Editorial

As a denomination, we are committed in principle to providing basic health insurance for all eligible pastors. We request the Executive Board to oversee the development and implementation of a plan whereby all congregations of Mennonite Church USA participate together in an arrangement that covers all of our pastors with basic health insurance.—resolution passed by 2007 Delegate Assembly in San José, Calif.

During the 2007 discussion of a plan to provide basic health care for all Mennonite Church USA pastors, executive director Jim Schrag compared the efforts that would follow to a four-lap race. The first lap was the vote by the Delegate Assembly. The second lap was working with denominational agencies and schools to enlist their support. The third lap was working with area conferences. We are now beginning the fourth and final lap of the race.

“Enough congregations have to opt in,” Schrag said in 2007. “If critical mass is not achieved, it’s not worth trying to implement it.”

This month congregations will begin hearing about the plan that has emerged over the past two years. According to Keith Harder, the Executive Leadership staff person assigned to work with the plan, the goal is to have 300 congregations signed up by the time the Delegate Assembly meets in Columbus, Ohio, in July. This will build the momentum needed to reach the goal of 700 congregations by Oct. 1.

“When they see the numbers,” Harder said last month, “that’s going to be the acid test. Ten or 11 conferences are already participating [in the current health insurance plan], so that’s not a big jump. My sense is that there is a real commitment to be part of it.”

The initiative, called The Corinthian Plan, takes its name from Paul’s efforts to get wealthier believers in Corinth to share with the distressed believers in Jerusalem. On page 8, Harder lays out the biblical example of the Corinthians.

“This Scripture and others suggest,” Harder writes, “that God did not intend that some would have unlimited access to health care while others live off the crumbs that are left over.”

The Corinthian Plan is countercultural in some ways, and the timing of its launch during an economic recession is problematic. But in spite of these head winds, all Mennonite Church USA congregations should participate. It is a matter of justice and equality.

In the months after the 2007 resolution, some of our readers sent letters questioning the fairness of a plan that helps only pastors. But doing nothing because we cannot do everything is not an option.

There are nearly 100 pastors in Mennonite Church USA congregations currently without access to health care. Harder is correct when he writes that this lack of access compromises their ministries and the mission of their congregations.

This initiative includes an antiracism dimension as well. Many pastors who do not have basic health insurance serve in our racial-ethnic congregations. For a denomination that established the dismantling of racism as a top priority, The Corinthian Plan will give many large, stable white congregations an opportunity to help mitigate against a system that unfairly disenfranchises people of color.

The sign-up period for congregations wishing to participate in The Corinthian Plan is from April through early October. Congregations that wish to get more information should contact their area conference offices.

As I learned running the 1,600-meter race in high school, the last lap is the toughest. But it’s not possible to run the fourth lap until after the first, second and third laps are finished. We at The Mennonite participated in the second lap; this was the time for Mennonite Church USA agencies and schools to get on board with the plan. We did so to help establish fairness and balance across the church for our pastoral leaders.
Join us.