Stan Dueck of Denver, Pa., is a staff member of the General Board's Congregational Life Teams. He is ordained in the Church of the Brethren with eight years of pastoral ministry experience.

Part One: A Biblical and Historical Background
Evangelism—Anabaptist Style, 1517 to 1540
by Stan Dueck

There is a world of difference between 16th-century Europe and 21st-century America. Yet the early Anabaptists can still serve as a guide in the ways we share our faith.

As a branch of the Believers Church tradition, the Church of the Brethren has roots in Anabaptist history and theology. The members of this reformation movement were resourceful and faithful in their proclamation of the good news. Nearly 200 years before the founding of the Church of the Brethren hundreds, even thousands, came to faith from 1517 to 1540 through the evangelization of Anabaptists.

Evangelism means the announcement of good news. The early Anabaptists understood that as followers of Jesus they were called to participate in God's mission by a God who not only acts but also speaks, whose Son is the Word, and whose Spirit leads in truth. "In the oral/vernacular world in which they lived, the early Anabaptists had as their aim the conversion of the hearers and their joining the 'saints of God,' . . . the 'Body of Christ on earth' through water baptism" (Snyder).

The purpose of this article is to explore the development of evangelism in Anabaptist thought in its European origins. The intent is to examine the outreach methods that enabled the Anabaptist movement to surge while opposed by mainstream religious and political powers. Lastly, we will look at the implications for the practice of evangelism in the Church of the Brethren.

ANABAPTISM—THE BEGINNINGS

The start of the 16th century was rich with spiritual energy. The medieval picture of a subservient or angst-laden laity dominated by a powerful clergy does not fit the frame. At the close of the medieval period, there was a notable increase in lay piety. Within a few years, a majority of lay people would disclaim much of what they regarded as sacred. Anabaptism appealed to a number of the common people because it resonated with some of the late medieval ideas of spirituality and had aspirations for social justice.

The Anabaptist movement began with ambitions for sweeping religious and social change. Anabaptism, in its continental European origins, progressed through several stages from 1517 to 1540. Its beginning corresponded to the broad reform movement, questioning Rome's authority.

By the early 1520s, this loose coalition began to splinter. Serious dissent emerged among the reformers. Some reformers, such as Erasmus, remained with the Roman Church after Luther's excommunication. Luther and Zwingli forged political alliances with local authorities. The failure of the Peasants War added to the religious and social divide that was occurring between the magisterial reformers such as Luther and Zwingli and dissident groups, including the Anabaptists.

The first adult baptisms in Zurich and Switzerland marked the radical reformers' break from Zwingli. When the peasants' revolt collapsed, the Anabaptists found themselves on the margins of power.

Next, Anabaptists and other dissident groups became the targets of religious and political suppression. The alliance between some reformers and local governments was an advantage in the quest for religious dominance. The Anabaptists became outsiders and were embattled in ideological and theological conflict. Some cities, however, were tolerant of diverse religious opinions. Members of the movement were predominantly peasants, artisans, and miners who at the time were experiencing social, economic, and political shifts. Anabaptists started and developed a significant number of faith communities, some sizeable. They numbered several hundred in the Swiss city of St. Gall. On Palm Sunday in 1525, Conrad Grebel baptized nearly 200 people. The Swiss city of Nicholsburg became one of the movement's centers with a population of some 12,000 Anabaptists.

EARLY ANABAPTIST BELIEFS

The Anabaptist understandings of grace and the Great Commission were influential in the development of their purpose for mission. The Anabaptists embraced the reformers' emphasis on grace and faith. They viewed themselves and all human beings as radically sinful beings, in need of redemption. They agreed with Luther that the grace of God, which grants saving faith, comes before faith and cannot be earned. However, they argued against Luther, believing that grace has the power to remake human nature. Also, they contended that each person has the free will to choose either the path of salvation or the path of perdition.

With this position on grace and faith, the Anabaptists could speak of the "new life," "regeneration by the Spirit," and "rebirth." By the power of God, sinful people come to repentance and confess their faith in Jesus Christ. By that same power, sinful beings are reborn and regenerated by the Holy Spirit and become new people. These new people then live lives that give a witness to God's grace at work in their lives. Because the Anabaptists held that God's grace could remake believers, they expected the non-coercive preaching and acceptance of the gospel to result in a visibly ethical church.

God's grace was a theological grounding for their mission, and the Anabaptists discovered their methodology in the Great Commission and message from the Acts of the Apostles. Numerous Anabaptists interpreted Matthew 28:19 differently than the western medieval church. For twelve centuries the Roman Church used this text to show that valid baptism had to be in the name of the Trinity.

These Anabaptists applied a groundbreaking interpretation to Matthew 28. Familiar with the writings of Erasmus, they followed his thesis that in studying the example and teaching of the apostles in the Book of Acts, one could determine the correct sequence to be observed in the process of becoming a disciple of Christ. The process as outlined in the Scriptures and demonstrated by the apostles is teaching, acceptance, conversion, transformation—then baptism.

In an attempt to discover how the apostles interpreted Christ's commission, they turned to Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19. In addition to the model of believers baptism, these biblical texts provide the message taught by the apostles. This message became the heart of the Anabaptists' proclamation. Thus, the Anabaptists talked in terms of conversion—repenting of one's previous life and then conforming to Christ's teachings. In Erasmus, the Anabaptists, and the Great Commission, Abraham Friesen asserts, "Such a conversion was not based on the ethical teachings of Christ, but it was based on faith in Christ as God's sacrifice for sin and the implication this had for the sinner."

Matthew 28 and Mark 16, along with Psalm 24:1 ("the earth is the Lord's"), indicated to the Anabaptists that Christ wished his followers to go forth in power to reconquer what rightly belonged to him. The earth belonged to Christ, and they had been commissioned to go forth into all the world to preach Christ's gospel.

EARLY ANABAPTIST EVANGELISM

People drawn into the Anabaptist movement invited others to follow the path of Christ. Lacking a significant number of educated clergy, the movement relied upon common people who called others to repent, to accept water baptism and church discipline, to live a regenerated life, and have concern for the poor and needy.

Evangelization by Anabaptists occurred in the midst of their normal routines and daily activities. Family members, friends, and vocational networks were the first and most natural groups to be evangelized. Anabaptists started informal Bible studies in their homes and at their workplaces.

Women were important to the growth of the Anabaptist movement. Generally, there was little in the culturally ascribed role to encourage women to be religiously active. Most women in the Anabaptist movement integrated their ministry into daily routines. Their houses became a primary location for evangelization during this period. They shared their faith with family members and friends, hosted house church meetings, provided a communication network for the local church, and aided families separated by imprisonment. Anabaptist women were equal to men in their commitment to Christ, though unequal by society's standards.

Certain vocations provided greater opportunities for Anabaptists to share Christ's love and teach the Scriptures. Crafts such as weaving and sewing usually were carried out in rooms or halls with groups of people clustered together. Often, as people worked, biblical instruction, worship, or some other kind of religious activity was offered.

Interestingly, Jacob Groß, a traveling furrier, was arrested while present in a room with a group who was at work spinning. The authorities claimed it was an illegal religious meeting. Groß defenders asserted that no Bible reading or singing occurred. Upon further investigation, however, it was discovered that Groß had celebrated the Lord's Supper with these people and had baptized one of them.

The Anabaptist movement was also characterized by members going to others with the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. During times of suppression, this evangelization did not cease. They adapted the ways in which they relationally shared their faith. During the early stages of the movement, Anabaptists openly shared their faith by informal conversation with people in homes and guild halls, taverns, on street corners, at the town square, and in local businesses. A distinguished citizen of St. Gall once chronicled that he could not take a walk on Sundays without bumping into huddled crowds of people reciting the Scriptures. Common people with no culture or learning began to read. "I myself have heard," he said, "an illiterate person preach or read, which is something I cannot understand."

COMMUNICATING THE GOOD NEWS

The 16th century was an oral/vernacular world. Most people had little or no education. Some historians believe that only 3 percent of the population could read and only 15 to 30 percent of the population in cities were literate (Snyder). Most Anabaptists were illiterate, as was most of the society. Nonetheless, the Anabaptists were adroit at communicating their faith. They devised ways for proclaiming the good news, teaching the Scriptures, and communicating their ideas. In an oral/vernacular setting, Anabaptist evangelists, missionaries, and other members could share their message with all segments of society as a result of natural, one-to-one contacts during the normal daily routines. The Anabaptists were flexible and contextual in their approach to evangelism.

How did the Anabaptists communicate the good news with their world? It was a combination of conversational communication, topical Bible teaching, music compositions, and manuscript production. The Anabaptists developed a topical approach along with a mnemonic structure for teaching the Scriptures. This approach to the Bible made it possible for the illiterate members to remember considerable amounts of Scripture. Both literate and illiterate alike could cite the same texts and provide interpretation to defend their core beliefs. The religious inquisitors of the Anabaptists were amazed at their grounding in Scripture.

Music and manuscripts were significant carriers of Anabaptist teachings and news. The Anabaptists composed rhyme to be sung to popular tavern tunes. Their rhymes highlighted primary teachings and the stories of martyrs, taught key biblical passages, and spread information. Handwritten epistles, exhortations, statements of faith, and accounts of martyrdom provided edification, defense, and clarification of Anabaptist teachings.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CHURCH TODAY

Admittedly, there is a world of difference between 16th-century Europe and 21st-century America. Yet, as contributors to the Church of the Brethren's heritage, the early Anabaptists can still serve as a model for sharing our faith. Their practice of evangelism was incarnational, contextual, practical, innovative, relational, and biblical. The living reality of the Anabaptists is probably the most important factor. They were willing to talk about their faith and life anywhere and everywhere to anyone who would listen. Their story should continue to challenge us to examine the passion by which we share the good news.

In recent decades evangelism has been redefined in ways that have minimized the element of proclamation and emphasized "a Christian presence." Religious and cultural diversity and the quest to privatize spirituality upholds this shift. Also, our society resonates with the idea that who a person is says far more than what a person says.

A consistent lifestyle is vital if the Christian faith is to be proclaimed to others and believed. Also, evangelism is to be understood in relation to God's overall activity and mission. Therefore, we cannot diminish the importance of announcing the good news in Christ through preaching and sharing our faith story. The Anabaptists knew that silence did not adequately describe the mission of Jesus. The proclamations of Jesus challenged and moved his hearers, who held that his miracles, lifestyle, and prophetic actions authenticated his teachings.

Evangelism and outreach by our churches should not be merely words or deeds; instead, words and deeds should be intertwined. A Christian presence without professing the good news is tenuous. On the other hand, announcing good news without a presence is not compelling. The Anabaptists had a collected sense about who they were. They were God's people. The Anabaptists thought of themselves as living in solidarity with the church of the 1st century. They saw this as a movement from God to the world, and their church was viewed as an instrument of God's mission.

The Anabaptists saw themselves as continuing a movement begun with Jesus and the early church. Collectively they saw themselves calling the church to renewal. By definition, renewal is not a one-time, all-encompassing event. It is an ongoing process that continually calls the church to examine itself in the light of Jesus and its early history. The ongoing nature of renewal means that the church is never complete but depends on God.

Since renewal is never complete, the church cannot fossilize the practices of one particular era as the determinants for sharing our faith and life. The idea of ongoing renewal permits the Church of the Brethren to adapt its patterns of evangelism to the constantly changing cultural environment. The concept of renewal requires that we make use of new methods, structures, and updated technology to proclaim the good news in Christ. The message and core values of the gospel must remain the same, but the means to the end must always be questioned for change.

Like the early Anabaptists, our congregations need to be flexible, practical, innovative, relational, contextual, and biblical in their approach to evangelism. Our members need to be equipped and supported so that they can in sharing their faith and life, disciple family, friends, and community. While one-to-one relationships and small groups are part of our Anabaptist evangelization practices, so too is the use of new styles of worship and music and imaginative and reliable forms of communication. Evangelism from an Anabaptist viewpoint approaches women, children, and men and it occurs in our most daily routines. It is both spoken and lived.

Like our Anabaptist predecessors, we too are to use the criteria of Jesus, the New Testament, and the early faith traditions to evaluate the familiar, innovative, traditional, and contemporary ways of being today's church, fulfilling the Great Commission.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. In what ways does your congregation equip members to share their faith and life with people?
2. What changes in your community require you to reevaluate the congregation's mission?
3. How does your congregation determine the ways in which it reaches out to the community?
4. In what ways are your congregation's evangelism ministries contextual? How are they relational? innovative? grounded in Scripture?

RELATED SCRIPTURES

Psalm 24
Matthew 28:16-20
Mark 16:15-16
Acts 2; 8; 10; 19

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Driver, John. Radical Faith: An Alternative History of the Christian Church. Pandora Press, 1999.

Friesen, Abraham. Erasmus, the Anabaptists, and the Great Commission. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998.

Weaver, J. Denny. Anabaptist Theology in the Face of Postmodernity: A Proposal for the Third Millennium. Pandora Press, 2000.

Weaver, J. Denny. Becoming Anabaptist: The Origin and Significance of Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism. Herald Press, 1987.

Articles

Frank Ramirez is pastor of Elkhart Valley Church of the Brethren in Northern Indiana. He also writes on the topics of art, history, and theology.

Part One: A Biblical and Historical Background
Brethren, Evangelism, and Missions
by Frank Ramirez

Brethren have generally been of two minds regarding evangelism and mission. Simply put, it remains important for us to listen to each other and hear what we are saying to ourselves.

Brethren have generally been of two minds regarding evangelism and mission. We are for it, but we are afraid of getting too excited, of going off the deep end.

The Brethren movement was founded in evangelism and missions. Alexander Mack, Sr., one of the co-founders of the church, was caught up in the evangelistic efforts of the pietistic preacher Hochmann von Hochenau. Mack eventually joined Hochmann on his missionary journeys.

The original eight Brethren, who formed the structure of the church, assumed that evangelism was essential for all its members. However, the enthusiasm and success of these efforts led to criticism by contemporary Christians who looked askance at the many Mennonites and members of the established churches (Reformed, Lutheran, etc.) who joined the European Brethren.

Eventually, economic and judicial persecution drove the Brethren to the "New World." After recovering from internal problems, they gathered together for a traditional love feast. The immediate result was to send out the entire male membership of the Germantown group into the surrounding countryside to evangelize and found Brethren congregations. These efforts were successful in laying the groundwork for several "mother" congregations.

Brethren struggled through much of the 19th century with the question of how evangelism and missions were consistent with Ordnung, the uniform way of living together in faithfulness. Those who felt that the gospel call to evangelize was of utmost importance contended with those who felt the Brethren needed to spend more time remaining the faithful and pure body.

The fact that the issues were brought up on a regular basis at Annual Meetings demonstrates that protracted meetings, as revival meetings were called, were a matter of considerable interest. For many, they became a regular part of Brethren practice and experience. For others, they were held in suspect, especially when emotionalism ran high. Truth be told, the creative tension between these two extremes was a healthy part of keeping Brethren culture from becoming static.

Even before the Civil War, Annual Meetings laid the foundation for organizations that would oversee missions and evangelism. Progressives such as Henry Holsinger urged the Brethren to adopt these practices, while the Old Order Brethren were wary of the accompanying need for trained leadership and the creation of denominational structure.

As it turned out, Holsinger's ideas, though ridiculed by many, were eventually adopted by the Brethren Church and the Church of the Brethren (two of the three branches that resulted from a split among the Brethren in the 1880s). This suggests that in the end the matter was as much about personality as issues.

Carl Bowman, in his book Brethren Society, makes the point that after the breakup the way was clear for the Church of the Brethren to begin pursuing evangelism and missions in the traditional sense. This was understood by most members and led to the creation of trained leadership and denominational structures.

Interest in missions was part of a larger movement, and Brethren proved to be fairly successful in mission work. Local churches continued to grow as well, into the middle of the 20th century. Inevitably, these efforts caused change, as plain garb and some of the more obvious elements of the Ordnung were dropped, a loss lamented by some and heralded by others.

Brethren efforts in missions resulted in the founding of evangelistically centered denominations in China, India, and Nigeria. Yet, as the century progressed, concerns that foreign missions were somehow linked with an imperialistic American culture led to a de-emphasis on missions. The result was the relinquishment of several efforts, even when these bodies wished to maintain relations with the parental body.

As membership dropped in the Church of the Brethren throughout the second half of the 20th century (as in most mainline churches in America), there was an effort to analyze and understand the sociological and theological reasons. As expected, different communities within the body have come to different conclusions. Brethren have released a series of documents in the latter half of the century on evangelism and missions that are remarkable for their biblically linked language, yet they shy away from the traditional understanding of the terms. There seems to be a distinct level of discomfort with the concepts. Some have tied these differences to issues of liberalism and conservatism, but there is a more helpful distinction in this regard.

The modern situation might best be described by using Graydon Snyder's terms local and translocal communities. The local community is described in its simplest terms as the local churches, while the translocal community includes the larger denominational and educational structures, though obviously there is some mixture between the two communities.

The translocal side includes church leaders, theologians, historians, and denominational officials. They emphasize the larger religious traditions, preserving the divine revelation and the Scriptures. On the other hand, the local side generally includes those in the pew and is concerned with the social matrix, contending for ritual, a strict morality, and family values.

Church sociologists contend that a creative tension between the two communities prevents the body from being static. One pulls the other and is pulled in turn with regard to issues that are important to both.

Within the local church community, missions and evangelism are simply defined. Missions or missionaries are sent to foreign countries for the specific purpose of searching out those who have not yet received the saving message of Jesus Christ, seeking to convert them. A variety of strategies are employed, and most modern missionaries honor and respect indigenous cultures and languages.

Local church communities generally see evangelism as being practiced closer to home, intending to win souls to Christ. These souls might have a nominal church background or none at all. Local evangelism generally includes the practice of revival meetings and may employ a number of modern techniques and utilize the services of larger nondenominational, even ecumenical, organizations. The use of small groups and hospitality evangelism are examples of other techniques.

Translocal communities see the best means of practicing missions as being in partnership with Christian and non-Christian organizations and churches already in existence in other nations. The goal is not to convert individuals and groups to a Brethren identity, but to provide the means in which others will obey and serve Christ in regard to justice.

Evangelism for the translocal community includes demonstrating a Christian lifestyle and welcoming those who are intrigued by such an example, those who deliberately seek us out. Emphasis on discipleship within the membership, rather than on gaining sheer numbers, is a more comfortable practice.

Both local and translocal communities buy into these two extremes. The line is not hard and fast, but the dichotomy is clearly present among the Brethren today. There are congregations and organizations that desire foreign missions and local evangelism that aim to convert and collect. There are also congregations and organizations that speak in more general terms on these subjects and emphasize (in language) a broader expression of discipleship.

WHAT ARE WE TO DO TODAY?

What will help us to remain true to all aspects of our cultural and theological heritage? Are we willing to listen to the desires of the local community for evangelistic outreach and foreign missions, while remaining aware of the translocal need for faithfulness to a larger and sometimes less easily tracked vision? Efforts in the '90s in South Korea and the Dominican Republic demonstrate that both intransigence and cooperation between these communities are possible.

Simply put, it remains important for Brethren to listen to each other and hear what we are saying to ourselves.

BIBLIOGRAPHY