Speaking Out

Fifty-six Americans. Apparently, this was the U.S. remnant of our formerly thriving binational family. Mennonite Church Canada’s family gathering with Mennonite Church USA at last summer’s summit, “At the Crossroads,” was clearly missing some members. It was as if Grandpa and Grandma had died and the surviving family suddenly saw no reason to get together anymore. The saddest part was that I couldn’t even remember there having been a funeral.

Was this it? seemed to be the question on everyone’s lips, followed by another: How did this even happen?

It all seemed so fresh hopeful to me at my first assembly—Wichita ‘95—as a youth. The MCs (Mennonite Church members) and the GCs (General Conference Mennonite Church members) were coming together. We were witnessing history: Mennonite denominations coming together, not breaking apart. By the day after the merger, however, I already heard rumblings about a new split. Eventually came two national denominations: MC USA and MC Canada.

The reasons for the new split sounded ambiguous and complex, but a common theme seemed to be a Canadian concern that our (I was attending an MC Canada congregation at the time) unique national perspective would be overlooked. We Canadians seemed skeptical that our American brothers and sisters would remember to notice just how different we were. There was some legitimacy to the claim; we certainly were outnumbered enough to believe it could happen.

Just a few binational conventions later, in Charlotte, N.C., those fears got the better of us. MC Canada and MC USA, it appeared, would be unable to collaborate on a binational convention in Canada. Canadians felt slighted.

My Canadian identity found it easy to see how Canadians saw their fears coming true. My American identity (I am a dual citizen, and I now attend an MC USA congregation) found it easy to see that a Canadian convention would raise the cost to a level that was nearly unacceptable. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem easy to understand each other. So we decided to forget the binational delegate sessions and plan what became the Winnipeg summit. The idea was to come together to focus on common issues, but we didn’t really come together at all.
Have we become so ambivalent about our brothers and sisters across the border that we will let the dwindling momentum at the Winnipeg summit run its course? I say no.

First, the numbers—membership and giving—in both denominations are declining. As a young adult, I recognize we will need to pool our resources soon—financial, human and spiritual.

Second, pooling worldwide resources is already a growing part of our denominational fabric. But while we’re sewing connections worldwide, we neglect a tear in our own continent.

Mennonite World Conference is alive and well. The existence and work of AMIGOS, its young adult branch, is evidence it might even grow in the future. For the first time, North American Mennonites are grappling with the fact that most of our global church is not ethnically Mennonite. In our own continent, however, we seem unable to overcome a relatively minor cultural divide. Though both of our national churches are increasingly diverse, we still share history, influences and issues that make MC Canada and MC USA similar. To nurture deeper relationships with our global neighbors we will need to begin with our most similar neighbors.

Both our similarities and our differences call us to greater cooperation. We share similar attitudes, influences and affluence. We can be of better service to our global community if we grapple with issues together. How do we deal with having so much in a world with so many have-nots? How do we respond to the fact that our countries are two of the richest and refuse to abide by the Kyoto Accord? Our differences need dialogue, too. U.S. Mennonites could help Canadians achieve a more active and divergent peace stance. Canadian Mennonites could help Americans see the subtle consequences of living in a militaristic society.

I hope Winnipeg ’08 was not the funeral for our binational relationship but will remind us what we could lose. I hope a renewed relationship will spawn new summits that will help us find faithfulness as national bodies and as a unified family.

Peter Epp attends Portland (Ore.) Mennonite Church.