Editorial

Mennonite borders

Two of our sister denominations, the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, are merging into a new denomination (called, somewhat confusingly, the Mennonite Church). The old Mennonite Church was already the largest Mennonite denomination in North America, with over 100,000 members, the vast majority of them in the US. The General Conference Mennonite Church has 60,000-70,000 members almost evenly split between Canada and the US.

The Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church used to have one main North American periodical each--the Gospel Herald and The Mennonite--both produced in the US. However, in recent years, it was perceived that The Mennonite could not serve Canadian readers very well, and Canadian General Conference Mennonites (called The Conference of Mennonites in Canada) began to use the independent paper Mennonite Reporter as their primary publication.

Under the merger agreement, the Gospel Herald and The Mennonite united this winter to become a new publication, which took The Mennonite as its name but which is under the editorship of former Gospel Herald editor Lorne Peachey. However, this publication no longer claims to serve all of North America. The Canadian branch of the new Mennonite Church is being served by The Canadian Mennonite (the old Mennonite Reporter, renamed, redesigned and connected more closely to the denomination). The two new magazines were to have 30% overlapping content, although it is not clear if that goal is being reached or how it is intended to be implemented.

The original plan for the new denomination was to have one General Board for the whole denomination and subdivide the denomination into four regions, one of which would be Canada. This, however, met with such disapproval that the plan was scrapped. The new denomination is now expected to have two general boards (Canada and the US), but also a North American structure.

What I find interesting is the parallel with Mennonite Brethren. MBs used to have four major "districts" until the Northern District evolved into the Canadian Conference, forcing the creation of a US MB Conference. Now a task force is looking at further reorganization. While one should not prejudge the outcome of this "no-holds-barred" review, the proposal that led to the task force called for the elimination (or at least severe reduction) of the North American MB Conference.

The trend seems to be to reorganize Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren denominations along national lines. Some argue that that is evidence that the universal church is being contaminated by the false religion of nationalism. However, there are legal, social and administrative reasons why it makes sense to organize along national lines. I don't hear any great call for merging the Congo and India MB churches, for instance.

The longevity of magazine editors

Before their merger, the Gospel Herald and The Mennonite published farewell issues highlighting their histories. The Gospel Herald had been published for 90 years, and in that time had had 5 editors; each editor lasted an average of 18 years. The Mennonite had been published for 112 years and had had 16 editors; that is an average of 7 years, although the average is lowered somewhat by the inclusion of an interim editor and an acting editor in the list.

Elsewhwere in this issue, you will find a news story on the resignation of Don Ratzlaff as editor of The Christian Leader, the US Mennonite Brethren periodical. Don has served the Leader for 20 years, first as associate editor and then as editor for 13 years. During that time, I have had the opportunity of working with him on a variety of assignments. I have come to know him as a good friend, an excellent journalist, a creative thinker and a deeply spiritual Christian. I will miss interacting with him on a regular basis, and I am sure the Conference will miss his contributions very much as well.

The encouraging thing about all this, from my persepctive, is that Mennonite editors seem to last in their positions a long time--longer than pastors seem to last in their positions, for instance. I have been editor of the Mennonite Brethren Herald for a little over 3 years. The previous four editors (Rudy Wiebe, Harold Jantz, Herb Kopp and Ron Geddert) lasted an average of 8 years, with Harold Jantz leading the way at 21 years.

The most successful hockey teams are the ones that do not change their coaches every year or two. Healthy, growing churches also seem to have long-term pastors. The same is true of editors. While it is sometimes difficult to remain fresh and creative through the constant pressure of deadlines, there are great advantages to having experience and the wisdom that hopefully comes with it. Editors (and pastors and coaches) contribute far more in their seventh year than they do in their first. On the other hand, transitions can seriously disrupt ministry. One of the reasons Mennonite denominations have had good periodicals, I think, is the longevity of their editors.

This is not a plea for me to keep my job. (I have been working for the Herald as associate editor and editor for 14 years, and that has already been a long and personally rewarding time.) It is, however, an encouragement to churches to consider keeping their pastors for long terms. Of course, there is always the chicken-or-the-egg question. Are churches successful because they keep their pastors long-term, or do pastors stay a long time because their churches are successful?


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