AEC2000

Giving their reactions as a summary to the presentations were these members of the Listening Committee: Mary Mae Schwartzentruber, minister of missions for the Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada, Kitchener, Ont.; Dale Stoffer, professor of historical theology with a special interest in Anabaptism and Pietism at Ashland (Ohio) Theological Seminary; and Dick Benner, executive director of Shalom Foundation Inc., Harrisonburg, VA.

In his summary statements, Dick Benner, a former newspaper editor and publisher, said if he were writing the headlines and lead paragraphs for the presentations, this is what he would write:

ANABAPTISTS ARE RELUCTANT EVANGELISTS

ELKHART, IN.— A handful of dedicated multi-racial Anabaptists, gathered at one of their seminaries in snowy northern Indiana, were told by an Old Testament scholar, Steve Reid, that they, like Jonah, are a bunch of reluctant evangelists, knowing the call to go to Nineveh (another culture), but instead go and book a ship to south Spain—the opposite direction.

Sent on a three-day retreat in the belly of a whale, they are dragged back, like Jonah, to their minority culture neighbors to deliver God’s message, but complain of the heat, of the cheap seats, of the second-rate podium to deliver the message and really don’t care about the people who turn out to surprise and baffle them with their repentant attitude.

THE BROWNING OF THE US

ELKHART, IN. — Church planting in North America in the 21^st Century will take place amid two massive demographic trends: the numerical and cultural dominance of large urban centers and the diversifying and browning of the populations, two researchers, Rocky Kidd and Allan Howe, told a handful of participants in a multi-cultural seminar here at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary.

Taking an empirical approach, the two researchers studied more than 20 multicultural churches and systems in urban centers and concluded that planting such churches is very difficult but that it is the only way to go if the group wants to grow new churches. Done mostly among multicultural Mennonite churches, the survey revealed that they usually originate among existing congregations coming under the conviction that God wants them to become multicultural congregations. "Only rarely does a church planter target an ethnic group."

EXPECT A MIRACLE

ELKHART, IN — Using Abraham’s call to leave his land and people, John Powell, a black missions consultant from Buffalo, NY, challenged a handful of reluctant evangelists to get out of their comfort zones and go to places where God will show them. "Expect a miracle," he told the small gathering, "and God will show you the way."

TAKE THE CHALLENGE OF MARCELLUS

ELKART, IN — "What would make a well-paid, socially and politically secure centurion in the 3^rd century give up his position of power to follow a Lord who had been crucified by soldiers of Rome?" J. Nelson Kraybill, president of AMBS, asked in Sunday morning remarks, as he reviewed the martyrdom of Marcellus in AD 298.

Marcellus, tested between his newfound allegiance to Jesus Christ and a customary requirement to swear an oath of allegiance to the emperor of Rome on his birthday, the centurion dramatically threw down his soldier’s belt and declared loudly that he was a "soldier of Jesus Christ, the eternal king" and that from that time on would cease to serve any emperor.

Mildly chiding the group for their hesitancy to "put words to deeds," Kraybill said Mennonites and other Anabaptist groups tend to "lose the clarity of confessing that Jesus is Lord," lose the significance of "that something unparalleled and irreplaceable happening in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus."

In her summation, Mary Mae Schwartzentruber lifted out several key questions or issues raised during the two days:

Dale Stoffer pointed to Antioch as the clearest example of a multicultural church in the Bible, observing that the first missionary efforts came out of Antioch and that the message and efforts were pointed to the Gentiles.

He suggested that out of the many voices and instruction regarding multiculturalism in the two-day discussion perhaps the most authentic approach is to reach out to other cultures from a more stabilized "monoculture," which the Antioch experience illustrates.

This "tension between approaches" will always exist, he insisted, because it is not easy for one culture to reach out to another. It represents an "ought/is" dilemma. We think we "ought" to do certain things without acknowledging sometimes what "is." We, as white Americans, are reluctant to reach out to cultures with which we are unfamiliar.

Opening up the "summary statements" to the whole group, these were the responses from the larger gathering:

Karl McKinney was caught between the "ought/is" tension (reacting to Dale’s thoughts on the tension). There are people in place within our conferences that we need to think about. We need to view these persons as God does—as individuals with their own unique capacities. Ought/is tension is so dangerous because it limits us to only what we can see, but we are a church, a body with many parts. Everyone can’t and won’t do all things, but everyone can participate through prayer and other activities.

Don Lawson recommends exporting, too, taking people from the monoculture (many of our churches) and sending them to the multi-cultural to experience worship.

Lynn Stutzman thinks the Mennonite Church should become more Pentecostal, forming an agenda from the margins rather than from the centers of power.

Irvin Heichman would like to see a commentary that includes African-American perspectives.

John Powell asks why we don’t try yoke ministries, where individuals can experience how God has worked in both cultures—this rather than downstreaming.

Rocky Kidd observes that this is a multicultural seminar but there are only three blacks, one Latino and one Native American giving input. Why don’t we color this group next year?

Buzz Sandberg thinks black churches have much more exciting worship. This discussion hasn’t dealt at all with the efficiency of bringing persons to Christ. Why don’t we bring people of a single culture together? "While I am not anxious to spend our limited resources on a social experiment, I don’t think we can bring the minorities together at worship. We don’t have time to learn how to plant multi-cultural churches; we need to start with monocultural ones and branch out."

Terry Widrick "The problem with this gathering is that the context is North American—the coming together of patriarchal, colonizing cultures. We need to hear from people who were already here but who have different histories. Yes, we can have mono/multi cultural churches; all we really have to do is be the church. There needs to be more respect for the Native American histories; this needs to be treated the same as the story of the Hebrew people."

Taken from A New Humanity: Anabaptist Ministry Among Many Peoples (© 2000 New Life Ministries). Permission to reproduce for local church use only is granted. Provided by New Life Ministries, 6404 S Calhoun St, Fort Wayne, IN 46807, through its web site at www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org

 2000-2008 New Life Ministries (www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org). All Rights Reserved.
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