‍In late 2025, MAST issued a general call for letters to the MCC US boards ahead of their October meetings in Akron. More than 20 people responded with public letters, urging the boards to (1) commit to an external investigation of all allegations, (2) release survivors from NDAs, and (3) accept the proposed conversation parameters with John Clarke and Anicka Fast.

MAST has learned from a source that the allegations continued to be minimized and dismissed at the board meetings, while discussion focused overwhelmingly on anger that board members’ emails had been leaked.

In the week following the board meetings, the MCC US and Canada national boards agreed to the facilitators’ proposed parameters for a conversation with John and Anicka. And in December, the West Coast MCC board chairs invited another survivor couple, Kathryn and Dan Smith Derksen, to a “listening session” to hear their story. However, MCC has offered no response to the letter-writers’ requests for an external investigation and an end to the use of NDAs.

Overall, MCC’s “listening” continues to be limited in scope and unaccompanied by action for accountability and repair. MCC continues to try to control the timeline and the process of listening to survivors.

A Mennonite congregation has spoken out in order to call MCC to accountability through a listening process that follows stakeholder recommendations and is managed and overseen by a third party, including a “publicly available final report.”

Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church is a congregation of Mennonite Church Canada that has taken time to discern together and write a letter that comes from the entire congregation.

This letter names the fact that “many relationships have tragically been broken” following reports of abuse.

It calls MCC to “turn its vision of Restorative Justice on itself” by “honestly, transparently, and humbly address[ing] the concerns raised by many.”

The letter concludes, “As a Mennonite church, we are committed to walking this journey with you. We urge you to embrace the call to stop and pivot, to go all in, to move at the speed of trust, to seize this moment, and to increase your reach. These are not merely recommendations—they are invitations to live more fully into our shared values of humility, justice, and reconciliation. MCC can embrace this moment as a sacred opportunity for renewal. We pray that MCC will have the courage to lament, to listen, and to be transformed. We stand ready to support you in this sacred work.”

Read on for the full letter.

On Oct. 14, MCC board chairs sent the following response to church leaders and concerned individuals who had written to MCC US national and regional boards ahead of their Oct. 17-18 meetings in Akron:

“Over the past two years, MCC has worked to listen carefully and prayerfully to all individuals who have chosen to share difficult experiences directly with us. Multiple changes have resulted, including increased staff support and policy changes. At the same time, it’s impossible to respond to complaints that are anonymous or made in online public forums without situational details.”

Response from Kathryn Smith Derksen: Receiving this response to my family's trauma was disheartening, to say the least. It is clear that my story was not read, or regarded, even though I am one of the only named survivors having gone public with MAST (MCC Abuse Survivors Together). I can personally attest to you that no one from MCC has reached out to listen to our story or offer an apology… I've been hearing for over a year now that MCC is committed to listening, but I have yet to see any evidence.

Read on for the rest of Kathryn’s response, and responses from Julene Fast and Rick Sittler.