Spent the weekend reading some excellent books. None more so than one entitled "The Naked Anabaptist" @ Stuart Murray.
This was a few-hours-don't-put-it-down-didn't-expect-to-enjoy-this-so-much kind of book.
28 pages turned down and a lot of underlining ....means this is a pretty interesting book.
Basically a history of the Anabaptist movement, Murray is drawing a contrast between the movements original context and what it means for faith in our context. If historical Anabaptism was a challenge to the era of Christendom, modern Anabaptism is a way to effectively, missionally live in today's post-Christian era.
Its a good read.
What I really enjoyed was the learning of the modern Anabaptist's core convictions, and the deeper explanation of the first core conviction in chapter 3. Here are the core convictions:
- Jesus is our example, teacher, friend, redeemer, and Lord. He is the source of our life, the central reference point for our faith and lifestyle, for our understanding of church, and our engagement with society. We are committed to following Jesus as well as worshipping him. [Brilliant comment!!]
- Jesus is the focal point of God's revelation. We are committed to a Jesus-centered approach to the Bible, and to the community of faith as the primary context in which we read the Bible and discern and apply its implications for discipleship.
- Western culture is slowly emerging from the Christendom era, when church and state jointly presided over a society in which almost all were assumed to be Christian. Whatever its positive contributions on values and institutions, Christendom seriously distorted the gospel, marginalized Jesus, and has left the churches ill equipped for mission in a post-Christendom culture. As we reflect on this, we are committed to learning from the experience and perspectives of movements such as Anabaptism that rejected standard Christendom assumptions and pursued alternative ways of thinking and behaving. [The comments about how Christendom distorted the gospel, marginalized Jesus and has left churches ill equipped ...equally brilliant.]
- The frequent association of the church with status, wealth, and force is inappropriate for followers of Jesus and damages our witness. We are committed to exploring ways of being good news to the poor, powerless, and persecuted, aware that such discipleship may attract opposition, resulting in suffering and sometimes ultimately martyrdom. [Another excellent insight.]
- Churches are called to be committed communities of discipleship and mission, places of friendship, mutual accountability and multivoiced worship. As we eat together, sharing bread and wine, we sustain hope as we seek God's kingdom together. We are committed to nurturing and developing such churches, in which young and old are valued, leadership is consultative, roles are related to gifts rather than gender, and baptism is for believers. [Perhaps this one misses the ethnicity challenge of the modern church; it might also tend towards idealism ...yet it pushes us to rethink certain forms of the modern church.]
- Spirituality and economics are interconnected. In an individualist consumerist culture and in a world where economic injustice is rife, we are committed to finding ways of living simply, sharing generously, caring for creation, and working for justice.
- Peace is at the heart of the gospel. As followers of Jesus in a divided and violent world, we are committed to finding nonviolent alternatives and to learning how to make peace between individuals within and among churches, in society, and between nations.
It was nearly 8 years ago that I ate lunch with a local Mennonite (Anabaptist) church pastor. His concluding question, after we ate and talked was "does the Baptist church you pastor know they have an Anabaptist as their pastor?"
Anyone else wish to raise their hand and join in some excellent core convictions??
Of course, for all you Baptists out there, do you realize how much you owe your beginnings to the Anabaptist influence!!
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