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The responses ranged across a wide spectrum: "I really liked that article. It was so good." "How could you be so divisive?" "Insightful. Brilliant." "You had something important to say, and you said it. You spoke truth." Let me address some of the specific concerns raised, particularly in the letters sent by P.K. McAra and Corey Hiebert. I especially welcome their letters because they help me to understand the situation more fully and give me occasion to clarify some questions.
Brother McAra writes that "the subject of much of the article is my home church, Garden Valley Community Church in Kelowna." Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to visit this fine, growing congregation and did not have it in mind other than to report the tie-cutting episode and the attendant comments, as described by the pastor at the conference in question. Three of 14 paragraphs dealt with this matter. The rest dealt with churches I had visited.
In this connection, I should also address the suggestion that my information was "seemingly secondhand". The only secondhand information was the report given by the pastor of the Kelowna church. I give the highest credibility to such a source.
Reader McAra wonders whether I wrote the column because I "had been hurt by another Christian who had criticized" what I wore. No. As I tried to explain, my comments were based on fairly widespread experiences and observations. I subsequently made a list of Mennonite Brethren congregations in which, during the last few years, I had sensed a definite preoccupation with externals as I described them in the August 30 column--and I very quickly identified at least eight. In sum, I did not have any one congregation in mind, nor did I have one personal experience in mind. I was addressing what I thought was an emerging problem.
Concerning the fact that the tie-cutting affair in Kelowna was a staged joke, I have two comments. First, the message which I would probably have picked up if I had been present in the church might well have been that if some people actually planned the little drama, then they must really take the implied message very seriously, perhaps more seriously than would have been the case if the incident had happened in an impromptu manner. A staged joke carries a powerful message. It is staged for a reason. Second, as previously noted, a similar event reportedly happened in at least one other MB church.
Reader McAra also makes the point that what is at issue is not a "new fundamentalism". He is, of course, right. But we must be careful about bringing in new terms. I had not made any such suggestions and had not used the term.
Reader Hiebert also raises some important questions. He wonders whether it is fair to compare "horse and buggy communities" to "a contemporary model of church". In passing, one should note that a "horse and buggy community" is also a model of church. More importantly, as I stressed strongly at the outset, I was making only a partial comparison.
Perhaps the real question here involves writing style. To combine humour, obvious exaggeration and allegory is a fairly common literary technique. It tends to evoke a smile while making a very serious point. The writer hopes that the reader will focus on the point being made and not take the literary technique too seriously.
Reader McAra and several other respondents rightly wonder what I intended to be the purpose of my August 30 column. My answer is that, rightly or wrongly, I have concluded that amidst all of the very timely initiatives and the truly commendable innovations introduced by those whom I termed "New Order Mennonites", there was a tendency on the part of some to put far too much emphasis on certain externals and certain elements of worship style. Whether my observations were accurate and my conclusions warranted is for readers to decide for themselves. If my assessments are invalid, I gladly stand corrected.
One respondent stated that he agreed with "75 percent" of what I had written. It turned out that what he didn't agree with was my "failure" to apply the same standard to those who make a virtual shibboleth of traditional formal dress, traditional music, etc. He is obviously right. One standard must apply to all. The gist of the original column applies equally to all Christians and to all congregations. A column on "stiff churchliness" may be warranted.
In closing, let me say that I strongly affirm those Mennonite Brethren congregations which are diligently striving "by all means" to win men and women to the Kingdom. In that category, Kelowna's Garden Valley Community Church clearly stands as a new and bright light, an additional source of inspiration and encouragement to others. All of us, however, in all of our varied congregations, do well to remind ourselves of the possibility that in reacting to one set of rather rigid traditional norms, we may end up becoming equally rigid, only about a different set of norms.
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