My Wesleyan Methodist family was loving and supportive, even as I rejected the church as a teenager. I had a profound religious experience the summer before college. While at college, I discovered one could have a strong faith and pursue serious intellectual questions. I was challenged to read the Sermon on the Mount in a new way.
In 1969 I became a draft resister. A friend and spiritual mentor suggested I attend a gathering of evangelical writers and leaders at Buck Hill Falls, Pa. There I met several young Mennonite leaders, including Art Smoker, Walt Hackman and Roy Yoder. We quickly bonded. I was delighted to learn about Anabaptism as a faith tradition.
As I struggled with my draft board and prepared for the consequences of refusing military induction, I received support from my new Mennonite friends and several church agencies, including Mennonite Central Committee Peace Section and Mennonite Board of Missions. After two hearings and a court ruling, I was granted conscientious objector status.
Eventually my wife and I entered Voluntary Service in Pittsburgh and became part of a Mennonite house church community there. As new Anabaptist converts, we devoured Anabaptist history and made many new friends in Pittsburgh and the nearby Scottdale Mennonite Publishing House community. After leaving VS in 1973, we spent eight weeks traveling around Europe studying Reformation history and serving as the resident Anabaptist historians with a group of 28 college students from Boston.
We returned to Rochester, N.Y., my hometown, where we assisted in establishing the Rochester Area Mennonite Fellowship. I became involved with New Call to Peacemaking (Mennonites, Friends and Brethren) at the state level, as well as peace and social justice activities in Rochester. We began our family and were grateful to be part of a house church and a small group that celebrated peacemaking and social justice as part of the gospel.
We eventually left the local Mennonite church for a Presbyterian congregation that was much closer and had a vibrant youth fellowship. We identified as Presbyterian Mennonites and became active in the peace and social justice ministries there.
As a public high school principal, on several occasions I had the opportunity to share my faith with the school community. One was a trip to the Middle East to foster conversations between Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities. Another was sharing my peace testimony with a student reporter doing a feature article for the school newspaper. Another was when I was diagnosed with cancer and talked with the students about the role of science, faith and family in my efforts toward wellness. These discussions involved Anabaptist tenets of peacemaking, community building and faith.
Twenty years later, we worship with a Free Methodist congregation that emerged from a house-church model. Community of the Savior is evangelically rooted, liturgically formed and socially engaged. It has an active presence in the community and is very compatible with our Anabaptist beliefs. Several years ago, I presented an overview of Anabaptism in a faith-formation series on church history.
As I reflect on my life’s journey — from growing up the son of a Marine who fought on Iwo Jima in World War II, to being a Vietnam War draft resister, to learning the history of Anabaptism and being a Christian committed to the good news of the gospel, including peace and social justice — I stand in awe and with gratitude. Anabaptism has shaped much of who I am and how I have lived.
We have maintained our connections with many Mennonite friends over 54 years. Reading Anabaptist World helps keep us grounded and informed on Anabaptist beliefs, culture and events.
It is a joy to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism, a movement that has influenced many Christians beyond Anabaptist churches. We are grateful for all who came before us, who sacrificed and stumbled and got back up and continued the journey. We will remember and celebrate them as we move forward in our own journey.
Peter Knapp is a retired high school principal and professor who lives in Webster, N.Y., with his wife, Leslie, and nearby daughters Leah and Emily, two sons-in-law and four grandchildren. He identifies as a Free Methodist Mennonite.
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