April 2, 2012 issue
As churches grow, Canadian MBs seek unity, identity
By Tim Huber Mennonite World Review“We know that the key to us working as a unified body is our national and provincial relationships,” Reimer said. “We also know that this cannot be a national initiative that is passed down. Anything hierarchical won’t work.”
The process is already happening, and relationships are strengthening.
“The Ontario convention was [in February], and the Manitoba moderator came with me, which has never happened before, so we’re trying to create these partnerships,” Reimer said.
Structure and relationships will also be central to CCMBC’s biennial convention in July in Winnipeg, Man., but change won’t happen simply for the sake of change.
“The danger is putting up the new trellis and hoping the vine goes up it,” Loewen said. “Right now we’re focusing on growing the vine and looking at various trellises.”
Comments
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Where the Mennonite Brethren Church is today is a by-product of events that happened yesterday. Your numbers are astounding, and those numbers are a reflection that are echoing even now from the walls of Mennonite oppression in Europe, World War II, and the progress you have made over the years for your beliefs and endurance.
Some of your problems have arisen because leaders failed to keep pace with one another. Some leaders have opted to rely on local initiatives for leading the church bypassing the need for greater consultation to be found in the conference level. There needs to be a system of checks and balances to correct misjudgments, oversights, and other things within a congregation, and that system would be at the conference level. Conferences would then be accountable to the greater Mennonite Brethren Church.
You have new leadership with new visions and aspirations which is good and at the same time not so good!
It is good to review organizational structures. Mochar’s report offered nine recommendations to align the denomination to a common set of goals and strategies for sharing Christ with others, including: (I only saw 3 recommendations in the article). Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission executive secretary Andrew Dyck said developing a national vision is difficult in Canada’s fragmented society. Don’t overplay your fragmented society as your membership may be smarter than you give them credit for being.
The new leadership wants to jump ship and invent the wheel all over again because they want to control the destiny of the “Church” in the name of constituents who know very little of the Mennonite name, what it is, what is has done, and what it is doing! What is not mentioned in the article is about changing the name of the MB Church, however, that is what I am getting out of the article. It seems as though some of your current leadership is advocating a change in the name, ie, probably removing “Mennonite” to something more eye appealing at the moment and to give credence to themselves and their viewpoints. Some may think that Mennonites are out of step with prevailing moods of the time!
In essence the identity “Mennonite” should remain in place to continue defining the denomination and what it stands for as people recognize the Mennonites for their stance on peace and their daily living for Christ with transformed lives. Individual churches should also maintain Mennonite in their name instead of something more appealing.
The virus “to change” will infect and eventually destroy the Mennonites as we know them. Already it is eating like cancer upon Mennonites in the United States!
Go with what you have, improve upon it, and let the at large membership decide issues without being coerced.
Bill Moreland
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