2026 Distinguished Service Award: Cynthia ‘Cindy’ Lapp ’86

This is the third of four profiles about the recipients of EMU’s 2026 Alumni Awards. For more information about the annual awards and a full list of past winners, visit emu.edu/alumni/awards.

Cynthia “Cindy” Lapp ’86 may have been destined to become a Mennonite pastor.

Her parents were both Mennonite pastors, as were her grandfathers. Her husband’s father and grandfather were Mennonite pastors, too.

Despite the family tradition, Lapp didn’t always envision following in their footsteps.

“I would ask my dad, ‘How did you know you wanted to do this?’ and he never had a satisfactory answer for me,” she said. “I think my children probably don’t get a satisfactory answer from me either. It’s a mysterious kind of thing.”

Lapp, pastor of Hyattsville Mennonite Church in suburban Maryland since 2003, is the recipient of EMU’s 2026 Distinguished Service Award. The annual award recognizes alumni who exemplify the university’s emphases on Christian service and peacemaking and have made a significant impact on the lives of others.

“I was surprised. I thought they must’ve sent the letter to the wrong person,” she said. “Then I thought, ‘Oh, distinguished means old. It must mean I’ve reached a certain age.’”

Lapp grew up in Oregon after moving from Pennsylvania in the fourth grade. As a child, she dreamed of appearing on Sesame Street.

“I thought that would be a great job because you could play with puppets and spend time with kids and act and sing,” she said. “I feel like pastoring is like that. There are so many different things I get to do that are intriguing to me.”

Those roles extend well beyond preaching. Lapp works with other faith leaders to support immigrants through the Congregation Action Network, serves as a community chaplain with the Hyattsville Police Department, and volunteers with Congregations United for Compassion and Empowerment, which operates a day center for people experiencing homelessness or financial hardship.

In August 2017, she joined nearly 100 clergy and faith leaders counter-protesting the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

“I appreciate that our congregation is interested in relating to the larger community,” Lapp said. “It’s not just about taking care of one another, which we do, but it’s also about knowing who our neighbors are outside of the church and figuring out what their needs are.”

Some of her most significant ministry came through one of the most difficult chapters in Hyattsville Mennonite Church’s history.

The congregation became an early leader of LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Mennonite church when it welcomed its first openly gay member in 1986. In 2005, two years after bringing an openly gay delegate to a conference meeting, the church was formally disciplined. For the next decade, Hyattsville representatives could not vote at conference meetings or serve in leadership roles, and Lapp herself was placed under review. In 2015, the Allegheny Mennonite Conference voted 72-70 to reinstate the congregation to full membership.

“We stuck around,” Lapp said. “We kept engaged with the conference, which was really hard, but it was definitely worth it. And I’m really proud of our congregation for how we navigated that.”

At EMU, Lapp majored in music, sang with the Chamber Singers, and participated in the Washington Study-Service Year, now the EMU Washington Semester. She later worked for the program from 1989-93.

“That was very formational for me,” she said. “I ended up coming back to D.C. and I’ve never left.”

After graduating from Wesley Theological Seminary in 1998, Lapp had not intended to become a pastor. But when Hyattsville’s pastor took a sabbatical and asked her to fill in, she discovered her calling.

“That was eye-opening for me,” she said. “It helped me feel that this was something I could do.”

Today, Lapp and her husband, Eric Stoltzfus, live in Mount Rainier, Maryland. They have three adult children, Cecilia, Jamie ’20, and Elijah.

Lapp will share her story at EMU TenTalks, held on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 2 p.m. in Martin Chapel during Homecoming 2026. For a full schedule of Homecoming events and activities, visit emu.edu/homecoming.