The tide turns

Editorial

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A rising tide lifts all boats. In this case, the tide is God’s Spirit moving under Mennonite Church USA. Just as one cannot literally see the tide move up the shoreline, neither is it possible to see changes immediately. But by looking away for a while and then back, the change becomes clear.

Over the past months, an accumulation of evidence points to Mennonite Church USA gathering momentum. The following developments illustrate the good news:

• Lancaster Mennonite Conference bishops recommended to their congregations that their conference become a permanent member of Mennonite Church USA. South Central Mennonite Conference leaders did the same, and now New York conference follows suit.

• A powerful group of organizations—with the new name MHS Alliance—want to connect with Mennonite Church USA for primary accountability. This alliance, with nearly $900 million in operating budgets and 1,500 employees, sees strength emerging in Mennonite Church USA and is determined to align itself with our denomination.

• Funding for denominational programs and agencies has begun to stabilize; most ended their recent fiscal years with more money than expected after reducing their budgets.

• The Constituency Leaders Council—which functions as a rough parallel in Mennonite Church USA to the council of elders in Acts 15 that led the New Testament church—has finally worked through the big and potentially divisive issues around church membership. At their last meeting, this group of key leaders was able to step back and examine the important rather than the urgent.

• The identity of the new denomination is making significant headway. From a dead start three years ago, a recent survey showed that already one-quarter of the members in Mennonite Church USA  understand that this denomination’s identity will be different from the identities of its predecessor denominations. In ecumenical circles, leaders from other denominations are amazed at how quickly Mennonites are coming to see that the church’s responsibility is to respond to ways God is already at work in the world.

These markers show the tide rising for the fledgling Mennonite Church USA, and leaders across the church deserve credit for being faithful to God’s calling in this new chapter of our ecclesiastical history. However, there remain some significant challenges ahead for these same leaders:

• Too many area conferences are struggling for their own viability and identity. All the energy spent creating this new denomination came at a cost to some area conferences that now are struggling to adjust their budgets—and identities—as the denominational field of gravity increases.

• The new realities of this denomination come at significant cost to individuals who worked faithfully for years in the predecessor denominations and agencies. Layoffs in Newton, Kan., and Elkhart, Ind., terminated the jobs of dozens of church agency employees. Most dramatic now is a decision by Mennonite Publishing Network to create a plan for vacating the Scottdale, Pa., facility in the next five years.

• The relationship of our new denomination to Mennonite Church Canada is confusing. At St. Louis 1999, leaders in both countries spoke of “one denomination; two-country structures.” But leaders may have allowed that phrase to remain on the lips of delegates to placate those grieving the loss of their sisters and brothers in the other country. We now need leaders in both denominations to provide new language for the relationship (here).

God has been good to us during the 27 months since the official beginning of Mennonite Church USA. The decision to create two national denominations out of two binational denominations was the right thing to do. But some of the changes caused by that decision have been painful, and it may have felt like the church was running aground at times. Nevertheless and through it all, God’s Spirit buoyed us: Our new denomination is now being lifted by God’s providence and graciousness. This rising tide floats our boat.—ejt

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