Goodnight Mennonite!

That’s what we used to say when we were kids. To say that I was an extremely strange child is no exaggeration…

Let’s move on, shall we? Okay, so Philadelphia City Paper published a front-page cover in its March 12, 2009 issue titled “Believe it or Not:
Meet the reluctant face of Kensington’s radical Christian movement.”

I am totally loving City Paper’s recent stories. Maybe I pay more attention now. But I doubt it. I think their covers are becoming a little less artsy/hipster/cooler-than-though-but-too-cool-to-use-the-word-”cool” and a little more Philly. Which is to say more stories I care about :P Jazmine Sullivan. Olney. You get the jist. Sometimes it feels like they’re reading my blog mind. Kudos to Brian Howard and his team.

Okay, focus. So last week’s CP cover story was about a bunch of Eastern University graduates, evangelical Christian, hippy dippy types who are living in a house in Kensington and spreading the Word (and a lil’ somethin’ something’ us crazy Christians like to call social Gospel).

Eleven years ago, six white kids, fresh out of college, took a vow: They would shack up; they would share. They would live either in monogamous married couples or be celibate. They would work only part-time, valuing one another and their community over wealth. They would stand against injustice where they saw it, and bring about justice where they could.

Okay. Okay. I get it. They’re cool. Mad props. They do good work. Etc, etc.

But what about my old church! Somebody please give them some long-over due credit. I’d write the story myself if I weren’t so close to it. Eh, I could still write it.

Sixth Street Mennonite Church at 6th and Master Streets.  (No idea they had a website.) Here’s the background.

 A bunch of Mennonite folks decide they want to have Bible studies in Philly’s North Philadelpia area about 20 years ago (I think). They eventually set up shop in a rowhouse. As in Mennonite folks. Actually conservative Mennonite folks actually move to Philadelphia from Lititz, Reading, Lancaster- you name it – they come and end up staying quite a bit of time. Over the years the church slowly buys the surrounding rowhouses and plots. Two spaces are converted to a church, etc.

Relationships are formed with neighborhood kids. (Initially neighborhood parents who had never been exposed to Mennonites before thought they were a Jim Jones-type cult.) Some kids move on. Other stay and their lives are changed for the better, sometimes drastically. Great stories in those local mission/type churches. In fact, a lot of good public health/after-school/summer program initatives going on that are unrecognized. Maybe I didn’t know importance when I was younger, but when I look at the budget problems today’s nonprofits face, I can see the value of neighborhood institutions such as 6th Street. (As much as I whine about Mennonites…) Seriously, many of the kids in the neighborhood had never even been outside city limits before 6th Street Came along. Many of the kids Iknew who attended 6th Street had parents who were drug addicts/dealers. Once the pastor’s van was stolen while he was preaching a sermon. Another time, I was riding in a church van with my brother and some other kids when a bullet narrowly missed us all – but shattered the back window.  And now that NoLibs is slowly creeping up Girard, things are getting even stranger.  I disgress.

Some Temple folks wrote about it a while ago – but I will tell you that I can vouch for the awfulness of the reporting. Look Communications/Journalism/English majors – if you don’t learn to spell names correctly, nobody’s going to want to hire you. The end.

Names, details, etc are a bit off. Sigh. But it’s nice to hear a radio interview with some of the folks I’ve known for years, such as Duane Friesen.

This is a fascinating story. Seriously. Which is why Brian Hickey always said “Don’t look for a story on the Internet. Go out into the streets and find me a story.”

So CP wannabes – find a story on the streets. And tell us about it.

Okay, goodnight now.

Wait, I’m not done yet. Can someone tell me who came up with that “How Mennonite Are You Quiz? on Facebook. No insights via Google. Okay, g’night.