June 3rdWhere Do We Go from Here?
This is the twelfth and last in a series of reflections from Executive Minister Michael Pahl on our new MCM Vision & Mission Statement, approved at our 2026 Gathering.
Over the past several weeks we have been exploring Mennonite Church Manitoba’s new Vision and Mission Statement, approved at our Gathering this past March. There’s more that could be said, but this has allowed me to share some of my thoughts related to this statement and its significance for us as a community of congregations.
Where do we go from here?
How do we live into this vision, making it increasingly a reality among us?
Mennonite Church Manitoba seeks to be a flourishing community of worshiping, learning, and serving congregations grounded in the faithful love of our Creator, where people can find belonging in the Spirit and follow the Way of Jesus together, doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.
A church to belong and be loved,
embraced in the Spirit.
A church to meet Jesus,
following his Way.
A church to do justice, love mercy,
and walk humbly with God.
How do we live out these missional priorities, seeking to fulfill them in our life and work together?
Cultivate a shared Anabaptist-Mennonite identity among our congregations, rooted in the historic Mennonite tradition while being open to other expressions of faith and practice.
Grow and nurture healthy congregations centered on Jesus Christ in which diverse people can belong and be loved.
Call, develop, and support church leaders who can guide the growth and nurturing of our congregations.
Invite and equip our congregations and leaders to bear witness to Jesus by sharing Jesus’ story, living lives of spiritual vitality and compassionate love, and pursuing justice, hospitality, and peace among us and beyond us.
At our 2026 MCM Gathering, congregational delegates spent a good amount of time discussing these things. Notes were taken on these discussions, and these notes were brought to the MCM board for further conversation. Delegates also commissioned the MCM board to develop a three-year strategic plan for us as a regional church. The board has been doing this work since March, and the hope is to have a finalized strategic plan approved by the board in June. This will be made available for congregations at that point.
That’s the first answer to “Where do we go from here?” We as the board, as staff, as committees and congregations will work together over the next three years on some specific goals and tasks that will help us live into our vision and live out our missional priorities.
There’s a second answer I’d like to suggest, though: that congregations take ownership of our collective vision and explore how this vision and these missional priorities for MCM as a whole relate to their ministries as a church in their particular context.
How might your church become more grounded in the faithful love of our Creator?
How might you grow in your love for each other and for others, through your worship, your learning, your service?
How might your church increasingly live out the embrace of God’s Spirit, creating a space of belonging for diverse people, a space where people experience God’s love?
How might you point people to Jesus more clearly, so people can meet him personally, so people can learn about and follow Jesus’ way of life and love?
How might you grow or change in the way you seek justice where there is currently injustice, the way you show mercy to those who need mercy, the way you live out a humble faith in God?
How might your church explore in new ways, in your context, what it means to be Mennonite or Anabaptist, while at the same time linking arms with others who think about and live out their faith differently?
How might you better nurture a unity among you which is centred on Jesus, allowing for diversity on all kinds of other things?
How might you better identify, call, mentor, equip, and support leaders among you who can serve your congregation or even beyond?
How might you more faithfully and boldly bear witness to Jesus in your community, beyond your neighbourhood, or around the world?
I encourage you to explore these kinds of questions as a congregation, and I’d love to hear what you come up with.
“Now to God, who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph 3:20-21).