Homosexuality in the Mennonite Church: The Pittsburgh Experiment

Every two years, Mennonite Church USA holds a biannual convention to bring together Mennonites from all over the country. It is an opportunity to reunite with old friends, to worship God, and to celebrate a religious heritage that goes that goes all the way back to the Reformation in Europe. 

This convention also gives Mennonite Church USA’s delegate body—composed of representatives from member conferences and affiliated organizations—a chance to decide the direction that the broader denomination will take. And where I was always more concerned with the other aspects of the convention, it is the workings of the delegate body that I now find interesting.

And it is specifically the issue of inclusion of homosexuality that I particularly direct most of my attention.

Homosexuality in the Mennonite Church

One of the primary issues facing the Mennonite Church in North America today is the issue of inclusion for homosexuals in the church. 

Granted, this issue has been discussed for a long time now; but prior to 2009, a gag order had been in place, essentially putting this particular discussion on hiatus for decade or so (that is, at the denominational and conference levels anyway. Individual congregations could still have discussions as they so pleased).

The gag order understandably came into place due to the newly forming Mennonite Church USA—presumably to allow the new denomination to settle-in after the merger from two separate denominations, and iron out all of the kinks that goes along with that before engaging in such a divisive issue. 

So, for ten years, no one was allowed to express their opinions openly concerning homosexuality…that is, until Columbus ’09.