Menno Haven Musing: The Community Around Us

These last couple of weeks I have become increasingly aware of the community that surrounds us here at Menno Haven.

A couple of weeks ago the staff here at Menno Haven took a little trip.

We drove up to Amigo Center for a brief retreat, spending time getting to know each other better, and talk over some things that take more time than our weekly staff meetings allow for.  (It was a great chance to get away!)

While we were there we interacted some with the staff at Amigo. We traded stories and ideas, and in general enjoyed fellowship time together. Later, on the way home, we stopped at Camp Friedenswald and spent time with the staff there, touring the camp and sharing a meal with them. At both Amigo and Friedenswald we connected to the spread out community of Mennonite camps. Here we could share our struggles and visions with each other and connect over shared hardship, joy, and identity.


This past weekend we had our annual Association Gathering. People from around the area who enjoyed Menno Haven came together for a day or evening of volunteering and a short worship and business meeting. We again connected to people who shared our passions. We spent time with friends, and met new people.

This coming week a few of us at Menno Haven will travel to Phoenix, Az to attend the Christian Camp and Conference Association national gathering. Again we will be with other camps who share our desire to minister to others through nature, camp, and retreats.


Community is an important part of who we are. In community we find our place. We find comfort when times are hard, and challenge when we need to be pushed. In the Anabaptist tradition, community is highly valued. We believe that the Spirit of the Living God resides with us in the gathered community. 1 Cor 3 talks about this.
Verse 16: "Don't you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?" Here the "you" is plural in Greek. "Don't you all know that God's Spirit dwells in you all's midst?"

In community we experience God. We experience the Jesus in each other as we become vulnerable and still find acceptance. We experience the Spirit when we raise our voices in song praising God! We embody the body of Christ when we gather together to care others.

At Menno Haven it is comforting to know that we have such a large and diverse community: the fellow Mennonite camps around the country, our Association members who sacrifice their time and money to further our (and their!) ministry, our campers who come in the summers, our summer staff, other Christian camps. There are many people and organizations we at Menno Haven can be in community with.

What communities are you a part of? Where do you feel the presence of God when you gather with others? Are you searching for community?

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Heb 10: 24-25 

May you find the community you need. And may the Spirit and presence of God be there.