Akron Mennonite Church, Akron, pa vision Retreat III
Mennonite Congregation of Boston, MA
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- Neffsville Mennonite Church, Neffsville, PA
- North Baltimore Mennonite Church, Baltimore, MD
- Oley Valley Mennonite Church, Oley, PA
- Ridgeview Mennonite Church, Gordonville, PA Called by God to learn and share together God’s love with all creation
- Sandy Hill Community Church, Coatesville, PA
- Zion Mennonite Church, Birdsboro, PA
Mennonite Congregation of Boston, MA The Mennonite Congregation of Boston continues to offer services and fellowship in the Boston area. Begun as a house church, the Congregation initially met in members’ homes and relied on lay leadership as it does today. Many of our members grew up in churches outside of the Boston area and moved here for study or work. The Mennonite Congregation of Boston meets every Sunday evening from 6 to 7:30 PM (except for the last Sunday of the month) September through June. We welcome all who wish to participate without exception. On the local scene, the congregation continues to assist financially and with volunteers the food program for the homeless, run by Neighborhood Action, a social outreach organization of the Church of St.John the Evangelist in Boston. Within the congregation several persons organized an Israel-Palestine Action group to discuss and engage on issues and concerns related to this challenging part of the world and continue to assist the congregation in activities related to this situation. Our Sunday evening services continue to be creative mixes of both worship and presentation/discussion. Over the past year, we have had outside speakers as well as some from within the congregation reflect on a range of topics: highlights were a series on how Mennonites maintain or promote a strong peace witness and service orientation in the modern type of democratic political order that characterizes the US and a presentation by Al Poussaint on breaking down Discrimination and Disparities in Healthcare. Finally MCOB has reenergized its efforts toward the recruitment of a part-time pastor under the leadership of the current Church Council. We hope to have a pastor by the fall of 2009. We continue to search for ways to be a congregation of support to each other in an urban setting and are a resource to persons in the Boston area for education etc. who want to identify with a Mennonite congregation. Henry Biedrzycki, Administrative Coordinator Neffsville Mennonite Church, Neffsville, PA For Neffsville Mennonite Church, 2008 has been a year of change and mission. Our core purpose “to continue the ministry of Jesus” is highlighted by our core values of Excellence, Relevance & Vitality, Anabaptism, the Love of God, and Christ Centeredness that become the framework of the sermon themes throughout the church year. To assist in that planning, the pastors, other staff members, worship planning team, commission directors, and elders spend a day together to discuss and discern these themes into a thematic design for the new church year. It is amazing that the sermon series planned the prior August for this June was “A Flood of Love” and the Vacation Bible School curriculum was “Beach Party”. Change: A major change of the year was completing the constitution revision process that was approved and has been in effect since August. The significant change in the new constitution is to have six elders on the Elder Leadership Board instead of four. Sunday morning worship experienced another change. With counsel from staff, worship and nurture commission directors, and feedback from the congregation, the decision was made to have one “blended” worship service. It has been well received. There were several changes in the staff this year, also. Tim Halteman and Lauren Robinson were hired as interns for a nine-month term to serve with young adult and senior ministries. Tynea Horst was hired as an intern for a three-month term to serve with the youth. Beth Jarrett was ordained as Associate Pastor on September 21 after completing her two-year licensing period. Darlene Hein resigned from her position as Director of Children and Youth Music in August. John Miller was hired as Interim Director of Choirs and Ensembles. A search team and prayer team have been set up for the purpose of adding another person - Associate Pastor for Christian Education and Family Life – to the staff. Mission: After a lengthy Manheim Township approval process, the adjoining property purchased last year, is being renovated with lots of congregational help. Youth House 2415 hopes to be ready in April. Our congregation has become a part of Love, In the Name of Christ (Love, INC), a clearing house ministry. A team from the congregation and other volunteers stay involved with the Community Meals Program at East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church. This year many people served in a variety of mission opportunities: Youth With a Mission, Australia; Vemzo Partnership, Argentina; MCC Meat Canning Team, Africa; Nazareth Hospital, Israel; Camp Deerpark, NY; Mennonite Disaster Service, Pass Christian, Mississippi; Youth Mission Trip to Tampico, Mexico; Glennalen, Alaska; Family Legacy International, Zambia, Africa; Kenya and Arusha, Tanzania; YES Program in Guatemala, and Care International, Honduras. We are thankful to God for His faithfulness and look forward to what His plans are in this New Year. -Bertha Roggie, Elder Leadership Team North Baltimore Mennonite Church, Baltimore, MD James Wenger retired as pastor of North Baltimore Mennonite Church at the end of 2007. From January 1 to March 15 the Spiritual Life Group provided pastoral care when needed. Various members and outside speakers filled the preaching role each Sunday during that time. David Bartow began as intentional interim pastor on March 16. He has provided leadership as we have worked at recommendations from the assessment done in October, 2007. One of the recommendations was to take time to pray and listen for God to speak. A prayer guide for the interim was published to help members know how to pray as we work at various issues. We have worked at making our worship services more meaningful. We did a series of worship services on healing in June and July. The climax was a healing service in the Taizé style. We have made some much needed improvements to the building. We are taking a look at our identity as a congregation. We are also examining our organizational structure to better define roles and bring clarity to where accountability lies. A committee has begun working on constitutional and by-laws revision. A pastoral search committee has been appointed and has developed an excellent congregational profile to share with potential candidates. They will begin looking at candidates early in 2009. Congregational life continues to flourish. Several members plan and lead worship. There is Sunday School for children and adults each week. Sharing during the worship service and a fellowship hour after the service are important parts of congregational life. We have an active Youth Group. Six small groups continue to meet regularly providing support and discipling for active and inactive members. A Women’s Retreat in spring and Congregational Retreat in fall gave opportunity for people to get away to reflect and have meaningful fellowship together. We continue to support and participate in a number of outreach ministries. The Asylum Seekers Housing Network (ASHN) provided housing and support for seven asylum seekers. Several of our members volunteer with the ASHN program. ASHN launched a website in 2008. We are part of the Baltimore Interfaith Hospitality Network (BIHN) which provides housing for the homeless. We are a buddy congregation with Roland Park Presbyterian Church. While the program did not house anyone during 2008 due to financial and administrative difficulties, it is on the way to housing people again in 2009. We continue to partner with Atlantic Coast Conference in giving oversight to the Reservoir Hill House of Peace (RHHP), a place where people from a variety of backgrounds live in community. We continue to partner with Mennonite Mission Network to house a Mennonite Voluntary Service unit at RHHP. Four volunteers work in various positions in the city of Baltimore with one of them giving part time to our congregation as Youth Assistant. A number of our members serve on the board and as volunteers for Ten Thousand Villages. We give financial support to several missionaries and receive communications from them on a regular basis. For the third straight year, a team of MDS volunteers from our congregation spent a week in January in Louisiana helping to rebuild following Hurricane Katrina. Our Missions Committee has been reorganized. It now serves as a more active coordinating and evaluative body for the various outreach programs at NBMC and also as a communications conduit between Church Council and the congregation. There is a positive feeling among members about the congregation as we continue to work at important issues during this interim time. We pray for God’s guidance as we work at discerning who our next long term pastor will be. -David Bartow, Interim Pastor Oley Valley Mennonite Church, Oley, PA In the 80’s chick flick “Steel Magnolias” Dolly Parton’s character says at a particularly emotional point in the movie, “Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion!” That has been a bit of the experience at Oley this past year. The year began quietly enough, just keeping on keeping on. We had begun an intercessory prayer ministry in late 2007 which we called The Wrestling Team. The team met regularly throughout 2008. Doubtlessly, the efforts of this team, working as “the boiler room” of the congregation (that place where the energy of the place is generated and sent out)is what brought us through the tears and laughter we have been experiencing. The end of 2008 was very difficult. Several families experienced very sudden losses of family members. In the midst of that, we all experienced what the Beloved Community is all about as Jesus followers. Care was given and received in wonderful ways. We are entering now a surprising season, close on the heels of these losses. Through God’s grace and some fairly low-key outreach in the community, we are taking baby steps in fulfilling our mission of “Being formed as a Christ-like community to bless this region in Jesus’ name!” In other words, we are being of actual concrete use in the community and people are responding. We are in the somewhat laughable position of NEEDING to start an Alpha Course (or some very similar introduction to the Christian faith) for folks who are coming to us full of life’s big questions, and also for those of us who want to get back to the basics and to learn alongside those who are new to and invigorated by their faith in Jesus. Laughter through tears. We are still one among many small, struggling congregations, seeking to make good use of limited resources. But we serve a God who knows no such limitations! As new Christians join us, we hope to be open to the changes they will bring to a quiet, staid church culture. We pray that God will move beyond our too small expectations and beyond our comfort zones. Please pray with us to that end. -Craig Pelkey-Landes, Pastor Ridgeview Mennonite Church, Gordonville, PA Called by God to learn and share together God’s love with all creation Our vision statement invites us individually and corporately to discipleship and personal growth through worship, study, and participation in a variety of ministries at Ridgeview Mennonite Church, in our homes, work places, schools, neighborhoods, and communities, across the street and around the world. This past year we celebrated holy moments in births, baptisms, weddings, graduations, birthdays, new people, new jobs, and other “firsts.” The rich rituals and faith traditions of weekly Sunday worship, Advent, Lent, communion, foot washing, fellowship meals, weekly gatherings, and prayer gatherings provide the framework, the foundation for celebrating our life together in Christ. Both of these call, inspire and challenge us to live out in a renewed way the call in our every day to day walking around, resting and working lives as the salt, light and fragrance of Christ so that the world is a better place. Thanks be to God. The year has had losses, as well. Losses through death of family and friends, in health or sickness, accidents, in relationships, in friends who have moved on to other places, and loss of jobs and homes. Later in the year Pastor John accepted the executive director position at Laurelville Mennonite Retreat Center meaning he would conclude his role as lead pastor early in 2009. We continue to discover what it means to learn and share together God’s love in our local community. The local Intercourse Community Park has become one of those “holy places” of mutual learning and sharing where we share in the Easter Sunrise service, Community Worship service during Heritage Days, National Day of Prayer Walk, Community Picnic, Community Vacation Bible School, Community Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, and Community Shepherds Walk/Nativity. We share with a variety of ministries through “in-gatherings” where we bring needed items to be used in ministries like local food banks, the Backpacks for Kids program, Hope Christian Center, Bibles for the World, MCC kits, blankets for Kentucky, and ministries with Native Americans. Congregational ministries that serve both regular attendees and persons from the community include Time Out--a weekly program for women, Midweek Family Activities, Tuesday Alive With 55 And Up, Men’s First Saturday breakfast, Groovin’ in the Grove, Book Reading Club, WHEEL groups (Welcoming Homes Encouraging Edifying Lives), and the Softball team. The Ridgeview facility is also used for wedding and concert rentals, Weight Watchers, and Moms in Touch prayer gathering. Our partnerships and broader church connections include: ACC- Dick Thomas, Merv Stoltzfus, Pat Yoder, Elaine Shirk, Pastor John Jon & Jacqueline Hoover family in Beirut, Lebanon Charles & Anne Marie Smoker family in Japan Argentina Mennonite Churches VEMZO James family & Upper Room (Navajo) Mennonite Church in Chinle, Arizona Hope Christian Center in New York Camp Deer Park MDS opportunities in Gulf states Support of an elementary school in Haiti College students all over the states SWAP friends in Kentucky As we anticipate the new year, where do we see God at work? We anticipate adding a youth and young adult staff team member and a time of intentional interim ministry in preparation for calling a new lead pastor. God at work at Ridgeview occurs individually and together in our homes, in our church, workplaces and neighborhoods, across the street and around the world. We pray that we will continue to clearly discern God at work within us personally, as a church, in our community and elsewhere, as faithful disciples called by God to learn and share together God’s love with all creation. We pray that God will continue to “send” new families our way. We covenant with God and each other to joyfully, faithfully, and courageously experience life to its fullest, claiming the Apostle Paul’s word. Philippians 1:6…Confident that God who started this great work…will bring it to completion. -John Denlinger & Nelson Yoder, Pastors Sandy Hill Community Church, Coatesville, PA Our Purpose Statement reads, “Our purpose at Sandy Hill is to lead people into a relationship with Jesus and to membership into Christ’s family at Sandy Hill, to nurture them to maturity in Christ, and to equip them for their ministry in the church and mission in the world for the honor and glory of God.” Our focus continues to be to reach the Community God gave us with the love of Jesus; to find meaningful ways to connect with our community. During 2009 we have begun to scale back our organizational structure and our focus has been on “Simplifying” our organization. Coming out of that we have decided to concentrate on Discipleship as our main focus as a body. A number of our people are currently in a discipleship relationship with another person and this past year we began a Men’s Discipleship Group. This is a group of 30-40 year old married men who have agreed to be in a discipleship relationship with each other of for a period of one year. We are working on how to be Godly leaders in their homes, church and workplace. It is exciting to see how God is growing these men into better husbands, fathers, workers and future church leaders. Small Groups continue to be a major part of our spiritual growth here at Sandy Hill. We currently have eight small groups that involve around 100 people (including children). God has been growing this ministry at Sandy Hill and it is a crucial part of our overall strategy of growing together in Jesus. Our Angel Food Ministry, which I first highlighted last year in this report, is continuing to grow. We now serve consistently around 200 families each month. It is exciting to see 25 to 30 of our people come together one Saturday morning each month to work at distributing this high quality food to these families. It is especially rewarding to know that every one of these persons who help each month is extending the arm of Christ, through their unselfish extension of love to these needy people. Our Advent Family Night which is in its fifth year continues to grow. The vision for this event is and event that “will bring our congregation, the Sandy Hill Preschool, and the surrounding community together to celebrate the Christ of Christmas. This past December, which is when we hold the event, there were more than 350 persons attending. As it continues to grow, our prayer is to see even more community families come together to celebrate the Christ of Christmas. Praise God for His faithfulness! -Dale Weaver, Senior Pastor Zion Mennonite Church, Birdsboro, PA Sharing grace, announcing hope, seeking truth on a journey of faith together On our journey of faith together at Zion we continue to strive toward deepening our faithfulness and inviting others into God’s reign in and through Jesus. A significant focus through the year was to shine a greater light on small group ministry. Several new groups and women’s Bible studies have taken root. Some initial steps toward creating more ministries settings among men have been taken. We look with anticipation to what ministry might develop among and through men in the future. There were numerous special speakers and events through the year. Messianic evangelist, Jeffrey D. Miller, led us through “Jesus in the Passover Seder.” James Kraybill from Mennonite Mission Network encouraged us in missions through a message about the new converts in the Philippian church. Gladys Lopez, from EMM, shared with us about her experiences in local church planting and renewal. We heard from Kristen Herr, a member who was home on missionary leave, as she spoke about her experiences in Southeast Asia working in Bible translation. We welcomed home Melody Weidner from a YES (Youth Evangelism Service—EMM) assignment in Bethlehem, and we sent Brook Musselman into a YES assignment in Kenya. We also were blessed by the preaching of our own members Jeff Stoltzfus, Jon Carlson, and Marc Hamer. Jeff completed a term of service as Pastor for Young Adult ministry during 2008. Throughout the year we were challenged in our faith to be “clay jar Christians” and motivated by the “stirring and shaking” that happened amongst the people in the book of Haggai. Over the summer, we tried something new with our Vacation Bible School. We held “Jerusalem Marketplace” during the evening and invited participation of all ages. It provided opportunity to meet families of those who don’t normally attend our church, and for people of Zion to connect in ministry in ways they haven’t previously. Also during the summer, our youth group took a mission trip 10 miles away in the city of Reading. They build relationships, worshipped, and served together with Hope of the Nations church and the nearby neighborhood. During the fall season we started up our family night program with a meal and clubs/studies for all ages on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. The adult sessions had a special focus on equipping all of us for ministry—specifically in the areas of hospitality, building new relationships with others, and sharing our faith in Christ. We held a child safety seminar entitled, “Stewardship of Children” in October. Our Family Fall Festival featured the Chabod Academy of the arts from New Holland performing “Kingdom Come.” We were blessed to witness 6 baptisms of individuals of all ages most of whom began attending Zion in the past year or 2. Our prayer is that we will continue to know (from experience) more and more the love of Christ (for us and this world) and be filled with the fullness of God (Ephesians 3) in the year ahead. Pastor Steve Musselman -Steve Musselman, Pastor Directory: images images -> Pelan pentaksiran kursus images -> Military callsign list as of dec 2010 images -> For Date: 02/01/2013 Friday Call Number Time Call Reason Action 13-768 0008 motor vehicle stop warning Issued images -> New embedded S images -> Creating Buy-In – Building Relationships images -> Deadline: Saturday, March 12th, 2016 images -> News items from Raising Our Voices images -> Last year four of the best Afrikaans Christian singers joined forces to tour Down Under with the production ‘Manne wat Glo’ images -> World-renowned vocal ensemble sweet honey in the rock images -> Peoples Voice Café History Download 109.78 Kb. Share with your friends:
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