Vision: Healing and Hope (Mennonite Church, General Conference Mennonite Church, 1995)
Vision
God calls us to be followers of Jesus Christ
and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to grow as communities of grace,
joy and peace, so that God's healing and hope flow through us to the
world.
Priorities
To follow Jesus Christ more faithfully,
we are called to:
- enrich our prayer, worship, and study of the Scriptures;
- offer all that we are and have to God.
To grow as communities of grace, joy and
peace, we want to:
- call and nurture congregational leaders for ministry
in a changing environment;
- practice love, forgiveness, and hospitality
that affirm our diversity and heal our brokenness.
To live as people of healing and hope we
are committed to:
- invite others to faith in Jesus Christ;
- seek God's
peace in our homes, work, neighborhoods, and the world.
A Vision and Goals Committee worked as a joint committee of the Mennonite
Church and General Conference Mennonite Church beginning
in 1991. Simultaneously
another commiittee was working in an Inter-Mennonite Confession of
Faith. Both statements and action toward merger / realignment of
the Mennonite Church, General Conference Mennonite Church and Conference
of Mennonites in Canada were approved at a 1995 joint delegate
assembly assemblies in Wichita, Kansas. The final realignment was approved
in 1999 in St. Louis, Missouri. After the merger, Vision: Healing and
Hope became the vision statement for Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite
Church Canada.
The Vision and Goals Committee was charged with presenting a vision
and setting priorities for the denominations as they entered the 21st
century. The proposed statement was warmly received by the delegates
in 1995 and was ultimately approved with only a handful of dissenting
votes.
Members of the committee included:
General Conference Mennonite Church: Clare Ann Ruth Hefflebower (co-chair),
Abe Bergen, Janeen Bertsche Johnson, Ronald Krehbiel, Alberto Quintela,
Vern Preheim (staff)
Mennonite Church: Donella Clemens (co-chair), Stanley Green, Gerald Hughes,
Eleanor Snyder, Rick Stiffney, James M. Lapp (staff)
Statements by the Mennonite Church General
Assembly state the understanding of the Mennonite Church at the time of
the action. Statements have informal authority and influence in the
denomination; they have formal authority as confirmed or endorsed by area
Mennonite Church area conferences and/or congregations. The effect of such
statements is similar in the General Conference Mennonite Church.
©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.
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MLA style: Mennonite Church and General Conference Mennonite Church. "Vision: Healing and Hope (Mennonite Church, General Conference Mennonite Church, 1995)."
Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1997. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 08 September 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/V586.html>
APA style: Mennonite Church and General Conference Mennonite Church. (1997). "Vision: Healing and Hope (Mennonite Church, General Conference Mennonite Church, 1995)."
Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 08 September 2008 <http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/V586.html>
