“Their commitment to passing down the message of peace and the gospel inspires me to live a sacrificial life for peace.” Stories of the early Anabaptist martyrs have shaped and inspired Mennonites around the world for 500 years. They continue to do so for suffering pastors in Myanmar, like the one quoted above.
From 25-29 November 2024, five MWC leaders, one MC Canada staff member and 17 pastors from Bible Missionary Church, Mennonite in Myanmar met in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a solidarity visit.
Myanmar’s years-long civil war has meant fear, violence, displacement and lost loved ones.
“The purpose of the visit was to learn how the global church can support the church in Myanmar during this time of suffering and oppression,” says Deacons Commission secretary Tigist Tesfaye. “And to foster mutual learning about peace and Anabaptism.”
The solidarity delegates wanted to learn about the situation that the church in Myanmar faces. The challenges of living under military dictatorship have intensified for the church with the recent increased enforcement of mandatory military service.
The pastors shared about the burden of possibly being conscripted or having their young adults sons compelled – even kidnapped – into military service. They spoke about fasting from their one meal a day. They said they are sometimes regarded with suspicion by government forces and local religious leaders (Buddhist) for following what is perceived as a Western religion.
The MWC delegation: Andrew Suderman, Andres Pacheco Lozano, Agus Mayanto, César García, Tigist Tesfaye.
The visit was also a response to an invitation for learning about the Anabaptist movement. The schedule included sessions on What We Believe Together (Shared Convictions) led by César García, MWC general secretary. Peace Commission secretary and chair Andrew Suderman and Andres Pacheco Lozano led sessions that explored what it means to be a church dedicated to the ways of Jesus Christ’s peace.
There were teaching sessions and pastoral sessions with prayer times, time for discussion and mutual learning. And the pastors from Myanmar shared their experiences and what was on their hearts.
Agus Mayanto, MWC’s regional representative for Southeastern Asia, and Norm Dyck of MC Canada Witness led evening prayers.
Many of the pastors commented that the lessons on Anabaptist history and being a peace church were entirely new and opened a way to personal change and social change.
“They encourage me to view life and faith through a fresh lens,” said one pastor.
“I was inspired to learn more about peace – especially active peace as a way of living and responding to challenges,” said another.
“Understanding the history of the Anabaptist movement was a significant highlight,” said another. “I am committed to sharing the story of Anabaptism and its history with others.”
“When faced with conflict, we often feel limited to two options: seeking revenge or remaining silent. However, studying the Beatitudes taught me a third way: responding with peaceful action,” said another pastor. “This revelation was transformative for me.”
The solidarity visit concluded with the pastors from Myanmar highlighting particular ways forward for them to respond to their context. The group identified several ways to grow in the knowledge and practice of building peace as Jesus followers. Discussions groups, task forces and conferences – especially for the youth – were some of the suggestions.
How can you pray for Myanmar?
The pastors requested prayer
For courage and skill to preach the gospel of peace.
For the pastors to be faithful servants despite the persecution.
For the soldiers who are also suffering.
“It was necessary to take courage: it’s another world, another vocabulary, another way of thinking. How was I to bring my own questions and be respectfully present as a guest while being fully Mennonite?” Anne-Cathy Graber asked these questions as she received an invitation to attend the Vatican’s Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod in October 2024.
Having taken the role of MWC Secretary for Ecumenical Relations for MWC in 2023, Anne-Cathy Graber represented Mennonite World Conference at the month-long event, which had 16 “fraternal delegates” representing other Christian churches and communities, 8 Protestant and 8 Orthodox.
Anne-Cathy Graber is an itinerant Mennonite pastor and theologian and co-director of the Chair of Ecumenical Theology at the Faculties Loyola Paris. She serves on MWC’s Faith & Life Commission. Additionally, she has represented Anabaptists at the Global Christian Forum Committee, in the Faith & Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (2014-2022), in the bilateral dialogue between MWC and the Reformed Church. She is also a consecrated sister in Chemin Neuf, a Catholic community with an ecumenical vocation.
The subject was “synodality” which is not the word we use in anabaptist churches, Anne-Cathy Graber says, “but the reality is really inside our churches.” MWC often uses another not-so-accessible theological word, koinonia.
Equality and dignity
“I was astonished that MWC was invited,” she says, because MWC is such a small church in the scope of other communions. “It says something about the place of minorities.”
“In Christ, we are the same body, we are equal.”
The welcome extended to the fraternal delegates was a sign of trust, says Anne-Cathy Graber, because the fraternal delegates “listened to each word; sometimes we were witnesses to differences between bishops.”
In a further sign of equality and dignity, fraternal delegates had the same opportunity to speak as a cardinal or bishop. “It was possible – in fact, they expected – that I could ask my own questions, voice my hesitations and share my own surprises.”
Mutual listening and testimony sharing were key throughout the process.” We could listen to the difficulty of the others,” she says. Particularly as the leaders from the Middle East spoke, “we share their suffering. I am very far from their liturgy, but we were very close in Christ.”
The process was demanding and it took a lot of time, but it allowed for many steps for these conversations in the Spirit, she says.
Conversion is needed
Participants wrestled with a question that MWC also struggles with: “How can we avoid a unity that is uniformity, but instead live out a unity that integrates difference?”
An answer that was received and repeated is that “it isn’t possible to live synodality without conversion,” says Anne-Cathy Graber. “Our logic, our ways of doing, and our ways of reflecting must undergo a conversion.”
The synod was prefaced by two days of silent retreat. In this period of penitential prayer, “We begged for forgiveness for sins against women, against creation, against migrants. It set the tone of a church that hears the calls of the world and admits its own failings.”
At the end of the month of gathering, the synod produced a magisterial text about synodality. In yet another courageous move, the fraternal delegates were invited to propose amendments.
It will take time for the document to be received in practice around the world. “It is necessary,” says Anne-Cathy Graber. “When something is important, very fundamental, it takes time.”
The experience renewed her commitment to ecumenicity: “it was like a parable: to really be the church, we need each other.”
Even in this highly structured, formal process, “I saw how the Holy Spirit can work in the institutional matters. We cannot stop the work of the Spirit.”
Part B: Origin of Anabaptists/Mennonites in your own country
Part C: WCRC and MWC Common Statement of Confession, Gratitude and Commitment
Part D: A Responsive reading of gratefulness, based on Psalm 136
This content is provided to give context for Anabaptism@500 years – back then, and today. Please use as much of this content as is relevant for your own context. Please be sure to add in the history of Anabaptism within your own country and how your church came to be today.
Part A: Origin of Anabaptism in 1525
The Anabaptist movement began as part of a renewal movement within the Catholic Church in Europe in the early 16th century. Some of its inspiration comes from the Catholic tradition: the strong sense of discipline and community found in monasticism, for example, the attentiveness to the Holy Spirit that could be found in Catholic mysticism, or the emphasis on following Jesus in daily life in The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis. Anabaptism also owes a debt to Martin Luther and the early Reformation movement, particularly Luther’s emphasis on the authority of Scripture and his emphasis on the freedom of the Christian conscience. The movement was shaped by deep social and economic unrest of their time that exploded in the Peasants’ War of 1524-1525.
The Anabaptists themselves, however, would have said that they were simply trying to be faithful followers of the teachings of Jesus and the example of the Early Church.
A moment in 1525 serves as the symbolic beginning of the Anabaptist movement: a small group of Christian reformers gathered for a secret worship service in Zurich, Switzerland. The group was frustrated by the hesitance of their leader, Ulrich Zwingli, to enact the changes to Catholic rituals that they agreed Scripture demanded. In their reading of Scripture, true Christian baptism assumed a conscious commitment to follow Jesus – something no infant could do. So on 21 January 1525, this small group agreed to baptize each other as adults.
Although it would be some time before the full meaning of baptism came into focus, the early Anabaptists understood this act to symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit in the gift of God’s grace, a commitment to a life of daily discipleship and membership in a new community of God’s people.
Named by opponents
Members of the movement generally referred to themselves as “Brethren” (Brüder) – or later by the more descriptive term “baptism-minded” (Taufgesinnten). Their opponents labeled them Anabaptists (= re-baptizers), in part because “rebaptism” was a criminal offense in the Holy Roman Empire, punishable by death. At first, the group resisted the term “Anabaptist” since in their minds they were not rebaptizing, but rather baptizing correctly for the first time. But over time, the name persisted.
Today, Anabaptist is an accepted English term for all Reformation groups who practiced believers (rather than infant) baptism, and the denominations descended from them such as the Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites.
Identity-forging challenges
Over time, however, a coherent movement emerged. Its identity was forged, in part at least, from the need to respond to several basic challenges.
First, in response to accusations of heresy by religious and political authorities in the first half of the 16th century, Anabaptists were quick to define themselves as faithful, Bible-believing Christians.
Second, militant voices within their number who were ready to impose social and religious change with violence forced Anabaptists to clarify their identity as peaceful, law-abiding, nonviolent Christians whose only weapon was love.
And finally, in the face of spiritualist dissenters who favoured an internal religious experience that could avoid theological disputations and go undetected by authorities, Anabaptists were compelled to defend the public and visible nature of the church.
Three streams emerge
Despite the diversity of theology and practice evident in the first generation of Anabaptists, three coherent groups had emerged by the 1540s: the Swiss Brethren in the German-speaking territories; the Hutterites in Moravia; and the Mennonites of the Netherlands and North Germany who were organized around the leadership of Menno Simons. Although these groups differed in important ways, they nonetheless recognized each other as members of the same religious tradition, so that their internal disagreements often took the form of a family quarrel.
—Excerpted from Stories: How Mennonites Came to Be, by John D. Roth, Herald Press, 2006. Adapted and used with permission.
Over the next 500 years Anabaptism spread to many different countries around the world, each with their own origin story. Mennonite World Conference began 100 years ago to bring together the many churches from different streams of Anabaptism for fellowship, worship, witness and service.
More reading: Anabaptist World: 2 March 2015, “The Birth of Anabaptism”
Part B: Origin of Anabaptists/Mennonites in your own country
Please be sure to discuss the history of your own congregation and the development of Anabaptist/Mennonite churches in your own country.
Helpful summaries are available at the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO). Search a country name to learn about Anabaptist movements in the region.
A common statement of confession, gratitude and commitment
Mennonite World Conference appointed several people to participate in an ongoing ecumenical dialogue with the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). This is one of the state churches who in the 1500s persecuted the early Anabaptists in Europe.
Together, this group of theologians from WRCR and MWC prepared a shared statement for public delivery on 29 May 2025 in Zurich, Switzerland.
The title of the statement is “Restoring Our Family to Wholeness: Seeking a Common Witness.” The statement includes sections on giving thanks and celebrating our common confession of Jesus as Lord; confession and lament; and ends with God’s call to unity and peace. The statement can be found on the MWC website:
Going forward with the WCRC, rather than on “resolving” the historical theological points of difference that have divided us, MWC emphasizes the places around the world where Mennonites and Reformed churches are collaborating in our witness.
Part D: An MWC liturgy of gratefulness
Based on Psalm 136
It is God’s faithfulness and message of salvation through Jesus Christ that we celebrate, as it has been passed down and around through the generations over 500 years, reaching us today.
Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, For his steadfast love endures forever.*
Give thanks to the God of gods, For his steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For his steadfast love endures forever.
Who by his understanding created the heavens and the earth, Who built the church as Christ’s Body here on earth, Who renews the church throughout time, Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, For his steadfast love endures forever.
Who through the witness of the Holy Spirit 500 years ago, inspired the Radical Reformers with a renewed vision for following Jesus, Who brought a deepened understanding of God’s call on our lives, Grounded in Jesus, the Bible, community discernment, discipleship and love of enemies, Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, For his steadfast love endures forever.
Who through the Spirit called witnesses to spread the Good News all over the world, Who inspired new congregations to witness to God’s love for all cultures and all lands, Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, For his steadfast love endures forever.
Who is Lord over our own [name of church] in [name of country], Who nourishes and strengthens our own congregation to live out God’s call on our lives, Grounded in Jesus, the Bible, community discernment, discipleship, and love of enemies. Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, For his steadfast love endures forever.
Who works through the global family of faith we call Mennonite World Conference, Who is growing a church that transcends boundaries of race, ethnicity and language, Who calls us together as a communion (koinonia) to follow Jesus, live out unity and build peace. Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, For his steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, Give thanks to the God of gods, Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For his steadfast love endures forever.
—-
*The refrain “For his steadfast love endures forever” could be replaced by “For God’s love never quits” all the way through the responsive reading.
The environmental crisis and our mandate to care for creation
A word of encouragement from the MWC Faith & Life Commission and the Creation Care Task Force.
Part 2 of 2
“Creation care” is taking on ever-increasing urgency.
The news reminds us daily of alarming changes in our climate. We are witnessing terrible violence against God’s beloved creation. And we are increasingly aware of how much we share in the harm, both as sinners and as sinned-against.
How do we respond?
Our answers will surely vary depending on where we live, on our resources, the depth of our faith, our theology and on our willingness to respond to the call of the moment.
Human sinfulness has broken our relationship with God, with each other, and with creation in all its diversity. But the gracious and liberating Spirit of God is bringing about “new creation” in and through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
What is that Spirit saying to us at this time?
The MWC Tagline and Creation Care
Not surprisingly, the MWC tagline“Following Jesus, Living Out Unity, Building Peace” echoes the Shared Convictions. The Spirit can use it to aid us in our environmental faithfulness.
Following Jesus
The tagline gives first place to “following Jesus.” The Jesus we have pledged to follow is not only the healer and teacher of the Gospels, but also the Christ who creates and holds all creation together in his transforming and re-creating embrace (Colossians 1:17). We cannot follow Jesus without sharing in the Creator’s redeeming love for this world—all of it! We cannot follow him without loving care, simplicity, and generosity.
Living out Unity
The second item is “living out unity.” The heart of Jesus’ prayer for us as his followers in John 17 is that we may be one. With whom are we to be one? With whom are we to live out unity?
Jesus’ first concern is that we be one with him as he is one with his (and our!) Father (John 17:21-23). Unity with God means that we share in the love of the Creator for the whole cosmos* (John 3:16, 17). We too are to be the “light of the cosmos,” as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:14, John 3:21).
As the body of that creating and redeeming Christ we are to participate as caretakers, custodians, and guardians of creation. Just as the sabbath was God’s great act of creation care (Leviticus 25), we honour the sabbath when we allow creation to rest from our ceaseless and careless exploitation of earth’s bounty.
Second, we are to be one with each other, sparing no effort to maintain the unity the Spirit creates (Ephesians 2:18; 4:3). We live out this unity in active solidarity with those in the body of Christ who are suffering the effects of the environmental crisis (1 Corinthians 12:26). This solidarity extends to all of humanity, and will be tested more and more as the impact on vulnerable populations increases.
We live this unity out also by praying for each other to have the courage to stop harming creation, and thereby each other. We have much to confess, much to forgive and much to change as we walk in unity as the body of Christ.
Third, God’s “gathering up all things in heaven and on earth in Christ” (Eph 1:10) reminds us of our deep unity with the whole of creation, a unity of all things in Christ. We rejoice in creation’s beauty and its bounty. But we also share in God’s grief when creation suffers, especially when it is at our hands.
So we confess and repent of our refusal to listen to the suffering of creation and our failure to live up to Jesus’ mandate to us as disciples, namely, to proclaim the gospel of salvation to all creation (Mark 16:15).
Fourth, we are not only in unity with God, but God is in unity with us. We are not alone. The Spirit, the breath of life the Creator lends to all creation, indwells us, guiding, sustaining, and empowering us in our resolve to be faithful (Romans 8:9-27, 1 Corinthians 12, Galatians 5:22-25, Ephesians 4:4, Phil 2:12, 13). We dare not quench or grieve this Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) by neglecting to join in the Creator’s love and care for our earthly home.
Building Peace
The third element in the tagline is “building peace.” The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, which above all means “wholeness” and “well-being.” Shalom best characterizes that first sabbath when God looked upon creation in all its material reality and called it “very good” (Genesis 1:25; 2:2-3).
To commit ourselves to “building peace” is to do all we can to turn from our ruinous ways and to engage as co-creators with God in the “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Colossians 1:20), including care for creation in all its diversity. Building peace is working at restoring creation to wholeness, where peace and justice will once again embrace and kiss each other (Psalm 85:10).
The Ground of Our Hope
We struggle with troubling questions: Is there hope for this world? Can we really make a difference with our limited knowledge, energy, and resources? Or will this world pass away soon, regardless of our efforts? What should we hope for?
The Shared Convictions conclude with these words:
“We seek to walk in [Jesus’] name by the power of the Holy Spirit, as we confidently await Christ’s return and the final fulfillment of God’s kingdom.”
“Confident waiting” is one way to speak of hope. This hope in God’s future must, however, never be an escape from our responsibility here and now. Hope propels us to act now, where we are. Such hope is not optimism, nor does it rest on our resilience or inventiveness. It rests fully on God’s faithfulness.
The love that the Creator pours into our hearts through the Spirit (Romans 5:1-5) empowers us to act with hope as the body of the Christ who gave his life to save this cosmos. We work with hope even as we wait in faith. All creation is groaning in eager anticipation of us putting our hope-filled faith into practice (Romans 8:22; Hebrews 11:1; 12:12-15).
Today we might thus restate the concluding sentence of the Shared Convictions as follows: “We seek to walk by the power of the life-giving Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ through whom all things are created, redeemed and sustained, as we eagerly and actively await the shalom the final fulfillment of God’s kingdom will bring.”
Let us ask the Spirit for clarity and vision to help us respond faithfully to the challenge of our day.
Let us pledge to practice loving care and patience with each other as we walk this challenging path together.
Let us prayerfully support the Creation Care Task Force and all the many efforts to respond to the crisis we face together.
That is our prayer for the MWC family of faith.
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it. Psalm 24:1
Thomas R Yoder Neufeld, chair of the Faith and Life Commission, a member of First Mennonite Church, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada;
Anicka Fast, secretary of the Faith & Life Commission, a member of Doopsgezind Gemeente Bussum-Naarden, Netherlands;
Doug Graber Neufeld, chair of the Creation Care Task Force, a member of Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA
* On the earliest manuscripts, “world” in John 3:16 is given in Greek as cosmos which pushes our imaginations to account for much more than the human experience.
“Creation care” is taking on ever-increasing urgency.
The news reminds us daily of alarming changes in our climate. As the Creation Care Task Force’s survey shows, our sisters and brothers in our global family of faith suffer drought, floods, destructive storms, fire, famine and the devastation brought by war. Wildlife Diverse species are endangered or even going extinct.
We are witnessing terrible violence against God’s beloved creation. And we are increasingly aware of how much we share in the harm, both as sinners and as sinned-against.
How do we respond?
Our answers will surely vary depending on where we live, on our resources, the depth of our faith, our theology and on our willingness to respond to the call of the moment. However, respond we must, whether we live in the Global North, which bears a disproportionate share of responsibility for the crisis, or in the Global South, which bears a disproportionate share of its impact.
We live in a world that has borne the effects of human sinfulness since Eden. It has broken our relationship with God, with each other, and with creation in all its diversity. But we also live in a world in which the gracious and liberating Spirit of God is bringing about “new creation” in and through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
What is that Spirit saying to us at this time?
The Shared Convictions and Creation Care
One way the Spirit speaks to us is by reminding us of our MWC Shared Convictions. With all our many differences, they remind us that we already share a basis for us to respond as a family of faith to the environmental crisis.
Here are some implications of the convictions we share:
Shared Conviction #1: God is known to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Creator who seeks to restore fallen humanity by calling a people to be faithful in fellowship, worship, service and witness.
The Bible invites us to extend Conviction #1 beyond God seeking to “restore fallen humanity” to include “all things in heaven and on earth” (Ephesians 1:10), including ecosystems that are suffering from the effects of our fallenness.
Indeed, God desires to save us from our callous and violent abuse of God’s beloved creation, so we can join God in truly caring for creation in distress. We will not be saved by our work as stewards of creation; but we are “saved by grace” for the good work that includes care of creation (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Shared Conviction #2: Jesus is the Son of God. Through his life and teachings, his cross and resurrection, he showed us how to be faithful disciples, redeemed the world, and offers eternal life.
When Conviction #2 speaks of Jesus Christ “redeeming the world,” it is a “world” that includes all of creation. It is because God loves the cosmos (John 3:16) that God is in Christ “gathering up all things” in heaven and on earth (Ephesians 1:10). It is this cosmos-loving Jesus who teaches us how to be cosmos-loving disciples.
Shared Conviction #3: As a church, we are a community of those whom God’s Spirit calls to turn from sin, acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, receive baptism upon confession of faith, and follow Christ in life.
We hear the Spirit calling us to respond to the suffering of creation by repenting, by turning from greed and selfish ambition. To acknowledge the lordship of Christ is a rock-solid basis for our missionary calling to care for creation.
Because Christ is Lord, the entire cosmos is the field of God’s mission to reclaim, redeem and recreate. To follow Christ in life is to join in on that mission, living simply, reducing the impact of our consumerism on our environment, advocating for those most vulnerable, and responding practically to their suffering.
Shared Conviction #4: As a faith community, we accept the Bible as our authority for faith and life, interpreting it together under Holy Spirit guidance, in the light of Jesus Christ to discern God’s will for our obedience.
The Jesus Christ we meet in the Bible is the one through whom all things are created – everything, not just people (John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16). He is indeed the “light of the cosmos” (John 9:12). That profound mystery must shape our discipleship (John 3:21).
Shared Conviction #5: The Spirit of Jesus empowers us to trust God in all areas of life so we become peacemakers who renounce violence, love our enemies, seek justice, and share our possessions with those in need.
We recognize that violence is an implicit part of the exploitation of natural resources, where the powerful lay claim to land and resources, seeking to silence voices raised in opposition. Those who protect and defend the environment are being persecuted and killed in unprecedented numbers all around the world.
Care for creation in our day calls for us as the body of Christ to call out injustice and violence in solidarity with the vulnerable. Creation care and seeking justice are inseparable.
Shared Conviction #7: As a worldwide community of faith and life we transcend boundaries of nationality, race, class, gender and language. We seek to live in the world without conforming to the powers of evil, witnessing to God’s grace by serving others, caring for creation, and inviting all people to know Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
In this conviction we together clearly state that creation care is at the very heart of the church’s mission to “witness to God’s grace.” Moreover, as a “worldwide community of faith and life,” transcending boundaries of geography, politics, and economic resources, we are presented with countless opportunities to collaborate in responding to the critical need for creation care.
We give thanks for the collaboration already taking place.
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it. Psalm 24:1
Thomas R Yoder Neufeld, chair of the Faith and Life Commission, is a member of First Mennonite Church, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada;
Anicka Fast, secretary of the Faith & Life Commission, is a member of Doopsgezind Gemeente Bussum-Naarden, Netherlands;
Doug Graber Neufeld, chair of the Creation Care Task Force, is a member of Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA;
