... If they're young and college-educated, anyway. The Chicago Tribune has a pretty good piece on the political leanings of Goshen College students, which mainly focuses on increasing Mennonite willingness to participate in politics at all, but also addresses Goshenites' preference for Barack Obama.

I think there's an actual trend here. In the last primaries in states with historical Mennonite population centers, Indiana and Pennsylvania, Obama lost everywhere but big cities -- and the Mennonite-heavy counties. Seriously. Check out the county-by-county results for Indiana, and Pennsylvania - both Elkhart County, Indiana (home to Goshen College) and good ol' Lancaster County are in the Obama column.

Labels: church, politics, young adults

Colorado Christian University has apparently fired a teacher for undermining the school's commitment to capitalism. The title quote is from the university's president, although he does concede that "a belief in free enterprise is not linked to salvation."

Apparently CCU adheres to the Gospel of Supply-Side Jesus.

Labels: church, politics

Over on Franconia Mennonite Conference's website, my old friend Steve Kriss has just posted his thoughts about San Jose 2007 and the future of the Mennonite Church in the US. He comes across as a lot less positive than I felt about things, but I'd say he makes a good case for it. His chief worries are (1) US Mennonites are, on the whole, aging; (2) MCUSA isn't doing enough to tap into the diverse communities of immigrants and others who are drawn to Anabaptism; and (3)
young adult leadership is still not being adequately cultivated for the next generation.

Labels: church, San Jose 2007

San Jose 2007 is over. We had a rousing closing worship service last night, and I slept in this morning, then met Dave Landis for a final sushi lunch before he headed off to the airport. My flight back to Portland (where I'll reconnect with my car to drive home) is tomorrow morning, so I have some space now to decompress and think about the week.

I really want to try and take what I've seen and heard here at convention and put it to use once I get home, and things I'd like to suggest to folks back at Landisville, too. Here's a handful:

Need a quilt? A quilt made at San Jose out of fabrics from around the world is being auctioned off on eBay right now. Proceeds will benefit the capitol campaign at First Mennonite Church of San Francisco, which will be used to purchase the building occupied by the San Francisco Mennonite Voluntary Service unit. First Mennonite holds this MVS unit as such a central priority for their mission that they're working to buy the MVS house before they buy themselves a permanent meeting space. Bidding closes at 3:00 pm on Monday, 9 June; it's currently up to $2760.

God's love has no borders. Especially after watching the documentary Fuerza, I'm convinced that one of the best ways Mennonites can put peace into practice right now is to work for just immigration policy, and reach out to immigrants already here, regardless of their legal status.

An easy first step is to write to Congress; one of the most saddening things I've heard on this subject is that Senators and Representatives report receiving 300 hateful, anti-immigrant letters for every one letter calling for justice and mercy. The House and Senate websites have the necessary contact information. Resources for letter writing are at the MCUSA and MCC websites. If you've written before, write again.

Over the longer term, welcoming immigrants takes work. One of my table-mates at the Delegate Assembly was a pastor at a congregation with both Anglo and Hispanic members, and he told us that it's taken - and still takes - lots of thinking about the specific details of bilingual worship and deliberate inclusion to bring the two groups together. One way to start the process, which I'm going to try in this next year, is to learn Spanish.

Health care access. Expect to hear soon from the Executive Board about the health care access initiative we approved this week. The program development process is going to ultimately hinge on individual congregations' input and support.

Young adult involvement. As the statement I posted earlier probably makes more than clear, there's a lot going on here. What may be equally obvious is that it's not necessarily well defined where things are going. Are we looking at the eventual development of a Young Adult Caucus or similar sub-group at conference or within the Delegate Assembly? Will we just continue focusing on intentionally reaching out to young adults and involving them in leadership processes? I have to say, I've personally felt very supported by Landisville, and I've deeply appreciated the chance to act as a delegate this week. Again, the BikeMovement documentary will be coming in September - have a look and join the conversation.

Labels: church, San Jose 2007, service

And it actually ended a bit ahead of schedule. Delegate Assembly, that is. I haven't got time for a in-depth wrap-up (maybe tomorrow), but here are the critical results: the Health Care Access resolution passed with 93% support; a resolution asking the Executive Board to develop a process for deliberate thought about MCUSA's relationship to the United States identity as a superpower and a nation passed with 85% support. The statement I posted earlier was received very positively.

Labels: church, San Jose 2007

In the afternoon session today, Roxy Allen and I are going to co-present a statement on behalf of young adults in the Mennonite Church. It grows out of a lot of conversation, most visibly through last year's BikeMovement events, but also at gatherings here at San Jose and at Charlotte back in 2005, and at a variety of other formal and informal venues. I was privileged to help develop the statement as a synthesis of all that conversation, but it's only one resource available if you're interested in what MCUSA's young adults are thinking and doing. In September, BikeMovement will be sending every MCUSA member congregation a DVD documentary of their experiences along with a study guide, and the project is also chronicled in an issue of the Mennonite Mission Network series Missio Dei. Without further ado, here's the statement:

Young adults have been called the future of the church. We come before you today to say that the future has already begun.

We come from varied walks of life. Some of us went to Mennonite colleges, some of us did not. Some of us are connected to our home congregations, and others are finding it hard to connect to any congregation. We have built relationships that transcend geography. We are using the new medium of the Internet – including sites like the Young Anabaptist Radicals blog and the Anabaptist Network on Facebook – as forums for conversation, debate, and community. We are seekers in our faith and full of complex questions.

We have experienced a shift in the way the church listens for our voices. We have been offered space to converse with the church community. A clear example of this is the number of Young Adult delegates sitting on the floor today. As one young delegate said, “As soon as I open my mouth, the attention of the table is on what I have to say.” Space has been given here at San Jose for conversations with Executive Leadership. BikeMovement created opportunity for conversations with congregations and with conference leadership. Our request for space for our voices has been heard, and we thank you for hearing us.

Many of you have been participants in these conversations and have heard for yourself our questions and comments. The nature of our diversity does not lend itself to a unified voice. Many of the young adults participating in these conversations come from the context of a middle class, white, and Mennonite college-educated perspective. We lament the fact that it has been difficult to represent the true diversity of young people within the Mennonite church. In light of this acknowledgment, these are some of the themes we have heard:

1. We are thankful for the leadership we have been given and want more ways to get involved in the church, both in local congregations and at broader organizational levels.
2. We are grateful for the opportunities we have had to learn from the global Anabaptist movement and desire to share these experiences and relationships with those who have not had this privilege.
3. Social justice and a visible, active witness for peace are integral to our faith.
4. We desire the church community to be a place where we can grapple with complex questions, realities, and issues without preconceived outcomes.
5. We desire an attitude of openness and hospitality across age, race, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status.
6. We struggle with the tension between opportunities that take us outside our local congregations and our desire for continued connection and relationship with the church.
7. We seek community that deliberately includes those on the margins of the traditional Mennonite culture.
8. We want a church that practices its beliefs with consistency and integrity.

In response to our conversations, we challenge you, our delegates and your representative congregations, to:

• Continue to walk with us and mentor us as we work through questions that may be uncomfortable for you. They are often uncomfortable for us. Let's learn together.


• Continue to encourage us to take leadership roles; many of us yearn to be involved, but lack the courage to call ourselves forward. Help us recognize and utilize our God-given gifts and talents.

Let us use our skills and perspectives to help the church call our peers into fellowship.

In the listening that we have done, we acknowledge that young adults do not have a unified vision for the future of the church; this is a testament to the current state of the church. We sense that the Mennonite Church currently does not have a shared theological vision as many individuals, congregations, conferences, and organizations have varied definitions our shared Mennonite identity.

So we leave with you these questions: How do we live, worship, and continue to cultivate this community of believers in the midst of, or even in spite of, these differences? What shared practices will keep us in relationship with each other as we walk forward as a complex and ever-changing church community?

Labels: church, San Jose 2007, young adults

Things are getting busy in the Delegate Assembly as the end of the week looms. Yesterday afternoon we were joined for part of the session by some of the youth, who had been learning about the Assembly and now had a chance to see it in action and give us some feedback. It seemed like a really good way to intentionally bring youth into the decision-making process - I wish I could've done something like that when I went to youth conventions!

The Assembly worked on two major issues since I last blogged:

Anti-racism. We received a report on MCUSA's priority to be an anti-racist organization, and discussed ways that congregations could connect across racial/ethnic lines, and how the Executive Board could support that. Between this discussion and the documentary Fuerza, which I saw last evening, I've come away with a really strong sense that we need to be deliberate about reaching out beyond the historically white European Mennonite circle. I think I may have to make an effort to start learning Spanish, and I want to try and be creative about how I do that.

Health care access.We revisited the discussion of the health care access initiative, and things felt more positive this time. In open discussion, the Assembly asked the Executive Board for a lot of specifics: eligibility, cost, the necessary level of congregational participation across the church. But we also started to talk about ways that we can communicate the need for this action back home, and I think most delegates are going to return from San Jose with as advocates for the project. It also seems likely that the Executive Board is going to put some real effort into developing educational material to help explain the scope of the health care crisis, the importance of action as a church, and the cost of doing nothing.

After a little more talk about health care in this morning's session, we handed in our ballots - I think the resolution is likely to pass, authorizing the Executive Board to begin exploring the options.

Labels: church, health care, San Jose 2007

This morning's Delegate Assembly introduced the "statement for discussion" that was added to the agenda just before the conference. The statement was originally submitted as a resolution for the Assembly to vote on, but the leadership decided that an outright vote would be too divisive. This is perhaps obvious given the key passage:

Therefore, we call upon the leaders of Mennonite Church USA to discourage, and member conferences to end, the practice of disciplining or expelling congregations based on differing interpretations of the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective.

The question is, essentially, should area conferences have the ability to expel whole congregations when their members act or teach a stance that opposes the broader conference's understanding of the COF?

We opened the discussion with presentations for and against the statement, then had discussion at our tables. The argument for the resolution essentially was that (1) the COF was never intended as a prescriptive, binding creed, but as a description of shared Mennonite faith, (2) that disciplining whole congregations at the conference level (rather than individuals at the congregational level) creates "collateral damage", effectively disciplining people for going to church in a particular group, and (3) that expelling congregations at variance with the COF cuts off dialog, and is inconsistent with MCUSA's principles of Agreeing and Disagreeing in Love [PDF]. The argument against held that (1) it is entirely appropriate to use the COF as a guide to our shared Mennonite identity, and (2) that the power to expel congregations is both necessary to maintain that identity and duly granted to area conferences by MCUSA's bylaws [PDF].

Our table discussion failed to come to any conclusion (as might be expected), but the sense of the table I got is that we were torn between the need to somehow maintain Mennonite identity by disciplining around our shared beliefs, and our discomfort at the inherent ugliness and un-peacefulness of congregational expulsion. Broader-level discussion at an open-microphone time that followed showed that this was a pretty widespread tension.

Personally, I think the statement is a good thing, and should be considered for real action. My feeling, which I expressed in the table discussion, is that expulsion is a kind of weapon, and, like all weapons, people want to hang onto it primarily out of fear and distrust. And when I think about situations in which I might want a congregation to be expelled, I sense that my thinking is colored by fear. Letting go of weapons takes courage, in this case the courage to say, "I disagree with you, but the differences between our beliefs are not a threat to my faith." I think that ending the practice of expelling congregations would be a deeply courageous demonstration of peaceful living within the church.

Labels: church, San Jose 2007

A report about that Mennonite Church USA member survey that I mentioned earlier is conveniently available through MCUSA online news. Have a look for yourselves, and see what you think.

Labels: church, San Jose 2007

After a challenging day in the Delegate Assembly, I have to admit I wasn't sure I was up to joining tonight's joint youth-adult worship session. Big crowds sounded stressful, and (although I know their value to others) instrumental praise songs aren't my cup of tea. I came all the same because I wanted to connect to Landisville's youth group while I'm here, and it was awfully nice to sit down at worship with a little bit of my home community. Then I heard that the speaker for the night was a Pentacostal preacher and amateur magician, and I started to regret coming.

Boy, was I wrong. Paul Alexander (bio on the San Jose 2007 site; scroll down to Wednesday evening to find him) gave a profoundly powerful testimony about his rediscovery of Pentacostalism's roots as a peace church with the help of none other than John Howard Yoder and the MCC. In a message perfectly tuned for 4 July, he reminded us just how radical it is to defy the culture of nationalism in favor of allegiance to God's Kingdom. It was truly spiritually refreshing.

Labels: church, San Jose 2007

Today the Delegate Assembly met only once, during the morning, to leave time for delegates to pursue service projects and take part in the seminars. We used the time to start discussion of the big business issue for the convention: health care access for Mennonite church pastors and staff. In addition to affirming work done on the subject since the Charlotte 2005 convetion, the specific action in question resolves that

• That, as a denomination, we are committed to providing basic health insurance for all eligible pastors, and
• That we request the Executive Board to oversee the development and implementation of a plan whereby all congregations of Mennonite Church USA participate together in an arrangement that covers all of our pastors with basic health insurance

(This is from page 92 of the Delegate Assembly Workbook.) The resolution seems easy to support to me, as it doesn't commit to a specific set of policies (possibilities are discussed in the supporting material), and, more importantly, because it seems to me that, if the church is going to advocate for health care reform at the national level, we should model what we preach. In the presentation of the resolution, the assembly heard from a pastor who was forced to send his wife to Costa Rica, their country of origin, for medical care because he could better afford the plane ticket than the cost of care in the United States. While that story was embarrassing to me as an American, it was more shameful that my own church was unable to help in this situation.

In spite of this, the support for the resolution among the delegates seems mixed. The possible program models discussed will require the entire church to commit to providing health care for pastors. This could happen by developing a plan that every congregation would join without concern for getting the best market-available rate and benefits, to spread risk and cost as broadly as possible. This could also happen by developing a system in which congregations could choose to join the denominational plan or opt out, but would contribute to subsidize memberships for lower-income and smaller congregations. Either way, churches like Landisville, with lots of members and potentially their own ideas about what they want to do for their pastor's health needs, would have to sacrifice to help churches that presently don't have many options.

In open discussion (after discussion at our tables), most delegates expressed support for the broad principle that we should be willing, as a church, to sacrifice in these ways for the greater good. But many also questioned whether the commitment could be made. And that was frankly disheartening. If we, the church, don't have the will to come together for mutual aid, what hope is there for society at large? I pray we can work beyond this as the discussion continues.

Labels: church, health care, San Jose 2007

For a break from all the text, go to my flickr collection to see photos from the first day of San Jose 2007.

Labels: church, photo, San Jose 2007

The delegate session this afternoon was much longer than the previous two - from 1330 to past 1700. But we did (or at least talked about) a lot. Here're the highlights:

Member Profile 2006. Conrad Kanagy presented key points from his 2006 demographic and opinion survey of Mennonites across the country. I'm not sure I feel good about the results, which seemed to show that the church is both shrinking and losing its commitment to its historic peace position. Apparently, more than a fifth of Mennonites say they would choose some form of military service if drafted, almost a quarter think that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was a good decision - and 14 percent of our households own handguns!

Apart from my personal objections to all these positions, I think this assimilation of Mennonite views into the American mainstream may exacerbate the problem of shrinking membership. If we lose our uniqueness, what good news do we have to bring to people that they can't get at the megachurch down the street?

There is one bright spot, though: as a group, people from non-European backgrounds are expanding their presence in the church, and nonwhite congregations are growing faster and show more commitment to outreach. Whatever else our future will be, it's going to be more diverse.

Christian Churches Together. We also discussed a proposal (to be voted on later in the week) to join Christian Churches Together, an ecumenical organization that spans the historic branches of the Church. It seems like a good group, and, based on my table's responses, it looks like we'll vote to join.

Apology to Native Americans. The Assembly unanimously passed a resolution in support of a U.S. Government apology to Native Americans for centuries of persecution, neglect, and mistreatment in the course of European settlement of the present-day United States. In the materials delegates received in connection with our resolution was a suggestion that everyone write their congressmen and senators to ask them to support the apology bill (designated S.J.RES.4 in the Senate, and H.J.RES.3 in the House), as a first step towards reconciliation.

Sustainability. Anita Amstutz and Luke Gascho presented some principles of environmentalism in an Anabaptist context for our discussion. This felt a little vague to me; it's certainly important to articulate a commitment to sustainability as a church, but I think it may be far more important to be thinking about specific policies we can implement towards those goals. (Just off the top of my head, MMA could begin promoting green design and architecture when it helps finance church building projects.) As it was, we didn't even vote on a resolution!

More tomorrow!

Labels: church, San Jose 2007

After this morning's session, it looks like the Delegate Assembly of San Jose 2007 is well underway. Yesterday when I arrived at the first session, I was assigned a to a table with nine other delegates from all over the country and the church. For most discussion in the Assembly, it seems that we'll talk together as tables first, and then bring conclusions from that to the larger group. It feels like a good system; the small group dynamic is friendly and informal, and our table leader/moderator keeps things on topic and moving.

Yesterday evening's session was pure introduction; talking about the vision of MCUSA and the purpose of the Delegate Assembly, and about the roles of the various ministries of MCUSA. This morning's session focused on the practice of "Agreeing and Disagreeing in Love," which will inform just about every discussion we have as an Assembly.

The table had some good, and occasionally challenging, thoughts about conflict and the ways in which we Mennonites can practice peace among ourselves as we preach it to the world. We particularly focused on how our congregations and larger organizations deal with individuals and groups within the church who practice or preach differently, and on the interactions between discipline and discipling. It's a good lead-in to the statement for discussion that's on the agenda for later in the week, which addresses the practice of breaking fellowship with congregations who are considered to be at variance with the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective. Looks like it could be an interesting week.

Labels: church, San Jose 2007

Well, I've finally gone through my Delegate Assembly Workbook for San Jose 2007. There's a lot of words in there. What's kind of surprising is how little of the text is given over to new business. Here's the breakdown by page number:

• 1-9: Front matter, including "Welcome from Jim Schrag" and Table of Contents
• 10-75: References, including information on Delegate Assembly procedures and philosophy, the MCUSA bylaws, financial reports, and an update on MCUSA's "Vision and Priorities"
• 78-106: Action and discussion items
• 116-138: Profiles of MCUSA area conferences
• 140-164: Profiles of MCUSA ministries and organizations
• 168-174: Profiles of MCUSA-affiliated schools
• 176-180: Profiles of MCUSA "constituency groups," like Mennonite Women USA and the African American Mennonite Association
• 182-189: Profiles of MCUSA boards, committees, councils, and ministry teams
• 192-204: Profiles of "other Mennonite groups" like Mennonite Camping Association, the Mennonite Central Committee, and the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund

If my math is right, that's 29 pages of business sandwiched between 66 pages of references and 89 pages of organizational profiles. Does this mean we're not doing that much business at the Delegate Assembly, or does it mean that most of the business will be generated by the delegates - resolutions submitted to the Resolution Committee once the Assembly is underway?

Either way, I can see some significant omissions in the action/discussion items. In the workbook's list there are four items of business: nominations for various positions in MCUSA administration and ministries, a review of the denomination six years after its formation from the merger of the Old Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, a resolution voicing commitment to provide health care access to pastors serving all member congregations, and a decision on joining the ecumenical group Christian Churches Together. Those are all important points of action, but they don't add up to a very ambitious agenda. If I were to suggest priorities for the Delegate Assembly (and maybe I get to, being a delegate), I'd say there are two major points on which we could productively make public statements: the War on Terror, and poverty at both the global and domestic scale.

The War on Terror. As a historic peace church, MCUSA should obviously have something to say about the ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan; but I think we could productively speak to a broader issue. I'd suggest a resolution calling for (1) the treatment of terrorism as an issue for law enforcement (police) rather than the military, (2) adherence to the U.S. Constitution and international treaties in the pursuit, capture, and detention of suspected terrorists, and (3) ultimately solving the problem of terrorism by addressing underlying societal forces that create it, particularly poverty.

Poverty at home and abroad. San Jose 2007 attendees will be participating in a wide array of service projects while they're in town, but I think that, in keeping with Christ's mandate to care for "the least of these brothers of mine", we should renew our commitment to serve the poor in our nation and around the world, and maybe even suggest particular public policy decisions. For instance, domestic poverty might be addressed by improved access to health care for all Americans, and by an increase in the minimum wage. In reference to international poverty, we could call for an increase in U.S. foreign aid, which remains embarrassingly low.

These are just ideas off the top of my head. Maybe people are already working on similar (or better) resolutions ... I feel kind of out of the loop just now.

Labels: church, San Jose 2007

Next Wednesday I leave for Portland, where I'll meet up with Dave at the airport - and we hit the road the next morning! And I guess I'm ready.

Saturday I drove up to the REIoutlet in Spokane and bought myself a rear rack and some panniers, the last equipment I needed to buy for the trip. Tomorrow I've an appointment at the local bike shop for a final pre-tour tuneup and inspection. And I'm keeping up with my training commitment, riding at least 100 miles a week. Over this weekend, I'll have a go at one last long ride of 50 miles or more. And I'll have to start thinking about packing.

Labels: biking, church, San Jose 2007, summer, travel

Today, on the road to San Jose 2007, I saw a moose. And a yellow-headed blackbird. And a peregrine falcon. And two great blue herons. I only got a photo of the moose.

I'll be biking into San Jose (where I'll be serving as a congregational delegate representing Landisville) with Dave Landis, and I need training. So I spent much of today cycling on the Trail of the Coeur D'Alenes, a rails-to-trails route that runs almost across the Idaho panhandle, from Plummer to Mullan. It was hot today, but it was a beautiful ride, with lots of scenery and wildlife to take my mind off my aching legs.

Total, I rode about 47 miles; the goal was to make it from Plummer to Smelterville, which is a bit over 51 miles, but I had a spectacular blowout just before the Enaville trailhead (conveniently), and had to call my ride to come get me there, instead. I'd been warned I needed new tires pretty soon; looks like I'm getting them tomorrow.

I'm also starting on non-athletic preparations for the conference; Saturday's mail included my copy of the Delegate Assembly Workbook. Right inside the front cover is a copy of a last-minute addition - a nonbinding statement asking that Mennonite Church USA take action to "end the practice of disciplining or expelling congregations based on differing interpretations of the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective. It's for "discussion only," as an attached note from the Executive Board says, but this is still a striking statement. Mennonite history could be cynically characterized as a long list of splitting events - could we come around to the idea that we should remain in communion with people who hold opposing views?

Labels: biking, church, San Jose 2007, summer, travel

Biking the Oregon Coast with Dave Landis, that's what. We'll aim to get to San Jose in time for the 2007 Mennonite Church USA conference (though I have not decided whether to attend yet). I'm really excited. Presently the only thing I need to work on is my bike - do I take it as is, upgrade it to a more typical road/touring configuration, or try to buy a more suitable one used?

Labels: biking, church, San Jose 2007, summer, travel

The NY Times interviews Katherine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to head the Episcopal Church, whose first career was in academic science. Pity more Christian denominations aren't headed by ex-scientists.

Labels: church, politics, science

Famous Mennonites lists famous people with, well, at least connections of some sort to the Mennonite faith tradition. Reading this, you might get the impression that people are Mennonite if at least one parent is Mennonite, kinda like being Jewish - but there are still some cool connections I hadn't heard about before.

Oh, and I did already know about Matt Groening.

Labels: church

Not according to the pastor of one megachurch, anyway: Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock - New York Times

Labels: church, politics

As if last week wasn't enough out-of-Moscow time for awhile, I drove down to Boise yesterday to catch bikemovement on their way through Idaho. Hyde Park Mennonite Fellowship provided the group with dinner, showers, space to spend the night, and a place to hold a really good discussion with local church members about the meaning and importance of church and the future direction of our denomination. It was great to meet up with my old friends in the bikemovement group and to make som new ones as well - I really think the project can make an important impact as they cross the country.

Labels: church, travel