Matt Prichard shares his view that “to revitalize the church and effectively address global issues, Mennonite communities must focus on three key areas: deep community engagement, revitalized peacemaking and radical hospitality.”
This article first appeared in Leader magazine, Spring 2025, copyright © MennoMedia. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Leader offers practical ideas for effective ministry in your church with feature articles, Leader Tips, and worship series from an Anabaptist perspective. Subscribe here.
Matt Pritchard serves as the associate conference minister for emerging communities of faith in Central District Conference of Mennonite Church USA. He is a member of Atlanta Mennonite Church in Georgia, and The Intention Church, a peace church community that meets online.
____________________________________________________
Our world is crying out for the peacemakers! Historically persecuted for our pacifist beliefs, now more people are drawn to Anabaptist peace church theology as a force for good rather than a reason for hostility. We face a critical choice: embrace these seekers and allow them to shape the faith or retreat into insular traditions, risking irrelevance, and impotency. The future of the church — and potentially democracy, justice, environmental health, and humanity — may depend on this decision.
Focus on deep community engagement, revitalized peacemaking, and radical hospitality.
To revitalize the church and effectively address global issues, Mennonite communities must focus on three key areas: deep community engagement, revitalized peacemaking, and radical hospitality.
1. DEEP COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: OBSERVING AND LISTENING
Mennonite churches must become close observers of our surrounding communities. As Jesus taught, we must go out if we are to intimately understand our neighbors’ needs and aspirations (Luke 10:1–12; 25–37). By building authentic relationships with local peacemakers and social justice leaders, we can better understand how God is working and how our faith community can join in it.
A Practical Exercise
- Go out. Visit parks, restaurants, libraries, events, volunteer organizations, and other gathering places near your church building. If your church is focused differently (for example, serving the LGBTQ community or certain ethnic groups), focus on the places where your constituents gather. Collectively as a church community, commit a significant number of hours (maybe one hundred) to intentionally observing and listening in your community. Assign these locations and visit in pairs for about an hour at a time at various times of day and days of the week.
- Observe the community. As you observe, note the demographics of the people you observe. What relationships are they forming? What are they doing? Do you find any of their actions or conversations surprising and why?
- Watch for God’s work. Consider how you see God at work in the community. Identify people of peace and reflect on what makes them peacemakers.
- Bridge the gap. Compare your observations with your church community. Identify potential barriers to connection and welcome. What opportunities to serve your wider community have emerged?
- Reflect and act. Discuss your observations with one another. Based upon your observations and attentiveness to the Spirit, what actions might you try to practice peacemaking with your community in deeper ways? “Engage in tangible acts of peacemaking.”
2. REVITALIZED PEACEMAKING: ENLIVENING OUR HISTORY
Mennonites have a rich history of peacemaking. We must resurrect and retell these stories in ways that resonate with contemporary challenges. Equipped with five hundred years of experience, we must engage in tangible acts of peacemaking, aligning our actions with God’s call to promote the welfare of the city, as expressed in Jeremiah 29:7.
A Practical Exercise
- Celebrate faithfulness. As a congregation, read and celebrate the stories in Radicals and Reformers: A Survey of Global Anabaptist History by Troy Osborne and the upcoming Faith in Full Color: A Tapestry of Anabaptist Stories. Both books are a part of MennoMedia’s Anabaptism at 500 resources. Which of these stories inspire you most and why? What surprises you? Revisit your favorite stories, but this time prayerfully imagine yourself, others from your church, and those you observed in your community as the main characters. How might the story need to bend to accommodate this new context?
- Be inspired to act. How might your church live out these stories? What is a next step or a short-term experiment that you can try? God is inviting us to learn and grow. It’s even okay for us to fail.
- Join the cloud of witnesses. Write and tell stories about how your church community embodies what it means to be Mennonite. Share them in worship and with others. How do you understand yourselves as a key part of the tapestry of the church’s faithfulness over time?
3. RADICAL HOSPITALITY: BECOMING WELCOMING BEACONS
Mennonite churches must become welcoming beacons in our communities. As the early church did in Acts 2, we should be visible and accessible to people on the margins, demonstrating genuine care for neighbors. By inviting newcomers to join our peacemaking journey, our churches can become spaces of belonging and shared purpose. Going to a new church for the first time can be scary and risky. It’s our responsibility as a church community to shoulder as much of that cost as possible. Being a peacemaker is difficult; being part of a Mennonite church community should make it easier and not distract from it.
A Practical Exercise
- Imagine seeking. Imagine you are looking for a church exactly like yours but don’t know what it means to be Mennonite or Anabaptist. Avoiding theological and denominational words, what search terms would you use? Can the average person understand what you care about from your website? Do you intentionally communicate that someone who shares your church’s values is welcome and can belong? Stop and look at your church gathering space from the road. Beyond denominational affiliation, are there signals as to what your church community is about? How would someone who shares your values but comes from a different background know they are welcome?
Be visible and accessible to people on the margins.
- Imagine them coming. Is your community accessible to someone who has never been to a church before but who shares most or all your values? How do they know what to do and when? Do they feel belonging and welcome without being exposed? Do they experience your peacemaking in action? What three feelings do you want them to walk away with? What things could you do differently to make your gatherings more accessible to people from diverse backgrounds so that they walk away with these feelings and hopefully return? Do you intentionally connect with newcomers outside of worship in ways that build trust and relationships?
- Ask around. Why do people who aren’t already Mennonite come to your church community? Why do they stay? What do they like about it? What things have caused and still cause dissonance for them?
- Assess and implement. Focus on creating a welcoming environment where newcomers feel valued and belong. As you learn, change a few things. Try a few things. Invite a friend to come and pretend like they don’t know you. After their visit, ask them what the experience was like.
Bold action is key. But it doesn’t need to be big. Instead, focus on small, immediate steps.
Don’t wait for a perfect plan to emerge. Avoid getting bogged down in creating new mission statements, visions, or goals. Don’t overhaul your website or worship space. And don’t wait for universal agreement before trying something new.
Now is the time to act. Experiment with small changes and be open to learning from both successes and failures. If something doesn’t work, stop and reflect. As 2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds us, “We live by faith and not by sight.” Taking risks is essential for spiritual growth. By continually evaluating our efforts, seeking God’s guidance, and adapting quickly, we can become more effective in serving our world.
Will you lead your church in welcoming the peacemakers?
By embracing deep community engagement, revitalized peacemaking, and radical hospitality, Mennonite churches can become vital forces for transformation. Partnering with God in this challenging work, we ensure the future of our faith. More importantly, we contribute to a more just, connected, and peaceful world for all. It’s a good time to be Mennonite!
The views and opinions expressed in this blog belong to the author and are not intended to represent the views of the MC USA Executive Board or staff.
Interested in submitting a blog for Menno Snapshots? Please see our blog guidelines here.