More than a dozen Lancaster Mennonite Conference congregations are beginning to narrow down ways they might continue relating to Mennonite Church USA.

Options include forming a new MC USA conference or departing Lancaster for another MC USA conference. Some could forego MC USA ties and simply stay with Lancaster.

Lancaster announced in November it would withdraw from MC USA by the end of 2017.

More than 100 people — including representatives of 17 Lancaster congregations — attended an April 14 meeting at Witmer Heights Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pa., to discuss several proposals. The “LMC-MC USA Group” is a collection of churches, each discerning whether to stay with the conference, which had been MC USA’s largest.

After compiling the results of a survey, group conveners said two options had clear affirmation — creating a new Pennsylvania regional conference or joining MC USA’s Atlantic Coast Conference.

The proposal for a new MC USA conference was presented by Landisville Mennonite Church associate pastor Jordan Farrell, Sherill Hostetter of James Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster District bishop Jason Kuniholm and James Street lead pastor Stan Shantz. It would have “low overhead” and be “committed to gender equity in all levels of conference functioning and decision-making.”

“One of the things they say in their proposal is that the way we do conference may not be sustainable into the future,” said Dawn Ranck Hower, pastor of New Holland Mennonite Church and one of the LMC-MC USA Group’s conveners. “This proposal is for a less expensive network of churches.”

The meeting was also attended by people from three churches in Franklin Mennonite Conference and two people in leadership in Allegheny Mennonite Conference with an interest in observing the group’s conversations.

“The Franklin people are kind of in the same boat we are, since Franklin is leaving MC USA,” Hower said. “So the conversation is broader than the churches leaving Lancaster.”

Fellow convener Todd Gusler, pastor of Rossmere Mennonite Church, said there is interest in forming something new, but more conversation is needed.

“Is there enough energy to put something together, and is there a viable mass to make it possible?” he asked. “One of the realities is we have 17 unique congregations, and each of those is on their own timeline.

“Some of those congregations may be ready to make a decision about affiliation in the next couple of months. . . . Others may have to wait until the end of the year or deep into next year. The group that put together one of the ideas for a new conference said they’ll probably need a dozen or more churches to make it possible. If only two or three are ready to commit, does that really work out?”

ACC ready and willing

It would be simpler for congregations withdrawing from Lancaster to join MC USA’s Atlantic Coast Conference. Gusler said that proposal received the highest interest.

“As opposed to spending a lot of energy for people looking to form something new, it’s already there,” he said. “It would be a hopefully easy transition to go over there.”

ACC’s office is in Lancaster, and about a third of its 32 congregations are in the Lancas­ter County area. It has collaborated closely with Lancaster for decades on youth ministry, pastoral and congregational resourcing and event planning.

After 21 years with Lancaster, conference coordinator Joanne Dietzel is beginning a half-time conference minister position with ACC relating with Lancaster area churches. She is a member of ACC’s Ridgeview Mennonite Church in Gordonville.

“We would certainly welcome congregations and would desire to work with them collaboratively so that they could feel ACC could be a home for them and a place of belonging in community,” said ACC executive conference minister Merv Stoltzfus, who attended the April 14 meeting.

While the two conferences share similarities, Stoltzfus said polity, governance and leadership structures differ.

“Decisions of any kind of important level would always be made by the delegate body, not by executives or staff,” he said. He noted ACC is defined by congregational autonomy, compared to Lancaster’s Board of Bishops.

“It would be more like a merger,” Stoltzfus said of the Lancas­ter group joining. “We would be able to do that, but we would have to do collaborative work together to make sure we move together in a healthy way to make sure all voices are heard.”

The LMC-MC USA Group plans to meet again in early June to review the interest expressed at the April meeting, assess the viability of options and discuss healthy transitions.

Hower said it is important to consider how a congregation goes about leaving a conference or staying with a conference. At an individual level, some people are switching congregations.

“How do we as pastors help people do that well?” she asked. “I am convinced that how you leave a place impacts how you enter a new place.”