of inspiring and challenging words: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives…” With these words in the foreground, Whigham led out in a discussion of what it means to be called to God’s work, sharing his own perspective and experiences, but also allowing space for questions and varied experiences of the group to be shared. Isaac Landis, Jr. High Youth Minister at the Franconia congregation, found much value in this first session. “For me as a pastor, it was especially helpful to think again about calling and passion. These are things I thought a lot about during college, but now that I am in the ministry and into the day to day stuff, I don’t listen enough to God and what he is calling me to do and how he has called me.”
The very makeup of the group proved that being called to God’s work often means serving interculturally, which was the basis for Kriss’ session on “Intercultural Leadership and Service.” The group once again found a starting point in scripture, discovering how the story of the early church in Acts 2 & 11 offers possibilities for leadership within a diverse body of believers. Kriss invited the class to think about intercultural praxis, not only acknowledging or talking about intercultural churches, but allowing that reality to inform interactions within and between congregations. Alejandra Lopez, a member of the predominantly Indonesian Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC), found this section especially helpful in her quest to develop a Spanish-speaking ministry through PPC. “I really enjoyed the intercultural praxis section. I do so much with multiculturalism and feel that God has called me to break the barriers that arise in that area. Meetings like this are great ways to begin breaking some of those barriers.”
Conversations and learnings of the day were no doubt relevant to the changes and possibilities occurring within Franconia Conference’s 300 year-old community. “It is both scary and exciting,” Landis said, “to think about how the conference is changing and what that will mean for our future. If we truly want to be a missional people, then we will need to learn how to include persons who are not traditional Mennonites. Talking and thinking through these things was a good experience, and really got me thinking. How can we not only welcome these persons into our fellowship, but include them as brothers and sisters? What will it look like when our churches are filled not only with Moyers and Derstines, but with Moyers, Derstines, Lopezes, and Siahaans?”
The School of Leadership Formation exists to respond to these and other emerging questions and possibilities while embodying the Franconia Conference mission of “equipping leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission.” Kriss believes that Franconia Conference has a hopeful future. “I am convinced that in our learning and listening together, we’ll continue to be formed and challenged by God’s calling and our interactions with people who transform our worldview.”
Considering the ongoing struggle with mental wellness in the upcoming season and to follow up with the recent May Intersections article featuring Penn Foundation on suicide, John Goshow, of Penn Foundation recommends ongoing information from Mental Health Ministries. Sign up for a newsletter or visit the site for ongoing updates considering pastoral care. Check mentalhealthministries.net.
“Before 3am on Thursday, June 14 unknown assailants broke into the office of a Justapaz, the peace and justice agency of the Mennonite Church in Colombia. Justapaz invited WfP to work in Colombia and today our Colombia program’s office is housed in the Justapaz bulding. Hence this attack on Justapaz deeply affects WfP.The assailants entered the building through the roof, and stole two key computers. One of the computers contained sensitive information on the Justapaz program documenting human rights abuses against Protestant church members-a program coordinated by Janna Hunter-Bowman, a member of Bally (PA) Mennonite Church. The other computer held sensitive information on individuals and churches promoting human rights and furthering peace. The perpetrators deactivated the alarm and proceeded to remove the two computers they had in their sights, without taking other items of value, including nine other computers, cash in a safe and cell phones. The robbery occured while Hunter Bowman was on a study leave in the United States. Hunter Bowman works in collaboration with Mennonite Central Commitee.
Just two weeks earlier, on Saturday, June 2, unknown assailants broke into the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) office/residence between 6 and 7pm , severely damaging the door and lock. Among other things, the assailants took the two main office computers, which contain key organizational information, including information regarding FOR’s accompaniment of the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community. In the days prior to the break-in, individuals were seen observing the building.
These two most recent attacks appear to be part of a pattern politically motivated attacks, which in just the past year has included a January 22, 2007 robbery of the key computer from Civil Society’s Permanent Assembly for Peace and the August 7, 2006 robbery from the office of the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement.” –Witness for Peace
Youth ages 3 through Grade 5 are invited to “Peace in the Park: Summer Children’s Program†on five Wednesday evenings, July 11 through August 8, from 6:00-8:30 p.m. at Plains Mennonite Church. Families can bring a picnic dinner to eat together in the pavilion. The program includes music, Bible stories, games, and crafts. Themes will include: “What is peacemaking?â€; Dealing with anger; Peacemaking choices; Two kinds of forgiveness; and Harmony. Sign up by July 1. Registration forms and more details are available at www.plainsmennonitechurch.org or call 215-362-7640.
“Get Psyched: Junior and Senior High Youth†will be held at Plains Mennonite church on four Sunday evenings, July 15 through August 5, 6:00-9:00 p.m. Bring a picnic dinner and eat together in the pavilion from 6:00-6:30 p.m. Then enjoy games, devotions, food, and time to play in the park. For more details call 215-362-7640 or visit www.plainsmennonitechurch.org.
Young adults are invited to participate in volunteer flood recovery work in Conklin, New York with MDS and the Presbyterian Flood Recovery Center on Friday, August 3 through Sunday, August 5. This is a great way to connect with other young adults from the area and to do some hands-on work. For more information, contact Krista Ehst at kehst@franconiaconference.org.
Job Opportunity
Penn View Christian School has a middle school teaching position open August, 2007. The position requires the candidate to have teaching credentials in Social Studies. Additionally, the candidate will teach some middle school computer. If interested, please check our website, www.pennview.org, download the application, and send it to the attention of Robert Rutt, Executive Director, 420 Godshall Road, Souderton, PA 18964.
Emily Derstine, Plains emily.derstine@emu.edu
Upon arriving in Alexandria, Virginia, to begin my Ministry Inquiry Program internship with Nueva Esperanza/New Hope Fellowship, I didn’t know what to expect. My response to family and friends, after telling them about my summer was, “I don’t know what it’ll be like but here we go!†Although a bit apprehensive and unsure, I was ready to begin this new experience in a new place, doing something different from anything I had done before.
I visited Nueva Esperanza/New Hope Fellowship (where I would be working) once previously, and had talked a bit with Pastor Kirk Hanger, but in no way could I grasp in one visit what this internship would hold. Nueva Esperanza/New Hope Fellowship is a recent church plant in suburban Washington, D.C. The small, multi-ethnic congregation has a vibrancy and authenticity that draws people. Meeting in a school, the church relies heavily on the help and work of the congregation each Sunday, assisting in setting up and taking down chairs, sound equipment, and the ever-present coffee. Every member of the church pitches in—and is largely expected—to help, or at least to offer conversation, and they complete the tasks together, in community.
Growing up in a predominately Caucasian, middle class church in the suburbs, I wanted a different kind of church experience. I wanted to experience a diverse, urban congregation. I wanted to find out how other people did church, and to participate in the work that they are doing. I chose Nueva Esperanza/New Hope not only to get a greater idea of what pastoral ministry is like, but also to engage and to share in the ministry of another congregation, one that is drastically different from what I’m used to, and maybe even a little bit uncomfortable at times. Ministry, and my work at New Hope, is about taking risks and sailing out upon unknown waters.
Nueva Esperanza/New Hope Fellowship has many Latino attendees, enough to make translating the service into Spanish a priority. Visiting Hispanic church members who speak very little English has urged me to use my rusty, fairly conversational Spanish immediately, despite being a bit intimidated by the rapid conversation surrounding me and directed at me. A definite hope is to improve my Spanish this summer, a seemingly attainable—although potentially uncomfortable—goal for the circumstances.
What strikes me about Nueva Esperanza/New Hope is how real everyone seems. Every person present is just who they are and does not have to pretend in order to be accepted. What goes for the building goes for those inside it, too: it doesn’t have to be pretty or flawless or something it’s not. That’s not what church is. Church is about being real: being real to yourself, being real to others, being real with God and not needing to hide that. Everyone who is there wants to be there; they are committed to the church. The church doesn’t necessarily need committees; people volunteer because they want to help.
Nueva Esperanza/New Hope is outwardly focused, wanting to reach out, to assist the community, and to draw people to itself and to God. There is a certain excitement radiating from the worship and smiling faces present in the room on a Sunday morning.
Relationships are really what connect the congregation and bring it to life. The diversity present unites, instead of separating the church. The leisurely pace of gathering and time spent in conversation is refreshing. Upon entering a household, we are immediately invited to sit down, to talk and enjoy a drink, even if showing up unannounced and only intending to stay a few minutes. Amidst the whirlwind of activity around us, no project is more important than stopping to talk with a neighbor or a friend. I see God in the interactions between people and the way in which the church members relate with me and each other.
I look forward to the vast array of experiences that await me at New Hope. I hope to form meaningful relationships with people and listen to the stories of others, learning from those around me. I anticipate that the new setting will give me new ideas, new energy, and a renewed hope for what the Mennonite Church is and will become. I look forward to this opportunity as I explore further what it means to be part of the Anabaptist/Mennonite church and take part in God’s exciting work in the world.
Young adults attendees from Nueva Esperanza/New Hope: (l to r) Matt Dunton, Jacob Hanger, and Rudy Boliviano.
A record number of students will participate in the Mennonite Church USA’s summer inquiry program this summer through Franconia Mennonite Conference. The ministry inquiry program is an 11-week internship traditionally available to any student attending a Mennonite college. Students interested in a specific area of ministry are able to gain hands-on experience by working alongside a supervisor in their respective discipline. Two students will also complete academic internships within Franconia Conference ministries as well.
“The conference is blessed with the presence and ministry of these interns,†said Franconia Conference executive minister, Noel Santiago. “This represents the value our delegates place on ensuring that young adults have the opportunity to not only connect with the church, but to help shape it as well. Along with the gifts, vision, passion, questions, and ‘new eyes’ they bring to our various context, inquiry program participants contribute to the ongoing unfolding of God’s reign as we seek to equip leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission.â€
This year, through a grant from Eastern Mennonite Seminary, three Franconia Conference students attending non-Mennonite institutions have been given the opportunity to participate in the ministry inquiry program: Tim Moyer, a sophomore at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia from the Blooming Glen congregation; Felicia Moore, a member at New Beginnings Community Church, who is in her second year at Indiana University of Pennsylvania; and Andrew Liemon, a Philadelphia Praise Center attendee and first year Penn State University student. Moyer will work with Franconia Conference, while Moore and Liemon will assist with ministries at their home congregations.
Two students will intern with congregations in the Midwest: John Tyson, a sophomore at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) and a member at Souderton Mennonite Church, who will intern at Christ Community Church in Des Moines, Iowa; and EMU sophomore Jordan Good, a member of Bally Mennonite Church, will spend his 11 weeks with Walnut Hill congregation in Goshen, IN.
Two students will work with congregations on the East coast: Emily Derstine of Plains Mennonite congregation, a sophomore studying at EMU, will spend her summer in Alexandria, VA, with Nueva Esperanza/New Hope Fellowship; and Peter Koontz, a Goshen College junior from Elkhart, IN, will intern with Oxford Circle congregation in Philadelphia. Both churches are Franconia Conference Partners in Mission.
Along with the students in the ministry inquiry program, there will be one Goshen College student who will participate in each of the college’s unique inquiry programs — camping inquiry and service inquiry: Mercy Oyama, a Goshen College sophomore from West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship, will work alongside various managers at Spruce Lake Retreat in Candensis, PA; Krista Ehst, a junior at Goshen College and member at Perkasie Mennonite Church, will also work at Franconia Conference.
Jessica Cassel, a sophomore at Bluffton University, is fulfilling academic internship requirements through ministry at her home congregation, Souderton Mennonite. Sheldon Good, a Goshen College sophomore, is completing an academic internship for communication in working with Franconia Conference.
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As our rental mini-van approached the Twin Cities, Steve Kriss turned down the radio and raised his voice a few notches so those of us curled up in the back seat could hear. Steve, Jessica Walter, Ale Lopez, Felicia Moore, Sheldon Good, and I had driven for two days, as we kicked-off a week long Midwest road trip. Steve offered a reminder of the purpose of our trip before we pulled into our first official destination. I was surprised when he started talking about the early church, thinking to myself how driving cross-country with our iPods, laptops, and gas station stops related to the early Christian church. But as Steve began telling the story of those early churches that spread quickly and sprang up all over the Roman empire, I felt some of Steve’s excitement and understood his comparisons.
These questions were unsettling, to say the least. Throughout my college years, I have come to believe deeply in a God who crosses all boundaries and whose Spirit is active and present in the world; I have found faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, trusting that he provides salvation from the cycles of violence of our world and enables every one of us to find healing and wholeness amidst our brokenness. I began to wonder: what if these beliefs were only relevant in a community I was at ease in? What happened if faith and salvation only worked and felt right when I was surrounded by people who came from the same place as me, articulated their theology similarly, worshiped in ways I enjoyed and connected with? I always thought I embraced diversity, but what if deep down I wanted everyone to be the same kind of Christian and same kind of Mennonite that I am?
Each congregation we visited connected with the Anabaptist tradition and Mennonite church, and each expressed this connection in different ways. None was perfect but each taught me or reminded me of something of great value. Missio Dei is excited by the radical nature of the early Anabaptist movement and by the strong focus Anabaptists/Mennonites place on scripture and the teachings of Christ. They reminded me that it is possible to live our faith radically and that many times the words of Christ lead us to radical action. The Christ Community congregation of Des Moines focused strongly on bridging the gap between academic theology and the life of the congregation, which gave me some exciting ideas for how congregations can begin developing and articulating their theologies. Pastor Jane Buller, who met with our group at Walnut Hill, spoke of how a space was made for her to enter into leadership, reminding me that there is a place for me in this church that I claim as my own.
I look forward to the vast array of experiences that await me at New Hope. I hope to form meaningful relationships with people and listen to the stories of others, learning from those around me. I anticipate that the new setting will give me new ideas, new energy, and a renewed hope for what the Mennonite Church is and will become. I look forward to this opportunity as I explore further what it means to be part of the Anabaptist/Mennonite church and take part in God’s exciting work in the world.
