Jeremy Good was a student at Hesston (Kansas) College when he gave this speech at the 2016 conference, Leading into the common good: An Anabaptist Perspective. We will be publishing additional speeches from college students reflecting on Anabaptist identity and leadership throughout this month.  You can also read previous posts by Londen Wheeler and Alexandra Shoup. 

There are three aspects or characteristics of early Anabaptists that I see modeled by my generation and I hope that this presentation can be both an affirmation of the work we have done and an inspiration to dive further into our commitments to the gospel of Christ.

In 1527, several leaders of a newly found movement called Anabaptism met in Schleitheim and compiled a confession, the Schleitheim Confession of Faith. As most confessions of faith do, this compilation outlined how the Anabaptists were to interact with each other and the community surrounding them.

Many confessions of faith have been published since then, including one by Harold Bender that helped to change widely held negative opinions of Anabaptism. In these confessions of faith, there are several ideas or emphases placed and, like I said, I would like to focus on three of them: nonviolence, community and being radical. I like radical. I think I’m a super cool guy!

Perhaps the most stereotypical characteristic of an Anabaptist is the commitment to nonviolent reconciliation. Early Anabaptists demonstrated their abilities in nonviolent resolution and, instead of being another short-lived movement against Christendom, we are a church making its way in the 21st century.

As a Mennonite, when someone asks me what my beliefs are centered on, the second part of my answer describes our stance on violence.

My generation is a generation that does not have it as hard as other generations before ours has had. We are no longer drafted into the military during times of war. Not joining the military is not perceived as badly as it once was. Volunteering in alternative service programs can be celebrated publicly and the work we do is not hidden like it was during World War 2. Everyone who is in my generation of the church has the ability to serve in the church rather than in the military and many do just that.

With the chaos of this world spreading quickly, many are leaving this country to serve as peacemakers and not as soldiers. I hear the call for accountability in violent church relationships come from my peers and I see many who are ready to confront the issue head on. In my own classes, I have heard requests for nonviolent resolution strategies to be taught freely from many different kinds of Christianity.

We want to be active peacemakers and we want to show God’s love as we make peace with others. Being peacemakers is something that is very important to my generation.

We are a generation that has not had a lot of emphasis put on violent lifestyles. We have this freedom to be peacemakers and the opportunity to show the love of Christ without it being hidden away from the general public.

Although the Schleitheim Confession doesn’t say specifically that Anabaptists need to form tightly knit groups in order to be Anabaptist, this is what happened. As more Anabaptist leaders began to get exiled from towns, we see evidence of very strong communities forming, with worship happening in the most unique places. Although in my generation we have not been at risk of being burned at the stake or of being drowned, strong communities have still formed and this is something that will remain important for generations in the Mennonite church.

As millennials, this is an aspect of Anabaptism that I believe is particularly important in the coming years. Everyone knows that millennials love social media, but in a lot of friend groups on campuses like Hesston, there is an emphasis on being together as a community.

Being able to worship God together, celebrate the grace and mercy extended to us, and love each other are vital components of being, not just the Mennonite Church, but the broader church as well.

I think that this is something that Millennials are beginning to realize: we can’t keep sitting around playing on our Gameboy or  on Facebook all day; we need to step into the community.

As a Millennial, I have also become very aware of the negative stigma that surrounds the church because of how hard it can be to step into these tight-knit groups. At Hesston, you could ask anyone that’s not Mennonite about how hard it is to really come in close to the Mennonite friend groups, and I’m sure they could tell you that it is very difficult. So, I would say that the question is: how do Millennials change this perception? My very simple answer is that we need to commit to living in an authentic community; a community where people are able to join in and feel comfortable with people of Mennonite ancestry. This may mean we don’t always play the “Mennonite Game” [where we try to make connections based on who we know or last names] or promote other things that only Mennonites know.

The third aspect of these 15th century Europeans is their radicalness. From the time that I was old enough to hear Martyr’s Mirror stories, it has not yet ceased to amaze me what kinds of torture many Anabaptists went through because of their radical culture. What’s even more amazing is the fact that people were so drawn towards this radical way of life even when many people and families ended up dead.

So I think that another question that should be asked is: what can our generation do that could change how people view Christians? What can we do as a church that shows that we are not just a closed community who cares about its own well-being? Why are people seemingly not drawn as much to North American Anabaptists?

I don’t have the answers for any of these questions, but someone needs to ask them.

Ultimately, I think that I could have answered the topic question in two words: they are. Anabaptist values are important to my generation and we will need to continue to hold close to these values. Perhaps some values that we find in the Anabaptist movement are harder to apply now, but these three values and traits are still important and relevant to the ever-changing church.