Racial/Ethnic people’s event draws cultures together
by Marathana Prothro
NEWTON, Kan. (Mennonite Church USA)Mennonite Church USA Intercultural Relations, the African-American Mennonite Association, Iglesia Menonita Hispana and Native Mennonite Ministries hosted the denomination’s first Racial/Ethnic people’s conference titled “From Every Tribe and Nation” Aug. 3 through 6 in Dallas, Texas.
Director of Intercultural Relations for Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership Kenyetta Twine said the event marked a significant step toward the denomination’s goal of working to be an anti-racist church. In addition to shared worship sessions and workshops, two of Mennonite Church USA’s Racial/Ethnic associate groups conducted their biennial business meetings in conjunction with the event. Twine estimates about 290 children, youth and adults attended the conference.
“The original brainstorming for this event began with associate groups talking about holding assemblies together and doing business separately,” Twine said. “We were considering how we could begin to come together and share resources and network and strengthen the different Racial/Ethnic congregations and let them know they’re not out there by themselves.”
Mennonite Church USA associate groups are designed to meet the spiritual needs of specific groups – such as African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans – within the denomination based on each group’s unique situation and experiences. The term Racial/Ethnic is used as a general reference term to describe people who have been underrepresented or excluded because of race/ethnicity.
African-American Mennonite Association (AAMA) and Iglesia Menonita Hispana (IMH) conducted business Aug. 4, and IMH delegates elected Juanita Nunez as its first woman moderator-elect since its inception. IMH also conducted business Aug. 5. Native Mennonite Ministries (NMM) also participated in the event, though it conducted its biennial session at a separate assembly July 24 through 27 in Atmore, Ala.
“The time has come to celebrate our unity in Christ,” said Samuel Lopez, IMH moderator. “This is our first united conference of AAMA, Iglesia Menonita Hispana and Native Mennonite Ministries. Everyone should rejoice!”
Twine said the joint conference was important because, though the groups are unique, they also have much in common. Coming together allowed the groups to share resources and experience others’ cultures and styles of worship. Utilizing differing cultural styles of worship enabled a broader cross section of attendees to fully participate in worship.
“Sometimes in the church, especially when missionaries used to go out, they didn’t necessarily affirm cultural worship, and our event focused on celebrating and affirming it so we can begin to work together to enrich our churches and help them grow stronger,” Twine said.
Executive director for Mennonite Church USA Jim Schrag said the conference was more than a gathering of people groups, “It is an assembly of members speaking into the process of the new Mennonite Church USA.”
It has not been determined whether AAMA, IMH and NMM will host another joint Racial/Ethnic people’s conference in the future, Twine said.
“We are grateful for the strength God’s Spirit brings when we journey together as Christ’s followers,” said Olivette McGhee, NMM chair. “Community is built through relationships, in sharing, training and resources for ministry in our local settings. Discerning God’s call together is a gift. I am glad to see this conference take place.”
Sidebar:
About 20 percent of Mennonite Church USA’s 939 congregations are Racial/Ethnic. Churchwide leadership considers these congregations to represent the fastest growing part of the denomination as they are often involved in church plants in urban areas. The largest Mennonite Church USA congregation is Calvary Community Church in Hampton, Va., and is predominantly African American.
Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership encourages participation in Peace Day
NEWTON, Kan. (Mennonite Church USA)Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership encourages all parts of the denomination that value its position as an historic peace church to participate in activities observing the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, which will be Sept. 21.
This year marks the 25th annual celebration of International Day of Peace. At least 1,500 supporting organizations in more than 160 nations and 47 states are expected to participate. While peace comes through long-term persistence and not a single day of festivities, the purpose of Peace Day is to bring attention to the millions of things individuals and organizations around the world are doing year-round to make the world a better place.
Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership is encouraging participation as it sees the event as an opportunity to practice holistic witness by advocating for peace as a way of following Christ. It also can help congregations and others make valuable connections both locally and globally. Other events marking the importance of pursuing peace- building include Mennonite World Conference’s Peace Sunday, Sept. 24, and Mennonite Church USA’s Peace Sunday, Nov. 5. Congregations can expect worship resources from both groups closer to the designated Sundays.
“The September 21 Peace Day events are an opportunity to invite people to link their Christian faith to their desire for peace,” said Susan Mark Landis, peace advocate for Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership. “Some Mennonites see this bond as the basis for their decision for peace, but the connection isn’t so obvious in some denominations.”
Events and activities associated with International Day of Peace include concerts, parades, marches, fasts, prayer vigils, a moment of silence, service projects and children’s activities, such as peace art, essay contests and pinwheels for peace. Landis also encourages congregations to use the day as a way to meet others in the community who care about peacemaking or to create an event that honors Jesus as the Prince of Peace.
“I’ve heard many stories about people who were unfamiliar with Mennonites and the gospel of peace but were able to find a church home after attending a peace event and making connections with local Mennonites,” Landis said. “International Peace Day is another opportunity to let folks know that they will find support for Christian peacemaking in Mennonite Church USA congregations.”
For more information on International Day of Peace and how to invite people to your event, visit www.internationaldayofpeace.org. To download worship resources for either Peace Sunday, visit www.MennoniteUSA.org/peace.
Albuquerque congregation to host discussion on meaning of baptism and membership for post-moderns
by Ken Gingerich
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Mennonite Church USA)What is the meaning of church membership for Anabaptists in a post-modern consumer-oriented world? The meaning of baptism and membership has become increasingly complicated for Mennonites struggling to respond to a culture that undervalues committed relationships and overvalues the power of individual consumer choice.
Albuquerque Mennonite Church will grapple with this issue Oct. 6 through 8 when Alan and Eleanor Kreider will lead a Christians Engaging Culture series entitled “Practicing Faith in the Early Church and Today.” The event is free, and anyone interested is invited to participate.
Alan is an associate professor of church history and mission at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind. Eleanor is a well-known writer and teacher in the areas of worship, formation and mission. Both have long had a passion for helping the church understand its role within culture. They draw from extensive experience as founders of the Anabaptist network in Great Britain and a long study of early Christian life in the pre-Christendom era.
“For Albuquerque Mennonite, the issue of membership is at the core of who we are,” said AMC pastor Anita Amstutz. Since its formation 18 years ago, the congregation has annually wiped the membership slate clean and started over every January. This has been an attempt to keep the integrity and value of belonging, and commitment to its fellowship strong. Membership numbers fluctuate but in recent years about 60 adults have signed the annual covenant. The church includes an active community of about 150 adults and children.
“But just who can join and how we practice initiation (baptism) is becoming more complicated as increasing numbers of community folks choose to join us,” Amstutz said.
Not everyone comes with the same understandings about membership. At Albuquerque’s Calvary Chapel, a mega-congregation with about 14,000 members, baptism is understood as a symbol of personal commitment to Jesus and the universal Christian church, but membership is based on simple and informal participation in the church.
Others, including young traditional Mennonites, may be put off by the inconsistencies of mainline religion, and the idea of entering into a formal and perhaps demanding relationship with the church is not taken lightly. This issue is helping us understand what the early church, and later the Anabaptists, knew – that being part of the body of Christ is not just a personal experience, it involves a primary commitment to a local church community, and it almost always demands a sacrifice of some sort. It sometimes hurts and often brings its own unique kind of joy.
“We think this is a timely and important discussion for Mennonites and invite guests from the broader church to join us,” said Amstutz. “Besides, October in New Mexico is pretty fabulous!”
The weekend is free and open to anyone. Registration is requested and can be obtained online at www.abqmennonite.org or by e-mail at info@abqmennonite.org. Click on the Christians Engaging Culture icon. Costs will be covered by donation.
This is also the opening weekend of the well-known Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, so lodging may be more difficult to find. Early reservations are advisable. Some local lodging information is included with the registration.
Ken Gingerich is a member of Albuquerque Mennonite Church. He also is art director for Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership.
A three-career gift of personal caring
Jon Moore
by J. Daniel Hess
BRISTOL, Penn. (Mennonite Church USA)Sometimes the gift we give back to God is shaped by the place we live. That could be said for Jon E. Moore, a tall and broadly smiling but photo-shy African-American bus mechanic. His home is Levittown-Bristol, Penn.
In the 1950s the name Levittown made headlines. This post-war project of hundreds of look-alike houses for middle income workers promised the pleasures of suburbia to ordinary people. Photos featured engineers with master plans, construction workers in metal hats and happy families entering their first homes.
Today Levittown, located about 15 miles north of Philadelphia, bumps into Bristol. Sometimes the mail handlers see the address Levittown-Bristol. Instead of a dream come true, Levittown-Bristol is generally low income with many living in Section 8 housing. Unemployment is high. Lots of people, including single dads and moms, work three part-time jobs with no or few benefits.
The literacy rate is low, not just because of American-born citizens who haven’t learned to read, but also because of newly arrived foreigners for whom American English is a second language.
It’s here in the midst of urban need that Jon Moore accepts the call of God.
Jon is not an academic. He never had the opportunity to go to college and seminary. He has not written books or given speeches to huge audiences. He is unable to donate millions of dollars to charity. He lives alone with a college-aged daughter. What, then, are the gifts he gives to God?
Jon works for Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Agency (SEPTA) repairing buses. He is a diligent mechanic, but he also has made an arrangement with his supervisor to take emergency calls, “which come from anyone, anywhere. Sometimes I’ll excuse myself to listen to a burdened caller and recommend a promise of God.”
“His cell phone is always on,” says his daughter Felicia. “Anyone and everyone calls him, co-workers, anyone, people with the wrong phone number. I hear him telling people to read a particular Psalm or perhaps selected words of Jesus.”
Jon also pastors the New Beginnings Community Church in Bristol, a small Mennonite Church USA congregation working hard to address the spiritual, economic and social needs of its members and neighbors. Because the membership must work very hard (30 percent have jobs) to meet a budget that would seem small to other congregations, Jon is largely self-supported.
Jon’s life, then, at SEPTA, at New Beginnings Community Church and on the streets of Bristol is a three-career ministry of person-to-person caring.
“I involve myself with my people. My own happiness comes from seeing my people grow. Sometimes I come home from work tired, crawl into bed and can’t sleep. Then I receive a call – a church member overwhelmed by the effects of Sickle Cell Anemia, someone who had been in a car accident but can’t get the car repaired, a person experiencing family brokenness. I am energized by the privilege of listening and talking with people in need.”
“When Dad’s not at his job, he’s always at church,” says Felicia. “Honestly, he gives lots of his time. … He has one of two sets of keys for the church so when something is going on, he’s there. He also spends lots of time in prayer and meditation. Sometimes he studies the Bible and comes up with a sermon. Other times something happens in the week and then he turns to scripture – that becomes his sermon.”
“Felicia is God’s gift to me,” says Jon. “She’s always been by my side. I remember a street ministry years ago in the Kensington District of Philadelphia. We took a bus with hot food and blankets to a needy area. Felicia was helping. She passed a box house, turned down an alley and met three children in front of a car garage. She invited the children to the bus for hot food.”
He recalls returning with the children and food to the garage that was serving as a make-shift house. The family invited them in. Sitting on milk crates, the family made a table and the food was blessed. However, Jon says it was Felicia who carried the conversation. He heard from the father six months after the meal. He had a full time job, an apartment, but more important were his words, “I want to thank you for introducing me to Christ.”
“Felicia made this happen,” Jon says.
Felicia, home from college for the summer, is working with her dad and others in the church to establish a learning center in the basement of the church, designed especially for students to complete their homework after school and for non-students to improve their literacy. The center will have a director and a broad program of activities.
The congregation, according to Noel Santiago, executive minister for Franconia Conferences, is open and inviting. Its door-to-door ministry has brought the church into direct contact with a world that most Mennonite Church USA congregants know little about.
Visitors are impressed by the simplicity of Jon’s faith, which assures him he is at the right place, gives the right message and knows God will bless the people.
“Dad doesn’t come up with the idea in the first place, but when he hears a good idea, he makes things happen,” Felicia says. She illustrates the point by referring to a successful trip to Lancaster to see a Sight and Sound production “Behold the Lamb” that Jon made possible even for some members who couldn’t afford the trip.
Felicia gives very high marks to her dad’s use of Sunday school classes to engage people’s interest and then encourage them to bring their blessings and concerns to the congregation. Recently the adults studied a lesson on “Bad Girls of the Bible” – a catchy title for discussion about grace. Felicia reported that a recent Sunday morning worship service began 15 minutes late because an adult Sunday school class couldn’t get stopped!
Jon walks with a stiff back, and he can’t stand for long durations, the lingering effects of a serious all-terrain vehicle accident in Baja California in 1998. Jon does not consider himself handicapped. Instead, he testifies to God’s gracious intervention on that occasion and in many occasions when people call upon God in faith. He doesn’t sprinkle his conversation with miracle talk, but rather points to God doing God’s work.
To a person looking in from the outside, it is clear that God does God’s work through people like Jon Moore. Photo available.
Dan Hess is a team member of Advancement Associates, Inc. He was professor of communication at Goshen (Ind.) College for 33 years. Dan lives in Indianapolis and is a member of Shalom Mennonite Church.
