Stories from around the world teach how we respond as faith communities to the challenges of climate change.
The 353 responses to the Creation Care Task Force survey contained many stories of churches caring for creation. This month, we highlight responses that emphasize how congregations creatively enact local solutions as faithful response to the injustices of environmental degradation.
Creation care can be integral to worship and study…
“The church has engaged with the topic [of climate change] on the biblical fact that God is the Creator and [we are] the steward of the resources entrusted [to us].”—Francis Kamoto, pastor, Mpingo Wa Abale Mwa Kristu (Brethren In Christ) Malawi.
“In addition to changing our lighting (to automatic), starting a recycling program, etc., we are also in line to install solar panels on the church building.”—Rebecca Helmuth, North Goshen Mennonite Church, Goshen, Indiana, USA.
Rebecca Helmuth
“The Meserete Kristos Church Head Office sends a bi-weekly bulletin in three languages which includes Bible-based devotional materials that address the thematic areas of MKC’s five ministry pillars. Climate change is addressed under peacebuilding and holistic ministry.”—Desalegn Abebe, president, Meserete Kristos Church, Ethiopia.
“We’ve had sermons, classes and workshops to help us understand the scope of global climate change and to develop responses. Specifically, we’ve focused on changing eating habits. We have also advocated for local and state legislation to address climate change.”—Rod Stafford, Portland Mennonite, Oregon, USA.
And it can be integrated into church activities in other practical ways…
A banner at First Mennonite Church, Kitchener, Ontario, promotes action for climate justice. Photo: Donna Bender
“We try to minimize our creation of garbage in church events (e.g., use dishes rather than disposables). We use LED light bulbs when possible. We keep heat turned down when church is not in use. We try to reduce road salt in winter.”—Eleanor Nash, Rouge Valley Mennonite Church, Markham, Ontario, Canada.
“We hosted an intergenerational climate change conversation; have quarterly newsletters on creation care/climate change; hold an annual creation care Sunday during Season of Creation; host Wild Church monthly; installed solar; insulated our building; established permaculture gardens and onsite composting; and our members wrote a cookbook (Sustainable Kitchen).”—Heather Wolfe, Taftsville Chapel Mennonite Fellowship, Woodstock, Vermont, USA.
Which helps churches engage with their local communities.
“We engaged with A Rocha in an eco-church evaluation. We grew a vegetable garden for donation to our local food bank. We participated this year in the Season of Creation for three Sundays, worshipping outside and drawing nature into our contemplation.”—Lori Matties, River East Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
“We dug up a large portion of the grassy lot next to our building and divided it into plots. Each summer, church members and church neighbours plant gardens for food.”—Karla Braun, Crossroads MB Church, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Natural solutions such as tree planting are good for the planet and for our communities
Tshims Mafuta
“MB Malawi works to develop a strategy for combating deforestation and for improving forest governance. Complementary site-based interventions have been initiated to address drivers of climate change, while also helping to generate livelihood opportunities for vulnerable households.”—Bahati Mutabesha Safari, Mennonite Brethren church of Malawi.
“The church has always encouraged members to plant trees and today those trees produce fruit and protect houses against the wind.”—Cristiano Mafuta M. Ngoma, Igreja da Comunidade Menonita em Angola
“[As part of the GREEN Legacy to plan 5 billion trees], our church members planted trees in their church compounds, open spaces and community lands.”—Desalegn Abebe, president, Meserete Kristos Church, Ethiopia
Dedicating groups to creation care often help churches engage more effectively
Wendy Janzen, Eco-Minister for Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, gave an outdoor sermon at First Mennonite Kitchener in January. They had a month-long sermon series on creation care and regularly invoke it in prayer time. Photo: Noa Bergen.
After an all-ages worship series on creation care, “We formed a climate action sub-group. We had a vegetarian potluck and sharing of recipes to encourage folks to eat less meat. We planned a tree-planting event. We installed solar panels on the church roof several years ago and installed a water station to promote refilling of reusable water bottles.”—Donna Bender, First Mennonite Church, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Youth are critical for catalyzing action
“A few years ago, the youth planted trees around the spring that supplies our town with potable water, and it had such a great impact on our community and our youth in terms of preserving and caring for what we have.”—Omar Pérez Reyes, president, Asociación Iglesias Cristianas Menonitas de Costa Rica.
“Church youth usually take advantage of evangelism sessions to make people aware about the consequences of climate change and how to stop its effects.”—Thioro Bananzaro, president, Eglise Evangélique Mennonite du Burkina Faso.
Churches can take actions that impact larger systems
“In the early 2000s, we were involved in an interfaith and civil movement to reject a plan from the government to build a nuclear plant power. That was a controversial issue…but this became a meeting point for interfaith networking.”—Danang Kristiawan, GITJ Jepara, Indonesia.
“Our church joined forces with other civil society organizations to protest against the mega mining project, ‘The Colossus’ in Cajamarca which was supposed to be the biggest open pit gold mine in Latin America. We have participated in citizen actions to defend the land, water, and natural resources.”—José Antonio Vaca Bello, Iglesia Menonita Ibague, Colombia.
Photo: José Antonio Vaca Bello
All of these steps serve as important acts of hope
“During a church service for Erntedankfest (Thanksgiving), the church members were invited to plant an apple tree on the church lawn. Together, we stood on the grass and watched as the children took their little shovels and filled the hole where the new tree (a heritage variety) stood. This year at Erntedank, three little apples were presented as the first gifts. We were reminded of the goodness of our Creator who makes all things new.”—Dora Schmidt, Mennonitengemeinde Enkenbach, Germany.
Children harvest apples from a tree the congregation planted. Photo courtesy Dora Schmidt
Response
“As organizations founded on Christian faith in the Anabaptist tradition, we recognize the significant threat to global communities, economic justice, and the next generations from climate change. We are committed to explore our work and mission in support of sustainable and just climate solutions.”
Welcome to a series on environmental problems and the global church.
These stories illuminate
a) how Anabaptist-Mennonites are affected by environmental degradation,
b) what Anabaptist-Mennonites think about environmental issues,
c) how Anabaptist-Mennonites are responding.
The Executive Committee delegates responsibility to the officers to provide oversight to the life and work of MWC between its annual meetings.
president and vice-president elected by the General Council,
the general secretary (ex officio) appointed by the General Council
a treasurer appointed by the Executive Committee
An officer must be a member of an MWC member church, and must be approved by his/her member church.
Officers
General Secretary: César García
Congregation: First Mennonite Church, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
“We are grateful for the gifts we share in our family of faith: missionaries who have given their lives to bear witness to Christ; brothers and sisters willing to serve the needy; teachers who disciple others with their life and character; pastors who care for local congregations; donors who give generously to the work of Christ; peacemakers who model a new way of dealing with conflicts in the manner of Jesus. Our global community is greatly blessed!”
President: J. Nelson Kraybill
Congregation: Prairie Street Mennonite, Elkhart, Indiana, USA
“Through MWC relationships, I have seen the greatest hope, deepest faith and most lifegiving Christian community among Christians in places of material or political insecurity. Power and wealth create a false sense of self-sufficiency instead of a bedrock of unshakeable assurance and joy in knowing Jesus.”
Vice-President: Rebecca Osiro
Congregation: Eastleigh Mennonite Church, Nairobi, Kenya
“MWC’s genius is fellowship and networking. We share our stories. We come together and find that we are one. We find strength beyond class, beyond status. MWC gives me courage.”
Treasurer: Sunoko Lin
Congregation: Maranatha Christian Fellowship, Reseda, California, USA
“Serving the global Anabaptist-Mennonite church has deepened my spiritual formation. My prayer for the global church is that God would bring peace, comfort and hope to suffering members of Anabaptist/Mennonite global family impacted by COVID-19. This has brought a great loss: not only human lives but also economic severity in many developing countries. God, have mercy!”
President-elect: Henk Stenvers
Congregation: Doopsgezinde Gemeente Bussum-Naarden, Netherlands
“What I have learned through serving the global Anabaptist-Mennonite church is to appreciate the work of the Holy Spirit in all parts of the world, in so many different contexts, creating a wonderful diverse communion.”
Last month we looked at what activities churches actually do with creation care. This week we look at what they would like to learn more about. In other words, what do churches wish they could do more?
1. Respondents are interested in learning about several key areas of creation care.
Respondents believe their churches are most interested in two general categories of creation care.
First, people want to learn more about how creation care can be more integrated into biblical understanding, and their worship practices (items shown in blue in this table) (with the exception of prayer, perhaps because this is not viewed as something that is ‘learned’).
Second, respondents were interested in what is most effective at living in a way that reduces impacts on the earth (items shown in green).
When asked what resources they use, people most often think of using a variety of writings, including online resources. In addition, many people highlighted 1) the important role of a variety of creation care organizations in providing good resources, and 2) the importance of their human resources – key individuals who are strongly motivated and/or have expertise in areas that can help the church.
“We have people with the professional and technical expertise who can help us with giving talks and spreading ideas for taking action,” says Martha Moreno member of Iglesia Evangélica Mononita “Jesús el Buen Pastor”, Guyaquil, Ecuador
2. Respondents who report more impacts of climate change are more interested in learning about creation care.
For all categories except prayer, there is a strong correlation between how interested people are in learning about a topic, and how many environmental problems they have noticed in their own context. This makes sense – people who are experiencing, or are aware of, environmental impacts are more likely to be concerned about these issues. This suggests that churches can motivate members by increasing their awareness. It also suggests churches will want to learn more and more about these issues as the impacts of environmental issues grow.
Do people who report being aware of environmental problems also actually engage in more actions in response?
The answer is yes, but with a caveat – this relationship is less strong. In other words, people that are more aware of environmental issues were much more interested in learning about the issues, but only somewhat more likely to engage in actions.
Work with churches should provide resources for learning, but should work toward helping churches translate these into actions.
3. Churches were somewhat less interested in learning about public activities.
We see once again this month evidence that respondents were less interested in engaging at the civic level, such as engaging in political advocacy, or engagement with community initiatives (purple and yellow items in the map below). However, these interests varied more with region; for instance, interest in advocacy was notably higher in Africa and North America. Churches appear to be more focused on their own church or local communities rather than engaging more broadly with government, businesses or organizations.
Percent of respondents expressing interest in learning about creation care themes
Faith communities are increasingly vocal as they recognize their important moral voice, and how working together creates changes that multiply local actions. As Anabaptists/Mennonites, we should consider broader engagement as an opportunity to share our voice and to effectively make changes at the system level.
“As a church, we should carry our responsibilities to teach our members to understand the value and importance of learning more about nature and climate change. We should learn how easy it is to change our lifestyle, and how it is going to create danger if we are not aware of it. Some changes in our lifestyle can have a big impact on our future,” says Emmanuel Mahendra, Kanker Mennonite Church, India.
Emmanuel Mahendra
“Don’t just focus on personal responsibility. Individual change is important, but it’s not enough. We need to learn about the systemic nature of it,” says Kyle Penner, pastor at Grace Mennonite Church, Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada.
As illustrated by the two quotes above, people need to feel their actions are effective. When they see the effects directly, or when they feel action leads to larger systemic changes, they are encouraged to press on.
Engaging both individual behaviour change and systemic advocacy is important. We are most effective when we work together as a community to faithfully work at creation care on multiple levels.
Response
Getting involved in systemic change is often easier than we think! It can be a key way of bringing faith communities together in new ways as we care for creation.
Advocacy can be a part of a church’s spiritual practices and can contribute to spiritual growth as part of peacemaking. It can also be a way to amplify the actions churches are taking on other levels.
Mennonite Central Committee has a toolkit for advocacy that can be adapted to your specific country contexts.
Welcome to a series on environmental problems and the global church.
These stories illuminate
a) how Anabaptist-Mennonites are affected by environmental degradation,
b) what Anabaptist-Mennonites think about environmental issues,
c) how Anabaptist-Mennonites are responding.
On 23 September 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the Intergovernmental Panel report on climate change was “a code red for humanity.” And yet Guterres was hopeful, saying “it is not too late to act to ensure that climate action contributes to international peace and security.” For Guterres, nations must work together because peace today cannot be separated from the problems of climate.
For Christians, a theological framework is needed to relate alarming climate problems to our commitment to peace. The story of creation provides this framework, where humanity’s existence is part of the Creator’s beautiful ordering of climate.
In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, there are two stories of creation.
The first story in Genesis 1 is famous to many of us. In it, the Creator made the heavens and earth in six days. This story sketches the creation in orderly, poetic, and rhythmic sentences, ones that can be found in religious rituals or church Sunday services.
In this story, the Creator saw that disorder was not good and thus separated light from darkness, water from dry land, and so on. These separations prepared for the coming of human beings as the pinnacle of creation. On the sixth day, God created humans after nature, plants, and animals. Man and woman were created in God’s image at the same time.
Yet Genesis 2 tells the story from another angle, reversing the order of creation. God created man first, then plants, and animals. And finally, God created woman as man’s helper. The importance of human beings can be seen in their place as the first and last of creation. But here, the creation of humans, plants and animals occur within the story of God preparing climate. The text reads that “when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up – for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground—then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:5-7).
Rain and stream are, indeed, related to climate. The word for stream here can also mean steam or mist. Streams of water rise from earth to flood the soil and water the dry land. And steam from the ground fills the air with water and falls as rain. Here we are given a beautiful story of climate origin. And then the first human was created from dust of the ground – moist dust, permeated by mist which rose from the earth.
Here is what is important: More than a story of humble beginning, the creation of human beings in Genesis 2 portrays humans as part of the climate story. The Creator prepared climate before creating living beings, including humans.
As the first and the last of God’s creation, humans are protectors not only of the garden but also the whole creation (Genesis 2:15-17). They must “till the ground,” the very ground from which humans came to be. But it is also the moist ground, the ground which will bring fruits because God has prepared it through ordering climate and by the work of human hands.
Here, humanity’s role is to be the mediator between earth and its Creator. Humans are responsible to the Creator for the preservation of the ground because their existence is dependent on the moist ground in the climate story. As such, humans are not only God’s emissaries to earth but also mediators who bring the groanings of all creatures to the Creator.
Praying is the first concrete step through which we can practice our mediatorial role in today’s climate calamities. When we pray, we reconnect our beautiful yet fractured earth to the Creator. In praying, we connect our desire with those who yearn for clean water and air, because, in the words of scholar and policymaker Maxine Burkett, those who “suffer most acutely [from climate disaster] are also those who are the least responsible for the crisis to date.”
When we pray, God will open our hearts to concrete actions as individuals, communities of faith, and policymakers for the peace and security of our common home. Friends, let us continue to pray.
—Nindyo Sasongko, a Mennonite pastor from Indonesia, is a PhD candidate in Systematic Theology at Fordham University, New York, theologian in residence at Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship, NYC, and a member of the MWC Creation Care Task Force.
Austria
Mennonitischen Freikirche Österreich (MFÖ) / Mennonite Free Church of Austria
The Mennonite Free Church in Vienna is the community in which I had the privilege of growing up. We are a small but incredibly family-oriented church, centred around Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
I can identify myself very well with the Mennonites because they see themselves as commissioned by God to bring about peace and to meet one another – and one’s neighbor – in love.
In practical terms, this means that as a “living community,” we are constantly faced with challenges and a variety of difficulties. Nevertheless, there is the willingness and love to grow together with these obstacles and to want to overcome them in unanimity. However, unanimity does not mean that we always have one and the same opinion, but that we want to submit to the decision made together in the community meeting in peace.
When I was baptized in faith in September 2011, I personally made the decision to serve in this church and therefore officially asked for membership. Since taking this step, I can say that it is incredibly blessing and enriching to follow Christ in the midst of God’s great family.
I have been encouraged so often by other members to serve God with my personal gifts (in praise and in children’s services). I have learned a lot, experienced ups and downs and have been carried through difficulties. My character was formed; I can gratefully state that I have a patient Lord who is patient with me, even when I face the same problem for the third time.
– Franziska, a member of MFWien, a Mennonite congregation in Vienna, Austria
Mennonitischen Freikirche Österreich (MFÖ) / Mennonite Free Church of Austria
Since the beginning of organized Mennonites in Austria, participation in Mennonite World Conference has been shared with German Mennonite Brethren national churches: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Mennonitischer Brüdergemeinden in Deutschland (AMBD) and the Vereinigung der Menoniten Brudergemein von Bavaria (VMBB). After the AMBD was accepted as a member of the MWC, the MFÖ has been represented by its own delegate.
The MFÖ currently consists of 6 parishes with 385 members. After the number of members had slowly decreased for almost two decades because two congregations were closed and four church planting works were unsuccessful, an increase in members was recorded in 2019. Unfortunately, the “corona year” 2020 stopped this tentative growth of the MFÖ.
History
Anabaptism, starting in Switzerland, spread very quickly in the Habsburg hereditary lands. It is estimated that about one third of the population, next to the Catholics and Lutherans, were Anabaptists. However, the Habsburg monarchs saw themselves as defenders of the Roman Catholic church and thus fought the Reformation. Many Lutherans and Anabaptists were expelled from Austria. While “secret Protestants” may have existed in remote mountain areas, the Anabaptists disappeared.
Only after the Second World War did Mennonites come to Austria again to help the Mennonite refugees from Eastern Europe. Communities have emerged through the refugee work in Upper Austria and Vienna. Missionaries from the Mennonite Brethren were active in Upper Austria. A community was founded in Vienna, in cooperation between MCC and Sonnenberggemeinde in Switzerland.
The Mennonite congregations, like other Free Church congregations, were not recognized as churches in Austria. This has resulted in a variety of disadvantages. In order to remedy this unequal treatment towards the recognized churches, the Roman Catholic church, the Lutheran and Reformed churches, the Institute for Legal Philosophy of the University of Vienna and the ecumenical movement “Paths of Reconciliation – the round table” have endeavoured, in cooperation with the Free Churches, to obtain state recognition of the Free Churches (FKÖ). This was achieved in 2013 through the merger of the Free Church conferences of Baptists, Evangelicals, Pentecostal and charismatic movements, the Elaia Christian community and the MFÖ.
In 2019, the Bruderhof movement was accepted into the MFÖ as the Bruderhof parish Austria.
The people in our communities consist mainly of Austrians and members of various European and non-European countries. Because of the international refugee movements, people from the Middle East find a home in our communities. Therefore, the composition of the churches is very international, more in the larger cities, as expected.
Many of our members come from Catholicism, some from the evangelical church. Due to the short history of the Free Churches in Austria, there are only a few Christians of the second generation and hardly any third generation.
Currently, the congregations have sent missionaries to Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan and support them financially and with prayer.
Challenges
The Mennonite churches are small. The largest community is in Wels with around 100 members. Three churches have employed pastors on a part-time basis. Two churches are led by people who provide spiritual and practical leadership for their communities in addition to their full-time employment. In the foreseeable future, many leaders who have been tried and tested over many years will have to be replaced by younger colleagues – who in turn are busy with their professional and family tasks.
In the communities there are also young families and co-workers whose heartfelt concern is to plant churches. In these matters too, the pandemic was and is a significant obstruction.
Our people have brought different theological ideas from their personal stories and religious backgrounds. There is clear influence of the Brethren Movement through literature and influences of North American evangelicalism. What is typically “Mennonite” is less understood; as a more or less interesting history. Our pastors do not come from a Mennonite tradition, but from other traditions and therefore they do not have an eye for what is special in being Anabaptist. It remains to be hoped and expected that by participating in international Mennonite events our pastors and co-workers will discover these particularities.
Opportunities
An outdoor fellowship meal at the Steyr congregation in Austria. Photo courtesy MFO
The Austrian population is very traditional and likes to orientate itself towards decisions made by authorities. This could be an aftermath of the long monarchical rule in Austria.
As a result of the state accreditation, the Free Churches surprisingly have a significantly better acceptance among the population and, above all, with the authorities. Even if the diversity of the Free Churches still represents a considerable problem of understanding, explanations from the accredited Free Churches are increasingly being requested. The FKÖ therefore has the opportunity to join boards that discuss topics of high relevance to society and also the chance to help to shape those boards, both in ecclesiastical and political directions. Dialogue with other churches and religious societies is also more possible now.
Through the Mennonites’ 500-year history of Anabaptism, Austrian society realizes the European roots of the Free Churches, as well as permanence, consistency and also reliability – good signs of an old tradition.
Years ago, controversy and sometimes enmity between the Anabaptist-minded traditions and other Free Churches was possible, now the collaboration has led to much more respectful togetherness.
Within the FKÖ, Mennonites were allowed to serve with a balancing position between widely differing attitudes, such as charismatics and evangelicals can have. It seems that Mennonite peace-loving serenity is valued.
The five Conferences within the Free Church of Austria (FKÖ) have the chance to prove themselves in everyday interaction and thereby show that it is possible to be unified without having to give up one’s own identity. With the belief of the Evangelical Alliance, the FKÖ has given itself a theological framework and works with one voice on legal and social issues. Yet the conferences and their churches remain autonomous. In this way, Austrian society can be shown at once the diversity and unity of the five different traditions through our public appearance.
These or similar principles could also be exemplary beyond the borders of Austria.
Reinhard Kummer is the presiding officer of Mennonitischen Freikirche Österreich (MFÖ) / Mennonite Free Church of Austria
Our previous stories from the global survey shows that 1) Mennonite-Anabaptist congregations around the world are being impacted by environmental issues such as climate change in diverse ways, 2) are feeling anxious and sad due to those impacts, and 3) are talking some about creation care in their churches.
But how exactly are churches feeling called to respond to issues of creation care, including climate change?
To find out how churches are responding, the task force asked two sets of questions: one “closed-ended” giving a list of possible responses to creation in general, and the other “open-ended” asking to identify any responses their church has had to climate change specifically.
These results help us to understand how churches might best inspire church members in creation care work.
Churches commonly engage creation care through teaching, reflection and worship
Karen Flores Vindel from Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Hondureña (IEMH), volunteers with a sustainable agriculture training in a rural area in Honduras.
“Church youth usually take advantage of evangelism sessions to make people aware about the consequences of climate change and how to stop its effects.”
—Thioro Bananzoro, Église Évangélique Mennonite du Burkina Faso
When responding to creation care needs, churches naturally engage through traditional church activities such as sermons, worship, prayer, Bible studies and awareness-raising activities such as workshops. These are spiritual, intellectual, or emotional responses that often do not directly reduce environmental impacts in the same way as other direct actions.
Sometimes perceived as ‘just talking’, these actions are in fact an important step in “doing” creation care. Churches clearly value these actions, and they should be acknowledged as critical aspects of encouraging church engagement.
Common actions centre on waste, plants and energy
“With our limited resources every year at least 150- 200 households are being supported for tree plantation in their yards.”
—Shemlal Hembron, Brethren In Christ Church, Nepal
Several categories of more “direct” action were commonly reported.
Many congregations, especially in Latin America, reported actions that addressed the impacts of waste, by having neighbourhood cleanings, promoting recycling, or producing less waste.
Planting trees or gardens is another common action seen in all areas, and mirrors general worldwide interest in plant- and food-based solutions.
Reducing energy through increased efficiency, or by solar energy installation, was a common response in North America, but was rarely mentioned in other areas.
All of these actions represent socially acceptable actions that are relatively easy for church groups to do together, and that have co-benefits (such as better health from cleaner surroundings, or cost savings from reduced energy use). Engaging with these actions are a good way for churches to begin having a positive impact on the environment in their communities.
Some important actions receive less attention by churches
Jürg Bräker
“Our church has engaged with the topic of creation care through preaching, political activities, membership in organizations that promote awareness for environmental care, ecumenical celebrations such as vespers on creation day.”
— Jürg Bräker, Mennoniten Gemeinde Bern (Alttäufer) (Mennonite church of Bern, old Anabaptist), Switzerland.
The quote above represents how many congregations are engaged with creation care on several levels, but is unusual in mentioning involvement with political activities. In fact, public actions of advocacy are an area that was consistently low on the list of activities at churches, and the majority of churches involved at this level are in North America and Africa.
Similarly, few people mentioned changing modes of transportation, and there were very few responses that said they were working directly with changing consumption patterns. All of these represent actions which involve more risk, are more difficult to implement or are not applicable to all contexts (consumption varies tremendously by region, for instance).
Nevertheless, these are all areas that have high impact for environmental issues, and churches should consider the value of actions in these areas if they wish to have a real impact on how societies address environmental problems.
As Anabaptists, we’re known for an emphasis on living out our faith. These results show ways this is happening with creation care, while also pointing where churches can be more involved in tangible actions. What do churches need to increase their engagement in these actions?
Next month we’ll look at what resources and learnings churches say they need in order to faithfully care for God’s creation.
Response
Be inspired by the stories of creative efforts of Anabaptists engaging with creation care.
Watch for creation care themes at the upcoming MWC Assembly in Indonesia.
Welcome to a series on environmental problems and the global church.
These stories illuminate
a) how Anabaptist-Mennonites are affected by environmental degradation,
b) what Anabaptist-Mennonites think about environmental issues,
c) how Anabaptist-Mennonites are responding.
“For those who do not want to believe, no argument is valid, and for those who want to believe, arguments are not necessary.”
I shared that phrase (from an unknown author) with a friend in Ontario a few days ago. We talked about how difficult it is to see someone change their position on any topic due to a conversation that contains logical and rational arguments. In matters of faith, it is even more complicated, because commonly each party in a discussion on doctrinal or ethical issues believes that they are right.
Have you seen someone change their thinking as a result of listening to a logical debate?
The phrase: “Oh yes, I was sure of what I believed, but after listening to you, I changed my position,” is not expected in my experience. Instead, I have seen emotions get involved in the discussion, voices raised, and conversation partners fail to listen and understand in their rush to respond and contradict.
In my talk with my friend, we concluded that changes in our thinking are more of a long-term process. Often, it requires at least a constant and cordial relationship rather than well-structured and logical arguments.
However, dialogue between disciples of Jesus is essential to strengthen identity and foster unity in the body of Christ.
We find an example of this in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24. In verses 13-35, we hear the story of two disciples who argued, with a certain level of disagreement, about the person of Jesus and the events around his death. That conversation was indispensable for the growth of the disciples’ identity as followers of the risen one. It was also vital for their unity, found in the communion or breaking of bread with Christ at the table.
What if the disciples had rejected the possibility of conversation given the security of their convictions? Speaking with the sincere desire to listen and understand the other requires an immense degree of humility and openness. Without this attitude, both components of following Jesus – identity and unity – are impossible, according to Luke’s text.
The doctrinal and ethical dialogues that we develop within and outside of our fellowship at Mennonite World Conference (in official inter-church conversations, for example) have the intention to build our identity and maintain the gift of unity that only the Spirit of God makes possible. Dialogue between churches requires clarity and firmness in our convictions and humility and openness in our encounters.
That is why in this issue of Courier, we highlight the conversations that we have recently had within our communion regarding baptism and the inter-church dialogue that we have developed on this subject in recent years with the Catholic church and with the Lutheran World Federation.
It is my prayer that, as a global church, we maintain clear and firm positions in a framework of humility and openness that allows us to grow in identity and unity as disciples of Christ. May our understanding continue to be enlightened by the presence of Jesus, and our hearts keep burning as the Spirit works in our lives and relationships!
César García, MWC general secretary, originally from Colombia, lives in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
“In Germany environmental care has been on the public agenda already for a very long time, making it a part of our church’s collective conscience for a while. We are trying different ways to make good on the belief that we are to be God’s stewards of creation.”
What is the best thing you can do to help with the climate crisis?
The answer given by Katharine Hayhoe, a noted climate scientist and evangelical Christian, may surprise you: We should talk about climate change more with those around us. A faithful response to creation care starts with talking about it, which then leads to other action.
Understandably, the natural response is rather to avoid talking about fraught topics like the climate crisis.
Dora Schmidt
For instance, survey data in the United States shows that although 72% of Americans think global warming is happening, only 35% of Americans talk about it at least occasionally. This is an astonishing disconnect between what we know, and what we talk about, and calls us to be attentive to how much we include climate in our church conversations.
So do we talk about climate change in our churches?
Is creation care actually a part of our “collective conscience” as a church, as suggested by this quote from Germany?
The Creation Care Task Force asked MWC members how often they hear about creation care in their churches and from their leaders.
1. Most churches have talked about creation care.
Roy Kaufman
Most respondents heard about creation care at least occasionally or a few times in their church, with a quarter to a third saying they hear about creation care frequently or even weekly.
Interestingly, there were broad similarities across regions in how often churches are including creation care in their church life, despite churches in different regions facing different challenges in their everyday lives (see “How does climate change intersect with other community challenges?“).
Although it’s encouraging that most people hear about creation care in the church, the lower number that reported hearing about it frequently points toward a need to make the topic more central in church. In fact, there are some congregations where creation care is never mentioned, and many respondents expressed disappointment and frustration at how infrequently they hear about this topic in their worshipping community.
“The church itself has done little to address climate change, other than through leadership seeking to raise awareness of the issue. As in many rural communities, climate change is often dismissed because it seems to represent a threat to the dominant agricultural paradigm currently employed.”
—Roy Kaufman, member of Salem-Zion Mennonite Church, Freeman, South Dakota, USA
2. Church leadership values creation care.
Respondents were evenly split on reporting that church leadership is ‘very aware’ (44%) or ‘somewhat aware’ (47%) of the importance of caring for creation; only a small fraction (8%) felt that leadership was ‘not very aware’.
Broken down between pastors and members, the results showed that both leaders and lay members have similar perceptions that church leaders value care for creation – at least to some degree.
With the increasing impact of environmental issues on communities, talking more about it is a critical step toward making creation care a central activity for the church. Normalizing creation care discussions is an important step toward taking action as individuals and communities.
3. Churches incorporate creation care into teaching and worship in diverse ways.
Moses David Livingstone
In addition to incorporating creation care into sermons, Sunday Schools, Bible studies, and other conventional church activities, survey respondents reported a wide range of creative ways that creation care is a part of their church life.
For instance, teachings and worship take forms like seminars, public prayers, a climate youth service, children’s stories and a weekly climate challenge.
Some churches include creation care in ritual, such as holding reflections, participating in Season of Creation, or incorporating it into holidays (such as the North American Thanksgiving holiday).
Other activities were more outward-facing, such as ecumenical celebrations, interfaith conversations and starting citizen initiatives.
Still others embedded creation care in church structure, by creating a climate action committee, a creation care ministry team, or a reflection and work group on creation care.
“Our synod arranges curriculum based on 5 characters: love, truth, justice, peace, and integrity of creation. Those are divided as annual themes. Especially in the year of the integrity of creation, our community programs focus on environmental degradation topic, including the climate change.”
—Moses David Livingstone, GKMI (Gereja Kristen Muria Indonesia) Kudus, Indonesia; also chaplain of Yayasan Bina Pelayanan Masehi (YBPM) Kudus foundation.
Indonesia
Creation care is clearly a central theme for some churches such as the Indonesian church quoted above. The diversity of activities reported in the survey likewise illustrate the many ways that churches take creation care seriously in teaching and worship. These church rituals and other activities around creation care are important ways that lead us to further engage the climate crisis as followers of Jesus.
Join us next month to explore how churches around the world report taking creation care action.
Response/Prayer
The GKMI church in Kudus, Indonesia sheltered 150-200 climate refugees for three weeks after 2014 floods. After that, says Moses David Livingstone, church leaders committed to become more aware about the global climate threat and to learn about environmental preservation
Photo: courtesy Moses David Livingstone
Seek conversation:
Make a list of five people in your life with whom you have never discussed the climate crisis.
As you think of each person, what barriers prevent you from discussing the issue?
What benefits might come from bringing it up?
Pray for opportunities that enable these conversations to happen.
Affirm creation care leadership:
Where in your congregation have you seen attention to caring for the earth?
Whether this was the action of a pastor or a pre-school class, thank the people involved.
Can you think of ways the church could take this word or act further?
Welcome to a series on environmental problems and the global church.
These stories illuminate
a) how Anabaptist-Mennonites are affected by environmental degradation,
b) what Anabaptist-Mennonites think about environmental issues,
c) how Anabaptist-Mennonites are responding.
Following a 5-year conversation with theologians from the Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions, the Faith and Life Committee invited the members of Mennonite World Conference to consider our practices of Anabaptist together at Renewal 2027 in two webinars entitled “Believe and Be Baptized: A Global Conversation on Baptism.”
The second webinar examined the report: Baptism and Incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church — Lutheran-Mennonite-Roman Catholic Trilateral Conversations 2012–2017.
Thomas R Yoder Neufeld interviewed Larry Miller, co-secretary of the Mennonite delegation in the trilateral conversations.
Learning from the Mennonite-Catholic-Lutheran Conversations on Baptism
Tom Yoder Neufeld
Can you tell us how these conversations came about?
Larry Miller
The trilateral conversation on baptism grew out of two previous Mennonite World Conference conversations, one with the Catholic Church (1998-2003) and the other with the Lutheran World Federation (2005-2008). In each case, it was the first official conversation at the global level between these churches and the Anabaptist-Mennonite family of faith since the conflicts of the 16th century – conflicts not least over the meaning and practice of baptism.
The goal of each of those conversations was better understanding of and better relationships with one another.
A foundational point of divergence highlighted in both conversations was baptism.
The question of focused conversation on baptism arose with these two churches at about the same time (2009-2010). MWC leadership agreed that such conversation was important, but thought that we could not undertake simultaneously two global conversations on baptism. So, we proposed a trilateral dialogue.
Tom Yoder Neufeld
Were there surprises, both positive and negative?
Larry Miller
Yes, there were some of each of those for the MWC delegation.
We were surprised to hear the Catholic delegation report that some Catholic theologians refer to adult baptism as “normative” in Catholic doctrinal and liturgical history since, as they said, “it is the form that fully expresses the meaning of baptism” and that Catholic “history clearly shows that it is the rite for adults that is the model of the baptismal process” (Report, §79 and footnote 97).
We were surprised by the ready theological agreement on the different elements included on the path of incorporation into the church and life in the body of Christ: the loving initiative of God’s grace, the human response of faith and commitment, times of catechism and spiritual formation, a life-long process of growing in the faith and discipleship.
We were surprised by how strongly the three delegations agreed that baptism is for discipleship. Baptism into discipleship is not only a Mennonite thing!
For me, this is one of the most important fruits of the conversation. “All three of our churches see repentance, faith and committed discipleship as necessarily related to Christian life within the body of Christ, the Church, which has as one of its essential starting points the celebration and reception of baptism” (Report, §79).
I was surprised and humbled to feel that it seemed more difficult for us Mennonites to confess the tension between our ideal theology of baptism and the way we too often don’t live out the implications of our baptism than it seemed to be for the Catholic and the Lutheran delegations to confess the gap between their theology and, sometimes, their practice.
I was surprised and embarrassed to learn, as I listened to the Catholic and Lutheran delegations, how little I have considered the deep pain some Catholics and Lutherans feel when we automatically reject the validity of their baptisms, especially when they opened the path of the baptized to repentance, confession of faith, and a life of discipleship.
Tom Yoder Neufeld
Were there obstacles that emerged during your interactions?
Larry Miller
How were we to present contemporary Anabaptist-Mennonite understandings and practices given the diversity of understandings and practices in our worldwide family of faith today?
As general secretary of MWC for a couple of decades, I was deeply aware of this diversity. Even between the several different churches from which delegation members came, there was significant diversity. This is why in the “Concluding Mennonite Reflections” of the report (§116-133) the delegation speaks only for itself: not for Mennonite World Conference, not for the wider Anabaptist-Mennonite family of faith.
After five years of meetings, each one with multiple presentations and intense debate, how do we write a final report that can only include what each delegation considers essential?
Tom Yoder Neufeld
What were the greatest gifts received? Did you come away grateful for what God has graced us with, in our own communion in relation to baptism?
Larry Miller
I did come away grateful for what God has given to the church through the Anabaptist-Mennonite family of faith, thanks to our understandings and practices of baptism. In these conversations and already in the preparation for them, I saw more clearly the significance of this gift not only for ourselves, but for the entire Christian church.
The conversations made clear how significantly the situation has changed since the 16th century.
Then, believers baptism as practiced by Anabaptists provoked hostility and sometimes persecution by Lutheran and Catholic authorities.
Now, those churches officially recognize and respect Anabaptist-Mennonite baptism of persons not previously baptized. I think that this transformation is a sign that God’s grace has worked through us in spite of our weaknesses and failures.
What are the greatest gifts offered to us in this dialogue?
The “challenges” we received from the other churches (cf. paragraphs 124-130), especially:
The challenge to better hold together in our understanding of conversion and baptism an awareness of our continuing tendency to go against God, on the one hand, and the possibility of faithfully following Jesus Christ, on the other.
The challenge not to allow our concern for the human response in conversion, commitment and baptism to overshadow God’s initiative in every aspect of salvation, including baptism. Adult baptism begins with God’s act of grace, not with my personal confession of faith. Discipleship depends on God’s enduring grace, not on my proper baptism.
The challenge to develop greater consistency and depth in preparing people for baptism and in making remembrance of our baptisms a recurrent motif of discipleship. Believers baptism is a life-long journey not a one-day event, even if it is adult baptism.
If we take these challenging gifts seriously, I believe that we will be enriched immeasurably.
Tom Yoder Neufeld
A coronavirus baptism in Canada. Photo supplied
The Mennonite delegation have put recommendations to us as churches of the MWC: namely, that we “consider” taking into membership those who were once baptized as infants, who have owned their baptism and lived it out faithfully, and that we do so without requiring (re) baptism. Could you elaborate on that?
Larry Miller
At the end of the trilateral conversation and report, the MWC delegation reaffirmed the “historic belief” of Anabaptist-Mennonite churches that “the baptism of believers is the normative teaching and practice of the New Testament” and that “this teaching and practice is normative today” (§131).
Anabaptist-Mennonite believers “with the whole body of Christ in trinitarian faith lived out through trust in and obedience to Jesus Christ” (§132). Taken together, these two affirmations raise implicitly the question of how we bear witness to oneness in Christ when we are divided in some aspects of our understandings and practices of a foundational Christian act, baptism
The problem may not be quite as great for the Catholic church and for Lutheran churches. Both are deeply pained by our rejection of their infant baptisms since they feel it is also a rejection of what they believe to be Christ’s gracious action and promise, in infant baptism, of communion with Christ.
Nevertheless, today, both officially recognize and accept as valid Anabaptist-Mennonite baptism of persons not previously baptized.
They have moved a long way since the 16th century!
The situation may be more difficult for us since we do not affirm or practice infant baptism. It may be most complicated for us in those cases where a person seeking membership in an AnabaptistMennonite church was baptized as an infant but has previously, as an adult, confirmed personal faith in Christ and been living a life of committed discipleship. Must that person be baptized again? Or is a public personal confession of faith and commitment to continued discipleship sufficient for membership in an Anabaptist congregation?
In regard to a still more specific question, what should an AnabaptistMennonite church do if the candidate for church membership requests rebaptism? Could the process of discernment prior to reception of th is believer into the Anabaptist-Mennonite church include a conversation between the candidate, the church of origin, and the receiving church out of respect for one another, to bear witness to one another, and thus together to seek more unity in the body of Christ, including the local body of Christ?
The delegation proposed (§133a) that consideration be given these questions by our churches as we seek to affirm both baptism for following Christ – discipleship – and oneness in Christ.
The delegation also proposes (§133c) that, however these questions are answered, our churches ask all members – including those being received from churches with infant baptismal practices – to affirm our historic understanding and practice of adult believers baptism.
and practice of adult believers baptism. I would like to call attention to the fact that the delegation suggests several other ideas for consideration which may contribute more significantly to the shaping of our churches’ spiritual life than does the matter of how we receive believers baptized as infants (cf. §133d-f)
Specifically, the delegation suggests that our churches consider:
Looking for ways of enriching or developing practices of thanksgiving and blessing for infants, for their parents, and for the local nurturing congregations.
Providing occasions for all members to “remember their baptism” and to renew their baptismal commitment to a life of discipleship.
Reflecting on why it has been so difficult for many churches of our tradition to hold together faithful discipleship and unity with one another and with others. We are a church known ecumenically not only for adult baptism and Christian discipleship but also for church splits.
Tom Yoder Neufeld
Any final comments you’d like to share?
Larry Miller
The report is published “as a study document” – not as a legislative document – in the hope that, through wide discussion both within the three communions and beyond, it will contribute to “better mutual understanding and greater faithfulness to Jesus Christ.”
That is certainly my hope: that our three communions grow in faithfulness to Jesus Christ.
Tom Yoder Neufeld
It is my prayer and all of ours that the efforts of you and the others who participated in these six years of conversation will enable us to become more faithful to our baptismal vows in how we live out our new life in Christ.
A baptism in Thailand. Photo courtesy ICOMB
Surprising gifts
We can sense the great gift that comes when sisters and brothers, who have often been deeply at odds with each other, take courage to live into the unity we have in Christ. This is a unity not dependent on agreement, but on the foundational reality that it is the same God who in Christ, through the Spirit, has brought us together into the one body of Christ.
We practice believers baptism because practically all our members are converted members. (They don’t come from a Mennonite or protestant or evangelical family.) Baptism is an important part to commit to following Jesus with a community of believers who confess Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and together they want to follow Jesus. —Carlos Garc√≠a Mart√≠nez, Mexico
In this exchange with Catholics and Lutherans we have an example of that gift of the Spirit being received together with communions we have been deeply estranged from over one of the central events in a Christian’s life, baptism.
Let me highlight a few “surprising gifts” from the report.
Grace
For Catholics and Lutherans, baptism is first and foremost God’s act of grace. God is the actor in this sacrament, whether baptism of infants or adults. This is how God deals with “original sin” and begins the lifelong work of transformation and incorporation into the body of Christ.
This can help us understand why Catholics and Lutherans believe it is important to offer such saving grace already at the very beginning of a person’s life. True, faith is required, but in cases of infants it is primarily the faith of parents and church. We can then also better understand why Catholics and Lutherans are troubled by Anabaptists rejecting the baptism of infants. In their eyes, we are rejecting the gracious action of God.
Of course, as Anabaptists, we too treasure God’s grace. In the Anabaptist understanding it is God’s grace through the Spirit that calls persons and enables them to seek God, to offer their lives to God, and, finally, in baptism to pledge themselves to following Christ in discipleship and participation in the local gathering of believers.
All of that is the enabling and saving grace of God at work – before, during and after baptism.
Nevertheless, might we too easily lose sight of God’s grace when we as Anabaptists put such emphasis on the believer’s own decision to seek baptism, and to commit to discipleship and church?
Discipleship
Another surprising gift Larry identified was to learn that discipleship is not a Mennonite or Anabaptist concern only, but one Catholics and Lutherans share.
Of course, there were serious differences among the delegations on what discipleship looks like.
For example, one serious difference between the communions is how the church relates to the state and its demands, especially the bearing of arms. And that connects, of course, to the central importance Anabaptists place on nonresistance and nonviolence.
All agreed strongly, however, that baptism is intimately linked to discipleship, to “living out our baptism,” as they put it in the Report.
Falling short in living out our baptism
All three communions named and lamented the great distance that exists between often beautiful and profound theology of baptism, on one hand, and the way many of the baptized fail to “live out their baptism,” on other.
We can join Catholics and Lutherans in stressing the importance of formation, as the Catholics put it, or “remembering baptism” as Lutherans like to speak of it.
Perhaps as Mennonites we can recover something of the basic meaning of being a disciple, namely, to be a student, a learner. And that means also teaching about baptism and how to live it.
Taking up the invitation of Mennonites “to consider”
The Mennonite delegates fully affirm that “believers baptism” is the most biblically faithful understanding.
The second conviction is that we must be biblically faithful as well to Christ’s prayer that we live into the unity we have by God’s grace with those who too are members of the body of the Christ.
The Mennonite delegation is asking us to honour both the desire to be biblically faithful and Christ’s call to living into the unity God has already created in Christ through his Spirit.
It is an astonishing moment in time when members of Christ’s body that have often been so very tragically hostile to each other are jointly wanting to build each other up, together to encourage Christians to be more faithful in discipleship to Christ in living out their baptism.
Let’s take this splendid opportunity as an Anabaptist/Mennonite family of churches to make this call for living out and into our baptism a central part of our Renewal process leading up to 2028 – and beyond.
Thomas R Yoder Neufeld is chair of the Faith and Life Commission. Theology professor emeritus, he is a member of First Mennonite Church, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
It is very difficult to go to the northern part of Ethiopia after the war broke out. Despite the security concerns, when I heard that members of our church in western Tigray were in difficult conditions, I organized a team. We would go there to show our love for MKC members in the area.
The situation is dire. Prewar infrastructure, housing and commercial activity are no longer there. It’s empty.
We were able to visit the towns where MKC local churches still exist. At a place called Abduraf, there was a new convert who received training in basic Christian doctrines and was ready for water baptism. Unfortunately, before he was baptized, the war broke out. Church leaders were scattered; the new believer could not get water baptism.
When we visited the area, this new believer came and asked me to baptize him. When I inquired about his testimony, the local believers told me that he had learned the truth but had not yet been baptized.
We often baptize people in a river or in a big bathtub. Neither was available in the area. I told him that baptism was not possible there.
The new believer thought a little and told me that I could baptize him in a barrel.
But there was scarcity of water in the area. Undeterred, he and other believers purchased jerkins of water and filled the barrel with water.
Then I began to wonder how this man could get into a barrel. He replied, “I have military training, I can.”
The believers brought me a white robe with a cross for me to look like a priest. They also brought one for the new believer. I dressed him in a white robe with a cross and baptized him in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
To my surprise, he was filled with the Holy Spirit as soon as he got out of the barrel. I was amazed! I had never seen a person filled with the Holy Spirit in such a difficult situation.
Everyone thanked God. We forgot that we were in an insecure zone. We all felt God’s presence.
What was happening seemed to be like watching a drama, not a reality. It was a unique incident to witness.
After he was baptized, the believers received him by singing. They gave him hugs one by one and said, “Congratulations.”
Our brother rejoiced that he was baptized.
“In an impossible situation, God opened the way for me to be baptized. This day is historic for me. God sent the president of our church to baptize me.”
God is everywhere regardless of the situations and is doing God’s business when we are willing to go into the world and share the good news to people.
Desalegn Abebe is president of Meserete Kristos Church (Christ our Foundation), an MWC member church in Ethiopia.
Following a 5-year conversation with theologians from the Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions, the Faith and Life Committee invited the members of Mennonite World Conference to consider our practices of Anabaptist together at Renewal 2027 in two webinars entitled “Believe and Be Baptized: A Global Conversation on Baptism.”
Biblical, theological, and historical context of believers baptism
On January 21, 1525 a small group of young people gathered secretly in the Swiss city of Zurich for an unusual worship service. They had been raised as Catholics; but for several years they had been meeting for Bible study and discussion with their mentor, Ulrich Zwingli, the priest of the city’s main church, the Grossmünster.
As they read Scripture together, the group began to question several practices of the Catholic church – including infant baptism, but they were divided about the next steps. Zwingli, supported by the Zurich City Council, insisted on a course of moderate reforms, introduced slowly. Members of the Bible study group resisted. If Scripture was clear, they argued, changes in church practice should be made immediately, regardless of the political or social consequences.
So, on that January day in 1525, the small group formally renounced their baptisms as infants and, in the pattern of Jesus and John the Baptist, received baptism as adults as a symbol of their voluntary commitment to follow Christ and to support each other in this new step of faith.
For modern Christians, the action seems almost trivial. After all, what could be so troubling about a group of people gathering for prayer and then pouring water over their heads? Yet this action – which marked the beginning of the Anabaptist (or “re-baptizer”) movement – had profound consequences. Within days, the Zurich City Council ordered the arrest and imprisonment of anyone who participated in such baptisms. By 1526, authorities declared the baptism of adults a capital offense. And in January 1527, Felix Manz, in whose home the group had met, suffered the ultimate consequence of his convictions. With his hands and feet bound to a wooden pole, Manz was “baptized” once more – pushed into the icy waters of the Limmat River in a public execution.
As the Anabaptist movement spread, church and political leaders condemned them as heretics. Over the next few decades, some 3 000 believers were executed for the crime of being “Anabaptists” or “re-baptizers”
Yet the movement they started lives on. Today some 2.2 million Christians around the world identify themselves as part of the Anabaptists tradition including all 107 national member churches that are part of Mennonite World Conference.
The ingredients seem simple enough: water; a gathering of witnesses; and a few carefully chosen words. To a secular person looking in from the outside it might seem hard to understand why the Christian practice of baptism is so significant. But despite its simplicity, virtually every Christian group regards baptism as a foundational event – a ritual that expresses convictions basic to their faith.
Few practices are more central to the Christian church, yet few have been the source of more disagreement and debate among Christians
Is baptism essential to salvation?
What is the appropriate age for baptism?
How should the ritual be done?
Does baptism confer salvation in itself or is it a symbol of salvation already received?
Baptism in the Christian tradition
An outdoor baptism in the Dominican Republic. Photo: Mariano Ramírez
The roots of Christian baptism draw deeply on the biblical images of water – an enduring symbol of cleansing, refreshment, and life itself. In the Old Testament, water is often associated with God’s healing presence – a spring in the desert; a life-giving well; or justice that flows “like a mighty river.”
The symbol of Christian baptism comes directly from the Old Testament story of the Exodus when God parted the waters of the Red Sea to allow the children of Israel to flee slavery in Egypt and escape from Pharaoh’s pursuing armies. That dramatic act of “crossing through the waters” marked the rebirth of the children of Israel. Having passed through the waters, they were no longer slaves – they had become a new community of God’s people, bound to each other by the gift of the Law and by their dependence on God for guidance and sustenance.
Echoes of the Exodus story can be clearly heard in the New Testament account of John, who was nicknamed “The Baptist.” John’s fiery preaching called for repentance – a transformation of the heart symbolized by a ritual cleansing in the waters of the Jordan River. According to the Gospels, Jesus began his formal ministry only after he had been baptized by John. That act –accompanied by God’s blessing and the clear presence of the Holy Spirit – marked a “crossing over” for Jesus into a new ministry of healing and teaching that culminated three years later in his crucifixion, death and resurrection.
The early Christians understood baptism as a symbol rich with meanings drawn both from the Old Testament and from the life of Jesus. Like the Exodus, baptism in the early church symbolized the renunciation of a life enslaved to the bondage of sin and a “crossing over” into a new identity with a community of believers who, like the children of Israel, were committed to living in dependence on God.
Many early Christians also regarded baptism as a re-enactment of the death and resurrection of Christ. Baptismal candidates walked into the water naked – stripped and vulnerable, like Christ on the cross, dying to the old self. After emerging from the water, they were dressed in robes of white as a symbol of the resurrection and their new identity as followers of Jesus.
Strong evidence from the second and third centuries suggests that the early Christians baptized only adults; and then only after a long period of rigorous instruction and training. In other words, the early church reserved baptism for those who had experienced a transformation of the heart; were committed to a life of daily discipleship; and were ready to become part of a new community of believers.
From voluntary baptism to infant baptism
Sometime during the fourth century, however, this practice began to change. At the heart of this shift in baptismal practice was the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in AD 312, an event that slowly transformed the very nature of the Christian church. During the century after Constantine’s conversion, the church went from a small, persecuted minority to a powerful institution whose bishops came to rely on the armies of the Roman empire for their protection and as a means of eliminating heresy.
Gradually, Christianity became the “official” religion of the Roman emperors – a kind of religious-cultural “glue” that could help to unite a fragmenting empire.
Since everyone within the territory was now compelled to be a Christian, it no longer made sense to associate baptism with repentance, a transformation of life, or with a new identity within a community of believers.
About the same time, new arguments emerged to defend the practice of infant baptism. For example, St. Augustine (354–430), insisted at the end of the fourth century that from the very moment of birth, human beings were trapped in bondage to sin. The baptism of infants, he argued, was necessary for the salvation of the child’s soul. In his teaching, the act of baptism itself conferred a spiritual gift of grace to the child. The sacrament of baptism incorporated the infant into the church, saving its soul from the stain of original sin and the clutches of hell.
In later medieval society, baptism also marked a child’s membership in the civic community, registering the infant as an eventual tax-paying subject who owed allegiance to the local feudal lord.
The Reformation leaders Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and others agreed that infants should be baptized at birth. Luther argued that infant baptism confirms that we are totally dependent on God’s free gift of grace for our salvation – not our own actions. Zwingli noted that Jesus taught that we must become “like children” to enter the kingdom of God. Infant baptism, like circumcision for the Jews of the Old Testament, was a sign of inclusion into the body of believers and a commitment on the part of believers to raise that child in the ways of God.
Anabaptist-Mennonite understandings of baptism
So when Anabaptist leaders began to challenge the practice of infant baptism, people reacted with confusion, anger, and eventually, violence.
For Anabaptists, the primary argument for believer’s baptism, as opposed to infant baptism, rests on a bedrock principle of the Reformation itself: “Scripture alone.” In their reading of the New Testament, the Anabaptists of the 16th century could find no scriptural justification for the practice of baptizing babies. Instead, Jesus’ teachings explicitly linked baptism with repentance and belief – something that an infant clearly could not do. While instructing the disciples to preach the good news of the gospel, for example, Jesus promised, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). The sequence here is clear: belief comes first, then baptism.
At the end of his ministry, in a final admonition to the disciples, Jesus again spoke of baptism. “Therefore go,” he told the disciples in Matthew 28:19-20, “and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
Here again, the order is important. Jesus commanded his followers to first “make disciples,” and then to baptize with the expectation that the new converts would also be taught to obey Christ’s commandments. In other words, people become followers of Jesus by hearing, understanding and responding to a call – just as the first disciples had done.
This same sequence reoccurs in the story of the first baptisms of the apostolic church as recorded in Acts 2. The story begins with Peter preaching a sermon to a crowd of Jews who have gathered in Jerusalem for the annual celebration of the Passover. He ended his sermon with a call to repentance. “Those who accepted his message,” the account concludes, “were baptized.”
For Anabaptists – and the groups that came after them – the commitment to follow Jesus implied a conversion or “turning around” – a radical reorientation of priorities – symbolized by baptism, that could lead to persecution and even death. Not a decision that could be made by an infant!
The meaning of baptism: A three-stranded cord
So when Anabaptist leaders began to challenge the practice of infant baptism, people reacted with confusion, anger, and eventually, violence.
Symbols, of course, can have more than just one meaning. Drawing on a verse from 1 John 5, the Anabaptists frequently described baptism as a kind of threestranded cord: spirit, water and blood all pointed to essential qualities of baptism:
Children of God are those who believe that Jesus is the Christ and follow his commandments. Three things, 1 John says, testify that Jesus is the Son of God: “the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement” (1 John 5:8).
1. At its most basic level, baptism is a visible sign of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. It is a public recognition that the believer has repented of sin, has accepted God’s forgiveness, and has “turned their life over to Christ.” Baptism celebrates the gift of salvation – the gift of God’s loving, forgiving and enabling grace.
2. At the same time, baptism is also a sign of membership in a new community. In the baptism of water, we place ourselves into the “care, discipline and fellowship of the community.” At baptism, we promise to “give and receive counsel,” to share our possessions, and to serve in the broader mission of the church. Salvation in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition is never purely private or inward; our faith is always expressed in relationships with others.
3. Finally, in baptism, new believers promise to follow in the way of Jesus; to live as he lived and taught, even if that includes – as it did for Jesus – misunderstanding, persecution, suffering or even death. It is not enough to claim the forgiveness of sins or to have your name included in a church membership list. Baptism also implies a way of life that looks like Jesus – a way of life that loves God with your whole heart, and loves your neighbour as yourself.
The Anabaptists in the 16th century sought to recover these teachings that had gone out of focus in the history of the church – based on these biblical insights, they understood baptism as a sign of the Spirit’s transforming presence; as a mark of membership in a community; and a readiness to follow Christ, even at great cost.
John Roth is secretary of the Faith and Life Commission. Professor of history at Goshen College, he is a member of Berkey Avenue Mennonite Church, Goshen, Indiana, USA.
