I am so happy that we are a part of Central District Conference. I have seen it from the inside for the past several years as a member of the Ministerial Committee. One of our central foci is the interviewing of new leaders for licensure and ordination as pastors. I am very impressed with the new pastors who will lead us into the future.

I am also very impressed with those in leadership on the Leadership Council which is comprised of all of the committee members. There are some very good people, living into Anabaptist values with energy and compassion and vibrant ideas.

And there are a real variety of congregations. Of course there are lots of traditional Mennonite congregations who worship and are organized a lot like us and yet, each unique. Central District is no longer geographically defined because it became a safe place for churches to affiliate who come to see themselves as open and welcoming and needed a new place to grow.

There are also congregations which are very different from ours. One organizes itself around the table, gathering to share food, communion and welcoming folks at all stages of faith. One church is completely on-line. There are deep discussions, a Bible Study and a book discussion. It now has people from various parts of the world.  Another calls people together for peace some Sundays as a house church, one Sunday as a wild church, every other month for a hymn sing. Besided the pastor the staff consists of a poet and a Godly Play leader.

What is church? In Central District, as throughout the world, it is a wild variety of gatherings which meet the needs of the folks who call it church. What a joy to be a part of such diversity with, at the core, deeply held similarities.

Robin Walton