Mennonite Weekly Review

HESSTON, Kan. — The day Michele Hershberger was ordained was far from the beginning of her 20-year ministry as a youth pastor, Bible professor, speaker and author.

Family and friends, along with Hesston College faculty, staff and students, and members of Hesston Mennonite Church and other area churches, pray for Michele Hershberger after her ordination by South Central Mennonite Conference for ministry in Mennonite Church USA. — Photo by Larry Bartel/Hesston College

But it was the beginning of a deeper commitment to a church that sometimes seems broken — and has wounded her.

Hershberger, ordained for ministry in South Central Mennonite Conference on Nov. 16 at Hesston Mennonite Church, told the audience that even though the Anabaptist church struggles to survive in the 21st century, she commits her life to it anew.

“The church has fallen on tough times,” said Hershberger, director of youth ministry and chair of the Bible and ministry department at Hesston College. “[Sociologist] Conrad Kanagy says our denomination is dying — and he’s right. In so many ways, the church feels broken.

“I work with young adults, and many times this is what I hear: ‘Jesus is great, Jesus I love, but the church — no, I don’t do church.’ I don’t want to be naïve or close my eyes to the problems in our congregations, but I want tonight, this ordination, to be a vote for the church. Is it broken? Yes. Are there problems? Yes. And I can speak with integrity here, because I have experienced some of that pain.”

Many recipients of Hershberger’s ministry at conventions, in the classroom and in her writings may not know that her vibrancy evolves from brokenness. The wounds she incurred in the church taught her how to minister from a sense of Christ’s call, even when human affirmation is lacking.

During a youth co-pastorate from 1989 to 1996 with her husband, Del, her ongoing tenure came up for a vote. Because of unresolved issues about whether women should be ordained, the vote didn’t pass. This brought a sense of failure that required years of healing.

“After six and a half years of postponing my ordination, struggling to understand what Scripture said concerning the issue of women leaders in the church, my congregation asked me to resign as pastor,” she wrote in her memoirs. “I had not made the vote. It was a messy and difficult process, and both Del and I felt completely alone and defeated.”

That “defeat” did not produce a dead end. She remained within the congregation for a year to foster understanding and reconciliation. Then she and her family moved to Elkhart, Ind., where she studied at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary from 1997 to 2000 and earned a master’s degree in theological studies.

She also served as project associate for The Giving Project and wrote A Christian View of Expecting Surprises: God’s View of Hospitality (Herald Press, 1999).