Home Life & Faithfeature articles What does it mean to be evangelical-Anabaptist?

What does it mean to be evangelical-Anabaptist?

1 comment

We asked you….

What initially attracted me to consider partnering with the CCMBC was pastors and leaders I was meeting. There was a sense that they were firstly followers of Jesus, were serious about Christian community, and seemed to practice accountability well at the leadership level.

What I didn’t know at the time was that Anabaptists had a history of putting Jesus at the center of their faith and practice, as well as a strong community hermeneutic.

I so appreciated the christocentric lens, the focus on living out the teachings of Jesus as a primary focus of Christian practice, and more.

We don’t say often, “we’re an Anabaptist church” or even an “evangelical church.” Without using the labels too much, I try my best to teach and live the values associated with Anabaptist evangelicalism rather than labelling them.

The world needs a gospel that is immersed in the life and teachings of Jesus.

—David Manafo
pastor, Westside Gathering, Montreal

 


 

Millennials are looking more to being Christ followers than denominational affiliations. A new revival of an old way of trusting is taking root. Spirituality under the leadership of the Spirit is brewing. We do not know where the wind comes from or where it goes – but wind there is.

—Mario Buscio

pastor, Thompson (Man.) Christian Centre Fellowship

 


 

Responses from social media

 

It speaks to the tension between the centripetal force of the alternative kingdom mentality of Mennonite Anabaptism and the centrifugal force of the expansionist mentality of North American Evangelicalism. A difficult tension to manage. One that we haven’t always gotten right.

—Michael Krause


 

To me it reflects a general history that when the MBs (steeped in Anabaptist history and Wuest’s Lutheran Pietism convictions) came over to North America, the closest connection to LP was the evangelical’s quadrilateral of Bible/cross/conversion/activism. Beyond that: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

—Greg Harris


 

It has almost become a meaningless term. So many definitions…. hard to summarize when not in a face to face conversation. Evangelical Anabaptist might communicate accurately my perspective of MBs. It could also mean very different things to the hearer. Both terms include growing diversity and connotation.
I would need to discuss the person and work of Jesus, scripture and hermeneutics, and salvation, sanctification and transformation.
A brief summary would be MBs seek to live yielded to God who has revealed himself in the written and living Word.

—Gary Burke

 

Read also

Living our identity

Evangelical Anabaptist in a contextual way

Two sides of being Mennonite Brethren

 

 

You may also like

1 comment

Jacqueline Block October 10, 2019 - 10:13

Personally in being an evangelical-Anabaptist I celebrate the good news that in Christ I can be set free from the tyranny of pride and self-interest, that through Christ I find forgiveness and the possibility that I can also be free to forgive others and enjoy community together. As Christ as my example of faith I see my need to let go of my grasping to be like God and seek to serve in obedience without needing to make a name for myself. By knowing and believing that Christ is my brother and co-heir I more fully understand my privilege and responsibility as a child of God created, in his image, to be a witness of God’s love and be a blessing. Because of Christ I have hope that the enmity that causes barriers between ethnicities, gender and social classes, and the created world, can be redeemed and reconciled wherever and whenever God’s will is done here on earth as it is in heaven.

That said, I value elements of the contemplative, charismatic, social justice, and incarnational traditions also being given freedom to flow like living water (see Streams of Living Water by Richard J. Foster).

Reply

Leave a Comment