General Council considers proposal to add young adult delegates
At the meetings in May 2025, General Council members will vote on a proposal for every Mennonite World Conference full member to have one Young AnaBaptist (YAB) delegate in the General Council starting 2028.
This change will make MWC one of the few global Christian communions that formally include young people in their global decision-making body.
“In the past 22 years, MWC has given Young AnaBaptists the opportunity to take on bigger responsibilities in the global church. Many alumni of the Global Youth Summit are influential Christian leaders today. And they want to continue making a difference, beyond their church and country borders,” says Liesa Unger, chief international events officer, MWC.
Developing young leaders
Participating in the General Council will give young people the responsibility to speak and to listen among national church leaders. Ebenezer Mondez, YABs staff mentor, hopes this will encourage young people to stay engaged with the church.
“I’m excited about putting together young people and older people,” says Ebenezer Mondez,
“I hope the younger generation will see leaders who have been in the church working so hard and think: ‘I am inspired. I want to be like this church leader.‘“
On the other hand, younger people are often creative and have a lot of ideas, Ebenezer Mondez says. “Someone who’s really passionate and questions everything and could push the older generation to think from a different perspective.”
Definitions of “youth” vary around the world; however, YABs delegates must be 18–30 years of age. “We hope this will encourage churches in the ongoing work of developing leaders, producing young people who want to be part of our global family through MWC,” says Ebenezer Mondez.
“It’s exciting, but at the same time, it’s scary. The vision surpasses me and even today’s YABs,” says Ebenezer Mondez.
Proposal for YABs delegates on General Council
Every MWC member church will be asked to send a YABs Delegate to represent their church, their country and their culture to the MWC General Council and attend the Global Youth Summit.
A YABs Delegate is expected to serve the YABs network for the next three (3) years to represent the YABs Network in their own country/national church.
The YABs Delegates are expected to meet with the YABs [Committee] from time to time.
—Reference Notebook 7.2.4 “Young Anabaptists Terms of Reference”, approved by Executive Committee March 2023; pending decision from General Council 2025
The acceptance of the proposal will require an amendment to the MWC Constitution. The amendment to add one YABs delegate per national member church of 500 or more baptized members would be implemented at the 2028 meetings.
To accommodate the change in participation, the Delegate Resourcing Fund will need to increase by 30 percent.
“General Council meetings are a powerful experience of togetherness,” says César García, general secretary. “Spending time face-to-face provides a significant opportunity for learning from each other. This proposal to bring young adults into the space has exciting possibilities to extend the learning and mentorship already occurring as these representatives of the body of Christ gather together.”
“I imagine these young people who are introduced to MWC at an early stage of their life will become national church leaders,“ says Ebenezer Mondez. “My dream is to see the General Council full of leaders trained through MWC.”