Vision

Relying on the Spirit, we will love as Jesus loves, pursuing God’s peace at the river and at the table.

Living into this vision, we prioritize relationships

with God

• in worship that fosters trust and gratitude
• by using language that stretches us to see God’s image in all

with each other

• in table fellowship and shared leadership
• by speaking directly to and not about each other

with neighbors near and far   

• in witnessing to God’s mercy and welcome
• by building peace with justice

with the earth

• in caring for creation as creation cares for us
• by enjoying and participating in creativity and beauty

Leadership

The congregation is led by the Pastoral Team and Church Board.

The Pastoral Team works with co-pilots of our four ships: Fellowship, Worship, Discipleship, and Stewardship to promote spiritual growth for the congregation in living into our vision.

The Church Board holds the Pastoral Team and others accountable to our vision.

Pastoral Team

Brenda Hostetler Meyer and Douglas Day Kaufman serve as co-pastors on the pastoral team with several others. They have served as a team since 2000.

Brenda was a member of the congregation when she was called and began serving on a pastoral team here in 1996. Brenda is a graduate of Goshen College (Indiana) and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (Elkhart, Indiana). Brenda is married to Rich and they have three adult children and four grandchildren.

Doug was raised and baptized at Benton, and became pastor here in 2000 after having served as a pastor at Forest Hills Mennonite Church, Leola, Pennsylvania, and Calvary Christian Fellowship Church (Mennonite), Inglewood, California. He also serves as the director of pastoral ecology at the Anabaptist Climate Collaborative. Doug recently completed a Master of Theology in ecology at the University of Toronto School of Theology. Before that he received a Master of Divinity at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (Elkhart, Indiana) and graduated as a history major at Goshen College (Indiana). He also served as the conference pastor for leadership transitions at Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. Doug has three sons and a daughter-in-law.

Affiliations

Benton Mennonite Church is a member of Indiana Michigan Mennonite Conference, Mennonite Church USA, and Mennonite World Conference. We send delegates or representatives to each of these gatherings.

About Mennonites

To learn more about Mennonites, visit this brief introduction. Learn more about Mennonites beliefs by reading the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective on the web or as a booklet available from MennoMedia, the media agency of Mennonite Church USA.