By Celeste Kennel-Shank
Mennonite Weekly Review

	The fall/winter 2007 issue of OurFaith Digest, the last before the magazine suspended publication. — Photo from ourfaithdigest.com

The board of directors of The Mennonite Digest Inc., which publishes OurFaith, made the decision after meeting informally Jan. 22-23 in Harrisonburg, Va., with the digest’s editor and three associate regional editors.

OurFaith has been published three or four times a year and distributed free to Mennonite Church USA congregations since 2001. The board of directors hopes the digest can continue under new sponsorship.

“After taking note that net income for the magazine decreased more than $23,000 from 2006 to 2007 and that advertising commitments were down for the spring ’08 issue, the group decided to suspend this issue and to contact Mennonite Church-related agencies to explore their interest in taking over the ministry,” J. Allen Brubaker, board chair, said in a statement.

“Other factors in the group’s decision were rising costs, a weak economy and the rapid switch to electronic media, especially among youth.”

The board of directors will look at next steps during a Feb. 21 meeting, Brubaker said.

MC USA has declined to take on publishing the digest.

Joe Miller, editor of the digest, believes OurFaith has an important role in the church, “especially in times like now when there is this loss of denominational identity,” he said. “OurFaith has the potential of actually reaching everybody in every pew.”

The staff circulated nearly 50,000 copies of recent issues to to Mennonite churches, schools, retirement communities and camps for distribution.

“The mission was to be a free publication,” Miller said. “There was not a strong, reliable source of income.”

Miller said giving by churches and individuals to the publication has decreased, and advertising revenue has dropped.

In addition, the U.S. Postal Service raised mailing rates for nonprofit periodicals in May.

“It was the perfect storm of factors,” Miller said.