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Hal Shrader is the Lead Pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church. Having served in ministry in California and Chile, he now lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife Christine, daughter Madison, and pit bull terrier Lucy. Over the last weeks, pundits from certain sectors of the media have accused President Barak Obama of making excuses for Islamist militants such as ISIS and for equating the horrors committed in the name of Christ during past eras with those carried out by terrorists today. The criticism stems, for the most part, from comments the President made at the National Prayer Breakfast, held...
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Ervin Stutzman is executive director of Mennonite Church USA As a convener of the Discernment Group, I read, along with many of you, “The failure to bind and loose” (January 2015 The Mennonite) and the much longer “’Defanging the Beast,’: Mennonite responses to John Howard Yoder’s Sexual Abuse” (January 2015, Mennonite Quarterly Review ). Historian Rachel Waltner Goossen has done the church a profound service. She chronicled the history of John Howard Yoder’s “sexual experiment,” and the church’s failure to effectively intervene to halt his violation of dozens of women in many places around the world. The article is like...
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The revised 2014 Churchwide Immigration Statement for Mennonite Church USA recommends five actions to congregations for 2014–2016. Each of the actions below is illustrated by an example of ministry already happening in Mennonite Church USA. Educational 1. Learn skills to help facilitate intercultural competency and/or undoing racism processes in congregations through the Communities of Hope process Invite a Communities of Hope facilitator to work with your congregation. 2. Plan Bible studies, sermons, and worship services on themes of hospitality to immigrants. Learn about the footwashing vigil hosted by Chapel Hill (N.C.) Mennonite Fellowship during Holy Week. “For the past...
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[Español] ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Church USA)—Although it’s still more than five months away, Mennonite Church USA’s 2015 biennial convention is taking shape. Registration opens Jan. 15 for the June 30–July 5 event in Kansas City, Mo. Hotel registration opens March 3. Convention planners are lining up special presenters and exhibitors in addition to a full slate of worship speakers. Recent decisions made in consultation with the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board have included accepting the Brethren Mennonite Council for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Interests’ (BMC) application for exhibit space at KC2015, as well as allowing convention planners to work...
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Seth McCoy is a native of Southern California and currently resides in Saint Paul’s Midway neighborhood. He co-owns a neighborhood cafe, can create latte art, and really can taste a difference between good and bad coffee. He’s been married to his best friend Jennifer for 20 years and has 3 kids: Judah (19), Glory (15), and Sials (12). He spent most of his ministry career leading and teaching at mega churches and discovered Anabaptism through a weekend at the Simple Way with Shane Claiborne, the writing of Stanley Hauerwas and John Howard Yoder, and the gifted and gracious people of...
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Ervin Stutzman is executive director of Mennonite Church USA “A community of communities engaged in God’s mission”--that’s the byline for Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Va. Not long after this byline was introduced, Pastor Phil Kniss used a series of sermons to explain its meaning for the congregation. In his view, the congregation is best seen as a community comprising many subgroups that are organized in varied ways for diverse purposes. Yet, in a fuller sense, all members embrace the mission of the whole congregation, uniting around God’s mission in the world. Park View Mennonite Church is a microcosm...
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Constituency Leaders Council considers survey feedback, offers ideas for future of Mennonite Church USA [Español] By Annette Brill Bergstresser for Mennonite Church USA SCHILLER PARK, Ill. (Mennonite Church USA)—In the midst of uncertainty about the future, the presence of a monarch butterfly on the wall was a sign of hope for those gathered at the fall meeting of Mennonite Church USA’s Constituency Leaders...
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Glen Guyton is the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Convention Planning for Mennonite Church USA. I must confess, I love the youth worship experience at our Mennonite Church USA biennial conventions. Being that I was a youth pastor for 17 years before beginning work for the denomination, convention is what energized me about the Mennonites. Wichita 1995 was my first convention as a youth sponsor and I was honored to be youth worship leader in Nashville 2001. I even first met one of my staff members, Hannah Heinzekehr, when she was a teenager on the planning committee for Atlanta...
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By Colleen McFarland The recent announcement of the completion of the John Howard Yoder Digital Library, a collaborative project undertaken by the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary Library, the Mennonite Church USA Archives, and the Mennonite Historical Library, provoked strong reactions. Public comment on news releases and private messages to members of the John Howard Yoder discernment group and Mennonite Church USA staff expressed anger and disappointment with the creation of the library. Some respondents suggested that this project seeks to place John Howard Yoder “on a pedestal” and...
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By Ervin Stutzman “The church exists as a community of believers in the local congregation, as a community of congregations, and as the worldwide community of faith.” Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, p. 40 Most of us experience “church” on many different levels. For example, we may feel the presence of God’s Spirit where we are gathered in the name of Jesus with one or two others. Or, we often speak of “going to church,” meaning regular worship in a local congregation. Further, as church...
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Luke A. Hartman is Vice President for Enrollment at Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, Va.), and a member of the Communities of Hope Team for Mennonite Church USA. In August 2012 he presented a paper at the Mennonite Higher Education Faculty Conference titled, Why ‘diversity’ is not a choice but a gift and responsibility of faithful living as Christians. His paper remains relevant for Mennonite institutions and congregations, especially as trainings on intercultural competency are happening across the country. Due to length, his paper will be presented as a three-part series. This is part one. Find part two here and also part...
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These words were offered by Tom Kauffman during an open mic time near the end of the Constituency Leaders Council meeting in North Newton, Kan., March 20 - 22, 2014. A news article gives further background on this meeting. by Tom Kauffman Over the years I have often felt the spring meeting of the Constituency Leaders Council (CLC) as an imposition on my experience of Lent. For me, it has seemed that the work of CLC (while certainly important) often overrules, imposes upon, or...
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Series of learning tours planned in response to Kairos Palestine appeal By Jenn Carreto Mennonite Church USA—Fifteen board members and staff representing...
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[Español] NORTH NEWTON, Kan. (Mennonite Church USA)—Eighty-four leaders from across Mennonite Church USA gathered for the spring meeting of the Constituency Leaders Council (CLC) at Bethel College in North Newton, Kan., from Thursday, March 20, through Saturday, March 22. The CLC members spent the majority of their time together offering feedback to six...
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Blog Post
By Ruth Lapp Guengerich, co-director for Mennonite Women USA This blog post was originally shared March 17, 2014, on Mennonite Women Voices, the blog of Mennonite Women USA. It is almost three weeks since I participated in the Women in Leadership Project (WLP) women doing theology conference at Leesburg, VA, and I continue to evaluate, reflect upon, and struggle to articulate what happened to me while at that conference. While it is difficult to put into words “what happened to me” here is an attempt at that. Over...
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