Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) Executive Board (EB) voted unanimously (10 yes, 0 no, 0 abstaining) today at its virtual spring meeting to send its proposed resolution to retire the denomination’s Membership Guidelines to the Delegate Assembly for final deliberation.

The proposed resolution says, “We retire the Membership Guidelines as the active polity in Mennonite Church USA,” while simultaneously calling the church to “commit to the difficult work of being church together amidst our differences working at Biblical justice and reconciliation where there is conflict.”

The proposed resolution received broad support from the Constituency Leaders Council, which advises the Executive Board, at its March 12-13 meeting. Their input was part of an eight-step process to gather feedback from across the denomination.

“We’ve worked at this a long time,” said Moderator Joy Sutter, addressing the EB. “Thank you for all of your diligent work, your thoughts and energy.”

The Delegate Assembly will deliberate this and other church statement resolutions at a future Delegate Assembly, date pending. According to the Guidelines for Developing Resolutions, final decisions on church statement resolutions are made by the Delegate Assembly.

The draft resolution will be shared on the MC USA website prior to the Delegate Assembly.

Mennonite Church USA is the largest Mennonite denomination in the United States with 16 conferences, approximately 530 congregations and 62,000 members. An Anabaptist Christian denomination, MC USA is part of Mennonite World Conference, a global faith family that includes churches in 58 countries. It has offices in Elkhart, Indiana and Newton, Kansas. mennoniteUSA.org

For more information

About the resolution process:

Guidelines for Developing Resolutions

Do you understand the MC USA resolution process? By Glen Guyton

About the Membership Guidelines:

Dispelling myths related to the Membership Guidelines of Mennonite Church USA By Glen Guyton