News
Three Simultaneous Crises in Our Local and Global Communities
Greetings to pastors and leaders of Virginia Mennonite Conference. As a community, we are navigating a pandemic which began as a medical crisis, which then impacted our local and global economic realities, and which has moved into a moral crisis. Any one of these crises creates a significant leadership challenge, but we are navigating these…
VMC and VMMissions Announce Phase 2 Reopening Adjustments
To Visitors of Virginia Mennonite Conference and VMMissions Offices: We hope you and your families are well and that you are experiencing the peace of Christ in these tumultuous days. Thank you for your understanding in the closing of our offices due to COVID-19 these past several weeks. In view of the Governor’s recently announced…
Raising Our Voices Against Racism in the Culture and in the Church
The tragic death of George Floyd and the subsequent events over the last week have caused me to engage in my own soul-searching about racism. I grieve the way it has not only permeated our history, our culture, and our faith community, but the way it has also been ignored, justified, or whitewashed, leaving people…
The Importance of Our Collective Well-Being
Pastors and Leaders Update Philippians 2:1-13 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition…
A Dimmer Switch Approach to Reopening the Commonwealth of Virginia
Virginia Governor Northam has indicated that churches may reopen as of May 15, 2020, but with a restriction of 50% capacity of the meetinghouse’s certificate of occupancy. COVID-19 is spread from person to person mainly through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. This reality raises health concerns related to choirs, congregational…
Updates: Conference Assembly, Conference Ministries, and more
Greetings from Virginia Mennonite Conference! We have been an experiencing a crisis of community through physical and social distancing. As a people of faith we value relationships, public worship, and engaging in ministry in the community. But in order to reduce the potential impact of COVID-19 on the most vulnerable in our congregations, community, and…
Naomi Rowe Francisco: A legacy of faith and love
Naomi Rowe Francisco wore many hats and went by many names: Sister Naomi, Neme, Aunt Neme, momma, sister, cousin, friend, grandma. She was known by hundreds of Calvary Christian Academy students and C3 members as Mother Francisco. I had the distinct privilege to call her Grams, and the privilege of being with my grandmother…
Our journey on the Emmaus road
I have been reflecting on the Emmaus Road experience found in chapter 24 of Luke’s Gospel. Two followers of Jesus are going to Emmaus. Along the way, a stranger joins them. They travel together talking about the events that have occurred. Recounting the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is an aura of confusion, bewilderment,…
Grieving alone: a new challenge for families, congregations, and our faith community
Pastors and Leaders Update On April 5, I had the privilege of providing a meditation for Asheville Mennonite Church via Zoom. Followers of Jesus were commemorating the hope they held as the processional headed for Jerusalem. It was a time of hopeful acknowledgement that the future will be different. As it turned out in biblical…
This time of crisis requires adaptations, innovations, and perseverance by faith leaders
April 3, 2020 Pastors and Leaders within Virginia Mennonite Conference, As I anticipate celebrating Palm Sunday, I fondly remember children walking into the meetinghouse waving palm branches and smiling boldly; their enthusiasm was in the air. I remember the uplifting singing and the sense of a celebrative mood. I am celebrating today that our congregations…
Leading through difficult choices
Jesus instructed the blind man to go to the pool of Siloam to receive his sight (John 9). Not knowing what to expect, he stumbled and made his way to the pool, and received his sight. Blindness is a relevant metaphor for the circumstances many leaders have experienced. They are moving forward into the unknown,…
Conference responds to the coronavirus
This letter and list of resources was sent to Virginia Mennonite Conference leaders on March 19, 2020. Dear Virginia Mennonite Conference Leaders, Hope springs forth! Rosy pink blossoms of the redbud are blooming, a dazzling yellow on the forsythia, and the soft pink of the apple blossoms display the hopeful magnificence of spring. But…