Mennonite Weekly Review

Change is constant but hard to control. Technological progress, economic cycles and cultural trends will sweep us along unless we take charge of our own choices.

Better to be an agent of change than a victim of it. This applies to denominations too. Mennonite Church USA faces the challenge on two fronts: adapting to generational and cultural shifts while blending the traditions of two merging churches.

Nearly a decade after its founding, MC USA is still a work in progress. Leaders see room to improve the denomination’s structure. Their latest step is getting input from a consultant, LaVern Yutzy. After a year of research, Yutzy has proposed a slate of changes with an eye on more simplicity, cooperation and efficiency.

Change is needed, Yutzy says, because the current structure fosters competition for resources and protection of turf. The parts lack a cohesive whole. A fragmented identity limits cooperation. Church members who seek access to denominational resources feel like they’re trying to navigate a maze.

Yutzy proposes some major changes. One of the biggest is to merge Executive Leadership and Mennonite Mission Network. MMN would cease to have its own governing board, though the board might continue in an advisory role. Mission programs would become part of the church’s central structure, under the leadership of the denomination’s executive director, rather than delegated to a separate mission agency.

Decision-makers must ask: Would centralization strengthen mission, or would the lack of a board dedicated to mission cause a loss of emphasis or expertise? In theory, centralization fits the ideal of a denomination fully dedicated to mission at every level. Further study may reveal the right path.

Other proposals seem more obvious, such as Yutzy’s assertion that MC USA doesn’t need two head offices. Enough staff work in Newton, Kan., to continue an office there, but a planned new building in Elkhart, Ind., makes that the clear choice as the headquarters.

Still other proposals set goals that have been talked about for years, including a stronger role for area conferences. Yutzy suggests denominational leaders give priority to supporting the conferences. He recommends the Executive Board include five members appointed by conferences. The Constituency Leaders Council, a gathering of conference representatives, could make these appointments.

Yutzy also notes that some people are asking whether 21 area conferences are too many. No doubt it is for a denomination of 106,000 members. Reducing the number would be a step toward simplifying. But we don’t see any volunteers to merge or be absorbed by another.

A year ago, Ron Byler, MC USA associate executive director, wrote that the denomination is “heading toward another period of prolonged and accelerated change, and we are in need of strategic and purposeful transformation.”

Denominational leaders are taking on the challenge to be agents of purposeful change. Church members can support them with prayer and by offering their own responses to the proposals.