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2007-10-16 issue:

Executive Board sets goals for biennium

‘Now is the time to act,’ Executive Director Jim Schrag says to new board.

by Gordon Houser

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Meeting Sept. 26-28 in Newton, Kan., the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board (EB) agreed “joyfully” to accept “its leadership responsibility as the visible center of the church and its role to encourage the vitality of all parts of the church and measure their effectiveness.”



Visible center of the church: Executive Board members pray for Mennonite Church USA moderator Sharon Waltner (center), who wears a prayer shawl. Photo by Paul Schrag.

In his “state of the church” report, Executive Director Jim Schrag said that “if we are not more integrating we will default to be more disintegrating.” He called for looking at how decisions affect congregations. One goal, he said, is that by Columbus 2009, all entities of Mennonite Church USA beyond congregations “work together as one.”

This working together toward integrating things, he said, needs “one overarching system of churchwide communication, funding appeals that simplify things for givers, one source of focused leadership for the call to be missional and denominational ministry from Executive Leadership (EL) staff that assists frontline leaders—conference ministers and pastors.”

He called upon the board to evaluate our organizations from the viewpoint of congregations and to use the Church Member Profile as a road map. While there is a continuity with previous EBs, he said, this biennium is crucial. “Now is the time to act.”

The EB took him seriously. The 17 members present (out of 18), including seven new ones, divided into three groups and met in three separate sessions to set priorities, consider what kind of leadership EL can provide and what resources and commitments EL needs.
As a result, the EB decided that its “key work … in this biennium is to

• lead the church in prayer and discernment so that we can follow our missional calling to invite others to follow Jesus, nurture congregations of many cultures, call and train leaders and partner with the broader body of Christ around the world;

• help the church claim its vision and identity as a contrast community consistent in word and deed;

• integrate and streamline churchwide structures to help all parts of the church work together to strengthen the ministry of congregations so that God’s healing and hope flow through us to the world.”

The board discussed two items presented to delegates at San José in July: an open letter to congregations from a churchwide delegation to Israel/Palestine and a resolution on national identity.

The EB refrained from endorsing the letter but agreed to “commend to congregations for study the noted resources and to consider the actions recommended in the open letter.”

The resolution on national identity called “for resources that help us live faithfully in Christlike ways, sometimes at odds with our national culture.” After noting the tension of wanting to engage the resolution and respond to it in a timely manner, the EB agreed to hear from the Constituency Leaders Council, then develop a plan and appoint a task force to work with the board in responding to the resolution.

The board met with pastors and conference leaders from Western District and South Central conferences and with students from Hesston and Bethel colleges. The conference leaders noted that it is increasingly difficult to serve congregations with fewer financial resources.

College students expressed concern that they had not learned the full measure of God’s story in their congregations and asked how the church is planning to train and equip future church leaders.

In other areas, the EB

• approved in principle a budget of $2.1 million for EL ministries for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2009;

• reviewed plans for a joint meeting with Mennonite Church Canada in Winnipeg, July 8-10, 2008, on “At the Crossroads: Promise and Peril (Deuteronomy 4:1-9)”;

• heard that a preliminary financial report for the San José 2007 assembly anticipates a loss of about $175,000;

• reaffirmed its commitment to the building project for a new Mennonite offices building adjacent to the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary campus in Elkhart, Ind.

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