GREENING OUR MENNONITE CONVENTIONS

Mennonites love getting together – to sing, to worship, to laugh, to eat, to play games and just to talk. The Mennonite Church USA's biennial convention and the Mennonite Church Canada's annual delegate assembly are two of the largest of these opportunities. It is good to be together, to join with others from a variety of places speaking a variety of languages and representing a variety of ways of being “church.” Large gatherings of Mennonites are wonderful. But sometimes the way we meet together, the distance we travel, and the resources we use, can seem out-of-sorts with the values that we as Mennonites hold.

We can do better!  As many groups have learned over the past few years, conventions can be “greener,” more in keeping with our desire to be good stewards of God’s creation. It is our hope that the information in these pages will help those of you who are planning to attend the upcoming Mennonite conventions to have just as much fun, just as much of a worshipful experience, and just as much joyous singing, with less of the stuff we don’t want. We want them to know we are Christians by our love, not our trash, don’t we?

BRIDGING CROSS AND CREATION

We who call ourselves “Anabaptist” or “Mennonite” seek to live our lives in the shape of the cross. That means we passionately pursue justice for the least, healing for the suffering, and welcome for the outcast. By God’s grace, we embody self-giving love as Jesus did.

So what does living in the shape of the cross have to do with creation? Or with being “green”?

Truth be told, God was green long before being green was popular. And God called people to be green at the dawn of creation. The original job given to humans was to take care of the lush garden of creation, to draw nourishment from it, and to form meaningful relationships both with animals and other humans (Genesis 2:9,15,18-20). And when brokenness came into the story, it affected not only the relationship between God and humans, but also the relationship between humans and the earth. (Genesis 3:14, 17-19)

But brokenness isn’t the end of the story. God’s salvation project—which began with Adam and Eve, and found full expression in Jesus— extends to all creation.  While “modern” Christians sometimes separate God’s plan of salvation for people from God’s plan for the earth, the first followers of Jesus understood salvation of people and the earth as a package deal. The letter to the Colossians puts it this way: “ …all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of [Jesus’] death, his blood that poured down from the cross.” (Colossians 1: 20, The Message; see also Ephesians 1:7-10).

The cross bridges the broken relationship between humans and God, and between people and the earth.  As the Mennonite Church USA prepares to gather in celebration of the reconciling power of Christ’s cross in Pittsburgh, we invite you to join in God’s mission of bringing people and earth and God all back into harmony. Here are some ideas to get you started….

LINKS TO OTHER CONVENTION PAGES

Convention Center Highlights for Mennonite Church USA's biennial convention at the David L. Lawrence Center, Pittsburgh, PA, July 4 - 9, 2011.

Greening Convention Ideas for Youth Groups

Greening Convention Ideas for Adults

Green Guidelines for Conference Planners (2.72 MB PDF)

Mennonite Church USA sustainability page and convention web site

Mennonite Creation Care Network
PO. Box 263 Wolf Lake, IN 46796
PHONE 260-799-5869
FAX 260-799-5875

Luke Gascho provides leadership for MCCN.
Call the # above or email lukeag@goshen.edu.

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