Reflections from Mennonite World Conference’s 500-Year Anniversary Celebration Communitas Across Cultures By: LORRY BENTCH The bus ride from Stuttgart airport to the retreat center was the culmination of many hours of travel. Unshowered and jetlagged, everyone settled in quietly for the ride. Just as the bus was ready to depart, three passengers climbed aboard. The sight of those familiar faces instantly changed the ride for me. “Bishop Nelson! Emmanuel! John!” They were not… Read More
A Weaver and a Butcher Reflecting on 500 Years of Anabaptist by Brinton Rutherford It was August 1527, a dangerous time. On January 5, 1527, Protestant authorities in Zürich drowned Felix Manz in the Limmat River. Barely three months later, May 21, Imperial authorities burned Michael Sattler in Rottenburg and drowned his wife in the Neckar River. Despite this, more than sixty travelers arrived by ones and twos, occasionally a… Read More
SAVE THE DATE ~ Assembly 2026 Assembly (formerly Celebration of Church Life) is thrilled to announce the dates and location for next year! Save June 18 -21, 2026 in your calendar; we’ll kick off this revamped event at Millersville University in Millersville, PA, with plans to rotate to other regions/districts where LMC is present. We’ll also host a conference-wide youth gathering during this time. More details are coming soon! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ La… Read More
Investing in Innovative Leaders by Robert Brody, Pastor of New Danville Mennonite Church & LMC Bishop When I started my position as Pastor at New Danville Church, I was given a book with the 300-year history of the church. It contained a list of Bishops and Pastors through the years. As I looked at the list I felt the weight of responsibility for what would be my chapter at… Read More
Supporting and Connecting Youth and Their Leaders by Rosita N’Dikwe Since I began working at LMC over two years ago, one of my tasks has been to focus on LMC youth and those leading them. Leading youth has always been hard, yet rewarding work, and somehow it seems to be getting harder—COVID-19, social media, etc. Statements like “the youth are the future of the church,” and “we need to be reaching the… Read More
District Profile: Shalom Council of Churches Supervisors: Samuel López, Adalberto Santiago, Hugo Garcia The Shalom Council of Churches, formerly known as the Spanish Mennonite Council of Churches, is a district of LMC with twenty-five churches in the US and thirty-five international churches located in eight Latin American Countries. The Spanish Mennonite Churches are the fruit of the evangelism of LMC and Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM) that began in 1953. Shalom… Read More
Reflecting on the STEP Program “How has STEP impacted your faith and praxis?” That’s the question we asked our STEP year two students as they get ready to enter into their third and final year of the program. Soon, these students will be creating and implementing a missional experiment, where they will put what they’ve learned into practice. The year two cohort (soon to be year three) consists of eight… Read More
Make Room by Mercedes Thomas These were the words shared with me a week and a half ago during a visit with Aled Griffith, Nick Scott, and Shane Good. Aled is the Team Leader for Synergy, a family of churches across the UK, Spain, and the US Midwest. Visiting from the UK, Aled brought along his friends Nick (from New Zealand) and Shane (from Indiana) to Lancaster,… Read More
What would happen if LMC was no longer here? By Mercedes ThomasCommunications Director That is one of the questions members of LMC’s Financial Stewardship team have been asking ourselves this year. Despite our substantial growth—from 176 congregations in 2018 to 309 at the end of 2024—our congregational giving is slowly decreasing. As a team, we need to ask why. And consider how we can better share the ways our leadership and staff support our… Read More
Bishops Retreat at Camp Deerpark LMC hosted a retreat for our Bishops from October 25–27. The beauty of Camp Deerpark provided the backdrop for Bishops and LMC staff to reflect and tend to their vertical relationship with God and their horizontal relationships with each other. This Spirit-filled time of rest, connection, and prayer is one we won’t soon forget.