MWR : Drop ‘Mennonite’ or stand up for it?

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Dec. 1, 2008 issue

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Tags: Perspective Congregational ministry

Drop ‘Mennonite’ or stand up for it?

By Myron Augsburger

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What would be missing in the Christian church if the Mennonites didn’t exist?

One should ask this as some are dropping the name “Mennonite.”

Some are dropping it in a quest to move from an ethnic enclave into a more elite group.

Others are dropping it because they identify only with the present and would cut themselves off from history.

Others are dropping it because they are embarrassed to be identified with a group that has been so nonconformed to the world.

Others are dropping it because they are not committed to the principle of peace and nonviolence that has meant rejecting the military.

Others think they can have a clearer message if they substitute the word Grace or Covenant or Community.

Well, we might drop it, unless we have the guts to live as a believers church again, a people known to be disciples of Christ, who walk with him, who share his transforming grace.

Perhaps we would have better been called Baptists or Baptizers, but others got that name. Even so, that name focuses more on the rite of baptism than on the new creature, reconciled in Christ as a new community in the world.

Or we might choose another name that ignores a long, meaningful, prophetic and costly history.

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Comments

I met Myron and like him,I and my family in Australia stand up for and witness as Mennonite Believers. Here in our town.we are recognized as an Church that reaches out to the local community. We have done so for the last 35 years. We are proud to be a Mennonite voice Down Under.

- fOPPE BROUWER (dec 3 at 6:28 a.m.)
I am a bit baffled by the article that my friend and professor Myron writes. I am baffled because the church plant he and Esther started, Washington Community Fellowship did not include "Mennonite" in it's name. What did Washington Community Fellowship lose by not having Mennonite in it's name? What would have it gained or lost by naming it Washington Mennonite Fellowship or something similiar.

I believe very deeply that we as a Mennonite Church have much to offer our community and world. Dropping "mennonite" from the congregational name does not mean we are ashamed or want to water down who we are or that we are not committed to what it means to follow Christ daily in life or nix our peace position. I think it does mean that something new must happen in the denomination. We are "graying" and "diminishing in numbers" according to Conrad Kanagy's findings. If people in our communities will not pass through our doors even if we invite them as friends because of perceptions that we are a clan or sect or a group to hard to break into, we must try something different. I believe that we can be a "community" church and still preach and teach the gospel message in a Mennonite perspective. We plan on trying it as we relocate in the next 3 years to a new location.

- Rocky Miller (dec 3 at 11:31 p.m.)
I appreciated Myron's thoughtful article. Rocky Miller has a very good response.

As I have had the privilege to interact with Myron during the past 3 years in the same congregation and to have him lead our Sunday School class discussion for 6 Sundays so far with more coming, I have been impressed with his living out the gist of the article.

I have heard him say that we should know the other person's position, their belief, and their religion so well that we can repeat it back to them accurately. That is a challenge, but one Myron models. I am still working on it.

I think Myron's focus is clear in his last 3 paragraphs.

I learned from Myron's brother Dave to say that I am not the person I was 25 years ago. Dave said he is not the same person he was when he wrote his previous books. If I were the same person as I was in the past, I would be stuck in my thinking and my growth. I do not want to be held to where I was in the past. I hope we can grant the same grace to others. I read Myron's article in line with where he is today in his thinking. He may be somewhere else in the future, but we best discuss where we are today.

- Carl L. Smeltzer (dec 6 at 10:39 a.m.)
Sorry, I meant to refer to Myron's last 5 pragraphs, not just the last 3.

- Carl L. Smeltzer (dec 6 at 10:43 a.m.)
I can see both sides of this discussion. A year ago if someone had asked me what I thought about joining a Mennonite church, I would have said something like, "you mean those people who dress funny and make homemade candy?"

I came to embrace the teachings of Christ and was lead to Anabaptism. Unfortunately we don't have a church any where close to where I live so I can't say if it would be beneficial to drop the name.

I can say there is a certain stereotype associated with the name.

- Eric Ragle (dec 21 at 11:36 a.m.)

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