News & Stories
Maple Grove Mennonite to host Ted and Co. performance
Maple Grove Mennonite Church in Hartville, Ohio, is hosting a performance by Ted and Company on Sunday, Jan. 20, at 6:30 p.m. Ted and Company will perform The Big Story: The Whole Bible in 80 Minutes (More or Less). This performance is free and open to the public. To learn more about this program, see the Ted and Co. website: http://bit.ly/TedandCoJan20. Maple…
Retreats to feature Dr. Don Bartlette
Dr. Don Bartlette will be the featured speaker at two retreats at Camp Luz in February. He will speak at both the Youth Retreat on Feb. 1-3 and the Junior High Retreat on Feb. 15-17. For more details, please see the retreat brochures below: 2019 Camp Luz Youth Retreat Brochure 2019 Camp Luz Jr. High Retreat Brochure
Online registration is open for missional conference
Online registration is now open for Ohio Conference’s 2019 missional conference featuring Sally Schreiner Youngquist and Steve North. The conference will be held March 7-8 at Salem Mennonite Church in Kidron. See the enclosed brochure for more details. To register online, go to http://bit.ly/2019MissionalConference.
Pastors and Leaders 2019 at AMBS to focus on loving neighbors in tense times
How can church leaders and congregations respond to hate, intolerance and systemic racism in their communities in productive and transformative ways? What does the gospel of Jesus Christ call Christ-followers to do in situations like these? Participants in Pastors and Leaders 2019 — an annual leadership conference at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) — will explore the biblical and theological…
Lilly Endowment grant to assist pastors
GOSHEN, Indiana – Everence, through its affiliate Mennonite Foundation, has received a second grant of $1 million as part of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders. This additional grant is part of the second phase of the Endowment’s national initiative. Everence was one of the first 37 organizations receiving grants as part of the…
Giving increases, but deficit remains
Giving to the Ohio Conference was higher during November than during October, but expenses still outpaced receipts during November. According to figures provided by Ohio Conference Financial Coordinator Stan Helmuth, receipts for November totaled $28,450, compared with just $13,169 during October. Of November’s total, congregations gave $26,386, individuals gave $2,050, and the remaining $14 came from interest income. Expenses for…
Merry Christmas from Ohio Conference Cast
The final Ohio Conference Cast episode of 2018 includes Christmas greetings from co-hosts Bill Seymour and Thomas Dunn, as well as a look back at the previous 21 episodes from this past year. Listen to this episode to hear about their favorite podcast memories from 2018. You might even hear Paula Snyder Belousek sing part of the Ohio Conference Cast theme…
Camp Luz seeks program director
Camp Luz is in search of a qualified individual to serve year-round as program director. This position is critical to the ongoing mission of Camp Luz. Details and qualifications can be found in the job description. Interested candidates should send their resume and three references to Camp Director Andrew Michaels at Andrew@campluz.com no later than Jan. 2. 2019 Camp Luz Program Director…
Iowa Mennonite School seeks principal
Iowa Mennonite School (Kalona, Iowa) is seeking an energetic leader with vision to serve as principal beginning July 2019. Iowa Mennonite School offers a Christ-centered education within the Anabaptist Mennonite tradition. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a clear commitment to Anabaptist faith and practice, serve as spokesperson for the school, and advance the mission and vision as set by the…
EMS to host 50th School for Leadership Training
The theme for the 50th annual School for Leadership Training (SLT) at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS) will be “Thriving in the Stormy Seas of Change.” The Jan. 14-16, 2019, event will highlight the narrative of Jesus’ crossing the stormy sea with his disciples found in Mark 4:35-41, and will feature keynote speakers John Pavlovitz, Sue Park-Hur and David Evans, plus seminars, facilitated…
Immigration — Welcoming the Stranger
In this episode of the Ohio Conference Cast, hosts Thomas Dunn and Bill Seymour talk about immigration with Dan King, a member of the Ohio Conference Ministry Development Team. While Dan is officially retired as an Ohio Conference pastor, he continues to minister through his part-time job as an interpreter at Dover High School, working primarily with students from Guatemala.…
Camp Luz seeks office administrator
Camp Luz is in search of a qualified individual to serve year-round as guest group coordinator and office administrator. This position is critical to support the ongoing mission of Camp Luz. Details and qualifications can be found in the job description. Interested candidates should send their resume and three references to Camp Director Andrew Michaels at Andrew@campluz.com no later than Friday, Dec.…
Talking about what binds us together
When is the last time you heard someone describe a multi-hour meeting as “fun”? If you’ve never had that experience (or even if you have), listen to this episode of the Ohio Conference Cast to learn about a laughter-filled five-and-a-half-hour meeting of Ohio Conference pastors which took place Nov. 8. While the pastors’ discussion may have been about important topics,…
World Fellowship Sunday is Jan. 20
Mennonite World Conference (MWC) invites all Anabaptist congregations to celebrate World Fellowship Sunday on Jan. 20, 2019. Each year MWC provides worship planning resources for use on World Fellowship Sunday. The theme for 2019 is “Justice on the Journey: Migration and the Anabaptist-Mennonite Story.” To download these worship planning resources, go to http://bit.ly/2019WorldFellowshipSunday. To learn more about the history of…
Bluffton University to present ‘Messiah’
BLUFFTON, Ohio — Bluffton University will present its 123rd performance of Handel’s “Messiah” at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9, in Yoder Recital Hall. While tickets are free, they must be reserved at http://tickets.bluffton.edu or at Marbeck Center. Dr. Bo Young Kang, director of choral activities, will make her debut conducting the oratorio at Bluffton. Soloists along with the Bluffton Choral…
Giving to Conference drops in October
Giving to Ohio Conference dropped considerably in October, according to figures provided by Financial Coordinator Stan Helmuth. Receipts for October totaled just $13,169, the lowest monthly amount since April, and substantially lower than the $24,753 received in September. Expenses for October totaled $27,012, resulting in a -$13,843 operating balance for the month. That shortfall, combined with the previous deficit, led…
Low German Bible finds home at AMBS
The library at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, recently received a donation of a Low German Bible published in 1599–1600. Now housed in the Library Special Collections Room, it fills a gap in the library’s extensive Studer Bible Collection, which lacked a historic Low German Bible, according to Karl Stutzman, Director of Library Services. To learn more about this…
Online Advent devotions to begin Nov. 26
Once again Goshen College is offering an online resource to help believers make time and space in their hearts and minds to reflect during the season of Advent. Beginning Nov. 26, the week before the first Sunday of Advent, and culminating on Christmas Day, Goshen College students, faculty and staff will provide weekday reflections based on the lectionary Scripture passages,…
Thankful and hopeful
By Dick Barrett Conference Minister I have now completed two months as Conference Minister, working one to two days a week until beginning full-time on Jan. 1. I have participated in the four cluster meetings across the Conference, the congregational leadership team retreat in Bellville, the Mennonite Church USA Constituency Leaders Council meeting in Chicago, a day-long pastors and credentialed…
Bluffton students ‘reimagine’ the Church
By Tricia Bell Bluffton University BLUFFTON, Ohio – Using the theme “Reimagining the Church: Looking Back to Move Forward” as inspiration, Bluffton University students explored the relevance of the Church in the modern era during Spiritual Life Week. The week-long, student-led examination of faith is held each semester on Bluffton’s campus. For Jenny Dorsey, a Bible and theology major from…
High schoolers can explore ministry with AMBS
Do you know high-school students with gifts for leadership and ministry? Through the !Explore program at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, students in grades 10–12 can explore ministry and theology, grow in spiritual practices and listen for God’s call through a summer congregational internship and a group experience (July 9-25, 2019). Scholarships are available. Apply for 2019! See ambs.edu/explore for details.
Growing more like Jesus to be conference focus at Hesston College
Save the date: Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas, will host the 2019 edition of its Anabaptist Vision and Discipleship Series Feb. 1-3, 2019. The theme for this conference will be “Growing More Like Jesus from the Outside In: Transforming Heart and Mind.” The conference will seek to answer the question, “Where can we find support to take new risks to…
Service Adventure seeks unit leader
Looking to serve in a mentoring role to young adults? Service Adventure is seeking leaders for its unit location in beautiful Anchorage, Alaska. This is a unique opportunity to serve as a mentor and to foster community with a household of young adults through faith formation, daily living, and house activities. For more information, contact Susan Nisly at Mennonite Mission…
Special delegate assembly for MC USA canceled
The Executive Board of Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) has canceled the special delegate assembly which had been planned for Nov. 26, 2018. To learn more about this decision, please see the Letter to MC USA Delegates from MC USA Moderator David Boshart.
Advent worship guide is for families
Anabaptist Faith Formation Network and Mennonite Church USA are offering a free, downloadable guide for family worship during Advent written by Elsie Rempel and illustrated by Megan Kamei. This resource, titled God’s Goodness, is designed for parents to use at home with their children. For use between Dec. 2 and Jan. 6, the worship guide includes Bible readings, short litanies, songs, hands-on…
MyNeighbor program can benefit Ohio Conference
Do you have a credit card through Everence? If so, your purchases can benefit the Ohio Conference. Everence donates 1.5 percent of the transaction total of each purchase made with a MyNeighbor credit card to the charitable organization of your choice. Donations are distributed each January and are based on the card holder’s choice of “neighbor” as of Dec. 31. In January…
CLC — A place to build relationships together denominationally
In the latest episode of the Ohio Conference Cast podcast, co-hosts Bill Seymour and Thomas Dunn talk with Conference Minister Dick Barrett and Paula Snyder Belousek, pastor of Salem Mennonite Church in Elida, about their experience at the October meeting of the Constituency Leaders Council (CLC). Snyder Belousek describes the CLC as “a place to build relationships together denominationally.” This episode, which…
Credentialed leaders meet in Upper Sandusky
What does it mean when we say, “Jesus is our Center”? Thirty-six credentialed leaders from across the Ohio Conference came together to discuss that question on Thursday, Nov. 9, at the All-Ohio Conference Pastors’ Meeting. The pastors and other credentialed leaders met for a day of discussion and relationship-building at the Upper Sandusky Library in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Since 2015,…
Financial report shared at fall cluster meetings
At the fall 2018 cluster meetings, delegates heard a financial report from the Ohio Conference Stewardship Ministry Team. Copies of the PowerPoint presentation shared at the cluster meetings are available below. You may download the presentation either as a PowerPoint file (.pptx) or as a PDF. 2018 Financial Report – Fall Cluster Meetings (.pptx) 2018 Financial Report – Fall…
The Mennonite seeks submissions on the theme of education
The Mennonite, Inc., invites your original submissions for the January 2018 print magazine issue and corresponding online content focusing on the theme “Education: What does a just, equitable and liberated system look like?” Submissions are due to Editor@TheMennonite.org no later than Nov. 26. For more details, please see http://bit.ly/TheMennoniteJanuary2018.