Peace be with you! My name is Eric Massanari and I’ve been serving as a pastor for Shalom Mennonite Church since November 1999. Prior to coming to Kansas I spent three years in seminary at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO, and before that I was living in Oregon, working in various ecumenical, community service programs.
Beyond congregational pastoral ministry I spend a portion of my time serving as a spiritual director for groups and individuals. I also find great fulfillment in my callings as a husband, a father, and a friend to wonderful people who help guide my path.
I value the Mennonite tradition with its focus on discipleship and the daily expression of Christ’s Way through relationships, work, play, service, and efforts towards justice and peace-building in the world. I am grateful to be serving a congregation that expresses these commitments in creative and vital ways.
I’ve also found my faith and my pastoral ministry nurtured by dialog with other kinds of Christians and people of other faiths. In particular, I’ve been nurtured by more contemplative religious traditions and have found that these paths can compliment our more action-oriented faith as Mennonites. I believe that the Christian walk is one that brings together the movements of action and contemplation, work and worship, doing and being in ways that reveal God’s transforming love in the world.
Whatever your path may be, I am grateful that it has led here to this website and that you’ve learned a bit more about our community of Shalom. If this is your first encounter with us, then I hope it will be possible for you to come and visit us in person. May the Spirit of God bless and guide you on your way!
-Eric Massanari