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Mennonite Church USA Executive Board explores regional facility plan. Columbus, Ohio, to be site for 2009 convention. Mountain States Mennonite Conference reports to Executive Board.

Mennonite Church USA Executive Board explores regional facility plan

Executive Board member Patty Shelly summarized the lengthy discussions on the facility by saying she observed the board was saying “Yes, but not yet.” Mennonite Church USA moderator Roy Williams said the board wanted more time to collect and evaluate information before making a decision at a future board meeting.

The proposed plan calls for raising $6 million for a new facility – including land, construction and furnishings – plus an additional $2.8 million for an endowment that would fund the facility’s maintenance. Mennonite Mission Network, which would hold the title for the building, also plans to raise pledges from prospective major donors of $2 million for each of the three years for its annual fund.

After an in-depth review of the plan, the Executive Board said it needs more time and wants assurance that adequate ongoing funding will be available for Executive Leadership ministries. The board also requested additional feedback from constituency groups – including area conferences and Racial/Ethnic group leaders.

In addition, the Executive Board called for more research about alternative financial models and more thought about how the proposed building could help Mennonite Church USA reach its missional priorities of holistic witness, anti-racism, leadership development and global connections.

Executive Board chair and moderator-elect Sharon Waltner acknowledged the board hadn’t yet spent enough time grappling with the implications of this project. “There is consensus for this project to eventually move forward, but board members are at different stages of decision-making,” she said.

Williams said the board expects to hear a report on the feedback from across Mennonite Church USA at its next meeting, which will be Sept. 21 through 24 in San José, Calif.

As the Executive Board explores the potential for a new regional denominational facility, it also is in the process of initiating a churchwide review focusing on how the denomination is functioning on all levels. Mennonite Church USA formation documents call for a systems-wide review after six years, and the Executive Board asked staff to develop preliminary plans for this review and have them ready for its September meeting.

In his report to the board, executive director for Mennonite Church USA Jim Schrag noted the Executive Leadership budget has lost 25 percent of its purchasing power in its first four years of existence as a result of inflation and a decreased income. That means the cumulative decrease of Executive Leadership’s bottom line is more significant than the decrease from one fiscal year to another.

“This is not tolerable for the long-term. People must understand that the mortar as well as the bricks is important,” Schrag said referring to Executive Leadership as the “mortar” that allows the “bricks,” or the rest of Mennonite Church USA, to collaborate with each other.

Also coinciding with the systems-wide review of Mennonite Church USA, the CLC has appointed a task force to clarify the role of area conferences, Executive Leadership and its agencies. The task force plans to bring recommendations for increasing structural, relational and financial alignment, as well as increasing the effectiveness of communication and collaboration efforts, throughout the churchwide system.

The board affirmed the CLC task force report and noted the synergy with its own work.

In other action, the board:

• Met with representatives of Mountain States Mennonite Conference, which hosted the meeting and is the newest of Mennonite Church USA’s 21 area conferences, in an effort to build relationships between the two groups.
• Affirmed Columbus, Ohio, as the location of the 2009 churchwide convention.
• Affirmed a delegation visit to the Congo next February as part of its commitment to developing church-to-church relationships with two conferences of churches there.
• Recognized Ted Stuckey, director of administration for Executive Leadership, who is retiring in August after 30 years of service with the former General Conference Mennonite Church and Mennonite Church USA.
• Met with the board of the Mennonite Education Agency to talk about their common concern to strengthen the life, witness and identity of Mennonite Church USA through education.
• Received a report in response to a resolution at its last meeting about denominational funding. Goals include increasing generosity churchwide, nurturing a healthy churchwide financial system and increasing the financial viability of Executive Leadership ministries.
• Reviewed its covenant with Mennonite Health Services Alliance and its member healthcare agencies and heard of MHS Alliance efforts to deepen the church relatedness of these agencies.

Columbus, Ohio, to be site for 2009 convention

Columbus 2009 will come two years after the next churchwide convention, San José 2007, which will be July 2 through 7, 2007, in San José, Calif. Associate executive director for Mennonite Church USA Ron Byler said staff were looking for a site where most Mennonites could drive in, after having to fly to California for the 2007 convention and Delegate Assembly.

In a letter of support, Columbus (Ohio) Mennonite Church pastor Steve Goering said his congregation was looking forward to hosting the assembly and working with planners so that “the assembly can be God-bearing and a blessing to our denomination.”

Churchwide conventions occur once every two years and include a meeting of the Delegate Assembly, which is the governing body that conducts the business of Mennonite Church USA and includes representatives from across the denomination. The youth convention, the largest part of the gathering, draws about 5,000 youth from across the United States. Events also are planned for children, junior high youth and young adults.

Byler said leaders from Ohio and Central District conferences, including area congregations, will be asked to participate in planning the 2009 convention as they are able.

For more information on San José 2007, visit www.sanjose2007.org

Mountain States Mennonite Conference reports to Executive Board

Mountain States Mennonite Conference is the newest of Mennonite Church USA’s 21 area conferences and includes 22 congregations in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas that previously were associated with Western District and the former Rocky Mountain conferences.

Mountain States Mennonite Conference met at its first area conference gathering June 23 through 25 at Glorieta Retreat Center in Glorieta, N.M., near Santa Fe, N.M. At the gathering, the conference adopted its bylaws and called and ordained Herm Weaver as its conference minister. Weaver will begin this ministry position Aug. 1.

“We want to make our churches a welcoming and enriching place for all people,” said conference moderator Barry Bartel who will soon become the president of Bethel College (North Newton, Kan.). Incoming moderator, Vern Rempel said the overarching priority was to become a multi-ethnic missional conference that develops and nurtures Anabaptist churches in the Rocky Mountain region.

Conference leaders wanted to start something new but admitted they didn’t always feel like they knew where they were headed. The new conference is formed around maintaining relational accountability among congregations and supporting the ministries individuals and congregations feel God has called them to.

“There isn’t anything like the joy you feel when you come out on the other side of risk,” Rempel said.

Conference leaders said they were gratified to hear the affirmation for their new conference from delegates at Charlotte 2005. “That’s the kind of affirmation I wish every conference could feel,” Bartel said.