March 15, 2010 issue
Franconia Conference to lay off most staff
By Celeste Kennel-Shank Mennonite Weekly ReviewPage:
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Franconia Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA plans to lay off most of its 17 staff members in the coming year.
The goal of the action is “to come into a greater alignment of fulfilling our mission to equip leaders to empower others to embrace God’s mission,” the Franconia board wrote in a March 3 statement.
The conference will retain an unspecified number of leadership ministers on a staff “narrowly focused on equipping congregations to becoming missional,” the board stated.
Franconia’s website lists five leadership ministers, including Noel Santiago, conference executive minister.
Leadership ministers make up “the platform for conference oversight,” according to the website.
“We lament the deep pain and suffering that this decision has caused staff and others by not including the staff directly in the decision-making process,” the Franconia board wrote. “We will work towards a healthy ending process and seek to build upon the hard work and creativity by which the staff has carried out their work to date.”
Conference moderator Blaine Detwiler of Susquehanna, Pa., declined a request for more details, including whether financial stress played a role in the decision.
“At this time our energies are being placed in face-to-face meetings with the Franconia constituency,” he wrote in an e-mail.
The conference board held meetings to talk about the decision with all of Franconia’s credentialed leaders March 8 at Towamencin Mennonite Church in Kulpsville, Pa., and March 9 at the Mennonite Conference Center in Harleysville, Pa.
“Additional meetings will be planned for all Franconia Conference delegates, conference-related ministry leaders and open meetings for interested persons as discerned,” the board wrote in a March 5 note to pastors on the Franconia website.
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