Reflecting on Our Red, Yellow, Green: How Our Discerning Looks on Paper 

by Stephen Kriss

Out of a desire for a voting process that includes more discernment, Mosaic Mennonite Conference has moved to a three-fold green, yellow, red pattern for our gathered delegate sessions. The colors allow a more nuanced response and at times have made our voting process seemingly more complicated. We are still learning what it means to be community together and to allow space for the Spirit while working within our legal realities.  

At Assembly on November 2, the primary discernment that required a response was to move forward in receiving the recommendation of the Pathway Steering Team on affiliation with Mennonite Church USA (MC USA). The recommendation toward partnership advocates for a different kind of relationship with MC USA, one that is currently undefined. In the meantime, MC USA has also embarked on its own re-imagination process. 

At the November Mosaic Board meeting following Assembly, we tallied all the yellow, green, and red responses on the wall in the meeting room, so that we could see the spread of how congregations and Conference Related Ministries (CRMs) voted. With a vote of roughly 1/3 in each category of red, yellow, and green votes, there were some identifiable trends. 

Red votes were dominated by historic Franconia Conference congregations. They likely came from two different perspectives on our relationship with MC USA. Some of our congregations would like further distance, and others would like the status quo in relating to MC USA. About 1/3 of the red votes were abstentions, some of which were people who left the gathering before voting. There are some outliers in this category but if we’re looking at an overall message, we can make these broad considerations. Many of the red votes had elements of defining this discernment primarily around how queer-identifying persons are engaged in the life of the church. 

Green votes were at least half from congregations that are urban and/or BIPOC majority along with a strong representation of former Eastern District and Southeast Conference congregations. For many of these congregations, the relationship with Mosaic Conference has emerged as substantive and sustaining. Many of the green votes likely saw their concerns represented in the work of the Pathways Steering Team along with the leadership of the board. Their comments represented a willingness to trust the leadership’s discernment and to move forward with partnership. These votes may or may not be deeply shaped regarding issues on queer inclusion. 

The yellow votes were more of a mix of who we are as Mosaic. Their concerns included a need for more clarity about partnership and some comments about what a redefined relationship with MC USA might mean for queer-identifying persons. Some yellow voters have long-term relationships with other Mennonite communities or institutions and don’t want to lose those connections.  

Some congregations voted as a block. Some congregations had votes spread across three categories. CRMs showed up in all of the categories. Some comments included a lament of possible lost relationships in a changed status with MC USA. Others questioned the value of membership in Mosaic Conference based on the outcome of the process.   

In the table group feedback, there was an underscoring of the value of ongoing communication between Mosaic Conference leadership and congregations. Over the next year as we figure out what partnership with MC USA might mean, we have work not only with the denomination but also in listening deeply to the life of our congregations, ministries, and leaders. 

I am committed to this work together and to listening as best as we can to the diversity of perspectives that make up our Mosaic realities. To navigate these challenges together, we will need the Spirit’s wisdom and wildness. To quote one of our leaders who shared reflections with me after Assembly, “The Spirit is up to something; I want to be part of it.”   

The Spirit usually brings a mix of life and chaos. After Assembly, I was reminded how being Mosaic together is both holy and at times with some confusion (Acts 2 reminds us how the first time the Spirit descended, it was both of these). I also notice that for some of us there is a sense of loss, and for others, a sense of being found, seen, and heard. 

My hope is that the red, yellow, and green process is just one of the ways we recognize the diversity of our experiences and perspectives. And that we find many ways to listen and to honor our diversity, centered in the reconciling love of Jesus. To be Mosaic requires us all to bring open postures toward creative and life-giving chaos and how the Spirit is still descending among us in a broken and beautiful world.