Editorial

The economy is in recession. Our denomination is shrinking in size; membership is aging. This is the milieu in which Mennonite Church USA looks for a new executive director—the top staff position in the church. As the process begins, however, the person leading the search is optimistic about our church’s future and has already heard one theme from those who describe the leadership we will need during the next years.

“A number of people said at this point we need someone on the inspirational side,” said Ed Diller in a phone interview on March 3. Diller, moderator-elect for Mennonite Church USA, is also chair of the search committee.

That is also the first quality the committee listed in a tentative job description. It says, “The new executive director will inspire Mennonite Church USA through a compelling articulation of the vision, mission and priorities of the church.”

Each national church that is part of the global Mennonite family is indigenous to the country in which it is located. The same is true for us. Just as our country has high hopes that a new president will lead us out of this economic depression, we also hope for a leader who will help us grow Mennonite Church USA in ways not yet obvious.

Most of us sitting in the pew on Sunday mornings seldom think about the person leading our denomination through the top staff position. Nevertheless this is a critically important role. It is so important for the future church that we all would do well to pray for the committee in its discernment—the first request they made to us.

There are at least three reasons why this role is critical and why we should all pray for God to lead the committee to the right person:

• Long-term influence: Jim Schrag, the current executive director, and Ron Byler, associate executive director, have been involved in denominational leadership for more than a decade. While other leaders, such as the moderator and moderator-elect, are very public for short periods of time, their influence over the trajectory of Mennonite Church USA is relatively minor compared with the influence of long-term staff members.

• The face of Mennonite Church USA: In many places, the executive director is the face of our denomination. Whether delivering a letter to Congress or representing us in ecumenical meetings, others draw conclusions about our faith, traditions and values as they interact with the executive director.

But the executive director is also the face of the denomination for us within the church. That is why Schrag’s picture and writings regularly appear in Equipping, Beyond Ourselves and once each month on page 2 of this magazine. Those of us sitting in the pew look at the face of the executive director and see Mennonite Church USA.

• Things are not working well: One year ago, the Executive Board said that our denominational system is not working well. At that time, the board said the denomination’s vision and call “is not adequately supported by our present relationships, behavior and organization.” The new executive director will be charged with moving all parts of our ungainly system toward more synergy—the word currently used for this is “alignment.”

The challenge for Diller and the search committee is that the church is both an organization and an organism. There are some leaders in our midst with strong, inspirational pastoral gifts that can lead the church body—the organism—in life-giving ways. There are other leaders with managerial gifts who can leave people and agencies—the organization—inspired to work better together across church structure lines.

“We have both in the job description,” Diller said. “Anyone we bring in will have strengths and weaknesses. It may be that at this point in history, we may need someone with a primary gift for inspiring others.”

Some of this inspiration comes from the committee itself.

“The search committee is confident that God will lead us to the right person,” Diller said, “and that that person will find his or her way to us.”

The committee offers many ways for us to give counsel and suggest names. But the best thing we can do is pray that God’s leading will be clear to the committee. If so, inspiration will follow.