Panorama Spring 2012

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Celebrating with the people and congregations of Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference s p r i n g 20 12

conflict, peace

and Anabaptist presence Unique Learning Tour brings Pacific Southwest leaders, MCCers and Nigerian-born Mennonite pastors together to explore the challenges for Christians in Africa’s most populous nation

By Joe Roos

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t was almost as if we were entering the Kingdom of God on earth. As our three-vehicle Learning Tour caravan entered Jos, the Entering Jos, Nigeria: A sign of the times? capital of Nigeria’s Plateau State, we were greeted by a huge billboard: “Dialogue, Dialogue and Dialogue, Not Violence, Violence and Violence.” Further in, another billboard cautioned: “Avoid Violence, Editor’s note: Having a large number Embrace Peace.” We also noticed that car license plates included, above the license number, of immigrant congregations gives “Plateau State: Home of Peace and Tourism.” Jos does have a lengthy history of tolerance and Pacific Southwest Mennonite peace among its many and varied people, but the exhortations that welcomed us were trying to Conference unique opportunities to calm the storm of violence that has plagued Jos for a decade. engage in mission on a personal yet Located in Nigeria’s “Middle Belt,” the central zone that splits international level. This spring, a northern and southern Nigeria, Jos is home territory for three tour Learning Tour offered PSMC and participants: Pastors Chuwang and Grace Pam of LA Faith Mennonite Central Committee reps, Chapel and Pastor Nehemiah Chigoji of First Mennonite as well as four PSMC pastors who Church of Upland. The Pams’ home was our frequent meeting hail from Nigeria, a chance to journey place and delicious Nigerian foods satisfied our palates there numerous times, and, as we made our way around Jos over four days, it to Nigeria together, to better underseemed like there was hardly a person in Jos who did not know Pastor stand the violence, poverty and other Nehemiah. The fourth PSMC Nigerian pastor on our tour, Pastor Femi struggles faced by Christians there Fatunmbi of Royal Dominion Family Chapel, hails from southern Nigeria, an and to explore future opportunities for area that time constraints prevented us from visiting. mission and connection. Pastor Joe The other four people on the tour who traveled from the U.S. to Nigeria Roos, of Pasadena Mennonite were Bruce Campbell-Janz, MCC’s recent Africa director; Ami Dieye, West Church, wrote this report in concert Coast MCC’s representative; Conference Minister Dick Davis, who served as PSMC’s “face” with others in the group. in Nigeria; and Pastor Joe Roos, who functioned as tour media/scribe. Abel Dauji, who was involved in our conference for three years, joined the tour in Nigeria. MCC’s Continued next page

inside...

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Memorial remembers 501 killed in Nigerian massacre

Gathering steam: an update as PSMC moves ahead

6 Mark Thiessen Nation speaks on difficult texts

9 How Sunnyslope church makes space for mission

10 What’s the Scoop?

Names and events in the spotlight

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Conflict, peace and Anabaptist presence

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Panorama is a publication of Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference, which unites and serves congregations across Arizona, California and Nevada.

Please help us share what’s going on in your congregation and community!

Contributions of news, faith stories and photos are heartily encouraged.

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Write to the editor, Doreen Martens, at: dmartens@ pathcom.com (905) 829-9640

Mark and Angela Sprunger and Gopar and Monica Tapkida in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, and Mark and Brenda Hartman-Souder in Jos provided gracious hospitality and crucial insights.

In many ways Jos is a microcosm of all that is beautiful and painful in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and a leading exporter of African oil. The people are welcoming, warm and thoroughly hospitable. The countryside of rolling hills and plateau plains wa lush green, even during the dry and hot season of our visit.

But the police barricades we frequently encountered repeatedly betrayed the conflict and violence that has beset this land of peace, tourism and harmony.

Our Learning Tour set three primary goals for our trip to Nigeria. Our first goal was to learn about the current conflict in northern Nigeria. What do the Mennonite Church Nigeria and the Church of the Brethren Nigeria have to say? What does the conflict look like from MCC Nigeria’s perspective? What does the conflict look like from the perspective of the Nigerian churches? The second goal was to learn what MCC Nigeria and its partner organizations are doing to build peace and bring reconciliation in the midst of conflict. The third goal was to learn about the ministries of PSMC-related congregations in Nigeria.

CONFLICT On our first day in Abuja we met with representatives from the Mennonite Church Nigeria and the Church of the Brethren Nigeria. As we listened to them, it became apparent that different experiences and perspectives were held. The Brethren church is primarily located in northern Nigeria, which is mostly Muslim, poverty-stricken and resource poor. The Mennonites are located primarily in southern Nigeria, which is mostly Christian, relatively better off economically and resource-rich, especially with oil. It appeared that our conversation with them was a rare opportunity for them to engage each other and talk about the differing perceptions, something both churches expressed the desire to continue.

The violence in Jos and elsewhere in Nigeria is deeply rooted and is multi-layered with religious and political corruption, economic control of resources, constitutional issues and land ownership issues all playing a significant role. While the great majority of Muslims and Christians live in harmony, groups of Muslim fundamentalists want to turn northern Nigeria into Muslim-ruled states and eliminating Christians is part of that goal. Although Nigerian Anabaptists seek ways to resolve the conflict peacefully, there are those within the broader Nigerian church who believe Christians should defend themselves in any way they can, and counter-violence sometimes occurs.

The political, economic and military elite in Nigeria are so invested in maintaining their grip on power and enriching themselves by controlling Nigeria’s resources that they almost welcome the diversionary religious conflict and exploit it to their advantage, using the age-old strategy of divide and conquer. The land ownership issue, pitting the mostly Muslim Hausa/Fulani “settlers” against the mostly Christian “indigene” tribes, underlies the religious dimension and is central to the conflict in Jos.

Learning Tour participants: Top row, from left: Bruce Campbell-Janz (MCC Africa), LA Faith Chapel Pastor Chuwang Pam, Conference Minister Dick Davis, Royal Dominion Pastor Femi Fatunmbi. Second row: LA Faith Pastor Grace Pam, Gopar Tapkida (MCC CWARM RPA). Third row: Mark Hartman-Souder (MCC Nigeria), Pasadena Mennonite Pastor Joe Roos.

Front row: Ami Dieye (West Coast MCC), Abel Dauji (Nigerian pastor), First Mennonite Upland Pastor Nehemiah Chigoji.

Conflict, peace and Anabaptist presence MCC NIGERIA AND PARTNERS Because of the complexity of the conflict and the deeply entrenched differences that exist, we were very encouraged when we spent time with MCC Nigeria and its partner organizations. MCC Nigeria’s most important contribution to peace is relationship building. Developing relationships with people and groups committed to justice and peace and then bringing those people together is central to MCC’s success in Nigeria.

Partners that MCC Nigeria have brought together and support include Christians and Muslims who share a common faith-based commitment to peace and justice.

We heard from many of them during one full day of interaction, including Faith Alive Foundation, Emergency Preparedness Response Teams, Movement for Christian Community Service of Nigeria, Women’s Initiative for Sustainable Community Development and the Plateau Association for the Deaf.

We were greatly encouraged with the excellent work all of these groups are doing and grateful for the role MCC Nigeria plays in bringing them together and supporting them financially and in other ways.

The Pams also brought us in contact with another set of groups seeking peace and reconciliation, including Interfaith Mediators - Jos, Plateau Peace Movement International and Berom Outreach Ministries.

PSMC-RELATED MINISTRIES On our final day in Abuja we heard from two exciting ministries in southern Nigeria. One is in relationship with the Pastors Pam and LA Faith Chapel and the other is in relationship to Pastor Femi and Royal Dominion Family Chapel. Elder Egu Elekwa Ojiuzor, whose sister Ude is a member of Emmanuel Faith Chapel in Las Vegas, spoke about their ministries called Age Won, Apple of God’s Eye Orphanage and Widow’s Ministry. Pastor Theophilus Olufemi Olayera of Royal Dominion and Mercy Ministries helped us understand the work they do with HIV/AIDS, orphans and other vulnerable children through their Ro-Hi Health Foundation, a communitybased and faith-based organization. We were also very encouraged with the powerful and needed ministries generated by these two churches.

We returned from Nigeria grateful to West Coast MCC, the PSMC planners and everyone we met in Nigeria for a tour that exceeded even our high pre-journey expectations. While we look forward to where we can go from here (see sidebar), a sobering reminder of the violence in Nigeria came several days after we returned. The very church at which we worshiped the previous Sunday was attacked by a suicide bomber, killing three people and injuring many more. Then, two weeks later, another suicide bomber struck at a Catholic church in Jos, leaving many more dead and wounded. More than anything else we can offer, Nigeria needs the constantly uplifted prayers of all of us in PMSC.

Where do we go from here? n our last day in Nigeria, we debriefed the entire O tour and asked ourselves, “What are the issues that require further conversation and possible action?” We agreed upon six areas for continuing exploration: • Our Learning Tour will not be the end of something, but the beginning of a growing relationship between PSMC and the various expressions of Anabaptism in Nigeria.

• PSMC will explore ways to strengthen relationships between PSMC and PSMC-related churches and ministries in Nigeria.

• PSMC and West Coast MCC will find ways in which we can work more closely together.

• Opportunities for Mennonite World Conference and Mennonite Mission Network to work more closely with PSMC-related ministries in Nigeria and the Mennonite Church Nigeria will be explored.

• MCC Nigeria will deepen their relationship with MCC West Coast.

• MCC Nigeria will develop more connection with both Mennonite Church Nigeria and Church of the Brethren Nigeria, especially around peacebuilding issues and bridge building.

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Nigeria Facts Population: 162.5 million Rank: World’s 7th largest by pop., 32nd largest by area (about double California) Demographics: Biggest majorityblack nation; about half Muslim, half Christian. Three main ethnic groupings: Hausa (north); Igbo (east); Yoruba (west).

History: Habitation goes back to at least 9000 years before Christ. Was subjected to the slave trade.

British colony since early 1800s; British divided it into Muslimdominated north and Christian-dominated south, with the south more quickly developing modern economy and education.

Gained independence in 1960, but politics were fractious, with many coups and a 30-year military rule that only ended in 1999.

Late-’60s civil war in the east (Biafra) killed 1 to 3 million.

Challenges: Interreligious violence has killed thousands.

Boko Haram, an Islamist movement, seeks to abolish secular government and establish Sharia law.

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Conflict, peace and Anabaptist presence

Memorial remembers 501 Christians killed in 2010 Dogo Nhawa massacre

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n a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon, tour participants shuttled along bumpy dirt roads outside Jos to the village of Dogo Nahawa, also known by its ancient name, Kyeng-buruk. We were warmly greeted by residents of the village and surrounded by their children.

The serene and peaceful setting we encountered contrasted sharply with the tragedy that struck Dogo Nahawa two years earlier.

In the dead of night on March 7, 2010, Muslim Fulani herdsmen descended from the surrounding mountains and converged on Dogo Nahawa with guns and machetes in hand. Within a few hours, 501 Christians were slaughtered.

No one was spared—men, women and children were indiscriminately hacked and shot to death. Very few survived.

The suffering and pain of that day was still palpable as we listened to the victims and sympathetic Muslims. Elisha Bot, an elderly Christian woman, showed us what remained of her right arm, which was chopped off just below the elbow. She was left for dead. Ngo Kumba Chuwang, a young Christian man, displayed a gunshot wound to his right arm. He, too, was presumed dead. One elderly Muslim man, Idi Inusa, was obviously grieved by the violence that night. He told us it was his fervent hope and prayer for “everyone to live in peace with no animosity, caring for each other … everyone, including my Christian neighbors, are my friends.”

Among the questions we asked villagers, one was directed to a Christian: “What message do you want us to take back to our churches in the United States?” Her answer: “Tell them to hear our voices and pray for us.”

We ended our afternoon in Dogo Nahawa with a solemn visit to the mass grave for the 501 victims, just outside the village. The monument in memory of those who lost their lives that day was erected by the Voice of Christian Martyrs.

Top: The mass grave of victims of the 2010 attack, with a memorial erected by the Voice of the Christian Martyrs.

Centre: Idi Inusa, an elderly Muslim man in Dogo Nahawa, and Elisha Bot, who was left for dead after her lower right arm was chopped off, but survived.

Bottom: Remains of a home in which an entire family was killed.

Thanks to tour participant Ami Dieye for photos accompanying this report..

Would your congregation like to hear directly from a tour participant? Femi Fatunmbi, Joe Roos, Dick Davis, Nemi Chigoji and Grace Pam are available to come to your church and speak about their experiences.

Email admin@pacificsouthwest.org.

Gathering steam for the journey ahead

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An update as PSMC moves forward on three major goals

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moderator Brian Fry likes the image of a train to describe the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference, the area church that encompasses California, Arizona and Nevada.

The driving force –– the locomotive, if you like –– is the relationships that are being built between member congregations, which lead the process as we move forward as a people of God in mission and in shared life.

The freight? Well, that’s the three priorities the conference set a few years back and continues to work on: • healthy churches • effective leadership • missional focus What follows is advancement: in prayer, advocacy and giving to our shared mission. “As leaders,” Fry told the February assembly meeting in Phoenix, “we have a sense that as our member congregations see the benefits of participation in the conference, they were respond with support in many different ways.”

Seeking a clearer focus for the future, the PSMC board decided in February to sign on with Rich Gerig of Phoenix-based Advancement Associates. Gerig, who has worked with a variety of Mennonite agencies, will help bring some clarity to the board’s priorities and help it communicate more effectively with congregations. In their report to delegates, Fry and others described what the conference leaders have already been doing in each of these priority areas.

Relationships: Conference minister Dick Davis has put much of his energy into building a network of local “elders” across the farflung conference who work closely with churches, providing encouragement and resources. Pastor retreats have enabled pastors to talk face to face and build positive relationships, particularly across cultural lines.

Assemblies offer similar experiences for church members.

Healthy churches: The conference provides important behind-thescenes ministries, particularly in licensing and ordination of leaders, and church oversight. It also offers access to equipping resources, support in missional life, and denominational resources as well as the opportunity for relationships with other PSMC congregations.

Congregations, for their part, commit to send delegates to assemblies, to be transparent about their business affairs (which helps avoid crises), express solidarity with the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, and provide financial support.

Because the conference is often called in to help when congregations find themselves in trouble, the board is exploring creating a resource network, involving professionals that can be helpful in areas such as fnance, accounting, the law and conflict mediation, to head off crises and build strong, healthy churches.

Relationships

Healthy Churches

Effective leadership: Under the leadership of Pastor Femi Fatunmbi, the Pastoral Leadership Committee is responsible for licensing and ordination of all PSMC leaders. Recently it has initiated a process of updating all of the credentials issued by the conference, a process that makes it easier for congregations to call suitable pastors and for pastors to move smoothly between churches or onferences.

While education leading to a MDiv degree is encouraged for all pastors, PSMC is also offering a series of five classes that are considered a minimum requirement for those new to the Mennonite pastorate. “What we’re trying to do with these core classes is create a common Anabaptist identity –– this is core to us as a conference,” said Dick Davis. The classes include Anabaptist history and mission, Anabaptist theology, scriptural interpretation, leadership and authority, and ethics.

Missional focus: “We want to be people who are active participants in God’s endeavour to bring healing and hope to people of all backgrounds and circumstances,” said Pastor Steve Penner, who leads the Conference Mission Team. The group, a loose network of people interested in learning from and supporting the creative missional efforts of our congregations, has met nearly a dozen times in various on-site locations. “We’ve had refreshing times of learning about what God is doing in the location where we’re meeting, as well as exploring other agenda items that come to us as we think together about what it means to be part of God’s mission in PSMC,” Penner said.

The agenda has included concerns in Nigeria; the idea of developing an Urban Anabaptist Centre, working at conflict resolution (especially in the Korean context); and immigration issues. Recently, a small planning group was put together to bring more structure to the CMT. “We are folks coming from a variety of experiences, sitting together at the same table, learning to know each other as we talk about God’s mission in the world. The synergy that happens when brothers and sisters sit together and talk about these things is pretty amazing,” Penner said. “You find out that one person on this table has an idea that speaks to the concern that people on the other side are talking about.”

Advancement: How does the conference move forward?

Congregations can plug in in many ways, Fry suggested: through prayer, financial support, volunteering, and advocacy.

Fry said the train image is apt because “Every car on that train is important, yet they all move forward together. We can’t wait until our relationships are perfect before we start working on mission. We can’t wait until we fully meet all the needs of our congregations before we ask for support. Everything moves forward together.”

Effective Leadership Missional Focus

Advancement

‘Difficult Texts’ present a challenge

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Did you know? ... that all Mennonite Church affiliated colleges and universities offer dollar-for-dollar matching grants up to $500 per semester, to students whose home congregations provide such scholarship funds? One example of a congregation that is encouraging its youth to attend Mennonite schools is Mennonite Community, which has a longstanding tradition of providing $500 per year out of the church budget to such students. Six of the Fresno congregation’s students are currently enrolled in Mennonite schools: Lisa Penner and Annika Janzen are enrolled at Bethel College; Andrew Penner is at Hesston College; Daniel Friesen is attending Eastern Mennonite University; David Steffen and Norma Vasquez are students at Fresno Pacific University.

n his three-part address to the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference assembly in February, titled “Being honest about difficult texts,” guest speaker Mark Nation put forward arguments for what he called the traditional Christian view of homosexuality, set in the context of the Bible’s “double love command” to fully love God and neighbor.

Thiessen Nation, a professor at Eastern Mennonite Seminary who, together with Ted Grimsrud, wrote the book Reasoning Together: A Conversation about Homosexuality, offered the example of an elderly couple who, while clear about their views on their gay son’s lifestyle, chose to express love for his partner because that’s what Jesus would do –– and continued to care for him as he suffered from AIDS, long after the relationship ended. “This story reflects the embodiment of what I believe to be the central challenge laid before the church on this issue,” Thiessen Nation said: How not to collapse one part of the double-love command into the other; to feel that in either worshipping God, or on the other hand in being compassionate, we have fulfilled God’s primary commandment.

God, he said, does not ask us to be tolerant; God asks us to live by a much higher standard of sacrificial love.

At the same time, we are also called to costly discipleship; to live “holy, righteous and just lives, in ways that engage our bodies in faithful ways in the world.”

What followed was not easy stuff in a time when PSMC, like many other parts of the church, finds itself dealing uncomfortably with an issue that engenders passionate views on both sides and exposes deeper rifts in the way we interpret scripture, culture, church authority and even politics. Conference minister Dick Davis, in introducing the topic, asked delegates to respond with questions rather than use the occasion to deliver their own sermons. And they did.

In exploring the handful of texts that address homosexual behavior in the scriptures, Thiessen Nation said Mennonites, in rejecting a culture of rigidity and shaming, have shunned “sin” language. But it’s important to restore a rich, biblical understanding of sin, with its full personal and communal dimensions, he said. Sin sometimes names a condition, sometimes specific behaviors, or a brokenness that is part of a fallen world. And it’s clear from the abundance of references to sexual sin in the New Testament that this is not something anyone wanting to be faithful can ignore.

Today, “some want to say that behavior that has been considered outside God’s intention for 3000 years and based on relatively clear biblical texts should now be pronounced good,” he said, a fact that for Thiessen Nation puts it in a different category from other moral issues. “I sometimes worry that the church will shift on this for inadequate theological reasons, and such a decision will have significant ramifications beyond simply

the issue of homosexuality.”

Thiessen Nation said he wants the church to be consistent and honest about the way it deals with the “vice lists” in scripture, and not be content to simply ignore our differences on important subjects. “In the church we are called to be in unity, it’s true, but neither Paul nor anyone else in the New Testament will tell us that unity is the only thing that matters.”

At the same time, those on the “traditional” side of the issue need to be wary about being like the Pharisees, willing to put a heavy burden on the shoulders of others but unwilling to lift a finger to move them –– for example, consigning gay men to a life of loneliness.

Thiessen Nation argued that Leviticus’s prohibitions can’t simply be ignored as irrelevant while we embrace the same book’s passionate descriptions of social justice.

In reference to Paul’s writings, he argued, contradicting those who suggest Paul simply had no awareness of the possibility of committed homosexual relationships, that there are many literary sources that indicate such relationships were known of in his day, and even theories about sexual orientation –– of which Paul, as an educated man, would have been aware. Nor is Thiessen Nation convinced that New Testament admonitions against homosexual behaviour were exclusively aimed at exploitive, promiscuous or idolatrous forms of homosexual practice.

Jesus’s silence on the subject doesn’t necessarily carry a lot of weight, he argued, since Jesus was almost exclusively dealing with a Jewish community in which there was uniformity of belief on this issue and no critique was needed –– whereas Paul was dealing with gentile society. n a session devoted largely to countering arguments that IThiessen sexual preference is genetically predetermined, Nation described some of the research that suggests orientation is more likely a complex blend of genetic predisposition and environment –– as though a light is switched on in the presence of certain factors. Citing his own boyhood experiences with another boy who wanted a sexual partner, he said the attitudes and modelling one observes will, for many people, make the difference in choices made at crucial moments of development, even in the absence of moral teaching. This, he said, “is one of the reasons I’m convinced that if we as a church, or society, say (sexual orientation) doesn’t matter, there will be a rel-

‘Difficult Texts’ present a challenge atively higher percentage of gays and lesbians.”

In a fallen world, the fact that people experience predispositions they can’t seem to change doesn’t necessarily mean that is what God intended, he said, suggesting the number of people who are truly “hardwired” to be homosexual is probably quite tiny. He also cited research that suggests biological reasons why few homosexual men are likely to form lifelong committed relationships, regardless of the availability of marriage.

For Thiessen Nation, his co-writer Ted Grimsrud’s central argument –– that the church is called above all to be inclusive –– needs to be named in a biblical way that also takes seriously the call to faithfulness.

He quoted 1 Cor. 5:9, in which Paul writes that Christians should not “deal indiscriminately” with people who are sexually immoral, greedy, idolaters, revilers, drunkards or robbers. A member of a Harrisonburg, Va., church that meets in a community centre meeting the needs of the poor, Thiessen Nation says he worships regularly “with people who have struggles along all of these lines; but we name very clearly that we think it’s wrong. ... And then we name the way in which we try to hold each other accountable to be faithful to God.” Thiessen Nation’s comments led to respectful questions and lively table discussions but were not universally welcomed, with some participants saying they had been “blindsided” by the topic’s prominence at the assembly and questioning why Grimsrud had not also been invited to present the other side of the issue. (Davis explained

that it was thought having both come at once would not allow a full discussion of either’s views. It’s hoped Grimsrud can come at another time.) Others felt there was too much emphasis on sociological or psychological issues and not enough attention paid to the biblical texts.

Responding to questions, Thiessen Nation acknowledged that he had no clear idea of how the Mennonite Church ought to respond to the deep divisions on this issue, but expressed confidence that Mennonites should be able to deal with one another well.

“One of the reasons I became Mennonite is that I thought Mennonites are able to have a different approach to this sort of issue than others –– because we’re committed to being faithful in the whole of our lives, want to love each other, want to be one, yet we know that both unity and faithfulness are important. We know that none of those can be lost, and we want to deal with compassion on these issues.”

Taking responsibility for ‘racial healing’

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eople who attended last summer’s PSMC assembly in Upland, Calif., had an opportunity to be among the first to participate in area-church discussions initiated by the Racial Healing Task Group, a group charged with helping the dominant white culture of Mennonite Church USA confront, acknowledge and counteract ongoing racism in individual lives and structures. It’s been two years since the task group was formed, and it has heard many stories that, as chairperson Sharon Waltner describes it “helped me comprehend how racism exists in today’s culture. Most of us from the dominant culture don’t realize how racist we really are.” It’s important for people from the “dominant” culture to reflect on the ways they’ve been taught to think about racism.

“Part of sharing our own present narratives is being able to look at the good, the bad and the ugly of those narratives,” says Iris de Leon-Hartshorn, who helps oversee the group as Mennonite Church USA’s director for transformative peacemaking. “I’ve been a Mennonite long enough to know that power is very difficult for Mennonites to talk about. That’s why I think being honest about our narratives is very important for this healing.”

Sometimes the Anabaptist-Mennonite history of persecution makes it hard for the Anglo majority to acknowledge that its narrative is now that of the dominant, privileged culture. “We continue to act like the martyrdom story of 500 years ago is our current story, and that has kept us from confronting the fact that we’re now part of

the problem,” says Lloyd Miller, RHTG member. “And it has kept other parts of our church—whether they be our Native American, Latino, African-American, Asian, African brothers and sisters— at arm’s length.”

To be inclusive, says de Leon-Hartshorn, the church needs to differentiate between core theological values and cultural practices; for example, worship through music.

“That’s a very difficult issue because music informs our worship, and we don’t all agree on what kind of music that is,” she says. “For me it cannot be either/or; it has to be about how we can use all our music together in a way that meets the needs of everybody, not just one group.”

The RHTG is now focused on inviting dominant-culture Mennonites to acknowledge racial problems facing the church and to take steps toward healing and transformation in their own lives and congregations.

“The only way that we as a church we will be transformed in these ways is with a heart change, not just with a head change,” Miller says. “That really invites us to think about strategies for and ways of offering opportunities to the church to take a look at ourselves.”

The group has assembled a toolkit of resources to help churches and area conferences work on the issue of racial healing, including a PowerPoint, racial healing “vignettes,” an “I’s of Oppression” diagram and a model for restorative justice. For more information, visit mennoniteusa.org/executive-board/racial-healing/ (From a news release by Mennonite Church USA.)

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Delegates at the February PSMC assembly at Sunnyslope Mennonite Church in Phoenix talk about the issues raised in Mark Thiessen Nation’s address.

On the Way: A new source of good news Mennonite Church USA has recently begun its own online newsletter, called On the Way. Published about every six weeks, the newsletter is meant to stimulate conversation across the country, and help various parts of the church learn about each other.

Each issue includes short videos and text in various languages rooted in one of the church’s priorities affirmed in Pittsburgh last year, with a church leader sharing a perspective and several members offering what has worked well in their congregations.

Readers are invited to respond via the website or Facebook page. Check out On The Way at mennoniteusa.org/ on-the-way/.

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As the Spirit moves:

God’s at work in the churches of the Pacific Southwest

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Elaine Enns speaks to the assembled parade crowd on the sidewalk on Pasadena’s Colorado Boulevard.

asadena Mennonite Church, the Peace and Justice Academy and many other participants from Pasadena’s Christian community walked in the 10th annual Palm Sunday Peace Parade on April 1.

Originally conceived as a public witness against plans for a war in Iraq, the parade proceeds from one of the California city’s poorest neighbourhoods to its commercial/political heart, echoing Jesus’s own journey to Jerusalem. With Palm Sunday coinciding with April Fool’s Day this year, the theme of the fun, family-friendly event, which included worship and public witness on the street, was “Parade

of Fools.”

“In these days of endless war,” wrote organizer Bert Newton, “we march as fools who believe that another world is possible. We march in the footsteps of One who journeyed as a ‘fool’ to the heart of his society, to reclaim it for the people. ... (We walk) because God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.”

The idea of a Palm Sunday Peace Parade has become contagious. This year, similar events were also held in Harrisonburg, Va., Elkhart, Ind., and Toledo, Ohio. crowd of multi-ethnic youth from various LA A Mennonite Churches, plus multiple friends, gathered for a fun and exciting night of worship. on March 24. The theme for the evening was: How do you know if someone loves you? A major issue for many youth is feeling accepted. After a great service, youth got a "healthy" portion of fun around the bonfire with s’mores, deep-fried Oreos, and funnel cake. Jeanelle Austin of Family Mennonite responded later: "My kids had a great time!

One even went home and wrote a worship song! They were so bright-eyed on Sunday morning. It was great. I think they got a new outlook on church." You can catch some of the praise music from the evening at http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=AHNwsXll0hw&feature=youtu.be.

Biblical command rings clear for Widows Cry

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Pastor George Ahononu and his wife Favor, above. Right: praying a blessing for a widow in Nigeria about to receive a muchneeded bed from Widows Cry. They can be reached at wisdom0815@sbc global.net

SMC churches with deep roots in other nations offer unique opportunities for international mission, often accomplished on a shoestring with extraordinary devotion.

One such example is George Ahanonu, pastor of Great Commission Deliverance church in Los Angeles, and his wife, Favor, who founded Widows Cry International in 2005. The aim of the organization is to advocate for voiceless widows, who are especially plentiful in Nigeria.

George explains that the Nigerian civil war, which ended in 1970, left thousands of widows of Biafran soldiers.

“Many of these women and their children suffered a lot in the hands of some strict cultural laws,” he explains. By custom, the husband’s brother gets whatever he owned, and widows and children are often left to fend for themselves.

Widows are sometimes accused of killing their husbands and banished to avoid taking responsibility for them.

Fatherless girls are left vulnerable to mutilating circumcision practices and prostitution.

Widow’s Cry helps build homes for homeless widows, provides micro-loans for farming, distributes clothing, shoes, food, dietary supplements, toys and bicycles so children can get to school, Small retail shops help train girls in careers including bakery work, interior decoration and

fashion design. It runs empowerment forums for groups of widows, where they receive preaching and encouragement not to feel that widowhood is the end of their lives.

And Widows Cry tries to advocate for them with government representatives. About 2,500 widows are part of the organization’s work in six Nigerian states, funded largely by the couple themselves through modest profits from a dismantling business.

Pastor Ahanonu says they are now trying to extend their mission into South Sudan, where widows there are desperate for help. But the challenge has grown beyond the size of their earnings, so they are looking for others to come alongside them in this vital work.

Shared, safe, sacred, shaping

P a n o r a m a 9

How one church is making space for mission

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unnyslope Mennonite Church in Phoenix may have a relatively spacious campus, but it isn’t a huge congregation; maybe a hundred people show up for the conventional Sunday service. But its impact is far larger, thanks to a missional focus that Pastor Steve Good sums up as four dimensions of “space,” which he shared in an energetic “moment for mission” at the February PSMC assembly hosted by the congregation.

1. Shared space. “One thing we’ve been learning,” Good says, “is how to share space.” Meetings of AA, NA and other groups meet there regularly, for free. Churches don’t pay taxes, Good points out, “so we probably better be sharing our building” with the community, for goodwill if nothing else. It’s a simple way to get started in doing something positive for the neighbourhood, though it doesn’t come without a price, of course. The church has to pay for new carpeting, for electricity, and other kinds of maintenance that come with heavy use, often by people who don’t take the same sense of ownership and care that church members do.

“It’s not going to be as clean,” he said, urging other churches to follow suit. “But see those marks as scars for Jesus on your building and your paint.”

2. Safe space. The congregation’s “skate ministry” –– which welcomes kids to bring their scooters and skateboards to a supervised skate park set up in the parking lot every Friday night –– is only the beginning of creating safe, healthy places for people in the community. The House of Refuge, a men’s shelter created years ago in the former church building at the back of the property, provides transitional housing to 35 men. It has since grown to several facilities around the city. A new ministry, the House of Hope, provides shelter for single moms (currently nine) and their children (19).

“We want to create a safe place where people can get their act together,” Good said, “because healthy men and healthy women can have healthy families, and we have a better world.”

Of course, such projects can sap a congregation’s energy quickly, and Good is quick to add that partnerships are vital. “House of Refuge was kind of our baby; Trinity (Mennonite) helped us; and now there’s 15 to 20 churches from Metro Phoenix helping, That’s how it can expand: more people put money into the pot, more volunteers help. That’s how House of Hope got started. So don’t get locked into a box, thinking you’re in this by yourself –– you’ve got lots of brothers and sisters we’re going to share heaven with, even if we don’t share every doctrinal stance. Somehow we’ve got to find ways to partner and team up and share our resources.”

3. Sacred space. The church provides, both for its often transient membership and the community at large, a place to come and worship. “We are in such a loud world, so we’re trying to figure out how to create some silence and give people good worship at the same time.”

4. Shaping space. “It’s about learning to share the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ,” Good said. “It’s not just about doing social gospel; we’ve also got to heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds. We’ve got to figure out how we anoint people with oil and have prayer for them, and provide a space where they can step out of the chaos and hear the message of Jesus Christ to bring healing to their souls.”

The big challenge in all of this, he said, is how to systematically assimilate newcomers who are walking through the door and have no prior experience with the church or Menonites. “How do we move them from ‘come and see’ to ‘come and love’?”

Sunnyslope is trying to become more intentional about clearing the path for people to move from the edges into the fibre of the church community, and doing so in a systematic way. One of God’s gifts to Sunnyslope in this, he said, is finding a part-time staff person who recently earned a doctorate in organizational systems!

“God’s sense of humor is pretty amazing,” Good said with a laugh, “to send somebody like that to help us get our job descriptions in place, to think systematically about being organized, so we can share our space, have a safe place, be a sacred place and also learn how to be a shaping space.”

The church keeps exploring new ways to plug into the deep needs of the community. One new question is how it can help meet the needs of kids in the overburdened foster-care system. With 9,000 kids needing a place to go, Arizona is re-creating orphanages.

“We’re on a journey,” Good said. “My guess is you share a lot of the same stuff. We’re really in a broken world that needs a message of peace and hope and help.”

Sunnyslope, with God’s help, is doing its part to share that message.

Left, a couple of the younger participants in Sunnyslope’s parking lot Skate Club ministry get ready to roll as the evening begins. At the same time, older kids were shooting hoops on another part of the lot, or enjoying some campfire time. Midway through the evening, there’s a break for refreshments and a kid-friendly Christian message.

One-stop shopping for service Thinking about doing voluntary service of some kind? Not sure where, when or how?

Here’s a single web page that can get you started with opportunities with Mennonite Mission Network, shortand long-term programs, for youth, young adults and older adults: www. mennonitemission. net/serve/Pages/ Home.aspx

Sunnyslope Pastor Steve Good

P a n o r a m a 10

What’s the scoop?

People and events

S

an Francisco is the host city for this year’s Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference Annual Delegate Meeting on June 15-16, making this a great opportunity to enjoy a weekend getaway along with a wonderful time of worship, work and fellowship with fellow members of our congregations from all over California, Arizona and Nevada. (Sessions begin Friday evening and wrap up Saturday afternoon.) Our host will be First Mennonite Church of San Francisco. All PSMC churches are expected to send pastors and delegates, but everyone is welcome to attend and enjoy getting to know our diverse, multicultural community. You can find more information as it becomes available at www.pacificsouthwest.org. Pamphlets and information are also available through your church office.

PSMC is considering ways of transporting delegates as a group from Southern California and Arizona, but to facilitate chartering a bus, the conference office needs to know how many people will commit to riding it. Please email your interest to admin@pacificsouthwest.org. he Youth Ministry Council of Mennonite Church T USA met in Phoenix March 7-10. Among the representatives from area conferences and churchwide agencies was Rebekka Stutzman, of Maranatha Christian Fellowship in Northridge, Calif., PSMC’s associate for youth ministry. The gathering reflected on the Sabbath and how it relates and challenges youth ministry.

Participants reflected on their hopes and dreams for youth ministry on a broader level and had a chance to see the site of next year’s youth convention.

Participating in the Family Mennonite ordination celebration were, from left: Pastor Femi Fantunmbi, chair of the Pastoral Leadership Committee, Raymond Arnold, Family Pastor Frank Pascascio and Conference Minister Dick Davis.

SMC’s Conference Mission Team (CMT) met on P Feb. 10 at the All Souls Christian Center International in Los Angeles, along with Steve WiebeJohnson from Mennonite Mission Network and Alan Claassen Thrush from MCC West Coast. Discussion included a potential Urban Anabaptist Center, theological education for West African pastors, and a church planting seminar planned for May 4-5. The group also decided to endorse the African, Belizean & Caribbean Mennonite Mission Congress to be held in the United Kingdom in October. (Three such events, bringing together Mennonite leaders with African roots from several countries, have previously been held in Canada.) The small planning group met in San Francisco April 20 to review these items, as well as the Nigeria Learning Tour and the Spanish-speaking churches’ request for a day of prayer for undocumented immigrants. The CMT is a loose coalition of people interested in learning from and supporting the missional efforts of PSMC congregations, typically on the site of those efforts. It meets next at San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church at 9:30 a.m. June 15, preceding the PSMC assembly. All are welcome. ennonite M Community Church has it all figured out when it comes to having fun while raising money.

When the Fresno congregation decided it needed a new sign to advertise its presence in the community, members were invited to “buy a letter” (shades of Wheel of Fortune!).

Suggested price: $100, or whatever amount the buyer could afford. You can see the handsome results above.

The youth group, on the other hand, decided a little pranking would do the trick when it came to raising cash, and invited a flock of jubilantly pink plastic flamingos to “Mennonite their Way” across the neighbourhood. From mid-March to the end of April, members could “Flock a Friend” for $10 and cause 10 flamingos to mysteriously show up on another member’s lawn. Or they could send a “Mass Migration” (20 flamingos) for $20. For those seeking to avoid pink kitsch, a mere $30 would buy “AntiFlocking Insurance” that would “keep your yard pinkfree.” And we thought flamingos preferred Florida!

amily Mennonite Church celebrated the ordination F of Pastor Frank Pascascio on April 22 with a joyful service. Raymond Arnold was commissioned on the same occasion for the specific ministry of community chaplaincy. A delicious fellowship meal followed the service. Family Mennonite has responded positively to their new pastor’s leadership, reports Conference Minister Dick Davis. The congregation is also being served by a pastoral intern from Fuller Theological Seminary, who has helped engage the congregation’s youth in new ways of service, worship, and Bible study. Pastor Pascacio has also encouraged members to engage with PSMC’s Pastoral Training Initiative, some of whom attended recent classes in Anabaptist theology and practice.

Uh-oh. Somebody in Fresno with grinning friends forgot to buy flamingo insurance.

racey Jones will be the keynote speaker for the T Annual Meeting of the California Unit of Mennonite Disaster Service, 10 a.m. to 2 pm. Saturday, May 12, at the Doubletree Hotel in Bakersfield. Sarah Yoder, from MDS’s home office in Pennsylvania will share about opportunities for upcoming service projects and the results of past projects. Whether you’re a seasoned volunteer or just curious about what MDS does while serving victims of natural disasters “in the name of Christ,” you’re welcome to attend. The entire cost of the meeting, including lunch, is being underwritten by Mennonite Insurance Services of Reedley, Calif.

SMC assistant moderator Femi Fatunmbi has been P invited to present a paper on the “impact and challenge of African immigrants in PSMC” at an international congress in the United Kingdom on “Black Church Activism and Contested Multiculturalism” that will include speakers from nine countries. The event takes place at Birbeck, University of London, in late May.

K

im Thiessen and Darryl Neustaedter Barg, of Calgary, Alberta, presented music and stories at the West Coast Mennonite Sale in Fresno on April 13 and at an evening event at Pasadena Mennonite Church on April 14, as part of a fundraising tour to benefit Mennonite Central Committee’s work with HIV/AIDS around the world.

The music was based on their recent trip to Najile, Kenya, which also involved a wonderful collaboration with Maasai choirs recorded on Take Your Place, their fourth CD. Thiessen and Neustaedter Barg’s CDs and concerts all over North America together have raised nearly $750,000. If you didn’t get a chance to attend one of their West Coast events, you can hear their music (and even order a CD) at takeyourplace.mcc.org. lanners for the Phoenix 2013 assembly of P Mennonite Church USA travelled to the U.S.Mexico border area in March before holding planning meetings in the city. The purpose was to get a feel for the situation in Arizona, learn from local partners and better understand what’s going on at the border.

Last year’s decision to hold the convention in Phoenix, despite calls to boycott Arizona after its implementation of controversial anti-immigrant legislation, came with pledges for public witness and concrete action on the immigration concerns that affect many Mennonite congregations.

For Iris de León-Hartshorn, director for transformative peacemaking for Mennonite Church USA, the trip carried broader implications for what happens even after the convention: “What learning opportunities can we provide by partnering with groups in Phoenix? How do we bring the immigration discussion inside the convention with people doing this work, day in and day out?

Who do we invite for dialogue and discussion?”

The planners met with representatives from BorderLinks, visited the border wall and spoke with people who had been deported. The group also met with partners in Phoenix who worked with immigration issues.

Hannah Heinzekehr, the new convention planning coordinator, said Phoenix 2013 will be a different convention, shaped by the context of Arizona. However, she adds, “We don’t want to just come in and undermine work that is already being done.” Any public witness during the event will “grow out of relationships with these partners and organizations that are engaged on a more long-term basis.” (From a report by Anna Groff in The Mennonite) teve Ratzlaff, pastor at Mennonite Community in S Fresno, has announced he will be retiring from the pastorate near the end of this year. He recently took a three-week sabbatical to help develop a business model for creating jobs in the Fresno area.

“As many of you know,” he wrote to church members, “Fresno County is one of the poorest counties in the country with the unemployment rate above 18%. We know here at MCC, that the food that is distributed in our pantry (and other food banks as well) barely begins to meet the need in this area. We need to be proactive in finding solutions to this dilemma. Someone needs to try to create a business model that will find a way to alleviate this downward spiral here in Fresno County.” Ratzlaff hopes to work with Faith in Community and other organizations in the area to develop a workable model. r. Stanley Friesen led a dynamic discussion of D Leadership and Authority from an Anabaptist Perspective in two March sessions in Southern California as part of a series of classes designed for those seeking credentialling in Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference or simply a fuller understanding of Anabaptism. The course covered topics such as various models of leadership in different church traditions; key biblical texts that shape how we view these concepts, and how culture influences perspectives on leadership.

Conference Minister Dick Davis noted that the class represented the rich diversity of our conference as a whole, with three of the attendees hailing from Korea, four from parts of Africa, one from Belize and five from Indonesia.

P a n o r a m a 11

May 4-5 Church Planting Conference First Mennonite Upland .

May 18-19 Southern California MCC relief sale Upland June 15-16 PSMC Summer Assembly First Mennonite San Francisco "Anabaptist Perspectives" hosts an event, “Spirituality and the Other,” based on David Augsburger’s premise of “tripolar spirituality” from his forthcoming book Spirituality for Grownups. It’s at Fuller Seminary’s Travis Auditorium at 7 p.m.

May 11. Speakers include Augsburger, Juan Martinez, Glen Stassen, Richard Peace and Peter Sensenig.

Below: Dr. Stan Friesen leads a session on Leadership.

P a n o r a m a 12

PSMC contacts Moderator Brian Fry brianfry.psmc@q.com

Conference Minister Dick Davis dickdavis5@sbcglobal.net 214-608-6334 Resource Advocate Barbara Ewy abewy@cvip.net

Conference Office 379 N. Campus Ave. Upland, CA 91786 Administrator: Matt Kraybill admin@pacificsouthwest.org 626-421-2540 Office Hours: 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Tuesday & Thursday

Web site: www. pacificsouthwest.org (currently under reconstruction)

News you can use:

Men in the Image of God” and “Abuse: Response and prevention: A guide for church leaders.” Both are available free from MCC US at https://resources.mcc.org.

You’ll also find “Peace Sunday” worship resources available to use whenever your congregation needs them.

T

o to Church, Change the G World: Christian Community as Calling ($13.99, Herald Press),

Resources for congregations he Close to Home series was developed as a resource to help congregational caregivers reach out to people struggling with personal issues that are hard to talk about. Each 12-page pamphlet includes a true story of someone facing the issue, an introduction to the issue, exploration of how the Bible and the Christian story can offer hope, and practical steps toward healing—including how to find professional help. Also included is a list of resources. The last two pamphlets of 21 produced by MennoMedia are now available for order: Dealing with Teenage Pregnancy and Dealing with Self-Harm. Top sellers for the series are Dealing with Pornography, with over 9,700 copies sold, and Dealing with Depression, with just over 7,500 sold. To see the full list and order Close to Home pamphlets, visit www.MennoMedia.org or call 800-245-7894. ive: Devotions for Deeper D Living ($16.95, Herald Press), by Cindy Massanari Breeze, wasn’t just written for teens –– it was the idea of a group of teens, who also had a hand in developing it. The book, rooted in Scripture and prayer, looks at a variety of issues important to youth who want to grow in their relationship with God. Woven through more than 100 meditations is the guarantee of God’s unconditional love and acceptance, the assurance that each young person is a worthwhile creation, and the challenge to courageously grow in faith.

Dive covers difficult topics like trauma and failure. But it also offers plenty of humor, real-life stories, and celebration. Each topical section in the book concludes with specific suggestions for “living it out.” It’s available at www.MennoMedia. org/Dive (where you’ll also find a promotional video) or by calling 800-245-7894. ennonite Central Committee is in the midst of a M three-year education campaign called “Fear Not: Seek Peace.” “Fear not” provides educational materials and worship and advocacy resources focused on domestic violence, gun violence and U.S. militarism. Resources, action ideas and other information on all topics are at us.mcc.org/FearNot and available through the duration of the campaign. The first year is devoted to peace in the home, including a booklet “Created Equal: Women and

Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference

by Gerald J. Mast, makes a bold case that “going to church” is intrinsic to Christian faith, in a time when many are questioning the relevance of church to spirituality. By exploring such practices as baptism, communion, singing, and group discernment, he asks us to consider how participation in the life of the church shapes our daily witness—how “going to church” transforms “going to work” in the world that God loves. very church has experienced E destructive forces such as envy and exclusion that keep members from nurturing sturdy, life-giving communities. In Living into Community: Cultivating Practices that Sustain Us ($20, Eerdmans) Christine Pohl explores four Christian practices –– gratitude, promise-keeping, truth-telling, and hospitality –– and how they can counteract those destructive forces and help build vibrant Christian communities. Available at eerdmans.com ake Me to the Water: God’s Love T Flows, this summer’s Mennonite vacation Bible school curriculum, invites kids age 4 through Grade 8 to dive into stories from the Bible that use water to show God’s gift of life and blessing. As they participate in lively worship, music, Bible memory and creative response activities, children will understand that God is the source of life. Look for free resources for leaders and kids, and find more information at www.mennomedia.org/vbs .

Support for PSMC Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference gathers California, Arizona and Nevada churches in partnership for leadership, mission and congregational renewal.

Giving by congregations and individuals ensures that conference ministers are funded, mission activities flourish, and resources are available for church nurture.

Donations may be sent to: PSMC Accounting Office, PO Box 39038 Phoenix, AZ 85069