Mennonite Church USA News Service

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Contact: Laurie L. Oswald (316) 283-5100, E-mail: LaurieO@MennoniteUSA.org

Hispanic ministry transforms "Red Zone" into Community of Love in Philadelphia.

Two congregations merge to become Scottdale (Pa.) Mennonite Church.

Joint Youth Ministry Council explores God's call for young people.

Hispanic ministry transforms "Red Zone" into Community of Love in Philadelphia.

by Laurie L. Oswald

Juan (r) and his dad (l)

This story is part of a series depicting five area conferences in the East that are part of Mennonite Church USA: Atlantic Coast, Eastern District, Franconia, Franklin and Lancaster.

PHILADELPLHIA (MC USA) -- Watching his father, Luis Naranjo, leave Puerto Rico as a pastor of thousands to start a tiny Mennonite church in low-income North Philadelphia, left teenager Juan Naranjo bewildered.

He wondered why anyone would leave a successful ministry in a familiar land to start a fledgling ministry in a foreign country. But since his father in 1987 planted Comunidad de Amor, or Community of Love -- a Hispanic congregation that belongs to Eastern District -- his example of dedication to God left an indelible mark on this young man.

"It's really something for a son to see his father leave a 1,200-member church all of a sudden and give up all that for people we didn't even know, who lived in a city we didn't know, where they spoke a language we didn't speak," said Juan Naranjo, now 30.

"We had moved from Colombia to Puerto Rico when I was nine years old and that was a big adjustment. Now as a 10th grader, I would have to adjust again. But my father taught me that we must listen to God and listen to what he wants us to do. He helped me see that God had called us to be a missionary family, and that was what we were going to be."

Juan Naranjo soon discovered that the calling of his father and his mother, Ana, was to become his own. As youth minister and church board chair, Juan Naranjo assists his father, senior pastor, at the church which has an attendance of about 65 people on Sundays. The congregation was the first Spanish-speaking church plant begun in Philadelphia by the former General Conference Mennonite Church and its Commission on Home Ministries.

Naranjo has needed his father's modeling of faith to tackle inner-city challenges, including reaching out to immigrants. The congregation ministers to broken and low-income families, abused and abandoned children and addicted and unemployed adults. The new church plant first met in the Naranjo home and then rented space in other churches before it bought an old nightclub in 1994 to become its meetinghouse.

"Our church is located in the 125th district, one of the worst districts for crime in the city," Naranjo said. "It's so bad that not even the policemen want to come here. They call it the 'Badlands,' the 'Red Zone.' ... But the day of our inauguration, a police officer came to tell us how glad he was that the Mennonites have chosen to be in this place."

Choosing to settle in one place is a contradiction for the neighborhood, which is constantly in flux because of immigrants who come from such countries as Colombia, Venezuela and Puerto Rico, he said. North Philadelphia is only 45 minutes from Mennonite-settled suburbs such as Souderton and Lansdale, but it's in stark contrast.

"The whole atmosphere and way of thinking is as different from the suburbs as night is from day," he said. "When people come to the city from other countries, they haven't a penny to their name and they want help. ... It's cold and there is no place to sleep."

As important as it is that people have a roof over their heads and food on their tables, the need for love in their hearts is more pressing -- especially in the case of children and adolescents, he said. The congregation sponsors ministries for the children and youth, including reading and English classes and summer programs that share the gospel.

"The kids constantly stun and shock me," Naranjo said. "I think I'm here to teach them, and I get taught. One kid started talking about all the sex, drugs and abuse he's been through and all the horror movies he's seen. Another 11-year-old kid, Joey, who didn't want to have anything to do with God couldn't stop crying after worship one day.

"I asked him what was wrong, and he told me he thought he heard God talking to him and saying, 'Joey, I need you, and I have a plan for you.' Joey asked me, 'Can you believe that God would want to talk with me?' Since then, I've seen a lot of rough edges smooth off Joey, and he's growing, he's really changing."

Transformational ministry to people such as Joey is what Community of Love is most about, he said. Even though the congregation provides programs, food and clothes, it most seeks to invite people into relationship with God -- who brings more security than welfare, more peace than police and more healing than human beings.

"A lot of people say that this area needs more police, but I say 'no,' what it needs is people who are invited into a living relationship with God," he said. "That's when broken individuals and families will be healed and made whole and restored."

Part of restoring broken families is reaching adults as well as children, he said. Community of Love has discipleship classes for adults and produces a Hispanic Christian radio program on 690 AM aired throughout greater Philadelphia. People may call in and ask questions and are invited to visit the church where they also may receive counseling.

"We got a letter from an inmate in prison telling us that he accepted Christ in his cell after he heard our radio program," Naranjo said. "The inmate said he felt God with him right there in the cell. The radio program has allowed us to touch a lot of hearts that we couldn't have touched otherwise."

The growth of inner-city ministries such as the Community of Love will depend on how focused Mennonite Church USA will be on reaching its own urban areas, as well as those around the globe, he said. In Philadelphia alone, the Hispanic population -- including people from all over Latin America -- has jumped from about 80,000 when the Naranjo family first arrived to 300,000 today.

"We spend money around the world but seem to spend less across the street in our cities right here at home," he said. "But the world has come to our streets. ... It's important that people come into this other world that's only 35 miles away from where they live.

"People hear of violent crime on Channel 10 and fear they will get shot if they come here. But I hope and pray that people will stop being afraid. These reports drive people away -- but their staying away won't drive away all the needs that exist here." Photo available.

Laurie L. Oswald is news service director for Mennonite Church USA.


Two congregations merge to become Scottdale (Pa.) Mennonite Church.

by Mary Kaufman

SCOTTDALE, Pa. (MC USA) --Two congregations belonging to Allegheny Mennonite Conference merged June 1 to become the new Scottdale Mennonite Church.

People filled every seat and raised the rafters with four-part harmonies as people from the former Mennonite Church of Scottdale (MCS) and Kingview Mennonite Church (KMC) worshiped as one. After more than a year of prayer, listening meetings, committees, joint meetings and paperwork, the former congregations voted to merge.

They held their first service as Scottdale Mennonite Church at the Market Street building, where Kurt Horst, conference minister, led the service June 1. He and representatives of both groups welcomed Donna and Conrad Mast, former co-pastors at Kingview, as co-pastors of the new congregation.

Members from MCS presented the Masts with a signed covenant of support for their leadership. The document stated, "As we become part of the new Scottdale Mennonite Church, we welcome you as our pastors and promise to pray for you and assist you in whatever way we can."

Donna Mast responded, "This is a wonderful symbol of your acceptance of us, your calling of us, and I thank you. It feels very good. I look forward to learning to know you as your pastor."

Conrad Mast remarked that those who helped make the merger happen kept in mind the kind of witness we would be to the community during this process. "May Christ be glorified as we continue to work together," he said.

During children's time, Audrey Kanagy told the younger set that the merger was much like a wedding, when two families become one family for the betterment of both.

In his sermon Horst said, "When the conference minister hears blessings and honor and support and love, church to church, there is reason for giving prayerful thanks without ceasing. You have a commitment to Jesus Christ even when things aren't perfect at all levels of the church, and I give thanks for you in my prayers."

For the past few summers, the two congregations held joint services. For many years, KMC and MCS had combined MYF, Christmas children's programs, boys' and girls' clubs, World Attic thrift store volunteers and community Bible school. They also gave mutual invitations to special events.

Both churches have slowly lost members through relocations, death and job loss at the Mennonite Publishing Network. MCS lost its full-time pastors almost two years ago. However, during a joint meeting of the two churches at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center this spring, the groups expressed a yearning to combine resources in order to give more back to the community.

Leaders from both groups provided patient, prayerful and positive outlook throughout the merger process, especially congregational chairs Kimberly Turrill (MCS) and Jack Scott (KMC), the Masts and Charles Shenk, interim pastor at MCS for the year and a half.

Turrill will serve as congregation chair with a new team of elders and a new council. Scott will serve as vice chair, Dale Miller as treasurer and Jim Lederach, secretary. For now, the new congregation will rotate worship services between the former meetinghouses, which are about two miles apart. Ideas abound as to what to do with the buildings, but for now it seems the membership will concentrate on getting acquainted and working in its new dynamic.

Shenk and his wife, Marian, were Kingview members and held memberships at both churches while he served MCS as interim pastor. "Now, I don't have to decide where to go," he quipped. Photo available.

Mary Kaufman is from Scottdale Mennonite Church.
Contact: Donna Mast at (724) 887-9451, E-mail: kingviewch@juno.com


Joint Youth Ministry Council explores God's call for young people.

by Becky Horst

Joint release for Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada

GOSHEN, Ind. (MC USA) --What will the church look like in the future? What kind of church leadership do we need? What is the purpose of the church?

Fourteen conference youth ministers and more than 15 guests from church agencies and schools in Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA grappled creatively with these big questions in their joint annual meeting. It was held May 14-17 at Goshen College and at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in nearby Elkhart. The theme of the gathering was "Leaders for a New Church."

Anne Campion, director of youth ministries for Mennonite Church Canada, and Steve Ropp, denominational minister of youth for Mennonite Church USA's Executive Board Office of Ministerial Leadership, began the meeting by asking each person to tell his or her own "call" story. Each story illustrated the many ways that God calls and develops leaders for the church. The meetings continued with a blend of worship, reporting from church institutions and agencies, open time to reflect and discussion of issues and questions.

The MC USA conference youth ministers affirmed several guidelines for youth convention gatherings. They favor meeting every two years and meeting with MC Canada every fourth year. They reaffirmed the primary purpose of the convention as encouragement for youth to make or deepen their commitment to Christ.

However, they asked that the secondary purpose, instead of focusing on identity formation, focus more on helping youth to see how God is at work through the Mennonite Church and Anabaptist principles. The group felt that if youth learn to appreciate and love the church, their identity would have a firm foundation on the gospel. Focusing too much on identity formation might descend into ethnic trappings.

Luke Gascho, director of Goshen College's Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, helped the group to engage imaginatively with the theme "Leaders for a New Church." In one exercise, groups created fairy tales to illustrate the purpose of the church. Underneath the dragons, wandering healers and magic glasses that emerged were profound truths about the church as a place where God's transforming love is at work.

Group members grappled with their hopes and their fears for the church. They find hope in the authentic worship and commitment and relationships of young people that they lead. They hope that the new church might be like a dance, drawing in everyone it meets, playing many kinds of music.

But what if the church is too distracted by consumerism and individualism to care about what God is doing? And what if the vision and gifts of young people are overlooked or unwelcome?

In the closing worship, Campion encouraged the youth ministers to identify with both David and Samuel. They anointed each other with oil to recall their own anointing for leadership. They also reflected on the important task of calling and mentoring youth as the future leaders of the new church.

Becky Horst is on staff at Goshen (Ind.) College.
Contact: Steve Ropp (309) 826-9476, E-mail: SteveR@MennoniteUSA.org