Anabaptist History and Theology course offered Anabaptist History and Theology: A Living Story is a Gateway course being offered by Eastern Mennonite University and area Mennonite Conferences. Mark Wenger and Karl Landis will teach the course meeting on two Friday and Saturdays, September 26 & 27 and November 21 & 22. The location is Frazer Mennonite Church, Frazer, PA. It can be taken for credit. This is a key course for those credentialed persons moving toward ordination, but all persons are welcome. Check www.emu.edu/lancaster/seminary/gateway or contact Franconia Conference for further details and registration and costs.
September Pastors’ Breakfast
A breakfast with the topic “Health Resources for Pastors” will be held at the Mennonite Conference Center on Thursday, September 18 from 8 a.m. to noon. This breakfast, led by persons from MMA, will provide pastors with resources on engaging the topic of health in congregational settings whether in church business meetings or preaching and teaching. Please register for the Pastor’s Breakfast by September 15 by contacting Jessica Walter at jwalter@franconiaconference.org. A $5 donation is appreciated toward this hot breakfast.
Please be reminded that due to Labor Day, produce can be dropped off for the Vegetable Basket Program on Tuesday, September 2 this week. Thank you!
On Friday, September 5 come see the final Free Family Film for 2008 at Perkasie Mennonite Church, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. The movie begins at dusk, around 7 p.m. Bring a lawn chair, the kids, and relax. Enjoy free popcorn, prizes, and inexpensive snacks for sale. Earn free drinks for the family by bringing Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) school kit supplies. For details about the G-rated film or the school kit project, visit www.perkmenno.org.
Harmony Sound Quartet, including member Donna Godshall, will be in concert at Franconia Mennonite Church on Sunday, September 14 at 6:30 p.m. All are invited to an evening of Southern Gospel Music.
All are welcome to Evening Song and Prayer in the Taizé tradition at Perkasie Mennonite Church on September 14 from 7 - 8 p.m. The services will be held the second Sunday evening of each month through May 2009. Using music from the Taizé community in France, as well as hymns of the church, we gather in a candlelit atmosphere for scripture, song, silence, and prayers for our world, communities, and loved ones.
NEXT-2- NOTHING BAND will be in concert on Saturday, September 20 at Swamp Mennonite Church. Doors open 7 p.m. and a free will offering will be received. Praise/Worship/Original works will be performed—Come and be refreshed!
Swamp Mennonite Church is hosting a Community Picnic and 5 K Run/Walk on Sunday, September 21. A continental breakfast begins at 9:30 a.m. followed by an outdoor service. The 5 K Run/Walk and a scavenger hunt for children begin at 11:30 a.m. A picnic lunch will follow. Games for all ages begin at 2:30 p.m. There is no charge for the 5 K Run/Walk but please register by calling 215-536-7928. For more information, visit www.swampmennonite.org.
You are invited to join a team going to Vina del Mar, Chile on October 19 - 29 to partner with the Tabernacle of Christ Church. The trip includes relationship building, construction work, and an evangelistic crusade in Argentina during the weekend. Cost is $1600. Contact Pastor Charles Ness at Perkiomenville Mennonite Church at perkmc@verizon.net or 215-234-4011 by September 21.
You are invited to an International Meal, courtesy of the Worm Project (from a special donation) at the Franconia Heritage Restaurant on Wednesday, October 8 at 6 p.m. High-energy team members will be sharing their enthusiasm for the project. Come, bring your friends, and discover how a malnourished child can be treated over a three year period for about eight cents. Registration required. To register, call the Conference Center at 215-723-5513, ext. 123 or email cgood@franconiaconference.org
Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in Mt. Pleasant, PA is pleased to offer the first annual Music and Worship Leader’s Training Workshop, September 12-14. The weekend will include corporate worship as well as in-depth training for music leaders, worship leaders, dramatists, scripture readers, and visual display artists. Emerging and experienced leaders are encouraged to come together. Spaces are still available—register now!
Laurelville is also featuring its first-ever retreat on spirituality and the visual arts October 24-26, entitled Beyond Words: Imagining a Visual Spirituality. Designed for artists, pastors, and lay-people, this retreat will include visually-focused worship, workshops, open studio space, and conversation. Come to participate and to receive. Register by September 1 to receive a $10 discount per person. Registration deadline is October 10. More information and brochures are available at http://www.laurelville.org/program or call 800-839-1021.
American philosopher Calvin O. Schrag in his book The Self After Postmodernity describes the emerging “self” as “a praxis-oriented self, defined by its communicative practices, oriented toward understanding itself in its discourse, its action, its being with others.” In less philosophical terms, our understanding of who we are as people is given meaning and direction by our daily conversations with others and the opportunities for action that are created. As humans, we are always making conversation, sometimes even without words. We are always communicating, we are always moving, going somewhere.
The joy of my work this summer has been the privilege to create new webs of conversations and simultaneously jump in the middle of webs that have long been woven. Within these webs of conversation and communication, I’ve been able to further discern God’s speaking in my interconnected spiritual, social, and political life, but more importantly, I’ve witnessed the movement of God’s reign in the midst of communities of women and men striving to follow the ways of Christ in today’s ever-evolving, ever-expanding world. The questions are unending and the challenges never cease, but if in nothing else, the continued conversation leads to hope. As more webs of conversation flower and build hope, the old weeds of pessimism wither and can be forgotten.
The conversations I’ve taken part in are hopeful but they don’t ignore the intense reality of confusion and struggle that is evident in all congregations and their respective local communities. A church willing to jump into the webs of conversation circulating in the communities of the world will no doubt encounter vast struggle and loss. Yet a church that takes this challenge on will recognize the exciting possibilities for creative, transformative ministry. For when conversations lead to redemption in Christ, hope lives on.
My conversations this summer have been all across the spectrum, from discussions about frakturs to globalization to opening the door of hospitality to kids who like vampires. These webs of continued conversation, however bizarre or practical, sustain hope. They give meaning and direction to us as Christian individuals and communities seeking to shed light onto the healing reign of God in our beautifully tragic world awaiting its redemption.
I’ve been in conversation with other young leaders finding their niche in the midst of their immersion into church ministry. I’ve worshiped while in conversation with sisters and brothers translating sermons and songs in a diversity of languages. I’ve been in conversations with subversive Christians seeking to rescue people from our politically numb society. I’ve been in conversations with our elderly folk, learning to reciprocate Anabaptist Christianity in the 21st century, finding that we have much commonality.
As I have learned personally this summer, conversations are hopeful because they breed interconnectedness, solidarity, and communication. They make webs, between those of us who are Christian and our neighbors whom we seek to embrace. These webs of conversation are endlessly loaded with potential and ensure that, if treated with care, the church has a future, a bright one.
Nearly everyone I meet asks me what I do and the answer is a bit complex. The short version is this: I do a lot of the things a pastor does. In other words, I preach, teach children’s Sunday school some, go to a number of meetings, read a lot of literature, write articles for the local church magazine, and do some other smaller, though equally important tasks.
In the first three weeks of my internship this summer, I have rediscovered my love for preaching. Even more than the actual delivery of my sermons, I love the researching and writing that a good sermon requires. Writing sermons gives me the perfect opportunity to learn about things I want to without the extremely full and busy schedule of school, which takes up most of my year. So far I’ve written and preached two sermons. This summer, Methacton is following the series “Things that Make for Peace” from the Leader magazine. Last summer, I chose what I wanted to learn and preach about, but this summer, with the sermon series, it has been much more stretching for me. For me, it’s harder to write a sermon on a pre-chosen text and tie it into a larger theme. It’s been a different experience, but it has certainly been fun and valuable and has made me see a number of Old Testament texts from a new perspective.
The importance of prayer and silence have also been reinforced this summer. Dawn Ruth Nelson, lead pastor and my supervisor at Methacton, has a heart for spiritual formation, silence and prayer. During the last few days of the group portion of the !Explore program, the group had a few hours of silence. To my surprise, I really enjoyed being silent and surrounded by nature, with no technology (not even my watch or ipod). Because of that positive experience and Dawn’s encouragement, I went on a silent retreat near the end last summer’s internship. This summer, just a few weeks after beginning my work with Methacton, several people from the church, including Dawn went to Mariawald Retreat Center for a silent retreat. The retreat was 24 hours long, and included several group sessions to help people focus on a specific theme. There was also the opportunity to have spiritual direction which was something that I knew about but had never participated in. The retreat helped me get out of “school mode,” or the mindset of due dates, papers, and grades, and helped me connect more closely with God and others in the congregation. It was the perfect way to truly begin my summer work. It was an incredibly positive experience and reinforced the importance of silence which gives rest and renewal. This retreat has been the highlight of my summer thus far.
As a second year pastoral intern, I get a lot of questions similar to, “So, you’re going to be a pastor then, right?” I usually smile and answer with an evasive, “I don’t know,” because I honestly don’t know. I love the work I’m doing this summer—the fact that I have returned for a second summer of pastoral work speaks to that, and as I continue this work, I have learned to truly enjoy my job much more than I thought I could enjoy a job. So is this a calling? Perhaps. Is this my only calling? I don’t think so. For now, I’ll just enjoy working closely with God, the pastoral team, and my wonderful congregation, appreciating the learning that happens on all sides, and leave the future up to God.
Emily Graber of Red Hill, Pa. completed her Ministry Inquiry Program experience this month after serving with Methacton Mennonite Church and Franconia Conference. She returns to Goshen College this fall and calls Methacton her home congregation.
Pastors’ Day at Christopher Dock
Christopher Dock Mennonite High School invites all pastors and youth pastors to attend Pastors’ Day on Wednesday, September 24. Pastors may also feel free to pass on this invitation to senior high youth leaders who might like to join their youth group for lunch. Regina Shands Stoltzfus will be the Spiritual Life Emphasis speaker during that week at Christopher Dock. More information will be coming soon. Save the date!
Child Safety 101
Franconia Conference School for Leadership Formation presents Child Safety 101: Child Protection for Congregations on Thursdays, September 11 and 25 and October 9 and 23 from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Mennonite Conference Center, Souderton.
This is a practical workshop series for congregational Child Safety teams/committees that will provide space for the teams to create their action plans for child safety in their churches. Julie Prey-Harbaugh will serve as the instructor.
Open your heart and home to an international student! There is still time for a 5th grade boy from Korea to have the opportunity to attend Penn View Christian School for the 2008/09 school year! Penn View Christian School and American Home Life International are seeking a host family for Hae Chae Lee. To learn more about this opportunity, please contact Jane Ruth at 610-287-5542 or email her at jayjane@aol.com.
Everyone is welcome to a Pancake and Sausage Breakfast on Saturday, September 6 at Providence Mennonite Church, Collegeville, PA from 7:30 to 11:00 a.m. All proceeds will benefit the Amn Shea School – Center of Integrated Development in Marazon, El Salvador. This project is sponsored through MCC. See you at the breakfast!
Honoring a Place in Faith Communities for People With Disabilities and Their Families. Peaceful Living will host a day of “action-oriented” workshops providing valuable tools for building an inclusive faith community on Saturday, September 13. This event will be held at Salford Mennonite Church from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. A special Pastors’ Breakfast will be held from 7:00 to 8:15 a.m. before the conference. For more information, visit www.peacefulliving.org. This event is supported by The Franconia Conference School for Leadership Formation.
Job Opportunity
A temporary second-shift custodian is needed at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School. The position is available immediately. For more information and to apply, contact Jeffrey Ambrose at 215-362-2675 or jaambrose@dockhs.org.
Child Safety 101
Franconia Conference School for Leadership Formation presents Child Safety 101: Child Protection for Congregations on Thursdays, September 11 and 25 and October 9 and 23 from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Mennonite Conference Center, Souderton. This is a practical workshop series for congregational Child Safety teams/committees that will provide space for the teams to create their action plans for child safety in their churches. Julie Prey-Harbaugh will serve as the instructor.
Honoring a Place in Faith Communities for People With Disabilities and Their Families.
Peaceful Living will host a day of “action-oriented” workshops providing valuable tools for building an inclusive faith community on Saturday, September 13. This event will be held at Salford Mennonite Church beginning at 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. A special Pastors’ Breakfast will be held from 7:00 to 8:15 a.m. before the conference. For more information, visit www.peacefulliving.org. This event is supported by The School for Leadership Formation.
September Pastors’ Breakfast
A breakfast with the topic, “Health Resources for Pastors” will be held at the Conference Center on Thursday, September 18 from 8 a.m. to noon. This breakfast, led by persons from MMA, will provide pastors with resources on engaging the topic of health in congregational settings whether in church business meetings or preaching and teaching. More information will be coming soon.
Vincent Mennonite Church will be hosting a Young Adult “Conglomerate” on Saturday, August 30. A Softball/Homerun Derby will begin at 5 p.m. followed by hotdogs and hamburgers at 6 p.m. There will be a worship service with music and a message at 7 p.m. The purpose of this event is to create a space where young people in our area can come together for fellowship and learn more about what it means to serve Christ. Bring your gloves and invite your friends. Please bring a snack to share. All are welcome! For more information, call Rich Lindberg at 484-941-4923.
REGISTER TODAY for Deep Run Mennonite Church East’s Strides for Mission 5k Race/Family Mission Walk & Community Fest on Saturday, September 13. A fun time for the whole family, the event consists of a 5k Race for runners, as well as a shorter distance option for walkers and young children. The Community Fest day will begin with the Strides for Mission 5k Race at 9:30 a.m. and a Family Mission Walk at 9:45 a.m. After the morning activities, the church will provide a complimentary lunch and a wide variety of FREE games and prizes from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for all families participating in Community Fest. All proceeds from the 5k Race will directly support MAMA Project, Inc. For more information or to register for the 5k Race, visit www.deepruneast.org/5k or email stridesformission@deepruneast.org.
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Last summer I was part of the 
