Anabaptist Evangelism in a Postmodern World

Dale R. Stoffer

Associate Professor of Historical Theology, Ashland Theological Seminary

I need to begin with a disclaimer: I do not consider myself an expert on postmodernism. But I do bring several areas of expertise to this topic that, I trust, will provide some important perspectives on Anabaptist evangelism in a postmodern world.

As a historical theologian, I am cautious about the verdict that modernism is dead. There is truth in this judgment insofar as modernism is defined as the belief in the autonomy of human reason that is the essential feature of the Enlightenment. But I would argue that what distinguishes the premodern worldview from the modern worldview is not merely the elevation of reason as the final judge of truth. The crucial issue is who is the ultimate source of truth. Whereas the premodern world held the conviction that supernatural divine truth defines human existence, i.e., that God is the source of truth, modernism rejected such supernaturalism. In modernism the locus of authority shifts from God to humanity. While modernism’s haughty trust in reason and science for discovering ultimate or unified reality has been rightly challenged by postmodernism, postmodernism itself shares the same presupposition as modernism: locating ultimate authority in humanity. In postmodernism "truth," or should we say understandings or preferences, merely becomes the subjective experience of each individual.

There are clearly some positive features to postmodernism that we as Christians, specifically in the Anabaptist tradition, can applaud. But as I will note, for each positive, there is a corresponding negative.

1. Postmodernism has undermined rationalism’s approach to truth: rationalism believed that there exists universally valid natural law that can be directly apprehended by the human mind, i.e., human reason alone can discover truth. With such a position, of course, rationalism had ruled out the need for revelation. Postmodernism rejects this rationalistic approach by arguing that there are no universally valid truth claims. But the same argument that undermines rationalism’s approach to truth also ridicules the Christian reliance on revealed truth.

2. Postmodernism has rightly pointed out that there is no such thing as pure, objective, dispassionate observation. All human thinking involves subjective elements; we as individuals inevitably bring our own set of values and presuppositions to any discourse. This is important for us as Anabaptists because we affirm that true saving faith is an act not merely of the mind but especially of the heart and will. In Scripture, truth is not abstract, objective, dispassionate doctrine. It is made personal in Jesus Christ and must impact a person’s mind, heart, and will. The danger posed by postmodernism is the relativism that results from the rejection of objective truth. Each person’s experience becomes just as valid and real as the next person’s.

I should note that those Christian traditions that give more weight to reason and a propositional view of Scripture, notably the Puritan and Reformed, are the most threatened by postmodernism as seen by recent works by David Wells (No Place for Truth and God in the Wasteland), R. C. Sproul, and Mark Noll.

3. The narrative style, relating my story, is preferred to any grand story that claims universal application. The strength of this approach is that it recognizes that each person has a unique story; the narrative style remains personal and contextual. As we will note, a relational evangelism style can have appeal for a postmodernist. The danger of this approach is that the divine-human story, as unfolded within Scripture, is disallowed because of its claim to be the normative narrative that defines human destiny and purpose.

There are some further problematic features that I would raise regarding postmodernism.

1. First is the loss of any center or unifying themes in culture and life in general. Postmodernism celebrates diversity, the multiplicity of perspectives. The result is fragmentation, not only in the outside world but also in my inner world.

2. Second is the sense of distrust and even betrayal felt by Generation X. The American dream for them is a fairy tale that previous generations might have lived but that is out of their grasp. Why should they buy into a lie that even their parents’ generation is beginning to realize isn’t worth the cost?

3. A third concern derives directly from the second: there is a willingness to find sanctuary in what we might call a virtual reality worldview. This world finds security in its insulation from the pain and disappointment found in the real world. Thus we have chat rooms devoid of human contact, telephone sex, the spin doctoring that neatly packages political candidates, the vicarious murder and mayhem of many computer games (sometimes my son prefers to play games over the Internet with his friends than play with them in person). There is a certain unrealness to and disengagement from life that keeps people and even life at a safe distance.

4. A fourth concern is that postmodern culture has no fixed anchors, especially moral norms. Postmodernism judges such norms as mere inventions of culture that are meant to keep people in bondage.

Another area of my research interest is Anabaptist thought. I am convinced that Anabaptism is extremely well positioned both to enter into dialogue with postmodernism and to provide answers to the concerns raised and created by postmodernism. I am going to suggest four elements of Anabaptism that directly speak to the issues raised by postmodernism and that also suggest how we in the Anabaptist heritage should approach evangelism.

First is the way that Anabaptists have traditionally done theology—our approach to theology. Though Anabaptist writers frequently were forced to address a single theme or issue, when they sought to present the larger picture of Christian truth, they approached this doctrinal task in a way quite different from other contemporary theologians. If you look at the writings of such Anabaptists as Dirk Philips, Menno Simons, and Peter Rideman as well as the Brethren writers, Alexander Mack and Peter Nead, you find what I call a narrative approach to theology. They tell the story of God’s redemptive work, tracing it through the creation, fall, the law and the prophets, and culminating in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and the apostles. Throughout, application of the biblical story is made to the present setting. God’s story is contemporized into our story. Instead of the objective, scholastic, propositional approach of much Western theology that tends to remain disengaged from God, Anabaptist thought stresses the divine-human encounter; it is personal, relational, and elicits response.

The second point flows from the first. For Anabaptism and, I would argue, for the New Testament as well, truth is relational and personal. It is found in a person, Jesus Christ, and is lived out in the context of the life of his followers. Note such biblical evidence as Jesus’ claim in John 14:6 to be the truth; and John’s declaration in 1 John 1:1-4 that the church’s proclamation is the Word of life, Jesus Christ, and that sharing in his life results in fellowship. For the Anabaptists, Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which the entire faith is built; note Menno Simons’ motto, taken from 1 Cor. 3:11: "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Typical of the relational nature of truth for the Anabaptists is this statement by Swiss Anabaptist prisoners: "Now, beloved, we write such things to you that you may convert from darkness to the simple truth and light of Christ and recognize the tree by its fruit, as Christ teaches us" (Sources of Swiss Anabaptism, 518).

This understanding that truth is relational and personal moves us beyond the objective-subjective debate about the nature of truth that divides rationalism, that upholds objective truth, and postmodernism, that stresses subjective understandings. For the Anabaptist, truth is first of all a Person and second issues in a life that reflects the light of Christ. Truth thus has content: it is the word of Christ; but it also impacts my life: it seeks the transformation of my life through conversion and regeneration.

This point leads to a third pertinent trait of Anabaptist thought: Anabaptism emphasized the necessity of a new, transformed life. This is the proof of the pudding that Christ’s Word has taken root in my life. My story needs to be transformed by God’s story.

A fourth Anabaptist distinctive that has direct relevancy to the problems raised and created by postmodernism is the stress on community. In a postmodern world characterized by fragmentation, distrust of the American dream, withdrawal into virtual reality, and the loss of moral norms, a loving, caring, authentic Christian community can have powerful appeal. Obviously, however, such a lifestyle will have appeal only as it offers an alternative to the postmodern characteristics I mentioned earlier. Being a counter-culture community should not be a strange idea for Anabaptists. But we must be conscientious in our commitment to upholding the unity of the faith in Christ, the authenticity of life lived in service to Christ and others, and the holiness and integrity that should denote those who bear Christ’s name. Our communities must show how God’s story can transform the story of an entire community.

Let me directly address the issue of how we as Anabaptists should approach evangelism. Based on what I have already set forth, I believe that we in the Anabaptist tradition can most effectively communicate the gospel today when we use the narrative approach that is rooted in our heritage. We need to be able to tell three stories well: God’s story of his redemptive work that culminates in Jesus Christ, my individual story of how God’s story has transformed my life, and our community story that shows that God’s story can authentically reshape an entire social group. Though it is true that the postmodern world will tend to turn a deaf ear to normative stories, we have the opportunity to share God’s story through the impact that it has had on my own personal story and our corporate story.

Martyrs Mirror, the great Dutch Mennonite martyrology, is an exceptional illustration of how our individual and corporate stories can be cast in a way that powerfully declare God’s story. The experience of Anabaptist individuals and communities related in this work became the avenue for declaring normative divine truth that informed and formed the Mennonite self-understanding for centuries.

In summary, the heirs of Anabaptism have a wonderful opportunity today to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, far more so than those whose apologetic has relied on rational, evidential arguments. Because we believe that truth is embodied in Jesus Christ and that this truth needs to be incarnated in his followers, our evangelism must be expressed as much, if not more so, by our lives as by our words. Our evangelism needs to be relational, expressing genuine concern and love for others; it ought to be friendship evangelism. We need to become a true counter-culture community that radically lives out the life and teachings of Christ and the apostles in our own. Our evangelism will be effective in postmodern culture only as we live lives of transparent honesty, integrity, and purity. We must be willing to declare the unchanging, normative story of God’s redemptive work in Christ through our own individual and corporate stories, and demonstrate by our lives the truth of the words we speak. Though each of our individual stories will be unique, they are, nonetheless, joined together by the common thread of God’s story. It is because we all share his story that we can be bound together in communities that beautifully display before the world the unity and diversity of Christ’s body. And it is because we have been transformed by his story that we have an obligation to declare by our mouths and our lives, individually and as a community, the life-changing truth of God’s story.

Taken from Anabaptist Witness in a Postmodern Society (© 1998 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

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