To: Delegates of IN-MI Mennonite Conference

Re: IN-MI Transition Team summary of delegate feedback and next steps
March 3, 2009

Thank you to all those present at the regional delegate meetings for offering their best thinking about finance and staffing questions. We appreciate the sense of trust in leadership and the call to be creative as we face the challenges of this time.

Transition Team met in conference call on February 26.  In reviewing the table wisdom sheets, we identified what seemed to be some of the overarching counsel:

• Leaning toward Option A (bottom line of $510,000) for the new spending plan, with an emphasis on being realistic
• Affirmation for Missional Seeds Giving initiative by Stewardship and Finance Commission
• Affirmation for direction of the Cluster Pastor idea (though some question about the name!)
• Questions about the gifts needed in the cluster pastor position and where will the people be found?
• Encouragement to work diligently and carefully in implementation
• Questions about how this position intersects or duplicates overseers
• Cautions about the shift in focus and the size of the Lead Conference Minister’s job

Working with this counsel, Transition Team decided to implement an interim arrangement between what is ending on March 31 and a start date of July 1 this summer for the new.  This three-month interim arrangement will create the opportunity for thinking carefully about ongoing quality in the credentialing and search processes, and for shaping the Cluster Pastor job descriptions with a missional focus. Interim arrangements will be determined and shared in coming weeks.

Transition Team invites prayers for those working closely with the details of change. In addition, a March 13-14 retreat at Amigo Centre will mark the shift from the old structure to the new, as Executive Committee hands off responsibility to the Missional Leadership Team.

IN-MI Transition Team

Gene Hartman, chair

Bill Scott

Phil Mininger

Klaudia Smucker

Sarah Schlegel

John Troyer

Dan Miller, staff