GOSHEN, Ind. (Mennonite Mission Network) – Phyllis Stutzman was looking for a service opportunity.
The semi-retired psychotherapist and mediator had cut back on her hours at her clinical practice in Goshen and knew it was a good time to look for a way to give back.
She thought immediately of SOOP, a Mennonite Mission Network service program for adults and families that provides short-term service assignments across the United States and Canada.
Even though Stutzman knew that many SOOPers serve by doing maintenance projects or working at food banks, she was hoping to find a way to use her particular skill set.
“I was impressed by the flexibility of SOOP when I read the list of [service opportunities] on the website," Stutzman said. "Even though there wasn’t anything that I saw myself doing, I was so drawn to it."
She decided to put out feelers and see what would result.
She sent her résumé to the SOOP coordinator, Arloa Bontrager. Bontrager called Stutzman to tell her about a unique opportunity with Seattle Mennonite Church.
Melanie and Jonathan Neufeld, the Community Ministers at Seattle Mennonite Church, were looking for assistance with their community outreach to homeless people—namely, help with a formal program evaluation to figure out the needs of the community. Because they had family members who’d served with SOOP, the Neufelds were aware of the program and decided to look there for help finding volunteers.
“We believe it’s a valuable connection for our program to have mature adults working in our context,” Melanie Neufeld said.
Stutzman had served in grassroots community development organizations in Latin America and the United States. Her combination of skills made this assignment a perfect fit.
“Phyllis’s expertise in working with people and systems gave good insight into this cross-cultural ministry of hospitality,” explained Melanie Neufeld. “We worked together at a job description that would fit her interests and our needs as a ministry.”
“There is a complex array of physical and mental ills in the population that has lived outside for many years,” Stutzman said. “My mental health experience was useful in developing skills and perspectives for the staff in some of the challenging situations.”
Stutzman spent a month in Seattle, where she got to know the homeless program inside and out.
“I saw my main goal as to know the program as best I could as early as I could,” Stutzman said. “I would go to the drop-in center where I learned to know the volunteers, their board, and the community support group that the ministers have developed.”
Together with the Neufelds, Stutzman worked to discover how to best equip the program in Seattle, sharing dreams and a vision for what it could become. And, thanks to her experience, she was able engage in a mentoring role as well.
“Phyllis worked as a mentor to me and her affirmations brought a sense of relief as I worked administratively to integrate this new program into the larger workings of the church,” Melanie Neufeld said. “I especially appreciated her cross-cultural insight…how our middle class expectations come into conflict with life on the street.”
“People I know who’ve lost family and home –particularly through war–in El Salvador and Colombia have taught me so much about human resiliency and courage to persevere in one way or another,” Stutzman said. “The community ministers at Seattle Mennonite are very good at recognizing that same precious resource among those who live outside in all sorts of very hard situations. That’s surely one of the reasons we forged a good partnership.”
Living with an old friend in Seattle, taking public transportation, and getting to experience life in another city provided Stutzman with a fulfilling way to serve others while expanding her own horizons as well.
“For me as a social worker, it’s always fun to make the connections in a new setting and learn what the resources are in that particular place,” Stutzman said. “This was an altogether enriching kind of experience, socially and spiritually, and in terms of my professional connections and ties.”
Stutzman’s policies and recommendations for program evaluation have been accepted and implemented by the church. She has written five grant proposals for the church and they’ve been awarded one. And even though she was only in Seattle for a month, Stutzman still works on various projects for the community outreach center.
“Because of our wonderful technology we’ve been able to collaborate on grant writing long after I returned to Goshen—another part of SOOP that I’ve been doing while I’ve been sitting in my office,” said Stutzman. “Technology offers the possibility to do service in new ways.”
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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.
