To follow Jesus, MC USA stands on the shoulders of those who it said haunted it

My first MennoCon was a very positive experience, and though our denomination has many ways to grow, the progress that it has made is a credit to its agitators.

Pastor Jay Bergen of Germantown Mennonite Church

I’m a recently ordained pastor for Mennonite Church U.S.A. and after a bit over two years of service at West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship, I had the privilege and honor of attending our denomination’s biennial convention. The theme of the convention was “Follow Jesus,” and it was clear in the Women in Leadership Summit that preceded it, in the prophetic sermons offered during worship, in the many seminars that centered on peace and justice, and even in the Bible studies led by Isaac Villegas during the delegation meeting that MC USA is indeed following Jesus.

I heard time and again throughout the convention that this year’s had a spirit of unity and much less rancor than in previous years. Part of the reason for that is because of MC USA’s grueling process around the 2022 Resolution for Repentance and Transformation. This resolution named the harm MC USA caused to LGBT people and committed them to repentance and transformation. There is much more to be said about the progress on this resolution, but I will save that for another time. But despite the difficulty of getting that resolution passed, MC USA is now in a position to be a full-throated affirming denomination. The credit for where our denomination is on LGBT+ rights and dignity should be given to the hundreds of people that have committed themselves to centering queer people and agitating the congregation.

I’m personally indebted to these rebels, because without their work, it would have been impossible for me to be become a pastor in MC USA. I’m grateful for their hard work, endurance, and resilience. And for those who had to sacrifice their faith and sometimes even more than their faith, I want to offer them my full honor and love, as best as I am able. In their footsteps, I will continue to do my part in helping MC USA to fulfill its resolution, and commit itself to the liberation of LGBT+ people.

Specifically, I want to name that the work of Pink Menno, a group of Mennonites committed to shining the light on queer people and our oppression in the denomination, did so much work to this end. And despite their bravery, they were often mocked or ridiculed by denominational leaders, with one even describing them as “haunting the church.” In response to this characterization, members of Pink Menno, who often adorned themselves in pink clothing in solidarity with queer people, created shirts that embraced the accusation and declared that they’ve been haunting the church since 1525 (the year the first Anabaptisms happened).

This year, we wanted to remind folks of our sordid past, especially because the leader who named them as haunting the church, Ervin Stutzman, recently passed away. So we resurrected those old shirts (with an updated font—my sincerest apologies to Comic Sans) and wore them once more.

A special moment at this year’s conference, which honored the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism, was when Jay Bergen, the pastor of Germantown Mennonite Church, wearing the updated T-shirt, shared the history of their congregation. GMC was the first Mennonite church in the U.S., and they were also the first white group to write a written protest against enslavement. MC USA should be proud of this congregation’s history. But what they should not be proud of is that fact that two area conferences kicked out GMC because of their stance on LGBT inclusion. Jay shared the history of their church, and wouldn’t do it without naming that GMC, and especially its LBGT+ members, were also harmed by Mennonites.

Along our way to LBGT+ affirmation, MC USA (which formed as a merger between the General Conference Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church in 2002) has gotten smaller and suffered a variety of schisms and divisions. Conferences, churches, pastors have left and formed their own groups. Even today, a conference is in active conversations about leaving MC USA because of the denomination’s affirmation of queer people.Especially painful for me is that people of color are being pitted against queer people, as if the two are mutually exclusive. As a queer Arab, I’m living proof that brownness and queerness are absolutely not mutually exclusive. For queer BIPOC, the triplet evils of white supremacy, heteronormativity, and transphobia haunt us.

Despite its smaller size, I found the conference to be a wonderful time. Even though racial minorities and queer people are still harmed in our denomination, I believe we are on the right path following Jesus. And while many were thankful that the convention was less cantankerous then in year’s past, some still mourned the loss of conferences and churches.

I believe that following Jesus sometimes results in losses like MCUSA has suffered. Rather than licking our wounds, we should continue to move where the Spirit is leading us. There is a bright future for the denomination, and queer people are central to that future. I hope the denomination keeps moving in its commitment to repentance and transformation. There are many people and churches who are looking for a place like MC USA. So rather than mourn our losses, we should eagerly move to where Jesus is calling us next. Put another way, we should be eagerly following Jesus.

I am proud to be a pastor in MC USA, ordained with the Allegheny Mennonite Conference, and serving my beloved West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship. And I am sad at the harm that has happened to those who sacrificed to make this possible. MCUSA is in a strong position to keep following Jesus, and it is in that position because of the queer bodies that helped it get there. MC USA stands on the shoulders of its agitators, and to faithfully Jesus, it also owes them gratitude, dignity, and must continue to center their voices and experiences. May MC USA continue to interrogate itself with humility, but proudly also move forward with the vision that God has given it, a vision that wouldn’t be possible without my now queer siblings.