The Follow Jesus 2025 denominational gathering in Greensboro, North Carolina, was an incredibly rich opportunity to interact with a wide swath of people from Mennonite Church USA. I am still riding the wave of gratitude for having been able to attend and to co‑present a workshop along with Co‑Coordinator Steve Thomas and Mennonite Men board member (and pastor) Phil Schmidt.
One of our workshops was called “Boys’ Rites of Passage: Anabaptist Perspectives.” Despite the small room size, over 30 people attended, including men and women of various ages and geographic regions, as well as high school and college students.
Mennonite Men has been asked by parents what we, as an organization, can offer to support boys who are coming of age in ways that are rooted in Anabaptist Christian faith and theology.
Steve, Phil, and I began the workshop by each sharing our own personal experiences participating in Men’s Rites of Passage (MROP) retreats as adults—a five‑day gathering organized by Illuman, which was started by Franciscan priest Richard Rohr. The bulk of the workshop was spent dialoguing about how to support boys as they come of age.
The in‑person exchanges during the workshop were informative and at times vulnerable, stretching us all to think deeply and share honestly about the real challenges boys face.
The most fruitful aspects of this workshop included direct input from attendees. Each table in the room had two questions written on sheets of paper: (1) How are boys already being initiated? (2) What might be particularly Anabaptist about boys’ rites of passage? Folks were given time to reflect, then share aloud with others at their table, before we invited people to share with the whole room. Looking at what was shared, something stood out: our Anabaptist Christian values and intentions appear strikingly different from many of the ways boys are otherwise initiated in everyday situations.
Before attendees left the session, we asked them to fill out slips of paper about how Mennonite Men staff and board could be of service regarding boys’ rites of passage from Anabaptist Christian perspectives. We were grateful to collect responses from 23 attendees. Below is a table showing the percentage of attendees in favor of several possible actions Mennonite Men could take.
We left the gathering with new clarity: people do want to see Mennonite Men take action in specific ways to support boys’ rites of passage as Anabaptists, and we now have data on which to base these actions.
The most requested service was to offer in‑person weekend experiences or a series of events that could help prepare adults and boys for rites of passage. This idea is encouraging, and we hope to lean into this request. Creating and posting digital materials on our website related to boys’ rites of passage was the second most requested service. Other actions generated positive responses from about half of the attendees.
Mennonite Men now has concrete action items to work with and is beginning to discuss possibilities. Preparing for this work will take more input, as well as resources to do the work.
To get started, we are offering an online Zoom meeting for folks who want to connect about boys’ rites of passage from Anabaptist Christian perspectives. The first Zoom meeting will be on Thursday, September 25, from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. To register for this free gathering, complete a short registration form at: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/kNwKon01Rp6p2naMJn3FCg.