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News archive
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| Markham congregation welcomes people home on 50th anniversary |
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MARKHAM, Ill.“Welcome home, we’ve been expecting you,” incoming pastor Cyneatha Millsaps told the more than 150 people who had gathered July 29 at the Community Mennonite Church, Markham, Ill., to worship and celebrate the congregation’s 50th anniversary.
“You’re all part of the story that has changed our lives,” said Bonnie Neufeld, who with her husband, Chuck, provides pastoral support for the congregation.
The Mennonite Church USA congregation spent the weekend celebrating “50 years of grace and mercy.” Five former pastors were in attendance, including Ron Krehbiel, the first pastor of the congregation.
Krehbiel highlighted an early turning point in the congregation’s history when leaders affirmed being a church open to everyone in the community, despite some members’ concerns after noted African American church leader, Vincent Harding, was invited to speak. As the community around them changed, the congregation took on the challenge of being a racially integrated congregation.
A day care center, continuously operating since 1964 to serve the children in the community, was the first of many urban ministries the congregation started. The congregation was also home to a Mennonite Voluntary Service for more than 25 years and hosted close to 200 MVSers.
The congregation has worked to hold firm to its vision of unity in diversity, even though it has experienced painful times when both blacks and whites left the church over race-related issues.
“Being an inclusive, cross-cultural, inter-racial and anti-racism witness is not easy but we believe that’s precisely what God has called us to,” said Chuck Neufeld.
The Markham congregation began in 1955 when members of the Central District Conference moved out of Chicago to the southern suburbs and decided to start a new congregation. Community Mennonite Church is affiliated with both Central District and Illinois conferences and representatives of both area conferences as well as the denomination were present for the weekend of celebration.
A Saturday evening banquet featured comments by all of the former pastors who were present, as well as community organizations touched by the community witness of the Markham congregation.
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| Orell Mitchell (second from right), minister of worship and a member of the lay leadership team of Community Mennonite Church, Markham, Ill. (1977-78), greets Cynthia and Ron Krehbiel. Krehbiel was the first pastor for the congregation which celebrated its 50th anniversary on July 28-29. Bonnie Neufeld (right) is one of the current pastors of the congregation. |
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| Community Mennonite Church, Markham, Ill., celebrated its 50th anniversary, July 28-29. The congregation, begun by members of the Central District Conference. The inter-racial congregation seeks to be a refuge, a place of reconciliation and a door of hope for all who enter. Photos by Janeen Bertsche Johnson. |
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| Photo Release: Boulder church gives back part of JoinHands gift |
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At the Mennonite Men (MM) booth at San José 2007 on July 5, Eldon Mast (left), chair of Boulder (Colo.) Mennonite Church (BMC), Jim Gingerich, MM coordinator, Lawrence Bartel, MM treasurer, and Karen Cox, pastor of BMC, help put a roof on a model of Rochester Area (N.Y.) Mennonite Fellowship, which will receive a grant in the next two years from JoinHands, MM’s church building program. BMC received a JoinHands grant in 1986 for $50,000, which helped the church buy a building for $250,000. In 2004, BMC sold the building for $1.1 million and bought another for $1.2 million, plus $150,000 for remodeling. The church is in the process of raising $350,000, say Mast and Cox, but is giving 10 percent of what they raise to JoinHands to help other new congregations. “Our church wanted to follow the firstfruits guidelines,” said Mast. The church, which has about 100 members, plans to give around $9,000 every six months over a three-year period. Cox, who became pastor in 2005, says BMC is “a vibrant, healthy congregation,” and the new building gives them room for growth. People are still grateful for the grant BMC received more than 20 years ago, she says.Gordon Houser
Photo by Lowell Brown
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