Reflecting on the “Road Signs” and considering a demise: Moving forward in confidence and hope

James M. Lapp, Preaching Pastor, Salford Mennonite Church

After nearly 10 years, Growing Leaders will discontinue in favor of other venues for communication. Having been part of the decision to initiate this quarterly resource, I now support alternative efforts to assist leaders in their growth. The real challenge centers not in the medium, but in how leaders will stay spiritually and theologically differentiated amidst an information glut, confusing expectations about effectiveness and competing voices about the nature of the church and its mission.

As we navigate the future, the research compiled by Conrad Kanagy provides an interesting and helpful mirror of our current church. The book describes sobering cautions as well as a signs of hope, both of which we’ll do well to hear. The underlying thesis of the research seems to be that the church itself can be a sign to the surrounding world. This heavy investment in gathering data suggests that the character of the church is somehow important to its mission.

I don’t dispute this assumption, but I do perceive danger in deducing from the Kanagy data that if we simply do better in certain ways that the Mennonite church can avoid further decline and be more effective in our mission. I am impressed with Kanagy’s statement that “the growing presence of Racial/Ethnic members in Mennonite Church USA is one of the greatest signs of the movement of God’s Spirit among Mennonites today.” In simply pushing out the current trajectory of Mennonite Church USA in more positive ways might we blind ourselves to “the edges” (people on the margins) from where, Linford Stutzman suggests in his article, our spiritual renewal will come? What might it mean when renewal from the edges includes people with Anabaptist beliefs and values from outside of MC USA?

In reflecting on all this, I find three kinds of hope that feed my spirit these days. Certainly one source of hope arises from a certain spiritual ferment among us, of which the Kanagy research is a part. Looking candidly at ourselves as Mennonites provides the first step toward spiritual renewal among us. To not reflect on these questions, and to fail to ask what all this data means, would be at our own peril. But I believe this data calls for more than doing better what we have always done. It calls for a shift in perspective. Will we allow this “ferment” to reshape the life of our churches?

That brings me to a second basis for hope. I am encouraged that the historic faith and practice that nourished our forbears, and many of us as well, is now being discovered and embodied in churches of all stripes and denominational labels. That our parents and others kept this faith alive for hundreds of years, and that voices like John Howard Yoder, Ron Sider and Doris Janzen Longacre (More With Less Cookbook) disseminated these beliefs and values convincingly to the broader Christian world, represents a powerful stewardship of the Gospel, in spite of all of our shortcomings. For this we can take heart. Might these “new” Anabaptists who embrace our faith and values become a source of renewal to our historic denomination?

I have one more cause for hope—the vitality of the newer leaders among us. The voices of young men and women who demonstrate the capacity to think theologically around a clear spiritual center offers a bright ray of hope to the church and the mission of Christ. I doubt that I represented that kind of hope 47 years ago when I began to pastor, but I see it so clearly in this new generation. To encounter young leaders, not only deeply committed, but also with the “mind” of Christ and the ability to honestly and insightfully sort out the big questions of our day in light of scripture and the tradition of faith we have received is very encouraging. For me this bodes well for the church of the future.

That brings me back to the demise of Growing Leaders. Currently working with a young pastoral intern exposes me to a new generation’s approach to learning and processing information. I readily concede change is needed. Both technology and the “green revolution” are introducing significant changes in how we lead. So it is not a disappointment to see Growing Leaders come to an end. The bigger challenge is how we will support a new generation of leaders in keeping the focus in such a volatile environment.

The institutions of the church (conferences, schools, publications, boards/agencies) and older leaders carry the burden of keeping our spiritual identity clear for future generations of leaders, while trusting newer leaders to shape and carry out that identity in the emerging cultural context. That remains a dynamic process in which generations need to link hands in clarifying and refining our identity of faith for our future mission. Being in God’s sovereign hands, we can move forward in confidence and hope.