Retreat…it does a soul good!

Flower from the woods at Camp Friedenswald

On Monday, May 8, I (Michael) gathered with the conference ministers from Indiana-Michigan, Central District, and Ohio Mennonite Conferences for a time of retreat. We spent time dwelling in Word, walking silently in nature, eating together, sharing about our work, praying together and observing communion together.

This is an important time for me. When I was starting as CEM, I learned to know and trust conference ministers from neighboring conferences.  Leading well in the midst of shifting realities within MC USA and IMC today takes discernment. I am always refreshed and encouraged by my colleagues in ministry. I leave these times with hope and trust that God is indeed at work in and through God’s church.

Please keep our conferences – and all MC USA conferences and conference ministers – in your prayers.

AND, most importantly, make sure you set aside time to retreat. A week, a day, or just a few hours of intentionally entering into silence, prayer, discernment, and listening will do your soul good.

Participate in the Future Church Summit

“I feel we have lost our vision, and it needs to be reignited. I came to this church to be part of a different narrative — a counter-cultural, anti-Christendom movement that follows a radical Jesus. The first Anabaptists chose to be radical – not assimilated to culture or the spirit of the age. We need to go back to the beginning — our radical reformation theology — and reignite an Anabaptist vision in our own context.”

—Hyun Hur, co-founder and director of ReconciliAsian in Pasadena, California, speaking at the first planning meeting for the upcoming Future Church Summit, a gathering to imagine an Anabaptist future for Mennonite Church USA.

 

At the Orlando convention, we will engage in a large-group visioning process called The Future Church Summit.  The Future Church Summit will be a generative, open space for denomination-wide conversation — to dream together, reset priorities and engage one another in answering the question: How will we follow Jesus as Anabaptists in the 21st century?  

All delegates are a part of the Future Church Summit.  However, there is also an opportunity for non-delegates to participate as well.  Click here for more information about #mennofcs and how you can participate.

Engaged in the wider church

I am writing this after a long day of good meetings at the Constituency Leadership Council (CLC) of Mennonite Church USA on the campus of AMBS in Elkhart, IN.  The CLC is a group of leaders that function as elders of MC USA and consists of conference ministers, conference moderators, at large conference participants and representatives from various constituencies of MC USA.

As a conference, IMC is committed to MC USA and the covenant commitments we have made to participate in the wider church. Part of that commitment is to engage in the leadership processes of the denomination. Myself, Ann Munley (Church Life Team), and Don Rheinheimer (moderator) are representing Illinois Mennonite Conference.

We began our time together in worship and communion, confirming our common faith in Jesus and our commitments to one another. Then we gathered in table groups and engaged in various exercises and discussions where we were asked to help define the future vision of MC USA.

 

This is a rich time of making new relationships and affirming old ones.  It is also a time where we help give voice to challenges facing the church.

Please continue in prayer for this gathering, which concludes on Saturday, March 18.