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Middle School event: Trust in a God who trusts in you
On a cool rainy Saturday in September, ninety middle school youth and seventeen youth leaders, representing thirteen churches, gathered at Eastern Mennonite High School for a Middle School one-day youth event. Welcomed by Clyde Kratz, Executive Conference Minister, and led in lively worship by Seth Crissman and Greg Troyer, the event featured speaker Rebekka Stutzman.…
Read MoreOur Stories, God’s Story: Mennonite Women of Virginia retreat
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”3″ gal_title=”Mennonite Womens Retreat 2015″] “My story is as sacred to God as God’s story is sacred to me. Nothing is lost on the breath of God,” became a familiar refrain by the end of Mennonite Women of Virginia retreat, October 30-November 1. A crisp fall weekend at Massanetta Springs Resort, near Harrisonburg,…
Read MoreHow VMC is equipping leaders; will you join us?
As I pray and reflect, I can’t help but remember working through the logistics necessary to carry out Executive Conference Minister Clyde Kratz’s vision over the past calendar year: A January “Forum on Prison Ministry,” an effort to collaborate on the issue of overcrowding in the Harrisonburg/Rockingham County Jail, and other issues and ministry opportunities…
Read MorePastoral Consultation meets to engage questions of “Same-Gender Attraction, Relationship, Lifestyle”
One hundred pastors and credentialed leaders in Virginia Mennonite Conference gathered in November at Lindale Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Va., for a three-day Pastoral Consultation, a time of intentional listening, sharing and discernment on “Same-Gender Attraction, Relationship, Lifestyle.” This was the fifth in a series of five Virginia Mennonite Conference consultations that offered a space for…
Read MoreMennonite World Conference connects father and son
Alberto Othuon, a third generational Mennonite from Tanzania, currently worships at Stephens City Mennonite Church. The 16th Global Assembly of Anabaptists brought his father to Harrisburg, Pa., from Tanzania for international worship and fellowship with 7,500 Mennonites from 65 countries. His father, Bishop John Nyagwegwe, has been walking with God (the Mennonite World Conference theme)…
Read MoreConvention: facilitating difficult table conversations
With the exception of two Mennonite Church USA Conventions, I have been present as a pastor or as an employee of a denominational agency or institution for the last 40 years. Kansas City 2015 was the first time I served as a delegate, in this case appointed by Virginia Mennonite Conference. I also served as…
Read MoreGod met us at Table 80
The work we had to do weighed heavily on those of us around Table 80 at Mennonite Church USA Convention in Kansas City. We were carefully prepared for our work of “spiritual discernment,” and were reminded often throughout the delegate assembly to work in a spirit of prayerful openness to each other and to the…
Read MoreIntrigued and challenged by our ‘Jerusalem’ events
I left both Virginia Mennonite Conference (VMC) Assembly and Mennonite Church USA Convention in Kansas City feeling deeply moved by the worship experiences with emphasis on what it means to live like Jesus during challenging times. I was intrigued by the notion that holiness and unity aren’t just two dynamic concepts on a continuum, but…
Read MoreA God ‘bigger than our differences’
Planners for the Mennonite Church USA Convention in Kansas City carefully assigned delegates to tables of eight or nine persons to reflect both geographical and viewpoint diversity. None of us at Table 22 knew each other beforehand, but the preliminary conversations around the table went at ping-pong speed as we quickly established commonalities and relationships.…
Read MoreEngaging possibilities and walking together in love
Summer 2015 will be remembered for the gatherings of the body of Christ within our Anabaptist-Mennonite faith family. In mid-June Virginia Mennonite Conference held their annual Assembly on the theme “Built into a Spiritual House” (1 Peter 2) at Harrisonburg Mennonite Church. The first week of July, Mennonite Church USA held their biennial Convention in…
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