What is Anabaptism?
Amid the uprisings and social transformation of 16th century Europe, small groups of young people began to read the Bible together. In reading the stories of Jesus, they felt a call to live out his teachings and practices in their daily lives, proclaiming a faith based on consent, nonviolence, and mutual aid. They re-baptized (ana-baptized) each other on confession of faith. These radical reformers faced persecution, but their movement lives on today, 500 years later. Mennonites take our name from Menno Simons (pictured below), one of these radical reformers who preached nonviolence.
Mennonites then and now seek to live out the life that Jesus demonstrated, what we call discipleship. Mennonites are made, not born: We believe that baptism is a consensual choice made on confession of faith when we are old enough to make that decision. We carry many different identities and come from every sort of background – the majority of people at GMC didn’t grow up Mennonite! There are over a million Mennonites all around the world.
Because we seek to live like Jesus, we believe in the power of nonviolent transformation, both in our personal lives and in our society and world. What nonviolence looks like is an ongoing conversation, because discipleship is a collective process of giving and receiving counsel. We better understand the Gospel when we interpret it and live it out together, as the priesthood of all believers.