summer days...summer days college mennonite church summer 2019 in this issue: lost in wonder...
TRANSCRIPT
As summer winds down, we look back at activities that have taken place this summer—from facilities upgrades to community life celebrations. In June, the circle drive was repaved and wire installation was completed for TV monitors. CMC-MDS (Mennonite Disaster Service) Ministry Group installed 116 new LED lights throughout our church building, putting in about 96 hours of volunteer labor. College Mennonite Church hosted a week of Vacation Bible School, with 145 children in attendance.
In our worship services, we’ve had much to cele-brate, welcoming children and new families into our fellowship. In July, a delegation of CMCers was sent to Kansas City, Missouri, for the biennial Mennonite Church USA convention. You can read a report from their time there starting on page 7.
It has been a busy summer. We hope you enjoy the pictures in this issue.
A special thank you to all our CMC-MDS volunteers who gave of their time: Eileen Becker-Hoover, Merlin Becker-Hoover, Milton Cender, Dwight Gerber, Tom Gunden, John Hershberger, Willie Kanagy, Ron Kennel, John Kolb, Mike Landis, Leonard Penner, Myrl Nofziger, Gregg Nussbaum, Steve Slabaugh, and Bob Troyer
—Tina Hartman
Summer Days
College Mennonite Church Summer 2019
In this issue:
Lost in Wonder
Strategic Priority 1 Improvements
Impressions of Summer
A Glimpse of Community Life Commission Ministry Teams
Mennonite Church USA Convention 2019
2 SING! Summer 2019
We worship together
Every Sunday
9:15 a.m. – Songs for Gathering
9:25 a.m. – Worship Broadcast
Radio: WGCS 91.1 FM: The Globe
Online: www.collegemennonite.org
Greencroft Communities: Ch. 13
9:30 a.m. – Worship service
Interpretation in Spanish and, on
request, American Sign Language
11 a.m. – Fellowship and Christian
education classes for all ages
Pastoral Team Phil Waite, Pastoral Team Leader &
Worship Daniel Yoder, Christian Formation –
Youth
Pamela Yoder, Pastoral Care Talashia Keim Yoder, Family
Ministry
David Maldonado, Outreach
Madeline Maldonado, Outreach Rex Brake, Pastor of Deaf Christian
Fellowship
Luis Tapia, Guest Pastor
College Mennonite Church is a welcoming congregation of Mennonite Church USA,
an Anabaptist community of believers.
To learn more go to:
www.collegemennonite.org www.mennoniteusa.org
Lost in Wonder
Recently I was at a farm in Kansas on a hot summer night,
enjoying the breeze and looking up at a clear night sky. It was
wonderful, and I was full of wonder. Wonder invites us to humility
and submission (gelassenheit), a sense of something so great
and so beyond (transcendent) that all we can do is accept it for
what it is with gratitude and joy.
We live in cynical times. Mistrust is high. We are suspicious of
each other, and we are skeptical of the institutions that express
our collective life. One of the casualties of the doubting posture
is wonder. We are unable to take things at face value.
This fall in worship we will set aside our skepticism and embrace
a sense of childlike awe and gratitude at the grandeur and
bounty of creation. We will restore our sense of wonder at God’s
beauty, which invites us into a spirit of joy and celebration for
who God is. —Phil Waite
SING! Summer 2019 3
Strategic Priority #1 states, “We will embrace
diversity and improve our practices related to
welcoming and actively including and inviting others
into our physical space and spiritual community.”
One of the goals for priority #1 is “transforming our physical space to be more welcoming and to promote relationships and a sense of belonging.” As the pic-tures show, our physical space is being transformed.
Where Are We Going as a Congregation? What Is God’s Dream for the Future of CMC?
Circle Drive Repaving
Installing
LED Lights
CMC Library
Open House TV Monitor Wiring
4 SING! Summer 2019
Mennonite Women
Impressions of Summer
Hartman Family
Continued on next page
Welcoming Families
Ramos Family
Hartman Family
Weaver Family
Davidhizar Family
Pontius Family
Leaman Family
SING! Summer 2019 5
Welcoming Children
Max
Dakini
Five Mennonite churches came together for Vacation Bible School in June, with the theme “Jesus’ Upside Down Mission.” About 145 children, ages birth to grade 6, came together to learn more about following Jesus, using the book of Luke as our scripture guide. We formed community in family groups, worshiped together through song and story, worked on an
offering project for Safe Haven, ate snacks, and participated in Then-and-Now activities like a Pass-over meal, upside-down relay races, footwashing, and learning about people around the world. Many, many volunteers came together to make this a forma-tive week for all involved! —Talashia Keim Yoder
Vacation Bible School 2019
6 SING! Summer 2019
A Glimpse of Community Life Commission Ministry Teams
Funeral Ushers
This steady group of volunteers is at the ready to
provide a presence of welcoming and direction for
grieving families, as well as to others, coming for
CMC funerals/memorial services.
CMC-MDS
The Community Life aspect of the CMC-MDS Minis-
try involves assisting members and attenders with
small home repairs and projects that might be diffi-
cult to address for health or financial reasons.
Stephen Ministry Leaders
We currently have 15 active Stephen Ministers ready
and trained to confidentially accompany church
members through particularly tough times. Each SM
attends a monthly supervision session for support,
encouragement, guidance, and continuing education.
CMC Prison Reentry Leaders
The Prison Reentry Program strives to assist and
guide those released from prison toward independ-
ence. Many volunteer their time to walk beside reen-
trants in order to help facilitate the process. This min-
istry provides a safe environment in which reentrants
can do positive work toward successful societal accli-
mation.
Funeral Hosts
Several volunteers are equipped to help families dur-
ing times of visitations, funerals, and memorial ser-
vices. They serve as a hospitable presence, helping
with the logistics of setup and cleanup, offering direc-
tions around the facility, welcoming guests, and be-
ing available for various needs that may arise.
Pastoral Care Visitors
Our PCV Team is currently made up of 14 faithful
caregivers who visit many who are not able to attend
church services or activities regularly or at all due to
health or other concerns. Our PCV Team also assists
with offering communion, hospital and rehab follow-
up, bereavement care, and home blessings.
Some volunteers are not pictured above.
SING! Summer 2019 7
The delegates wrestled in table groups with the
“Renewed Commitments for MC USA,” an outgrowth
of the Journey Forward discernment process of the
past biennium. These commitments—Follow Jesus,
Witness to God’s Peace, and Experience Transfor-
mation—will be priorities for the work of the denomi-
nation in the next two years. The delegates also
adopted a “Churchwide Statement on the Abuse of
Child Migrants” (developed on-site) and approved
bylaws changes allowing congregations, confer-
ences, and constituency groups to add youth dele-
gates.
Joint youth and adult worship sessions focused on
John 20:19-22, identifying implications for our time of
the disciples’ interaction with Jesus during their first
meeting after the resurrection. CMC youth and adults
had prepared for convention together using the
theme scripture. During the opening worship service,
under the guidance of Talashia Keim Yoder, the
group presented a dramatic interpretation of the
disciples’ change from isolation and fear to gladness
as Jesus came among them.
“Unity is the starting point, not the result of our work.“ This insight from Tom Yoder Neufeld, part of his teach-
ing to delegates on Ephesians 1-3, is my takeaway from MennoCon19. Most of three delegate sessions were
devoted to the teaching of Yoder Neufeld, retired Conrad Grebel University College professor and author of
the Believers Church Bible Commentary on Ephesians. His presentations offered a hopeful word to Menno-
nite Church USA after years of controversy and a decline in membership from more than 120,000 to fewer
than 60,000.
Mennonite Church USA Convention 2019
Continued on next page
8 SING! Summer 2019
On the Monday before convention began, CMC youth
and adults participated in two service projects, one
clearing underbrush at Cave Spring Park and the
other assisting staff at the Adelante Thrift Shop. A
planned outing to Daniel Yoder’s home community on
July 4 was literally washed out due to heavy rain, and
as a result there were no fireworks. —Don Garber
Sing! is a publication of College Mennonite Church. Send inquiries to [email protected]. Marie Clements, Managing Editor Don Garber, Copy Editor Photographers include Dottie Kauffmann, Rex Hooley, Marie Clements, Higinio Luna
COLLEGE MENNONITE CHURCH 1900 S Main St. Goshen IN 46526-5218 Office hours: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.–Thurs. Phone: (574) 535-7262 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.collegemennonite.org