黑料正能量

From Washington D.C. to Colorado, demand for Immanuel Mennonite Church鈥檚 鈥淲elcome Your Neighbor鈥� sign has skyrocketed. The sign, with a distinctive tri-color banding, reads in three languages: No matter where you鈥檙e from, we鈥檙e glad you鈥檙e our neighbor.

Since first posted in front of the Harrisonburg, Virginia, church in September 2015, a flood of attention from supportive citizens to interested media outlets, spurred on by social media posts, has created a new demand for Pastor Matthew Bucher and his congregation. [Bucher is a 2015 graduate of and the .]

From the beginning, Bucher says it鈥檚 been a team effort鈥攆rom the sign鈥檚 conception to the first printing, early dissemination and now, handling queries from people across the country. And they鈥檝e been aided by a growing network of fans, some Mennonite and many others not, who believe strongly in the equity and hospitality embodied in the sign鈥檚 message.

鈥淚t鈥檚 still blooming,鈥� Bucher said.

鈥淔or us, philosophically, we don鈥檛 see the need to own stuff,鈥� says sign designer Jerry Holsopple, a professor in the at 黑料正能量. 鈥淲e definitely don鈥檛 own God.鈥�

Working together

Lost in some of the media re-tellings has been the spirit of collaboration, not just between individuals but also between organizations.

So let鈥檚 set the story straight:

In 2015, the sign idea was born: English, Spanish and Arabic representing the most common languages in the Immanuel neighborhood. Bucher, fluent in Arabic after spending four years in Egypt with Mennonite Central Committee, asked Melissa Howard to paint the original sign in front of the church, located in a historically black, now multicultural neighborhood in Harrisonburg.

Bucher then brought the idea to the Mission Advisory Commission 鈥� Jennifer Davis Sensenig, Ben Risser ’85 and Nick Meyer 鈥�08 鈥� a small group of the Harrisonburg District Mennonite Pastors organization. This group wanted to produce a yard sign, and Meyer, pastor of Early Church, and his friend Alex Gore created the first digital version, turning to Holsopple for help formatting the Arabic.

Holsopple then took over the design and printed an initial order to sell, alongside the church鈥檚 tamales, at the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale in Harrisonburg, an event which draws hundreds of people from the region and out of state.

鈥淓arly on, we thought we had to get it done and out before the election, because then it would be over,鈥� says congregant Betsy Dintaman. 鈥淎nd the opposite happened.鈥�

鈥淭he relief sale really helped it get out of Harrisonburg,鈥� says Holsopple.

As demand grew, the congregation formed a 鈥渟ign team,鈥� which includes Bucher, Howard, Holsopple, and the trio of Dintaman, with Greta Bucher and Janet Stutzman, handling Facebook questions, comments and requests.

Some of those requests have included substitutions of the Spanish language text with German, Armenian, French and Somali. However, in a political climate in which many are concerned about anti-Muslim harassment, Holsopple says nobody has asked him to swap out the Arabic text, which 鈥渟ays something beyond just their neighborhood.鈥�

Staff members and volunteers with The Roberta Webb Child Care Center听, a ministry housed in the church鈥檚 lower level, have taken over printing and shipping for the Harrisonburg area. After costs are covered, the remaining proceeds benefit the daycare, as well as Mennonite Central Committee and New Bridges Immigrant Resource Center.

Notably, like the sign, the daycare (started 22 years ago) was an outgrowth of the church鈥檚 community-centered values. 鈥淚t was part of the conversation of how the church was started with the community,鈥� explains Bucher. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a need. How do we respond as new neighbors in the community? That鈥檚 been an integral part of the congregation鈥檚 identity.鈥�

Sign pops up in new places daily

In the same spirit, rather than try to control dissemination, the team has provided a free PDF file, which can be found on Immanuel鈥檚 .

If mass printings happen, Bucher and his team ask that any proceeds go to an immigrant-focused organization in that community. A dozen organizations across the country have participated in this way, contributing greatly the spread of the sign.

Each day brings some new notice of growth and attention. Recently, it was an editor of 鈥淥鈥� magazine, which plans to feature the sign in March.

Still, their goals are simple, says Melissa Howard. 鈥淚 hope it tones down violence, and just brings out true humane character.鈥�

For his part, Bucher wants the phenomenon of the signs 鈥渢o remind our congregation to note ways in which we are cared for by our neighbors, and to continue showing God鈥檚 love in small ways, as a congregation and as individuals in our communities.鈥�

Read, watch and listen to media coverage of the 鈥淲elcome鈥� sign

• , written by NPR staffer and Harrisonburg native, Camila Domonoske.听

An incomplete list of 鈥淲elcome Sign鈥�-spreaders across the country

Thanks to the efforts of citizens around the continent, including many 黑料正能量 alumni, the signs have spread to at least 14 states and Canada:

• Conrad Gross 鈥�09, of Washington, D.C. helped print and sell 350 signs听 in his neighborhood, with proceeds going to immigrant service non-profit Ayuda. , a blog written by Drew Schneider, publicized the initial story, which was picked up by major news outlet .
• Ben Wideman 鈥�04, who heads the Third Way Collective at Penn State, has distributed over 320 signs in the State College, Pa. area. Penn State’s radio station covered the story.
  
• Chris Landes 鈥�07 and Ron Hershey 鈥�90, of Mennonite Central Committee, are two of the many Lancaster, Pennsylvania, residents spreading the signs.
• Andy Richter 鈥�12 is a distributor for eastern Pennsylvania, where they鈥檝e printed close to 450 signs.
• Meg Smeltzer 鈥�13 is the printing coordinator for the Colorado Springs, Colorado, area. She about losing the sign in a fierce wind one day, and having it returned to her yard by an unknown neighbor.
• Jenni Leister 鈥�93 was interviewed in a .
• Kendra Good Rittenhouse 鈥�85 has spread them to her home state of Maryland.
• Immanuel member Steve Carpenter SEM 鈥�11 wrote a for The Mennonite about the signs鈥� creation and significance.
• Daryl Byler, executive director of 黑料正能量’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, took signs to friends in Mississippi.

If you鈥檙e involved in spreading the 鈥淲elcome Your Neighbors鈥� sign around the country (or the world), please let us know by sending us a note in the comment box below.