Mennonite Weekly Review

The Constituency Leaders Council is a council of elders to Mennonite Church USA, but that does not mean all its members need to be older adults.

In a denomination struggling to keep its young people and draw in new ones, it was heartening to see that about 10 out of the 65 conference and constituency group leaders who gathered Oct. 19-21 in Toano, Va., were younger than 40.

The group was also half women for the first time. Additionally, efforts continue to build racial diversity and make the voices of leaders of color heard.

We can be thankful for each of the gifted leaders in the CLC and the churches, not just in these growing groups. Yet more progress is needed before our leaders truly resemble the diversity of the church. Such change brings more perspectives to decision-making, and has the potential to inspire future leaders.

For better or for worse, many people need to see leaders who look like them in order to believe they can be leaders. And people often feel more included when they hear others with similar perspectives speaking from leadership roles.

CLC isn’t really a representative body — though many of its members are elected to their positions. For example, a person younger than 40 isn’t expected to poll large numbers of people younger than 40 in the church and express those opinions. Each member of the CLC brings his or her own views and experiences while also sharing the ideas and concerns of the groups or conferences that send them.

Yet whether our leaders are representative or not, the church is strengthened when ideas come from a cross-section of the denomination. Diverse leaders can also draw members on the margins or currently outside the church into the life of the congregations and denomination.

Stephen Kriss writes that in previous eras young adults were more frequently given leadership roles. He says it is sometimes difficult for older leaders to recognize that people in their 20s and 30s, such as the racially diverse interns in Franconia Conference, are not only the leaders of tomorrow but also of today.

There are signs of hope in this area and others, even as they point to the need for further change.

Sara Wenger Shenk has been named the president of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind. though none of the colleges currently have women presidents.