Photo: Worship at the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference annual meeting, June 23-25. Photo by Bob Buxman. 

“Here we are, and we’ve been gathered, and the truth is gathered, too.”

This sung refrain, written and led by Chuck Neufeld—musician, former pastor and conference minister—set the tone for the annual meeting of Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference (PNMC) June 23-25. Neufeld was the keynote speaker for the weekend. The gathering took place at Zion Mennonite Church, Hubbard, Oregon, the oldest Mennonite church in the conference and a fitting site for a focus on storytelling across the conference.

After the gathering, conference minister Katherine Pitts received an email thanking conference leaders for planning an event where “we could worship, earn trust and gain a deeper understanding of each other.” The gathering centered on the theme “Tell Me the Story,” drawing on Psalm 107:1-3. The weekend included opportunities for delegates to share stories with one another at their table groups, which were intentionally integrated to include members from English and Spanish-speaking congregations at each table.

At the 2015 PNMC assembly, Pitts acknowledges, some relationships may have been stretched and strained. “We came out of last year really aware of the deep polarization around issues of gay and lesbian inclusion in the church,” she says. “We know that we’re a diverse conference and we know that we’re committed to staying in Mennonite Church USA.”

As they wrestled with how best to be the church together, conference leaders invited delegates to offer feedback on ways to build connection. Their number one suggestion? Taking time to hear each other’s stories.

Congregations were also asked to identify a Scripture passage that has been important for their local church, and delegates were encouraged to share their Scripture and use it as a prompt for storytelling with their table groups.

Jennifer Delanty, the outgoing PNMC moderator who led the meetings, says that in each delegate session, people at tables took time to discuss with each other how and why their congregation is meaningful to them and “what keeps them coming week after week and year after year.”

The gathering also featured a prayer team that was present and offering visible, active prayer during all delegate and worship sessions and also being available for those who wished to pray with someone one-on-one or who desired anointing. The six-woman team, including three representatives from English-speaking congregations and three from Spanish-speaking congregations, was convened by Pat Shaver of Seattle. The group modeled their prayer ministry on the prayer team at the 2015 Mennonite Church USA Convention in Kansas City, Mo. Shaver also participated as a member of the convention prayer team.

The visible presence of the prayer team throughout the weekend helped lower anxiety and enriched the experience for many convention attendees. Pitts reported that “I have heard so many people report that the prayer team was meaningful to them. Even though the delegate agenda was not heavy, I know many brought heavy hearts and uncertainty following last summer into this meeting, and your presence was calming, supportive, and much needed.”

The six members of the prayer team also found themselves bound together and encouraged by their experiences of praying together in preparation for and during the meetings.

Delegates also spent time brainstorming and reimagining the ways the conference works together. Groups discussed ideas for annual meetings, lay leader equipping, funding for outreach and ministry, and dreamed about where the conference could be in 10 years.

Attendees also had the chance to attend affinity groups led by local congregations. In her work as conference minister, Pitts visits local congregations, and one of the questions she asks each leadership group is, “What do you do well that could be shared with other congregations?” Drawing on the answers to these questions, Pitts pulled together a dozen affinity groups focused on topics such as planning worship in small congregations, facilitating difficult conversations, increasing intergenerational interaction and offering pastoral care when a congregation is without a pastor.

The group also approved a new budget and celebrated that—for the fourth year in a row—the conference ended the year with a positive balance. Pitts and Delanty laughingly refer to the conference’s practice of “faith-based budgeting,” when, each year, delegates approve a budget that appears to show a shortfall but end the year in the black.