According to a survey the Executive Board distributed in February to delegates of the Kansas City 2015 assembly, half value the unity of Mennonite Church USA and are willing to live with ongoing differences.

Click here for several versions of the survey report and Spanish/English versions.

By June 8, a total of 627 delegates had completed the survey.

The survey results include five sections:
1. Characteristics of delegates;
2. LGBTQ membership, leadership and officiating of same-sex weddings;
3. The future of the church;
4. The role of the Delegate Assembly;
5. Membership guidelines, credentialing and the consequences of rejecting delegate decisions.

In the LGBTQ section, the findings reveal that 66 percent of delegates support congregational membership for LGBTQ individuals, while 31 percent are opposed (meaning that LGBTQ individuals must remain celibate or may not be members under any conditions).

Delegates are less likely to say that LGBTQ individuals may serve in congregational leadership roles, with 57.7 percent affirming that overall.

Eighty-three percent of female delegates support membership for LGBTQ individuals, compared with 54 percent of delegate men.

In the future of the church section, delegates indicated whether they desired a church that fully includes LGBTQ individuals, even if denominational membership losses occur, or a church that upholds the vision of marriage expressed in the denominational Membership Guidelines, even if membership losses occur, or if they value the unity of the church such that they are willing to live with ongoing differences.

Twenty-one percent want to be part of a church that supports LGBTQ individuals even if losses occur, 29.8 percent desire to uphold the current vision of marriage despite losses, and 49.5 percent desire to live with unity in diversity.

Conrad Kanagy provided these comments in the conclusion of the executive summary:

• There are substantial differences among area conferences across many of the key questions.
• Lay and credentialed leaders consistently differ in their views, regardless of the question.
• Men and women are quite different in their perspectives of same-sex relationships.
• The distribution of responses to questions about same-sex relationships reflect the various tensions within the denomination at this time.

Click here for the survey results. 

By The Mennonite staff with information from a report to Mennonite Church USA from sociologist Conrad Kanagy.

Image by Leo Hartshorn.