Resources
Check out these Lenten resources
By Ann Leaman Ohio Conference Resource Advocate This month I would like to highlight some Lenten worship and devotional resources. The Soil and The Seed Project has released a new collection of free resources for Lent, Easter and Pentecost. Included are a new album of music, “Little Liturgies,” art, and lyrics/chord/lead sheets. To download these resources, go to https://www.thesoilandtheseedproject.org/vol-9. CommonWord, a…
Missio Dei issue features Latin American women
The 32nd issue of Missio Dei, a publication of Mennonite Mission Network, describes 20 years of Movimiento de Mujeres Anabautistas Haciendo Teología desde América Latina (Movement of Anabaptist Women Doing Theology from Latin America — MTAL). Spanish and English versions of the booklet, Women, 20 years of paving the way between dreams and hopes, a collaboration between Mission Network and…
The Soil and the Seed offers resources for Lent
The Soil and The Seed Project has released a new collection of free resources for Lent, Easter and Pentecost. Included are a new album of music, “Little Liturgies,” art, and lyrics/chord/lead sheets. To download these resources, go to https://www.thesoilandtheseedproject.org/vol-9.
Lent at Home guide is now available
“Christ Among Us” is the theme of the Lent at Home 2024 worship guide, now available for free from the Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) website: https://bit.ly/2024LentatHome. This guide uses weekly and daily Scriptures as a basis for worship rituals, prayers, and activities designed to help individuals and households of all ages prepare for the season of Lent.
Safe Church offers tools for abuse prevention
By Ann Leaman Ohio Conference Resource Advocate This month I would like to highlight Safe Church, which is Mennonite Church USA’s newly formed abuse prevention ministry. Safe Church now has a webpage available on the Mennoite Church USA website: https://bit.ly/MCUSASafeChurch. The webpage offers resources to help faith communities keep children, youth and vulnerable adults safe from abuse of any kind. Safe Church offers…
Safe Church offers abuse prevention resources
Safe Church, Mennonite Church USA’s newly formed abuse prevention ministry, now has a webpage available on the MC USA website: https://bit.ly/MCUSASafeChurch. The webpage offers resources to help faith communities keep children, youth and vulnerable adults safe from all abuse. Among other materials, the webpage contains a major update to the Circle of Grace curriculum: https://bit.ly/MCUSACircleofGrace.
The Soil and The Seed Project offers Advent and Christmas resources
If you are seeking ways to nurture faith at home during Advent, take a look at the new free resources available online at The Soil and The Seed Project: https://bit.ly/SoilandSeedVol8. Volume 8 of these faith formation resources, now available, is intended for use during Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. The Soil and The Seed Project has created “little liturgies” with downloadable…
You’re invited to join the Ohio Conference Winter Read
Coming in January: The Ohio Conference Winter Read. This winter Ohio Conference will once again hold a Conference-wide book study using the Zoom videoconferencing platform. This year we will be studying Not Quite Fine: Mental Health, Faith and Showing Up for One Another, a book by Carlene Hill Byron. Discussion leaders will be Emiley Shenk and Darin Nissley. Winter Read discussion sessions will…
The Corinthian Plan has open enrollment through Dec. 31
The Corinthian Plan is open for enrollment from Nov.1 through Dec. 31, 2023, for a Jan. 1, 2024, start date. The Corinthian Plan is a self-funded health care plan for pastors and church workers, sponsored and owned by Mennonite Church USA (MC USA). Please see the MC USA news release for more details: https://bit.ly/2024CorinthianPlan.
MC USA to relaunch Equipping e-newsletter
ELKHART, Indiana (Mennonite Church USA) — After a two-year hiatus, the Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) Executive Board communications department is relaunching Equipping, a resource e-newsletter for leaders across MC USA. MC USA will reintroduce Equipping as a quarterly email newsletter featuring resources on leadership, peacebuilding, worship, faith formation and more from MC USA and its conferences, congregations, agencies, ministry…
Advent at Home guide coming soon
Update: The 2024 Advent at Home worship guide is now available. Go to https://bit.ly/AdventatHome to download it. ELKHART, Indiana (Mennonite Education Agency) — Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) announces the upcoming publication of Advent at Home 2023. Taken from Leader magazine’s Advent theme, “How will we know?” this worship guide accompanies individuals and families through the days and weeks of Advent…
Advent at Home guide available soon
Update: The 2024 Advent at Home worship guide is now available. Go to https://bit.ly/AdventatHome to download it. By Ann Leaman Ohio Conference Resource Advocate Coming soon: Once again this year, Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) will be publishing an Advent at Home worship guide. It will follow the same Advent theme as Leader magazine, “How will we know?” The Advent at…
Winter Read to focus on mental health
Coming in January: The Ohio Conference Winter Read. This winter Ohio Conference will once again hold a Conference-wide book study using the Zoom videoconferencing platform. We will be studying the book Not Quite Fine: Mental Health, Faith and Showing Up for One Another by Carlene Hill Byron. A schedule of Zoom meetings will be published in December, as well as registration…
Updated flyer has instructions for reporting misconduct
The Credentialing Ministry Team of Ohio Mennonite Conference has updated the “How to Report Pastoral Sexual Misconduct” flyer and strongly encourages congregations to post it in their meeting spaces. Please consider posting in visible places, but it doesn’t have to be the first thing people see when entering the church. Consider posting in bathrooms, on bulletin boards or other conspicuous places around…
Podcast features Ohio Conference members
“Til Death Do Us Part” is a new podcast featuring conversation between author Christiana Peterson and her husband, Matthew Peterson, who is pastor of Midway Mennonite Church in Columbiana. In the description of this podcast, Christiana says, “Because I write about death and my husband is a pastor who is often invited into sacred spaces where death is present, we…
Author Summit to feature Meghan Larissa Good
Jesus Collective is planning an Author Summit featuring Meghan Larissa Good, who will be the featured speaker at the 2024 Annual Conference Assembly. In the Author Summit, participants will meet via Zoom to explore Good’s soon-to-be published book, Divine Gravity: Sparking a Movement to Recover a Better Christian Story. The series will include seven meetings, all featuring conversation with Good.…
Webinar series focuses on giving
By Ann Leaman Ohio Conference Resource Advocate This month I would like to highlight a resource about giving and a resource from Anabaptist Disabilities Network related to baptism. Provident Giving Sessions This fall MennoMedia is partnering with Everence to provide a free webinar series about generosity, “The Provident Giving Sessions.” The first webinar, held in August, explored why people give.…
AMBS to launch Practical Leadership Training
In August, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) is launching a new Practical Leadership Training program to help pastors, lay leaders, community leaders and leaders of nonprofit organizations increase their capacity to provide effective Anabaptist leadership in a variety of settings. This program grew out of a listening process in which church leaders shared that they needed practical leadership skills to meet challenges resulting from the pandemic, polarization, shifting church…
ADN creates accessible baptism curriculum
Anabaptist Disabilities Network (ADN) has published Believing and Belonging: An Accessible Anabaptist Membership Curriculum for youth and adults with intellectual disabilities. Written by ADN Executive Director Jeanne Davies, this curriculum fills the increasing need for curriculum written specifically for youth and adults with intellectual disabilities. This curriculum has 36 lessons covering God’s first people, the story of Jesus, the story…
MWC invites congregations to celebrate Peace Sunday 2023
Mennonite World Conference (MWC) invites your congregation to observe Peace Sunday on Sept. 17, 2023. The MWC Peace Commission has prepared Peace Sunday worship resources for congregations. These resources can be used on Sept. 17 or another Sunday which fits your congregation’s schedule. MWC Peace Sunday Worship Resources for 2023
CommonWord offers resources for outdoor worship
Want to take your worship outside this summer? CommonWord has a curated collection of outdoor worship resources that you can use. Whether you’re in a forest, a field, or your backyard, these resources will help you find God in the world around you. Visit commonword.ca/go/3535 to see the collection.
New resources are available for leadership training and faith formation
By Ann Leaman Ohio Conference Resource Advocate In this column I would like to highlight two new sets of resources, one for leadership training and one for faith formation. Practical Leadership Training In August Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) is beginning a new program called Practical Leadership Training. This program is designed to equip not only pastors, but also lay…
MCC sets goal for School Kit Challenge
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is holding a School Kit Challenge this August. The challenge: Help 10,000 kids attend school by donating 10,000 school kits during the month of August. To assist in this challenge, MCC is offering a free school kit activity resource for Sunday school and vacation Bible school students. To learn more about the challenge or to order the school…
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…
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…
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.
Free study guide now available
Believe and Be Baptized, a free study guide about baptism, is now available for Ohio Conference congregations. The study guide was produced by the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism (ISGA). Written by John D. Roth in collaboration with Tom Yoder Neufeld, the study guide reflects on topics discussed during the Lutheran-Mennonite-Roman Catholic Trilateral Conversation on Baptism. Believe and…
New journal issue explores topic of ‘uncertainty’
The Spring 2023 issue of Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology, edited by Karl Koop, PhD, of Canadian Mennonite University, looks at uncertainty from personal, ecological, biblical and societal angles. Writers explore how to move away from self-centered conceptions of certainty and control and move toward notions of trust and mystery. You can download this free publication online at…
Check out these new Lenten resources
By Ann Leaman Ohio Conference Resource Advocate The Soil and The Seed Project has released a new collection of free resources for Lent, Easter and Pentecost. Included are a new album of music, “Little Liturgies,” art, and lyrics/chord/lead sheets. To download these resources, go to https://www.thesoilandtheseedproject.org/vol-6. For more information about the Soil and The Seed Project, see https://www.thesoilandtheseedproject.org/about. Another resource for Lent comes from…