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2007-06-05 issue:

Some Mennonites join Emergent Village

Philadelphia gathering lets congregations put old structures, traditions to rest.

by Lora Steiner

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When participants gathered in suburban Philadelphia in April for the 2007 Emergent Conversation, they were surprised at how many Mennonites were in the group. For Jess Walter, who works with Franconia (Pa.) Mennonite Conference, the reason was obvious: A combination of her job, a personal interest in postmodernity and faith, and a desire to show hospitality motivated her to join the event.

“I told them,” said Walter, who helped coordinate the gathering, “You were on our turf!” Most of Franconia Conference’s 41 congregations are located in the Philadelphia region.
Nearly 150 people joined the conversation held April 16-18 on the campus of Eastern University, near Philadelphia, and at a nearby church. Coordinated by Emergent Village, it’s referred to as a “conversation” instead of a conference as a way to set an informal tone and invite participation.

Emergent Village is about 10 years old and best characterized, according to national coordinator Tony Jones, as a relational network of friends. Emergent Village is definitely not a denomination, says Jones, but rather focuses its work on connecting those interested in the emerging church and organizing conferences and publishing books.

Some of the Mennonites present at the gathering, such as Tim Stair, were there as official representatives of both their area conferences and of Mennonite Church USA. Others, such as Mark Van Steenwyk of Minneapolis, came representing emerging Mennonite congregations.

Van Steenwyk’s church, Missio Dei, began nearly 2½ years ago in the West Bank neighborhood of Minneapolis, an ethnically-diverse area with a high level of poverty. A year after the church began, members began to explore how they could be more hospitable and present in their community. They also wanted to join a larger Anabaptist community and approached the Central Plains Conference about joining Mennonite Church USA.

“We are very Anabaptist at Missio Dei,” says Van Steenwyk. “We feel that we need to submit to some larger community so that we don’t get it into our heads that we’re doing this alone or that we can simply pick and choose what we want to do as a group of ‘consumers.’”

Topher Maddox, who works at Spruce Lake Retreat in Canadensis, Pa., had a similar experience. His congregation, NewStart, grew out of what was Spruce Lake Fellowship. Within the last few years, though, as the area around Spruce Lake and the Poconos began to change rapidly, church members recognized the need to move into the community.

“We felt the old structure and some of the traditions [of our church] needed to be put to rest in order to make a new, fresh start,” says Maddox.

For others it was their first exposure to the emerging church movement.

“It’s important for Mennonites to be in conversation [about] what it means to be Mennonite and Christian in our world today,” says Hinke Loewen-Rudgers, who works with Mennonite Church Canada. “It’s only in conversation and engagement with others that our own faith journey really makes a difference to the local and global community.”

“If we are going to be missional Christians, our churches are going to be constantly emerging, constantly in the process of new formation and rethinking,” Walter says. She hopes that building relationships with others who are Anabaptist-oriented might help the Mennonite church learn more about itself.

Stair found that much of the theology he heard, such as an emphasis on love of enemy as central to the gospel, is closely aligned with Anabaptist theology. Stair says he came partly because of his commitments to the denomination but also because of personal interest.
“I think we’re living in a time where we need to find some different ways to be church,” he says.

While the theme of this year’s conversation was philosophy and theology, the event gave participants an opportunity to network and explore what they’ve learned in their own churches.

By Lora Steiner for Franconia Mennonite Conference

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