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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 at the same time for a number of 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 only 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 Spanish speaking, joined Mosaic from Southeast 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 the conference moderator. She succeeded Ken Burkholder, who was the Mosaic’s first moderator.

A significant number of immigrant churches in Philadelphia, California, and Florida belong to Mosaic Conference. Mosaic News, Mosaic’s weekly online newsletter, features articles in Spanish and Indonesian, as well as in English. Other languages spoken in Mosaic congregations include Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Creole. 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 Vacation Bible School support, the paving of a walking path with informational panels about peacemakers, and community outreach initiatives.

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

As Mosaic increasingly receives congregations into its fellowship that are not of Pennsylvania German background, intercultural relationships become even more important. An intercultural team provides leadership in examining and undoing racism, sexism, and cultural bias. The team has facilitated intercultural inventories of the Mosaic staff and board, as well as the White Caucus, a group where white people reflect on their journey with antiracism.

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 Sosanto 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. African American Ertell Whigham had been previously ordained by Franconia Conference, as well as Hubert Brown by Eastern District Conference in 1966. 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 COVID-19, a global pandemic, in 2020. The pandemic brought to light the struggles of many vulnerable congregations and communities within the conference. The conference launched a mutual aid effort called the Shalom Fund. The initial goal was $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 the East Coast, California, and Florida. The fund also had an international reach and helped Mosaic-related ministries in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Intercultural relationships

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, organizations and ministries that extend the mission or witness of the Conference. These Conference Related Ministries include Christian schools, retirement communities, historical centers, church camps, gap year programs, and many other Mennonite-related organizations meeting the needs of the community. Some Conference Related Ministries reach beyond the borders of the United States with Christian development work in Central America, Africa, and southeast 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 approved a Pathway Forward process in which the conference would reflect on its relationship to Mennonite Church USA. The conference held a series of conversations with congregations and conference related ministries and will make a decision in the fall of 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.