I was disappointed that the January issue on the future of Anabaptism lacked a focus on the need for a Zacchaeus-type redistribution of wealth by North American Mennonites. I noted the four paragraphs on greed near the end of the article by Josh Meyer, but the shocking disparity between our lifestyle and that of Anabaptists in the Global South should call for radical repentance. I see no other way for Mennonites to gain the attention and respect of a generation of young adults disenchanted with a church so out of touch with its global neighbors. 

In a recent Virginia Mennonite Conference workshop on “Anabaptist Rebirth: Living Justly, Joyfully and Sustainably,” keynote speaker Sam Funkhouser, a Princeton graduate and member of the Old German Baptist Brethren, stated, “We live like royalty, enjoy a level of prosperity that is unjust and unsustainable and that is predicated on the poverty of others. . . . Nothing could be more clear in the teachings of Jesus and the prophets than a condemnation of this kind of wealth.”

Harvey Yoder, Harrisonburg, Va.