News & Events
“Life is a Pilgrimage” is theme of 2017 Ministry Retreat
As we live in times of busyness, times of mounting tensions and conflict within the church and world, and exhaustion from schedules, pastors are invited to come away for rest, meditation upon biblical pilgrimages and stories, laughter, and sharing. How do you sense God in your own life’s pilgrimage? There will be four sessions…
Read MoreCredentialed leaders gather for “Healing Ministries” Consultation
Rediscover an authentic New Testament ministry of healing including personal formation through the laying on of hands and prayer, with keynote speaker Willard Swartley.
Read MoreDr. Scot McKnight leads “Kingdom vision as a way of life”
Dr. Scot McKnight, author of The Kingdom Conspiracy, will speak in a series of events in Harrisonburg, September 28-29, 2016. Hosted by a partnership of agencies (Eastern Mennonite University, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Park View Mennonite Church, Virginia Mennonite Conference and Virginia Mennonite Missions) and co-sponsored by Eastern Mennonite University’s Augsburger Lectureship, Dr. McKnight will lead…
Read MoreYouth Workers’ Summit explore “Yearning to Know and Be Known”
Those working with upper middle school students to younger adults (ages 13-19) are invited to participate in a Youth Workers’ Summit: “Yearning to Know and Be Known: Naked Conversations about Sexuality and Spirituality,” October 7-8, 2016, with speaker Debra Hirsch. She is the author of Redeeming Sex: Naked Conversations about Sexuality and Spirituality. This event…
Read MoreMiddle 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 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.…
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