Dear Church,

No two churches are alike. The cultures of congregations are diverse and unique.

At Los Angeles Faith Chapel this last weekend, I saw that with fresh insight. Here is a church with three clear priorities: First, to praise God for who God is, not for how we are doing. Second, to minister with people who are at the margins: the homeless, the widow, the orphan, the undocumented, the addicted. At every turn, Faith Chapel offers a spiritual word, and a hot meal. Faith Chapel prays with those in pain and walks with them through the hard steps of recovery. It may be a small congregation by more privileged measurements. It may be better to think of Los Angeles Faith Chapel not a church growth project, but as a missionary outpost of healing and hope. The music is loud, the energy is chaotic, but the point is clear: everyone who comes through the front doors need the healing and hope of Jesus, and so, somehow, this small congregation with no budget, no salaries, no resources apart from the spiritual equivalents of bailing wire, duct tape, and chewing gum, go out every Sunday and joyfully proclaim that Christ is Lord.

The third thing they do at Faith Chapel is raise up leaders. As our 3+ hour long worship service unpacked, I began to think back. In nearly thirty years of ministry, Los Angeles Faith Chapel has recruited, equipped, deployed, and supported over 40 men and women in Christian ministry. Some are Mennonite. Some are not. Some are back in Africa. Some are in Los Angeles. Some are taking deeper training at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. Some are barely literate. All heard God’s call.

To praise God with exuberance. To minister healing and hope with those at the margins. To raise up leaders from the margins for the margins. That’s an amazing call God has asked this resource poor congregation to dive into.

What is the amazing call God has for Blooming Glen Mennonite Church? What is the unique and simple invitation God is giving us? Upper Bucks County is growing. Blooming Glen Mennonite Church is snug between the gentrifying communities of Perkasie and Dublin. As we reach the ripe old age of 275 years, are we being invited by God to a new thing in a new world?

We have the financial, facility, and yes, the human capital, to meet God’s new invitation – to be the Church Together. To worship in a manner that discovers anew the union of our story to God’s story. To love one another enough to care deeply for each other as we walk with Christ and challenge each other directly to follow Christ. To serve our neighbors near and far with generosity in the name of Christ. God’s unique calling to Blooming Glen isn’t for us to be transformed. God’s calling is for us who are transformed to share it with others

Our journey together with Jesus is to learn to rely on the scriptures as our story, to practice peace through compassionate candor, and to be increasingly generous with our neighbors.

Let’s go, church - live into God’s amazing calling!

Pastor Jeff

jeff@bgmc.net

P.S. | I’m preaching this Sunday, October 20, at Deep Run West Mennonite Church. Jenny Fujita is preaching at Blooming Glen! I’m at the Broad Street Grind, Fridays, 3:30-4:45pm, and at the A&N Diner on Mondays at 7:30-8:45am. I come to those places to listen to you, and whatever is on your heart, mind, and soul.

Dear Church:

I’m away this weekend for a quick trip. Los Angeles Faith Chapel, a Mosaic Conference congregation, is having its annual church conference, and I’m leading at the ordination of Pastor Effiem Obasi, one of several pastors in the congregation.

A trip like this serves to remind me that Mosaic Mennonite Conference is not the same thing as the former Franconia Mennonite Conference. Our conference of churches, nonprofits, and partners in mission now total over 100 separate ministries, with over 7,500 church members. We are in ten states, with relationships in six countries, and speak at least eight languages in worship. We are diverse – racially, ethnically, linguistically, theologically, and geographically. There is an increasing cadre of young adult leaders across our diversity. We are conservative and progressive politically. We are quietly Anabaptist, and boisterously Pentecostal in faith. The one certain thing you can say about Mosaic Mennonite Conference is that we are full of differences. The days of Franconia Conference unity expressed in the reading of the ordinal in every congregation, supervised by the bishops, is over.

And yet, we seem to have a mixed set of feelings about the emergent diversity of our conference. We seem to be glad we are not being told how to behave by the bishops, but we seem to crave a conformity – a view of unity based not on union of relationships, but of uniformity of practice.

And there’s the rub. Mosaic Mennonite Conference is, like any other mosaic work of art, a collection of shards of color that form a pattern that can only be discerned at a certain distance. To be part of Mosaic Mennonite Conference requires not a common history, or geography, or ethnicity, or church practice. It requires a deep commitment to Jesus-centered nonconformity. It is discerned from together reading and interpreting the scriptures, following Jesus in our unique environments with a desire to be both candid and generous with each other. It’s hard work, but it’s the Way of Jesus, the story of the book of Acts, the vision of the letter to the Galatians, and the promise of Revelation.

In 1835, a London based pastor, Rev. Thomas Binney, wrote words that continue to inspire me today: “I am a dissenter because I am a catholic; I am a separatist, because I cannot be schismatical; I stand apart from some, because I love all; I oppose establishments, because I am not a sectarian; I think little of uniformity, because I long for union; I care not about subordinate difference with my brother [and sister], for Christ has received him [and her], and so will I.“

I’m in LA this weekend for a quick trip to hug four of my six grandsons, and to live out an expression of a Mosaic church that craves union over uniformity. As I fly to and from Los Angeles this weekend, I’ll sleep on the plane and dream that we will become more like Rev. Thomas Binney in our life together as a congregation, a conference, a denomination, and a global communion.

Let’s go, Church (and seek union over uniformity)!

Pastor Jeff

jeff@bgmc.net

PS | I’m returning on the red eye from Southern California on Monday morning, October 14. Arriving at Philly around 930am, I’ll miss our weekly breakfast at the A&N. But y’all should meet up and listen to each other a bit. I’ll be at the Broad Street Grind for coffee and listening on Friday, October 11, and October 18, 330pm-445pm. And I’ll be back at the A&N on Monday, October 21, 730am-845am.