Mennonite Weekly Review

In the last decade or so, Mennonite denominational offices, ministerial leadership groups, colleges and seminaries have emphasized a “culture of call.”

The effort has focused on calling, for the most part younger people, to pastoral ministry.

My calling to ministry came from the Sugar Creek congregation of rural Wayland, Iowa, while I was a 26-year-old student at Hesston (Kan.) College. The voice of the congregation confirmed the personal inner call I had carried from an early age.

The Sugar Creek congregation is typical of many rural Mennonite communities. Agriculture and related businesses dominate the economy. Congregational leaders are chosen more on the basis of gifts and abilities than on educational level. Outreach and missions are important. We mourn the loss of talented youth who move out of the community. At the same time there is a sense of achievement in seeing our young people effectively serving in other locales.

For some time I have sensed that Sugar Creek has nurtured and given an unusual number of ministers to the Mennonite church. Some recent research revealed that in its 155 years (1855-2010) the congregation has had 60 ministers serving in the congregation or elsewhere — 51 men and nine women. I was able to establish the year of birth, year of credentialing for each minister, plus the year of death for the deceased.

From 1860 to 1962, 18 people were called from within the congregation to ministry in the congregation. Since then, 11 people were called from outside the congregation to serve as pastors at Sugar Creek. Thirty-one people from Sugar Creek have gone on to serve in ministry in other venues. So, at this point, the congregation has produced 49 ministers and borrowed 11 from other sources.

Thirty-two of the 60 are living today. A simple questionnaire asking them to rate the importance of family, schools, congregation and mentors was inconclusive. Several said that in a rural community all four of these entities are interrelated and serve as a whole in influencing youth toward ministry.

I am not aware of any intentional effort on the part of Sugar Creek to nurture and call people to ministry, although it was the usual practice to call new ministers whenever the need arose. And one could assume the positive effect of having people like J.D. and C.L. Graber in the list of 60.

Is this an unusual record, or is this par for the course? I am not aware of other studies of a similar nature. It would be interesting to compare the records of other rural congregations. Copies of the study are available from the church office.

Robert L. Hartzler is a retired pastor from Wayland, Iowa.