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• Anabaptism Overview
• Mennonite Church USA
• Pacific Southwest Conference
• Third Way Cafe
• Mennonite Church USA (Wikipedia)

Building the Future Together

Background

Since the early 1980s, the Mennonite Voluntary Service Program has rented a flat in San Francisco’s lower Haight neighborhood.  In late 2000, the owner of the building housing First Mennonite Church's (FMC) MVS unit announced that he planned to sell. Although rents across the city were at their highest level ever because this was at the height of the "dot com" boom, he approached First Mennonite to see if we were interested in purchasing the building before he offered it on the open market.  First Mennonite feared that any new owner would evict the unit, and being unable to find another affordable space, we would have to close the program. Knowing the interest of and commitment of First Mennonite to the MVS program, several church members quickly formed a partnership and bought the building. Because MVS is integral to First Mennonite’s commitment to leadership development for young adults, the congregation fully supported the purchasers with the intent that the congregation would, over time, develop a plan to purchase the building from them to ensure the on-going presence of the VS program in San Francisco.  In the following years, the congregation raised over $500,000 through a capital campaign and in late 2007 took on a mortgage to complete the purchase.

This means that MVS will remain in San Francisco! 

As a result of the purchase, our annual church budget grew significantly, even though we have already raised nearly half of the purchase price.  We invite you to support our mission of developing the leadership skills of Mennonite young adults by partnering with us to pay down our mortgage.

How To Donate

1. You may donate through many different ways, including checks, stocks, bonds, property or other investment vehicles. Please mail your check payable to First Mennonite Church of San Francisco, designated for our "capital campaign" to: P.O. Box 410656, San Francisco, CA 94141, or contact the to discuss your other donation desires.

2. You may also donate via your credit card through PayPal by clicking the link below:

Mission Impact

The contribution of the MVS household to our congregational life has been invaluable.  Talented and dedicated young adults have spent time in San Francisco, serving in the name of Christ at various social service, social change, and environmental agencies.  First Mennonite has provided a church home and, more importantly, created a faith culture and community which actively invites young adults to participate in all aspects of congregational life.  Almost without our knowing it, young adult leadership training has become a mission of First Mennonite.

A few young adults have stayed in the congregation (some are not so young anymore!) but most have moved on to other settings where many have become involved in church leadership.  More than a dozen former San Francisco MVSers have gone on to seminary and become ordained, most within the Mennonite church.  Dozens of others have returned home or to other settings and have provided lay leadership in their congregations.

We are excited that the MVS program in San Francisco is nurturing a culture of call for developing future leaders. We invite you to partner with us to develop young adults for leadership in the Mennonite Church through this exciting ministry.

"Over the past two and a half years, MVS has allowed me to participate in and learn from a variety of amazing communities. My work, church, and home settings have taught me much these are lessons and experiences that I will take with me forever." - Ann Speyer, MVS volunteer at Center for AIDS Services, 2000-2002 (Ann continued in the same agency as a case manager for several years.  This year she and her husband, Chris DeJong, are serving in Cameroon.  Ann and her husband have been active members of First Mennonite)

"My work has pushed me in many ways to refine my concepts of 'right' and 'wrong' to more along the line of 'better' and 'worse.' I came into this assignment knowing that my concept of justice would probably be compromised at times." - Christa Eschleman, MVS volunteer at Volunteer Legal Services Program, 1997-1998

Creative Ideas for Giving

Below is a list of creative ways for giving to the San Francisco MVS capital campaign:

• Ask family members to contribute to the Campaign instead of giving you traditional Christmas, anniversary, Mother's/Father's Day and/or birthday gifts.
  
• Ask family members if it would be acceptable to them for you to make a contribution to the Campaign instead of giving them traditional Christmas, anniversary, Mother's/Father's Day and/or birthday gifts.
  
• Consider designating a certain part of the year, such as Lent or Advent, to give up a certain routine expense (such as that cup of coffee on the way to work or dessert after dinner) and donate that money to the Campaign. Encourage your family members to join you in this "sacrificial" giving.
  
• Keep a jar in your house and every week invite each family member to put in $1 to give to the Campaign. If each person did this every week for one year, the contribution would be $52 per person.  If 50 people did this, we would raise $2,600. If each of those 50 people got two others to join them, it would add $7,800 to the Campaign.
  
• If you have young children or nieces and nephews, invite them to save coins or dollars to join the Campaign. Not only can this help them learn to give, it can also be an opportunity for teaching them about the needs of disenfranchised people in big cities such as San Francisco and the work of service agencies like MVS.