A purity parable: Alloys are stronger than pure metals. Pure metals have regular layers of atoms that slide over one another easily. In alloys, the different-sized atoms of the mixed metals make the atom layers less uniform, so they don’t slide over one another as easily. It’s the differences within the alloy that create strength.

As Mennonite Church USA continues to disintegrate and as congregations seek comfortable affiliations with like-minded others, each piece of the Mennonite family becomes more homogenous and more pure (in the metallic sense). It’s relaxing to slide over one another easily in our increasingly less diverse conferences and associations, but the end result of rejecting the challenge of continuing to forge a Mennonite alloy is weakness.

Weldon Schloneger
North Newton, Kan.