Lancaster County Culture

This past week I attended a forum hosted by a group of Mennonite young people who have been traveling around the country asking questions about the Church, its current state and where people see it going in the future. One activity asked those in attendance to depict their personal experience of "church" in some way, a revealing exercise. Then in smaller groups we were asked to "create or re-create" a church setting, its structures and community, based on ideals we would like to see the Church adopt. That was also an interesting exercise. My group discussed the concept of intentional communities where people choose to connect firmly to common values while reaching out with a common mission to those around them. A large part of our discussion focused how we determine what values are core to all cultures and what values are culturally constructed. We agreed that there are times when the Church needs to encourage communities to transcend differences in values when those values are culturally based.

The focus question presented to the large group at the end was "what is it like to be a Mennonite in Lancaster County, considering its unique population, size and history in the Mennonite church?" A couple initial answers stated how we are surrounded by the goodness and generosity of a Mennonite culture that has invested much in the outreach of the Church and has much to offer. A couple people described how it is easy to live in a "Mennonite bubble" of schools, banks, churches, friends, family, insurance companies, etc. Intentional choices of living are often necessary if one wants to break out of that bubble. Throughout the comments, an African-American Mennonite sister kept interjecting that access to this culture in Lancaster is primarily set up for "white Mennonites."

I couldn't help but share what I have been hearing over the last year from a number of Mennonites "transplanted" to Lancaster from other areas of the United States. I related how they have experience the wonderful generosity and kindness of this culture, but they have never fully felt acceptance, constantly reminded that they are "new" or "outsiders" from comments like "oh, that's right, you're not from around here" or constant episodes of the "Mennonite game" in which their names may or may not ever qualify. My critique was that if you weren't "born and bred" here, somehow you never totally fit in. One man, who said he was "born and bred" here, noted the challenges he experienced in returning to Lancaster County culture after living abroad for many years.

I went on to question whether diversity, a value that seems come up often in Mennonite conversations these days, is really a value that many church communities in Lancaster County would know what to do with or really want when it came down to it. True diversity means the community fully embraces and/or attempts to address the differences in values and potential contributions of ALL, not just the dominant culture.

In a follow-up conversation, someone offered another critique of why Lancaster County culture (as well as many across the US) may not be as open to diversity as we may like to think. He suggested that North Americans are very self-sufficient and are too used to being the generous-hand, consequently, we have a hard time receiving from "others." To stretch it further, and perhaps more uncomfortably, I would add that the unspoken undercurrent is that we really don't NEED "others," be it those of lower socio-economic status, "inferior" or underdeveloped cultures/countries, minorities, etc. We are happy to help them, but we don't need their money; we don't need their ideas; we don't need their input on how we should run our churches. We would like their presence in our congregations or conferences to proudly display our generosity and diverse population stats, but when it comes down to politics, we would like to continue to run our churches based on the desires of the dominant culture. It's easier that way. But the truth is that as long as the dominant culture remains the dominant power, diversity it is just a fasade. Minorities are not fooled.

I am not trying to step on toes or criticize the North American Church without also admitting that I am just as susceptible as everyone else in my dominant culture. At the heart of diversity are issues of power and power is at the heart of just about every human conflict that exists in human history. Power is like money, it can be utilized for good and bad. We need to learn to manage it just like we learn to manage our money. But the hardest discipline is knowing when to lay it down so that we can more humbly and incarnationally enter into the life of our communities and culture. We still need to be Church for all the Zimmermans and Martins in Lancaster County, but how can we also be Church for the Santiago's, Bukowski's and Manickam's who also live in Lancaster County?