“The believer, in his baptism, is baptized into the body of Christ, the church, 1 Cor. 12:13,27. And then he puts on Christ and unites himself to him to follow him truly and constantly, and bearing his cross after him. And should the believer be called on to suffer for the name of Christ and to lay down his life for his name, he should be willing to be baptized with the same baptism of suffering and shedding of blood wherewith his Lord and Master was baptized when he laid down his life to redeem man from death, and this is the allegiance of all the true disciples of Jesus Christ in this world. Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, Matt. 20:23. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you, John 15:18,20. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service, John 16:2.”
-Henry Funk, A Mirror of Baptism, page 83

“Anabaptism was essentially a movement which insisted upon an earnest and uncompromising endeavour to live a life of a true discipleship of Christ, that is to give expression in fellowship and love to the deepest Christian faith, with full readiness to suffer in conflict with the evil world order. So long as this willingness to suffer was an expression of deepest faith, and this readiness to enter into a nonresistant struggle for salvation, was a living reality, just so long was Anabaptism a great and powerful movement.”
-Robert Friedman, Mennonite Piety through the Centuries, page 11

Must we only talk about Anabaptism in the past tense, as if it were a spent force? I don’t believe so, but I fear that we have reached a perilous point in our history.

Many of those who call themselves Anabaptist do not appear to have much understanding of what that implies. Over the past century, pietism has been creeping into Anabaptist/Mennonite circles, to the point that many of us now accept their definition of true Christian faith to be the authentic definition. But pietism was not the faith of our spiritual forefathers. They taught the need of the new birth, but for them the religious experience was the beginning of Christian life, not its essence. It was the starting line, not the finish line.

The way of the cross is not a quick first step, leading to a life of joy and peace, unruffled by opposition from the world. The Holy Spirit gives joy and peace within, but the cross is rough and heavy, speaking of blood, death and opposition from the world.

I am a Mennonite today because over 50 years ago I embarked on a search for a church fellowship that still lined up with the ancient Anabaptist faaith. In coming posts, I want to take another look at the old foundation, the old faith and the ancient landmarks.

A Mirror of Baptism, Henry Funk, Gospel Publishers, Moundridge, Kansas. Henry Funk,1697-1760, was the first Mennonite bishop in North America. The first English edition published 1851

Mennonite Piety Through the Centuries, Robert Friedman, copyright 1949 by the Mennonite Historical Society, Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana.