Editorial

When a non-Mennonite friend asked me what Mennonite Church USA faces as its biggest challenge, I remembered the latest Church Member Profile.

“We’re losing membership, and many young people are not staying with the Mennonite church,” I told him.

“But isn’t that happening to all religious groups in the [United States]?” he asked.

It is. A survey on religious affiliation by Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life indicates that more than a quarter of adult Americans have left their childhood faith to join another religion or no religion.

Mennonite Church USA faces that same challenge. In 1989, 45 percent of the members were under age 45; now 30 percent are.

Here are several reasons adults under age 45 are leaving or distancing themselves from the church:

1. In the United States’ consumeristic culture, people choose schools, clubs and neighborhoods that please them—not the other way around. No wonder people come and go in churches—Mennonite churches included.

2. Religious identity is relative to time and culture. When I spent 10 days in Jordan last fall, I learned that most people’s identity as Muslim or Christian is as settled as their family name. In fact, a person’s religion is designated on their identification card and rarely changes. But in our context, people remain undefined religiously. Many move from religion to religion because it is not a defining trait—and this goes for Mennonites.

3. Young adult Mennonites feel differing degrees of connection with the Mennonite church and a number desire to learn about many religions. For instance, after a cross-cultural experience they may want the freedom to travel more and experience various faith backgrounds before making a decision to join the Mennonite church—or any denomination.

4. More than 16 percent of Americans are not part of any organized faith. This goes for young Mennonites who want to live out their values (and perhaps faith) through service and lifestyle choices but do not want to join an “institution.”

5. Some young Mennonites distance themselves from the Mennonite church because of attitudes toward women in leadership and the denomination’s teaching position on homosexuality.

6. Other young Mennonites live in cities or places with few or no Mennonite congregations, so they connect with a different denomination.

But there is hope in this trend of Americans (including Mennonites) changing faiths.
People are not obligated to the religious group they grew up in, so people coming from other faith backgrounds—similar or different from the Mennonite church—can join.

Churches should remember that people discover or feel called to join at all stages of life. A young man may decide to become a member at age 17 in his home congregation, or a woman who had never heard of Mennonites may attend a church service at age 39 and want to learn more.

During this cultural context of fluid, ever-changing religiosity, the Mennonite church’s concrete values of service, peace, community and social responsibility continue to appeal to Mennonites and non-Mennonites.

Jim Schrag, executive director of Mennonite Church USA, describes the denomination as “human as any human institution” and many young adults realize and accept this. A friend once said she knows Mennonite Church USA is not perfect, but no church or religion is. Many young adults continue their involvement in the denomination for what they receive spiritually and the support from the community, as well as how they can challenge and change the denomination.

While we study trends of faith in America and our denomination, the Mennonite church should work carefully to understand the cultural context and listen to the voices of its members and non-members.—ag