News

Hospitality: Ministry in the Neighborhood

 Recently I enjoyed a fun and dynamic time with my three-year-old granddaughter. She was adamant that I “look” at the plethora of things she wanted to show me. I don’t speak Spanish and she doesn’t speak English. Her mother was born in D.R. Congo, grew up in Kenya and the US, but now serves with…

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Emanuel-Suter

Sunday schools shape Christian faith

The Sunday school movement in Virginia Mennonite Conference had an uncertain beginning 150 years ago. In 1869, seventeen Virginia ministers barely got the two-thirds majority needed to pass a resolution allowing Sunday schools. Only one of the three bishops in that 1869 Conference meeting supported Sunday schools. Fortunately that supporting bishop presided over Emanuel Suter’s…

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Thinking about faith formation in Mennonite Church USA

The Renewed Commitments of our Journey Forward process give us good guidance in how we will focus our faith formation efforts. As together we follow Jesus, witness to God’s peace, and experience transformation, we will be formed more and more into the likeness of Christ, which is our lifelong purpose as disciples of Jesus. Our…

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Developing faith at Mount Clinton

  Mount Clinton Mennonite Church, part of the Central District of Virginia Mennonite Conference, is located in the village of Mount Clinton, about five miles west of Harrisonburg, Va., and surrounded by corn, soybean and rye pastures that feed the dairy and poultry farms of Rockingham County. Mount Clinton has had ups and downs in…

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Spiritual formation over the life stages

When I was growing up, my family attended a conservative Mennonite church near Goshen, Ind. We went to church three times a week and sometimes more. On occasion, in my teen years, I got to stay home to take care of a calving dairy cow, but otherwise church attendance was expected, as was Sunday school…

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How we continue forming faith into adulthood

Translated by Lizzette Hernandez One of the ways we are working in faith formation at Iglesia Enciende una Luz and at Iglesia Shalom is through discipleship in small groups. In those groups, a closer relationship is developed among believers and new members of both congregations. This allows a space where people can reflect on their…

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Clyde G. Kratz

Taking our faith seriously with formation ministries

In September, my wife Eunice and I traveled to Pennsylvania to celebrate our forty-fifth class reunion. We were classmates at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School. I attended from fall 1970 through spring 1974. (VMC members Willis Hunsberger, Knoxville, Tenn., Barbara Weirich, Ted and Sue Swartz, and Rosemary Landis, all of Harrisonburg, Va., are also members…

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VA Relief Sale

Top ten reasons for Sharing Our Surplus at the Relief Sale

The Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale’s Sharing Our Surplus (SOS) Campaign was launched two years ago to solicit cash donations for Mennonite Central Committee in addition to money raised through auction, food and other sales. So far the effort has raised over $75,000, and has been designated specifically to meet the growing needs of refugees around…

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Sarah Ann Bixler

Christian formation throughout the life course

Christian faith does not look the same in every season of life. Each season brings particular opportunities for Christian formation, and these vary in every individual. As we in the church walk alongside one another on the lifelong journey of faith, we can be attentive to one another in different seasons of life: childhood, early-…

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Mennonite Junior High Retreat is October 11-12

Join Junior High groups from area Mennonite churches for two days of worship and fun, October 11-12, 2019! Experience great games and camp activities, enjoy time with friends, and more. Carmen Miller of Harrisonburg Mennonite Church will be the speaker, and a group of high school youth will be leading worship times. See the Junior…

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Feeling like Job: rebuilding after a disaster loss

  After they saw that tornado warnings had been rescinded in their area of Amherst County, in southwestern Virginia, Frank and Mary went to bed. When the twister hit their home in the small town of Elon, they found themselves several dozen yards away from their home in a debris field down a hill. Miraculously,…

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Annual volunteer award given at VMRC

Carolyn Nowlin and her late husband, Pres Nowlin, were named by Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) as recipients of this year’s Claude Hess Distinguished Service Award. The annual award is given to the volunteer(s) who “Builds Community Spirit at VMRC through Faithful Christian Service.” Carolyn shares her thoughts on volunteerism in this Q&A. Some of…

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