Where faith and culture intersect
New Voices: By and about young adults
by Janet Trevino-ElizarrarazPrint Article Email to a Friend
One morning, when I had a rare moment alone, away from my three young boys—ages 4, 3 and 1—and my husband of seven years, I reflected on where my faith and ethnicity have intersected. I chose to be a Mennonite after having left a more fundamentalist-leaning church. Before that, I left the Roman Catholic Church.
I also considered how I’ve begun to fully embrace the biculturalism of being raised in a home that fostered both Mexican and American values. I thought about the geographical crossroads where my faith has arrived now that we have chosen San Antonio, Texas, as our home. We fellowship and serve in two different Mennonite communities: San Antonio Mennonite Church and Iglesia Menonita Comunidad de Vida.
I pictured those in my mind who embody what I've come to understand as historical, Germanic Mennonites with all their traditions and peculiarities. At the same time it was easy for me to compare this group with the community of people I’ve longed to connect with—people like me, who hold these characteristics: second-generation Mexican-American immigrant, converted Mennonite Christian, passionate, purpose-driven, lover of Jesus, beautiful Latino/as.
I shed tears of mourning. Feelings of loneliness and confusion overtook me as I considered how different I am—how I’m outside those who are born into the cultural Mennonite profile and who behave according to the cultural Mennonite norm. I feared that in some ways the church I’ve chosen and grown to love for its beliefs and discipleship will never quite understand me or speak to me as a whole person.
I thought about how my initial longing was just to fit in, but my ethnicity speaks up and tells me I don’t really want to fit in or, in other words, become any less of who God has made me to be. I want to belong without apologizing for who I am.
I felt haunted by wondering if I will ever have shared ownership of or shared responsibility within my faith community. I felt gripped with grief. How do I define myself as a Mennonite when I don’t perceive that I belong? Who has the authority to extend the identity of Mennonite to “outsiders”? Is this a decision I get to make, or does someone give it to me once I’ve jumped through the right hoops?
Historian Philip Hammond categorizes Mennonites as an "ethnic religion" whereby "ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification, but the reverse is rare."
What I’m asking for from Germanic Mennonites is rare; I’m asking them to present a living faith divorced from their ethnicity so that people like me can find a home with them, and this faith can to speak to my culture as well.
Gilberto Flores, currently serving as associate conference minister of Western District Conference, wrote earlier this decade about the weakness and strength of sharing our Good News to all people of all cultures. It is a "weakness because it is made vulnerable by each encounter with a new reality, and a strength because it is enriched with each response to a new culture."
I can imagine the trepidation of those who hold on dearly to the Mennonite ethnicity for the sense of security, predictability and purposefulness that it has brought to their lives. Yet I can see an increased insecurity arise within them as they perceive their beloved faith becoming vulnerable as it encounters new realities among Latinos.
What does it mean, and what would it look like for the larger Mennonite reality to be predominately minority and/or Latino? I invite Germanic Mennonites to broaden the depth of trust that they have in the power of the gospel and that its message of peace and service will not be lost among us "foreigners" who have embraced this message.
At the same time, my hope is that this gospel is strengthened because it has touched our lives and has transformed itself in greater ways into a relevant, living word that ripples throughout our community and to others, making evident the kingdom of God on this earth.
My vision of our mutual embrace of Jesus and our walk together calms my confusion and gives me hope that we will all have one faith to call our own.
Janet Trevino-Elizarraraz is a member of San Antonio Mennonite Church.
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I am a traditional ethnic Mennonite, with both German and Russian stories to tell of my ancestors. While still an associate member of my home church in Kansas, we've attended churches outside the denomination in the Dallas area for nearly 20 years. While I can play the "Mennonite game," I'm always amazed how exclusionary the conversation feels to me. My husband can play the game in the Quaker church, but physically looks like a lost and lonely person in Mennonite gathering. Had I stayed in Kansas, I'm not sure I would recognize the barriers in the church. I've even sat in a conference, where the topic was how to be more missional and invite others into our fellowship, and then ate a meal where all were talking about the OH, IN, MI geneology web-site to track down Mennonite ancestors. I wanted to scream, "Did you not hear? Were you not listening?" It is so obvious, from the outside looking in. We're so imbred, I believe it will take time for the church to truly listen; to learn through repetition of transparent sharing, like yours. Please don't give up on us ethnic Mennonites, as you (a diverse church) is our future.
thank you annette for your comments. i appreciate hearing your realization of this struggle as an "insider" and your hope for the church to find ways to listen. i in no way plan on giving up since i've found this challenge kind of exciting... to be apart of something big like this, to see the church move into a direction that maybe few had envisioned is thrilling for me and i want to be part of God's work in reforming God's church... so, germanic mennos, even when it gets hard and you'd rather give up, dont give up on us as well. there are a few of us (maybe many) that would like to see "our" church become a place of restoration and connection - a place where our anabaptist faith can speak to each of our cultures uniquely yet hold on to the same principles. bless you all & thank you for reading my article.