If you wish to get in touch with Lydbrook Baptist Church visit the website lydbrookbaptist.co.uk. This provides a lot of information about the church ethos, leadership and meetings.
Sunday, 25 November 2018
How to keep up to date with Lydbrook Baptist Church
If you wish to get in touch with Lydbrook Baptist Church visit the website lydbrookbaptist.co.uk. This provides a lot of information about the church ethos, leadership and meetings.
Monday, 23 April 2018
My essay on the Anabaptist commitment to peace
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)
<http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/node/558>
[accessed 31/03/2016]
<http://www.bbministries.org.uk/about-us/our-history>
[accessed 27/03/2016]
<http://www.cpt.org/about/history>
[accessed 10/03/16]
<http://www.cpt.org/about/mission>
[accessed 19/03/2016]
<http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/about/about.shtml>
[ accessed 27/03/2016]
1956 article on Non
resistance in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online <http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Nonresistance>
[accessed 29/03/2016]
<http://mcc.org/press-center/facts>
[accessed 31/03/2016]
<http://mcc.org/learn/what/peace>
[accessed 31/03/2016]
<http://mennoniteusa.org/resources/purposeful-plan/>
[accessed 28/03/2016]
<http://mennoniteusa.org/what-we-do/holistic-christian-witness/>
[accessed 28/03/2016]
<http://thirdway.com/prepare-for-peace/peace-faqs/what-peacemaking-organizations-involve-mennonites/>
[accessed 31/03/2016]
<http://www.urbanexpression.org.uk/training/crucible-course>
[accessed 31/03/2016]
<http://www.urbanexpression.org.uk/about-us> [accessed
25/03/2016]
[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
[5] John Howard Yoder The Politics of Jesus (Grand Rapids, William B Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 1972), p. 5
[7] 1956 article on Non resistance in the Global
Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online <http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Nonresistance>
[accessed 29/03/2016]
[17] Jose Gallardo 'Ethics and Mission' in Anabaptism and Mission edited by Wilbert
R Shenk (Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Herald Press, 1984), p. 156
[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]
[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]
[29] Murray Williams <http://www.anabaptistwitness.org/journal_entry/urban-expression-anabaptist-church-planting/>
[32] David Bosch Transformating Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, Twentieth Anniversary Edition (Maryknoll,
New York, Orbis Books, 1991), p.530
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