April 1st

What Goes Into an “Identity”?

This is the third in a series of reflections from Executive Minister Michael Pahl on our new MCM Vision & Mission Statement, approved at our 2026 Gathering.

Who are you?

I am Michael Pahl. I am a white, straight, middle-aged, middle-class man. I am Canadian. I am Executive Minister for Mennonite Church Manitoba. I am human—a bipedal, terrestrial, mostly hairless mammal. I am a Christian—specifically, an Anabaptist, and more specifically, a Mennonite. I am a husband, a father, a son, a brother, an uncle, and—since late last year—a grandfather.

I am a violinist and a reader of murder mysteries set in northern European countries. I am 183 cm tall (give or take). I am living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Planet Earth, Solar System, Oort Cloud, Local Interstellar Cloud, Local Cavity, Orion Arm, Milky Way, Local Group, Virgo Supercluster, Laniakea Supercluster, the Universe.

There are many ways we can identify who we are. When someone asks, “Who are you?” or when you’re in that meeting and the host says, “Tell us about yourself,” there are countless things we could say. How we choose to describe who we are, how we identify ourselves—our identity—depends on our context.

Typically, though, when we’re asked who we are, we’ll say our name, we’ll state our relevant role, we’ll name our pertinent relationships, and we’ll mention where we’re from. Just the facts—not our feelings about these things, not our hopes and dreams, let alone our anxieties and fears.

This is the idea behind the Identity piece of our new Mennonite Church Manitoba Vision and Mission Statement: “Mennonite Church Manitoba is an Anabaptist-Mennonite community of congregations covenanted together for meaningful fellowship, mutual support, and shared ministry. We are a regional church of Mennonite Church Canada, which is a member of Mennonite World Conference.”

This identity statement names us, situates us in a particular geographical, historical, and religious context, gives a basic description of what we do, and points to our most direct family relationships. More could be said, of course, but that’s like any answer to the question, “Who are you?”

Our identity is important. It both limits us and opens doors for us.

My identity as a middle-aged man means that I can’t take icy steps two at a time anymore. But my identity as a white man, and especially as a white, straight, middle-class man, opens doors for me that often remain locked for those who are not white, not straight, not middle-class, not a man.

Because our identity both limits us and opens doors for us, it’s important that we work to understand who we are—for it’s out of our identity that we can develop realistic expectations for ourselves. When we understand who we are, we can dream about possibilities for our future in ways that are reasonable and workable.

The fact that we are an “Anabaptist-Mennonite community of congregations” means we have a shared heritage, theology, and practices. This limits us—we’re never going to become Roman Catholic or Southern Baptist, for instance, and we’ll always be characterized by a deep desire to follow Jesus’ teachings and way of life in community toward the reconciliation of all things. But this also opens doors for us, giving us permission to explore in new and creative ways what it means to be faithful to Jesus in our context, what community looks like for us, what a commitment to peace entails.

The fact that we are “covenanted together for meaningful fellowship, mutual support, and shared ministry” likewise limits us. We’re committed to each other in these ways, which means we’ll always strive to move together in these ways as much as possible. But this also opens doors for us, because we have found we can do so much more together than any one congregation could ever do on its own.

The fact that we are “a regional church of Mennonite Church Canada, which is a member of Mennonite World Conference,” similarly both limits us and opens doors for us. It means we are connected in direct ways to these other congregations and denominations, sharing a broader—but still defined—sense of what it means to be Mennonite or Anabaptist. Specifically, these relationships mean we are guided by a particular Confession of Faith and a set of Shared Convictions. But these relationships also open doors for us, connecting us to nationwide and global companions for mutual learning, support, and ministry.

Our identity is important, whether as individuals, as congregations, or as a regional church. It both limits us and opens doors for us. And so it is out of this identity that we can dream together in realistic ways, laying out our vision of who we believe God is calling us to become, and naming our missional priorities in this journey together. More on these to come.