Mennonite Church USA has unveiled a new video that explains who we are and what we believe as a denomination. Titled "We are better together," the video features different voices from across the denomination discussing what it means to live in community, love and peace through Jesus. We encourage you to watch it and share it with your community of followers. Use this link: mennoniteusa.org/better-together.
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XYZ conference/congregation is part of Mennonite Church USA. Learn more about our call to live in community, love and peace through Jesus.
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We are called to live in community, love and peace through Jesus. We welcome you as you are. What the world needs now to be transformed is love. We are better together. We are Mennonite Church USA.
(Glen Guyton, executive director of Mennonite Church USA) “The Jesus-centered theology of community, diversity and love is needed now more than ever to transform our communities, our world. Together, being peacemakers and demonstrating love is how we want to live. Mennonite Church USA is an Anabaptist Christian denomination that believes deeply in community, love and peace through Jesus Christ. We are the largest Mennonite denomination in the United States, with more than 500 congregations and 62,000 members. We're thriving in the U.S., and through our affiliation with Mennonite World Conference, across more than 86 other countries. Why? Because people of all backgrounds desire a spiritual home where believers worship together in diversity, respect and love. Our five agencies are the ministry arms of our denomination. From helping church members serve in their communities and abroad, to helping members practice mutual aid, we equip conferences, congregations, and individuals to join God in transforming lives and communities.”
(Hannah Heinzekehr, Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship) “I think there's a real commitment to trying to wrestle in community, both in your congregation, the conference, the denominational level, and in our local communities, with what lived faith looks like. These places, like the abolition curriculum, the Women in Leadership Project, Mennonite Church USA Convention. These things are all resources that still mean a lot to me personally.”
(Cyneatha Millsaps, executive director of Mennonite Women USA) “We have this beautiful diversity. We have conservative voices. We have liberal voices. We have various races; we have various cultures. We have various theologies that have all converged around this Anabaptist thought.”
(Quinn Brenneke, co-pastor, Prairie Street Mennonite Church) “It doesn't necessarily mean that every single person is equally in the same kind of relationship with every other single person, but there is this network of relationships that we rely on.”
(Joseph Manickam, president, Hesston College) “But when you're journeying with a community and you're holding on to one another's hand, on that journey, there's a place of belonging that's Christ-centered, no matter where I travel in the world. This is our expression of a global family that I belong to.”
(Marisa Smucker, senior executive for Ventures, Mennonite Mission Network) “There is something about when we remember that we are a community, a body and a collective that when we share our voices together and raise that up, it has a greater possibility of change.”
(Michael Danner, executive director, Mennonite Education Agency) “The difference that's made through Mennonite Church USA is actually a difference that's made through local congregations, high school teachers, guidance counselors, pediatricians, the folks that were engaging their neighbors out of the love of Jesus.”
(John Ruth, Professor of History, Goshen College) “But congregations alone are not enough. Congregations can do amazing things, particularly for individuals, but when you ask, "What is the mission of the broader church?" we can do so much more collectively than we can as individual congregations.”
(Madalyn Metzger, vice president of marketing, Everence) Finances and money can be a really taboo, difficult subject for anyone, whether you're an individual or a part of a family or even part of a faith community. So, one thing that Mennonite Church USA helps members with is talking about what it means to be a faithful steward of the financial resources that God has provided.”
(Heinzekehr) For me, the biggest piece is kind of this collective energy that you can have at the denominational level that you can’t get with an individual congregation or small group of people.”
(Manickam) We want to take this message much broader because I do believe MC USA has a perspective, a theology that the world sorely needs today.”
(Guyton) “More than ever, what the world needs now to be transformed is love. In Mennonite Church USA, we strive to love each other. And relying on spiritual discernment rather than our individual opinions, we together discover God's way. Positive change and growth is in the air. Mennonite Church USA is transforming. Join us as you are. We are better together. We are Mennonite Church USA.” #BeTransformed, mennoniteusa.org
