MWC-WCRC dialogue creates statement and study guide
“The search for peace starts within the body of Christ,” says Tom Yoder Neufeld, chair of MWC’s Faith & Life Commission. As Mennonite World Conference celebrates 100 years of living out unity within the Anabaptist family, our leaders are also working on our mission to relate with other Christian world communions.
The reconciliation work between Mennonites and Lutherans that culminated in Stuttgart in 2010 set an example for other overtures with Christian world communions. In preparation for the 500th anniversary in Zurich, MWC leaders dialogued with the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC).
The collaborative work of Mennonite and Reformed delegations produced a shared statement for the anniversary commemoration in Zurich on 29 May 2025. They also produced a study guide to assist local congregations in celebrating common witness with WCRC siblings in their local contexts.
Both Anabaptists and Reformed had their beginnings in the same circle of reformers and Bible students in Zurich in the 1520s, notes Tom Yoder Neufeld, also co-chair of the MWC/WCRC dialogue.
“The desire for a dialogue was not to revisit the issues that divided us… but to restore the Bible study circle.”
Tom Yoder Neufeld, MWC Faith & Life Commission chair
“We believe that sharing our reflection and praying together contributes to healing the wounds of estrangement and hostility, especially enabling us to discover opportunities of common witness and peace,” says Anne-Cathy Graber, MWC secretary for ecumenical relations.
“There was real hunger to find opportunities to witness together to justice and peace in a world buffeted by oppression, violence and war,” says Tom Yoder Neufeld.
The title of the statement captures these impulses: “Restoring Our Family to Wholeness: Seeking a Common Witness – A Common Statement of Confession, Gratitude and Commitment.”
A variety of factors including personnel changes and the pandemic led to a later than planned start to dialogue. One in-person meeting brought three Reformed and four Mennonites leaders together in British Columbia, Canada, in 2023. Other meetings took place on Zoom.
“Even so, we got to know and value each other a great deal. It was a gift to work intensely with each other as Mennonite and Reformed sisters and brothers. It became apparent again and again how much more holds us together in Christ than divides us,” says Tom Yoder Neufeld.
“We believe that sharing our reflection and praying together contributes to healing the wounds of estrangement and hostility…”
Anne-Cathy Graber, MWC secretary for ecumenical relations
“It is our hope that the statement will serve as a catalyst for congregations to find to each other, and to work together at our shared sense of calling to work for peace,” he says.
Jointly, the dialogue participants produced a 24-page resource, “A Guide for Study, Worship, and Dialogue.” This study guide is intended to be used at a congregational level to receive the statement. It includes a description of the historical context, and liturgical resources for a joint worship celebration with Anabaptist and Reformed congregations.
“Ecumenical dialogues are not just debates about ideas,” says Anne-Cathy Graber. The study guide, including the resources for joint worship, “are a unique aspect of this document, and hopefully they will further the encounter between Mennonite and Reformed Christians.
“Welcoming this statement at the local level and in one’s own context is an important challenge,” she says.
“There was real hunger to find opportunities to witness together to justice and peace in a world buffeted by oppression, violence and war.”
Tom Yoder Neufeld, MWC Faith & Life Commission chair
Leadership of the MWC and WCRC have not yet discerned whether there will be continued formal dialogue sessions.