Relationships -- not ballots -- lead South Central Conference
to join MC USA.
by Laurie L. Oswald
Robert Nolt, conference minister for South Central
Conference, celebrates the area conference's decision,
made July 17 in Austin, Texas, to become a full member
of Mennonite Church USA
AUSTIN, Texas (MC USA) -- South Central Conference (SCC) discovered
July 17 that two votes were better than one when it came to
discerning that SCC will become a full member of Mennonite
Church USA.
In a two-tiered process that fostered group discernment, SCC
decided to become a full member of the denomination during
its annual assembly July 16-18 in Austin. In the first vote,
delegates gave a 90 percent approval and 10 percent disapproval
to move from being provisional to full members. In a second
vote that included discernment questions, the delegates voted
95 percent for and 5 percent against the direction set by
the first vote.
"We wanted to provide a process that was based more on
discernment than percentages," said Heber Ramer, moderator
from 2002 until the end of the assembly in Austin, when John
Murray, pastor at Hesston (Kan.) Mennonite Church, became
moderator. "Rather than decide whether we should reach
a simple or major majority, we made it more of a group consensus
and affirmation, and it worked wonderfully. This process fostered
a spirit of humility and inclusion rather than a sense of
winning or losing."
The four questions included in the second vote were: Do we
affirm the results of the vote as the direction for SCC in
relationship to Mennonite Church USA? What do we want to say
to the 90 percent? What do we want to say to the 10 percent?
And what do we want to say to Mennonite Church USA?
Robert Nolt, conference minister, affirmed the asking of the
four questions. "This second vote helped to foster relationship-building
and veered us away from counting ballots," he said. "And
I am delighted with the outcome. It's the fruit of a lot of
dialogue in the last three years in learning to understand
our conference's mission and how it could be strengthened
by connection to the denomination.
"The decision also brings us out of being in 'limbo'
in our relationship to the larger church and helps us get
on with the work of forming missional congregations and experiencing
renewal in the conference. And it will help us fully embody
our mission statement, which is to produce healthy, missional
congregations by resourcing, connecting and empowering congregations
to help them be Christ in the world."
This decision was a celebrative milestone for Nolt. He began
his conference post in August 2001, a week before delegates
voted only 54 percent in favor of becoming a full member of
the denomination, and remained within provisional status.
A following motion to withdraw from Mennonite Church USA gained
only 37 percent. Following these 2001 votes, several congregations
of the Missouri/Arkansas district of South Central withdrew
their membership.
In response, Nolt and other conference leaders such as Ramer
worked to help South Central's remaining 47 congregations
to dialogue about outstanding concerns, such as homosexuality
issues, and to set future direction. So both in 2002 and 2003,
the conference leaders held a series of dialogue meetings
in each of the conference's four districts to build trust
and understanding.
"These meetings helped tremendously in fostering understanding
of what it means to be connected to the larger body,"
Ramer said. "While we discussed homosexuality, we really
focused more on issues that are burning in the hearts of people
in the heartland.
"We grapple with economic survival, the flight of our
children out of the rural areas and the church being eroded
as a result. We then explored what it would mean for us not
to be a part of the larger church. Put in that light, it became
clearer how being part of the larger church will help us find
leaders, bring us teaching resources and help us biblically
discern our direction in the context of the larger community."
Nolt said the district meetings also helped people to embrace
the earlier decision by SCC and Western District Conference
(WDC) not to merge but to continue to identify their ministries
as separate conferences that will be in a collaborative "sister"
relationship.
Part of gaining a solid identity as a conference includes
integrating the concerns and voices of the growing Hispanic
constituency in the conference, Nolt said. Of the 105 delegates
who voted at the assembly, 25 of them were from Hispanic congregations.
This is a dramatic turn around from two years previous, when
the vote from Hispanic churches may not have been as unfavorable.
Jim Schrag, executive director of Mennonite Church USA, attended
the assembly to offer a welcome from the denomination. "I
got a glimpse of a new reformation in process and identity,
particularly with the strong, supportive contingent of Hispanic
delegates," he said.
"South Central Conference is the harbinger of a new kind
of fellowship of churches that will become more common in
other conferences. We are grateful the conference has chosen
so emphatically to be a permanent part of Mennonite Church
USA."
Laurie L. Oswald
is news service director for Mennonite Church USA.
Western District responds in faith to challenges with
its Vision 2012
by Laurie L. Oswald
Keith Harder, director of Congregational and Ministerial
Leasdership for Mennonite Church USA, and Cheryl Zehr
Walker, associate director for Mennonite Education Agency,
serve communion July 4 to Violeta Ajquejay, of North
Newton, Kan., at the Western District Conference assembly
in Oklahoma City on July 2-4
OKLAHOMA CITY (MC USA) -- Though Western District Conference
(WDC) faces challenges for the future, annual assembly participants
July 2-4 responded in faith rather than fear by celebrating
God's hope in Oklahoma City, site of a deadly bombing in 1995.
Dorothy Nickel Friesen, conference minister, instilled a hope-filled
tone for the assembly as she focused on the theme, "Go
and Do Likewise," from the Good Samaritan gospel story
from Luke. She also introduced "Vision 2012," the
new strategic plan that will move the conference into the
realities of the 21st century. She shared how global violence,
depopulation in rural areas and slowly shrinking congregational
membership spawns instability. But she also shared how the
area conference through Jesus' example may transform threats
into opportunities and weaknesses into strengths.
"The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, said wise
Jesus some 2000 years ago, yet how contemporary those words
sound to us," Friesen said. "We could stare at Jesus
and declare him a fool: the work is too great, the challenges
too many, the obstacles too high.
"That is why Jesus urges us to go together -- this task
is too great, too overwhelming, too dangerous, too foolish.
We are to be companions on the journey. Jesus sends us to
places he intends to go himself. This path is planned and
prepared, not haphazard and random."
For the last year and a half, she and other members of the
conference's strategic planning committee have helped to chart
a new path in the 21st century. Prior to July, the committee
gleaned feedback on Vision 2012 during 10 conversations held
throughout the conference. Friesen presented this feedback
to participants gathered at the Clarion Meridian Hotel and
Convention Center.
She asked about 250 delegates and other assembly participants
seated at small table groups -- to facilitate work and worship
-- to talk about the new mission statement and five priorities
and to share insights. With its 70 congregations spanning
fives states, Western District is one of the largest of the
21 area conferences in Mennonite Church USA.
Participants discussed five priorities. They include exercising
spiritual gifts (transforming indifference and lack of vision
to challenge people and congregations to think and act missionally);
and reconciling our relations to Christ, each other and the
world (transforming fear of change and lack of vision into
new ways to work for peace, justice and conflict transformation).
The other priorities include finding the lost coins (transforming
inadequate stewardship of resources and finances with new
models for church growth, planting, re-development and revitalization);
telling the good news (transforming poor communication into
ministry to conference congregations and the world); and creating
new WDC structures (transforming structures to be conduits
for ministry and mission an efficient, simple and responsive
way)
"Together, leaders of congregations and staff of WDC
can shape the priorities and missional nature of both congregations
and WDC," Friesen said. "We are discerning the church
-- thoughtfully listening, praying, and then deciding how
to move forward -- even to the year 2012."
Moving forward includes the possibility of six Western District
congregations becoming part of a new conference, proposed
as Mountain States Mennonite Conference, which will also include
congregations from the current Rocky Mountain Mennonite Conference
(see related story). Don Rheinheimer, co-pastor at Mountain
Community Mennonite Church in Palmer Lake, Colo., shared the
proposal July 3 in Oklahoma City. Many assembly participants
affirmed the proposal that will likely be brought to Charlotte
2005 delegates.
Assembly planners focused on the present as well as the future.
In worship sessions they led participants in celebrating what
God is currently doing in the conference. Worship speakers
included an afternoon message July 3 by Bud Welch, who lost
his daughter, Julie Marie Welch, in the bombing of the Murrah
Building in downtown Oklahoma City, but now advocates for
forgiveness rather than revenge.
Welch spoke prior to a peace walk to the memorial at the site
that commemorates the tragedy. On the morning of April 19,
1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a rented Ryder truck with explosives
in front of the complex and a massive explosion occurred which
sheared the north side of the building, killing 168 people.
"The most moving part of the assembly for me was the
peace walk and hearing Bud Welch's testimony," said Clarence
Rempel, pastor of First Mennonite Church in Newton, Kan. "It
was deeply touching to hear how Bud allowed God to transform
his tragedy and his anger and bitterness into forgiveness
and healing and hope."
Other worship speakers shared how like the good Samaritan
God invites us to bring healing and hope to a hurting world.
Keith Harder, director of Congregational and Ministerial Leadership
for Mennonite Church USA; and Lawrence Hart, Cheyenne peace
chief and pastor of First Mennonite Church in Clinton, Okla.,
gave their messages July 3.
"This story shows us we can never assume that we have
a corner on the truth of who is in God's favor and who is
not in God's favor," Harder said. "God is full of
surprises ... For example, a church consisting of Anglo Europeans
is now a minority in Mennonite World Conference, and 20 percent
of Mennonite Church USA consists of people of color.
"Maybe it is time for Anglos, who are used to being the
helpers, to recognize that we may be the ones in the ditch,
victims of our own comfort and success."
Lois and Tom Harder, co-pastors at Lorraine Avenue Mennonite
Church in Wichita, Kan., led worship, and Laverle Schrag,
associate pastor at First Mennonite Church in Hutchinson,
Kan., created the assembly banner and other visuals. Friesen
and others led communion during worship on Sunday morning
to prepare participants to take God's love and peace to a
violent world.
Proposal for new Mountain States conference to revitalize
ministry passion.
by Laurie L. Oswald
Don Rheinheimer (right), of Palmer Lake, Colo., staff
member for the future committee that is proposing to
establish a new Mountain States Mennonite Conference,
discusses the proposal during a table group discussion
at the Western District Conference assembly, held July
2-4 in Oklahoma City
OKLAHOMA CITY (MC USA) -- A developing proposal for a new
area conference -- Mountain States Mennonite Conference --
as part of Mennonite Church USA may help everyone gain something.
But it will mean a few changes first.
Leaders within the Mountain States region are excited about
changes intended to spark new ministry passion in the area
and support the denomination's missional focus, said Don Rheinheimer,
staff person for the future committee that formed the proposal
and co-pastor of Mountain Community Mennonite Church in Palmer
Lake, Colo. The push for finalizing this proposal follows
the action by the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board in
June that established criteria for forming new area conferences.
Rheinheimer tested the proposal with Western District Conference
delegates July 3 during their assembly in Oklahoma City, because
six Western District congregations are invited to be part
of the new conference if it forms. Mountains States would
include all 16 congregations in Rocky Mountain Mennonite Conference,
four congregations that are dually affiliated with Rocky Mountain
and Western District and two congregations that belong only
to Western District.
"This proposal will help us to retain the values we shared
in Rocky Mountain Mennonite Conference, as well as to work
in ways we hadn't before, he said. "We can bring the
best of the familial spirit and supportive relationships among
people who were geographically separated from their families.
Many people came here to go into Voluntary Service and community
health services, and we want to retain that focus on social
ministry.
"But we also want to form a new model for how we work
together. We will concentrate less on external structure and
rely more on people's passions for mission. We want to encourage
passion for ministry rather than structure for ministry."
Many Western District delegates seemed to focus on the gains,
even with some sadness. "There is a sense of loss that
must be worked through on the part of Western District in
letting go of six congregations," Rheinheimer said. "But
there is also the sense that Western District wants to stay
in relationship in ways that will strengthen our former ties
and form new partnerships."
Dorothy Nickel Friesen, conference minister for Western District,
agrees. "This proposal is the product of more than just
the past year," she said. "For nearly the last decade
we've had many conversations about integration. This proposal
is the fruit of many, many years of cooperation and conversation.
"And while this may appear that we are losing six congregations,
what Western District can also claim is that it planted those
six churches and this is a sign of their maturation and growth.
And that is something pretty exciting. Whatever the structure
ends up being, we hope to find ways to collaborate and share
resources, as we offer mutual encouragement for new missional
opportunities before us."
Many delegates, such as Dave Wiebe of First Mennonite Church
in Newton, affirmed the proposal and cheered the future committee
on its way. "Our table group gives strong affirmation
for this proposal, and we're even a little bit jealous that
you can start something new and don't carry all the weight
of history," he said.
"And we like the idea of the new conference being passion-driven
rather than committee-driven. That gives more people a sense
of ownership in the conference."
Debbie Schmidt, pastor of First Mennonite Church in Hutchinson,
Kan., said, "My table strongly affirms this proposal,
and wants to ask how Western District can continue to work
on relationships and nurture what we've already worked on
together. We definitely want the new conference to share a
'sister' relationship with Western District."
Now that the area conferences are on board with the proposal,
the future committee -- consisting of representatives from
congregations in Rocky Mountain Mennonite and Western District
as well as dual congregations -- met July 22 to fine-tune
the proposal further. Pending an affirmative vote by regional
congregations, the committee will send it to denominational
leaders as an application.
The Constituency Leaders Council -- an advisory group to the
Mennonite Church USA Executive Board -- will review the application
this fall and make a recommendation to the Executive Board.
The Executive Board will then decide whether to present the
proposal to the delegate assembly in Charlotte 2005 next July.
"Revitalizing conferences is an important building block
of developing our new mission and identity as Mennonite Church
USA," said Jim Schrag, executive director of "Mennonite
Church USA. Mountain States Mennonite Conference, as a new
conference, is an expression of our newness as a church."
Laurie L. Oswald is news service
director for Mennonite Church USA.
Poet,
professor explores Cheyenne peace chief's connections
to Mennonites.
by Laurie L. Oswald
Lawrence and Betty Hart Clinton, Okla., enjoy a light-hearted
moment with Raylene Hinz-Penner, of Topeka, Kan., during
Western District Conference's assembly in Oklahoma City
on July 2-4. Hinz-Penner is writing Lawrence Hart's
life story for publication. He is a Cheyenne peace chief
and pastor of Koinonia Mennonite Church in Clinton.
OKLAHOMA CITY (MC USA) -- As a poet and university professor,
Raylene Hinz-Penner has written lots of poetry, prose and
lectures. But nothing has equaled the impact she's felt from
interviewing Lawrence Hart -- a Cheyenne peace chief and Mennonite
pastor -- to write and share his life story, she said.
For the last two years, Hinz-Penner, an English professor
at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., and Hart have explored
his life for a book she's writing for publication by March
2006. During Western District Conference's assembly in Oklahoma
City on July 2-4, the pair spoke of how gratifying it's been
to mine the riches from Hart's life, both deeply Cheyenne
and Anabaptist.
Bright gems include how Hart's grandfather, the late John
P. Hart, passed on the role of peace chief onto his grandson;
how Lawrence Hart has helped Mennonite Church USA learn from
the spiritual and cultural gifts of Native-Americans; the
operation, with his wife, Betty, of the Cheyenne Cultural
Center in Clinton, Okla.; and his involvement in the repatriation
movement -- the return of Native American burial remains to
their home.
"Before he died, my grandfather hand-picked me to take
his place as peace chief," Hart said. "In my culture,
it was strange for him to bypass my father and two older brothers.
In hindsight, I see that his rearing of me until I was six
years old showed that he was grooming me for this role all
along."
Hart is the son of the late Homer and Jenny Hart, longtime
lay ministers within Mennonite congregations in Oklahoma.
They spent their lives working among Native Americans in Hammon,
Okla. After Mennonites left the area, Hart's father took over,
conducting services and burials, traveling wherever Cheyenne
people needed him.
Their son, Lawrence Hart, then became the next generation's
bridge between Native and Mennonite worlds, as he served for
more than 40 years in Oklahoma's Mennonite churches with the
Cheyenne and Arapaho people. He is now pastor at Koinonia
Mennonite Church across from the cultural center in Clinton.
Hinz-Penner feels that in interviewing Hart, she's mining
gold from the last living connection between how the Cheyenne
first connected with the Mennonites, she said. "Lawrence
is the memory for the connections between Cheyenne history
and Mennonite history and how they have intersected,"
she said. "He is also considered an Oklahoma treasure,
and many people are waiting to read his story -- not only
Mennonites."
Though it seems unlikely that an Anglo poet and a Cheyenne
peace chief would connect, their paths intersected within
both church and scholarly circles. Hinz-Penner, formerly a
professor of English at Bethel College in North Newton, Kan.,
first heard Hart give a commencement address about 10 years
ago that captured her soul and imagination. She knew that
moment that his story is one that needs to be shared.
"I don't think of this as a biography as much as it is
my effort to connect the dots of his life which brought him
to this point " she said. "As he gave his address,
I thought to myself, 'Who is this man and how did he get here?
What is his story and who are the people who influenced him
both to care about peace within the Cheyenne tradition and
the Anabaptist tradition? How did he come to live with his
feet in each world?'
"I knew it would be fascinating to trace that journey.
It will be good for all of us to watch the hand of God in
this amazing man's life."
Hinz-Penner has found answers to her questions and a pattern
to his journey that she'll share in her upcoming book that
she hopes will be published for use in a conference in Clinton
focusing on connections between the Cheyenne and Arapaho and
the Mennonites. The Mennonite USA Historical Committee &
Archives will sponsor the conference from March 30 through
April 2, 2006, in Clinton.
Though Hinz-Penner feels deep personal connections to Hart's
story, she's quick to say that she's compelled to uncover
Hart's story because of its communal importance. His work
with repatriation, in particular, can impact generations of
Mennonites and others across the region and beyond, she said.
"My grandparents lived outside Clinton when I grew up,
and all my people were from the Corn, Oklahoma, area,"
said Hinz-Penner, who grew up in Turpin Mennonite Church in
Oklahoma's panhandle. "Lawrence buried some of my aunts
and uncles. But that's not really where I first connected
with him. It was when I first read his writings about repatriation
and first heard him speak at Bethel that I was deeply touched
and inspired."
Hart also feels that reparation will more fully uncover the
depth of his people's losses and will foster a newfound respect
for their sacred history. He is working with Mennonite Central
Committee and two scholars who are writing a study guide for
use in congregations who want to explore the topic and donate
to the cause.
"I want to see that all the remains hidden on shelves
in laboratories across North America will be returned and
buried in their homeland," he said. "It's very important
that we return these human remains to the earth. It will help
us lay claim to our heritage and to uncover a fuller understanding
of North American history."
Laurie L. Oswald is news service
director for Mennonite Church USA.
Longtime
leader at Calvary Community in Hampton, Va., dies July
6.
by Laurie L. Oswald with Paul Schrag
The late Steven Francisco, his wife, Karla, and daughter,
Taylor, at the front of the sanctuary June 21 of their
multiracial congregation, Calvary Community West, in
Chesapeake, Va. The couple began the church plant in
January at the initiative of Calvary Community Church
in Hampton, Va. He died suddenly late July 6 of complications
from surgery
CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- Right up until he died suddenly July 6
due to complications from surgery, Steven Francisco, 45, a
longtime leader at Calvary Community Church in Hampton, was
doing God's work, including planting a multiracial church.
Francisco served as associate pastor with his brother, Bishop
Leslie Francisco III, senior pastor at Calvary, until the
end of 2003. Then he launched Calvary Community Church West
in Isle of Wight County. His wife, Karla, also a pastor, and
a church- planting team joined him.
The new congregation -- where about 40 to 50 people attend
-- is one of several that Calvary Community has spawned in
the last several years.
In an interview June 21, about two weeks before he died, the
couple described how they were shaping Calvary West into a
multiracial congregation. They wanted to help Calvary Community
realize its dream of reaching out to all people and to help
Mennonite Church USA be an antiracist denomination.
Steven Francisco became involved in the wider church when
he coordinated the youth convention for the Mennonite Church
and General Conference Mennonite Church at Nashville, Tenn.,
in 2001.
At Calvary West, the Franciscos embraced the challenge of
starting a multiracial congregation.
"We've worked hard to use a blended worship style that
includes not only gospel songs that the African-American community
is familiar with but also contemporary worship music of all
styles," Steven Francisco said.
"It's been really challenging for us to work this way
since Karla and I grew up in predominantly African-American
communities. .... But so far in our new church, three white
families are worshiping with us, and they've been such a blessing."
Francisco said the only way a multicultural congregation can
form is if the pastors and the team are willing to make changes
and to pray to tear down long-held racism. But he also believed
God doesn't force people to be open to all cultures and racial
groups.
"God can't make a group be inclusive," Francisco
said. "The group must decide that. God isn't going to
do something to make Mennonite Church USA or Calvary to be
antiracist. ...We as people must wake up and cooperate. And
then we will see God get involved and set more changes in
motion.
Sadly, he won't help that dream to become reality in the years
ahead. But Kenyetta Aduma, director of Intercultural Relations
for Mennonite Church USA, believes he laid a good foundation
for the ministry to flourish. She also believes his wife and
the church-planting team are able to carry the vision if God
leads.
"I'm certain that the new church can move forward,"
Aduma said. "I don't think Karla and the team are the
kind of people who will just stop everything. That isn't what
Steven would have wanted."
Aduma, a member at Calvary, said she received much guidance,
blessing and inspiration from Francisco's ministry. The congregation
of about 2,200 members held a celebration of his life July
10 at the church.
"Steven was someone who really had a heart for God, and
he loved to give his all to do whatever it took to move God's
work forward," Aduma said.
During the June 21 interview, Karla Francisco spoke with passion,
equal to that of her late husband, for building a multiracial
church on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
"I've had to ask the Lord to do something new in me as
we help him build this new congregation," she said. "I've
had to repent of my own prejudices. ... I told the Lord, 'Please
help me to see people the way you see people. Help me to love
people the way you love people. Help me to have a heart like
your heart.'"
Speaking at the celebration of her husband's life, Karla Francisco
described him as selfless and humble. She spoke of how hard
it was to understand "why God took such a great man who
seemed to be in the prime of his life." But then, she
said, God gave her a revelation.
"There's a lot of work going on in heaven to make things
happen on the Earth," she said. "God said, 'See
your husband up in glory .. . . being the master administrator,
making sure everything takes place.' Steven loved something
new. He loved change. ... I know he's having a ball with this
new thing.
"I want you [Calvary church] to be comforted ... knowing
that Steven has gone on to a higher calling."
Steven Francisco was born March 12, 1959, in Newport News,
the son of Bishop Leslie W. Francisco II and Naomi R. Taylor.
He was ordained to the ministry in 1990, after which he served
as associate pastor at Calvary Community Church until he and
his wife established Calvary Community Church West in December.
He earned associate and bachelor's degrees in biblical studies
from Carolina University of Theology.
Survivors include his wife, Karla; three children, Tiffany,
Steve II and Taylor; his mother, Naomi; and two brothers,
Leslie III and Myron. He was preceded in death by his father,
Leslie II.
Laurie L. Oswald is news service director for Mennonite Church
USA. Paul Schrag is editor of Mennonite Weekly Review. .
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