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St. Louis, MO
Membership rules divide delegates


The merger of North America’s three largest Mennonite groups hit a roadblock with the issue of homosexuality and church membership at a joint convention July 23-27 in St. Louis, Mo.

Meeting under the theme “Come to the River,” delegates to the convention of the Mennonite Church, General Conference Mennonite Church and Conference of Mennonites in Canada voted in separate sessions on proposed membership guidelines for the new integrated Mennonite Church.

A motion to approve membership guidelines for the US part of the merged church failed July 27 when 55 per cent of Mennonite Church delegates voted against it. This sets the stage for two more years of debate on the issue of whether congregations granting membership to practising homosexuals can be part of the new Mennonite Church. Seventy-nine per cent of the US GC delegates voted for a substitute motion to approve the guidelines now, but with only 45 per cent MC support, the motion failed to get the two-thirds majority of each group.

However, US delegates gave church leaders approval to move ahead with other steps toward merging the three denominations.

Meanwhile, Canadian delegates voted 95 per cent in support of the proposed membership guidelines.

It was feared that the rift over the membership issue would prevent integration from occurring at all. The guidelines would allow all current MC and GC congregations into the new US church. Each area conference could decide itself whether to discipline a congregation that deviates from conference policy. Some delegates felt the guidelines gave the conferences too much power while others balked at granting congregational freedom that might appear to condone immorality.

The convention was the first joint meeting of the three denominations. The Mennonite Church and General Conference Mennonite Church also met jointly in 1983, 1989 and 1995.

One denomination, two countries

Delegates also agreed to form one denomination, named Mennonite Church, with two new country structures – called Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA. The actual formation of the two structures will not occur until legal requirements are met.

In essence, a de facto US body was created, but the General Conference Mennonite Church and Mennonite Church will continue, minus the Canadians, until incorporation is complete at the next US assembly.

Mennonite Church Canada will meet in 2000 while Mennonite Church USA meets in 2001. The next joint meeting of the two bodies will be in 2003 in Winnipeg.

The July 24 vote to establish the two integrated church bodies required a two-thirds majority from each of the three delegate bodies. The results showed a 95.1 per cent yes vote from CMC delegates, 88.4 per cent from GC delegates and 83.1 per cent from MC delegates.

There was much debate over the one-denomination-two-country model. Those who objected to two separate church bodies saw a possible weakening of ties between Mennonites in Canada and in the US and expressed concern about letting national borders define the church.

Supporters of the proposal said that it establishes a relationship of equality and partnership across the 49th parallel. They also said the proposal opens the way for partnership with other country-based Mennonite churches around the world.

What’s in a name?

In the end, delegates favoured the name Mennonite Church USA over Mennonite Church U.S. (with periods between letters) for its international recognition. In response to the US delegates’ action, Ron Sawatsky, CMC moderator, jokingly suggested that to create a parallel name perhaps the Canadian body should be known as “Mennonite Church Canada Eh.”

The two groups each elected a new governing board at their assemblies. Delegates also affirmed guidelines for developing partnerships for joint work between the US and Canadian church bodies.

Mennonite Church Canada has 37,000 members while Mennonite Church USA has 124,000 members.

In contrast to the Mennonite Church one-denomination-two-country model, this summer at the General MB Conference convention in Wichita, Kan., delegates voted 76 per cent in favour of dismantling its binational structure for North America (See MBH, Aug. 6) because it was felt that this would free the national conferences to manage their own ministries.

A variety of activities

Besides business sessions, the St. Louis 99 convention included a variety of activities. More than 6,000 youth and adults took part in service projects in St. Louis. Despite temperatures exceeding 100 degrees F, they volunteered in neighbourhood redevelopment, youth organizations, homeless advocacy and job training, and assisted living for the elderly, retirement communities, soup kitchens and family support.

Other conventions

Mennonite youth and sponsors held their own, simultaneous convention, which had 6,306 registered. Of those, 4,722 were youth, 1,318 were sponsors and 265 were staff. About 3,000 youth also participated in a forum on anti-racism.

Total registration for adults was 2,584. Also registered were 410 children. A separate junior high convention, with 396 registrants, was held at the Southern Illinois University campus in Edwardsville. The junior high youth collected and put together almost 200 kits for refugees in Kosovo, to be distributed by Mennonite Central Committee. About 400 people between the ages of 18 and 30 were registered for the young adult Mennonite convention.

Besides daily worship services and Bible studies, convention-goers attended over 100 seminars, plays, concerts, reunions and a centennial celebration of Mennonite overseas mission work, which began in India (See Celebration).

New this year was the Faith Family Day held on Sunday so that families, which were separated by the various events during the convention, could come together for a time of relaxation and fun. The day started with a worship service attended by more than 7,300 people. After that, families were free to participate at the various activities scattered throughout the city.

Lee Snyder, president of Bluffton (Ohio) College, was acclaimed as new moderator for Mennonite Church USA, and Ron Sawatsky, Waterloo, Ont., will continue as moderator of Mennonite Church Canada.

From reports by Canadian Mennonite, The Mennonite and Mennonite Weekly Review.

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Last modified September 28, 1999.

© 1999 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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