Anabaptism at 500

By César García, Mennonite World Conference General Secretary 

An excerpt of this interview with García has been reprinted with permission. Read the full interview. En español. En français. 

Some of us have a tendency of thinking that we should define right doctrine and from there go to practice. Scripture first; experience next. But in many ways – in our history and in our current reality – experience pushes us to think theologically to make sense of what is happening.  

Consider the Council of Jerusalem. They were asking: Can we include Gentiles or not?  

That was not clear in the Bible of their time.  

The fact that Gentiles were receiving the Holy Spirit pushed the church to think in a new way – without contradicting the foundation that they had.  

Their experience led them to raise the question to Scripture and develop new understandings.  

As Anabaptists, we have historically emphasized the local congregation and the centrality of the local congregation as the foretaste of God’s kingdom.  

But that doesn’t help us to answer why there is a need of a regional or global church.  
 
At the beginning of MWC, it was experience that pushed Mennonite churches to think about a global body.  

Can you speak about the similarity between today and some of the trends from 100 years ago when MWC started?  

There was a global pandemic at that time. And many countries had just gone through the First World War. There is of course a financial impact which drives governments to try to find a scapegoat. So that was an important component of increasing nationalism in Europe.  

And then our churches were also affected by the Russian Revolution and subsequent violent persecution in Ukraine where we had a large concentration of our churches at that time.  

So, with the mix of nationalism, cultural differences, languages and both the recent and more distant past of violence between their countries, it was complicated for Mennonite church leaders in 1925 to think about being one.  

Some people spiritualize the idea of unity and say: We are going to be one in heaven.  

Or say: yes, we are fighting violently with each other, but we are one in spirit.  

Both then and now, some churches think about other Christians with suspicion – even inside a denominational family.  

But the Bible doesn’t speak in that way.  

The Bible speaks of unity in a very practical way –visible even for the world. There is a level of unity that is a kind of miracle.  

MWC founder Christian Neff and others were speaking and writing about the need for a global body for some time before 1925, but it was not easy to overcome lack of trust.  

Finally, Christian Neff found a good excuse to bring people together: let’s celebrate the 400 years of the Anabaptist movement.  

And it was in that context that the church from Ukraine sent a letter to the people in this first global Anabaptist gathering asking for the formation of a global body that would coordinate the work of education, mission and support churches that are under persecution and suffering, among other things.  

When the church leaders gathered, the experience of being together opened up their eyes to the need of a communion to emphasize that the centre is not political nor a national state nor even a culture. The source of our identity is Jesus.  

The context then was very similar to the context today after a pandemic, amid rising nationalism and experiences of suffering from violence and persecution.  

It is interesting and sad at the same time to see how history repeats itself.  

What has changed is that that experience has invited us to think theologically. Do we want to be one only because of pragmatic issues? Or because of our understanding of the gospel demands it?  

What were some key moments where we leaned into becoming truly global?  

To be a global family, we need some levels of reconciliation and forgiveness for our history of divisions.  

We were not ready to think that way 80 years ago.  

At first, leaders said let’s have an Assembly only. And that was the way during the first 40 or 50 years.  

But more and more churches from the Global South were becoming members. And churches that are suffering see with more clarity the need for a global church. You cannot face violent persecution or natural disasters if you are alone.  

By the 1970s, presidents were beginning to be appointed from the Global South. The executive, C. J. Dyck said: if we want MWC to continue, it should be more than a global gathering. It should be part of the mission Mennonites are being called to in this world, a place where they clarify the meaning of faith in their diverse cultural contexts.  

That vision was the result, among other things, of input from Global South churches who were asking for more interdependence.  

Pushed by those experiences, we have made theological developments of understanding the church as something that goes beyond the doors of my local congregation.  

Are we where we should be?  

I think we are going in a good direction, but we have theological challenges when we speak about the global church.  

For many of the leaders and pastors in our global church, we are just starting to build a clear understanding of unity.  

Too many times, our understanding of purity in our Anabaptist tradition has pushed us to fragment because we think to be holy or to be pure, we need to separate from those we deem are not.  

Our history of divisions requires real reconciliation. There are some historic wounds that have not been healed, and we continue to observe some divisions happening in real time.  

The challenges of racism and colonialism are there. There’s a tendency to have some sectors of the church make decisions without consulting others and imposing their points of view.  

There are challenges of privileging our own interests over the interests of others. To say we need to protect our budget first before thinking about other churches.  

In addition, we have ambition and the desire to control, dominate, and conquer others.  

The kingdoms of the world are very appealing to us. We love the sense of being superior to other groups.  

But God invites us to live in contrast to the kingdoms of the world. God’s kingdom is a real alternative. We must recognize that we need the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Read more here.