Mennonite Church Canada is changing, and its transformation could instruct other denominations. Declining donations were deemed to be a trend rather than an aberration, and
Bluffton (Ohio) University has become the third Mennonite college this year to leave the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities after expanding its nondiscrimination hiring policy. The Bluffton board of trustees voted unanimously Oct. 10 to include sexual orientation and gender identity in its employment policy.
Franconia Mennonite Conference addressed fractious times within Mennonite Church USA by focusing its annual assembly on being the church together. In a series of statements submitted by congregations, refined by a committee and passed by delegates Nov. 13-14 at Penn View Christian School in Souderton, Pa., FMC acknowledged differences but affirmed staying together as a conference and with MC USA.
Story updated Nov. 24
Lancaster Mennonite Conference announced Nov. 19 that it will withdraw from Mennonite Church USA by the end of 2017. A proposal from the conference’s Board of Bishops was ratified by 82.3 percent of credentialed leaders, surpassing the two-thirds needed to pass.
The discussion in Mennonite Church USA about LGBTQ people in the life of the church seems not to welcome the conservative voice. Although many parts of the denomination still are largely represented by the conservative voice and exclude LGBTQ people, the MC USA convention last summer in Kansas City, Mo., represented a dramatic and recent shift.
Franklin Mennonite Conference is taking steps to leave Mennonite Church USA, citing concerns over other MC USA conferences’ allowance of same-sex relationships. A proposal to be discussed Nov. 12 during Franklin’s delegate assembly calls for the conference to withdraw from MC USA and remain without affiliation for one year to “seek new vision for FMC and where the most appropriate affiliation would be for the conference.”
