Following up from Annual Meeting table groups

      At our 2013 Annual Meeting, we posed the following question to our delegates: “What do you believe are the most pressing matters of faith and life where the church needs to do spiritual/biblical discernment in order to have an effective witness in the world?”  The written responses from the table groups can be summed up in the statement “We are concerned about how the faithful church discerns the way of Jesus as we engage the culture in which we find ourselves.”

      At Conference Board meeting in September, the board decided to appoint a task group to develop a study document for congregations with a study guide for 4-6 sessions. This document would provide specific steps for biblical discernment in an Anabaptist/Mennonite perspective for congregations to learn from and practice applying to specific issues of our time.

      The goal is to have this study ready for congregations to use by January. We would like ten  congregations that would be willing to use it and give feedback on it by May 31. (The study can be provided in other languages.) If your congregation is willing to pilot this study between January and May, please call Shana Boshart to let her know. (See contact info below.)

      Amanda Beachy, pastor at Washington (IA); Seth McCoy, pastor at Thirdway (St. Paul); Nathan Ramer, pastor at Wellman (IA); Nick Detweiler Stoddard, pastor at Salem (SD); and Matt-Troyer Miller, pastor at Wood River (NE) have agreed to serve on the task group. Shana Peachey Boshart will represent the ministry staff on the team.

      Find a summary of the table group responses and the proposal for the task group on the For Delegates page under the "CPMC at Work" tab.