Creation care appears four places in the final document crafted from participant input at the Future Church Summit, the visioning process that took place at the Mennonite Church USA’s biennial convention July 4 to 8. This means it was a concern for multiple people, not just a few voices.
“It was good to see creation care and its importance to the Church emerging through the processes of the Summit. We recognize this as a worldwide issue in which we need to be engaged,” observed one member of the theme team.
About the Future Church Summit
The Summit included approximately 600 people. Two thirds were delegates from congregations and the additional participants were invited in order to more fully represent the diversity of the Mennonite Church USA. Table groups equipped with I-pads sent responses to a “theme team” that identified main ideas emerging from as many as 1200 data points.
The theme report lists the questions Summit participants responded to, followed by bullet points summarizing the ideas gathered from table groups. While creation care was not much in evidence during the time devoted to Mennonite history, it appeared repeatedly on questions oriented toward the future.
Locally, nationally and globally
“Engage creation care issues locally, nationally and globally,” appears in response to the question, “What does it mean to follow Jesus as Anabaptists in the 21st century?”
Climate change was named in response to the question, “What can we take action on in response to the World’s needs?”
Creation care also came up as an example of things of value that we do together. Likewise, respondents thought of creation care issues when describing the collective voice and influence that being part of MCUSA gives them.
“It was good to see creation care and its importance to the Church emerging through the processes of the Summit,” observed one member of the theme team. “We recognize this as a worldwide issue in which we need to be engaged.”
Read the Future Church Summit Theme Report