Lauren Francisco is a member of Calvary Community Church in Hampton, Virginia. She served for a year with Mennonite Mission Network in South Africa and blogs regularly for The Mennonite’s website.  Touching back down at the JFK airport after living in South Africa for a year, I suddenly had anxiety. Would I forever chase the […]

David and Leann Augsburger are two semi-retired people who co-lead a home base church (Peace Mennonite Church, Claremont, California) and volunteer to welcome, care and connect people in the San Gabriel valley. This week we keep coming back to conversations about: 1. Abide With Me, Elizabeth Strout, 2006. Sometimes Leann comes home from book club and […]

Hannah Heinzkehr is the Executive Director for The Mennonite, Inc. She lives in Goshen, Indiana, with her husband, Justin, and two kids. This post originally appeared on the Menno Snapshots blog for Mennonite Church USA. Facebook first became a phenomenon when I was a college student studying abroad during my junior year at Bluffton University. I […]

“A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” Acts 16:14 My senior year of high school, I pulled my car into my garage feeling utterly defeated. After about a month […]

Beryl Jantzi is director of Stewardship Education at Everence. This article originally appeared at Everence.com and on the Menno Snapshots blog of Mennonite Church USA.  As the number of not-for-profits increases, along with their level of sophistication for donor dollars, churches need to adjust to the changing landscape of religious giving. When it comes to giving, loyalty […]

Jessica Schrock-Ringenberg is an apostle serving at Zion Mennonite Church in Archbold, Ohio.  Missional. We’ve been hearing this word for 20 years. Our seminaries have been teaching it, our agencies have been producing books on it and our congregations have been using the word “missional” to justify programs, mission efforts and other worthwhile “regularly scheduled” […]

Name: Isabel Castillo Role: Shenandoah Valley Organizer with Virginia Organizing, Castillo also was recently honored as a “Movement Honoree” by Sojourners and was a speaker at the 2013 Mennonite Church USA Convention in Phoenix 1. You came to the United States from Mexico when you were six. Would you be willing to say more about […]

Ben Wideman is Campus Pastor for 3rd Way Collective at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania.  Cindy Lapp’s recent reflection on her experience at the Charlottesville, Virginia, protests stands out to me in a number of different ways, perhaps none greater than her emphasis on the need to see the humanity in those with […]

On Sept. 5, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program will be terminated in six months. As of Sept. 5, no new DACA applications will be processed, and individuals seeking renewals to their work permits will need to apply by Oct. 5. This program has provided work permits […]

Name: David Mishler Role: Conference Minister for Allegheny Mennonite Conference and Pastor at Scottdale (Pennsylvania) Mennonite Church 1. What is your earliest memory of church? My earliest memory of church is singing songs as a primary or preschool student group before Sunday school. I loved singing and the upbeat children’s songs are a happy memory. […]

Glen Guyton is Chief Operating Officer for Mennonite Church USA.  Maybe nothing better illustrates the need for clear boundary lines than the hymn by Thomas H. Troeger: “God marked a line and told the sea, its surging tides and waves were free to travel up the sloping strand, but not to overtake the land.” Even […]