Leadership

Last February’s Executive Board action has received considerable press—with much of it being less than favorable. It has also occupied the conversations of many denominational staff. It has even hurt relationships, as people have taken opposing positions.

Much about the action is not always fully understood, though. The action has also asked for a more coordinated communication and development function across the church, which includes marketing, news, church relations and convention planning. The Executive Board is calling for us to work together in new ways—in ways that will allow our communication to congregations be more coordinated.

Thirty-five people from 11 churchwide organizations* came together Nov. 18 at Clinton Frame Mennonite Church in Goshen, Ind., to begin conversations about how we can work together in new ways. We spent the day worshiping, getting to know each other and planning our work between now and the Mennonite Church USA Convention 2009 in Columbus in July 2009. (We also ate some really good food.)

The suggestions that came out of this day are amazing and exciting. There were many ideas of ways we could share our calendars—so our mailings can be more coordinated, for example. There were ideas of using the highlighted Scripture from our conventions as a focus throughout bienniums.

As the person charged with leading this team, I’m excited to be involved in this process, to see people work together in new ways and to see the many good ideas we generate together.
During that day, I invited people to develop a new working culture, to do the following:

• Move away from holding information too tightly and sharing it as needed. Information can become power—and as Mennonites we think we have no power—and if we withhold helpful information, it becomes a power issue.

• Hold each other accountable. Get away from our traditional passive-aggressive nature and talk to each other when we disagree or feel others are not carrying through on their responsibilities.

• Be mindful of the two greatest commandments Jesus left for us to follow—to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. If we concentrate on mastering these two commandments, it will take care of all the other issues we may have.

• Have fun working together. I invited people not to take themselves too seriously, to take care of each other and themselves and make work fun.
• While many unanswered questions remain as we begin to work together as a team, we are committed to working together in new ways. We are all committed to thinking beyond our specific organization and about our work in a more holistic context. We are committed to carrying out the mission of our specific organization but doing that while being more mindful of what our sister organizations are doing.

• Why should you, a member of Mennonite Church USA, care about this? My hopes:

• Our churchwide communication to members will be improved and will be more organic. We will communicate not only from our own organizational perspective but from a broader denominational viewpoint.

• We will put a higher priority on the needs of our members than the needs of our organizations. (This may mean one print piece rather than three or four.)

• You’ll see a difference, see a more coordinated communication, development, church relations and marketing approach.

• We will be faithful to our calling and our assignment, will carry out the mission of our organizations and the mission of Mennonite Church USA.

If you have ideas you’d like to feed into this process, let me know. Contact me at MartyL@MennoniteUSA.org or 866-866-2872. In the meantime, we welcome your prayers as we continue dreaming of new ways to strengthen the congregations and witness of Mennonite Church USA.

*Participating organizations included Mennonite Education Agency, Mennonite Publishing Network, Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership, Mennonite Mission Network, The Mennonite, MHS Alliance, MMA, Mennonite Women, Mennonite Men, Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference, Central District Mennonite Conference.

Marty Lehman is director of communication and development for Mennonite Church USA.