Invitation to Pray and Work for Renewal of Evangelical Anabaptist Vision, Believers and Churches
March 3, 2017
Dear Anabaptist Sisters and Brothers in Canada,
I am writing this letter on behalf of a growing network of pastors and laypeople in Ontario. We have a strong sense of vision for the present and future of the Mennonite church which we do not see being articulated very openly during this time of immense change within the church.
We are first of all excited and committed to being strongly Christian, strongly Anabaptist, and strongly evangelical. We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ is called to live in and engage with the world from a clear sense of identity shaped by Trinitarian faith, salvation in Jesus Christ alone, discipleship, mission in word and deed, and commitment and obedience to Scripture.
We are committed to the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ, to the sharing of fellowship and ministry with other Christians. However we believe faithfulness to truth sometimes requires the church to maintain healthy boundaries around itself in order to preserve its identity and beliefs. At the same time we believe that healthy boundaries do not necessarily entail separation or breaking of fellowship.
We are concerned by what has been happening in Christian churches in Canada and the United States in the past years. We observe that many Christians, congregations, and denominations have lessened their commitment to identity, beliefs, values, and practices which were once central to them, indeed changing many of them outright. Lutheran worship scholar Marva Dawn has observed that many Christians have ceased to believe there is any objective truth in the claims of orthodox faith or in the pages of the Bible.(1) We sense many Christians are seeing the Christian faith as simply a human-created religion that is no more true or compelling than any of the other religions of the world. We grieve that these developments seem to be depriving many Christians and churches of their vitality and joy.
We are NOT interested in trying to restore the church to some golden age from the past. We are yearning deeply for the church to be made new, to experience a time of quickening and renewal and revival, to open itself to a new infusion of the Holy Spirit.
As recent research by Dr. David Haskell(2) seems to show, we believe the church has made a mistake in becoming less committed to the Bible and to the historic beliefs and values of our faith. We think the church is called to be a counter-culture shaped by the radical teachings of Jesus and by bearing witness to our belief that the most important thing in all of history is the life, death, resurrection, and coming-again of Jesus Christ.
We know that within the Mennonite church as well as other Christian denominations there are many more people who share our vision. In Ontario we have begun a network called “Evangelical Anabaptist Partners” to help us encourage and nurture one another.
However we are concerned that with the significant turmoil going on within Mennonite Church Canada and its Area Churches, now is the time to begin broadening the circle. We are hoping to bring together fellow Anabaptist believers who also hope: for an emphasis on unity and clarity of beliefs as much as diversity; for a passionate love for and adherence to the authority of the Bible and our commonly declared beliefs as agreed upon in the Confession of Faith, rather than a de-emphasis of these to avoid disagreements and conflict; for the naming of clear theological boundaries in accordance with historic orthodox Christian faith, including the willingness to request that pastors and other leaders be accountable to uphold, preach, teach, and lead accordingly, and to call to account leaders who do not believe, for example, in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead or in the Christian faith being anything more than just one of many other religions in the world; for more significant and clear research and teaching around matters of faith and morality, especially concerning profound issues of sexuality, marriage and family life, with such research and teaching adhering to our strong Anabaptist tradition of helping believers understand life and the world in light of God and scripture rather than defining God and scripture in light of how we already understand life and world. With this letter we want to begin a process to connect people of like faith and mind across Canada. We have sensed God’s call to get beyond our complaining and start to pray and hope and prepare and work for a new thing that the Holy Spirit will do in the Anabaptist church in Canada. We don’t know what this new thing will be or look like, but we’re pretty sure that an important way of preparing for it to happen is to invite more and more Anabaptist evangelical Christians to join us in the waiting and preparing. And we have sensed that this new Holy Spirit ‘thing’ will not be limited to the people and congregations within Mennonite Church Canada so we are hoping this invitation will connect with Anabaptist-minded people and congregations no matter their denominational affiliation.
Are you interested? Do you have questions? Do you know of others who might be interested? Send your comments, questions, ideas, affirmations, expressions of interest, etc. to <[email protected]>. We also welcome your feedback to an idea we are contemplating: organizing a one-day Evangelical Anabaptist Conference prior to the beginning of the Mennonite Church Canada Special Assembly in Winnipeg on October 13-15.
We would very much appreciate if you would pass on this invitation to any people who might be interested in what is described herein. From the people who reply we will put together an email list that can be used to begin a communication network across the country.
Please join us in praying for the Holy Spirit to bring new life, ministry and faithfulness to the Church and our churches in Canada.
Dave Tiessen On behalf of Taucha Inrig, Fanosie Legesse, & Ryan Jantzi Evangelical Anabaptist Partners Steering Committee
Our Common Convictions - Evangelical Anabaptists Partners We believe in the authority of God's written word, the Bible. As Christians we seek to live daily under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We recognize the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus as central to our lives as Christians and to how we understand God's Word. Recognizing Jesus as central includes His peacemaking approach to all of life. We believe that we are only able to live out the Christian life by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within and among us. Anabaptist describes the theological and historical perspective from which we have understood what it means to be Christ followers. We embrace the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, 1995 (in its entirety) as most faithfully representing our doctrinal understandings of the Christian faith. Evangelical describes our conviction that to be Christian means to be called to share the good news of the whole gospel of Jesus Christ with the world. We believe that Jesus Christ, who lived, died and rose from the dead by the power of God's redeeming love, is the only way to salvation.