WESTERN DISTRICT CONFERENCE
SPROUTS
October 4, 2016
A weekly communication for:
WDC Churches and Pastors
WDC Executive Board, Commission, Committee and Task Force members
Any content may be used in bulletins and newsletters and
forwarded to congregational leaders and members.
WDC Sprouts is also available at: www.mennowdc.org (Publications)
IN THIS ISSUE:
*Serving with Children, starting with a Book
*Announcements
Serving with Children, starting with a Book
by Jennie Wintermote, WDC Resource Library Director
Last week we received a copy of the new book Menno’s Marvelous Day: The MCC Cannery Comes to Town by Marcia Lewandowski, illustrated by Joanna Gerber Pinkerton (a member of WDC). It’s a lovely story of a young boy’s first experience with the MCC meat canning. As we enter October, the canner will begin its 7-month trek across the United States and Canada as hundreds of Anabaptists participate in its work of feeding others “In the name of Christ.” The cannery will be in Kansas the last week of October/first week of November and in Oklahoma early to mid-December.
Though this book is set in Kidron, Ohio, Menno’s experiences are the same as those working to can meat across the country. This book is a great way to introduce children to one of MCC’s projects that helps those in need around the world.
Picture books are a great first step in introducing children to the needs in our broken world and ways people (like them) are working to help others. Follow up the reading of a picture book with an act of service done with the kids (check out meat canning times in your area, help cheer someone with a visit or a handmade card, look into other child-friendly volunteer options with MCC, local nursing homes, shelters or other non-profits in your area.)
One final way to use this book is by talking about sharing our gifts. Illustrator Joanna Gerber Pinkerton brought a copy of the book forward and placed it in the offering basket on Firstfruits Sunday at her church. Firstfruits is about offering your first and your best to God. She offered the work of her hands–her art back to God to be used in God’s healing work in our world. Talk with children about what they might be able to offer God (time, something they create, love for others, money, etc.)
You can check out WDC’s copy of Menno’s Marvelous Day to share with the children in your family or congregation, or request a copy from
Relief Canning, Inc., Kidron
P.O. Box 157
Kidron, OH 44636
Copies are available by donation to the ministry of MCC relief canning (at address above).
WDC Announcements
- Everyone is invited to the WDC Reference Council on the theme “Being Church in the Urban Context” on October 22 from 9 am – 3 pm. It will be held at Luz del Evangelio, 1524 Dowdy Ferry Rd, Dallas, TX. Come learn about other congregations and members of WDC and explore how God is at work in our diverse contexts. Speakers include Lois Barrett, Damian Rodriguez, Simon Tlumang, Lee Lever and members of Southern Hills Mennonite Church. Lunch provided. Please RSVP to WDC by October 10, so that we can plan for your attendance.
- Manhattan (KS) Mennonite Church will hold their 30th annual German Mennonite Meal and International Craft & Bake Sale on Sunday, November 13, from 12 noon to 6 pm at Pottorf Hall – CiCo Park, Avery Ave, Manhattan, KS. Meal tickets $12/adult, $4.50/children under 12. $1 from every adult ticket sold supports Work in Progress, a multi-ethnic, interdenominational ensemble who airs to glorify God and bridge racial divisions through music and worship. Take-out meals and packages of frozen sausage will be available. Free admission to the Ten Thousand Villages International Craft Sale and Bake Sale with dozens of home-baked goods.
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The Wichita Chapter of the American Guild of Organists is presenting a concert at Eden Mennonite Church (Moundridge, KS) on Sunday, October 16, at 4 pm. A reception follows.
4. Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Camp Mennoscah booth at Bethel College’s Fall Festival! It was great to see people we had not seen in so many years and to talk to all of you about the kitchen/dining hall renovations. We’ll see you again soon!
5. Scrapbook and Crafts Retreats at Camp Mennoscah are almost here! If you haven’t signed up, grab your laptop or phone and register for October 28-30 or November 4-6 at www.campmennoscah.org. It’s three days of cropping with some chatting and make-n-takes as a bonus. Bring a friend for a discount. Call us at 620-297-3290 with questions.
6. Out with the dam! The dam at Camp Mennoscah will be taken out on October 16, Sunday, at approximately 2pm. You are welcome to help (wear river-appropriate clothes) or to watch as it pleases you. Feel free to bring a change of clothes with you. We will take out the dam, regardless of the weather, unless deemed unsafe. Contact us at 620-297-3290 with questions.
7. Upcoming Event at Camp Mennoscah! All summer youth camp volunteers (summer staff, cooks, nurses, counselors, all of you) from any year are most definitely invited to join us December 17 at approximately 2:30pm in the dining hall for cookies, hot drinks, and fun times. Not much will be scheduled–just a rip-roaring time to share stories and be at camp. You are welcome to bring cookies and snacks to share.
Mennonite Church Announcements
1. Invitation to participate in the Loss of Turtle Island on Monday, Oct. 10 at 7 PM in the Dugan Conference Center at Newman University (3100 McCormick Ave in Wichita). This Doctrine of Discovery event is in conjunction with the Newman Studies course Stories of Home and Immigration. Erica Littlewolf and Karin Kaufman Wall from Mennonite Central Committee Central States will facilitate the participatory exercise. The activity is described by Kaufman Wall as, “A participatory learning experience that depicts the historic relationship between European settlers — including Mennonites — and the Indigenous nations, the original inhabitants, of the land we now call the United States of America. Blankets represent the land and participants represent distinct Indigenous nations who experience colonization, genocide, broken treaties, forced removal, assimilation and termination — all in the spirit of the Doctrine of Discovery.” People of all ages are welcome! RSVP for this event to Sonja Bontrager, Assistant Professor of Spanish at Newman University 316.942.4921 ex. 2158.
- Mennonite Church USA Convention 2017 is coming up July 4-8 in Orlando, with the theme “Love is a Verb.” One way you can show love: Consider donating to the Convention Scholarship Fund or partnering with a congregation that can’t afford to send people on its own. Learn more at: http://convention.mennoniteusa.org/registration/ or find the convention on Facebook or Twitter.
Western District Conference
2517 North Main, PO Box 306
North Newton KS 67117
316-283-6300; FAX: 316-283-0620
Email: wdc@mennowdc.org
Website: www.mennowdc.org