by Greg Law
Editors’ Note: Greg Law, a delegate from Frederick (PA) Mennonite, attended the first two September delegate preparation meetings, at the Mosaic office in Lansdale and at Philadelphia Praise Center. The following are some of his reflections and observations.
Some of my observations during the two recent delegate preparation meetings I participated in, included:
- There are some within our Conference are just beginning to realize the continued growth of Mosaic since 2020, including outside of the United States.
- There is some confusion on what the proposal affirmed by the Board about partnership with Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) means for Mosaic Conference congregations in terms of the daily impact, since MC USA seems to be changing their view on the possibility of collaboration and partnership. For the more established white congregations there doesn’t appear to be much impact, but for some of the newer and immigrant congregations, there may be a loss in some grant money.
- A realization that if we are no longer part of MC USA, we can freely partner and collaborate with any group we choose.
Some of my takeaways from these two sessions included:
- It was good to hear from representatives of the Pathways Steering Team, their honesty about the struggles in their discussions, and how seriously they took their tasks. They did an incredible amount of work in a very short time and represented many viewpoints from across the conference well.
- It’s easy to forget how diverse Mosaic conference is when you live in the historical footprint of the former Franconia and Eastern District Conferences. And it is surprising how quickly conferences went from being geographical to being theological/ideological.
- In attending the session at Philadelphia Praise Center, I realized that people connecting via Zoom from California had to participate beginning at 4 p.m. Working across time zones can be challenging.
My lingering questions and reflections after these sessions include:
- What is the importance of Mennonite World Conference to Mosaic conference? I want to understand that more.
- We will still have some of the same issues to deal with even if we leave MC USA. This will just remove one layer of administration. Separating from MC USA does not remove the tension around other topics being debated within conference congregations and leadership.
- A lot of the delegate participants see this as a chance for a clean start, without having to fit into a mold that increasingly appears to not work for us. It would be uncharted. But with God’s guidance and dedication from the member congregations and Conference-Related Ministries, we could forge something truly wonderful to spread the Good News of Jesus’ saving grace to our broken and beautiful world.
Greg Law
Greg grew up in the Franconia, PA area and currently lives in Western Montgomery County near Schwenksville. He has been part of the Frederick (PA) Mennonite church since 1993 and serves as a songleader and elder.
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.