After the March 8 and March 9 meeting for all Credentialed leaders of Franconia Conference, additional meetings will be planned for all Franconia Conference Delegates, Conference Related Ministry leaders, and open meetings for interested persons as discerned. We will be in dialogue with leaders and ministries who are at much greater geographical distance from the Conference Center in Harleysville regarding face-to-face meetings.

We again extend heart felt thanks to everyone who has and continues to express deep care, concern and to be in prayer for all involved. Peace.

Franconia Conference Board

• The news has gone out that Franconia Conference Board has made a decision to dismiss all the staff.
• The reality is that the staff has been informed that in the coming year the direction the Board is calling for requires a mid-course correction, to come into a greater alignment of fulfilling our mission to Equip Leaders to Empower Others to Embrace God’s Mission.
• A smaller Conference staff to include LEADership Ministers, will continue, but will be narrowly focused on equipping congregations to becoming missional.
• We lament the deep pain and suffering that this decision has caused staff and others by not including the staff directly in the decision-making process.
• We will work towards a healthy ending process and seek to build upon the hard work and creativity by which the staff has carried out their work to date.

The Conference Board will be facilitating public meetings to engage in further dialogue regarding all that has transpired. The following times and dates have been set as follows:

• Monday, March 8, 2010 from 7-9 pm at Towamencin Mennonite Church for all Credentialed Leaders of Franconia Mennonite Conference;

• A second meeting will happen on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 from 9-11 am at the Mennonite Conference Center.

Summer Classes

Eastern Mennonite Seminary aims to provide resources to pastors and leaders. Several classes being offered this summer that might be useful or of interest to you. Those classes are as follows:

Distance Learning Course - Money, Ministry and Me
Professor Beryl Jantzi
May 3 – June 26
This course involves an exploration of stewardship education resources alongside an exploration of financial tools and services needed in today’s world. It is designed to serve the needs of pastors and other church leaders in the congregation.

Summer Institute for Spiritual Formation
June 14 – 25
This two-week institute offers courses in spiritual formation, and spiritual disciplines and their application in individual and congregational life.

Cross-Cultual to the United Kingdom
Struggle and Hope in Post-Christendom
Instructors: Steve Kriss and Stuart Murray Williams
May 1 Orientation, May 16 - 24 Travel, June 25 – 26 Debriefing
This course is designed to offer a reflective and engaging pace in the post- Christendom context in the UK while attempting to investigate the difference and similarity of North American context.
For more information visit www.emu.edu/seminary/courses/summer_institute/

3/4/10

Franconia Conference Board
March 3, 2010

The Conference Board is deeply saddened with the confusion that has been created in parts of the Franconia Conference Community and beyond. We take responsibility for not communicating quickly enough and with clarity.

• The news has gone out that Franconia Conference Board has made a decision to dismiss all the staff.
• The reality is that the staff has been informed that in the coming year the direction the Board is calling for requires a mid-course correction, to come into a greater alignment of fulfilling our mission to Equip Leaders to Empower Others to Embrace God’s Mission.
• A smaller Conference staff to include LEADership Ministers, will continue, but will be narrowly focused on equipping congregations to becoming missional.
• We lament the deep pain and suffering that this decision has caused staff and others by not including the staff directly in the decision-making process.
• We will work towards a healthy ending process and seek to build upon the hard work and creativity by which the staff has carried out their work to date.

The Conference Board will be facilitating public meetings to engage in further dialogue regarding all that has transpired. The following times and dates have been set as follows:

• Monday, March 8, 2010 from 7-9 pm at Towamencin Mennonite Church for all Credentialed Leaders of Franconia Mennonite Conference;
• A second meeting will happen on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 from 9-11 am at the Mennonite Conference Center.

“Dock’s Got Talent” will raise money to help Nations Worship Center, a Franconia conference church, raise money for a new worship space. The talent show fundraiser will be held at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School tomorrow evening, Monday, March 8 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. The entry “fee” for the talent show was either $100 or 100 lbs. of jasmine rice or Ramen noodles. The food will also be donated to NWC for a food distribution program it operates for families in its south Philadelphia neighborhood. Members of NWC will join for the evening, which will also feature a silent auction and food sales (rice and noodles, naturally). Come out and have some fun for a great cause!

Karen’s Place, the coffee shop ministry of Doylestown Mennonite Church, continues the 10th Annual Blues-Rock Madness Month on Saturday, March 13 with Raging Grace, a Connecticut based blues-rock band. Admission is free. Donations collected will go to Mennonite Disaster Service to benefit hurricane victims in the Gulf area. Join this great time of Christian fellowship and music in a laid-back coffee-shop setting. For more information, please call the church office at 215-345-6377 or visit www.karensplace.org.

You are invited to RIPPLE at The Caring Place, 931 Hamilton St., Allentown, PA, on Sunday, March 14 at 4 p.m. to share in a possibility that will provide hope to the community and to help realize a dream of helping others in need. We will be praying, worshiping and giving what we can to help build a professional kitchen in the Caring Place. Mrs. Mary Griffin, director of The Caring Place (where Ripple meets), has a vision of a space where people of the Lehigh Valley can find work in their own micro-business by using a restaurant-quality inspected kitchen to produce specialty food items to sell. The youth of The Caring Place can also learn vocational skills from professional chefs to help them reach their career goals. Come in casual dress, have a snack and a cup of coffee in the Caring Coffee Cafe, hear the Word of God as it is relevant and involved in our lives, listen to a dream, pray for God’s possibilities, offer what you can–your talent (we will be working together on 3/20/10), donations and prayers. Childcare is available. If you would like more information, contact Tom Albright at 610-462-1075.

Come to the Quiet . . . at the next monthly Evening Song and Prayer service at Perkasie Mennonite Church on Sunday, March 14, from 7 to 8 p.m. Using music from the Taizé community in France, as well as hymns of the church, we gather in a candle-lit atmosphere for scripture, song, silence, and prayers for our world, communities and loved ones. For directions check the church website at www.perkmenno.org or call 215-257-3117.

PA Relief Sale! Join the festivities on April 2 and 3 at the Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg. Come for the food, bid on items at the Quilt Auction and Country Auction, and shop at the flower booth and other artisan displays. Children will enjoy activities in the Children’s area including an auction just for them! All sale day proceeds benefit the worldwide relief efforts of Mennonite Central Committee.

The Mennonite Central Committee Material Resource Project for April is Sewing Kits. When Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) began 90 years ago, the first supplies were sent to Mennonites living in Ukraine who were suffering from lack of food. MCC continues helping in that part of the world by sending more than 500 to Ukraine in the past year. The kits provide basic tools to make and mend clothing. People with little access to these simple but important items will use them well. Sewing kits are distributed in a useful double drawstring cloth bag (11in x 16in). You may sew the bag yourself, request bags from an MCC collection center, or donate contents that will be placed in a bag by MCC staff. Kits may be dropped off at the MCC Material Resource Center of Harleysville at 737 Hagey Center Drive, Suite C, Souderton.
Contents (NEW items only)
1 metric tape measure
2 spools dual use white thread (cotton/polyester, minimum 273m / 300 yards each)
2 spools dual use black thread (cotton/polyester, minimum 273m / 300 yards each)
1 thimble (medium size)
1 dressmaker’s scissors (good quality)
1 pkg. needles (approx. 25)
1 pkg. straight pins (approx. 100)
1 pkg. hooks and eyes (approx. 12)
1 pkg. sew on snaps (approx. 20-25)
10 assorted safety pins

Kairos: School of Spiritual Formation welcomes all interested in the following April 2010 retreats at the Jesuit Center in Wernersville, PA. Register by March 25. Later registrations accepted on a space-available basis. For more information on the retreats or to register visit www.on-the-journey.org or contact Kairos at 717-669-2957:
* Silent Retreat: Wednesday evening April 7 to Friday, April 9 at noon
* Love as a Central Theme to the Journey: Friday evening, April 9 to Sunday, April 11 noon or Sat (only option)
* Silent Retreat: Friday evening, April 9 to Sunday, April 11 at noon or Sat (only option)

Click on the image above to download a PDF of the event flyer.

To register for this event by mail, download the registration form here.

To register online click here.

Over 70 pastors, educators, and leaders from Franconia Conference recently explored the past, present, and future of Mennonite churches with author Conrad Kanagy. Dr. Kanagy, author of Road Signs for the Journey: A Profile of Mennonite Church USA, writes and speaks about the changing realities facing churches in the 21st century.

A thoughtful and compelling speaker, Dr. Kanagy believes churches should become more outwardly focused (missional) in order to better share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Road Signs for the Journey, his latest book, is based on a seven-page questionnaire sent to 3,000 members of Mennonite congregations across the United States in 2006. Inspired by the message of Jeremiah 31:21, Dr. Kanagy recognizes the importance of road signs and guideposts in helping God’s people stay on track.

The luncheon event featuring Dr. Kanagy was sponsored by the Catalyst for Missional Leadership (C4ML), the ministry arm of Biblical Seminary, and held on the seminary’s Hatfield, PA campus. Biblical Seminary, a nondenominational graduate school located outside Philadelphia, offers master’s degrees, the Doctor of Ministry degree, and certificates. Dr. Kanagy teaches in the school’s Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program.

“Conrad brings to our DMin faculty the perspective of a practicing sociologist, informed by his deep commitment to missional Christianity. His Mennonite background enriches the evangelical theological diversity which also characterizes our program,” states Mick Noel, executive director of C4ML and head of Biblical’s DMin program. C4ML creates learning opportunities for pastors, churches, and Christian leaders through its workshops, seminars, and community classes. It also helps churches and pastors develop missionally-directed congregations.

Conrad L. Kanagy is a professor of sociology at Elizabethtown College and an ordained minister in Mennonite Church USA. He is also a consultant to congregations and mid-level judicatories and has been involved in the Partnership for Missional Church since 2005. He holds graduate degrees in rural sociology from Penn State University and co-authored, with Donald B. Kraybill, Riddles of Human Society.

Michael A. King, a long-time writer, editor, publisher and pastor from Telford, Pa., has been named the new vice president and dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, Va.

Dr. King will begin his new role July 1, 2010. He succeeds Ervin R. Stutzman, who held the position nine years. Dr. Stutzman has begun serving as the new executive secretary of Mennonite Church USA. Dr. Sara Wenger Shenk is interim dean.

The vice president and seminary dean provides leadership and oversight for all seminary programs and faculty.

“Michael’s years of pastoral experience, academic preparation and passion for preparing church leaders will serve us well in his new role,” said Loren Swartzendruber, EMU president. “We anticipate his contributions to EMS as dean and to the entire university as he joins the leadership team.”

“Michael King comes to us from a distinguished career as a pastor, scholar and publisher,” said Fred Kniss, EMU provost. “He is a serious scholar with a pastoral orientation and will provide a clear Anabaptist voice in conversation with diverse Mennonite and Methodist constituencies and other audiences. Michael is committed to the mission of our university and especially to the seminary’s key role in training the next generation of church leaders,” Dr. Kniss added.

King is the owner, editor and publisher of Cascadia Publishing House, an Anabaptist-Mennonite publisher supporting examination of faith, history and contemporary life from an Anabaptist perspective. Cascadia publishes theological and scholarly volumes under the Cascadia label and popular books through the DreamSeeker Books imprint.

He has been a pastor at Germantown Mennonite Church in Philadelphia, Pa.; Salford Mennonite Church, Harleysville, Pa.; Zion Mennonite Church, Souderton Pa., and most recently Spring Mount Mennonite Church, Schwenksville, Pa. He has been an adjunct professor at EMS Lancaster and Messiah-Temple in Philadelphia.

Books he has authored include “Trackless Wastes and Stars to Steer By: Christian Identity in a Homeless age” and “Preaching about Life in a Threatening World.” He has also edited multiple volumes including “Anabaptist Preaching: A Conversation between Pulpit, Pew and Bible.”

“Church, culture, and seminary education all seem to be undergoing tremendous ferment and transition,” King said. “This places seminaries in the center of much of the important action in our day. I look forward to journeying with seminary students, staff and faculty as together we seek to discern how the Holy Spirit is speaking in the thick of it all.”

He received a BA degree in Bible and philosophy from EMU in 1976, an MDiv degree from Palmer Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and a PhD in rhetoric and communications from Temple University.

King is married to Joan Kenersen King, owner of Joan Kenerson King Consulting and Counseling, through which she provides public behavioral health consulting services. She is also a family therapist. They have three daughters - Kristina, EMU 2003, Katelyn, EMU 2006, and Rachael, an EMU senior.

Eastern Mennonite Seminary, a graduate program of theological studies on the EMU campus seeks to educate leaders to serve and lead in ministry in a global context.

Women are invited to a Christ centered Women’s Conference hosted by Perkiomenville Mennonite Church, Saturday, March 13, 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. The purpose of the conference is to equip wives to live out their unique calling as the Revealer of the Enemy, in protecting their husband from attacks. Register by March 8, www.TheMMConnection.com or contact the church at perkmc@verizon.net or 215-234-4011.

A Benefit Concert for MCC’s Haiti Earthquake Appeal will be held at Souderton Mennonite Church, Saturday, March 20, 6:30 p.m. Featured will be Southern Gospel Music with the Harmenaires Quartet, Celtic and American Folk Music with DayBreak and a Bluegrass Band. A love offering will be received for MCC.

The Mennonite Heritage Center announces a Scrapple and Sausage Making Workshop, Saturday, March 20, 1 - 4 p.m. This workshop is an opportunity to learn what really goes into scrapple! Participants will learn how to make the scrapple and sausage that were traditionally made and consumed in large quantities during winter butchering time. Pre-registration is required as the workshop is limited to twelve participants. The workshop fee is $40 ($35 members) plus a materials fee of $10. To register, contact the Mennonite Heritage Center, info@mhep.org, 215-256-3020 or check the visit www.mhep.org.

Job Opportunities

Souderton Mennonite Church seeks a part-time Director of Music and Worship to plan and lead worship for both traditional and contemporary worship settings. The candidate should be a gifted worship leader and musician who will be able to lead, train and equip other persons and teams to lead worship as well. This person should be a gifted musician, eager to lead persons into the presence of God in worship with a faith rooted in the Anabaptist understanding of knowing and following Jesus. Interested applicants should forward questions and resumes to: Gerry Clemmer, Senior Pastor, c/o Souderton Mennonite Church 105 W. Chestnut St., Souderton, PA 18964; 215-723-3088 ext. 18; gclemmer@soudertonmennonite.org.

Prayerfully consider a teaching position opened at Hilltop Nursery School located at Line Lexington Mennonite Church. For more information call 215-822-0565.

Mennonite Central Committee continues to ship relief supplies to Haiti despite obstacles that slow delivery.

The Port-au-Prince port is still only operating at about 10 percent of the capacity it had before the earthquake, said Darrin Yoder, Material Resources manager. Alternate ports are available, but delivery is hindered because of distance or because the ports are not equipped with cranes to facilitate easy unloading.

Airlifts are prohibitively expensive, said Daryl Yoder-Bontrager, area director for Latin America and the Caribbean, so they are used sparingly. When MCC did use an airlift to bring 70,000 pounds (31,751 kilos) of canned meat into Port-au-Prince on Jan. 24, the shipment had to be rerouted to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, reportedly because of airport traffic.

The meat, which is canned by MCC volunteers, was transferred to trucks that were escorted to Haiti by United Nations (U.N.) personnel. Once the trucks reached the U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Port-au-Prince on Friday, Jan. 29, more delays were encountered as trucks from many organizations waited, sometimes for days, to unload supplies.

The MCC Haiti staff was able to start collecting the meat on Wednesday, Feb. 3. From the shipment, Assemblée de la Grace, a Mennonite church on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, distributed more than 1,000 cans of meat to church and community members, many of whose houses were destroyed in the earthquake.

Five other MCC partner organizations distributed portions of the shipment. TIMKATEC, Timoun Kap Teke Chans, one of MCC’s partners, is conducting a feeding program for 500 children, some of whom were homeless prior to the earthquake and others who are newly homeless.

Meanwhile, two more shipments of meat, each about 35,000 pounds (15,875 kilos) are scheduled to arrive at the port of St. Marc, Haiti, on Feb. 18 or 19. Trucks will transport the shipments three hours south to Port-au-Prince.

Relief kits, heavy comforters and other supplies also are on the way and will continue, according to Yoder. Already sent are two shipments that contain 2,688 relief kits, 4,591 comforters, various medical supplies, 250 tarps and 192 boxes of water bottles, flashlights and deodorant. Their estimated arrival dates are Feb. 20 and Feb. 28.

MCC also expects to supply about 9,000 tarps before the rainy season begins in April.

Previously, MCC sent 1,000 water filters and about $53,000 in cash to MCC Haiti and its partners to be used in the first days of relief efforts. The Mennonite churches in the Dominican Republic also donated and delivered food and supplies.

Twenty medical boxes, designed to supply 800 adults and children for two to three months, currently are being distributed in Haiti. Yoder said the Haiti Response Coalition, a new MCC partner in Port-au-Prince, was grateful for the supplies that “were exactly what was needed for the mobile clinics currently serving several camps of internally displaced people.” In addition, at least 5,000 first aid kits, purchased by MCC, will be distributed to families.

As of Feb. 12, 2010, contributors have given an estimated $8.3 million, the majority of which will be used for rebuilding once the initial crisis has passed. An MCC assessment team is scheduled to convene in Haiti on Feb. 22 to evaluate the situation and make recommendations for ongoing work.