MC USA leaders face fears, share stories

Emmanuel Mwaipopo, left, intercultural committee chair of Mosaic Mennonite Conference’s board, and Mosaic moderator Angela Moyer Walter listen to Mennonite Mission Network executive director Marisa Smucker, right. — Mennonite Church USA Emmanuel Mwaipopo, left, intercultural committee chair of Mosaic Mennonite Conference’s board, and Mosaic moderator Angela Moyer Walter listen to Mennonite Mission Network executive director Marisa Smucker, right. — Mennonite Church USA

The Mennonite Church USA Constituency Leaders Council reflected on what it means to do church together March 21-23 at its biannual meeting at College Mennonite Church in Goshen, Ind.

Moderator-elect Marty Lehman introduced regional, racial/ethnic and constituency leaders to MC USA’s new strategic plan and invited them to participate in reinvention exercises.

Executive director Glen Guyton presented a new denominational strategic plan to reimagine church. The plan seeks to identify key markers and practices of the Anabaptist faith community, communicate in new ways, provide prophetic leadership in peace and justice, develop a streamlined and effective denominational structure and create a sustainable funding system.

Associate executive director Iris de León-Hartshorn led attendees in a workshop to reimagine church, analyzing how adaptive they and their organizations are to anticipating, designing and implementing change.

Common fears included conflict/polarization, fragmentation, loss of identity, loss of resources and change. Many participants recognized they have considerable influence over their fears.

Marco Güete, director of Hispanic Ministries for Mennonite Education Agency, shared about growth and expansion of programs in Spanish.

Stan Shantz provided an update on the work of the Leadership Discernment Committee. With one exception, he said, “all conferences have representation on at least one agency board, just under 50% of our board members are women, and over 40% are BIPOC,” he said, referring to Black, Indigenous and people of color.

Faith formation through storytelling was a key part of the meeting. Worship leaders Joanne Gallardo, Nathan Luitjens and Randy Spaulding invited CLC members to share about what keeps them in church.

Sandra Montes-Martinez, associate conference minister for Western District Conference, said her calling to serve keeps her energized.

“We recognize now, as a denomination, that we are not monolithic,” she said. “We come from different cultures, backgrounds. We have different theologies, perspectives, and we are in different places in our spiritual journeys. But we choose to believe that diversity is now our strength.”

Three Goshen-area ministers shared stories about how God is working in their communities.

Kay Bontrager-Singer, pastor of Faith Mennonite Church, described how her small congregation purchased a hospitality house to provide safe and affordable short-term housing for neighbors in need.

Phil Waite, pastoral team leader at College Mennonite Church, shared about how his congregation is engaging with the local community, including partnering with Everence to walk alongside a local immigrant family as they purchased a home.

Luke Gascho, a member of Waterford Mennonite Church, spoke about how Waterford tends 84 acres of property as part of its faith practice.

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