Close to one year since the announcement of the formation of an alternative ministerial calling system for LGBTQ Mennonites, changes have been announced to Mennonite Church USA’s process for receiving and holding Ministerial Leadership Information forms (MLI’s) that will allow LGBTQ individuals to participate in the denominational call system. The MLI is an application that all candidates who wish to be credentialed as a minister by MC USA must complete. In addition to collecting basic applicant information, the MLI process includes the collection of references and background checks. The MLI process is administered by the Leadership Development office of MC USA’s Executive Board staff.

At their spring 2017 meeting, EB members read and had opportunity to respond to an MC USA staff recommendation that LGBTQ pastoral candidates be allowed to complete the MLI and have their information sent to area conference staff. The recommendation grew out of an Executive Board discussion at its November 2016 meeting in North Newton, Kansas, where the board clarified that it wants to focus on resourcing and casting a vision rather than regulation across the denomination.

Patricia Shelly, MC USA moderator and chair of the EB, said that the board has been listening to feedback from leaders across the church, including the Constituency Leaders Council, which includes representatives from area conferences and denomination-wide constituency groups. She noted that feedback seemed to be pointing toward a desire across the denomination for the board to focus less on regulation and more on vision.

In 2015, CLC tested a peer review process to engage area conferences who were at variance for choosing to credential LGBTQ pastors. The first process focused on Central District Conference’s decision to license Mark Rupp for ministry at Columbus (Ohio) Mennonite Church. According to Shelly, there was not energy at CLC to pursue future review processes.

In his report to the MC USA Executive Board, an excerpt later shared with area conference ministers to announce the change, Executive Director Ervin Stutzman wrote, “As a staff, we have been considering what it means to “live into” the implications of the decision made by the Executive Board in our November 2016 meeting, where we clarified that the focus of the board should be on visionary resourcing rather than regulation, and acknowledged that credentialing issues belong to area conferences. Consequently, we think it best to allow the area conferences to determine the information which should be posted about their ministers. … However, to avoid offense to conference ministers who oppose this practice, we do not intend to publish the names of such persons on a sheet that lists available ministers.”

Terry Shue, MC USA director of leadership development, notes that in some ways this is a return to staff practice prior to 2012, when staff would receive MLI’s from openly LGBTQ individuals but not distribute or post them unless requested. In 2012, the Executive Board instructed staff to stop processing MLI’s for LGBTQ individuals.

In addition, the recommendation suggested that openly LGBTQ pastors who have been credentialed by their conference would also have their name listed in the MC USA database. This reverses a July 2014 Executive Board action that stated that credentials granted to LGBTQ pastors would not be recognized by the denomination or their credentials listed in the ministerial database.

The recommendation stated that the staff would “initiate this method of handling data” unless the Executive Board advised against it. The EB did not vote on these changes, but also did not raise concerns about the proposed direction. The EB had discussed possible changes to the MLI process and offered counsel to staff on previous occasions, beginning in September 2015.

“For me, the heart of the staff decision was based on an agreement that the Executive Board will honor the processes of individual conferences regarding matters of credentialing, since our polity gives them that authority,” wrote Stutzman in an April 19 e-mail. “We are leaving it up to individual conferences to decide how they will honor both the Membership Guidelines and the Forbearance Resolution [two resolutions passed by MC USA delegates at the 2015 MC USA assembly].”

An e-mail from Nancy Kauffmann and Terry Shue of the MC USA Leadership Development office was sent to area conference leaders in early April 2017, informing them of the changes.

Shue said that “there were conference ministers that were very pleased with this [decision] and others that were not.” He also notes that a number of the conferences who would have been most opposed to the change have already left the denomination.

After the announcement, members of the Reconciling Minister Project, an initiative launched in April 2016 to help LGBTQ candidates enter ministerial search processes, are having ongoing conversation about the response to this shift. The initiative is jointly sponsored by the Inclusive Mennonite Pastors network and Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests.

Lloyd Miller, a former pastor and conference minister, is serving as Reconciling Minister and leader for the initiative. Miller said he was grateful that the denomination is opening up their process, but that there is still work to be done, especially since LGBTQ candidates still will not be listed in the public candidate pool and area conference ministers will have to directly request their files. Miller wants to remain available to support any candidate and help them navigate denominational systems as they consider applying for a pastoral or credentialed ministry assignment.

“A queer candidate still has to go to extraordinary lengths to get their name in front of a search committee,” said Miller. “That puts restrictions on a member of MC USA and transcends the denomination’s responsibility.”

Shue said that Executive Board members and staff are doing their best to navigate through a challenging time when area conferences are not in agreement. “As staff, we are trying to serve area conferences, but also responsible and accountable to the Executive Board as we live into these two resolutions in a way that has integrity,” he said.