The way we talk about mission in North America is dangerous, says Anton Flores-Maisonet. We think “we have some type of extraordinary gift,” he said, and when we reach out to others in mission, “we are the ones pouring our gift into their deficits.”

He made the observation in a moving sermon about Jesus crossing cultural borders at the “Church and Post-Christian Culture” conference Sept. 19-20 in Carlisle, Pa. He is the cofounder of Alterna, an intentional community of Christians from Latin America and the U.S. in LaGrange, Ga.

In his work with people who are undocumented, he leads tours to Guatemala demonstrating the complexities that lead to migration. He said trip participants always want to know, “What are we going to do?”

He tells them they are not going to do anything but receive hospitality. “And they are vulnerable, and we meet Jesus,” he said.

For Anabaptists seeking to meet Jesus, vulnerability is a good place to start.

There was an exciting and palpable sense at the conference that the spirit is leading Anabaptists somewhere new in their walk with Jesus. Excellent speakers like Greg Boyd, Brian Zanhd and Bruxy Cavey shared big ideas and great energy about how the fall of Christendom is paving the way for a more Jesus-centered movement.

But a different sort of buzz could be heard about the conference during break-time conversations, in other presentations and in online posts and blogs surrounding it.

Among the 21 people who either presented or led breakout sessions, only two were women and six were men of color. Those numbers don’t come close to representing the increasingly diverse church.

Drew Hart, a Ph.D. student who coined the term “Anablacktivist” to describe himself, led a breakout session where he challenged Anabaptists to recognize their role in racial violence against Native Americans and African-Americans in the U.S.

Cherith Nordling, a professor at Northern Seminary, offered many important and spot-on challenges — against wealth, pride and more — to Anabaptists. “Every time God shows up and does something powerful by the spirit of God, our fingerprints hold it just a little bit too long and it starts to look like us,” she said.

Maybe, if Anabaptists can loosen their hold on the future of the movement this conference was part of, the next steps will be found in the words of those who look less like the dominant white male demographic. Some of the freshest ideas came from those outside it — Nordling, Hart and Flores-Maisonet among them.

Opening ourselves to the hospitality of those in our midst — especially those outside our traditional networks — should be at the forefront of future endeavors.