Author: Shaquez Dickens
Pastor salary guidelines updated for 2023-24
The 2023-2024 Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) pastor salary guidelines are now posted on the MC USA website at https://bit.ly/PastorSalaryGuidelines. Each April, the MC USA Church Vitality office and Everence collaborate to update the guidelines, which aid pastors, congregations, pastoral search committees and conferences in negotiating fair compensation for pastors and conference ministers. For more information, see https://bit.ly/2023-24SalaryGuidelinesUpdate.
How will you celebrate Social Justice Sunday?
Social Justice Sunday, June 18, is quickly approaching. Grace & Groundings, Ohio Conference’s racial reconciliation resource team, will be sending each congregation a questionnaire later in the month to learn if and how your congregation celebrated. You may find it beneficial to keep notes on how you celebrated the day in order to respond to some of the questions. Please…
Giving to Conference increases during May
Giving to Ohio Conference increased during May. Receipts for the month of May totaled $27,670, including $5,000 in donations from individuals. In comparison, the receipts for April totaled just $12,451. Expenses for May totaled $24,033, resulting in a surplus of $3,637 for the month. That surplus improved the year-to-date operating balance. As of May 31, the operating balance for 2023-24…
Pastor-Spouse Retreat planners need your help
The planning committee for Ohio Conference’s biennial Pastor-Spouse Retreat needs your help! The committee would like to touch base with a congregational representative from each congregation. Please go to https://bit.ly/CongregationalContactInfo to submit contact information for your congregation’s representative. If you prefer, send the name, email and phone number of your church contact (church chair or lead elder) to alysashort@gmail.com. Please…
Golf event to benefit Adriel
Save the date: Adriel will hold its annual benefit golf scramble Sept. 11 at Eagle Rock Golf Club in Defiance, Ohio. For more information, contact Jennifer Butler at 419-906-0228 or email foundation@adriel.org.
MEA Job Board lists education job opportunities
The Mennonite Education Agency Job Board is updated each week. Check https://bit.ly/MEAJobBoard to see job openings at MEA-affiliated schools, colleges and seminaries.
Everence adds staff in NE Ohio
Everence Financial® has announced the addition of Roger Dishong, Justin Wagler and Glenn Black to its staff in Northeast Ohio. For more details, please see Everence – New NE Ohio Staffers.
MMN seeks staff accountant
Mennonite Mission Network is seeking a staff accountant. This position is full time, and could be either in office, hybrid or remote. The staff accountant will oversee budget development and monitor budget performance. This position will also be the liaison between finance and other departments and work teams and cross-train to cover other finance functions as necessary. For more information,…
Open Arms Hispanic Ministries seeks new executive director
Haroldo Nunes, executive director of Open Arms Hispanic Ministries, has announced his resignation, effective at the end of July 2023. He plans to move to Florida to be closer to family. Open Arms is seeking a new executive director. Please see https://open-arms.us/ed/ for details. A PDF with the complete job description is available at https://bit.ly/OpenArmsExecDir.
Please remember us in prayer this summer
Please keep Ohio Conference, our congregations and pastors in your prayers throughout the summer. If you would like a prayer request added, please contact Ann Leaman at ohioevangel@gmail.com, Conference Minister Dick Barrett at ohioconferenceminister@gmail.com, or Regional Pastor Tony Doehrmann at ocrpwest@gmail.com. Please remember these requests during your prayer times: — Ohio Conference as we continue to discern God’s future vision…
Webinar explores best practices for technology in worship
Anabaptist Worship Network recently offered a webinar about best practices for audio visual technology in worship. A recording is available at https://bit.ly/AudioVisualTechinWorship. Viewers can learn from expert panelists on a range of issues related to practical and artistic concerns for sound and images, with takeaways for both beginning and advanced technicians.
Conference ends first month of 2023-24 with a deficit
Ohio Conference ended the first month of the 2023-24 fiscal year with a deficit, according to figures provided by Financial Coordinator Stan Helmuth. Receipts for the month of April totaled just $12,451, including $12,299 in giving from congregations. Expenses for the month totaled $26,545, resulting in a deficit of $14,094 for the month.
Relief sale schedule available
The Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale & Auction will take place July 7-8 at the Mt. Hope Event Center. For more information, see the relief sale poster and the most recent Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale newsletter. 2023 Ohio Relief Sale Poster 2023-Ohio Relief Sale Newsletter
SEMILLA leadership to visit NE Ohio
SEMILLA Seminary Meet and Greet — Come join us for a meet and greet with visitors from SEMILLA Latin American Anabaptist Seminary, located in Guatemala City, which provides biblical, theological and leadership training to over 700 adult students annually throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Meet the leadership of SEMILLA and hear the latest updates on Saturday, June 3, 2-5…
AMBS offers Ministry Integrity Circles
Pastors, do you need help with ministry transitions or significant challenges? Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary’s (AMBS) Ministry Integrity Circles program provides the support of consultants within a community of peers. The Spring 2023 cohort begins June 26 and is free to participants. This program includes an initial in-person session at AMBS on June 26-27. Other sessions will take place over…
Webinar showcases new Bible storybook
The Shine Sunday school curriculum will soon have a new Bible storybook, The Peace Table. The Peace Table is the source of the Bible story for Shine’s elementary curriculum for 2023-26. Recently MennoMedia offered a webinar to overview the features of The Peace Table and its use in the curriculum. The webinar also explored how this book can help teachers…
Ministry Grants can help fund local projects
Ministry Grants are back! Aug. 4 is the deadline to submit a grant proposal to the Ohio Conference Ministry Development Team (MDT). The MDT is accepting proposals from Ohio Conference congregations and related ministries for mission projects and initiatives. This year the MDT has $7,395 available for grants. Since 2012 the MDT has awarded grants each summer, providing funds for a…
‘Aha’ moments: Reflections on a lifetime
By Gregory Battle “Now I understand why people choose to have biographers. This is painful to revisit.” — All-Too-Black Greg Many of the things that have formed my life experiences are the same things that have formed the lives of other men of my age. Then there’s a whole other thing: I am visibly Black. I have 67+ years of learning…
A Vision Beyond Ourselves
By Dick Barrett Conference Minister As a conference of Anabaptist Mennonite churches across Ohio and the surrounding states we find ourselves at the beginning of our second year of discerning together God’s vision for us as we look to the future. Over the past year our process consultant, Jeanne Zimmerly Jantzi, met with our credentialed leaders and congregational delegates to…
Creation care resources abound
By Ann Leaman Ohio Conference Resource Advocate This month I would like to highlight a number of resources related to the environment. MCC Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has gathered a set of resources related to the environment and climate change, all available at https://mcc.org/mcc-climate-change. The introduction to this collection says, “Our partners say changing weather affects almost every aspect of…
Group effort benefits MCC
Many people volunteered their time at the second Ohio MCC Comforter Bash, which was held in Kidron April 21 and 22. Volunteers knotted 220 comforters during the two-day event, a substantial increase from the 129 comforters which were completed during the 2022 Ohio MCC Comforter Bash. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has a goal of donating 45,000 blankets by the end…
New Hispanic Ministries course coming this fall
ELKHART, Indiana (Mennonite Education Agency) – The Schowalter Foundation recently awarded a $9,000 grant to the Hispanic Ministries seminary program of the Mennonite Education Agency (MEA). This grant will enable the Seminario Bíblico Anabautista Hispano (SeBAH) to offer an online continuing education course this September titled “The Journey of the Bible in the Spanish Language.” The course is designed for…
Mental health resources available from CommonWord
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. CommonWord, a collaboration of Mennonite Church Canada and Canadian Mennonite University, has curated a collection of mental health-related resources. To view the collection, see https://www.commonword.ca/Browse/3117.
MEA launches redesigned website
Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) recently debuted its redesigned website. The new website offers user-friendly search features for degree programs and faith formation resources, a communications hub for news from across Mennonite education and Mennonite Church USA, as well as time-honored resources such as a prayer calendar, job board, and enrollment reports. To learn more about MEA’s mission and work, and…
Anabaptist World seeks poetry submissions
Anabaptist World is seeking poetry for inclusion in its digital offerings. The editors are looking for original poems that relate to the church calendar, as well as poems engaging theological themes that can speak to readers at any time of the year. When submitting poems, please do so in a Word document, and send up to three preferably unpublished poems…
MCC introduces Climate Action for Peace
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is holding a special online launch event to introduce its new Climate Action for Peace campaign. This webinar will be held Tuesday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m. ET. To learn more or to register, go to https://bit.ly/MCCClimateActionWebinar. Webinar participants will learn about how people around the world, with the help of MCC’s partners, are taking action…
MWC plans online prayer hour
Mennonite World Conference will hold an online prayer hour on Friday, May 19, at 10 a.m. ET. There will be breakout rooms with a prayer leader in several languages. To register, go to https://bit.ly/MWCPrayerMay2023.
Conference ends 2022-23 fiscal year with a deficit
Ohio Conference finished the 2022-23 fiscal year with a deficit of $20,112. The fiscal year ended March 31, 2023. The Conference ended February with a year-to-date operating balance of -$18,211. Receipts for the month of March totaled $19,678, including $18,545 in giving from congregations. Expenses for the month totaled $21,579, resulting in a deficit of $1,901 for the month. Over…
Updated office hours announced
Please note: Administrative Assistant Judy King’s office hours for answering phone calls and responding to emails will be Monday through Thursday, effective immediately. You may contact her at ohmc@zoominternet.net or 330-857-5421.
MC USA delegate to consider three resolutions
The Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) Executive Board met in Los Angeles April 13-14, 2023. The board voted to forward three proposed organizational resolutions to the Delegate Assembly, including one that recommends shifting the Delegate Assembly to a three-year, or triennial, cycle. See a full report on the MC USA website: https://bit.ly/4-23ExecutiveBoardMeeting.