Photo: Young adult leaders at the Constituency Leaders Council used shards of broken pottery to lead CLC members in a meditation on the future of the church. Photo by Gordon Houser. 

The Constituency Leaders Council of Mennonite Church USA met Oct. 17-19 at Hesston (Kan.) Mennonite Church and discussed issues related to the church’s common life and missional future.

The Constituency Leaders Council is a group of denominational “elders” that meets twice each year and advises the Executive Board, the Delegate Assembly and MC USA on issues relative to faith and life. It is not a decision-making body per se.

A pilot peer review process

At its last meeting in March, CLC instituted a peer review process for area conferences making decisions at variance with denominational documents and guidelines.

Representatives of the first peer review team—Elizabeth  Miller Troyer, chair, Central Plains Mennonite Conference; Marco Güete, Southeast Mennonite Conference; Mary Etta King, Mountain States Mennonite Conference; and Terry Zehr, New York Mennonite Conference—presented their experience in reviewing Central District Conference’s licensing of Mark Rupp, a gay man, as pastor of Columbus (Ohio) Mennonite Church in July 2015.

The peer review team met with CDC leaders to examine the decision-making process the conference underwent, as well as its impact on the broader church. Members of CDC described the conference and noted that its policy statement clarifies the conference’s role in ordaining pastors. When the request for licensing Rupp came, CDC followed paths already set in processing this; the board appointed a committee that worked at communicating it to the larger church, and they shared this for discussion by others in CDC. Lisa Weaver of CDC said, “Christian unity is not ours to create but is a gift from God.”

Since this was a pilot project, CLC members had time to give feedback on whether this model should continue in the future. Some said peer review is a good way of dealing with questions of variance; others said it may be helpful to other conferences in general, not just related to questions of variance.

Meanwhile, other CLC members anonymously responded more negatively, suggesting that the CLC should discontinue the peer review process, since the outcomes are not surprising; they aren’t worth the money; they’re punitive rather than forbearing, and this one was harmful to Rupp.

Overall, questions were raised about the authority of Executive Board versus the authority of area conferences when questions of credentialing leaders are raised.

Healing and hope

Two younger leaders presented an appeal for healing and hope for the future of MC USA.

Sandra Montes-Martinez, moderator of Igelsia Menonita Hispana, and Jessica Schrock-Ringenberg, pastor of Zion Mennonite Church, Archbold, Ohio, spoke to the group.

Along with young adult pastors Peter Eberly and Jeremy Shue, they wrote “An Appeal for Healing and Hope for the Future of Mennonite Church USA from Younger Church Leaders.” In that report, they wrote: “For too long, we have sought to preserve our denomination by the assumptions of a single, dominant ethnic heritage and allowed ourselves to fracture by being unable to manage our disagreements. Without changing our current trajectory, we know where this cultural and religious struggle will lead us.”

They noted two key tendencies that contribute to the fracturing of the denomination: “spiritual negligence,” ignoring the Spirit’s presence and Christ’s ownership of the church, and “tribalism,” celebrating certain cultural expressions of our tribal communities and forgetting that Jesus is Lord.

They called on the church to institute “do over” and focus on the denomination’s Vision: Healing and Hope statement.

Montes-Martinez said, “We don’t even mention the Holy Spirit in our meetings.”

Schrock-Ringenberg passed out shards of pottery, each piece representing an individual’s hopes and beliefs about what the church must “get right.” Schrock-Ringenberg invited each CLC member to place their shard on a table as a symbolic gesture of setting aside their pieces for the sake of the whole church and focusing on the broader denominational vision.

Schrock-Ringenberg called on the Executive Board to stop focusing on things that divide the church and to live into the discipleship-based Vision: Healing and Hope statement of the church.

New models for Delegate Assemblies

Glen Guyton, chief operating officer and director of convention planning for MC USA, talked to CLC members about next summer’s convention in Orlando, Fla. He noted that the church’s institutional authority has waned, and what is important for the church’s future growth is authentic relational authority.

“People are searching for networks and communities that allow them to utilize their gifts for the greater good,” he said.

Guyton is proposing a change to the Delegate Assembly model at Orlando 2017.

He proposed that the delegate assembly be “the first in a series of summits that would help to refocus our system and look at Mennonite Church USA as the sum of the parts rather than competing factions and pieces.”

The assembly would not, therefore, vote on resolutions, with one exception: the resolution on Israel/Palestine, which was tabled at Kansas City 2015. Rod Stafford, pastor of Portland Mennonite Church and a member of the Resolutions Committee, joined CLC via videoconference to discuss that resolution. It has been rewritten after speaking with both Palestinians and Israelis. After some discussion, CLC members agreed to have the statement made available online for people to review and comment on.

“People should leave Orlando 2017 feeling empowered, with a clear understanding of who we are as a denomination,” he said. “The process will give participants ownership of the vision of Mennonite Church USA. Most importantly the process is collaborative and not focused on an up-and-down vote.”

The Executive Board will review Guyton’s proposal at their November meeting.

Moderator-elect

During the meeting, it was announced that Joy Sutter of Harleysville, Pa., has been nominated to be the next moderator-elect. Sutter is a hospital administrator and a current member of MC USA’s Executive Board. She is a member of Salford Mennonite Church.

Reports from MC Canada

CLC members heard from Willard Metzger, executive director of Mennonite Church Canada, and discussed how MC USA relates to MC Canada.

Metzger talked about what has been happening in MC Canada since 2008. The Being a Faithful Church process they conducted was community centered, he said. “Discernment was done by the people, not by leadership.” Across the denomination they asked, What does the Bible say about healthy sexuality?

At their assembly this summer, MC Canada decided they wanted to keep the Confession of Faith as written, but acknowledged there are people who interpret Scripture in a way that goes against Article 19, which specifies that marriage is “between one man and one woman for life.” At assembly, they voted to create space for congregations who disagree with the Confession to test that and see how it goes. “We agreed to live with ambiguity,” Metzler said.

Metzger admits that the response to this decision is still unclear. Metzger said MC Canada’s area churches have suggested that 23 congregations are considering leaving the denomination following this decision. MC British Columbia, one area church, is also considering leaving.

Visions of a missional future

They also spoke, via videoconference, with Kristin Jackson, pastor ofLiving Water Community Church in Rogers Park, Ill., a church that uses eight languages. She said that Rogers Park is perhaps the most diverse neighborhood in Chicago. And she noted that, “There’s a hunger for the gospel among many people in this area, particularly among refugees, who are experiencing a crisis; they therefore are looking for help, for community.” The congregation has found ways to reach out and to fill these needs for community.

Howard Wagler, lead pastor of Journey Mennonite Church in Kansas, talked about “Becoming Missionaries Where We Live, Work and Play.” Journey is a multi-site congregation, with three church sites in McPherson, South Hutchinson and Yoder, Kan. He said, “God is a missionary God and works through a missionary church.”