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Ervin R. Stutzman named Mennonite Church USA executive director

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by June Krehbiel, Interim Identity Director for Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership

Mennonite Church USA Executive Board named Ervin R. Stutzman of Harrisonburg, Va., the denomination’s next executive director at a special meeting held Aug. 25.

“Ervin is the right person for this time in our denominational history,” says Mennonite Church USA moderator and Executive Board member Ed Diller, Fort Thomas, Ky. “His experiences in the church and his commitment to the healing and hope vision of Mennonite Church USA will serve him well in this role.”

Stutzman is vice president and seminary dean as well as professor of church ministries at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg. He served on the Executive Board for Mennonite Church USA from 1999 to 2005 and as denominational moderator from 2001 to 2003.

He expects to begin as executive director in early 2010.

A search committee of 10 members from across the denomination unanimously recommended Stutzman during meetings held earlier this month.

“Ervin is an energetic, strong pastoral leader with exceptional organizational and administrative gifts. He is a good listener and focused collaborator,” says search committee chair David L. Sutter, South Bend, Ind. “I believe Ervin will lead with Christ at the center as together we consider and live into new directions in line with the dreams God has for Mennonite Church USA.”

Born in Iowa, Stutzman grew up in Kansas. He served on pastoral teams at Mennonite Christian Assembly in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mount Joy Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pa. He worked as associate director of home ministries at Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities. An ordained minister and bishop, he was moderator of Lancaster Mennonite Conference before beginning at EMU in 1998.

“I love Mennonite Church USA,” says Stutzman. “It’s an affirmation and a privilege to be asked to serve in this role. It’s also a sober responsibility. The Spirit-led search process gives me confidence that God is calling me to this role. By God’s grace, we as a Mennonite church can face the future with hope. We have a significant place in God’s mission in the world. As we collectively walk in the Spirit, we will experience God’s amazing power happening at all levels.”

Appointed in January, the search committee talked with and listened to the church, contacted and interviewed leaders and listened for the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

“We were very fortunate to have many gifted leaders to choose from,” says search committee member Patricia Shelly, Newton, Kan. “Ervin’s proven record of serving people and the church in a variety of capacities and his experience in key denominational roles set him apart. He is respected by many people.”

The search committee also sees the new executive director as an excellent communicator and trusted leader, according to member Juanita Nuñez, Ocoee, Fla. “Ervin will articulate the vision, mission and priorities of Mennonite Church USA well. He is committed to God and the church.”

Stutzman received his bachelor’s degree in Bible and Christian ministries at Cincinnati Christian University. He graduated with a master’s degree in communication arts from the University of Cincinnati, a master’s of arts in religion degree from Eastern Mennonite Seminary and a doctorate in rhetoric and communication from Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa.

Stutzman has authored several books. Among his recent Herald Press publications are “Emma: A Widow Among the Amish,” “Tobias of the Amish” and “Being God’s People: Embracing Christian Faith from a Mennonite Perspective.” His historical study on Mennonite peace rhetoric is expected to be published next year.

Stutzman will continue his work at EMU through December.

“Ervin has provided wise and innovative leadership to the seminary, enhancing the quality of its program and extending its reach,” Fred Kniss, Eastern Mennonite University provost, says. “While we at EMU certainly regret losing him as a colleague and administrator, we know that Mennonite Church USA will benefit from his skills and experience. We view his departure as a gift we make to the mission of the larger church.”

Stutzman and his wife, Bonita Lee Stutzman, attend Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg. They have three adult children—Emma, Daniel and Benjamin.

Stutzman replaces Jim Schrag, who announced his retirement last October. Schrag concluded his executive director position July 31 after 36 years of ministry, including 13 years of denominational leadership. Acting executive director Ron Byler has been appointed to lead the church body until Stutzman begins.

New MCC U.S. resources on cluster bombs available

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by Cathryn Clinton

A new documentary, From Harm to Hope: Standing with Cluster Bomb Survivors, and an accompanying study guide are the latest tools in the advocacy work of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) U.S. in banning the production and use of cluster bombs.

The large-scale use of cluster bombs began in 1964, and their impact continues long after wars end because the weapons often fail to explode on impact as designed. These small bombs, or “bombies” as they are sometimes called, continue to detonate around the world in fields and other places, shattering the lives of people who accidentally trigger them. MCC’s work with villagers in Laos in the 1970s helped bring this tragedy to the world’s attention.

The documentary tells the story of the movement to ban cluster bombs through the experiences of survivors such as Raed Mokaled of Lebanon and Phounsy Phasavaeng of Laos, as well as through the voices of activists and MCC partners and staff members who help cluster bomb survivors.

The study guide includes Bible studies and exercises to look at the spiritual and ethical issues related to cluster bomb use. Although there is a lesson for adults, several lessons were designed specifically for youth groups.

Emily Wise, 15, of Denver, Pa., who went to the Mennonite Church USA youth convention in July, attended a workshop about cluster bombs. She said, “I was surprised by how many bombs, millions even, were dropped and not detonated.”

Wise said she was deeply affected by the DVD, and has been thinking about what it could mean to work in peace-building and development. She will tell others to see it because, “so many innocent civilians are being hurt even 35 years later. The long-term effects of war are not very fair.”

This DVD and study guide, available in English and Spanish, are part of the MCC U.S. advocacy campaign that includes learning, writing and donating. MCC U.S. distributes copies of the DVD, From Harm to Hope, as well as another DVD called Bombies, photo exhibits and bulletin inserts to help people learn about the issue.

Donations will fund services to cluster bomb survivors in Laos and Lebanon and support advocacy efforts in the U.S. Donate online at mcc.org or mail your contribution to MCC, designated “cluster bomb advocacy.”

In addition, MCC U.S. has a cluster bomb postcard campaign and sample letters for writing to government officials, encouraging them to support U.S. legislation (S 416/HR 981) restricting cluster bomb use, and the international ban on cluster bomb production and use which has now been signed by 98 countries. The U.S. is not one of the signers.

Cathryn Clinton is a writer for Mennonite Central Committee

Mennonite Church USA follows up on Delegate Assembly healthcare resolution

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In response to calls in the U.S. Congress for healthcare reform, Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership staff took several steps in late July to follow up on the National Healthcare Policy: Next Step resolution passed by the Delegate Assembly, July 4.

A bulletin insert was sent to Mennonite Church USA congregations by peace advocate Susan Mark Landis asking members to contact their congressional representatives.

Landis said the churchwide resolution supports legislation that will extend access to healthcare to all Americans, particularly the poor and disadvantaged. The bulletin insert was accompanied by two congregational prayers that can be used by congregations who want to focus on the healthcare resolution.

Outgoing executive director Jim Schrag and his staff faxed letters to 20 senators and 100 representatives in states or districts with heavy concentrations of Mennonite Church USA members.

The letter included the healthcare resolution and cited the history of Mennonites involved in healthcare reform. It said that the basis for concern for healthcare access is rooted in scripture, the Mennonite Church USA Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective and the denominational vision for healing and hope.

Dr. Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, Robert L. Willett Family Professor of Law and Ethan Allen Faculty Fellow at the Washington and Lee University, and a member of Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Va., was the primary architect of the Delegate Assembly resolution.

The resolution builds on healthcare policy principles adopted by Mennonite Church USA delegates in 2005 and 2007.

Additional resources are available on the Mennonite Church USA Web site for congregational study and advocacy work on healthcare access issues.

Conference plans office relocation to further focus on mission and ministry

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Sheldon C. Good

Franconia Mennonite Conference plans to relocate its offices from Souderton to Harleysville to further follow through on the Conference’s Vision and Financial Plan.

“We are confident,” executive minister Noel Santiago said, “that this move will help us make the most of the properties we own in such a way to continue to release more dollars for ministry not only here locally, but regionally and globally.”

The conference will relocate to office space on Yoder Road in nearby Harleysville, adjacent to the Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania. The new office — most recently occupied by T.H. Properties — measures 3,200 square feet in usable space, a reduction of 5,800 square feet from the current location in the Souderton Center. The conference plans to sublet the second floor of the Yoder Road property.

Henry Rosenberger from the Plains congregation has been a key resource person serving alongside the conference property committee during the planned relocation. Rosenberger said it makes sense for the conference to relocate near MHEP and that having the two offices together provides “a wealth of resources,” which depict “the story of our local faith community.”

The move stems from a recommendation from the conference Vision and Financial Plan team to downsize office space. According to the “Real Estate Recommendations” from the plan team, the “office should relocate and downsize its square footage…”

Meanwhile conference-related ministry Care and Share Shoppes, which currently operates from the other end of the Souderton Center, has been growing by “leaps and bounds and is in need of more space,” Santiago said. Care and Share will occupy the vacated space, along with an additional section of retail area no longer needed by Berean Christian Stores (formerly Provident Bookstores).

Ultimately, the Franconia Conference Vision and Financial Plan team recommended the move “to solidify the financial base of the conference and focus the leadership of the conference on the leadership of ministry, rather than the management of property.”

“It’s a very good decision financially,” Rosenberger said, “and the new facility is properly sized for the conference.”

Santiago also believes the move from Souderton to Harleysville lines up with the plan team’s goal. “The spirit of [their] recommendation is retained in our move outside the center,” Santiago said.

MCC partner in Haiti reports to U.N. council

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by Alexis Erkert Depp

A Haitian partner organization of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH), presented a human rights report on June 17 to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

MCC workers have supported the work of RNDDH since 1998 by helping staff members gather and analyze information on human rights in Haiti’s prisons, police stations and judicial system. Pierre Espérance, director of RNDDH, used this data and analysis when he presented his report.

RNDDH was founded in 1982 while Jean-Claude Duvalier was dictator in Haiti and has a long history of monitoring human rights.

Haiti’s political freedoms have improved in recent years. After President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed in a coup and U.N. peacekeepers arrived in late 2004, the current president, Rene Preval, was democratically elected in 2006.

Relative stability has led to increased civil and political freedom, enabling national and international human rights organizations to expose corruption with impunity and to demand that the government honor the international human rights conventions to which it has agreed.

Even with these improvements, RNDDH states that “the general human rights situation remains a source of constant preoccupation,” as evidenced in Haiti’s senatorial elections in April 2009. They were marred by violence, and a number of the candidates were rumored to have been involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. Many Haitians had difficulty obtaining the identification cards necessary to register to vote.

In addition, the RNDDH presentation in Geneva addressed the weakness of state institutions, primarily Haiti’s prison and judicial systems. RNDDH found that 78 percent of Haitian prisoners have not been sentenced and are waiting in inhumane and degrading prison conditions. There are no rehabilitation centers in place for minors.

Haiti also is behind in guaranteeing many of the other rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to RNDDH, “hospitals and health centers function in systematic disorder… [and] the right to education is also not protected.”

Michel Forst, the U.N.’s independent expert on human rights in Haiti, also touched on these issues in a report to the council, stating the need to “guarantee to every citizen the full exercise of economic, social and cultural rights… [including] access to education for all, a health-care system, drinking water and sanitation services, adequate and decent housing, [and] employment income and training.”

RNDDH is optimistic that human rights can be fully respected in Haiti. The organization’s website states, “We also live in a world filled with seeds of hope and the unyielding belief in the sacredness of humanity.”

MCC’s Haiti representative, Kurt Hildebrand of Medford, Ore., who had worked with RNDDH, said, “MCC firmly believes that without justice there can be no peace. We’re honored to be able to partner with a Haitian organization that is working to defend the rights of all Haitians, regardless of their political or socioeconomic background.”

Alexis Erkert Depp is a Mennonite Central Committee worker in Haiti.

Mennonite Church USA pastors, youth leaders receive free copy of Jesus Matters book

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Thanks to contributions from generous donors, more than 1,000 copies of Jesus Matters: Good News for the 21st Century, a new book from Mennonite Publishing Network (MPN), have been given to pastors of Mennonite Church USA congregations.

About $10,000 was donated by a number of individuals to give away the book, which explores why Jesus still matters for young adults today.

The money was raised by the books co-editors, David Shenk and James Krabill.

“We just mentioned the idea to a few people, and the funds came in,” says Shenk. “It was a touching and humbling experience.”

About $1,000 of that amount was personally donated by Lancaster Mennonite Conference bishops.

“They dug into their own pockets to make it available to their pastors,” says Shenk.

The donated funds were also used to give copies to all members of the Mennonite World Conference Global Missions Council, as well as the Mennonite World Conference Executive Council. In addition to the donations, Mennonite Mission Network bought copies for 450 youth leaders at the Mennonite Church USA convention in Columbus, and Eastern Mennonite Missions bought 100 copies for missionaries and church planters.

The mailing to pastors was accompanied by a letter from Ron Byler, acting executive director of Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership.

Jesus Matters “is filled with important stuff for people who take Jesus seriously,” said Byler, adding that it “can be a valuable resource for small groups, Sunday school classes, youth and young adult groups, new believers’ classes, leadership training and more.”

Jesus Matters consists of 16 chapters on topics such as Jesus and creation, Jesus and the cross, Jesus and salvation, Jesus and mission, and Jesus and the future. Each chapter is a collaborative effort between authors such as Shenk, Krabill, Stanley Green, Michele Hershberger, Mark Thiessen Nation, Willard Swartley, Jack Suderman, April Yamasaki and others, along with young adults in Canada and the United States.

“There are gale force winds blowing in our culture that challenge our commitment to Christ,” says Shenk. “The goal of this book is to show that Jesus continues to be relevant and surprising good news today.”

Jesus Matters is available at your local Christian bookstore.

Mennonite Publishing Network is the publishing agency of Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada.

“Close to Home” pamphlets meeting needs across North America

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With almost 34,000 copies sold to 360 churches in Canada and the United States, the Mennonite Publishing Network (MPN) Close to Home pamphlets about dealing with personal issues and problems are proving their usefulness.

“It’s gratifying to see the response,” says editor Byron Rempel Burkholder. The series deals with personal problems that often remain hidden and undealt with — things like pornography, bullying, gambling, child abuse, debt, depression, drug abuse, eating disorders and other issues.

“It shows there is a need for information about issues that are hard to talk about,” he adds.

Pastors who are using the materials agree.

“We found them to be sensitively written, balanced, and a good starting place for seeking further help,” says Tim Reimer, pastor of Danforth Mennonite Church in Toronto. “Two or three of the titles seemed to vanish rather quickly.”

Terry Shue, pastor of Kidron (Ohio) Mennonite Church, says that in addition to using the pamphlets at the church, they are also given away at a booth operated by local pastors at the Ohio Mennonite Relief Sale.

“We found that they really touched what people were looking for,” Shue says. “Most all of them were taken by people who were in conversations with pastors at the booth.”

For Shue, the popularity of the pamphlets shows that people are more interested in a faith that connects with issues they are dealing with in their real lives. “The Close to Home series does a good job of bringing our theological perspective into the issues of modern life with a pastoral touch,” Shue says.

At First Mennonite Church, Edmonton, Alta., the pamphlets are used both as a ministry to members and “as a form of outreach to others who pass through our doors,” says pastor Donita Wiebe-Neufeld.

The pamphlets are “one way we try to acknowledge our brokenness and encourage healing,” she says, noting that the church plans to install racks in washrooms “so people can pick up pamphlets on sensitive topics without worry of being noticed.”

The church “especially wanted people to have access to resources on issues they might have difficulty speaking about, such as depression, abuse or addictions,” she says. “The pamphlets are coming from a theological perspective that feels right to us. This ministry is compassionate and encouraging and hopeful, and it’s good to see the Mennonite name on it.”

Penner to represent denomination on Peace Tax Fund board

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by June Krehbiel

Mennonite Church USA Executive Board has appointed Harold A. Penner of Akron, Pa., to represent the denomination on the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund board. Replacing Steve Ratzlaff, Penner will begin the three-year appointment next year.

New leadership on this board complements the Executive Board’s June 30 reaffirmation of the church’s long-held endorsement of the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill (H.R. 2085) in the U.S. Congress. Since 1972 the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund has advocated for the bill that would establish a fund in the Federal Treasury to receive taxes of conscientious objectors who do not want their tax dollars to fund war. To date, 50 national religious, peace and civil liberties organizations have formally endorsed the campaign.

“Mennonite Church USA’s role in advocating for this bill says that we believe God cares how our dollars are spent by the United States government,” denominational peace advocate Susan Mark Landis says. “As a denomination, we affirm H.A. Penner in this new role.”

A lifelong conscientious objector with a career as a church administrator, Penner, a native of Beatrice, Neb., believes that “the way we spend our money is how we vote on what exists in the world.” For many years Penner has urged the U.S. Congress to pass the Peace Tax Bill. He objects on religious grounds to the payment of that portion of his federal income taxes that supports war making and militarism.

“I look forward to serving on this board and invite all to join the movement of conscience that is turning the world toward nonviolence as its method of dealing with conflict,” Penner says.

For information and to write letters to support the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill, click here or contact Penner here.