Dear Mennonite Church USA,
I’m writing to share an update with you about the ongoing conversation between Mosaic Mennonite Conference and the MC USA Executive Board.
Over the past several years, Executive Board leaders and staff have spent significant time engaging with Mosaic leaders, in honor of our longstanding relationships and our appreciation of the many gifts that Mosaic congregations bring to the broader MC USA community. We have tried to listen deeply to Mosaic’s concerns and frustrations, recognizing that “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Cor. 12:26).
Through these conversations, we’ve recognized several areas of agreement as well as ongoing challenges.
Mosaic’s leadership has found that “the natural path of relationships does not always follow the boundaries of traditional church structures” (Pathway Steering Team, “A Proposal for Affiliation”). Mosaic has expressed a desire to see MC USA evaluate our shared structures and consider how we might experience transformation that empowers ongoing participation in the mission of God.
The Executive Board has recognized a need to think through MC USA’s structures and is developing a Structural Task Force to facilitate the process. MC USA’s structure is established by delegates, so this process will seek to involve every part of the church. We believe Mosaic may have insights that could benefit the whole of MC USA, so we welcome their participation as a member conference. We also know that mutual transformation often takes time — particularly in large, complex organizations — so we ask for Mosaic’s patience, too.
Mosaic, along with at least one other area conference, is also asking questions about global partnerships. In a highly networked, relationally dense world, does it make sense for a church or denomination to define itself by national borders? What happens when area conferences seek to welcome member congregations or extend credentials in other countries? To help MC USA think through these dynamics more deeply (and to pay particular attention to the history of colonialism and the complexity of global power dynamics), the Executive Board is convening a conversation on global partnerships as part of the next Constituency Leaders Council meeting. We want to listen carefully to leaders from the global church, missiologists, and people with experience in fostering partnerships of true mutuality.
We have also heard that the processes surrounding the Special Session of the Delegate Assembly (May 2022) were difficult or painful for some parts of Mosaic, including BIPOC and majority-immigrant congregations. We have invited conversation to better understand this experience and hear directly from those most affected, but Mosaic leaders have so far been unresponsive to that invitation, which remains open.
Most recently, the Executive Board determined that Mosaic’s proposal to become a program entity of MC USA — while still functioning as a conference of congregations — is not viable. Along with that determination, we requested a mediated conversation between the Mosaic Board and the MC USA Executive Board to allow us to hear one another better.
We are saddened to learn that Mosaic’s Board is, as of now, unwilling to participate in such a conversation.
Mosaic leaders’ response to our request was shared with MC USA leaders as many of us were joining with siblings from around the world for Mennonite World Conference’s General Council and celebration of 500 years of Anabaptism in Zürich, Switzerland.
This made it particularly poignant to read the words of César García, General Secretary of Mennonite World Council, in his welcome letter:
“Too many times, our understanding of purity in our Anabaptist tradition has pushed us to fragment because we think to be holy or to be pure, we need to separate from those we deem are not.”
It was somewhat painful to see tangible demonstrations of renewed unity between Anabaptists and Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed traditions while knowing we may be on the precipice of yet more fragmentation within our own community.
As García writes, “Our history of divisions requires real reconciliation.”
The Executive Board of MC USA agrees. We believe that reconciliation, not separation, is the most faithful path forward. While we know that this path could be difficult, we invite Mosaic Conference to walk in it as part of MC USA.
Jon Carlson
Moderator
Mennonite Church USA