Draft:Mosaic Mennonite Conference

Mosaic Mennonite Conference is a conference of Mennonite Church USA based in Lansdale, PA, with congregations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont, New York, Florida, and California. Mosaic Conference formed in 2020 as a reconciliation of the former Franconia Mennonite Conference and the former Eastern District Conference that split in 1847. Mosaic is a member of Mennonite World Conference through Mennonite Church USA.

Formation
In November 2019, Franconia Conference and Eastern District Conference voted to reconcile. Even though they had been officially separated for 173 years, the two conferences had been holding their annual assemblies simultaneously for many years and had collaborated on projects since 1986. The creation of Mennonite Church USA, a merger of (Old) Mennonite Church and General Conference congregations in 2002, also brought the Franconia and Eastern District conferences together in new ways.

Franconia Conference delegates voted unanimously for the reconciliation; Eastern District voted almost unanimously in favor for it, with one abstention. Franconia and Eastern District officially reconciled in February 2020 and became Mosaic Mennonite Conference in May 2020. The new conference’s name reflects the cultural and geographic diversity of congregations.

In November 2020, eight congregations, many who worship in Spanish, joined Mosaic from Southeastern Mennonite Conference. As of January 1, 2024, Mosaic had 58 congregations with about 7,000 members. Mosaic had 27 Conference-Related Ministries and 13 Partners in Ministry. Stephen Kriss was the executive minister, and Angela Moyer Walter was conference moderator. She succeeded Ken Burkholder, who was Mosaic’s first moderator.

Numerous immigrant Mennonite churches in Philadelphia, California, and Florida belong to Mosaic Conference. Mosaic News, Mosaic’s weekly online newsletter, features articles in English, Spanish, and Indonesian. Other languages spoken in Mosaic congregations include Mandarin, Vietnamese, Creole, Karen, and Russian. Mosaic’s annual assembly, conducted in English, offers translation into other languages.

Priorities
In 1971, Franconia Conference established five commissions: Stewardship, Nurture, Mission, Leadership, and Brotherhood. These concerns eventually evolved into stated priorities of the Franconia Conference, which became Missional, Formational, and Intercultural. Mosaic Mennonite Conference, formed in 2020, continues these priorities.

Mosaic offers Missional Operations Grants to congregations to support creative ways of engaging the community. Projects have included support for Vacation Bible Schools, the paving of a walking path with informational panels about peacemakers, and community outreach initiatives.

In 2024, Mosaic launched a formational program to provide support and mentorship for pastors, in addition to its leadership school, Mosaic Institute. Mosaic supports youth ministry through the Youth Formation Team and published resources.

As Mosaic receives many congregations into its fellowship that are not of Pennsylvania German background, intercultural competency becomes increasingly important. An intercultural team provides leadership in examining and undoing racism, sexism, and cultural bias. The team hosts an annual prayer and resourcing gathering for leaders of color called Renewing Nations and Generations. The team also facilitatees intercultural inventories of the Mosaic staff and board, and a caucus for white people to reflect on their antiracism journey.

Early Years
On February 23, 2020, Mosaic ordained Charlene Smalls to ministry at Ripple Church in Allentown, PA. She was the first African American woman to be ordained by Mosaic, as well as in the former Franconia and Eastern District conferences. Angelia Susanto was the first Asian woman to be credentialed by Mosaic in 2021.

These ordinations built on the foundation of previous ones, including those of white women: Ann Allebach in Eastern District Conference (1911) and Marty Kolb Wyckoff in Franconia Conference (1990). The first woman of color ordained by Franconia Conference was Letty Cortez, who served at Centro de Alabanza de Filadelfia (Philadelphia, PA) in 2017. Hubert Brown was likely the first African American man to be ordained by Eastern District Conference in 1966, and Ertell Whigham was the first African American man ordained by Franconia Conference. Hao Huy Tran, then pastor of Vietnamese Gospel Mennonite Church, was the first Asian man ordained by the Franconia Conference in 1985.

Mosaic Conference formed a few weeks before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic revealed the struggles of many vulnerable congregations and communities within the conference. The conference launched a mutual aid effort called the Shalom Fund, with an initial goal of $50,000. By the time the Shalom Fund closed in 2022, it had raised $217,945. These funds helped congregations and Partners in Ministry in California, Florida, the east coast of the U.S., Honduras, India, and Indonesia.

Intercultural Relationship
In 2022, the same year that Mennonite World Conference met in Indonesia, Zion Mennonite Church traveled to Philadelphia to worship with three Indonesian churches: Philadelphia Praise Center, Indonesian Light Mennonite Church and Nations Worship Center. They also ate together. Mosaic’s membership is ten percent Asian, with six Indonesian congregations in Pennsylvania and California.

Some of Mosaic’s intercultural relationships are the result of former mission and outreach posts. Franconia Conference sent mission workers to Mexico City in 1958 and maintained a presence there. Eventually the churches planted by Franconia and other Mennonite groups became the Conference of Anabaptist Mennonite Churches of Mexico. In 1995, Salford Mennonite Church began a sister church relationship with the congregation Dios con Nosotros. More than 100 people from Salford visited Dios con Nosotros over the next decade. Today Salford supports the pastoral couple.

Conference-Related Ministries
Mosaic has relationships with 27 agencies and organizations that extend the mission and witness of the Conference. These Conference-Related Ministries include Christian schools, retirement communities, historical centers, church camps, and community centers based in the U.S., as well as some focused on Christian development work in Central America, Africa, and south Asia.

Connections and relationship to broader Anabaptism
In 2022, Mennonite Church USA held a special delegate assembly in Kansas City, Kansas, and narrowly passed “Resolution for Repentance and Transformation.” The resolution called for the full inclusion of LGBTQIA persons into the life of the church.

The resolution caused significant controversy within the conference (although tension regarding sexuality preceded Mosaic Conference). In 2022, the Mosaic assembly delegates approved a Pathway Forward process in which the conference would discern its relationship to Mennonite Church USA. The two-year process will conclude at the assembly to be held in November 2024.

Mosaic Conference sent representatives to the Mennonite World Conference in Indonesia in 2022. The Conference also made a significant donation to the Mennonite World Conference from the Shalom Fund, Mosaic’s mutual aid effort during the pandemic.