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2009-06-16 issue:

First delegate assembly of 2009 focuses on interchurch relations

60 young adults comprise the 850-member body.

by Everett J. Thomas

Print Article

Mennonite Church USA’s first delegate session of 2009 opened on July 1 with an ovation for the 60 young adults who are part of the 850-member body. Moderator Sharon Waltner then led the group through the approval of several special rules for this assembly and approval of the agenda for the week.














Brethren in Christ moderator Warren Hoffman addresses delegate assembly. Photo by Everett J. Thomas.

The major focus of the morning session was inter-church relations, with representatives introduced from six denominations: Mennonite Church Canada, Conservative Mennonite Conference, Brethren in Christ (BIC), Church of the Brethren, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), Church of God (Cleveland), and a representative from Christian Churches Together.

“You among all of us [Anabaptists] have critical mass,” BIC moderator Warren Hoffman told the assembly. “Whatever it is we do together, [Mennonite Church USA] will be the ballast that holds us steady in community.”

The ELCA representative, Michael Trice, began on a lighter note. After asking how many delegates had family members who are Lutheran, he said, “You will know them by the kind of beer they drink.”

But Trice quickly turned to the troubled history of our two traditions and noted that in 2006 the ELCA addressed their forebears’ persecution and martyrdom of the Anabaptists during the Reformation.

“No church should use the state to impose its practices on another,” said the Lutheran statement. Trice also noted that a document being prepared for the 2010 Lutheran World Federation asks Anabaptists for forgiveness.

The delegate’s afternoon session was devoted almost exclusively to the Executive Board’s work. This included a joint financial report for the EB’s Church Resources Committee; it showed nine agencies and entities within Mennonite Church USA—all except Mennonite Men—had net losses in assets for their most recently concluded fiscal years. In response to
a delegate question, moderator-elect Ed Diller said that no agencies or entities, including the Executive Board, are in dire financial straits.

“All agencies are making great progress in right-sizing their operations,” Diller said.

Moderator Waltner then spent about 20 minutes reviewing the work of the Executive Board over the last 10 years and elaborated on the board’s efforts during the last biennium to consolidate the current denominational structure. Referring to the EB’s June 2008 proposal to create one-board for the denomination, Waltner said that although the proposal is now on hold, the initiative created some significant new alignments within the denominational structure.

“I’m not sure it would have happened without the [one-board] proposal,” Waltner said.

During open-mic time, table representatives responded to the Executive Board’s report. Most affirmed the Executive Board’s attempts to both listen and lead.

“We need a balance in [Executive Board] leadership between taking initiative and listening,” said Peter Epp, delegate from Portland, Ore.

The afternoon session also included a report from the committee leading the search process for a new executive director for Mennonite Church USA.

Dick Thomas, a member of the search committee and nominee for moderator-elect, said that 85 people were nominated or applied for the job.

“It would have been nice to have a name to share with you here” said committee chair David Sutter, “but we have said it is more important to find the right person than to meet a calendar schedule.”

Sutter said the committee is now in conversation with “a smaller number of people,” but they are still accepting applications and nominations.

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