It is no secret and no surprise: Goshen College has been in many ways subverted – turned from below – by our inquiring and passionate students and faculty and the transformational changes they have brought about. John D. Roth, professor emeritus of history and a leading Anabaptist-Mennonite scholar, illuminates and honors that history in: "A Mennonite College for Everyone(?): Goshen College and the quest for identity and inclusion, 1960-2020."
Abortion policy matters to me as a Christian advocate for human dignity and nonviolence, a global health professional, a woman, a close friend of people on both sides of the political divide, and a college president committed to supporting our students and employees through this transition. As I process the new realities, and my own words and actions, several commitments arise for me.
It seems to me that one of the truly useful things the church – including Goshen College – can do in the face of the climate crisis is lead us into a new story.
“How can you be inclusive if you are Christ-centered?” This is one of the questions still ringing in my ears from a recent regional gathering. Is it possible that in this time of acute and painful need for us to get along better, our most radical vocation is to go deeper — rather than thinner — on our Anabaptist-Mennonite identity, because to be Christ-centered is true fuel and seed for such a new creation?
We have become afraid of deep differences because they too often manifest in words or other expressions that cause pain — wittingly or unwittingly. I submit that it is not our visible differences (race or ethnicity or gender per se) that inflict pain or cause anxiety. It is our viewpoints and how we express them.
I refuse to succumb to the temptation to hitch my wagon to this political season and its outcome. I refuse, but honestly I struggle. As emotions swirl and fear about the outcome — or unclear outcome — rises, how do we stay grounded in another larger reality?
We all know the feeling when we’ve been part of a conversation that really mattered — one in which people were fully present, spoke honestly and clearly, and where ideas were formed and tested. We need more of that — not only at Goshen College and all of our places of work, but also in our churches and communities.
I am writing from Kansas City at the 2019 Mennonite Church USA Convention (aka #MennoCon19), at the end of a rich and spiritually stimulating week. It has been surprising and wonderful to be surrounded by thousands of Mennonites. Here are a few of my personal highlights.
Why does Goshen College exist? In what ways would the world be diminished if we did not do what we do? If ever there was a time to be crystal clear about our mission, this is it.
I’ve been pondering metaphors for what Mennonite Higher Education Association (MHEA) is within the Anabaptist-Mennonite movement of 2019.
