Board reports: Executive Board: A decision to change

For once, expectation became reality. It was widely anticipated that the main item of business at this convention would be the Executive Council's proposal to "restructure" (abolish?) the General Conference. This, in fact, turned out to be the main item of business. It was given ample time for processing, the process was guided expertly by moderator Ed Boschman, and the convention ended by achieving something approaching consensus on the issue.

The proposal came out of dissatisfaction expressed in various places, particularly the young leaders' forum at the last convention two years ago, and a Strategic Evaluation Meeting held in September, 1996. The proposal, made last fall, seemed to arouse very little interest until a small flurry of concerns and counter-proposals surfaced in the weeks just before this convention.

Family Talk I

The first business session of the convention, Friday morning, was entirely devoted to the issue. Before the discussion began, the Executive Council responded to some of the recent concerns by changing the preamble of the recommendation to say that it anticipated only the possible dissolution of the General Conference. Then, the chairs of the Conference boards, the moderators of the national boards and two selected individuals gave their responses to the proposal.

Next, delegates were asked to discuss around their tables the key recommendation (1B) "that the Executive Council initiate the process of realigning and restructuring the ministries of our binational conference". After about 15 minutes of discussion, all 46 tables briefly reported the results of their discussions. These reports reflected a remarkable degree of similarity, later accurately summarized by the Executive as concern about dissolution; a desire to protect the current ministries of the Conference; a desire for more intentional development of an international MB organization and fellowship (the International Council of Mennonite Brethren); and support for significant structural changes.

Family Talk II

Another hour or more was made available for the issue at the end of the Board of Faith and Life report late Friday afternoon. The Executive outlined what they had heard in the morning, and then proposed that a task force be appointed to do a "no holds barred" review of all conference structures and present concrete proposals at the next convention in 1999--a suggestion that had also been made in the morning.

A broad-ranging floor discussion followed, which included much affirmation; repeated calls for grassroots consultation; calls for a stronger push toward "internationalization"; repeated calls that the need for change was urgent and that the task force should not delay the process or simply bring the Conference back to the same place in two years; and calls that prayer and fasting be a major component of the process. A key argument was that North Americans must be willing to give up power and the current structure in order to create a truly international partnership of all 17 national MB conferences in the world. Another key argument was that the change was needed in order to make conference work more relevant to a younger generation (those 40 and under), who largely were not present.

The session ended with prayer in small groups.

A proposal

On Saturday morning, the Executive presented a formal proposal (see sidebar) that was similar to the informal proposal it had outlined the afternoon before and which in effect replaced (or was an elaboration of) the key proposal (1B) published before the convention.

In the discussion, one of the most striking contributions was made by Steve Klassen of Abbotsford, B.C. He pictured a Japanese and a Brazilian discussing ICOMB and wondering at the arrogance of a member conference that was not national but dared to call itself "General". Klassen's input combined three of the main elements in the discussion: It called for a truly international partnership; it tied restructuring to the renewal theme that was repeatedly present at the convention, calling for delegates to repent of their arrogance and love of organization; and, as one of the youngest delegates present, Klassen embodied the younger generation for whom the changes are being made and who, it was hoped, will "pick up the baton" of the conference.

Former Canadian MB Conference moderator Abe Konrad, in affirming the proposal, clarified that it is now the US and Canadian Conferences, not the General Conference, which are members of ICOMB.

Another former Canadian Conference moderator, John H. Redekop, moved that the proposal be amended to enlarge the proposed task force from 3 members to 5 members since a 3-member task force would have twice as many members from one country as the other and appear to be biased.

Both the amendment and the proposal passed overwhelmingly. Ballots had been made ready since the motion required a two-thirds majority, but were deemed unnecessary in view of the consensus which had developed.

Clearing up the details

In the final business session of the convention, on Saturday afternoon, the Executive brought in the expertise of Jim Enns and Lyndon Vix from the Board of Trustees, as well as parliamentarian Ed Boldt, to guide the convention through the passing of a number of recommendations. These were largely intended to clear away any procedural obstacles to restructuring.

Recommendation 1D revised the formula for amending the Conference Constitution and the Confession of Faith. The old formula required that notice of motion be given at the previous convention and the actual proposal be presented two months ahead. The revision removed the requirement of notice of motion. Some delegates argued that two months was too short a time to respond to a proposal if there was no prior notice. The recommendation passed after the two months was amended to four months. It was noted that notice of motion for the confession of faith revision and the restructuring were already given at this convention but that the change will mean the actual proposals for both will have to be ready by early March, 1999.

Recommendation 1A created a provision whereby the Conference bylaws (the rules for operating the Conference) can be overridden by a two-thirds majority at any convention. This passed easily.

Jim Enns moved that the newly passed 1A be immediately used, suspending the bylaws so that the terms of current board members could be extended for two years. (It was thought best to provide continuity for the last two years of the current structure, anticipating that a new structure will be put in place in 1999.) This was passed despite some opposition.

New vision

Shortly after this, one of the concluding convention resolutions summed up: "We pray that in the best sense of peacemaking, Waterloo '97 be known as the place where the forces of change and the forces of continuity, unlike Napoleon and Wellington, left arm in arm, committed to building a new and unifying vision."

JC

Recommendation for restructuring

We recommend the striking of a task force of five people (one each appointed by national leadership boards, and three, including the chair, by the executive council):
* to facilitate a no-holds-barred review in consultation with existing ministries, all levels of conference and local churches;
* to prepare an appropriate realignment/restructuring of the management of our ministries;
* to provide opportunity for strengthening our relationships with the other national Mennonite Brethren conferences; and
* to complete their assignment within this biennium by
1. Preparing an interim report to Council of Boards for Sept./Oct. 1998
2. Bringing a recommendation for Executive Council for March, 1999.

Executive decisions

Besides restructuring, the Executive Council obtained the passing of two other recommendations.

First, the Board of Trustees was reduced from nine members to five members, at the request of that board.

Second, Marvin Hein was reappointed to a two-year term as Executive Secretary for the Conference.

The Executive Council announced that it has prepared uniform guidelines for how to thank board members for their service, but the guidelines were not presented for voting.

In response to some questions from the floor, moderator Boschman reiterated the Executive Council understanding that the Conference consensus is to encourage women to be involved in all ministries of the church except that of senior pastor.

JC

Elections

Six people were elected to Conference boards, in order to fill vacancies.

Moderator Ed Boschman moved from Canada to the US during the biennium. In order to restore the balance between Canada and the US on the Executive, assistant moderator Larry Martens of California resigned. Herb Kopp of Manitoba was elected to replace Martens.

In becoming assistant moderator, Kopp resigned from the Board of Faith and Life. Elvera Froese of Ontario was elected over three other candidates to fill Kopp's spot on BFL.

David Dick of Alberta and George Klassen of South Dakota were elected to the Board of Resource Ministries.

Ernesto Pinto of Manitoba, David Dyck of Alberta, Dean Kliewer of California and Gary Janzen of South Dakota were elected to the Board of MBM/S.

Peter Durksen of Ontario was elected to the MBBS Board.

Conference Boards

(Those in bold print were elected at this convention)
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Ed Boschman (Sun City, Ariz., 1999), Moderator
Herb Kopp (Winnipeg, Man., 1999), Assistant Moderator
 Valerie Rempel (Fresno, Ca., 1999), Secretary
BOARD OF FAITH AND LIFE
Lynn Jost (Hillsboro, Kan., 1999), Chair
John Warkentin (Wichita, Kan., 1999), Vice-chair
Elvera Froese (Kitchener, Ont., 1999), Secretary
 Roland Reimer (Wichita, Kan., 1999)
Pierre Gilbert (Fresno, Ca., 2001)
Herb Neufeld (Abbotsford, B.C., 2001)
Abe Klassen (Winnipeg, Man., at-large, 1999)
MB BIBLICAL SEMINARY
Ron Toews (Calgary, Alta., 2001), Chair
Harold Enns (Reedley, Ca., 1999), Vice-chair
Irma Epp (Winnipeg, Man., 1999), Academic Committee Chair
Ken Neufeld (Clovis, Ca., 2001), Property and Finance Committee Chair
Dan Unrau (Richmond, B.C., 1999), Student Life Chair
Cal Bergen (Winnipeg, Man., 1999), Alumni Rep
Jason Trego (Wichita, Kan., 1999)
Arthur Block (Richmond, B.C., 2001)
Leland Kleinsasser (Yale, S.D., 2001)
Peter Durksen (Breslau, Ont., 1999)
Bill Fast (Winnipeg, Man., appointed, 1999)
Dan Ratzlaff (Abbotsford, B.C., appointed, 1999)
MB MISSIONS/SERVICES BOARD
Neil Fast (Winnipeg, Man., 2001), Chair
Dennis Fast (Hillsboro, Kan., 1999), Vice-chair
John Redekop (Abbotsford, B.C., appointed, 1999), Secretary
Delores Friesen (Fresno, Ca., 2001)
Loretta Snider (Kitchener, Ont., 2001)
Marlene Wall (Wichita, Kan., at-large, 1999)
Ernesto Pinto (Winnipeg, Man., 1999)
David Dyck (Edmonton, Alta., 1999)
Dean Kliewer (Reedley, Ca., 1999)
Gary Janzen (Yale, S.D., 1999)
BOARD OF RESOURCE MINISTRIES
Lorlie Barkman (Winnipeg, Man., 1999), Chair
Wilma Derksen (Winnipeg, Man., 2001)
Loren Kroeker (San Jose, Ca., 2001)
John Warkentin (Dinuba, Ca., 2001)
Gareth Goossen (Kitchener, Ont., at-large, 1999)
David Dick (Calgary, Alta., 1999)
George Klassen (Bridgewater, S.D., 1999)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Jim Enns (Fresno, Ca., 1999), Chair
Ron Martens (Vineland, Ont., 2001) Vice-chair
Lyndon Vix (Wichita, Kan., 2001) Secretary

Next?

Will the next General Conference convention by the Last? Will restructuring and the revised Confession of Faith be approved? With a major ICOMB consultation scheduled to meet right after the next General Conference convention, will the General Conference transition easily into an international structure?

When moderator Ed Boschman suggested (in American and Canadian English) "Y'all come back now, eh?", most delegates indicated they would probably be present at the next convention. Boschman then told each delegate to bring someone else.

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