Mennonite Church USA’s Executive Board and staff responded with disappointment and questions to the Aug. 22 announcement by Mosaic Mennonite Conference that its leaders are recommending withdrawal from denominational membership while continuing in partnership and collaboration.

A Sept. 9 MC USA statement acknowledged the denomination has partnerships with former agencies such as Everence and MHS [Mennonite Health Services] Association but indicated there is no precedent for conferences to be in partnership outside the “voluntary association” of conferences that already exists within MC USA.

“Such a major change would require involvement from all member conferences, a process that would involve the Constituency Leaders Council and likely not come to the MC USA Delegate Assembly until 2027,” said MC USA moderator-elect Marty Lehman in the MC USA release.

A union of the former Franconia and Eastern District conferences, Mosaic counts about 7,500 members (about 15% of MC USA’s 47,840 constituents) in 57 congregations in the Northeast, Florida and California, although six of those congregations have chosen to not be members of MC USA.

Mosaic undertook a discernment process in 2022 following an MC USA special assembly where delegates approved an LGBTQ-affirming “Repentance and Transformation” resolution and rescinded MC USA’s Membership Guidelines, which prohibited pastors from officiating same-sex marriages.

Mosaic executive minister Stephen Kriss said some congregations have removed themselves from the conference due to unresolved tensions around human sexuality. Mosaic’s partnerships with churches and ministries in Latin America have been a challenge to navigate within MC USA’s system.

The conference is also building connections with groups like LMC, some Mennonite Church Canada Area Churches and conferences in Mexico and the United Kingdom. A document created for Mosaic delegate preparation meetings this month indicated that “as a conference that values and prioritizes relationships, a partnership model will allow us to maintain connections with the broader church without getting mired down in disagreements over policy or procedure.”

Kriss elaborated in a Sept. 5 Mosaic News article that the reconciliation process of Eastern District and Franconia conferences that created Mosaic in 2020 included conversations about pivoting basic belief documents from the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective to Mennonite World Conference’s Seven Core Convictions, but that shift was shelved because denominational bylaws require adherence to the 1995 Confession. (Franconia operated autonomously in collaboration with other conferences from at least the early 1700s until 1971, when it joined the general assembly of the [Old] Mennonite Church.)

Kriss hopes the conference can continue collaborating with MC USA on resourcing for leaders and engagement with Mennonite Mission Network, Mennonite Education Agency, MennoMedia, Everence, Mennonite Men, MHS and the Corinthian Plan healthcare coverage system — subject to delegate approval of the recommendation Nov. 2 at Mosaic’s annual assembly.

Mosaic leaders hope to make congregational relationships to MC USA possible for churches that desire to retain their status as members of the denomination, though bylaws state MC USA membership is derived from being part of a member conference. While some congregations in Mosaic financially support MC USA, the conference itself does not. Ceasing affiliation in MC USA would cut off scholarships for Instituto Bíblico Anabautista and Seminario Bíblico Anabautista Hispano Spanish pastoral studies programs and may require repaying grants provided by Mennonite Men to some congregations.

“We affirm Mosaic engaging in holy discernment, as this is the work of the local church,” said MC USA moderator Jon Carlson. “Mosaic’s Pathway recommendation seeks to distance the conference from the denomination, but we continue to believe that all parts of MC USA are better together. We welcome Mosaic to remain as full members and partners in God’s mission together.”

MC USA emphasized denominational polity gives area conferences wide latitude to manage their own affairs, including credentialing and membership processes. It also noted the 2022 Repentance and Transformation resolution was nonbinding.

“Mosaic is free to make decisions in the best interests of its conference,” wrote MC USA executive director Glen Guyton in an Aug. 22 letter to area conferences. “But our desire would be to have a clear understanding of what a new partnership agreement would look like before Mosaic withdraws from MC USA.”

Carlson added: “I hope we can be clear in our communication. If Mosaic delegates vote to leave, we honor that vote, and we’re happy to have a conversation after the fact. However, it will be a different conversation than if they stay a part of us and work at collaboration together as partners.”

MC USA created a document for congregations with information on how to remain in MC USA if their conference withdraws at mennoniteusa.org/remain-mcusa.