Mennonite Women USA   Sister Care seminar breaks new ground with inclusion of translation By Emily Ralph SOUDERTON, Pa.—One hundred and thirty women gathered for training and fellowship at Souderton Mennonite Church on March 23-24. The Sister Care seminar, developed by Mennonite Women USA, was sponsored by Eastern District and Franconia Conferences as part of their continuing work to equip and train congregational leaders. Souderton’s Sister Care seminar was groundbreaking for Mennonite Women USA; it was the first time the seminar used materials translated into Spanish. Spanish-speaking participants were also equipped with translation headsets. As a result, the seminar was well-attended by Spanish-speaking members of Philadelphia Praise Center, Nueva Vida Norristown New Life, First Mennonite Church of Brooklyn, and Mennonite Evangelistic Tabernacle, New York City. Sister Care seminar materials were translated and contextualized by Wanda Gonzalez Coleman, New Holland, Pa. The Souderton seminar was translated by Chantelle Silverio. “Mi grupo de mujeres quedaron muy contentas en su primera experiencia y ya estamos planeando como pober en practica las herramientas que se nis dio en el taller [My group of women were very happy with their first experience and we are already planning how to put into practice the tools that we were given at the seminar],” said Leti Cortes, a pastor at Philadelphia Praise Center. “Están tan animadas que estamos pensando en un retiro de mujeres y usar algunas dinámicas que nos ayudaron a poder expresar lo que hemos vivido, espero le sirva este mensaje [They are so encouraged that we are thinking about having a women's retreat and using some of the group activities that help us to express what we have lived].” “The depth of the sharing and the tears move, inspire and teach us that the female characteristics are God-given and that we, as God’s women, have much honesty and healing to bring to the world,” said event planner Anne Yoder, West Philadelphia congregation. “I was  thrilled about the number of women who came from smaller churches and were able to connect with the larger church body.” Sister Care was born out of a 2006 question to Mennonite women: How can congregations provide better care for women’s needs?  After two years of meeting with a focus group, Sister Care materials were developed. Since 2008, Mennonite Women USA has been offering the seminar through conferences all over the country. The two-day seminar included times of teaching, dramatic readings, singing, table conversation, individual reflection, congregational brainstorming, and symbolic action. A highlight for many was co-presenter Rhoda Keener’s illustration of active listening by play-acting a conversation with friend Vicki Clark in which she repeatedly got distracted; Clark ended up falling to the ground in frustration. In addition to teaching skills for listening and offering a healing presence, the seminar emphasized the need for self-care. Without caring for self, people in ministry become run down and unable to help others. “We, as Mennonites, may be more susceptible than others,” said Heggen. “We equate being busy and doing good things with Christian virtue. Sometimes we carry our busy schedules and being harassed with too much to do almost as a badge of courage.” For more information on Sister Care, visit Mennonite Women USA web site www.mennonitewomenusa.org or contact the MW USA office at office@mennonitewomenusa.org.

Mennonite Women USA Gift for international women given to honor Kurtz’s ordination By Patricia Burdette PENFIELD, N.Y.—“I really can't think of a more fitting way to celebrate my ordination than to pass on to other women the joy I've had in theological education. I've lived in Kenya and Ethiopia, and have seen how hard women work, how important they are to their families and to the church, and how many things conspire to keep them from getting theological education,” explains Sonya Stauffer Kurtz of Rochester (N.Y.) Area Mennonite Fellowship.   She continues, “I know for myself how empowering and useful theological education has been in my development as a woman who works in the church. I am just delighted that people gave so generously to support women in leadership around the world. Maybe we will start a trend at women's ordinations—wouldn't that be fun!” The idea of giving to Mennonite Women USA’s International Women’s Fund came about as Kurtz considered that some people might wish to give her a gift in honor of her ordination. “It occurred to me that if anyone asked me what I would like for an ordination gift, I would tell them to give money to support Anabaptist women’s theological education around the world,” she said. Others in the church heard about her gift preference, and there were offerings in the church before and on the day of Kurtz’s ordination. The total gift was $1802.10 for IWF, presented to Rhoda Keener, co-director of Mennonite Women USA. Says Kurtz, “This gift is from my congregation, Rochester Area Mennonite Fellowship, and also from friends and family who came to celebrate my ordination with me.” Each year MW USA awards scholarships to international women for church theological leadership training. This year, twenty women will receive awards totaling $10,000. Seven of the awards were renewal scholarships, and thirteen were first-time scholarship recipients. The scholarship recipients represent ten countries on four continents: Africa, Asia, South America, and North America.

Mennonite Women USA   Sea metaphor teaches Mennonite Women USA leaders women’s gifts   SARASOTA, Fla.—A group of Mennonite Women USA leaders met Feb. 24-25 at Bahia Vista Mennonite Church in Sarasota, Fla., for a retreat titled PREP (Preparing, Resourcing, Encouraging and Praising). Tables beautifully decorated with live fish, shells, candles and tulle the color of the sea helped focus the discussion on “Gifts of the Sea: Adapting for Change and Diversity.” Ruth Lapp Guengerich, Mennonite Women USA Co-Director, provided leadership for the seminar. Dawn Yoder Graber and Doris Diener from Southeast Conference were led worship, using Colossians 3:23-24 as the Scripture for the weekend: “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it. ... You serve the Lord Christ.”   Two congregations shared creative approaches for inviting women across generations to participate in congregational women’s groups. The weekend concluded with a boat ride on Sarasota Bay, during which participants watched dolphins and learned about the bay’s natural habitat. When the marine biologist guide cast a net into the bay to troll “gifts from the bay,” participants were reminded that God lifts people from the seaweed and debris of life to show how individually and collectively they are significant gifts to the world.

Sister Care Expands to Member Care in Portland Men join women for seminar Published: February 14th, 2012, by: Annette Brill Bergstresser Mennonite Women USA By Joan Kropf Some came because their wives wanted them to, others because they are in leadership positions and their congregations encouraged them to. But the underlying reason men participated in a Member Care seminar for the first time was the same reason women have been coming to Sister Care: to be better equipped for caring ministry. So the harmony was four-part for the Jan. 20-21 seminar in Portland, Ore., with men adding their voices to the hymns and their insights to the discussions.   Participants at co-ed Member Care at Portland (Ore.) Mennonite Church. (Photo by Cathy Passmore) “In every Sister Care I have led, invariably the question comes up, ‘What about the men?’” said Rhoda Keener, co-executive director of Mennonite Women USA. “It’s unusual that we opened this to men as our ministry is by and for women, but we had a direct invitation from Portland Mennonite Church. Most of the material is equally relevant to men because it calls everyone to personal growth, and we start with caring for ourselves, and using our own life story for understanding how God intervenes in lives to bring healing.” The 78 participants, including 24 men, came from five churches. As John Gingerich of Zion Mennonite said, “I came because I care about the people in our congregation. All of this information is useful. Everything is for us all.”   Photo by Cathy Passmore His nephew, David Gingerich, is a new member of the Zion leadership team. He added with a smile, “My wife decided that of the two of us, it was me who had more to learn. She’s home with the kids.” Pastor Rod Stafford of Portland Mennonite said he’d heard women talk about the practical things they learned at Sister Care. “A pastor can’t keep up with all the needs. I’m really interested in the church community learning these skills … and learning how to tell our stories in a redeeming way,” he said. Keener, whose background is in teaching and mental health counseling, lives in Shippensburg, Pa. Her seminar co-leader, Carolyn Heggen, of Corvallis, Ore., is a psychotherapist and author who specializes in trauma recovery. They have led Sister Care seminars around the country and plan to take the program to India and Nepal this fall. The seminars are a ministry of Mennonite Women USA. More than 1,100 women have attended. Heggen began the seminar by saying, “Because the seminar and written materials were designed for women, the manual uses feminine pronouns. While we will try to be inclusive in our speaking, I encourage you to use this opportunity to experience the exclusion that women have often faced when reading the Bible, singing hymns and hearing the spoken word. May this be an opportunity for you to grow in compassion and sensitivity.” The leaders used Scripture, storytelling, small-group discussions and personal exercises to help participants explore four concepts: claiming our identity as God’s beloved, caring for self and others, the healing power of compassionate listening, and transforming loss and grief. One of Keener’s personal stories seemed to touch on all four themes. In a seminary class exercise called “Naming Lies and Telling the Truth,” she volunteered to be the first to name a lie that had afflicted her life—that because she was female, she was not an equal in the church. After hearing her story, many of the other 20 students came to her one by one and told her a truth, followed by the class responding, “This is the truth.” A church leader told her, “You are my equal.” Another classmate said, “Even in your mother’s womb, you were created as a beautiful whole person. The person God made you to be.” Keener went home and wrote down each person’s words. “That exercise was pivotal in my healing,” she said. “That class became the church for me that day.” That experience began with her willingness to be vulnerable. As Stephen Obold-Eshleman of Portland said during a break, “We often think of vulnerability as a weakness, but being able to show it really is a strength.” Practical suggestions applied to both genders—for example, on finding balance in our lives. Heggen proposed that in our culture of righteous busy-ness, “No” can be a spiritual word. “We wear our exhaustion like a badge of honor and spirituality,” she said. “Finding balance doesn’t necessarily mean adding more things. It may mean eliminating some.” The leaders also offered ideas for setting boundaries, enlarging the circle of care with community resources, and taking care of our physical, emotional and spiritual selves. They reminded their listeners that Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” not “Love your neighbor and ignore your own needs.” “It’s not ‘selfish navel-gazing’ to examine our life’s story to look for places still in need of healing and to identify those times when God has touched us with mercy and grace,” Heggen said. “It’s dangerous to attempt to help others when we are ignoring our own unhealed wounds.” Some memorable points were made with humor. Using volunteer helper Nancy Friesen, Keener gave a demonstration in listening—how not to, that is. Chuckles circulated through the room as Keener interrupted her friend, interjected her own stories, glanced at her watch and took a call on her cell phone. The section on loss and grief began with 10 examples of different kinds of losses suffered by biblical characters. The participant who reported on 1 Samuel 1:1-8 noted that Hannah grieved her barrenness and that her husband Elkanah also grieved for her. Keener thanked the male respondent, saying, “We’ve never had that comment before, seeing it from the husband’s point of view.” To show the power of helping someone reframe a painful story, Heggen told about a boy named Kumar whom she met in a refugee camp after the tsunami struck the Andaman Islands. Charged with caring for his partially paralyzed grandfather, he was out buying bread when the wave struck. When he recounted his terror amid the chaos and his inability to save his grandfather, he always said, “I’m a bad boy. I didn’t save my grandfather, and that was my job!” After hearing the same words three different times, she stopped him at that point in the story and said, “Kumar, I am just amazed. There you were in that dangerous place, afraid you were going to die, and you were thinking about someone else. You are an amazing boy!” The next time Heggen asked him to tell the story to a visitor, he didn’t say he was a bad boy but added with a smile on his face “ … and even though I thought I was going to die, I was looking for my grandpa.” The final exercise of the seminar was to divide into groups by congregation and discuss ways to follow up. Ideas from around the country have included a one-night event for widows, a support circle for pastors’ wives, a seminar extension using the manual for further study, and offering opportunities for people to tell their stories. A ritual of anointing with water—first, one’s own cheeks to symbolize our own brokenness and then the face or hands of a partner to symbolize Jesus’ healing, living water—concluded the seminar. “This special invitation to welcome men into the seminar was a very good experience,” Keener said. “Any future Member Care seminars will need to be discerned by our board. We are aware that both women and men want to be empowered to better care for others in their congregations and communities.” For more information about the program, contact Mennonite Women USA at office@MennoniteWomenUSA.org. ### The Mennonite November 2011:  News Analysis:  Mennonite women find their voices -- International Women's Fund provides scholarships for 57 women in 18 countries in the last 10 years. ### The Mennonite Oct. 2011:  Sommers heads wall hangings project - Eloise Yoder completes service with Sister-Link program - See Guidelines for Making Wall Hangings. ###

Celebrating Sister Care and 60 Years MPress July 6, 2011 Over 250 women celebrated a $12,000 surprise to boost Mennonite Women USA's endowment fund project. See Celebrating Sister Care and 60 Years at Pittsburgh convention (page 3).