Total Immersion

In what ways does the Anabaptist commitment to peace inform the missiology of contemporary Anabaptists and other Christians?

The Anabaptist commitment to peace was a core conviction from the earliest days of the movement. The desire to be true to the example of Jesus revealed in Scripture led to a commitment to non-violence that was expressed through the writings of many early Anabaptists. Thus, in the Schleitheim Confession we read, ''the sword is an ordering of God outside the perfection of Christ.'[1]

This commitment to peace influenced the way they lived and witnessed, and in particular their response to persecution, but ultimately led to quietism and a tendency to live secluded from wider society. It took a reawakening of interest in the foundations of Anabaptism, largely through the work of Harold Bender, to re-examine Anabaptist missiology in the light of the commitment to peace.[2] One of the distinctive elements that emerged was the ethical stance of love and non-resistance.[3]

This rediscovery of the riches of original Anabaptist missiology led to a growth in interest in the Anabaptist commitment to peace. This had been previously been expressed in a way which was inward looking, passive and connected to the response to persecution, but by the latter half of the twentieth century the possibility of active non-resistance was seen as a possibility.[4] The Anabaptist theologian John Howard Yoder was one writer who reappraised Christian theology with regard to violence in the light of the many statements in the New Testament that advocate non-violence.[5] Ronald Sider asserted was that a Christian peace witness was a viable stance in our culture, and that its roots lay in the New Testament, and in particular in the teaching of Jesus.[6] Peacemaking began to be seen as a central part of Jesus' mission, one that had been forgotten or suppressed under the influence of Christendom. Not only did these and other writers (not all of whom were Anabaptist), rediscover the teachings of Jesus on non-violence, and the historical peace witness of the early Anabaptists, they also began to see its relevance for the contemporary context.

The commitment to peace began to be explored in terms of its practical implications: the understanding of this had traditionally been associated with refusing to do military service: Mennonites in the United States embraced conscientious objection as an official policy a number of times during the twentieth century.[7] It was realised that this was not the only way to display a commitment to peace: there were other ways that it could be expressed. Sider for one realised that if we are seriously to address the problem of violence within our world we need to consider the structures within our world that cause it to occur. He considered that there were deep-seated roots of the problem, which he believed led to systematic violence throughout our world order, specifically in areas of economics,[8] and societal structures[9]. He called for the church, both at the individual and communal level, to act counter-culturally and highlighted the link between freeing people from unfair structures and peacemaking.[10] Thus in Sider's analysis part of the peacemaking witness of Christians should be an attempt to reduce the systemic causes of poverty and hunger by embracing a simpler lifestyle and a more conscious style of consumption, that takes into account the conditions in which goods are produced.[11]

However, Sider's most influential legacy was in the founding of peacemaking teams. In 1984 he spoke to the Mennonite World Conference and challenged the church: 'Unless we are ready to die developing new non-violent attempts to reduce conflict, we should confess that we never really meant that the cross was an alternative to the sword . . . '[12] This call led to the formation of Christian Peacemaker Teams by North American Mennonites and Brethren, which provides violence-reduction teams and a Christian witness in trouble spots around the world. Their values are: 'to honour and reflect the presence of faith and spirituality, to strengthen grassroots initiatives, to transform structures of domination and oppression and to embody creative non-violence and liberating love.'[13] CPT is now ecumenical, and its methods have influenced other groups who use the principles of non-resistance to address conflict around the world. Peacemaking in this context has become an important part of Christian mission in the twenty-first century.

As the whole church re-evaluates mission, peacemaking and social justice are increasingly regarded as an integral part of mission. The realisation has grown that as Christians we do not need to make a choice between different forms of outreach, but that they are by nature complementary. Langmead highlights this as one of the implications of Anabaptist kingdom theology: '...only a holistic view of mission will do' and he continues, 'All types of Christian mission...are facets of the one jewel'.[14] So it should be no surprise that Mennonite Church USA has a head of holistic mission, in recognition that mission involves both sharing faith and peacemaking, bringing justice and forgiveness.[15] The Mennonite Church USA in 2011 developed a vision document, the 'Purposeful Plan' with seven priorities. Holistic witness is one of these priorities, as is 'Undoing Racism and Advancing Intercultural Transformation', another peacemaking activity.[16] It is clear that peacemaking is a high priority within the Mennonite church in the USA, and permeates its missional thinking, just as mission permeates the church. There is also among Anabaptists a recognition that mission in the past has involved exploitative relationships, that the trade relationships between sending and receiving countries in terms of international mission may be exploitative, and that the way missionaries behave needs to redress this imbalance. Alongside this is the realisation that preaching the gospel in this way may well involve coming into conflict with state and society,[17] which puts even more emphasis on the need for peaceful and creative ways of dealing with violence, such as those employed by CPT.

The Anabaptist commitment to peace is expressed in other ways than violence reduction in international conflicts or non-exploitative relationships in mission. Langmead lists a number of areas of Anabaptist witness that it influences: conflict mediation, victim-offender reconciliation, peace education, non-violence, civil disobedience and non-violent direct action.[18] In the US and Canada the Mennonite Central Committee has since 1920 worked as the charitable wing of Mennonites in the US and Canada.[19] Some of its main priorities are peace building and reconciliation, and within North America and in countries through the world it works in areas of conflict resolution, trauma healing and providing educational and advocacy resources,among others.[20] Reconciliation, either in the wake of violent crime or in situations of conflict, is now seen as a valuable part of the healing process, and the Anabaptist movement has been at the forefront of setting up agencies which minister in this area. In Canada Mennonites pioneered victim-offender reconciliation, and in North America they continue to work in this area and in mediation.[21] Anabaptists have in the last half century come to a realisation of the great need for peace at so many levels in our world.

The Anabaptist Network in the United Kingdom has been recognised that one of the areas that the Anabaptist commitment to peace is much needed is within churches. Alan Kreider wrote about the importance of dealing with conflict within our churches. Churches are notoriously bad at dealing with conflict, and he called for a greater honesty about conflict within our churches, and for leaders who are trained in dealing with conflict.[22] A response to this need was pioneered by the London Mennonite Centre in 1996, in the shape of Bridge Builders,[23] now an independent ecumenical charity that runs workshops and training sessions to help church leaders deal with conflict.[24]

Another example of how the commitment to peace expressed by Anabaptists has influenced British Christians is in the work of Ekklesia, a Christian think tank which seeks to comment from a counter-cultural, social justice oriented viewpoint, and has Anabaptist influences.[25] Many of the reports or articles it produces involve bringing issues of peace, justice and reconciliation into the Christian or wider public arena.

The Anabaptist Network has had a wider influence on the British church, particularly on the Baptist Union. As they look for ways to reanimate mission and be more creative in their outreach some leaders have profited from the example of the Anabaptists. Nigel Wright, seeking a new agenda for the Baptist movement for the third millennium, saw in the Anabaptist peace witness an influence that could help the Baptist movement follow Jesus' example even when this meant to act counter culturally, and to be unafraid to engage with the social and political dimension of mission.[26]

Other Baptists have been inspired more directly in the area of their missiology by the example of the Anabaptists. In the 1990s Stuart Murray Williams and a group of like-minded associates founded Urban Expression.[27] The group aims to minister to inner city areas in the United Kingdom through planting teams of missionaries.[28] The group is not explicitly Anabaptist, but it is recognised as having an Anabaptist ethos. The teams aim to live in community (varying between different groups, but usually including shared meals), campaign for social justice and to support the vulnerable and marginalised. They have a commitment to holistic mission and also to reaching out to other faith groups, which is unusual in urban mission.[29] They also have a commitment to enable others in mission through the 'Crucible' course, which aims to help Christians deal with the challenges of mission in a post-Christendom context.[30] Many in the wider British church have also embraced this concept of 'incarnational' mission.[31]

In the latter years of the twentieth century the whole missiological enterprise (especially in terms of mission to other nations) seemed questionable, because of its intimate connection with Western imperialism.[32] There was a feeling among many that could be summed up in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the German church 'Our church...is incapable of taking the word of reconciliation and redemption to mankind and the world'.[33] However more recent years have shown evidence, from other church traditions, notably Catholic, as well as Anabaptism, that the church does take reconciliation and peacemaking seriously and that this can provide a way of dealing with the endemic and systemic violence so prevalent throughout the world and share the shalom of Christ with humanity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bosch, David, Transformating Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, Twentieth Anniversary Edition (Maryknoll, New York, Orbis Books, 1991)

Duffet, Chris 'The Pioneer Collective' <http://chrisduffett.com/the-pioneer-collective/> [accessed 31/03/2016]

Gallardo, Jose, 'Ethics and Mission' in Anabaptism and Mission ed. Wilbert R Shenk (Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Herald Press, 1984) pp.137 – 157

Walter Klaasen, Walter (ed.) Anabaptism in Outline, (Waterloo, Ontario, Herald Press, 1981)

Kreider, Alan, 'Is a Peace Church Possible? The Church's “Domestic” Life' originally published in Anabaptism Today , Issue 20, Spring 1999 <http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/node/152> [accessed 31/03/2016]

Langmead, Ross, 'Anabaptist Perspectives for Mission' <https://www.mwc-cmm.org/sites/default/files/website_files/mis_com_fd_langmeadross.pdf> [accessed 29/03/2016]

Murray Williams, Stuart, 'Urban Expression' (exclusive online content) in Anabaptist Witness, No. 1, Vol. 1 <http://www.anabaptistwitness.org/journal_entry/urban-expression-anabaptist-church-planting/ > [accessed 30/03/2016]

Sattler, Michael, 'The Scheitheim Confession (1527)' reprinted in Anabaptism in Outline, ed. Walter Klaasen (Waterloo, Ontario, Herald Press, 1981), pp. 268 - 270

Shenk, Wilbert R, (ed) Anabaptism and Mission (Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Herald Press, 1984)

Sider, Ronald, Christ and Violence (Tring, Lion Publishing, 1980)

Wright, Nigel, Challenge to Change:A radical agenda for Baptists, (Eastbourne, Kingsway Publications, 1991)

Yoder, John Howard, The Politics of Jesus (Grand Rapids, William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972)

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<http://www.cpt.org/about/mission> [accessed 19/03/2016]

<http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/about/about.shtml> [ accessed 27/03/2016]

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<http://mcc.org/press-center/facts> [accessed 31/03/2016]

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[1] Michael Sattler 'The Scheitheim Confession (1527)' reprinted in Anabaptism in Outline, ed. Walter Klaasen (Waterloo, Ontario, Herald Press, 1981), pp. 268 - 269

[2] Ross Langmead 'Anabaptist Perspectives for Mission' <https://www.mwc-cmm.org/sites/default/files/website_files/mis_com_fd_langmeadross.pdf> [accessed 29/03/2016] p. 328

[3] Langmead, p. 329

[4] Langmead, p.339

[5] John Howard Yoder The Politics of Jesus (Grand Rapids, William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 5

[6] Ronald Sider Christ and Violence (Tring, Lion Publishing, 1980), pp. 40 - 42

[7] 1956 article on Non resistance in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online <http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Nonresistance> [accessed 29/03/2016]

[8] Sider, pp.62-63

[9] Sider, pp.64 - 65

[10] Sider, p. 69

[11] Sider, p. 68

[12] <http://www.cpt.org/about/history> [accessed 10/03/16]

[13] <http://www.cpt.org/about/mission> [accessed 19/03/2016]

[14] Langmead, p. 331

[15] <http://mennoniteusa.org/what-we-do/holistic-christian-witness/> [accessed 28/03/2016]

[16] <http://mennoniteusa.org/resources/purposeful-plan/> [accessed 28/03/2016]

[17] Jose Gallardo 'Ethics and Mission' in Anabaptism and Mission edited by Wilbert R Shenk (Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Herald Press, 1984), p. 156

[18] Lamgmead, p. 340

[19] <http://mcc.org/press-center/facts> [accessed 31/03/2016]

[20] <http://mcc.org/learn/what/peace> [accessed 31/03/2016]

[21] <http://thirdway.com/prepare-for-peace/peace-faqs/what-peacemaking-organizations-involve-mennonites/> [accessed 31/03/2016]

[22] Alan Kreider 'Is a Peace Church Possible? The Church's “Domestic” Life' originally published in Anabaptism Today , Issue 20, Spring 1999 <http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/node/152> [accessed 31/03/2016]

[23] <http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/node/558> [accessed 31/03/2016]

[24] <http://www.bbministries.org.uk/about-us/our-history> [accessed 27/03/2016]

[25] <http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/about/about.shtml> [ accessed 27/03/2016]

[26] Nigel Wright Challenge to Change:A radical agenda for Baptists, (Eastbourne, Kingsway Publications, 1991), p. 232

[27] Stuart Murray Williams 'Urban Expression' (exclusive online content) in Anabaptist Witness, No. 1, Vol. 1 <http://www.anabaptistwitness.org/journal_entry/urban-expression-anabaptist-church-planting/ > [accessed 30/03/2016]

[28] <http://www.urbanexpression.org.uk/about-us> [accessed 25/03/2016]

[29] Murray Williams <http://www.anabaptistwitness.org/journal_entry/urban-expression-anabaptist-church-planting/>

[30] <http://www.urbanexpression.org.uk/training/crucible-course> [accessed 31/03/2016]

[31] <http://chrisduffett.com/the-pioneer-collective/> [accessed 31/03/2016]

[32] David Bosch Transformating Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, Twentieth Anniversary Edition (Maryknoll, New York, Orbis Books, 1991), p.530

[33] Quoted in Bosch, p. 531