MCC survivor story from a US congregation: forced mediation, NDA, gaslighting and bullying

MAST received this letter from a Mennonite congregation in the United States in November 2024.

This story about abuse by MCC refers to events that transpired in 2023, including the forced participation of an MCC worker in “mediation,” conducted under threat of immediate firing, on the premises of a Mennonite church building. It mentions the involvement of the MCC US HR Director and Executive Director. It involves an offer of money in exchange for silence (NDA). Members of the Mennonite congregation decided to voice their concern and received dismissive and non-transparent responses from top MCC leaders.

We are writing as members of a Mennonite church in the United States who have been disturbed by recent reports of abuse and mistreatment of Mennonite Central Committee employees. We feel compelled to share a story from our congregation that also touches on mistreatment of MCC employees, leading us to believe that incidents of abuse are not as isolated as MCC claims, nor are they all from the distant past.

In 2023, a person affiliated with our congregation, a long-term employee of MCC, reported an abusive “mediation” experience that MCC conducted in our church building. The emotional and spiritual abuse of the survivor seemed to us extremely severe and ended in their resignation. The incident was made worse by the fact that it was portrayed as a mediation, even though the survivor was forced to participate under the threat of immediate firing. Thus, MCC was flagrantly violating the principles of mediation that it publicly claims to advocate.

We sent a letter to the MCC Executive Director, Human Resources Director, and US National Board Chair, along with several regional MCC officials. The letter called for an independent investigation of the incident and changes within the human resources department of MCC to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

Some months passed before we received acknowledgement of our letter. Still later we received a follow-up saying that an independent investigation had been completed and apologies had been made to those who had “experienced” harm. We were given no details about who had done the investigation, who had selected the investigators, or the results of the investigation. The breach of trust with our church was not addressed. At about this same time we learned that the survivor had reached a settlement with MCC of which we do not know the details.

Our efforts to communicate with MCC authorities in the MCC-US national office resulted in two meetings with a regional MCC representative. These meetings conveyed very little new information to us and further eroded our relationship with MCC. We were told that we would not be able to see the results of the investigation, that we would not receive an apology from MCC, that the survivor was partly to blame for the abusive incident, that we had no legitimate reason for the requests we were making to MCC, and that it is unreasonable to regard this one, supposedly isolated, incident as an indication of MCC’s untrustworthiness. We were also told that although the MCC Executive Director had recently visited our town, she chose not to meet with the survivor or with us.

Our efforts to communicate with MCC have been extremely disappointing. Through our attempts to address this incident, we have borne witness to much of what has been shared by MAST: a callous lack of regard for a worker’s well-being; bullying, harassing, and gaslighting; addressing allegations with private investigations; and using settlement agreements. We read much about MCC’s interest in transparency and reconciliation. Unfortunately, we have experienced MCC leadership as non-transparent and unwilling to work with us toward reconciliation.

We offer these words in solidarity with those who have been harmed by MCC. We also offer these words as a loving call to accountability for MCC. We value the partnership we have had with MCC over decades–as individuals and as a congregation–and pray we can continue in service and ministry with them in healthy ways going forward. 

Please sign the petition to demand that cases like these be fully investigated.