Mennonite Church USA

There is a story about Albert Einstein on a train. The conductor asked to see his ticket. Searching his pockets, Einstein could not find his ticket. But the conductor recognized the famous scientist and reassured him, “Dr. Einstein, don’t worry about it. We know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket.” A few minutes later the conductor spied the learned doctor on his knees peering under his seat, obviously looking for his ticket. He returned and repeated, “Dr. Einstein, don’t worry about the ticket, we know who you are.” Einstein peered up at the conductor and replied, “Sir, I also know who I am; my problem is I don’t know where I’m going.”

As Christians we seldom ask who we are. Our identity is not in question. But our direction is more perplexing. Where is God taking us? Further, does going where God is going make us trend followers or trend setters?

Recently many Sunday school classes across Mennonite Church USA have been discussing Conrad Kanagy’s study of our churchwide membership profile, Road Signs for the Journey. The title signals that we are going somewhere. The book studies trends. Our average age, 54, is five years higher than in 1989. Our birth rate is lower than the general population, mostly because our educational level is higher, we have more people in professional vocations and we are wealthier than average Americans. One-third of us lived on farms in 1972, compared with 12 percent today. Many of our trends point toward decline.

Remarkably, our families and marriages remain stable, only 10 percent of us having experienced divorce. Though we report a slight increase in openness to premarital sex than in 1972, we are more opposed to extramarital sex than 35 years ago. We remain orthodox in our beliefs about Jesus and the Trinity. We read the Bible and pray at about the same rates and are more accepting of other Christians than we used to be.

Jesus says we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. But he warns of losing our saltiness, hiding our light. We are both trend setters and trend followers. We reflect the general decline of church life and participation, and we set examples of sound family life, consistent Christian belief and spiritual discipline. We remain a mixed bag of imperfect human foibles and a surprising, amazing testimony to the work of God in and through us.

Where is God taking Mennonite Church USA members? Is God pushing us forward by our laudable past, or is Jesus out front in places we have not yet gone, beckoning us to come to where he is already? I choose the forward look, though it appears riskier. This look invites us to be trend setters with God, pulled into the future God is preparing. I choose this rather than only being pushed by past and current religious practice.

Do you have faith in the future God is preparing for you, your congregation and Mennonite Church USA? Some signs of God’s future are worth pondering: First, is God inviting us to become a church body that is multicultural, a reflection of “the new humanity in Christ” mentioned in Ephesians? Second, is God empowering the youngest generation in our congregations and across the church? What are they saying to us about where God is leading? Third, is God asking us to cultivate a new vision of our neighbors, near and far?

Like the learned doctor on the train, we and others may know who we are. But even if our identity earns us the benefit of the doubt, knowing where God is taking us gives shape and meaning to our future.

James Schrag is executive director of Mennonite Church USA.