It is a delicate moment, but probably full of more promise than peril. Mennonite World Conference at age 75 seems suddenly young.For most of its life--and in many people's minds--MWC was the sponsor of big get-togethers put on for Anabaptist-Mennonites from all over the world. These were such lively events, so beloved by those fortunate enough to attend, that they became synonymous with Mennonite World Conference.
But quietly, with prodding from many quarters, MWC is becoming more, although it uses unusual language to describe its pick-up of activities: words like "space" and "place" and "umbrella," as well as "community" and even "communion."
MWC Executive Secretary Larry Miller offers an appraisal of where things are heading for Anabaptist-Mennonites. "The future is the global church, as the vital expression of many local and national churches. And Mennonite World Conference is the most comprehensive instrument we have for incarnating the global Anabaptist-Mennonite church. The immediate danger for MWC is not too much structure or centralization, but not being able to respond adequately to calls for its involvement.
"Many of the principles we use in congregational life could apply to our life as a global communion, but we're inexperienced in how to put that into place. We're experimenting with how to do it. By creating space, we're giving the opportunity for churches to meet; we're picking up what these bodies suggest when they move into that space."
The facts are both daunting and hopeful: more than half the Anabaptist-Mennonites in the world live in the Southern hemisphere. There are rich nonmaterial resources among Anabaptist-Mennonites in both South and North. On the other hand, most of the material wealth and most of the powerful church institutions are in the Northern hemisphere, especially in North America.
Mennonite World Conference belongs to its member churches. It is a gift to the global church. It will stay that way if it can cultivate the discernment and fortitude to choose its projects wisely, if it can maintain the trust and support of churches in all parts of the world, and if it can be funded by those it serves without becoming captive to particular interests.Miller sees both promise and pitfalls. "MWC is offering a space where national churches can meet in mutuality. It is also offering the creation of another space--where agencies and committees and even congregations working in international or cross-cultural mission can meet and counsel together.
"If MWC doesn't create the space, a few other organizations will need to do it. But as MWC becomes more involved in this kind of activity, it enters a potentially competitive relationship with other organizations. Yet they are MWCs important allies, and MWC is theirs. So these relationships will grow increasingly complex."
Will Mennonite World Conference be able to resist becoming more and more bureaucratic, especially as it receives more and more requests for assistance and imagination throughout the world? "I don't think the immediate danger is losing the sense of network or becoming overburdened with structure," remarks Miller. "Every body needs some bones.
"'Relationships,' 'patterns of relationships,' along with 'connecting' and 'cosponsoring' and 'joint ventures' and 'alliances' and 'solidarity' are all words explaining what 'structure' means in MWC.
"We can now share life globally as well as locally. But we are relatively new at that. Only after we've done it for a while will we be in danger of bureaucratizing the way we do things and MWC is a gift overloading ourselves with organization. Much Anabaptist-Mennonite theology to the has led to our thinking and behaving as congregationalists. In fact, we have a strong impulse against centralization and the possible loss of our local church's independence. So for now the real danger facing MWC as it acts on behalf of its members is that it will be incapable of answering calls for shared life, especially internationally. And that does, after all, require some continuity of patterns!"As leadership in the Anabaptist-Mennonite world changes, I believe the South will have as much trouble as the North managing power. So we need to build relationships now--relationships that can hold as the center of gravity shifts."
Sorting out what this small, scattered body can adequately handle is one of Mennonite World Conference's most present and primary tasks. "We are in a stage where ideas and projects from the global church are being brought to us. How ought we to respond? How many should we undertake? What are the criteria for deciding? How many joint ventures can we responsibly be part of?" Miller asks.
These are questions not only for MWCs small staff, but for the global Anabaptist-Mennonite church, to whom Mennonite World Conference belongs.