The "tongue screw" was used to silence evangelization by 16th century Anabaptists in Europe on their way to execution. It was clamped to the tongue to prevent speech. (Photo by Dawna Whitehead)
"ABOUT US...
Beginning in late 2015, a number of pastors and lay-leaders of evangelical Anabaptist conviction, from throughout Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, began to explore a closer working relationship. The initial catalyst was a stirring interest in the EVANA Network which has been forming in the U.S. Through these conversations, we began to look around, saying, “Hey! I’m not as alone in these convictions as I thought I was. There are others who are also passionate about sharing the Gospel in an evangelical Anabaptist fashion, by whom I can be encouraged and sharpened.” We knew we needed to continue the conversation in our Canadian context.
Leading up to the Evangelical Anabaptist (EVANA) Network preview event at Maple View Mennonite Church (Wellesley, Ontario) January 22-23, 2016, many people - both pastoral and lay - within the Mennonite Church Eastern Canada lamented and grieved the loss of a primary Biblical call to evangelism. Our common ground is Anabaptist and Mennonite theology and its common vision to live out Jesus’ Great Commission to make and grow disciples.
From these beginnings, Evangelical Anabaptist Partners (EAP) has been forming as an organic affinity group/network of individuals and congregations. EAP currently consists predominantly of people with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada affiliation. However, we are very open to partnering with individuals and congregations from other denominational families who want to strengthen an evangelical Anabaptist identity. While EAP is taking shape in Ontario, we also are very open to - and actively exploring - the possibility of EAP partnerships developing in various regions across Canada. EAP also consists of churches both fully in favour and uncertain about their commitment to Mennonite Church Eastern Canada and Mennonite Church Canada. We hope to partner and encourage one another regardless of varying perspectives on this matter.
As an affinity group/network, we are committed to mutual encouragement and equipping so that we may live out an evangelical Anabaptist expression of faith in Christ. We deeply hunger for revival and renewal among individual Christians and churches! We will host regular worship gatherings, form community, initiate prayer groups for leaders and share resources. We embrace the 1995 Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective in its entirety as most faithfully representing our doctrinal understanding of the Christian faith.
Evangelical Anabaptist Partners is in ongoing discernment regarding who God is calling us to be. Will you pray and discern along with us? Please don’t hesitate to contact the Steering Committee with questions and ideas using the "contact" page.
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock!" (anonymous)
As big as the world is, as many people as there are, that’s the only place that God has got to live in this world is in the hearts of people, men and women. He’s big enough to fill the universe, but yet he is small enough to live in our hearts. The only place right now he has got to live is in the hearts of the people, and that’s just the ones that will let him come in. Brother Coy Miser (1918-1992), Independent Holiness Churches, Harlan County, Kentucky
"True evangelical faith is of such a nature it cannot lie dormant, but spreads itself out in all kinds of righteousness and fruits of love; it dies to flesh and blood; it destroys all lusts and forbidden desires; it seeks, serves and fears God in its inmost soul; it clothes the naked; it feeds the hungry; it comforts the sorrowful; it shelters the destitute; it aids and consoles the sad; it does good to those who do it harm; it serves those that harm it; it prays for those who persecute it; it teaches, admonishes and judges us with the Word of the Lord; it seeks those who are lost; it binds up what is wounded; it heals the sick; it saves what is strong (sound); it becomes all things to all people. The persecution, suffering and anguish that come to it for the sake of the Lord’s truth have become a glorious joy and comfort to it." (Menno Simons, 1539)