Mennonites find a home in Philadelphia

Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA)

Author: David Griffith

PHILADELPHIA - The sprawling complex here seems more like home to Ervin Stutzman than many smaller, more intimate places he's been.

That's because the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which spans three blocks just east of City Hall, is big enough to host the more than 6,000 people attending the week-long 12th biennial Mennonite Churchwide Convention-General Assembly under one roof.

"That was an attraction for us, to have everything in one place," said Stutzman, a Mennonite bishop in the Landisville area. "I think the advantage of this is that everything takes place in one building."

Having attended four previous Mennonite conventions - including those held at Purdue University in Indiana, Eugene, Ore., and Bethlehem, Pa. - Stutzman has seen the big and small of it when it comes to locales.

The irony of previous Mennonite conventions was that, at the very moments the participants began to draw closest to God, they were separated from their families. That would have been true again this year, had not the church wagered on Philadelphia's ability to complete the massive convention center on schedule.

Seated this week in one of several meeting rooms - rooms large enough to hold thousands of people - Stutzman turned his palms toward the vaulted ceiling.

"This was just a paper drawing when we decided to rent it," he said of the facility, which opened just a month ago. The Mennonites are the first major group to book the building.

"We did it on faith," he said.

Faith is the watchword for Mennonites, who number close to 25,000 in Lancaster County, and about 750,000 worldwide. Faith is what keeps them believing their pacifist approach to world problems can make a difference. Pacifism, however, does not mean backing away from tough issues.

AIDS, abortion, incest and murder were discussed this week during the more than 100 seminars. One seminar centered on forgiving Keith Chul Weaver, who 14 murdered his Mennonite family in their home outside of Landisville when he was 14.

Stutzman, a Mennonite church official from Mount Joy, said the church had been planning on a site in York this year, one much smaller than Philadelphia's center. That would have meant the youth groups would have spent the week at another site, near Baltimore.

With record numbers of teen-agers and children attending this year's conference - more than 3,300 - the separation would have been clearly painful for those of all ages. Stutzman attended the convention with his wife, Bonita, and their three children, Emma, 15, Daniel, 11, and 10-year-old Benjamin.

"Since Mennonites love to be together, there will be a lot of interaction, and that will be an advantage," Stutzman said. "Before, the youth convention was always blocks away, and you had to take buses. My wife and children are here, together. Mennonites have a difficult time not associating with each other."

Stutzman serves as moderator for the Lancaster Mennonite Conference, and as bishop in the Landisville District of that conference. As such, he is a roamer of sorts, traveling from one to another of half a dozen local Mennonite churches.

"I preach regularly in the churches I oversee," he said.

All this week, he has served as morning worship leader for the Mennonite convention. Robert Petersheim, of Leola, has led the evening worship. Petersheim is pastor of the Ridgeview Mennonite Church.

Having just received his doctorate in communications from Temple University, Stutzman is no stranger to the urban scene, although he grew up in the small town of Hutchinson, Kan.

"Philadelphia's almost home," he said. "But it is a different culture, much more crowded, much more emphasis on tradition. It's an older part of the country. We really noticed that."

The Mennonite Church, best known for the rural image it projects, is actually comprised of a wide variety of types of people. Philadelphia is home to 17 Mennonite congregations, which speak eight languages.

Most Mennonites do, however, come from more rural areas and, as church members stream from the convention center's exits onto Arch Street, they are assaulted by signs advertising nude dancers, peep shows and pornographic material. That issue was addressed by church leaders, who summed it up by saying the city experience would be good for members and their children.

"Our intent is not so much to bring something to Philadelphia, but to learn something from it," one church official said.