Many congregations have settled for using the political process of making decisions in the life of the church rather than pursuing God’s will together using the spiritual discipline of discernment. Decision making results in creating winners and losers. As a result we experience increased fragmentation and division in the body of Christ rather than unity around the revealed will of God.

An example of discerning and doing the will of God is found in Acts 13:2. Here the leaders of the Gentile church at Antioch were meeting to worship and fast together. We do not know if there was some challenge they were facing or if this was a regular discipline for these leaders. As they were before the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke clear instructions to commission Barnabas and Saul to go as missionaries into the Gentile world.

Whenever the goal of church leaders is to discern and do the will of God the church will move forward with courage and power. Unfortunately, the church has opted for decision-making where God’s voice is minimized. Rather we rely on a political process similar to that used by our government to find our way into the future.

In politics power and influence are used to impose our personal agenda on a group or organization. The key element in this process is debate controlled by Roberts Rules of Order. These rules are intended to ensure an orderly process of debate so that division is limited. The political system uses “checks and balances” to control the abuse of power among leaders.

In my eight years as Regional Conference Minister for IN-MI Mennonite Conference when working with congregations going through difficult times I usually found that there was confusion about the balance and use of power and authority in making decisions between the Administrative Boards (church council) and the Board of Elders. Thus a “tug and pull tension” was created that resulted in confusion, tension and increased the use of politics and campaigning in making decisions. Until this pattern was broken the polarity and division continued to increase.

This seems to be the pattern of that the larger Mennonite Church USA is caught up in today. Scripture offers us a better way. It teaches that God speaks when we are committed to obey. This means that when a group of leaders are committed to discerning and doing the will of God than we need to create time and space in which we are able to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. This will require significant times of solitude and silence in the meeting. Romans
12:1-2 shows us the way to discern the perfect will of God.

Any attempt to hear God speak must be preceded by a willingness to do the will of God where obedience is the only option.
-Stanley J Troyer

Stanley J Troyer is a Leadership & Inner Life Coach and former Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference Regional Conference Pastor. 

This is a hard and confusing conversation to have, and throughout my life I've messed it up many times. As a young man, I was not equipped to have this conversation and I deeply hurt people who were simply struggling to make sense of their sexual identity. Even after 25 years of intense study and conversation, friendships with those who struggle, and better awareness of preferred language; I am standing on shaky ground when I talk about this.  I have reached a point where I do believe I am developing a deeper understanding of all seven perspectives.  

The weight of choosing a moral perspective creates a great burden for some to carry. At the center of all I believe and am is Jesus Christ, his teachings, and the sacrifice he made on the cross.  As sin is named, there is a cost that we as believers are also called to carry on behalf of each other. That cost is all of ours to bear, in all areas of our lives, not just sexuality. Grace should be present, and harsh judgment should be absent. At the same time making any moral declaration, no matter how nuanced, will be heard as harsh and judgmental to some.  Grace can also be quickly mistaken for affirmation, and leaders are left in a very difficult place in the midst of a deeply polarized conversation.  As a result, many leaders refuse to speak directly to the questions that are asked, leading to further distrust and separation. Language quickly shifts, complexity is reduced to two sides, and the most extreme views highlight the negatives on the other side.  

The first matrix below helps identify how these perspectives answer two questions.  I am personally committed to the Costly Discipleship perspective.  I believe that leadership from the Unity perspective is not ethically consistent and its effect is to split the church in two.  Leadership from the Costly Discipleship perspective will be most effective at drawing the church together under a common vision and direction. In another post I will say more about why I believe what I believe.

The table at the bottom gives more detail about the seven perspectives on marriage and orientation.  Another version of this table has been passed around in Mennonite circles that does not include the Unity perspective.  I added that column, and also changed some of the wording from the original to better reflect what I have heard in conversations I've had. I'm not an expert with html coding, so this table is the best I could do.  You will need to scroll sideways to see all of the perspectives. 

This is a very quick summary, and I recognize that there are more nuances that could be placed in them, that some may not fully embrace the language used to describe their perspective, and that simply outlining this may be offensive to some.  I am focusing conversation in the comments to suggestions for better and fairer descriptions of perspectives. I will not approve comments that argue for a particular point of view.
-John M Troyer

Adapted from work by:

L. R. Holben's What Christians Think about Homosexuality: 6 Representative Views
Dennis Hollinger The Meaning of Sex
Clyde G. Kratz 

Final editing
John Troyer reworked many of the definitions, added the Unity view, and developed the welcome-marriage matrix

Below is a jpg of the table for printing.

I've now been blogging daily for over a month. I enjoy the interaction and the discipline of writing each day. In the future, I will be doing it six days a week, with Sunday as a blogging Sabbath. Blessings to all of you, and may this be a day of rest and renewal for you.
-John M Troyer

This morning I didn't feel that great. I ate too much at the Relief Sale, stayed up too late, and didn't sleep well.  It's in these moments the challenge of faithfulness is most critical. But how I feel is really the small thing. The critical time for faithfulness is when we are attacked for what we believe.  Sometimes, when we make a home with people, believing we are on the same journey.  

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:29-31 NIV)

We should not be afraid to leave spiritual homes for the sake of the gospel when it becomes clear that our journey must go in a new direction. Jesus gives a very clear promise that we will receive a hundredfold blessing in a new home, even now, in this life.

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38 NIV)

Jesus called us to holiness and to stand for holiness. The world around us celebrates adultery and sin, sometimes even people we thought were faithful followers of Christ. In those circumstances, speak humbly for holiness. Draw on God's power and grace to keep your soul intact in God's kingdom, even when the flesh is weak. God will bless you with a new home if you need one.
-John M Troyer

Normally I sit in a recliner to pray.  This morning I felt God prompting me to kneel.  So I did. 

This is what I sensed God saying: "This is where it starts. When you are on your knees, I lift you to the places I need you to go. When you start out confident and strong, you struggle to let me in to guide you."

Humiliation has a negative connotation and we fight it. But most transformations in nature come out of humiliation.  The seed must be buried in the ground to bring new life. The caterpillar must go into the cocoon to become a butterfly. The tree loses its leaves in the fall and becomes new and fresh in the spring.  There are echoes of scripture in all of these metaphors of humiliation.

There's a beautiful passage that is often called the humiliation of Christ. Allow these words to sink deep into your soul as you read them.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death--
        even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, NIV)


Made nothing.  It's a great place to start.
-John M Troyer

Today I pray for Mennonite Church USA Executive Board as they make decisions about the future of the church. We are at a critical point, not only in decisions about sexuality, but in decisions about racial and ethnic diversity in the church. We cannot have it both ways. If we decide we must make space to affirm the modern sexual practices of the western world, we will lose a vast majority of our racial/ethnic participants in Mennonite Church USA.  If we decide to further diversify in our theology and ethics, we are sending a clear signal that we are a Swiss-German ethnic group that is primarily concerned about keeping our biological sons and daughters even if we need to abandon our historic beliefs.

Iglesia Menonita Hispana (IMH), the organization of Spanish-speaking congregations in Mennonite Church USA, met last summer and gave a clear word to the denomination.  

Here is the link to the story in Spanish and I quote here the relevant section.

Muchos pastores mostraron indignación ante lo que está pasando en la denominación, a tal profundidad que expresaron salir de la Iglesia Menonita USA, si se llega a la aceptación del homosexualismo como estilo de vida cristiano.

Here is an automated translation from Google Translate and here is the quote in English (I did some cleaning up of the automated Google translation).

Many pastors expressed outrage at what is happening in the denomination, so deep that they would leave Mennonite Church USA if it comes to the acceptance of homosexuality as a Christian lifestyle. 

That's an important statement, a statement that deserves to be heard across the church. This is not the voice of an extreme group that sits at the edge of the church. It is from a gathering that represents our Hispanic congregations. Will the Executive Board make decisions that further alienate Hispanic congregations and other racial/ethnic groups?  Will Mennonite Church USA go down a path that alienates almost all of its members who are not of Swiss-German descent? Will leaders reject the counsel of Mennonites and Anabaptists in South America, Africa, and Asia? 

We have paid a great price in our acquiescence to those who want to bless greater sexual license. They seek the blessing of the church for sexual expressions that are contradicted by Scripture and our Confession of Faith.  It is time to stop acquiescing. It will lead to a monochromatic denomination.
-John M Troyer

UPDATE 10/1/2014 - A letter from Iglesia Menonita Hispana to denominational leaders is now posted. I'm including the full text below

Meaning and purpose are what matter most in life, but often we don't live that way.  

The set pattern for many is simply this: Go to college. Get a job. Get married. Find a church (more optional these days). Have children. Spend their childhood chauffering them to all their activities. Become successful in your career. Do more of your hobbies and recreational activities when they leave. Retire so you can do your hobbies and recreational activities full-time. Hang out with grandkids when it works out. Die. Hope you've done enough good throughout your life so you end up in the right place afterward. This is the American dream, the good life.  The more money you can make while you do all this, the better the ending. It's the pursuit of happiness as the grand, illusory goal of life.

It's a pathetic and sad existence. I'm sorry if I offended you with that. I'm not saying any one of the items on the list are bad things. But I am saying that unless there is something bigger and more profound in that list, we have missed out on the real meaning of life. You see, each of us was place here for a purpose, and that purpose is larger than job titles, family roles, hobbies, and earning an income. Instead of retiring, our later years are the culmination of living out that purpose, the crescendo of living life. In Ephesians 2:10 it says, "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." In the original Greek it says we are God's poem.  We are the words of the love letter God is writing to the world.

Your job is part of that poetry.  You have a responsibility to your company, But your biggest responsibility is to be that love letter God is writing into that space.  Parenthood is part of that poetry. But your biggest responsibility is to be that love letter God is writing into your children. Activities that refresh and revive you are important. But their purpose is to equip you and give you energy for calling God has placed on your life. The Jesus calling is not just for those who are pastors and missionaries. All of us are called full-time. Instead of living into that calling, we try to fulfill the script that our world has made. Have fun when your young. Overload your lives with too many things when your kids are young. Relax when they leave. Save your money and relax even more when you retire. 

How do you discover that calling? God has placed a passion in your heart about the brokenness of the world. What makes you weep? What kinds of things give you great joy when they are resolved? What gifts do you bring? What is the kind of thing for which you would be ready to "sell the farm." This is not just a volunteer job at the church, although it may involve that. This is not a volunteer job with a community organization, although it may involve that. This is your life's calling, your reason for existence, your imprint that God wants to leave on the world. If you want more, talk to God about it. Repent if you've been selfish. Let Him make something better happen. Don't settle for the counterfeit version of the abundant life. It's never to late to start, even if you're turning 100 next week.
-John M Troyer

Are you stuck? Does your life matter? Who decides for you if it does matter or not? 

I've always thought of Australia as the "the land down under," on the edge of the earth, far away from all the rest of us.  Of course, on a globe up, down, and center are arbitrary.  Seth Godin's blog post this morning had this map with Australia in the middle.  
Each year, I have the opportunity to travel with a bus full of young adults to a Passion conference in Atlanta. Francis Chan spoke at one session about his friend, a businessman who not only ran a successful business, but in free time rescues trafficked children, gives clean water, feeds the poor, help prostitutes get an education and become nurses. He told Francis Chan his secret: "I wake up every day and say, this is going to be the best day of my life."  

On the way home, we had a flat tire with our bus.  We were delayed for 4 hours as we waited for them to change the tire. These busy college students used that opportunity to have a great time together at McDonalds, making it a great four hours. 

In  1 Peter 2:9 it says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (NIV) When we live in the light of God, we have the opportunity to make each day better than the one before.  Perhaps a day is too long to fathom.  How will you make the next three hours the best three hours of your life?  How will the next five minutes be the best five minutes of your life?  Live now, don't live the regrets of the past or the fears of the future.  If Australia can be in the center of the world, you can live in center of God's plans to give you the best day of your life today.
-John M Troyer

Are you ready to join with me on a new challenge?  Read on to the end to get ready for October 1.

When I hit age 30, I discovered the pounds didn't stay off like they did before.  Over time the weight kept creeping up and up, and I always justified my condition by saying, "Well, I'm not that fat."  But what I chose to compare it with kept on changing.  When a number of friends were successful in losing weight quickly, I decided to try their method.  It worked.  I lost 45 pounds in about 6 months and looked and felt better than I ever had.  

That was two years ago.  Since then, twenty more pounds have added their way back into my life.  And I've struggled to find a way to keep it off.  You see, I get into these modes where I feel like I need to eat whatever is in front of me. Obsessively. Friday night I went to an Amish wedding reception. We had some wonderful food with a lot of variety. At the end of the meai, after sampling all five desserts, they passed candy bars. Not snack size, really big candy bars. Everyone around me chose and tucked it away for later. Not me, I found the large KitKat, opened it, and ate the whole thing right away. I don't know why.

This morning as I read the news, I saw that the Broncos lost to the Seahawks again.  I'm a life-long Colts fan so I know the agony and joy of watching Peyton Manning's teams play football.  Throwing the ball can win you a lot of games, but having a consistent running game is what keeps you in the tough games.  As Manning said it, "Of course being down two scores we became one-dimensional, which is not what you want against these guys.  Being one-dimensional wasn't working for us."  

In losing weight, I've always wanted the magic bullet, the long pass (interestingly enough, called the Hail Mary) I could throw to quickly get the result I wanted.  I've resisted the running game, the daily discipline that makes new habits, guards the weak moments, and exercises daily. Being one-dimensional isn't working for me. 

Too many times we do that in our spiritual lives as well.  We show up at church once a week (or maybe every other week, or once a month) and we figure that will take care of our spiritual needs.  We may be disciplined in other areas of our lives, but this Jesus calling is relegated to the periphery.  Then we look for that conference, that momentous Sunday morning experience that completes the long pass and gets us closer to the goal, But we never develop the running game.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." Hebrews 12:1-2a (NIV)  

In what area do you need to develop a running game, a daily consistent practice that changes your life?  Is about food and exercise like me? Is it in your own spiritual development through Bible reading and prayer? In building relationships with friends, spouse or children?  Join me in this challenge.  Over the next week, choose two things.  One that you throw off, and one that you put on. Don't make them overly ambitious or big.  Just make them small and consistent.  

What might you add? It might be to play with your kids 10 minutes each day. To kiss your spouse in the morning. To read the Bible for 5 minutes each day. To pray 5 minutes each day.  To be in bed by a certain time each night. To keep it to one Netflix show per day in the series you're watching. To say one thing daily about your appreciation for what God has done.

What might you throw off? Count to ten when you feel an urge to blow up in anger. The food after 7 pm. Your extra beverage each day. Shorten hobby time by ten minutes. No phone at the supper table. Cut out a certain category of food completely. Negative conversations about others. Your secret sin.

Then on Wednesday, October 1, we'll start a new adventure together for forty days, until November 9. Tell others what you're planning to do.  I'll keep checking in with you on this blog to see how it's going.  Join the Facebook group I've set up.  We'll call it the Ground Game Challenge.  

If you want to share it with others, here is a template you can you use:  I'm taking the Ground Game Challenge. Starting October 1, I will take 40 days to consistently stop ______________ and will start ______________. Share and join with me if you want to develop a new habit and drop an old one.  #groundgamechallenge bit.do/groundgamechallenge

In recent weeks we've encountered a number of things to cause outrage Whether it's the family lives of professional athletes, interactions between police and racial/ethnic groups, or the torture and killing of journalists and Christians in other countries; these events and the pictures and videos that accompany them generate tremendous outrage. Facebook helps provide an outlet for that rage as we comment and share with others.  

And all of these things we encounter really are awful things.  But context matters, not to excuse or condone the behavior of others, but to shape us into the kind of people we are called to be.  Persecution and unjust murder have been part of our world since Cain took out his jealousy on Abel.  John the Baptist had his head cut off in prison and brought to a party on a platter. It is true that technology has made it possible for today'But it is  Jesus' gruesome death on a cross that is the ultimate act that provides the context for our understanding of violence.  It is that death that ultimately shapes our identity.

In elementary school I was a part of mob violence.  I distinctly remember being on the bus and the group around me began to pick on a girl, saying all kinds of awful things to her.  A strange thing happened inside me.  I found myself almost compelled to enter into their rage with them.  The bullying reached a crescendo, and on behalf of the crowd I reached over and slapped her across the face. That immediately brought everything to a halt. She started to cry and the rest of us suddenly came face-to-face with our own propensity for evil.  I was ashamed of what I had done.  Fortunately, I got in trouble for what I did and was assisted by the principal in doing what I could to make things right with this girl.  But I also could never fully repair the damage that had been done.

We are here in this world to correct injustice.  But our effectiveness only comes when we lay our outrage at the cross, humbled by our own propensity for violating others in pursuit of our own agenda (and especially when we think our outrage gives us license to work on God's behalf to set things right).  Because when we act on that outrage against the sin of others, it is ultimately what will make even greater sinners of us.  We lose sight of the humanity of the "other" and no longer look for Christ's love and redemption in the midst of the situation.

Our greatest weapon against sin is our own broken heart that places us fully into a dependence on God.  The beatitudes in Matthew 5 begin the Sermon on the Mount as a clear articulation that God's favor rests with those who mourn, who are poor in spirit, who are humble, etc. We want to be triumphant, to have our tribe be on the right side of life. There is an internal satisfaction, even smugness, that feels good. But its effect is to blind us to our own sin, to cause us to overcompensate in our anger, and to mask the internal pain we are carrying.  

So the next time you see a video that makes you angry, take a moment to sit for awhile and ask God to reveal ways you have also hurt others. Ask God to help you see His heart for the perpetrators you are angry about.  And then, with the radical love of Christ for the all the people of the world, do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
-John M Troyer