Inclusive peace church planting & emerging communities of faith
Are you looking for your people?
Central District Conference of Mennonite Church USA walks alongside new communities that follow Jesus in the way of peace, love their neighbors in tangible ways, and welcome LGBTQ+ people instead of trying to change them. If church has hurt you, you’re welcome here too. Here’s a quick way to tell if we’re a fit.
A quick gut check
You might be one of us if…
- You follow Jesus and take the Sermon on the Mount seriously.
- You believe Jesus’ way is nonviolent, and you’re wary of war, Christian nationalism, and trusting in guns.
- Loving your neighbors means showing up: shared meals, sanctuary, mutual aid, repair.
- You want women, LGBTQ+ people, people of every race and culture, and people with disabilities to belong and to lead, as pastors and lay leaders. No one shut out or “fixed.”
- You’re post-evangelical, deconstructing, or reconstructing, with honest questions about the Bible, science, suffering, or other faiths, and Jesus still matters to you.
- You’ve been through hard seasons, maybe even hurt by church, and you want people who will sit with you instead of handing you easy answers.
- You’d rather share leadership, keep things simple, and gather around a table than put on a show.
Nodding along? You might be an Anabaptist and not know it yet. Mennonites have walked this path for 500 years.
Moveable Feast in public witness in Chicago.
What we care about
What you can count on with us
Jesus’ way of peace
We’re a historic peace church. We follow Jesus by rejecting violence and resisting injustice, and we read the Bible together and make decisions as a community.
Loving our neighbors, tangibly
Our congregations shelter neighbors facing deportation, direct reparations to Black- and Indigenous-led work, work to undo the Doctrine of Discovery, and share mutual aid when cuts hit, often alongside partners like Mennonite Action. See how.
LGBTQ+ people belong here
Queer and trans folks worship and lead among us, and LGBTQ+ pastors are credentialed in our conference. We love communities that are fully affirming, and many of ours are. It isn’t a requirement to join us, and we gladly walk with communities still on that journey. What we don’t do is treat LGBTQ+ people as problems to be fixed.
Women lead
Women pastors and leaders serve at every level, including many of the pastors of our emerging communities. Learn more.
Safe and accountable
Our pastors are credentialed and accountable, CDC has a Church Safety Coordinator, and anyone can confidentially report ministerial misconduct.
Rooted in your context
We won’t hand you a template. Contextualizing ministry is part of decolonizing it, so your community takes shape from your own neighborhood, culture, language, and people: house church, dinner church, wild church, online, or Sunday morning. Lay-led is welcome, no MDiv required.
Many ways to be church
We love lots of ways of being church
Your community can take whatever shape fits your people and your place. Here’s how communities across our conference are doing it.
How we worship
Contemplative, contemporary, and traditional worship; hymn sings; circle worship; dance and movement; worship retreats; and wild church outdoors.
How we gather
House churches, dinner churches, and online churches; progressive, lay-led, and multiracial congregations; discussion-based and small-group communities; churches for families and kids, with Godly Play; shared buildings and Brethren and Mennonite partnerships; Spanish-speaking communities; and worship in your own language.
How we serve
Service-centered and neighborhood churches; sanctuary congregations; community gardens; farm church; English classes; and disability-inclusive communities.
Dreaming of something we haven’t imagined yet? Let’s talk.
I haven’t had to fracture any parts of my identity.
Jessica, The Intention Church · source
Christ is more present in my life in our gatherings than any other time in my life.
Our emerging communities
Communities who found their people
Several don’t have “Mennonite” in their name, and most don’t look like what you might picture when you hear “church.”
From left, Celeste Kennel-Shank, Zac Lowing, and Jeanie Wallenstein celebrating Twelfth Night and Epiphany January 6, 2024 in the Community of the Holy Trinity, where Moveable Feast has Sunday services. [Zac’s T-shirt says C.L.A.W.S. Cat Lovers Against White Supremacy]
Chicago, Illinois
Moveable Feast
An emerging community of faith rooted in the Mennonite tradition but open to all, gathering for reflection, renewal, and community building.
The Intention Church in prayer.
Online
The Intention Church
A (mostly digital) gathering of believers committed to following the narrow way of Jesus through humility, justice seeking, peacemaking, and embodying love.
A Peace by the Waters Wild Church gathering.
Portland, Maine
Peace by the Waters
An emerging Anabaptist Christian community seeking to follow Jesus in our time and place, with house church, Wild Church, and hymn sings.
Members of Grand Rapids Mennonite Fellowship worship together. Photo credit: Alaina Dobkowski.
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids Mennonite Fellowship
An inclusive, justice seeking, peacemaking community: intergenerational, Jesus-centered, and committed to sharing life together.
Sharing a meal together at Flourish.
Hendersonville, North Carolina
Flourish
A safe, inclusive space for worship where everyone is welcome, with a shared meal and gathering twice a month.
Wayne County, Ohio
New Life Fellowship
A loving community committed to peace building and sharing God’s radical love with the world.
Archbold, Ohio
PEACE Mennonite Fellowship
People Everywhere Are Created Equal: an Anabaptist Christian community where love guides our life together.
Could this be you?
Your community
Already gathering, or dreaming of starting something? We’d love to hear your story.
How we walk alongside you
You don’t have to do this alone
You don’t need Mennonite roots, a building, a seminary degree, or a finished plan. And we’re not counting heads. We care about depth, belonging, and sustainability, not size.
Want to talk it through? Schedule a meeting with Matt.
A companion
Coaching and conversation with our Associate Conference Minister for Emerging Communities of Faith.
Grants
CDC and Mennonite Church USA both offer grants for emerging communities of faith.
Peers
A monthly Zoom gathering for emerging community leaders during the school year. Starting something new can be lonely.
Fiscal sponsorship
We can manage finances and legal paperwork while you focus on your neighbors.
Belonging
Credentialing for your leaders and a home in a conference that shares your commitments.
Where are you?
CDC congregations gather in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin, and online. Somewhere else? We’ll gladly connect you with Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Mission Network, or a Mennonite conference closer to home.