Recovery of the Great Commission
The Anabaptist movement was an example
of bold gospel fervor and biblical faithfulness in a time when the price
for such obedience was so often death. The focus of this paper is the
incredible missionary thrust that Anabaptism gave rise to in the first
half of the sixteenth century. Estep speaks in glowing terms of Anabaptist
missions:
Anabaptists
saw that the `true Christian is fighting a different battle with
different weapons from those of the world.' Thus there was formed in the
crucible of suffering one of the most aggressive missionary movements in
Christian history.
...And obey [the Great
Commission] they did. Into all of Europe they went with their Bibles and
tracts, their hymns and sermons--to preach, teach, live, suffer, and die
for Christ's sake.
I
will look at the early evangelism and
missions zeal of the Anabaptists, noting what gave rise to it, and
what eventually contributed to the loss of missionary impulse. I believe
that their movement presents us with a tremendous challenge and some
helpful cautions.
The Anabaptists could rightly be
called the first non-Catholic missionaries, since the Reformers did not
focus on missions until much later. Certainly Luther considered himself an
evangelist,
as he indeed was to the Roman Catholics of Europe, especially in Germany.
Yet he was not a missionary.
The Anabaptists had the rare view that the Great Commission was as
relevant to the sixteenth century as it was to the first.
The Anabaptists took the
Great Commission very seriously. They believed it was binding on all
true disciples of Christ in every age. This was in glaring contrast to
the usual views of the Reformers. Menus and Bullinger for example, were
convinced that the Great Commission was only binding on the apostles.
The Seed that was Sown: The Rapid Spread of Anabaptism
Part of what contributed to the spread
of Anabaptism was an Acts 8 style scattering—the scattering of
persecution. Their ideas spread like a handful of seed thrown across
Europe:
In both Catholic and
Reformed countries, the Anabaptists were not only subject to horrible
torture and killed by fire, sword or drowning, but, if permitted to
live, were denied employment or essential guild membership. Consequently
they fled in great numbers, and in moving from place to place spread
abroad their teachings.
The spreading of Anabaptist ideas was
not just a sociological by-product of persecution. That there was an
intentional missionary zeal among the early Anabaptists, many have
attested:
In Augsburg people of all
social strata, including patricians, priests, teachers, even a former
Franciscan, joined the church; and in 1527 a large Augsburg Synod sent
out an impressive number of evangelists.
Many were ardently
missionary, seeking to win not only professed Christians to their views
but also dreaming of carrying the Gospel to all mankind.
Estep observes:
Of
all the Anabaptists, the Hutterites developed the most extensive
missionary work. They took advantage of every lull in persecution to
enlarge their scope of activity. One of the best known of their
missionaries was Claus Felbinger. In his Confession of Faith, he gave an
admirable statement concerning the missionary motivation of the
Hutterites. `We have been
asked by sundry people why we have come into the prince's (of Bavaria)
land, and draw people away. My answer is, we do not only go into this
land, but into all lands, wherever our language is known, for where God
opens a door for us and shows us zealous hearts that truly seek Him,
hearts that are discontented with the godless life of the world and
would gladly do what is right--there we go, for we have divine cause to
do so...Where He sends us
and will use us, there we will go, in obedience to His divine will,
regardless of what we must suffer and endure.'
From this quote, several insights into
the Anabaptist perspective emerge. First of all, they were intentional
in their mission. Missions
was not merely a passive by-product of being on the run. As we saw
earlier, they were actively obeying the mandate of Christ. Second, they
viewed the spreading of the
message as a high priority requirement
of God's will. Missions
was not a secondary matter to be put off to more "opportune
times." That leads to the third observation: They saw no
cost so high as to stop them from evangelizing. The threat of death itself was no deterrent.
Fourth, they saw God Himself as the Leader and Captain of their missionary
enterprise. He was the one who "opens a door" and "sends us
" and "uses us." Fifth, they saw the world as a whole as godless. Christendom was not Christian. They saw
the majority of people as alienated from a true relationship with God.
With these convictions, it is not surprising that the Anabaptists were a
highly motivated evangelistic force.
No one could be neutral in the face of
such a movement-especially in an age when everyone thought of themselves
as Christian. To most, they appeared fanatical. Their enemies called them
"enthusiasts."
...it is God's pleasure
through foolish, silly and fanatical preaching, as the clever ones call
it, to save those who believe, those these rage against it so much.
With Christ they are called
enthusiasts and Beelzebub.
Things had not changed much.
Paul was considered a "fool for Christ" and the "scum of
the earth" (I Cor. 4).
The Luminaries: A Survey of the Most Effective
Anabaptist Evangelists
Conrad Grebel
Although he did not at first realize
the full implications of what he was doing, Conrad Grebel could be rightly
called the father of Anabaptist missions. After the Zurich city council
ordered Grebel and the Brethren to discontinue their movement, he spread
the Biblical message:
With missionary zeal,
Grebel moved on to other cities. At Schaffghausen, a few miles north of
Zurich, he first met with favor. At nearby Waldshut Balthaser Hubmaier
was of kindred mind. In other centres, notably in St. Gall, Grebel and
his colleagues had an enthusiastic popular reception.
Hans Hut
Hans Hut was probably the most mobile
and polarizing of all the Anabaptist missionaries:
Hut was one of the most
zealous and successful of all Anabaptist missionaries. He founded
Anabaptist churches all over Austria. His method was to preach, baptize
converts, then immediately appoint other missionaries to be sent out.
Although he believes that Hut was
probably the most successful Anabaptist preacher, Estep refers to him as
the "erratic Hans Hut," because of his connections to Thomas
Muntzer and his eschatological views. Estep notes that "the burden of
Hut's preaching was the second coming of Christ, which he predicted would
take place within two years. This bold pronouncement immediately provoked
consternation and division."
Our admiration for Hut should be restricted to his zealous action, but not
the whole content of his message. He was an extreme example of a movement
that believed the time was short.
Hans Hut was not a great
organizer nor a thorough teacher, but he was unexcelled as an
evangelist. Fortunately the influence of Denck, Sattler, Hubmaier, and
Reublin tended to offset the chiliastic extremism of Hut. At least,
it never fully captivated south German Anabaptists.
The above examples illustrate the
diversity of the Anabaptist movement both in personalities and in
theological emphasis. It is significant that Hut went out preaching even
though he was not a trained pastor. Hut's Anabaptist critics seem to have
no problem with the legitimacy of his preaching as a layman. They just
sought to temper his theological imbalance and inform him where he was
inaccurate.
Menno Simons
Most of the earlier Anabaptist
missionaries had brief ministries, being extinguished either by
persecution or sickness. Among those who were granted a "long
term" ministry, Menno Simons is the most famous.
A former Roman Catholic priest, He came under God's conviction for
living in comfort and ease. He renounced his position and joined the ranks
of the Anabaptists in 1536. What followed was certainly not what you would
expect from a man who loved comfort:
Menno Simons' expectation
of persecution was amply fulfilled. He was ordained as an Anabaptist
minister, became an itinerant missionary of the cause, and for years
lived in the Netherlands as a fugitive and an outlaw under the
condemnation of death. Yet he was married and had children. In 1543 he
extended his missionary labors into Germany, almost always with
persecution facing him from Catholics and Lutherans.
As elder or bishop he
traveled constantly and held many meetings with the brethren--often at
night and in forests, barns and outlying locations--singing, preaching,
and teaching and observing baptism and communion. This as it were an
underground evangelistic movement had many dramatic episodes, and
Simons, although the emperor had put a price on his head, wonderfully
eluded his persecutors. He helped carry the movement along the coasts of
the North and Baltic Seas from the Netherlands all the way to Danzig.
Menno eventually made his home in
Denmark, but "continued to venture forth on travels in the
Netherlands and Germany." He was a prolific writer
and organizer of congregations throughout the Netherlands and North
Germany.
Other Missionaries
Balthaser Hubmaier, a former priest,
was another earlier evangelist. Lautorette points out that Hubmaier was
very effective: "Released, he went to Nikolsburg in Moravia and
preached with such effect that thousands were baptized."
Another pioneer, Melchior Hoffman,
"wandered widely along the Baltic, in Scandinavia, the Low Countries,
and Stassburg, preaching as he went and in some places winning converts
and gathering communities."
When we look over this
sampling of Anabaptist missionary-evangelists, we
should not imagine that the work was limited to them. Beyond the
"Billy Grahams" of Anabaptism were the unnamed people of a mass
missionary movement-the regiments of "lay ministers." Nanne van
der Zijpp makes the point that it was not just the clergy who went out
preaching the gospel:
But not only--and that is
very important--were the leaders missionaries, the whole
congregation was a missionary congregation: in the Netherlands, in
Germany, in Switzerland, in Austria, in every country where one could
find Anabaptists, no matter under which names.
This understanding is confirmed by
Wolfgang Schaufele:
The missionary activity of
the ordinary members of the Anabaptist brotherhood was an important
factor in the spread of the movement...Anabaptism would not have been
able to spread so rapidly and take such firm roots if the missionary
activity of the leaders had not been vigorously supported by the
missionary activity of the ordinary
members. These lay members did not simply turn over to the ordained
missionaries and elders the task of spreading the faith, but they
themselves as individual members spread the message in the framework of
their own contacts with their environment.
To this Roland Bainton adds:
Every member of the group
was regarded as a missionary. Men and women left their homes to go on
evangelistic tours. The established churches, whether Catholic or
Protestant , were aghast at these ministers of both sexes insinuating
themselves into town and farm.
These comments resonate with the
incredible fervor that the Anabaptists had
as congregations. More typical in church history is the zealous individual
who stands out among the lukewarm congregation.
But with the Anabaptists, what was considered heroic and unusual
become the norm and
consensus for all members. The kind of motivation to serve
Christ that we see here is not evident in people
who are fearful, judgmental or legalistic---only passionate and
loving people who were unrestricted by theological narrowness or church
tradition.
How extensive?
It is impossible to know with any
exactness the number of people converted by Anabaptist evangelism. Yet
some clues to the general positive impact can be observed. Hans Kasdorf
lists some figures from the fragmentary records: Hubmaier had an estimated
total of 6000 coverts. Johannes Brotli is said to have baptized
"nearly a whole village." Hut had an estimated 12,000 converts.
Kasdorf reminds us that "most of these missionaries died a martyrs
death and their short term of service was interrupted by days, weeks, and
even months of persecution and imprisonment."
A lesser known missionary is credited with the most converts (he also had
the longest career):
During the years 1551-82
Leenaert Bouwens baptized almost 11,000 people in more than 300 places
on his numerous mission journeys, which led him deep into Holstein to
Northern France.
The cost of obedience to the Great
Commission was high indeed. Over 2000 martyrs of the Anabaptist movement
are known by name. Undoubtedly there were many, many more. Kasdorf cites
one authority that estimates 4,000 to 5,000 "men, women, and children
fell prey to water, fire, and the sword."
They were a legacy to God's promise in 2 Tim. 3:12: "All those who
desire to live godly in Christ will be persecuted." As we shall see
later, the cost of their discipleship was something that they were fully
prepared to pay.
Deep Roots: Underlying
Convictions
The heroic dedication to minister the
gospel in every area possible
at any cost required arose from deep Biblical values and convictions. The
Anabaptists really believed the word of God! The movement would not have
been so fearless, so enduring and so non-vengeful if they had lacked a
thorough understanding of the truth that liberates. In their case, it was
liberation that enables disciples of Christ "to not love their lives
even to death." In the following section, several areas of Anabaptist
theology will be discussed
that had an influence on evangelistic passion. Each area illustrates the
fidelity to Scripture that the Anabaptists strove for. Instead of a system
of creeds to be assented to,
they had a set of mandates to be
acted on.
Rejection of Infant Baptism
In response to Zwingli's claim that
the children of Christians are "certainly and undoubtedly
Christians," Hubmaier responded, "You grant to physical birth
what belongs to the spirit and the Word of God."
Since the trademark polemic of Anabaptism was rejection of infant baptism,
the writers were "no hold barred" in their denunciation
of it:
...and pedobaptism is
absolutely not from God but is practiced, out of willfulness, by
anti-Christians and the satanic crowd, in opposition to God and all His
commandments, will, and desire. Verily it is an eternal abomination to
him.
With a strident conviction
like that, a whole new and urgent view of the population of Europe (and
the rest of the world) opened up. Rather than a "Christian
Society," the Anabaptists saw one gigantic mission field of perishing
souls. Since true faith is an
uncoerced, informed response
to the message of the gospel, agents of that gospel need to go out
informing and persuading. For the Anabaptist to assume everyone in
Christendom was a Christian would be like us thinking people were
Christians because they were born in America.
The Primacy of Active Love
Love is repeatedly held out by
Anabaptists as the summation of Biblical imperatives.
They did not simply love their brethren, but also men and women who
were lost. Estep comments:
The concept of love also
influenced the Anabaptists in their missionary vision. As nonresistence
was the love's negative expression, missions became its positive
affirmation...The love of Christ and the love of one's fellow man
compelled a compassionate concern for man's spiritual welfare.
Anabaptist faith was an action
faith. Love was the action that exemplified their faith the most.
Christian faith is not a matter of mere talk or mystical devotion, as
Hubmaier comments:
Now we do not wish to be
called mouth Christians only, to boast and say: O yes, we believe that
Jesus Christ suffered agony and death
for us. Rather, faith must
express itself also in love to God and the neighbor.
Hubmaier goes on to point out that
love is not just human kindness or altruism. The love they sought to give
was wrought in them by God's Spirit. God continued to stimulate His loving
passion for people in their hearts:
In Him [the Holy Spirit] I
place all my trust that He will teach me all the truth, increase my
faith, and kindle the fire of love in my heart by His holy inspiration,
that my heart may burn with true, unfeigned and Christian love toward
God and my neighbors.
Anyone who looks at the plain and
straightforward teaching of Jesus Christ would see that love is the
cardinal virtue of Christianity. Menno Simons says:
You say, we are inexpert,
unlearned, and know not the Scriptures. I reply: The Word is plain and
needs no interpretation; namely, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and
love thy neighbor as thyself. Mt. 22:37,39. Again, You shall give bread
to the hungry and entertain the needy. Is. 58:7.
Cross bearing Discipleship
In addition to speaking a clear
message, the Anabaptists believed that one's way of life needed to reflect
that message. Even the critics of Anabaptism admitted they were exemplary
in every aspect of their behavior. Estep quotes Capito, a leading minister
of the Reformed Church in Strassburg:
I frankly confess that in
most [Anabaptists] there is in evidence piety and consecration and
indeed a zeal which is beyond any suspicion of insincerity. For what
earthly advantage could they hope to win by enduring exile, torture and
unspeakable punishment of the flesh.
He then cites Franz Agricola, a Roman
Catholic theologian:
As concerns their outward
public life they are irreproachable. No lying, deception, swearing,
strife, harsh language, no intemperate eating and drinking, no outward
personal display, is found among them, but patience, humility, patience,
uprightness, neatness, honesty, temperance, straightforwardness is such
measure that one would suppose that they had the Holy Spirit of God.
A reputation like the Anabaptists had
is astonishing in light of the reputation of modern Christianity in
the United States. There was a group of people that could not be critiqued
for hypocrisy! May the church in America get to the point where the only
criticism of the church is over the message itself and not the people. The
consensus of Anabaptism was that a Christian should follow in the
footsteps of Christ, living out the truth in his daily lifestyle. This
would mean self denial, sacrifice, and moral earnestness. This attitude
gave them the determination and the courage to suffer for their faith-just
as the Master did:
Therefore be comforted and
be of good courage, for God leads his own into hell and out again, he
makes them sorrowful and then glad again, he gives death and also life,
and after the storm he restores the sun. Therefore be long suffering and
wait patiently for the redemption of your bodies. Do not become slack or
tired in the race and do not look behind you. Beware that the love in
your hearts does not grow cold or be totally extinguished.
Do not be ashamed of the bonds and suffering of Christ, but
rejoice greatly in your hearts, for you know that nothing else has been
promised you for your life on earth except suffering and death,
tribulation, anxiety, distress and great persecution, pain, torture,
insult and shame at the hands of godless men...For this was the way of
the holy prophets and patriarchs and of Christ the Lord and all his
disciples, in fact all the elect from the beginning of time.
Such commitment was grounded in the
hope of eternal life in the kingdom of God. They were to look to the next
life for true riches and lasting reward. To seek reward in the present
life though comfort and ease would be to forfeit the eternal rewards. Few
notions spur active missionary service like an eternal perspective. If
fact, the absence of a heart that seeks treasure in heaven would have made
it impossible to endure what the Anabaptist missionaries did for the sake
of the gospel. Dirk Philips put it well when he urged his readers to
"be Diligent therefore, my most beloved, by the grace of God, to bear
the cross with much patience, and look with eye of faith to the joy and
glory which is prepared for you."
Menno Simons wrote the moving "Hymn of Discipleship":
I'd rather choose the sorrow
sore,
and suffer as of God the child,
Than have from Pharaoh all his store,
To revel in for one brief while;
The realm of Pharaoh cannot last
Christ keeps his kingdom sure and fast;
Around his child is arm he casts.
If American Christianity changed its
thinking in just this area-eternal
values over temporal—I believe a lot of other things would change as a
result. We would have time to serve God, and we would have resources
(especially financial) to serve God that had been previously hoarded to
make this present life more comfortable.
The Power of the Gospel
The clarity in which the Anabaptists
explained Christ's saving work would have been motivational to the hearer
as well as the speaker. It is hard to contain such a
powerful truth as grace apart from works. Like Jeremiah said,
"it burns within me." In the following passage,
Dirk Philips exemplifies a clear understanding of Christ's work.
His mind was obviously deeply immersed in scripture:
The law of God is given,
not that it might bring to man perfect righteousness, salvation and
eternal life (for by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified)
(Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16), but that, by revealing sin it might teach man to
fear God, to know and humble himself under the mighty hand of God, and
thus be prepared with penitent heart to accept Jesus Christ the only
Savior and to seek for and hope for salvation by his grace and merit
alone (I Pet. 5:6; I Tim. 2:6; Eph 2:13, Acts 14:14, 15:3).
This is the gospel of
grace. It is the joyful message of Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of
God, the only Redeemer and Savior (I Tim. 2:5; Titus 2:24), who
gave himself for us that we might be ransomed from the power of Satan,
sin, and eternal death.
This is the true gospel,
the pure teaching of our God, full of grace and mercy, full of comfort,
salvation and eternal life. It is given to us by God's grace without any
merits of our own or the works of the law, for the sake of our only
precious Savior Jesus Christ. He became subject to the law for our
sakes, and became the fulfillment of the law to eternal salvation for
all believers, if we accept it in true faith.
Philips is so clear in his
understanding that we can not merit salvation by good works or law
keeping. This understanding frees
the Christian to turn his or her attention to other people's needs. If we
were always in a state of fear and anxiety about earning our salvation by
merit, we would be unable to focus on evangelism and missions.
Furthermore, the Anabaptist did not understand salvation as a
psychological "feel-good pill" like a lot of modern teachers do.
To the Anabaptist, it was a matter of eternal consequence--forever in the
presence of a loving God or everlasting punishment in hell. That gives an
impetus to missions that a psychological gospel never could.
An Eternal Perspective
The expectation that the Lord would
soon return and rescue them was another key contribution to the
zealousness of Anabaptist missionary endeavors. The eschatology of Hans
Hut, that attempted to say what definite
time the Lord would come back, was not the prevailing view of the
Anabaptist movement. Rather, what we see in their writings is a general
hope of Christ's coming, a comfort to wait for that could come soon. Jacob
Hutter wrote:
Be comforted, you chosen of
the Lord, for the time of our deliverance is at hand...For he who is to
come will soon come in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory,
the King and comfort of Israel. He will rescue, save and liberate his
own and give them a glorious crown that will never fade...
...Our pain and distress
will come to a final end, our weeping and crying will stop, and we will
look upon and receive each another with great and unspeakable joy. No
longer will anyone hurt or insult us for all tribulation and sorrow will
pass away...But the godly will rule and reign. Their mouth will be full
of laughter as the Lord says; they will be joyful with the Lord and
singing praises to him for ever and ever.
Menno Simons echoed the same
sentiment:
Little children fear not,
but be comforted in the Lord....Not the least of his promises will fail
you. Therefore neither doubt nor waver, for it is but a small matter to
endure the heat of the sun, tribulation, fear, oppression, temptation,
plunder, persecution, prison, and death for a short time. The
messenger is already at the door, who will say to us, Come ye blessed,
enter into the glory of thy Lord. Then our brief mourning will be changed to laughter, our momentary pain into endless joy.
I found their views here extremely
moving. What stands out in these passages is not a fixation on "times
and epochs," but on the next life's compensations for the suffering
of this life. Menno and Hutter are not sitting around speculating on
eschatological systems. They truly have set their hope on the real end of
suffering to be brought by Christ's establishment of the New Heavens and
New Earth. Tremendous hunger to meet Jesus face to face comes through in
these writings. Interestingly,
they both refer to the "laughter" of heaven. I can almost
seem them grinning as they wrote the words of encouragement to the
faithful, hoping to elicit a similar "laugh" in them. I have no
doubt that this expectation was no small factor in missions determination,
not only because it helped endurance, but because they wanted others to
experience the greatness of the eternal state along with them.
Unfortunately, modern American
Christians have little appreciation of scripture pertaining to the next
life. So much of popular Christian literature is about how to feel better now, and how to have this or that now. Perhaps it is because this world is not so bad to us. We don't
experience much persecution, if at all. Maybe we have so much invested in
this life, that "heaven can wait."
Rejection of infant baptism, the
primacy of love, cross bearing discipleship, the power of the gospel, and
an eternal perspective were at the heart of Anabaptist convictions. All of
them flowed from the biblical fidelity that so characterized Anabaptism.
These convictions were the soil in which their missions passion was
sustained and grew. In this regard, the Anabaptists were not teaching
anything new--those core truths are all
quite evident in the word of God. What was new and remarkable was a
people that believed the New Testament church's implementation of truth
was to be the norm for their day.
The Trend toward Seclusion
After looking at the radiant and
uncompromising witness of sixteenth century Anabaptism it is startling to
look at its later retreat into seclusion. Most of the modern expressions
of Anabaptist thought are now ingrown:
In the course of their
history the Mennonites and other descendants of the Anabaptists became
ingrowing. Originally vigorously missionary, persecution caused them to
withdraw within themselves and to perpetuate themselves by birth rather
than by conversion.
As Nanne van der Zijpp (a Dutch
Mennonite minister) observes, the
missionary flame was eventually extinguished:
Then [the nineteenth
century] we can find no longer in the Netherlands, nor in Switzerland,
Germany, France, or Russia a Mennonite missionary congregation,
but we find secluded Mennonite congregations--congregations in which the
missionary zeal is dead, in which the members do not have an
apostolic-missionary élan to share their spiritual gifts with those who
are outside the church. The congregation has neither eye nor interest
for foreign or home missions. Preaching the gospel to nations which do
not know Christ as well as conscious and intentional evangelization
among their fellow country folk is strange to them. The congregation has
become what I call a closed congregation.
The goal of the congregation is, as described in the constitution
of one of our Dutch congregations,
the reinforcement of the religious feelings and images of its
members.
One obvious reason for the decline of
missions was effective persecution. Many Anabaptist were simply erased off
the map:
The martyrs were
many-probably more than those who died during three centuries of
persecution before the time of Constantine.
Many of the first
generation were scholars...But soon that generation succumbed to
persecution
That observation is significant
because it was an attack on the very foundation of Anabaptism: its
thorough scriptural convictions. With the most learned leaders gone it was
difficult to keep the level of Biblical soundness at that original level.
Klaassen concludes:
The movement practically
disappeared in south Germany, and was completely eradicated in Austria
by fire and by sword. It survived in Switzerland in small enclaves, but
always under restrictions.
Where Anabaptism was not eradicated,
the restrictions placed on it where crippling.
At best, the Anabaptists were tolerated from a distance. Yet that
toleration was at the price of silence. Zijpp points out that threats of
punishment did not stop the earlier Anabaptists. Did the followers lack
the faith of the original members? Certainly, Zijpp says, but he also
offers several factors that contributed to the eventual Seclusion of the
Mennonite Communities.
First, he says, was the loss of
expectation for the Lord's return. Since Christ did not return in the
lifetime of the first generation, most stopped expecting him in any
imminent sense. As we saw above the hope for the eternal state was a major
missionary impetus. A second factor was the Munster episode. As a result,
many Anabaptists became more eager to get along with the civil order.
Gradual friendship with the kingdom of this world brought subtle
compromise. Thirdly, there was a shift in the attention of the leaders
away from missions and towards organization
of congregations. Fourth, Zijpp says, was that the Mennonites gradually
became a subculture that was
hard to enter if you were not born into it. That was in part a result of
their close knit and small
group orientation. Fifth, the notion that faith was a matter of personal
responsibility developed an extremism that devalued the role of human
agents in the faith of others. To evangelize seemed like meddling an
another's personal affairs. Finally, another dampening factor on missions
was the evolutionary optimism of eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The
thought was that the world was improving, the "heathen" was
disappearing. Coupled with the above factor of non-interference, missions
in Anabaptism was dealt the death knell. However, Zijpp mentions good news
for American Mennonite missions:
...among the American
Mennonites great changes occurred in the second half of the nineteenth
century. Under revivalistic influences, later on especially from the
Baptist side, their congregations grew from secluded communities into
lively evangelizing congregations, so that at present[1958] there is
among nearly all Mennonite denominations a great activity and an
enormous readiness to make sacrifices for missions, both home and
foreign.
Concluding Lessons
There is much for the modern church to
learn from the sixteenth century Anabaptists. They challenge our
"realism" and pragmatism with inspiring Biblical idealism. Many
today discount the example of the New Testament church, rationalizing that
it was a unique period. Certainly there were unique features to the
Apostolic period, but when did Christ rescind his marching orders of Mt
28? The Anabaptist willingness to suffer for Christ is an indictment on a
church so often committed to comfort and
pain relief. The Anabaptist legacy asks us if we are willing to
clash with the world, to "row upstream" against cultural
currents.
There is also a sobering warning from
our study about the tendency for even ardently missionary congregations to
become secluded. Being secluded is not just a physical or geographical
matter. A church can be integrated and involved in society as far as
social contact goes, but isolated from that society in terms of gospel
relevance. This happens when the cultural preferences of the members are
elevated to the status of essential biblical absolutes. Or even worse, a
church can be separated from the world culturally, but very similar in
terms of values. They could
simply be an obscure subculture, yet living for the same worldly values of
self interest and materialism. The spirit of the world can
penetrate the strongest walls of the secluded congregation. What the early
Anabaptists exemplified was a faithfulness to the scriptures that drove
them outward to share the gospel, as well as inward to be shaped by biblical values that would protect that from
seduction by the world.
Back
to History Class Page
Back to
History Page