Opinion: Perspectives from readers

At last July’s Pittsburgh convention, Mennonite Church USA delegates began considering a blueprint for our church. “A Missional Vision and Purposeful Plan for Mennonite Church USA” includes nearly 12,000 words but articulates a clear and concise purpose: “develop and nurture missional Mennonite congregations of many cultures.” Unfortunately, it’s incomplete.

The document asks us to “pay attention to seven priorities within the life of our church over the next decade. As we attend to these priorities,” it goes on to say, “the Spirit will enable us to align our work with God’s purposes so that we may become an effective sign, instrument and foretaste of God’s kingdom.” These priorities are Christian formation, Christian community, holistic witness, stewardship, leadership development, intercultural transformation and church-to-church relationships.

But something important is missing: a call to include within our witness a clear dissent from the warring militarism, capitalistic greed and arrogant individualism of our nominally Christian culture.

The number seven holds significance for us as a community; adding an eighth priority may not be a popular suggestion. Nevertheless, the point must be made: Within the society in which we live, the Christian message has been largely domesticated to accommodate the powers that be. The stated priorities, while all important, do not ask us to stand apart from this fusion of the gospel with America’s story.

The document acknowledges that the “war against terrorism” has been long and expensive and has produced “a deep anxiety and a fear of ‘the other,’ with particular focus on Muslims and Middle Eastern people.” It recognizes that “a worldwide recession has brought the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression.” It identifies a “growing intolerance for immigrant peoples” in our nation, the “dramatic shift in weather patterns” we are experiencing and the way political parties use hot-button issues to divide us.

How have we as a church responded to these aspects of our context? Remarkably, the document confesses that we have not been able to withstand the divisiveness of partisan politics. “Even though we read the same Scriptures as members of the same church, we often interpret and apply the Scriptures differently in response to social issues. Pastors often feel torn, not knowing how to best respond to the vocal and aggressive discourse that can develop in their congregations regarding issues being debated in the media, especially around election time.”

While I appreciate the candor of this confession, it leaves me with questions. What in the proposed priorities will produce a better result in the future? Might the practices described in those priorities lack the power to communicate the kingdom of God unless we first deliberately end their servitude to the view that whatever else may happen, the American way must endure?

Whether we are conservative or liberal, rural or urban, Republican or Democrat, we can agree that three assumptions are at the core of prevailing American thought:

(1) U.S. military domination of the world is better than all available alternatives,

(2) catering to the corporate elite is necessary in order for the rest of us to get by and

(3) personal freedom and fulfillment is achieved by throwing off restraints and limitations.

To unleash the power of the seven recommended practices, we need to disassociate ourselves from these three deceptions. As a church, this will mean renouncing U.S. military domination of the world and declaring that even in this life, we do not find our security in the power of empire. It will mean ending our infatuation with Wall Street, affirming workers as the source of prosperity and committing ourselves to the support of an economy that creates opportunities for working people. It will mean bearing witness to the freedom and fulfillment we have found by binding ourselves to the way of Jesus, communities of faith and relationships of love and fidelity.

In our context, these identity markers will signify the saving power of our Lord. As we publicly embrace such nonconformity, the seven priorities contained in the Purposeful Plan will indeed do their work, making of us “an effective sign, instrument and foretaste of God’s kingdom.”

Berry Friesen is a member of East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pa.