June 19, 2009

Cleveland congregation and other Mennonites find solidarity in fighting poverty

By Laurie Oswald Robinson

From left, Rochele Beachy, Sylvia Docking, Sacara Martin, Marita Beachy, Al Anthony, Orene Anthony, Lee Bradley, Antonio Ewell, Crandall Millder were part of the Lee Heights group that participated in the Mobilization to End Poverty Conference in Washington, D.C. Photo by Greta Brackman.

A recent Mobilization to End Poverty conference hosted by Sojourners in Washington, D.C, surprised Al Anthony of Lee Heights Community Church in Cleveland with a level of passion and commitment he didn’t expect.

Anthony, a longtime member of the multiracial congregation, has attended many issue-oriented conferences — but none quite like this one. Like usual, it provided a folder of colorful hand-outs and a roster of great speakers. But it also flooded his heart with something much bigger and stronger than he’d ever experienced before.

“We are a demographically diverse congregation, and there are people in poverty in our church, so the issue is not new to us,” Anthony said. “But we were energized by the new solidarity we felt from many others. It was a real shot in the arm to see so many people be so passionate about a topic that has mattered to us for a long time,” he said.

“And we believe more fervently than ever in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that by working together across many classes and communities locally and nationally, we can make an impact. We have new hope that we are not alone.”

Mennonite Church USA is making sure that congregations such as Lee Heights aren’t alone. The denomination, with MCC East Coast and MCC U.S. — Outreach Partners that helped plan and support the event — jointly provided $3,000 in scholarships for student/young adult and Racial/Ethnic participants to attend the conference held April 26 to 29.

Anthony and 13 others from Lee Heights joined the 1,200 participants from 44 states and 24 denominations, as well as from several other countries. At least 40 Mennonites, including the Lee Heights group, participated from across Mennonite Church USA. Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach, director of the MCC Washington office, hosted the Mennonites for a gathering during the conference to share their reflections and their hope.

“This is an example of how interchurch collaboration is happening on many levels — in the denomination, in area conferences and in congregations,” said André Gingerich Stoner, Mennonite Church USA’s director of interchurch relations. “Lee Heights really took the lead and showed us how congregations can tackle these issues on the local level. We wanted to be part of this event because of the urgency of the issue of poverty. We also wanted to support grassroots efforts and strengthen relationships with Sojourners and other kindred groups.”

Changing the wind, one area conference at a time

Ohio Conference, one of Mennonite Church USA’s 21 area conferences, is also a big reason why Lee Heights has new hope. In March 2008, the Lee Heights conference attendees proposed a resolution to work to reduce poverty, which was adopted by the conference. Crandall Miller and Nathan Beachy, Lee Heights, helped form a Resource Team to Reduce Poverty to create initiatives that stem from that resolution. Miller, who had received training as a Sojourner’s “Windchanger,” put his new skills to use in forming that team.

“The Windchanger term was born from Jim Wallis’ [Sojourners’ leader] belief that elected officials always have their finger in the air to test the wind and see which way it is blowing,” Miller said. “The way we create change is by letting them know what matters to us and what we need them to do. He references how the Civil Rights movement began in southern churches and then became a groundswell, from which legislation arose. That’s the same way it will work with poverty, too.”

Speaking up, moving out into neighborhood and nation

Tackling poverty in our neighborhoods as well as in our nation is part of the new groundswell Mennonites are increasingly joining, said Rochele Beachy, Lee Heights, conference attendee and member of the conference’s poverty team. For example, the Lee Heights conference participants will do worship services on poverty in their congregation and in several others this summer. They will also help Lee Heights engage in community gardening, adding that ministry to the longtime Hunger Center ministry they’ve funded.

“I think the wider church has difficulty with poverty ministry because it has been so hidden in our country,” Beachy said. “But the economic downturn is making poverty more visible. And a new administration on Capitol Hill promises to be more responsive. All these factors are causing people to look more closely and to really see the pain and struggle.

“Mennonites have generally done better with the overseas thing, and a lot of rural churches love to come to city and do service. But it is really hard for people to engage with this issue unless it directly impacts them. We are realizing that we do not have to be one pay check away from poverty ourselves to be passionate about economic justice.”

Conference participants passionately engaged leaders on the issues during Capitol Hill Day. That’s when participants visited their congressional and senate legislators and shared their concerns about poverty. Statistics show 82 Senators and 210 Representatives received visits.

Hands and heart at home are echoes of voices on Capitol Hill

Using hands and hearts at home, as well as voices on Capitol Hill, are an important part of mobilizing in one’s own community, said Joanna Shenk, a young adult conference attender and a spring 2009 graduate of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart, Ind. She lives at Jubilee House, a Mennonite Voluntary Service unit located in a racially diverse neighborhood in south central Elkhart. It’s been hard hit by the recession, with unemployment at more than 20 percent.

Though she is not doing full time volunteer work, due to her AMBS studies, she’s chosen to live in this neighborhood to develop relationships with people of all classes and races. She wants to relate with those who suffer through poverty and brainstorm with them about creative and empowering solutions.

For example, her neighborhood is home to the Historic Roosevelt Center Association that will sponsor a Summer Academy in June which will include a variety of classes taught by a multiracial cadre of teachers, all from the south central neighborhood, she said. Jubilee House also engages with a regular community meal, where all classes and races of people sit down for a meal and fellowship.

“The conference had many good points, but I was disappointed by its lack of call to repentance for ways in which we, in the middle class, have contributed the perpetuation of poverty,” she said. “We weren’t challenged to think radically about how we must envision a new reality, where all people have something to offer.

“In many ways it felt like those of us at the conference were being lifted up as the saviors of the poor — without us poor people had no dignity, no options, no power, no ability to help themselves whatsoever. Living in this neighborhood, I know that is not true.”