Mennonite Weekly Review

I am pleased to note that a new proposal is being made regarding educational standards and expectations for those to be ordained in Mennonite Church USA.

Esau

The Mennonite churches of North America have been fairly loose with regard to expectations for pastors. We have developed guidelines regarding procedures leading to ordination. But we have said little regarding educational standards and faith commitments.

The new proposal would identify common standards of core competencies across the denomination. Each MC USA conference would administer these standards, so there could still be flexibility to meet conference needs.

Let’s face it and name it: We have allowed people into positions of pastoral leadership who held and taught values that undermined Mennonite and Anabaptist faith. They have led congregations first toward the edge of Mennonite loyalty, and then they have taken the final steps of withdrawal and disaffiliation. That has not served the church well.

Following The Mennonite Polity for Ministerial Leadership, the current proposal supports the preference for a seminary-based master of divinity degree as the desirable academic program in preparation for ministry. But it also recognizes that in some cases other tracks of education and preparation may also enable a candidate to meet the core competencies expected of all.

What are these core competencies? The proposal suggests six. Those who are ordained for Christian ministry in MC USA will:

• Be deeply and firmly grounded in the biblical story and text.

• Understand and embody core Anabaptist principles.

• Give evidence of a spirituality that is continually being shaped by the everlasting love of God the Father, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

• Have a healthy sense of self and a capacity to enter into and maintain healthy relationships with others.