South Central Mennonite Conference delegates voted unanimously to pursue affiliation with LMC on July 20 at the conference’s annual assembly, one year after deciding to leave Mennonite Church USA.

The 49-0 vote at Journey Mennonite Church in South Hutchinson, Kan., marks another step of growth — both in numbers and geographical reach — for LMC, the Pennsylvania-based denomination formerly known as Lancaster Mennonite Conference that decided in 2015 to withdraw from MC USA.

LMC will gain 23 congregations in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.

With the additions, LMC will have more than 270 congregations in 23 states, plus Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

When LMC withdrew from MC USA in 2017, it had about 180 congregations. LMC estimates its membership today includes more than 25,000 people. South Central has roughly 2,500 members.

Last July, South Central delegates voted by an 81% margin to withdraw from the denomination and find new affiliation by October 2024. South Central’s Affiliation Task Force considered 11 groups and recommended LMC.

In an interview, Kurt Horst, interim network director, cited three reasons for joining LMC. First, LMC uses the same Confession of Faith, the 1995 Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, but in a more prescriptive way than MC USA does, as shown by MC USA’s 2022 LGBTQ-affirming “Repentance and Transformation” resolution, which he called inconsistent with the Confession. Second, South Central can stay together as a conference, becoming one or two districts within LMC. Third, “the ethnic diversity of LMC really attracted us,” he said. LMC is 50% non-Anglo, and South Central is over one-third non-Anglo.

Six of South Central’s 29 congregations are not joining LMC. Three are rejoining MC USA by transferring to Western District Conference, whose territory overlaps with South Central’s. The three — Hesston Mennonite Church in Kansas, New Life Christian Center in San Benito, Texas, and Crystal Springs Mennonite Church in Harper, Kan. — plan to join Western District at its Aug. 2-4 assembly at First Mennonite Church in Beatrice, Neb.

Three others — Whitestone Mennonite Church in Hesston, Pleasant Valley Mennonite Church in Harper, Kan., and Iglesia Menonita del Cordero (Mennonite Church of the Lamb) in Brownsville, Texas — are exploring other affiliations.

At Whitestone, the process has been rocky. The elders recommended membership in Central Plains Conference of MC USA, but on June 2 the recommendation failed after receiving 65% support (127 yes, 67 no), just short of the two-thirds required to pass.

Brad Roth, Whitestone’s lead pastor and a member of the conference task force that recommended LMC affiliation, spoke against the elders’ recommendation before the vote. He resigned a week later, having served Whitestone a year and a half. Within a few weeks of the vote, a group from the congregation began meeting separately on Sundays at Hesston College.

Roth’s previous congregation, West Zion Mennonite Church in Moundridge, Kan., voted on Jan. 21 to withdraw from Western District Conference and MC USA, stating in a letter to the Western District Executive Board that the conference “has chosen to move away from the values that have set us apart as followers of Christ.” West Zion has joined Evana Network.

At the South Central assembly, Horst and network chair Phil Rosenberger became emotional as they spoke to delegates about changing affiliations.

“Many of us have felt betrayed by our denomination, while others have felt betrayed by the conference,” Rosenberger said. “We have been in a tug-of-war with some of our best friends, and some of our oldest relationships have been tested and sometimes torn. We mourn that grief, that loss. . . .

“Those of us who have gotten to know LMC feel a lot of excitement over the prospect of this new relationship, and we feel confident that God has led us to this place.”

Horst said he was surprised by how fragile relationships are and by “how legalistic we can become in the process of redefining relationships, myself included.”

“We must find our vision in our shared mission and refuse to let our unity become about what we aren’t, what we are against,” he said. “I have hope for us being a Spirit-led movement that will mobilize every member as a missionary or minister, that will multiply faith communities, locally and beyond.”

South Central begins a two-year provisional period in which all congregations automatically become part of LMC unless they opt out. Leaders from South Central and LMC have been in conversation about the conference becoming one or more districts within LMC.

South Central is the fifth conference to leave MC USA since the denomination’s inception in 2002. Previously, Lancaster, Franklin, North Central and Southeast conferences withdrew. Franklin became a district of LMC in 2017. Many Southeast congregations joined LMC in 2019, and others joined Mosaic Mennonite Conference. North Central dissolved in 2017, and many of its congregations joined the U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.