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2007-07-03 issue:

Missional & Mennonite

Does Mennonite Church USA have a future?

by John D. Roth

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Aseismic shift has taken place in the religious landscape of the United States in the last 30 years. With the notable exception of some Baptist and Pentecostal groups, virtually all mainline Protestant denominations in the United States today are struggling to cope with declining numbers, shrinking budgets, aging memberships and a blurring of theological identity among the members who remain. Although most Americans still identify themselves as Christian, they are far less likely to claim loyalty to a denomination.

Mennonites sometimes think of themselves as being “a people apart.” Yet the recent findings of a churchwide survey make it clear that attitudes and practices within Mennonite Church USA mirror these broader trends. The data compiled in Conrad Kanagy’s Road Signs for the Journey: A Profile of Mennonite Church USA (Herald Press, 2007, $12.99) should make all Mennonites sit up and soberly take note. Between 1989 and 2006, for example, membership in Mennonite Church USA has declined by 15 percent, while the average age of members has increased from 49 to 54. Today, one-third of all Mennonite Church USA congregations have fewer than 50 members. Although 88 percent of Mennonites believe “Christians should do all they can to convert all nonbelievers to Christ,” only 18 percent do so on a “regular basis.” Only 23 percent of Mennonites believe it is “always wrong” to enter the armed forces, and nearly one-third agree that “church denominations do not matter.”

In the face of these disturbing statistics, church leaders likely will be tempted to focus on the few rays of positive news—the numerical growth among “Racial/Ethnic” Mennonite congregations, for example, or the relatively low divorce rates among Mennonites—fearing that open conversation about these larger trajectories will create a public relations fallout or only exacerbate the problem. But if these sobering trends are to be reversed, we must face the realities head-on.

Missional or Mennonite? Since the creation of Mennonite Church USA in 2001, the primary focus of the denomination’s new identity has centered, appropriately, on the challenge to become a “missional” church. Yet in a dozen subtle and not-so-subtle ways, this missional imperative is often pitted against a “Mennonite” identity that many regard as a hindrance to church growth. The result is similar to the story of a man anxiously looking for his keys on a dark night under a street lamp. After joining him in the fruitless search, one weary friend asked exactly where the man was when he noticed that the keys were missing. “I was in the parking lot around the corner,” the man said, “but the light is so much better here.”

The inclination to move to the light in dark times is the right impulse. But until we focus our search on where the treasure actually resides, it is unlikely our emphasis on the missional church will reverse the trends identified in the most recent Church Member Profile.

Over the past five years I have been privileged to interact with dozens of Mennonite Church USA congregations and many area conferences, especially in the midwestern and eastern part of the country. In the course of those contacts, a consistent “narrative” has emerged that helps explain some of the data Kanagy has collected. Most of the congregations I have visited are aware that the cultural, genealogical and ethnic markers of traditional Mennonitism have kept them isolated from the local community and impeded their outreach to the unchurched. In a genuine desire to be missional, they are eager to jettison or suppress anything associated with a distinctively Mennonite identity.

As a result, the public face of many congregations is increasingly characterized by a “generic Christianity” that may be summarized as, “Believe in the Bible as the Word of God and accept Jesus Christ into your heart as your Lord and Savior.” If we are truly committed to church growth, the argument goes, then Mennonite teachings and practices are best kept hidden.

This argument is flawed. Not only does it ignore the fact that every church—even those claiming to be freed from denominational constraints—is shaped by a distinctive theology, but it also overlooks the way Anabaptist-Mennonite teachings can be a powerful resource for outreach to the unchurched.

Embrace the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition as a gift. Clearly, Mennonites are not the only Christians in God’s kingdom. But the good news is that we have been entrusted with a rich theological tradition that is worth sharing with others. The distinctive themes of that tradition are likely familiar to most readers but bear repeating.

To “accept Christ,” we have taught, is to become a disciple—to “walk in his steps” in a lifetime journey in which the fruits of the Spirit are made visible in our lives. This journey is not for loners. The gospel includes the gift of a community of fellow travelers who bear witness to God’s abundant love through concrete practices of worship, sharing of possessions, mutual accountability and stewardship of resources. Moreover, the love God has shown us must also flow outward to the world—to the whole world, including our enemies—so that they will truly “know we are Christians by our love.”

Those committed to the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition have never been perfect, either in their ideals or their practice. But it is a wonderful heritage that should not be allowed to simply fade away. The first step toward renewal is for Mennonites to embrace their tradition as a genuine gift.

Enliven the tradition with the good news of the gospel. Tradition can easily become traditionalism: legalistic habits that result in us worshipping ourselves rather than God. Thus, the second step of renewal calls us to enliven the tradition by rooting it firmly in the good news of the gospel. Our story is worth telling only if it is part of God’s larger story.

Sometimes Mennonites have been tempted to reduce discipleship to a joyless exercise of the will. Yet the gospel reminds us that following Jesus leads to the joyful paradox of a “yoke that is easy and a burden that is light” (Matthew 11:30). As in marriage, Christian commitment and discipline lead to the joy of a rightly ordered life. And this is good news.

Sometimes Mennonites have reduced community to a list of restrictions—all the things we don’t do. Yet the gospel invites us to let go of our defensiveness, release our grip on our possessions and admonish and encourage each other in love. And this is good news.

Sometimes Mennonites have reduced nonresistance to a cultural marker that separates us from the world. Yet biblical nonresistance is rooted in the heart of the gospel. We believe Christians should love their enemies because that is exactly how God treated us. In Romans 5:8, Paul reminds us that God loved us while we were still enemies of God. God loved us preemptively, even though we did not deserve it. Christians testify to the marvelous love of God only when they are prepared to extend that same generous love to others, including their enemies. And this good news.

Christian discipleship, the practices of the visible church, a commitment to loving our enemy—all these are not some Mennonite “add on” to the gospel or something we should hide from newcomers because we are afraid it may be a barrier to missions. To the contrary, all these themes point to the heart of the gospel. And they are part of the good news we are called to share with the seeking and the lost.

Extend the tradition by sharing it with others. Finally, Mennonite Church USA will experience renewal only if willing to extend this wonderful tradition as an expression of God’s grace; the gift we have received is meant to be given.

In a mass, impersonal culture, the good news of the gospel is that “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14) in the person of Jesus Christ. Christian faith is not an abstract doctrine or a fleeting emotion. It is a joyful way of life that finds expression in concrete practices of faithful discipleship.

In an individualistic culture, the good news of the gospel is that you are not alone. You can be part of a story as old as creation itself of a God who has acted in history, who knows your name and wants you to take your place in an unfolding drama. You can be part of a community of people who love and care for you, who laugh and cry with you, who ask you to share your gifts and call you gently to account when you falter along the way.

In a culture addicted to consumerism and violence, the good news of the gospel is that you can be freed from the burden of defending yourself and your possessions. You can discover the beauty of a life lived in vulnerability, simplicity and love.

In Cecelia’s Sin, Will Campbell, a Baptist minister shaped by the Anabaptist tradition, tells a fictional story of a Dutch Anabaptist woman living in the 16th century. As she witnessed dozens of her friends being captured, tortured and killed for their faith, Cecelia resolved to write down the accounts of the martyrs so that later generations would remember their witness. As word of her project circulated, the authorities resolved to track her down in order to destroy the manuscript. Cecelia, in turn, became obsessed with the challenge of protecting and preserving the story. At the end, Cecelia’s Sin takes a strange and haunting turn. Cecelia has a revelation. In the last scene, she sits by the fire, burning the manuscript page by page.
Cecelia’s sin was that her desire to preserve the story had become the story. If the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition is to survive another generation, it will not be because of our hard work in preserving the story in museums, textbooks or information centers. The story will live on only if it is a living response to the call of Christ—a joy-filled response that includes our whole being.

The Mennonite church has been entrusted with a wonderful gift. If we are to be good stewards of what God has given us, then we need to be more intentional about embracing our tradition as a gift, anchoring that tradition in the good news of the gospel and extending that tradition to a world desperately hungry for good news.

John D. Roth teaches history at Goshen (Ind.) College and is a member of Berkey Avenue Mennonite Church in Goshen.

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