Board of Faith and Life
Revised Confession embraced by delegates

In the shadow of a larger debate on the fate of the General Conference, the Board of Faith and Life earned support for its recommendations to the delegates including overwhelming endorsement of a fully revised Confession of Faith.

For the first time, convention delegates had a hands-on chance to go through 13 of the 18 revised articles of the Mennonite Brethren Confession of Faith. (An earlier draft of the revised articles was presented at the 1997 General Conference convention but not debated there.) The articles presented at this convention reflected the hard work and leadership of a board committed to writing a confession reflecting biblical language and truth—and that did not go unnoticed by delegates.

"Today I am filled with joy over what we have experienced and what this group has done," said Dennis Fast, pastor of Reedley (Calif.) MB Church, from the floor. The audience responded with an enthusiastic standing ovation.

BFL began the revision process in 1990 and ended up with 18 articles. By 1997, it had presented to convention and gained approval for five of the articles. The process was a cycle of constant revision, distribution, feedback and more revision. Over the last two years, drafts of the remaining 13 articles were sent to churches, leadership, and international conferences as well as tested among 100 conference leaders at the Calgary (Alta.) 1998 consultation.

As the Board led the delegates through the Confession, the atmosphere was almost worshipful. Each article was read aloud so as to "engage" the delegates in "doing theology together," said Lynn Jost, chair of BFL. As a steady stream of comments continued from the floor throughout Friday and Saturday sessions, delegates worked as a community. Discussion was characterized by humility and respect, and delegates frequently addressed each other as "brother" and "sister."

Most comments reflected a concern for clarification of particular words or phrases rather than a desire to change the overall content or meaning. Particular debate focused on language used in Articles 1 (God) and 17 (Christianity and Other Faiths).

A majority of the comments on Article 1 centred around the use of metaphors "God comforts like a mother, trains and disciplines like a caring father, and persists in covenant love like a faithful husband"—which some felt promoted stereotypes of family roles. Board member Randy Klassen, acknowledged that gender and how we talk about God are complicated issues, but reiterated that the language chosen was biblical and "reflects most clearly the scriptural passages" listed as references.

A considerable amount of dialogue about Article 17 centred on a phrase acknowledging that "elements of truth can be found in other religions". Some delegates felt the statement might be misunderstood to mean that these "truths" could lead to salvation. In response, the Board reminded delegates to take the statement in the context of the article, which states that "Jesus is the only means of reconciling humanity with God", that Christ is "the only way of salvation for all peoples" and that "Scripture warns against false teachings." The Board also referenced Paul's same acknowledgement regarding truth in Acts 17.

Issues raised in the discussion of the other articles included changing title words, using a clearer word or phrase, and adding biblical references.

When it came time to vote on the changes proposed from the floor, delegates acknowledged the Board's hard work and well thought out process. The board brought 19 proposed changes to the delegates, almost all of which were minor changes to words or phrases—the word "can" was changed to "may" in the phrase regarding truths in other religions in Article 17, for example. The Board supported most of the changes, and these were readily accepted by the delegation. However, when the Board stated that it did not agree with four of the proposed changes—including changing the metaphors in Article 1 delegates voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Board in each case.

At the end of the debate, BFL gained approval for one more revision, raising the footnote in the previously approved Article 9 to be part of the main text of Article 9: "The normal pattern of the New Testament was that baptism preceded participation in the Lord’s Supper."

Just before the vote to accept the revised confession, Jost asked the delegates to sing the doxology, To God From Whom All Blessings Flow. "There's often been the feeling of a doxology while we've been reading," he reflected.

The motion to accept the Confession passed with an overwhelming show of hands. Delegate response to the entire process seemed to be summed up by a comment made by Ed Boschman, General Conference moderator, early in the discussion on Friday. At one point, he looked at the audience with a wide grin and said, "Every now and again, don't you just want to go, 'Amen!’ This is what we believe!'"

The revised Confession is available on the Web at www.mbconf.ca and will be available in printed form in the fall.

BFL also brought a recommendation to "clarify" the position of the General Conference regarding women in leadership, encouraging women "to minister in the church in every function other than the lead pastorate" and to "exercise leadership on Conference boards, in pastoral staff positions and in our congregations, institutions, and agencies".

The struggle to define the role of women in leadership positions in the church has been a long one, with strong feelings all around. In 1981, delegates passed a resolution affirming women in ministry and encouraging churches to "draw upon" women for leadership roles in the local church and conference ministries but clarified that "we do not believe the Mennonite Brethren Church should ordain women to pastoral leadership." In 1984, the Board of Reference and Council urged churches to give "[more] encouragement and more open doors for service" to women. The 1987 convention passed a resolution which supported the 1981 resolution and encouraged churches "to free and affirm women for ministries in the church" in a broad range of areas. In 1993, BFL proposed a resolution "to allow for diversity of conviction and practice in appointment of women to pastoral leadership", but the delegates did not accept the resolution.

Though the Board members stated in their May report that they would "prefer to resolve the issues of biblical interpretation and church polity regarding women in pastoral leadership", they decided it would be more helpful and more feasible to clarify the current position instead.

"The intent of this motion is singular," said John Warkentin, vice-chair of BFL, at the convention. "This is not a new recommendation in terms of substance. All that is in it has been passed at previous conventions. We hope it is new in spirit."

The debate concerning the recommendation was considerably more restrained and emotional, with comments against the recommendation ranging from it being too conservative to it being too liberal. While the feelings ran high, delegates remained respectful and open to each other's comments. A ballot vote was requested, and the recommendation passed.

In answer to the concern that a growing number of pastors have not developed conference ties through their education, training or church history, BFL introduced a recommendation to require full-time pastors to complete courses in MB history, theology and polity.

While the delegates embraced the "the spirit" of the recommendation, several pointed out that the implementation section needed more clarification and planning. In addition, others suggested that previously studying at MB institutions might exempt pastors from the course requirement.

BFL accepted the criticism, and offered a slightly altered one-sentence recommendation for vote without the implementation points essentially, that MB credentialing bodies require all full-time pastoral staff members who have not studied at an MB institution to complete approved course work in the three areas within two years of their appointment. Enforcement of the recommendation would be the duty of the provincial and district licensing boards, said Jost. A significant majority approved the recommendation, and the session concluded with a round of applause. CA

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