Recently in Theme 2: Pastoral, biblical and teaching authority must be strengthened in the Mennonite church Category

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At the Engaging Pastors Summative Conference this past week we began an interesting discussion of Learning 2: "There is an urgent need and opportunity for pastoral, biblical and teaching authority to be strengthened in the Mennonite church." The Summative Conference Listening Committee reported that this particular learning took us "to the land where wild things are."

The wording of the learning was deemed problematic. There was a general sense of ambiguity about what is being asserted here, and a lot of ambivalence about the notion of authority itself. There were many "yes, but" comments made in the various working groups.  We need, the committee said, more clarity about what authority means (what it authorizes one to do, to say, to be), and what it does not mean (what it does not authorize).

As someone who helped identify and craft the language of the learnings I found myself wondering if inserting two additional words might have been helpful. What if we had said, "There is an urgent need and opportunity for understandings of pastoral, biblical and teaching authority to be strengthened in the Mennonite church"? During Summative Conference discussions I found myself wanting to explain that by "authority" we didn't mean "authoritarianism" and that by "strengthening authority" we didn't mean moving people further up the ladder of autocratic rule. I wonder if this notion of the importance of strengthening our understandings of pastoral, biblical and teaching authority might not be closer to the sense of what these working group conversations uncovered, as well as perhaps truer to the experiences of those who participated in Engaging Pastors projects along the way.

The Listening Committee concluded that it may be that engagement with this particular learning has the most potential for substantive change to the Mennonite church. The other two Engaging Pastors learnings relate to structural change, but this one goes "to the heart of the matter," they said. Ultimately the committee called for more teaching about leadership and authority--a call I want to second with the proposed re-wording of this learning.

Jewel Gingerich Longenecker

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A response to Jennifer Davis Sensenig's reflections on theme 2.

The woman in the Bible study reminds me of Bishop N.T. Wright's essay, "How can the Bible be Authoritative?"

I am saying that we mustn't belittle scripture by bringing the world's models of authority into it.  We must let scripture be itself, and that is a hard task.  Scripture contains many things that I don't know, and that you don't know; many things we are waiting to discover; passages which are lying dormant waiting for us to dig them out.  Awaken them..... I suggest that our task is to seize this privilege with both hands, and use it to the glory of God and the redemption of the world.¹

Wright posits true Biblical Authority is not about exercising control, but rather liberating us "to judge and condemn evil and sin in the world in order to set people free to be fully human."  Isn't this our core longing, but far from what we often experience?

Also a recent Anabaptist convert, I was attracted by our historical emphasis on communal discernment of Scriptures. I believe a call for pastoral, biblical and teaching authority must involve saying, "It's okay to wrestle with Scripture, it can handle our questions." So, Jennifer, I'd like to speak to your struggle illustrated by your four "I feel" statements.

A favorite text is Genesis 32, where Jacob wrestles with the Angel and walks away with a new name, a blessing, and a limp.  As I child of God, I too wear the name "One Who Struggles With God," a reminder that an encounter with the Living Word is not without personal cost. I too struggle upon a muddy riverbank. Sometimes, I am given a glimpse of God's face and greet the rising sun holding a blessing.

This struggle appears in Matthew 18:19-20 when Christ says, "Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them'."  The Mishnah says something similar:

When two sit together, and the words of Torah pass between them, the Divine Presence rests between them, as it is written (Mal. 3:16) 'Then those who revered the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord took note and listened and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the Lord and thought on his name (Pirkei Avot 3:3).'

Agreeing takes work. When rabbis say, "the words of the Torah pass between them" or Christ says, "if two of you agree," this isn't passive receptivity or combative argument, this is active yielding to "the Spirit's agenda in Scripture" through communal discernment.


I offer an illustration from former vampire lit author, Anne Rice. In her research, she had been struck by the unusually deep emotions surrounding Biblical scholarship. Curious, she began to read the Bible.

"Something has happened to me in the study of these documents. I find them inexhaustible in a rather mysterious way.  I'm at a loss to explain the manner in which every new examination of the text produces some fresh insight, some new cascade of connections, some astonishing link to another part of the canon, or to the Old Testament backdrop which enfolds the whole...."

Picking up the Gospel on any given morning is picking up a brand new book. There is something so explosive about this body of work that it not only dwarfs the fragile assumptions of the skeptics, it dissolves them to nothingness. And at times, I have the feeling that I will die, with my face down in one of these books, on the verge of some new and momentous question or insight. In sum, there's no visible bottom to this well of meaning. It's unlike my experience with any other written text."² 

She admits she still struggles to reconcile personal views with traditional teachings, but she has committed to yielding to Christ and the Holy Spirit.


What if church leaders testify of their own Living Word encounter and say, "Here am I Lord, teach and send me." I'm convinced through real wrestling with the Word, one is able to authoritatively "proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor (Luke 4:18-19)."

Tyler Hartford

¹This essay was expanded into a 2005 book called  The Last Word: Scripture and the Authority of God -Getting Beyond the Bible Wars.
²From her autobiography, Called Out of Darkness.

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Reflections on theme 2

A woman from the Bible study group told me that she appreciated that I "let the Bible speak" and that I "got out of the way." By God's grace, we all have good days.

As a Bible teacher I feel pressure to be relevant, wise, humorous, brief, prophetic, pastoral, Christ-centered. As a preacher in Mennonite Church USA I feel some responsibility to inspire the next generation of leaders, tell the story of Anabaptist heritage, claim our unity with faithful Christians beyond our tradition, and dissent from imperial religion as it is expressed in North American society. As a woman serving in a lead pastor role, I feel an obligation to express the fundamentally liberating news of Jesus, prove that I'm 'worth the risk' that churches take in calling women, and use my power on behalf of others in solidarity with the oppressed and the lost. As a Mennonite who did not grow up in this tradition I feel a desire to distinguish Menno culture from Christian identity, affirm the tradition and institutions that have shaped the church who welcomed me, and make a way for those who are coming from a variety of histories to share their gifts and build up the church in new ways in the 21st century.

So it is with trembling that I turn to the Bible. What if, in light of the aforementioned concerns, the ol' Word is inadequate? Admitting this question in my gut, I'm learning to yield my agenda to that set by the Holy Spirit in Scripture.

The Anabaptists of the 16th century had a word that attracted me when first I heard it: Gelassenheit. Gelassenheit -- yieldedness -- is essential for establishing trustworthy authority in the church. This yieldedness is not milk-toast self-deprecation or false humility. Our churches and our neighbors don't need any more of that. Gelassenheit is being yielded to the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, releasing one's own kingdom in order to receive the kingdom of God -- for which we pray -- and deliberately trusting Jesus as the only legitimate source for our authority as leaders.

When the Holy Spirit is working through the church and new believers are being added day by day, there are usually a lot of collaborators. We who are leaders in the church must be committed to collaborating with the Holy Spirit. Thus, one of my commitments is to keep biblical work at the center of my ministry, because it is in scripture that we discover the Spirit's agenda.

I believe it will be a good day in Mennonite Church USA when authority is characterized by the patient love and spiritual boldness that caused Jesus to announce and live the kingdom agenda. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim good news to the poor."

My sense of pastoral and teaching authority is not something that I wrapped up in year three of an M.Div. But a regular practice of seeking the Spirit's agenda in scripture has been the best way I've found to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Jennifer Davis Sensenig