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2007-05-15 issue:

Health and justice

by Everett J. Thomas

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Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace. We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and there is only one God and Father, who is over us all and in us all and living through us all.—Ephesians 4:1-6 NLT



Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is the frame of reference for important discussions at the San José 2007 convention, to be held July 2-6 (see pages 8-17). One proposal coming to the delegates will test the unity described by Paul: a denomination-wide health-care plan for every pastor in which all congregations would participate. Some who are promoting the plan see it as a test of our mutual aid convictions. But such a plan is not so much about mutual aid; it is more about justice.

It is also an issue that touches every Mennonite Church USA member who is active in his or her congregation.

Mutual aid, by definition, implies reciprocity. I will help you now with my resources, and in the future, when I have a need, you will help me by providing some of your resources.
But the every-pastor health-care plan does not presume this reciprocity between congregations that have more or fewer resources. Rather it considers the inequity across the system from one congregation to another. Larger and wealthier congregations easily provide pastoral compensation that includes health-care coverage for their pastors, while some smaller and poorer congregations provide only a stipend and no insurance.

It is also an antiracism issue.

During the March 22-25 joint meeting of the Executive Board and the Constituency Leaders Council, Western District Conference minister Dorothy Nickel Friesen said that many of the poorer congregations whose pastors are not insured are underrepresented racial/ethnic members (“Do We Really Believe in Mutual Aid?” April 3).

Nickel Friesen also pointed out that some wealthier congregations are dropping out of the current Mennonite Church USA-sponsored plan, presumably to save money with other plans.

Our polity allows a great deal of congregational autonomy on many issues, including this one. So one of the first questions that needs to be resolved centers around the matter of mandate. If insurance for all pastors relies on nearly all congregations participating, what happens if a significant number of the wealthier congregations—that would need to pay more in order for poorer congregations to have coverage—decide to opt out?

Such a trend could jeopardize the plan. But other signs give hope that a 6-year-old Mennonite Church USA can pull it off. For example, Mennonite Church USA agencies have said they will either participate or cooperate with such a plan; those pools of employees would increase the efficiencies of scale needed for the plan.

Another reason for hope is our deep commitment to justice-making in other settings. Mennonite Church USA members continue to invest heavily in justice-making efforts through Mennonite Central Committee and Christian Peacemaker Teams. Many also see the work done through Mennonite Disaster Service as a way to bring justice to the poorest of the poor whose lives have been devastated by natural disaster.

As Paul says in Ephesians 4, we have all been called to one glorious future. Paul encourages us to bind ourselves together with peace. Mennonite Church USA will have a wonderful opportunity at San José 2007 to create a bit of peace by bringing some justice to an inequity that exists within our denominational body: lack of health insurance for pastors in poorer congregations that cannot afford it for their leaders.—ejt

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