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I rarely talk on this blog about our personal life, and there are various reasons for that. But I do think it’s good for you all, as readers, to get a look behinds the scenes, every now and then.
We recently sent out our latest family update to close friends and prayer supporters and I thought I’d share it with you all as an inside look at our family’s life. Follow this link to see the email.
Throughout this whole series we’ve been looking at the question “What’s the big deal about being Mennonite?” This whole discussion surfaces primarily because so many are leaving Mennonite churches, today.
But leaving one’s church isn’t only a Mennonite phenomenon. It’s happening nationwide. Contrary to popular opinion, however, people are not necessarily leaving because of biblical illiteracy or because they are throwing out their faith.
If I were to ask you what you are looking for in a church, would you know? If I were to ask you what you value, could you put words to it?
Many of us could probably come up with a few things like community, life, faithfulness to God’s Word, family, peace-making, brotherhood, and many other things. But those are all actually really vague. None of them differentiate one church from another.
Most people who have commented on this series so far have strong opinions one way or the other. There is a wide vacuum of people who are silent. People who don’t want to cause conflict. People who, like me, have had a good experience in their Mennonite upbringing, but also see areas of weakness that need radical change. Only, they’re at a loss for how to change it because either they’re written off as a rebel, or their questions and comments are hijacked by people with an agenda for the opposite of the Mennonite tradition.
Allow me, if for a moment, to wrestle aloud with the questions of someone who identifies with his friends who are leaving, but is concerned with whether we’re finding anything better.
If the early Anabaptists were alive today, I am quite certain the Mennonite church would run them out of their congregations.
I realize that’s a pretty strong statement, and not altogether fair. But I’m willing to stand by it, nonetheless.
You see, the early Anabaptist leaders, such as Grebel, Manz, Blaurock, Sattler, and others, began to question the status quo of the institutionalized church. Should the church really baptize infants? Should a believer take oaths or go to war? Even more, they questioned the ruling of a council as being more authoritative than the Spirit’s leading in people’s lives, as was commonly accepted in their day.
Everyone spoke in hushed tones. Mom cried silently, dabbing her eyes with a Kleenex. What was going on?
Moments before, I sat in the back row, behind the Vinar family, copying the gibberish I saw in a hymnbook onto a blank piece of paper my older sister had given me. Now, everyone was huddled into groups, solemn, and praying. Something important was happening. Something big!
Is this my church?
A month ago I launched my 2017 reader survey, and now the results are in. I’ve compiled some general graphs to give you a look into the average reader of this blog. The survey consisted of 37 questions; I’m showing results for 23 of them, here. 658 respondents took part in the survey. 71% of those completed each question, and it took them an average of 7 minutes to fill out the whole survey.
Without further ado, here are the results to my 2017 reader survey.
For too long the church in America has walked under the intoxication of militarism. We’ve been duped into believing that it is our responsibility to protect our lives on this earth, whether by providing churches with armed security guards or by preaching a gospel compatible with materialism and the building of wealth.
But this is not the way of Christ. Not as laid out in Scripture, at least.
Question Submitted: When did a passionate movement about believer’s baptism and separation from church and state (and eventually pacifism) become a movement of sullen, strict, sticklers for coverings and modest clothing?
Author Asher Witmer knows what it’s like to want freedom from sexual sin only to continually fail. We’re often told we need more personal discipline, that we need to think godly things instead of fleshly things.
What if I told you that discipline won’t solve your problem with lust?
Our male sexuality is given by God for advancing beauty and goodness. But somewhere along the line it becomes something that causes devastation and guilt. The good news is we don’t have to live with guilt. In Live Free, Asher Witmer shows us how we can find freedom from sexual sin, live with nothing to hide, and be able to fight for others.
