Ministry Inquiry participant takes on assignment with Franconia Conference

This article, by Noël King, first appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference's Missional Seeds newsletter.

It wasn't Maria Byler's first choice to participate in the Ministry Inquiry Program (MIP) this summer. Currently a Goshen College senior social work major with a Spanish minor, Maria had wanted to do an internship with the Service Inquiry Program, but the pieces didn't fall into place.

"I had heard that most people who do the Ministry Inquiry do it with a church and do pastoral things, and I didn't really want to do that," Maria said. What she did want, she knew, was "something where I could maybe speak Spanish, something that worked with multiculturalism or immigration issues."

Enter Steve Kriss, director of communication and leadership cultivation for Franconia Mennonite Conference in Souderton, Pa., who regularly places MIP interns throughout his conference and particularly in urban and multicultural settings. He works closely with Goshen College's Campus Pastor Bob Yoder as well as with the other four Mennonite colleges in the U.S. to match students' interests with openings in the program, which is a joint effort of the five schools and Mennonite Church USA to help students test their calling to ministry.

"I'm always working hard to find ways that gifted young adults can bring their questions and their dreams into the church," said Steve, "and one of my goals is to help connect bright, young Euro-American students with the multiplicity of color and expression that happens within Mennonite communities in urban areas."

When Steve approached Maria with the possibility of working with him on a multicultural project in Franconia Conference, Maria realized that she had found a way "to work with the church and in the church but still be using more of the things that I am learning in social work classes," she said.

Not that it would be easy.

"I told her straight up that this was going to be a difficult and ambiguous assignment, but if she was really interested in learning and contributing, it should be a good experience," Steve remembers with a smile.

Describing Maria's role as a "field worker," Steve explained that he had seen firsthand how pastors in immigrant communities "are frequently overwhelmed and overworked by the day-to-day activity of what it means to pastor congregations of immigrants."

He had been wondering, he said, how the conference could create "the space we need to not only deal with the day-to-day problems but also figure out how to deal with the system of immigration and all of its just and unjust policies."

"The reason I was very interested in having Maria here," Steve continued, "was to work at those systemic kinds of change." Regarding the outlines of her internship, he added, they agreed that her work — no matter what it was — needed to be rooted in the life of a congregation.

Thus, in addition to living with a bilingual host family and actively participating in church services and Bible studies at the multicultural Centro de Alabanza de Filadelfia (Philadelphia Praise Center) congregation in South Philadelphia, Maria worked intently with community organizing groups such as Juntos, Casa del Sol, and Philadelphia's New Sanctuary Movement.

In her work with New Sanctuary, an interfaith support and advocacy group for immigrants, Maria listened to immigrants' stories, visited detention centers, attended meetings and helped with projects such as publicity packets.

"I also was then trying to connect more Mennonite churches from the conference in with New Sanctuary," said Maria. "That was the other side of my role."

As a culmination of that work, in which she visited churches and met with pastors and church members, Maria led a well-attended equipping seminar to share with the pastors what she'd learned over the summer.

The outcome of Maria's efforts? "To some degree, we won't see immediate results," said Steve, "but down the road I am hoping that her work will alleviate some of the pressure and strain on the immigrant communities."

"Maria was stunning in her ability to embrace the work, engage the work and enjoy it," he also reflected.

Brenda Hostetler Meyer, one of Maria's co-pastors at her sponsoring home congregation, Benton Mennonite in Goshen, said that she was very much impressed with what Maria was able to accomplish: "They were not making up work for this young person. This was a vision of conference leadership, and Maria was able to put some feet on that vision in the short time she was there."

Maria, she added, "is perceptive about the needs of people and what needs to happen in the world. She wants to do her part in it. I'm excited about what her learnings will have to offer to the congregation here at Benton."

Maria herself said that the internship "really pushed me to integrate what I care about in the church and following Jesus with my passion for social justice and my passion for people."

She said it also opened her eyes to the importance of church conference work. Prior to her internship, she said, "I didn't know much about the conference, so I didn't really know what their role was." Having done the internship, she said, "really made me realize how important conferences are for doing the kinds of things that churches can't do, like pushing churches to say, 'Wait a minute. Jesus talks a lot about welcoming people, and yet here's a situation where we are not being welcoming. What does that mean for us?'"

As for Maria's future, Steve said with a smile, "I have already been trying to convince Mari – and so have many people in South Philly – that the city is waiting for her after graduation."

But perhaps so is Chicago, where Maria will be serving her senior social work internship this coming spring. She's staying open to possibilities.

— By Noël King, a freelance writer from Scottsville, Va.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college's Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron's Best Buys in Education, "Colleges of Distinction," "Making a Difference College Guide" and U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition, which named Goshen a "least debt college." Visit www.goshen.edu.