To: Oak Park Mennonite Church community

From: Jan Wiebe (as representative of Peace, Service, Justice Committee and member of Pilsen Mennonite Voluntary Service Support Committee)

Date: May 23, 1998

RE: Proposal to become a co-sponsor of the Mennonite Voluntary Service unit in Pilsen

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In an effort to live out our stated vision of being transformed by our chosen urban setting and our urban setting being transformed by our encounter with God, the Peace, Service, Justice committee is proposing that Oak Park Mennonite become a sponsoring congregation of the Pilsen Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) unit.

The Support Committee for the MVS Unit has requested the support of three congregations: Oak Park Mennonite, Lincoln United Methodist, and Pilsen House Church. Lincoln United Methodist is in the Pilsen neighborhood and had has a long relationship with the unit. The Pilsen House Church is a group of approximately ten young Anabaptists (many former MVSers) who gather weekly for informal worship.

To be a sponsoring congregation involves several primary responsibilities. First, the congregation would commit to designating people to serve on the MVS Support Committee. Jan Wiebe and Jan Lugibihl are currently on this committee. The responsibilities of this committee are outline on the attached document, "Guidelines for local MVS Committees." These representatives serve as the liaison between the congregation and the unit. Becoming a sponsoring congregation would make it easier for the Support Committee members to come to the congregation as issues arise within the unit.

The second role of the wider congregation, as I see it, is to provide social and spiritual support for the MVSers. This might be in the form of inviting a volunteer over for dinner, out to a play or movie, to church, providing a ride to church, etc.

While the Pilsen MVS unit is currently financially self-sufficient and has been for a long time, it is possible that circumstances would arise that would require us to offer financial support to the unit, along with the other sponsoring congregations.

When new MVSers arrive, they would be encouraged to visit each of the supporting congregations and develop a relationship with at least one of them.

We would like the congregation to consider this and offer responses to Jan Wiebe (773-376-2616). Please respond by June 14th. If there is agreement that this is something the congregation would like to do, we will plan to have a celebration with the MVS unit and the other two sponsoring congregations in August.