Reporting back from some event or experience can be a tricky task. Have you watched someone else’s vacation video? Have you listened to a young person returning from an experience overseas and tried, but failed to capture their enthusiasm for yourself? The fact is that most of us are so involved with what is current around us that we have to muster extra patience to listen to someone else’s experiences.

I am writing on this view of reality about us and our congregations, to encourage you, nevertheless to report back from your experiences at our churchwide convention and Delegate Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, June 30 to July 5. The report could be from your MYF attendees. I would start there. It could come from a delegate you sent. That is important, too. What did the experience mean to you? What place does that two-year gathering have in the life of Mennonite Church USA? What did you bring back that is helpful to your congregation?

Reporting back is not just a reflection on the past. It is a springboard for the future. Where are we going as a church? Or better yet, where is God leading us? Are we willing to follow the direction set by the Holy Spirit? Did Jesus command that the whole world is to go to church, or did he say that the church is to go into the whole world? In other words, is the future about us and our church, or is it about Jesus’ missional call to penetrate the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the aim of the salvation of all creation?

Please report on our churchwide convention with passion, insight and truthful reality. We are a growing church—in our knowledge, our passion, our focus on our call to penetrate our neighborhoods, communities, nations and the far reaches of the globe with God’s Good News.

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