Leaders of Mosaic Mennonite Conference, one of Mennonite Church USA’s largest conferences, are recommending withdrawal from membership in the denomination while continuing in “partnership and collaboration” with it.

Mosaic’s Conference Board on Aug. 19 affirmed a proposal by Mosaic’s Pathways Steering Team, which began a process in 2022 to clarify the conference’s priorities and its relationship with MC USA and other Anabaptist communities.

Delegates will consider the proposal Nov. 2 at their annual assembly at Souderton Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania. Delegate meetings in September will help the board shape its final recommendation.

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

The Mosaic board formed the Pathways team and its listening process in July of 2022 following an MC USA special delegate session that approved an LGBTQ-affirming “Repentance and Transformation” resolution and rescinded MC USA’s Membership Guidelines, which had prohibited pastors from officiating same-sex marriages.

Numerous Mosaic congregations, pastors and leaders urged action at the time due to dissatisfaction with the process and outcome. Today, some congregations desire to remain part of MC USA while others prefer an exit. Mosaic’s “Grace and Truth” statement — approved in 2015 and reaffirmed in 2020 — defines marriage as between a man and a woman and upholds a conference policy to not credential people living in same-sex relationships.

“No one approach will satisfy everyone,” said Mosaic assistant moderator Roy Williams in the conference’s Aug. 22 announcement. “We as a board accepted this recommendation as such. We invite the Assembly delegates to wrestle with this recommendation and come together at the delegate preparation meetings to share their feedback. We’ll take all of it under advisement.”

The Pathways Steering team’s recommendation to the Mosaic Board emphasized collaboration with MC USA and said a partnership can shape a new model of relationship with opportunities to discover healthier relational patterns.

“We believe it is time to redefine our relationship with MC USA,” Mosaic executive minister Stephen Kriss told Anabaptist World. “We look forward to continued relationships with the ministries, communities, conferences and people of Mennonite Church USA. . . . A partnership relationship can clarify the areas of commonality and allow us to lean into the relationship where there are shared goals and values. . . .

“Since our formation as Mosaic [in 2019], five congregations have removed themselves from our membership due to unresolved tensions around human sexuality. Increasingly within Mosaic there are congregations who feel that the current relationships with MC USA are untenable.”

As an independent body, Mosaic would anticipate no other official affiliations outside of membership in Mennonite World Conference, Kriss said.

He anticipates continuing to collaborate with MC USA on shared resourcing for leaders and continued engagement with Mennonite Mission Network, Mennonite Education Agency, MennoMedia, Everence and MHS [Mennonite Health Services] Association.

“Everence and MHS recently redefined their relationship with MC USA, and we see some possibilities in how that emerged that might help to guide us,” Kriss said. “. . . We would hope to continue to be part of Corinthian Plan as our healthcare provider of choice for pastors and for our conference staff.”

Mosaic staff and the Pathways team worked to communicate with the MC USA Executive Board and staff during the discernment process and sought dialogue with other conferences in MC USA as well as Mennonite Church Canada regional churches (similar to U.S. conferences), LMC (formerly Lancaster Mennonite Conference), the Church of the Brethren and Brethren in Christ.

MC USA executive director Glen Guyton and moderator Jon Carlson have participated at Mosaic events and assemblies. Guyton expressed gratitude for conversations with Mosaic leaders during the discernment process, though denominational representatives were not directly involved in the process.

He noted that MC USA is made up of area conferences working in partnership, so that concept is not new territory.

“According to our polity, area conferences should strive to work in harmony and cooperation with the total denomination and their member congregations,” Guyton said, citing Article IV of the denomination’s bylaws. “So, ultimately, a body like the Constituency Leaders Council or the delegate assembly may be the best forum to explore how members of MC USA envision the pathway forward.

“True partnership is between the many wonderful people who comprise MC USA.”

Marta Castillo, Mosaic’s associate executive minister, told Anabaptist World the reconciliation process that formed Mosaic prioritized hospitality and grace over history and stability. This path led to welcoming congregations from other states and countries, increasing the complexity of Mosaic’s work and mission.

“Our relationship with MC USA is becoming more of a parallel relationship,” she said. “Our staff, board members and leaders are gifted and are often ahead of the curve in identifying needs, trends and spaces for action. As MC USA deals with the shifting sands of conferences in flux, we are free to continue to work in the places and spaces where God has called us.”

Mosaic represents roughly 15% of MC USA’s membership, and its operations are expansive relative to its size compared to other conferences. Kriss acknowledged the situation in an April Mosaic article, stating “our community has capacity, in human and financial resources, to operate autonomously.”

The conference’s 2024 operating budget of nearly $1.2 million is funded by real estate holdings, contributions and grants and doesn’t include a missional fund that uses estate gifts to help with new initiatives. MC USA’s 2022-23 budget, by comparison, included about $3.5 million in total expenses. Mosaic has 25 full- and part-time workers, with a full-time equivalency of 10 positions, compared to 18 MC USA Executive Board staff members (not including agencies such as MMN).

Including churches in other countries, Mosaic is a community of 100 congregations and ministries.

“Including international partners, we are more than 10,000 people, with a lot of that in Mexico,” Kriss said. “The long-term and emerging partnerships within Mosaic in Latin America have sometimes been a challenge to navigate within the current denominational system. Mosaic’s history in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, goes back several generations through Franconia Conference.”

Haroldo Nunes, pastor of ­Seguidores de Cristo in Sarasota, Fla., joined the Pathways team in January and ­acknowledged that times of prayer and discernment were not easy.

“We had disagreements, worked on many language changes and needed to listen to each other well and compromise,” he said in Mosaic’s announcement. “We worked with respect and love for each other, knowing that the results will benefit the conference.”