New Search
If you are not happy with the results below please do another search
Blog Post
Christy Miller Hesed attends Shalom Mennonite Church in Newton, Kansas. She earned an M.S. in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology and a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Maryland. She most recently directed a research project that engaged rural churches and government agencies to promote coastal resilience to climate change on the Chesapeake Bay. I have been an environmentalist for as long as I remember, but concern for the environment is not my only motivation for working on climate change. Climate change is fundamentally a justice issue. I have often been asked to explain to others what it...
read more →
Blog Post
Douglas Kaufman is a director of pastoral ecology at the Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions, Goshen College, and pastor of Benton Mennonite Church, who began creation care ministries in response to too much manure in the Elkhart River where they baptize. He is completing a Th.M. in ecology from the University of Toronto. When Luke Gascho and Jennifer Schrock of Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College invited me to help lead efforts to engage Mennonite churches on climate change, it felt like a call from the Spirit. I felt prepared because I had been leading my congregation...
read more →
Blog Post
Melissa Florer-Bixler is pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church. She earned an M.A. in Religion from Duke University and an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary. Melissa is committed to the local church building power for local, systemic change as members of diverse coalitions. She is a board member of Friends of L’Arche North Carolina, a community for people with and without intellectual disabilities who share daily life. She is also on the steering committee for MC USA’s Women in Leadership. Melissa and her spouse parent their three children in Durham, North Carolina. She is the author of the book Fire By Night....
read more →
en español By MC USA staff (Mennonite Church USA) — The Executive Board (EB) of Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) today released the written report[1] from the Membership Guidelines Advisory Group. According to the group’s charter, the 21-person[2] volunteer group met for a one-time working session in November to “generate option(s) for how to best discern the future of the Membership Guidelines in a way that builds up the church and embodies the Renewed Commitments for MC USA, including MC USA’s values of diversity and inclusion.” The group’s report was submitted to the EB for review in December and was discussed...
read more →
Blog Post
This post is part of a series from the MC USA Archives Oral History Project that seeks to document and preserve the voices of young people, ages 24-40, who are part of MC USA. The excerpts below are from an informal, longer spoken interview and edited for clarity. Interviewees did not receive the questions beforehand and responses were spontaneous. The interviewer was Xaris Martínez. Full recordings are available in the MC USA archives. Theresa Peachey Crissman is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite University and currently works as a long-term local mission worker for Virginia Mennonite Missions, helping churches share the Good News of...
read more →
By Kayla Berkey (Mennonite Church USA) — This year, the Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) Archives launched an oral history project to collect interviews of young people within MC USA. The project's inspiration came from the 100th anniversary of the Young People’s Conference Movement, which was held in June 1919 among Mennonite conscientious objectors in Clermont-en-Argonne, France and focused on priorities for the “church of the future.” Many of the...
read more →
Español/Spanish By MC USA staff ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Church USA) – The Executive Board (EB) has formed a new Membership Guidelines Advisory Group to recommend a process for continuing the church’s conversation on its Membership Guidelines. Iris de León-Hartshorn, associate executive director of Operations, and Michael Danner, associate executive director for Church Vitality, will co-lead the 21-person Membership Guidelines Advisory Group, which will meet for a one-time working session on November 15-17, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. The Advisory Group will engage in structured dialogue to review the history of the guidelines and how they are currently functioning within the church,...
read more →
Blog Post
Originally published by David C. Cramer on his blog, Anabaptist Revisions. David C. Cramer is teaching pastor at Keller Park Church in South Bend, Indiana, and managing editor at the Institute of Mennonite Studies at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. Two weeks ago my family and I were gearing up to head to Kansas City, where I was scheduled to lead a series of youth sessions on “Big Questions” at the Mennonite Church USA 2019 convention (MennoCon19) on behalf of AMBS. Although I had been a member of an MC USA church for five years while a grad student...
read more →
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Mission Network) – Roughly 3,000 Mennonites are gathering July 2-6 in Kansas City, Missouri as people seeking to be Anabaptist peacemakers in the 21st century. Glen Guyton, the first African American to become executive director of Mennonite Church USA (MC USA), will lead its 500 delegates at MennoCon19 in moving the denomination forward in efforts...
read more →
Blog Post
Sue Park-Hur is denominational minister of Leadership Development for MC USA and a worship speaker at MennoCon19. John 20:19-23 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them...
read more →
Blog Post
Journey Forward is Mennonite Church USA’s churchwide renewal process of engaging in Scripture, storytelling and sharing how God is at work in the lives of people and congregations across MC USA. Its purpose is for us to renew our local and denominationwide identity and affirm our core beliefs as we live out the mission to which God calls us as the church. It is a process, not a conclusion. The process invites you to connect how you’re living God’s call to broader church mission and draws our attention to how the Living Word is moving in our midst. The Renewed Commitments concisely name...
read more →
Blog Post
Journey Forward is Mennonite Church USA’s churchwide renewal process of engaging in Scripture, storytelling and sharing how God is at work in the lives of people and congregations across MC USA. Its purpose is for us to renew our local and denominationwide identity and affirm our core beliefs as we live out the mission to which God calls us as the church. It is a process, not a conclusion. The process invites you to connect how you’re living God’s call to broader church mission and draws our attention to how the Living Word is moving in our midst. The Renewed Commitments concisely name...
read more →
Blog Post
Leonard Dow served as pastor of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church, Philadelphia, for almost 20 years and is currently the Stewardship and Development specialist for Everence. He is also a worship speaker for MennoCon19. Leonard loves the Lord and is married to Dr. Rosalie Rolon-Dow, and they have three children. “That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! ‘Peace be with you,’ he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw...
read more →
Blog Post
This post is part of our Journey Forward series. We’ve invited folks from across Mennonite Church USA to reflect on our Journey Forward and consider how they’ve seen Renewed Commitments at work in their lives, their congregation or community. If you’d like to contribute to this series by highlighting stories that bring our shared values to life, email JenniferC@MennoniteUSA.org. Ben Wideman is the Campus Minister for 3rd Way Collective, a unique campus ministry created by University Mennonite Church focusing on peace, justice, and faith at Penn State. Ben grew up in Canada, went to college in Virginia, and seminary in California, before finding a new home...
read more →
Blog Post
This post is part of our Journey Forward series. We’ve invited folks from across Mennonite Church USA to reflect on our Journey Forward and consider how they’ve seen Renewed Commitments at work in their lives, their congregation or community. If you’d like to contribute to this series by highlighting stories that bring our shared values to life, email JenniferC@MennoniteUSA.org. Dan Miller is conference pastor for Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. Having spent 16 years doing transitional ministry, he continues working with others to train transitional pastors. Before coming on staff, Dan co-led several pastor networks focused on church revitalization for Indiana-Michigan. Back in July 2017, just two weeks...
read more →
« Previous Page — Next Page »