The year is 1553, the Anabaptists in the Netherlands are being fiercely persecuted and Leenart Bouwens has just been elected to the ministry by the congregation at Sommeldyk. His wife fears for his life and writes to Menno Simons, hoping that he can relieve her husband from such a frightening responsibility. This is his replay. … Continue reading Letter from Menno Simons to the wife of Leenart Bouwens
baptism
Baptizing with too much water
I was visiting with a Baptist pastor and somehow the conversation got around to baptism. He felt the church to which I belong did not baptize correctly because we did not immerse. I referred him to two passages in the New Testament. In 1 Peter 3, Peter speaks of the ark as an example of … Continue reading Baptizing with too much water
There is no valid baptism without the new birth
First posted five years ago The beginning of the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite in Western Canada owes much to the spiritual vision of one man. Peter Toews was the Elder of the largest part of the Kleine Gemeinde (Little Church) which had separated from the main body of the Mennonite church on the … Continue reading There is no valid baptism without the new birth
Two or three gathered together doth not a church make
[Another post from 10 years ago] Why do people stop going to church? Could it be because so may churches are not really churches? Matthew 18:20 does not speak about Christians gathering for worship. It is a continuation of the passage beginning at verse 15 and speaks of the testimony of two or three witnesses … Continue reading Two or three gathered together doth not a church make
Homeopathic dilution of Christianity
First posted ten years ago. To describe it very briefly, homeopathy is a branch of alternative medicine that treats diseases with natural substances that are diluted well past the point where any trace of the original substance can be detected. Some call it quackery, others say that it works where other methods fail. It does … Continue reading Homeopathic dilution of Christianity
How Mennonite became an ethnic label rather than a religious one – Part five
The Kleine Gemeinde Klaas Reimer was elected minister of the Flemish Mennonite church in the Danzig area in 1801. He began to study the Bible, the Martyrs Mirror, and other books and came to the conclusion that there was no future for the Mennonites in the Danzig area. In 1804 he and 30 members of … Continue reading How Mennonite became an ethnic label rather than a religious one – Part five
Scriptural use of the sacramental signs
The Bible instructs us to observe two sacraments: baptism and communion. They are the essential means for gathering a church of born-again believers and for maintaining the unity of that church. There is a lot of confused thinking about both of them. As a boy, I learned from the Anglican catechism that a sacraments is … Continue reading Scriptural use of the sacramental signs
The mode of baptism
From Introduction to Theology, page 239 by J. C. Wenger, © 1954 by Herald Press, Scottdale, Pa.: In 1899 a Christian minister from Pennsylvania (A. D. Wenger) visited the catacombs of Rome. One day he walked out the Appian Way to the catacomb of St. Callistus. “I had been in other parts of this catacomb … Continue reading The mode of baptism
What is baptism all about?
Folks talk about baptism as a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. That it is, but when I was baptized I was asked to go a step further. I was asked if I would be willing to accept reproof from members of this faith community and if I would be willing to give reproof … Continue reading What is baptism all about?
The old path is narrow
Jeremiah 6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. I am – Christian, born-again, evangelical, Anabaptist, Mennonite – all those terms … Continue reading The old path is narrow
Flatlander Faith 