The most recent issue of Peace and Justice News (PJN) on Immigration is now posted on the Peace and Justice Committee’s website at http://www.easterndistrict.org/pjn0805.pdf. PJN is published 3 or 4 times a year by the Eastern District and Franconia Mennonite Conference Peace and Justice Committee.
Perkasie Mennonite Church will host a special meeting of Committee for Peace Action (CFPA) open to the community on Tuesday, May 20 at 7:15 p.m. A local Muslim, a Jew, and a Christian who participated in an inter-faith tour to Israel and Palestine will share “Listening From the Heart,” a response to what they heard about creating peace there. The speakers are very excited about sharing this life-changing perspective.
Christian guitarist and songwriter Christopher Wright will be in concert at Spruce Lake Retreat on Sunday, May 25, at 7 p.m. The concert, open to the public, is part of Memorial Day Weekend events at Spruce Lake. The concert takes place in Lakeview Program Center. Tickets can be reserved for $5.00 in advance by calling 800-822-7505 or bought for $8.00 at the door. For more information and future concert information, visit www.sprucelake.org.
All are invited to a free outdoor movie night at Swamp Mennonite Church on Saturday, May 31 at 8 p.m. The movie, “Facing the Giants” will be shown. Bring lawn chairs or a blanket to view this inspiring movie. Free refreshments will be provided. In case of inclement weather, the movie will be shown indoors. For directions or more information, visit www.swampmennonite.org.
Employment Opportunity
The Children’s Center at Dock Woods, operated by Salford Mennonite Child Care Centers, a ministry of Salford Mennonite Church is seeking a Director. Qualifications include an Early Childhood Education or related degree and teaching experience. Send resume to Musselmana@salfordmc.org or call Anna L. Musselman at 215-256-6421, ext. 116, for more information.
Managing Holy Restlessness: Releasing young adults toward their dreams
How do we, as pastors, understand the younger generations in our congregations? How do we help them discern what to do with their lives? Come join a conversation led by Walter Sawatzky and Jessica Walter on Thursday, May 22 from 8 – 10 a.m. at the Mennonite Conference Center to explore how pastors can support young adults struggling to manage their holy restlessness. Please register for this Pastor’s Breakfast by May 18, by contacting Jessica Walter at jwalter@franconiaconference.org.
Only a few more days until Penn View Christian School’s 47th Annual Country Fair and Auction with Chicken Barbecue! The event will be held on Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17. Please plan on attending and enjoying all the good food, family fun, and community fellowship. Delicious chicken barbecue and strawberry pies will be served both days. The All-You-Can-Eat Country Breakfast is served from 7 -11 a.m. on Saturday morning and features an appearance by “Screwball”, the Reading Phillies mascot. There is free shuttle bus parking from Franconia Mennonite Church. Visit www.pennview.org for more details and to preview all the beautiful quilts!
All are invited to the Mennonite College Fair at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School on Monday, May 12. At 7 p.m. Dr. James Brenneman, President of Goshen College, will speak on the topic of “Quality with Soul: On Choosing a Mennonite College or University.” At 8 p.m. Michele Hensley, Director of Financial Assistance at Eastern Mennonite University, will lead a seminar on college financial aid. Admissions counselors and professors from Bethel College, Bluffton University, Eastern Mennonite University, and Goshen College will be available to address questions related to the admissions process. Kim Dryer, representing Mennonite Central Committee, will also be on hand to answer questions about mission opportunities with MCC. Visit www.dockhs.org for more information or call 215-362-2675.
Looking for an inexpensive, fun activity for the family? Methacton Mennonite Church is hosting a FREE movie night on Friday, May 16. They will be showing “The Adventures of Milo and Otis.” The show begins at 6:30 p.m. with free popcorn and beverages. For more information, visit www.methactonmennonite.org.
Nueva Vida Norristown New Life is “Enlarging Our Place in God’s World!” All are invited to Dedication Sunday, May 18, 10:45 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to celebrate what God is doing for, with, and through us. Both services will be held outdoors on East Marshall Street with a fellowship meal, children’s activities, and vision tours between the services. The second service includes the dedication of the ACTS 2 Ministry and New Life Plaza Nueva Vida. For more information, call 610-279-5433.
Zion Mennonite Church will be hosting the annual Couch Derby on Sunday, May 18 at 2 p.m. This is a fun-filled event where students decorate and modify couches and race them against other youth groups. This year’s contestants will include youth from 12 different congregations. All are welcome to come and cheer on the youth!
Vincent Mennonite Church in Spring City will be hosting a “Young Adult Conglomerate” Softball/Homerun Derby to be held in the church pavilion on Saturday, May 24 at 5 p.m. The Derby will begin at 5 p.m. followed by hotdogs and burgers 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 worship the Lord and fellowship as one. Bring your gloves and invite your friends. If you plan to attend, please bring a snack to share. Come for some of the time, or all the time! All are welcome! Call Rich Lindberg at 484-941-4923 for directions or for more information.
The Joyful Hearts chorus from Myerstown, PA will present a program at Providence Mennonite Church on Sunday, May 25 at 7 p.m. For more information or directions, call the church office at 610-489-8179. Everyone is welcome.
Volunteer and Job Opportunities
Mennonite Disaster Service has several urgent volunteer needs for the summer. A project director is needed for a youth project in July. The summer youth projects (June 8 – August 16) also urgently needs construction managers, cooks, office managers, and experienced crew leaders. Use your leadership and construction skills to encourage our youth to serve others. For more information, call 800-241-8111 or visit www.mds.mennonite.net.
Grace Mennonite Church in Lansdale, PA is looking to fill two paid staff positions. The first is a part-time maintenance position with hours Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The second position is Coordinator of Congregational Services. This is a part-time position (approximately 20 hours/week). If you are interested in learning more about either of these positions, contact Al Richter at 215-723-3900, ext. 108 or call the church office at 215-855-7718.
All are welcome to Evening Song and Prayer at Perkasie Mennonite Church on Sunday, May 11, from 7 – 8 p.m. 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. For directions, visit www.perkmenno.org or call 215-257-3117.
Penn View Christian School’s 47th Annual Country Fair and Auction with Chicken Barbecue will be held on Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17. The event promises good food, fun for the entire family, and lots of community fellowship. An exciting time with the “Donut Man” LIVE in concert begins on Friday evening at 7 p.m. There is free shuttle bus parking from Franconia Mennonite Church. Bring your whole family and share in all of the fun! For additional details and to preview the beautiful quilts, visit www.pennview.org.
Karen’s Place, the coffee shop ministry of Doylestown Mennonite Church, will be open on Saturday, May 17 from 7:00 – 10:30 p.m. featuring the acoustic rock Dan Harney Band. There is no admission charge. For information, call the church office at 215-345-6377 or visit www.karensplace.org.
The Perkasie Patchwork Coffeehouse will feature Woods Tea Company, an acoustic group that performs Celtic, bluegrass, sea shanties, and American folk songs on a variety of instruments on Saturday, May 17. The opening act will be champion autoharpist Ivan Stiles. Join us in the Perkasie Mennonite Church hall. Doors open at 7 p.m. with performances beginning at 7:30 p.m. Adults $9, Adults over 65 $7, Students 13 and up $4, 12 & under free. Refreshments will be available to purchase. For more information, visit www.perkmenno.org or call 215-723-2010.
Liberty Ministries will host an Open House and concert on Sunday, May 18 from 3 – 6 p.m. There will be prizes, fun for the children, good food, tours of the facility, information booths, opportunities to volunteer, a live D.J., and much more! The Christian Blues Band, Obadiah, will perform at 6 p.m. on the grounds of Liberty Ministries. If it rains, the concert will be held at New Eden Fellowship. Everything is free of charge. For more information or directions, visit www.libertyministries.us.
Souderton Mennonite Church is looking for someone to interpret the 11:15 a.m. Sunday worship service once or twice a month for those who are hearing-impaired. If interested, please contact Sandy Drescher-Lehman at 215-723-3088, ext. 17.
Thank you for your prayer support of Mennonite education. The Mennonite Education Agency has posted new Prayers for Faith and Learning for the upcoming month of May. Visit the website at www.MennoniteEducation.org/PRAYERS.
A Special Issue of Peace and Justice News (PJN) on “Conscientious Objection to War” is now posted on the Peace and Justice Committee’s website at http://efpjc.ppjr.org or use the following link:
http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/conscientiousobjection/co%20website/pages/CONewsletterOpenOffice.pdf. PJN is published 3 or 4 times a year by the Eastern District Conference and Franconia Mennonite Conference Peace and Justice Committee.
Quakertown Christian School will host its 49th Annual Country Auction & Fair on Friday, May 9 and Saturday, May 10. The two-day event kicks off on Friday evening with a Chicken Barbecue dinner from 4 – 8 p.m. with drive-thru service available. The Friday evening auction begins at 7 p.m. Saturday morning begins with a breakfast from 8 – 10 a.m. and the auction beginning at 10 a.m. Admission is free with on-sight parking. For a complete schedule, visit www.quakertownchristian.org or call 215-536-6970.
Towamencin Mennonite Church invites everyone to their Annual Spring Yard Sale on Saturday, May 10 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be a bake sale, plants, food, and a lot of yard sale treasures. Reserve a parking space for $10 to sell your own treasures by calling the church office at 215-368-2450. The rain date is Saturday, May 17.
HAHNA, a group of four Eastern Mennonite University students will be performing a concert of varied music around the theme of being united in love – of God, others, and music - on Friday, May 16, 7 p.m. at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church. Hahna, in Korean, means united, in an all-encompassing unity in God. Come and enjoy an evening of music including hymns, a cappella music, classical, Broadway, and instrumental music. The members of the group include Benjamin Bergey, Lena Risser, Eojin Lee and Joshua Dean.
The May prayer gathering of Franconia Conference goes to the marketplace! We will be meeting on Saturday, May 17, 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at the Gehman Custom Remodeling showroom in Harleysville. Pastors, intercessors, business owners, and anyone interested in prayer and the marketplace is invited. Noel Santiago, Executive Minister, will bring a message of encouragement and we will also spend time in worship and prayer. Visit www.prayer.franconiaconference.org for updated information.
Job Opportunity Bethany Birches Camp in Vermont is seeking counselors and a preparation cook beginning in mid-June. Counselors have fun and share God’s love with the campers. The preparation cook prepares, serves, and gives leadership in the kitchen. Spend the summer in the Green Mountains. For more information, visit www.vtchildrenscamp.com.
Emerging church groups are hard to define. There is no pastor’s office, just a home phone number. Often there’s no set meeting time and, if there is, it’s not on Sunday morning. All of the following emerging worshipping groups are somehow affiliated with the conference —sometimes through a member, sometimes through the leaders, sometimes through an existing congregation. As with all churches, styles of worship vary and the visions and dreams of each congregation look a little different but all call themselves a part of the body of Christ, working to further the reign of God here on earth.
Centro de Alabanza, Philadelphia
Figuring out how Lety and Fernando arrived at Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC) is like playing a game of connect-the-dots. Or, as it were, connect-God’s-small-miracles.
The story begins with Alejandra Lopez, a graduate of Tabor College who was interested in going to Indonesia but had student loans to pay and needed to find a job. At the time PPC was joining Franconia Conference, so Franconia put Lopez in touch with PPC. PPC began with the vision of becoming a multicultural church, and asked Lopez, who is from Mexico, to help them start a service for the local Hispanic community.
When she lived in Mexico, Lopez had attended a church in Mexico City pastored by Kirk Hanger, who now leads New Hope Fellowship in Alexandria, Va. Hanger and Lopez knew of a Hispanic couple living in Denver, Co., gifted in evangelism and church planting. So they invited Fernando, Lety and their two daugthers to come to Philadelphia.
Since their arrival in Philadelphia, the couple has been working at outreach and evangelizing. About five percent of the population of South Philadelphia is Spanish-speaking; many are from Mexico, but others are from Honduras, Guatemala and Ecuador, meaning that although they share a common language, there are cultural differences. Many of the immigrants are undocumented, trying to find jobs and adjust to a new culture. Fernando and Lety have worked to make contacts within the community, but struggle to find times to meet because most immigrants don’t work regular hours. More than anything, their goal has been to befriend people.
“We wanted to serve God, and this is how we could do it,” says Fernando. Despite their struggles, Fernando and Lety can see the need and are working toward helping PPC realize its vision of a multicultural church. God is opening doors—more people are talking to them and they’re beginning Bible studies.
“Dios está cambiando vidas,” says Lety. God is changing lives.
Nueva Esperanza, Baltimore
While Kirk Hanger has played a supporting role in Philadelphia, he’s also working with a church plant in Baltimore called Nueva Esperanza.
Nueva Esperanza began two years ago, when the family of one of New Hope’s members expressed interest in starting a cell group in Baltimore. Services are conducted in Spanish, and currently all the attendees are immigrants from Mexico. The group is a mix of old and new believers, and is planning a baptismal service for mid-May.
Hanger hopes that the group will eventually become a full-fledged congregation. He drives to Baltimore most Sundays, but is praying for someone who could serve as a bi-vocational minister.
Hanger, who lived in Mexico for ten years, is always looking for ways to network with others to develop new congregations. He wants to make the work part of a broader ministry and utilize the leadership gifts of people to help multiply churches. He notes the most important thing is to be willing to take risks and try different things.
“Sometimes things work,” says Hanger, who is also working with a Spanish-speaking congregation in North Carolina. “Sometimes they don’t. If you’re out there scattering enough seed some things will come up and grow and that’s where you focus your energy. There are failures and successes, but you have to try.”
Crossroads, Chester, Vermont
Last fall, when Andover (Vt.) Community Church broke its ties with Franconia Conference and Mennonite Church USA, Christine and Daniel Chapman, who had pastored at the church, wanted to remain connected to the Mennonite Church. It turned out others felt the same and asked Chris and Dan to continue meeting.
The group, which calls itself Crossroads, recently had its second meeting. Worship services include music, but no sermons. There is time for discussion, coffee and snacks. Chris feels coffee is important, and not just for its caffeine jolt, “I think people share better over a cup of coffee.”
She is leading the group for now, trying to form a core group and waiting to see where it goes. The group’s vision from the beginning has been to “not just be hearers of the word, but be doers also.” Participants wanted to be missional—to go out and do mission, not just sit and talk.
Chapman shares that vision: “I want to see it be a missional group, to be able to get up at any moment and go help others, whether it’s down the street or across the ocean. They want to be the doers of the word…if that ‘do’ means that we meet at four and someone says, ‘Did you see that person down the street? Can we go down there?’ Then we go out and rake leaves or shovel snow.”
The group set some guidelines from the beginning—the biggest was encouraging participation from all, not letting anyone dominate the conversation—but they’re still asking questions about structure and service. Chapman says that their time together “does not, at all, in anyway, look like a typical church service. And I think right now that’s what people are looking for.”
Those who attend Crossroads are a mix of people from Andover—some attend both services—and others who don’t feel like they fit in standard church: they don’t speak the religious language, or buy into all the traditions and trappings that go with traditional church. Chapman says there are a lot of good things in tradition, and that she doesn’t want to “throw out the baby with the bathwater.” But, she adds, “I think tradition has ruled for too long.” She wants to see where it goes, to “have the ability to be flexible and yet hold on to that which is true.”
She’s not sure if they’ll ever have a church building, and she’s okay with that. “I’d like to see it develop and move in the way that God wants it to move,” says Chapman, “Not in the way that man wants it to move.”
Nations Worship Center, Silver Spring, Md.
Nations Worship Center, in Philadelphia, is initiating a new worshiping in Silver Spring, Md.
The new congregation is a mix of recent immigrants and Indonesians who are now citizens of the United States. Services are sometimes held in Indonesian and sometimes in English, especially since the younger members of the church don’t always speak Indonesian very well.
The Silver Spring group began in 2006, when a few persons living in suburban Washington, DC, Beny Krisbianto, pastor with the Philadelphia congregation, to come preach. Some of the group had family who lived in Philadelphia and were attending Nations Worship Center.
The small group started meeting each Friday, and grew rapidly. Recently the congregation began meeting regularly on Sundays. The church still meets in a home, which they call their “house of prayer.” They also hold a large service—such as a concert—each month.
The church is led by Beny Krisbianto; Yunis Perksasa who is also a pastor at the Philadelphia congregation; and Wanda Pesulima, who lives in suburban Maryland. One of the goals of the church is to connect with other Indonesian congregations in the area, as well as to reach out to the Indonesian community there. Pastor Krisbianto says that the church in South Philadelphia has always collaborated with other congregations and finds it important to connect so they don’t just pull members from other churches.
“Our vision for this year is to build a house of prayer,” says Krisbianto. The Nations Worship Maryland congregation spends time praying for the United States and those who work in Washington, D.C. “We’re trying to work with the other churches in prayer. Prayer is a common, simple vision. We can come together for prayer.”
Ripple Effects, Allentown, Pa
For every action, says Newton’s third law of motion, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Isaac Newton was concerned with the natural world, but his laws could easily be applied to people: With every interaction, our lives create ripples that flow out from us affecting others in their path. When the group “Ripple Effects” meets, they spend time talking about the ripples they’ve experienced and created in the past week—usually for the better, although sometimes for the worse.
Ripple Effects began just over a year ago mostly as an experiment: The Albrights had been a part of Whitehall for a dozen years, and Tom had been pastor of the congregation for nearly six. Tom was hired as an interim pastor and had only intended to stay 18 months; he was ready to try something different.
As a pastor, Tom had emphasized reaching out and inviting others in the church. He presented some of his ideas to the congregation, but not everyone shared his vision. At the same time, Franconia Mennonite Conference was encouraging its members to do “missional experiments” and leaders in the church and conference encouraged Tom and Carolyn to try some of their ideas.
“We thought, Okay, let’s do a missional experiment,” says Tom. And Ripple Effects was born. It started with brunch and a discussion on the Gospel of Mark; now the group meets weekly in various locations.
Their focus is to talk about Jesus. But they try to avoid “churchy” language and leave space to wrestle with the questions. “We had been meeting different people who knew they didn’t want to be part of churches for different reasons,” says Carolyn, “But were still asking good life questions.”
“What we’re doing, it seems to me, is being drawn towards the center of Jesus,” says Tom. “And being drawn means that we can meet all kinds of people along the way, and very openly, honestly, caringly and lovingly, say, ‘Would you like to join us in looking at this center?’ I picture it as a sea of the love of God. No one is outside of that.”
For the Albrights, Ripple Effects has been exciting and energizing, but also challenging. Carolyn says one of the unexpected challenges is the “unplanning” of it. “Because of not knowing how people are going to respond, we have to be flexible,” she says, “And realize that this is God’s event, not ours.”
For Tom, it has been a challenge—albeit a good one—to relate to non-Christians. “We have to learn—instead of how to hand out the tract next door—how to be a real, authentic neighbor. Just love the person.”
Tom says that learning to interact in this way doesn’t change the message nor its truth, but it does leave more space for questions and doubts. “One of the things I’ve learned from teaching: you can teach lots of facts, but if they learn it for themselves, then they remember it. Then it’s theirs.”
Others say they appreciate that space; it’s encouraged them be open-minded or helped them get to know their neighbors. And it’s given them a community. “I’m happier about myself and the rest of the world after coming here,” says one.
God’s Spirit is moving among us! And I believe that it is as Blaine Detwiler describes “God’s unruly Spirit” causing a deep sense of restlessness in my own soul.
I love the church…from my local congregation, Spring Mount Mennonite Church, to my conference work that connects with congregations, conference related ministries and partners in mission. I love my connections with Mennonite Church USA and the amazingly gifted sisters and brothers I am learning to know through that work. I eat, sleep and drink church—it’s both my vocation and my passion. I’m grateful that God has put me here, in this time and in this place.
However I am also sensing this growing restlessness. A restlessness that upsets the complacency I may feel because church is my life. Isn’t that enough?
The rub seems to come when I realize that everything I do for God and the church is within the literal and/or figurative walls of our church community. My growing sense is that our church walls are sometimes a little too cozy, too familiar and too safe. Work within our church walls is important but if that is the only place we see our mission we fall short of God’s heart and vision for the Good News that the church is to be in world that desperately needs healing and hope.
I recently attended a memorial service for a young woman, Vicki, who died of a drug overdose. Vicki committed her life to Christ a year ago, and God did some amazing things in her life…but one night she made some bad choices that resulted in her death.
When time was given for people to share memories about Vicki, a friend from her church, Tina, shared the incredible change and transformation she had seen in Vicki after she committed her life to Christ. Tina gave clear and passionate testimony to the power of God in Vicki’s life.
During lunch I talked with Tina. I learned that the church she attends is focused on ministry for 20-somethings, a group often missing from our congregations. I asked Tina how her congreagtion reaches this group. “You have to go out and bring them in,” she replied, “they are not likely to walk into a church on their own!”
I pressed her for more details and after some hesitation, she told me of her most recent ministry: to reach out to exotic dancers! She shared how desperately these women long to experience real love–how they are used and abused by men who tell them that they “love” them, but that love is merely lust for their bodies. Tina knows the depths of their pain and despair–she had been one of them.
In Matthew 9:10-13, Jesus is eating with “tax collectors and sinners.” When challenged by the Pharisees about this, Jesus replies, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” I like the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases that last sentence in The Message: “I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”
In “At the end of ethnic Mennonite life,” Michael King invites us to grapple with the nitty-gritty of reaching beyond the Swiss-German ethnic heritage in which many of us have grown up as Mennonites. This heritage is noble and valuable. Yet how can we widen this wonderful foundation to become the church of Revelation 7:9-11, where all nations and tribes, races and languages join with around the throne and the Lamb? Who can we reach out to and invite to come in?
Not all of us are called to reach out to exotic dancers, but God has called us to reach beyond our comfort zones, to “go out and bring them in.” Jesus was not content to focus his entire ministry on those inside the church in his day. Nor should we be.
Some of us are living at the end of ethnic Mennonite subcultures. How we analyze or address our situations will differ; what I see in my contexts may not apply in others. But I find myself forced, as pastor, husband and father, to wrestle with the transition from ethnic Mennonitism.
Several factors have heightened my sense of needing to address this transition. Foremost is my experience as pastor at Spring Mount Mennonite Church. I was called to the congregation in 1997 as an interim pastor whose role, it was thought at the time, might include helping the congregation bury itself with dignity. Years of challenges had weakened the congregation, but as often as we discussed burial in those early days, the congregation refused to die, probably partly because having its back to the wall generated new urgency to work at turnaround.
It was unlikely this primarily Swiss-German congregation could again thrive by drawing more Swiss-German Mennonite members. We would somehow have to welcome participants from our local communities or die.
But how? The story is still being written. Yet at least two moves seem to have been essential to generating growth of community participation to the point that some Sundays a majority of worship participants were raised in settings other than Mennonite.
One factor has been strengthening connections with community networks. A key move here has been to hire Don McDonough, himself raised in and part of such a network, as associate pastor.
A second factor has been working at discerning this: What aspects of how Mennonites “do” church are rooted in Swiss-German ethnic heritage and so should not be imposed on participants of different ethnic backgrounds—many of whom start out thinking Mennonite = horse and buggy?
What aspects are part of the gospel core as viewed through the Anabaptist tradition that shaped but preceded the Mennonites who took their name from Menno Simons—the Catholic priest turned Anabaptist? To echo the Gentile versus Jewish discernment the apostle Paul enaged, what are the beyond-ethnic-culture factors with potential to be good news for persons of any background?
The need for such discernment was underscored again when I helped teach a course on Anabaptist history and theology offered in Pennsylvania settings often populated by Swiss-German Mennonites. At the outset I held up a copy of The Merging: A Story of Two Families and Their Child (DreamSeeker Books, 2000) by Evelyn King Mumaw. The cover shows my grandparents, Irvin and Cora King, in the classic plain clothing they wore throughout most of their lives. Beneath them is my Aunt Evie, also in plain dress.
Just looking at that cover draws me back into still-living memories of growing up in that plain-dressing culture and all that such clothing symbolized. The cover plunges me back into images of growing up in the 1950s and 1960s as part of a community set apart, different, viewing those within its boundaries as members of the faithful remnant. The cover reminds me of being a young boy once so socialized into an alternate Mennonite country that I asked my father when I would get my own plain coat.
I invited Don to supplement my lectures with his perspectives as an Anabaptist who became Mennonite after growing up Lutheran. He is more strongly committed to being Anabaptist than whatever it means to be Mennonite. The world of my aunt’s book cover is not in his bones.
We expected the Anabaptist class that day to be maybe half ethnic Mennonites, like me, and half adult-choice Mennonites, like Don. I held up the cover as a doorway into my world and expected Don’s recounting of how a Lutheran became Mennonite to be a doorway into his world. Then all of us would ponder what it means to work in congregations mixing persons raised in Swiss-German ethnic Mennonite settings with those raised in other communities and ethnicities.
To our surprise, no students had been raised in Mennonite families. They knew about that plain-dressing separated world, but they knew of it only as what seemed to be a bygone age. We had to refocus our presentation. What does it mean to be Mennonite if being Mennonite involves no Swiss-German markers or memories of a set-apart community?
This is a question I’ve also pondered closer to home. In the 1970s, while friends were marrying other Mennonites, I married Joan, an American Baptist who has become a committed Anabaptist-Mennonite but, like Don, from outside my subcultural community. I, who had registered as a conscientious objector just before the Vietnam War draft ended, was adopted as in-law into a family which not only experienced its Christianity as blending nearly seamlessly into larger American culture but also included veterans of military service. They learned to love me often despite rather than because of my odd beliefs and Swiss-German love for shoo-fly pies.
Our three young adult daughters were raised in that mix of subcultures and attended both public and Mennonite schools. They have attended Mennonite churches all their lives. They have worshiped among Mennonites who still dress plainly. They have experienced learning through family funerals where parts of their extended family, even young people, still dress plainly. They’ve heard my stories of growing up in that different country. Yet even as they understand that country better than those who have never visited it, it’s not fully their own. Like the Anabaptist class in which no students were from Swiss-German Mennonite backgrounds, when my daughters visit my country, they are tourists respectfully studying it, not citizens fundamentally shaped by it.
Where then from here? Any answer requires discussion, not just proclamation. But a strategy that seems compelling to me is this: At least in some settings in which Mennonitism has become overwhelmingly intertwined with ethnic cultural practices, we may need to move from Mennonite to anabaptist values.
C. Norman Kraus, in “Anabaptist or Mennonite? Interpreting the Bible” (Using Scripture in a Global Age, Cascadia, 2006), says that “Anabaptism with a lower case ‘a’ is . . . an attempt to adapt and adopt the insights and values of 16th-century Anabaptism as a guide to the interpretation and use of Scripture in our 21st century American culture.” Kraus points to the many cultural forms global Mennonitism has taken and ways generic anabaptism can provide distinctive and unifying ways of viewing the Bible and world amid a dizzying array of shifting Mennonite cultural practices. Something like that is what I find myself working at implementing as pastor, husband, father.
This is not to suggest ethnically influenced Mennonite practices lack value. It is not to disrespect Mennonites, past or present, whose plain dress has meant to convey faithful following of Christ.
It is not simplistically to flee the name “Mennonite.” It is not to suggest that any congregation or individual exists above or outside of culture. Nor is it to insist that making “Mennonite” a more culture-bound term and “anabaptist” a name less tied to culture is the only or even best way to conceptualize matters; I experience these matters as a yet to be solved riddle.
Nevertheless, there are basic differences between those of us who grew up in my Swiss-German Mennonite world and those raised in their many alternate settings that must somehow be named and worked at. Sometimes to be Mennonite is too easily equated with joining not only a way of understanding faith but also the subcultural expressions of that faith as they have emerged in tightly-knit communities of persons sharing similar immigrant backgrounds, histories and often generations of inbreeding. Then it’s important to find ways to speak of core faith commitments that disentangle from ethnic expressions.
This is why in my various roles I often find the vocabulary of a generic anabaptism helpful. Such a vocabulary can help those raised in settings other than Mennonite to grasp what aspects of becoming Mennonite involve commitments to faith values rather than optional ethnic practices.
This is why I often feel impelled less to address Mennonite concerns intertwined with a particular ethnicity and more to ask Anabaptist-tinged questions like these: Where is right living to be found in today’s complex moral crosscurrent?
What does the body of Christ look like for those who find it more meaningful to commune in Facebook or MySpace than Sunday morning worship services?
What does it mean to believe “But I say to you, love your enemies” as we view terrorists or war in Iraq?
And what might it look like to ask such questions from within ordinary lives planted among many subcultures, not only from within that country behind my aunt’s book cover?
Reprinted by permission from DreamSeeker Magazine, where this article first appeared (Winter 2007, pp. 18-22)
I have no qualms with our Mennonite Church USA logo, a dove with an olive branch carried in its beak, except that a logo has its limits.
I have no doubt that God’s Holy Spirit very often “touches down” on people like it did on Jesus, as a dove gently, peacefully and with goodwill from the Father in heaven above. Except, to argue that a dove has its limits.
It made immediate sense to me the day I first heard there was another early Christian group who chose a different bird for their spiritual logo. Living in their harsh northern climates these Christians decided a wild goose should stand in for what is good, what is strident and unnerving about God’s Spirit.
I must say that I have always loved wind. There are days when I fantasize giving up my day jobs to become a tornado chaser. On a darkening summer day as a thunderstorm pushes in from the west I am apt to run outside in our back yard and face it, to feel its bluster. In December several nor’easter storms brushed our area with their ferocity. One Sunday as trees blew down we canceled our worship service and, during the height of what a sailor might call “a blow,” I pulled on my boots and ventured outside. Ice pellets were whipping their sideways path to the ground and stung my face red when I chanced to face them.
I always welcome a good reading of Psalm 29. When I hear “The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire…The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness…The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare…” I begin wondering where a dove goes and finds refuge in the middle of all this fierce “glory.”
Studies show that Mennonites, myself included, have a strong preference for using the Gospels in preaching. And rightly so. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are full of colorful Jesus dramas. But where the Gospels leave off there quickly comes this strange and wonderful experience of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts says this fresh arrival comes with its own distinct sound, the sound of wind. Not just any wind but a violent wind. And again, I wonder how the dove is doing, where it goes and why this wind sound needs to be so “gusty,” so violent!
Our daughter Becky and her family of three live in a rented house on an Old Order Mennonite farm in Dayton, VA. Their landlords are a hospitable older farm couple, Margaret and James. Margaret manages the kitchen. On a slow afternoon James will take up his digging spade and with a blue handkerchief in his rear pocket go walking their farm fields in search of thistles. Those purple flower weeds which appear as a smudge on the landscape of any farm worth its salt need to be dug out. James is not alone in his thistle work or in his soul work.
Julia Kasdorf, with a poet’s candor, captures some of the conflict historically present in our collective soul as her poem called Mennonites begins;
We keep our quilts in closets and do not dance.
We hoe thistles along fence rows for fear
we may not be perfect as our Heavenly Father.
We clean up after disasters. No one has to
call; we just show up in the wake of tornadoes
with hammers, after floods with buckets.
Like Jesus, the servant, we wash each other’s feet
twice a year and eat the Lord’s Supper,
afraid of sins hidden so deep in our organs
they could damn us unawares,
swallowing this bread, his body, this juice.
I have no regrets when God’s spirit comes quietly. When without words a tear begins sliding down the cheek with a forgiveness of inner healing so gentle that even a dove might be jealous. It is hard to object when falling snowflakes surprise a place like Baghdad and we marvel as their silent drift puts a delight on the face of a despondent city. Healing and hope carry a quiet mystery all their own.
But there are times when God’s spirit gets unruly. There are times when the Spirit of God gains a momentum with such force that old habits like trees are uprooted. Times when a powerful addiction like money can turn and go storming towards generosity. Times when it takes a more forceful move of the spirit to unseat the damning sins we carry deep inside us. When attitudes of fist-clenched hatred begin to loose their grip. Times when churches are not so much formally planned, organized and nurtured but instead jump up on street corners where we least expect them. In the book of Acts the high wind of the spirit makes 120 people appear as if they were drunk. And I find myself wondering where the dove was perched that day.
Let us make whatever claims we need for a logo to hold. But let’s also remember that when the wind of God’s Holy Spirit blows through our lives a new community is formed and, like the aftermath of a good nor’easter, nothing will be the same.
Left: The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, La.
Right: A candle representing the Holy Spirit in a worship service.
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Emerging church groups are hard to define. There is no pastor’s office, just a home phone number. Often there’s no set meeting time and, if there is, it’s not on Sunday morning. All of the following emerging worshipping groups are somehow affiliated with the conference —sometimes through a member, sometimes through the leaders, sometimes through an existing congregation. As with all churches, styles of worship vary and the visions and dreams of each congregation look a little different but all call themselves a part of the body of Christ, working to further the reign of God here on earth.
Crossroads, Chester, Vermont
Chapman shares that vision: “I want to see it be a missional group, to be able to get up at any moment and go help others, whether it’s down the street or across the ocean. They want to be the doers of the word…if that ‘do’ means that we meet at four and someone says, ‘Did you see that person down the street? Can we go down there?’ Then we go out and rake leaves or shovel snow.”
God’s Spirit is moving among us! And I believe that it is as Blaine Detwiler describes “God’s unruly Spirit” causing a deep sense of restlessness in my own soul.
Our three young adult daughters were raised in that mix of subcultures and attended both public and Mennonite schools. They have attended Mennonite churches all their lives. They have worshiped among Mennonites who still dress plainly. They have experienced learning through family funerals where parts of their extended family, even young people, still dress plainly. They’ve heard my stories of growing up in that different country. Yet even as they understand that country better than those who have never visited it, it’s not fully their own. Like the Anabaptist class in which no students were from Swiss-German Mennonite backgrounds, when my daughters visit my country, they are tourists respectfully studying it, not citizens fundamentally shaped by it.
