Membership, attendance and donation numbers within Mennonite Church Canada are more modest than they once were. Of course, numbers are not everything, but the trend is something.
It matters how we frame this change. Below are 15 ways to talk and think about the sort of change that leans toward lean. The light-hearted touch at places is in no way meant to downplay the anguish that often accompanies the changes.
1. Embrace more-with-less
Jesus came from a small town. The widow’s mite was enough. Gideon trimmed his army from 22,000, to 10,000, to 300 when facing the Midianites (not directly analogous to our situation). Jesus came from a small town—small is good. Just be who you are and pass the lentil casserole.
2. Be faithful, not successful. God is no math wiz
Numbers are not the point. Focus on faithfulness. Period. (Though keep in mind that bookkeepers and tax collectors do care about math.)
3. Cover your eyes and hope for the best
Decline can be deeply disturbing. It can jeopardize jobs and institutions we love. It can highlight the fact that kids and grandkids may have drifted from the straight and narrow. Talking about it only makes it worse, so just look away, hope for the best and hope the shingles last.
4. Rest
Trying to keep the doors open is tiring. Just ask the nominating committee. Jesus says,“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Step out of the pressure, put aside the fuss and settle into Matthew 11.
5. Claim righteous remnant status
God sometimes uses the faithful few—the true believers—to carry out the divine mission. As long as we know we’re right, that’s what really counts. Popularity would be a sign of watered-down faith. Big church equals bad theology.
6. Focus on the good
Talk of dwindling numbers is a bummer, so, without being in denial or glossing over numbers, simply turn the narrative toward the good. Seek out stories of the very best things happening in the church and proclaim those stories with gusto. Some churches have no decline anxiety; let those stories light fires.
7. Pray for an Old White People Revival
This may be too blunt or too unorthodox, but there are a lot of older white people in many MC Canada congregations. What if that’s exactly God’s plan?
If numbers are flagging, rather than start with a youth outreach strategy (i.e. buying a drum kit), get down on your knees (exception for those with arthritis and artificial knees) and pray for revival among those in the pews right now.
Maybe the answer is right here, right now. Maybe silver hair, rickety joins and warm hearts are what God needs. Is not the New Testament a tale of the unlikely?
8. Recast decline as success.
This is delicate. Canadian Mennonite has reported numerous cases of churches closing, downsizing, selling property or sharing their buildings. Sometimes these stories are framed as successes even if the backstory is the precipitous decline or end of a congregation.
Sometimes—not always—the success hinges on the financial appreciation of private property that was, at one point, neither private nor property. Sometimes congregations can be generous because property values have risen so much. It feels too harsh to mention it, but also necessary.
And again, no matter the circumstance, the pain of decline is real.
9. Lament loss and celebrate new foundations
The book of Ezra tells the story of the rebuilding of the temple after the Israelites return from exile. Much effort goes into the rebuilding. People contribute as they are able. And when the “builders lay the foundation of the temple of the LORD,” the people celebrate. But amid the shouts of joy, “many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice.” The new start did not match the old glory.
The people could not distinguish the shouts of joy from the weeping. Multiple narratives can coexist.
10. Shoot the ecclesial moon
A CM editorial from April 2023 reflected on a bold church planting resource from Mennonite Church Eastern Canada by saying it was as if the writers “missed the memo about the North American church being semi-doomed.” They don’t wring their hands over numbers; they proclaim a vision.
To start the document, Norm Dyck writes: “I am convinced more so now than ever before that every neighbourhood deserves a Jesus-centred, disciple-making peace presence.”
11. Plan for mediocrity
The same April 2023 editorial referred to the writings of Mary Jo Leddy, a retired theology professor who lives and works with refugees at Romero House in Toronto. In her book Radical Gratitude, she observes that faith groups working for social change often court failure “because they [are] not really convinced of their own ability to make any change.” A lack of belief leads groups to essentially plan for mediocrity, or worse. “Powerlessness corrupts,” Leddy writes.
While there is a place for holy weakness, and while success-based thinking can derail faith, Leddy would have us question what our planning says about our belief and expectations.
12. Believe big
“The church that we must be envisioning for our grandchildren is more compelling than the one some of us are currently imagining. Our current imagination has to do with how we can keep going with what we have here right now. What we must envision comes directly from Acts 2 where the Spirit of God opens everything up to all peoples, all cultures and everyone experiences the movement of the Holy Spirit. Not only are their lives changed but everything around them is transformed.” – Fanosie Legesse, MCEC intercultural minister
13. Blaze a new way in the wilderness.
“Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing…. I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honour me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.” (Isaiah 43:16-21).
14. Lean on the past
Our history is a rich blessing. Looking back can provide a sense of reassurance. Nostalgia is not all bad.
15. Accept that grass withers and God endures (Isaiah 40)
We are but a blip in a far bigger, longer story. Chill out and let God be God. The church is God’s.
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