Author's Preface
Reaching Beyond the Mennonite Comfort Zone

This has been an amazing journey so far. I’ve lived the latter half of my life as a Mennonite. Yet I was not raised in the denomination nor, to my knowledge, were any of my ancestors Mennonite. At a time I was asking God to show me what church to join, God led me to the Mennonites. Until the previous year, I had never even heard of these folk and, as I’ll soon explain, when I first heard the name Mennonite I was thoroughly confused about who they were and what their beginnings were.

Some people join a Mennonite church because they are brought to salvation through an act of outreach. But I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior before I came in contact with Mennonites. Those like me have many reasons for joining this group of believers, which are—but I’ll tell about that later!

Being a Mennonite "convert," I have a different perspective than a person born and raised Mennonite. In fact, my early years as a member involved culture shock, and my differences of perspective and opinion led to many disagreements, discussions, and discoveries. Being a Mennonite and being mentored by others in the church has enhanced my life in many ways—as I’ll share soon.

Through all this, I’ve concluded people like myself can bring a perspective to the Mennonite fellowship which those born and raised within it don’t have—a perspective that can enhance their relating to the needs of the outside world.

And that brings me to evangelism and outreach. We’re living in exciting times in the Mennonite church—changing times in which we see Mennonites coming together, accepting their diversity and sharing their commonality, consolidating their resources and defining their vision, expanding their outreach and increasing their involvement beyond church walls.

We’re also living in a world that continues to accelerate its pace of change and includes realities and threats of terrorism which have shattered our sense of security. People are living in a time more uncertain, more unpredictable, more unknown. And so they—we—may be more suspicious. Some are searching for answers. Others are reaching for the past. Many don’t know where to reach.

This is where evangelism and outreach come in. As someone with a perspective shaped outside of the Mennonite church, now exploring from the inside out. I ponder how Mennonites are reaching out to those outside the denomination. Some ways are effective. Some are not.

There are things Mennonites can say or do, albeit unintentionally, that can alienate non-Mennonites and build up walls of misunderstandings between Mennonites and others. I say this as a Mennonite who can relate to the person who is on the outside because I was there myself and because I still have many friends there. I say this also as a Mennonite who can connect with the person on the inside, because I have been here for a while, and I have many brothers and sisters here.

This perspective does not make me better at outreach. In fact, I’m not that good at it. I want to learn more about reaching out to others, and I look to my denomination, the Mennonites, and my local congregation for answers. Quite frankly, the answers aren’t always there.

There are two groups of people I am interested in reaching. These are persons who do not know God and need to accept God’s gift of salvation, as provided by the death of his son Jesus Christ on the cross, and Christians who want to join a fellowship and grow in their relationship with the Lord.

So, eager to learn how to reach out to people, I started on a quest. I’ve been to Bible studies held in churches, in people’s homes, even in supermarkets. I’ve been to seminars, workshops, and conferences in the Mennonite church and conducted by other Christian organizations. I’ve visited numerous Mennonite churches in my local area to see the many different ways the Holy Spirit is working in congregations.

At some point, the idea to produce a book came along. I don’t remember the exact date and time, nor does it really matter. I shared the idea with Phil Bergey, Executive Director of MRN Ministry Resources, with the intent that we collaborate in some way. We brought the possibility to the MRN Ministry Resources Advisory Board, of which I am a member. The rest of the MRN Ministry Resources Board was enthusiastic. Then we sought a potential publisher and found that Michael A. King was interested in exploring the possibility of Cascadia Publishing House publication.

It was both my desire and the publisher’s recommendation (funny how God puts the same ideas in the heads of more than one person) to set up a committee to review each chapter of this book. The intent was to provide me with accountability and with help keeping the facts in order and my attitude from getting too severe.

Those who served on the review committee and deserve my heartfelt thanks included Noah Kolb, Franconia Conference Minister; Warren Tyson, Eastern District and Atlantic Coast Conference Minister; Sharon Williams, MRN Consultant for Nurture Ministries and Damascus Road Team leader; Eric Musser, Minister of Evangelism and Youth, Franconia Mennonite Church; Eloise Meneses, author and also Professor of Anthropology, Eastern University; Linford Stutzman, Professor, Eastern Mennonite University; Craig Pelkey-Landis, pastor and MRN Communications Coordinator; Noel Santiago, Franconia Conference Minister. In addition, Sue Clemmer Steiner, pastor at Waterloo North Mennonite Church in Ontario, Canada, reviewed portions of the book to determine its relevance to a Canadian audience. As Sue’s involvement suggests, the hope is that though it often draws on learnings from my own base in southeastern Pennsylvania, Reaching Beyond the Mennonite Comfort Zone will be useful to Mennonites across North America.

Now here is is the result of my eighteen-month quest. I met many interesting people along the way. I look forward to introducing them shortly and thank each of them for being willing to offer their insights and perspectives.

In recent years God has given me a burden for the great commission (Matt. 28:18-20). That is what started me on this journey. The book you have in your hands is not the destination; it’s just a stop along the way. The destination, as the song says, is "When we all get to heaven, when we all see Jesus."

Right now, on earth, we have people to see, places to go and work to do. Turn the page and join me on this journey.

—Will Schirmer
Lansdale, Pennsylvania

Reaching Beyond the Mennonite Comfort Zone orders:

• Cascadia Publishing House Online Order Form
• Cascadia, Herald Press, and other order options
• Credit card orders through Reaching Beyond page, MennoLink Online Bookstore