In 2021, the National Faith and Life Team (NFLT) updated the Code of Personal and Ministry Ethics for the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (CCMBC).
Assenting to the Code is a requirement for credentialed pastors/leaders in the denomination, and also for CCMBC board members and staff.
According to NFLT Director Ken Esau, there were two main reasons for this update.
First, the previous code was “primarily a list of sinful behaviours to avoid rather than a code of positive commitments and aspirations appropriate to leading in the way of Jesus.”
Second, the updated version “makes explicit what was assumed to have been obvious. It is clear that we can no longer make assumptions like that.”
Among those things CCMBC can no longer make assumptions about is the topic of LGBTQ+ and same-sex marriage.
In the pre-2021 version, the Code asked pastors and leaders to commit themselves to “reserving sexual expressions of intimacy exclusively for the context of a covenantal marriage between a man and a woman” and to “upholding the sanctity of marriage by not solemnizing, officiating, co-officiating, or otherwise affirming any marriage other than between one man and one woman.”
In the updated version, pastors and leaders are now asked to commit themselves to “living out my sexuality in the way of Jesus’ Kingdom by limiting sexual expressions of intimacy exclusively to the context of covenantal marriage between a man and a woman. This also means avoiding any communication or actions (e.g., solemnizing or officiating in a marriage/civil ceremony) which is in conflict with this understanding of God’s vision for the expression of human sexual intimacy.”
For me, an interesting addition to the updated Code on this topic is the word “communication.” What does that mean? I asked Ken that question.
“In terms of your question, communication and actions do need to be consistent if one claims a posture of affirmation of the MB Confession of Faith,” he said, adding accountability in relation to these commitments is to the respective provincial conference office.
As for the word “communicate” itself, Ken said that “would primarily involve preaching and teaching, speaking and social media.”
What about attending a same-sex wedding—would that violate the Code? After all, a pastor who attended one would be “communicating” something by his or her presence.
Said Ken: “When it comes to making decisions about actions not clearly articulated in the Code of Personal and Ministry Ethics, I'm assuming that the individual would seek discernment from both their local church leadership and from provincial conference leadership. I would want to leave these decisions to the prayerful wisdom of individuals who can discern with full knowledge of the situation.”
I had another question for Ken. Would the prohibition on communicating about LGBTQ+ and same-sex marriage also apply if a pastor or leader wanted to hold a discussion about the topic in his or her church—a discussion that allowed for discussion of different sides of the topic?
Ken replied: “A credentialed pastor is expected to facilitate important conversations within the local congregation that encourage the fulfillment of the church's mission. The question is more about the nature and purposes of those discussions. A local MB congregation should be practicing ‘community discernment,’ taking the scripture-based convictions in the Confession of Faith and exploring how these can be applied more effectively in the local church context. Credentialed leaders should certainly lean into this sort of community discernment process.”
That would be different, he said, “from a local MB congregation (or a local credentialed leader) that begins with a blank slate and explores the possibility of adopting new ethical convictions in conflict with our existing convictions (even if the church employs a ‘community hermeneutic’). This objective and this process disregards and violates the church's mutual obligations to the larger MB family provincially and nationally.”
(He added a link about the difference between “community discernment” and “community hermeneutic.”)
I also asked Ken whether the Code might also be applied to others in leadership in Mennonite Brethren churches—for example, those on leadership commissions or church councils.
He replied: “The NFLT did notice that, unless a local church deliberately crafts something, there are many leaders in MB churches who do not have any explicit code of ethics. This includes pastors who have not yet gone through the credentialing process (something that should happen within two years of job start), pastors who are less than half-time, and lay leaders of various kinds.
“This does not seem to fit with best practices, so a version is available for local churches who want to have a more consistent approach with all of their leaders—credentialed and non-credentialed. In this case, the non-credentialed leaders would be accountable directly to the local church itself. As far as I am aware, this is a voluntary option for local churches.”
As for the updated Code itself, it is being implement ed across all the provincial Mennonite Brethren conferences on different schedules.
B.C. and Saskatchewan have already posted the updated Code on their websites.
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