ELKHART, Ind—The Work in Progress Choir—a multiethnic, intergenerational, interdenominational, Mennonite Mission Network ensemble—aims to glorify God and broaden the music that Mennonites sing. It is led by three women with a passion for worship and music.
“Worship is what I live to do,” says Ann Jacobs, office services coordinator for Mission Network, who was recently given paid time to coordinate the choir.
Jacobs, and the other two women, Lefuarn Harvey, partnership coordinator, and Sandy Miller, director of church relations, began making music together in 2005. Other colleagues who loved to sing gravitated toward them, and Work in Progress Choir was born. The group usually consists of seven to 10 voices, “whoever is available at the time,” Jacobs says.
“It’s an opportunity for me to connect with God and to give God what he deserves,” Jacobs says. “When I’m worshiping with others, it seems like more is being given to God —and we serve a mighty God, who deserves more than my individual worship.”
Heartily agreeing with Jacobs’ emphasis on worship, Miller adds that Work in Progress is a beautiful way to begin to put into practice Mennonite Church USA’s commitment to becoming more racially diverse.
Steve Hochstetler Shirk, budget manager, says singing moves head knowledge into the heart. It also helps him connect his desk job with church life outside the office.
In addition to her work at Mennonite Mission Network, Jacobs is enrolled in Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary’s Christian formation studies. She supports the Anabaptist faith while remaining a committed member at New Life Fellowship Ministries, an Apostolic church in South Bend, Ind.
Jacobs says that before God led her to Mission Network, she could never have imagined having any connection to the Mennonite denomination.
“But here I find myself as part of the larger body of Christ,” Jacobs says. “When I look out over a Mennonite congregation, I really do see God.”
The music that Work in Progress sings is not a performance. “It’s a ministry,” Jacobs says. “It’s all about giving to God. It’s about service—giving our offerings of worship and finances, giving of ourselves, giving God who is in us and joining that together with God who is in others.”
Harvey, the choir director in her Baptist congregation, said she sometimes has to laugh as Work in Progress members who have grown up with a Western classical music background struggle to let go of singing “from the book.” Harvey is more used to choir rehearsals that frequently move into worship mode when the Holy Spirit moves.
“At first, [most white Mennonites] are a little tentative,” she says. “But, having heard them sing, I know they can do it. Maybe I push them too hard, but it does come out once I convince them they can improvise. Gospel music just isn’t limited to notes on a page.”
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Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.
