Most Thursdays, we publish a seven question interview with a different Anabaptist talking about their life, work, spiritual journey, etc. You can view past interviews here.

Name: Jacob ‘Jake’ Short
Congregation: Hyattsville (Maryland) Mennonite Church
Occupation: Administrative assistant for HMC; Retail management

1. Tell me about your earliest memory of church.

I grew up at Lockport Mennonite Church in Stryker, Ohio. Before Sunday school for elementary age kids they have a little time where you sing some songs. I remember a little of that and then being in a classroom.

Another memory was when we got a new associate pastor that were husband and wife. I remember my parents talking about this. Because it was a husband and wife team, it was the first female pastor we ever had. I was just kind of like, “Ok, whatever.” I didn’t think anything of it, but for some people it was a big issue. My dad grew up in the Evangelical Mennonite Church, which still doesn’t allow female pastors. I remember my grandma and aunt would be like, “Oh what do you think about this?” They were upset about our church having a female pastor, and I just didn’t understand why this was a controversy.

And I will always remember the Sunday closest to Christmas being massively packed, because so many people would be coming back for the holiday. It always seemed like a hundred extra people were in church. When you’re 8 to 10 years old, you’re just in awe of all these people around you and all the singing. I think that really instilled a love of Christmastime for me, that experience of singing 400 people singing Christmas hymns.

2. You went to Bluffton (Ohio) University. What made you choose Bluffton?

I went to a really small high school that graduated 40 people each year. I knew a massive university was not going to be good for me. I was so used to having a hands on education with more attention from teachers. I think also at that point I was fairly conscious of wanting to be a Mennonite or stay within the Mennonite realm.

I looked at a few other colleges. There was something about the Bluffton vibe, which was weird, because I visited it during the summer when it wasn’t the normal school year vibe. But there was something about the vibe of the people I met that made me feel comfortable there.

3. What did you learn from Bluffton about what it meant to be a Mennonite or think theologically?

I grew up in Old MC [Mennonite Church] churches, but by the time I really understood what being a Mennonite meant, Mennonite Church USA had already come into being, so I just understood the church as MC USA. I knew it was MC USA and MC Canada and that there were other Mennonite churches throughout the world, but I thought about Mennonites with a North American and US focus.

I didn’t go to [the Mennonite Church USA convention in] Atlanta, but I did go to Charlotte 2005 and so that was my big exposure to the wider Mennonite church. It was MC USA at that point and seemed pretty well established.

Going to Bluffton and taking the class Mennonite History and Thought my first year with Gerald Mast, I learned all these things about MC and GC [General Conference] churches and their historical differences. I thought, “Whoa, this is majorly complicated.”

The class really opened my eyes to the complex history Anabaptism has. It made me more appreciate the historical and cultural context because that’s very much how I operate as a person in general. I really enjoy history.

Learning that made me really appreciate what my ancestors had to go through in many cases in Europe and then coming to North America and maintaining their faith. Also understanding Bluffton as an old GC college helped me to see difference in how those congregations operated and how they became a part of MC USA. Especially after graduating from Bluffton, it’s helped me to see what’s operating behind the scenes in different contexts. I’m now I’m at Hyattsville which is a weird mixture of things from GC, MC and beyond.

4. What brought you to Washington D.C.?

I was with Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS), a Church of the Brethren program. The original reason I decided to go with BVS and not Mennonite Voluntary Service was that I wanted to go abroad and I really liked their international choices, but as we got closer to actual orientation, there was one of these very rare moments in life where I felt a call to not go abroad and to stay in the U.S.

I felt a real call to go to Washington D.C. This is the only time in my life where I’ve actually felt what I would consider a call, which is still a little strange for me.

I found my way to the Center on Conscience & War, which worked with conscientious objection. It was something I really was interested in personally. I’m still on their board of directors as the unofficial Mennonite representative. I use this position as well to maintain a Mennonite witness in an organization Mennonites helped found, especially as conscientious objection to war and violence is perhaps the most crucial part of me being a Mennonite Christian. I often think about Luke 22:49-51, when Jesus says “No more of this!” and heals the ear of the high priest’s slave. This story is part of the reason I work to end violence and war; Jesus took a nonviolent and restorative stance even in one of his darkest hours.

I really enjoyed my time at the Center. I wasn’t originally planning to stay beyond the first year, but didn’t really have plans.

As I progressed through my year, I just really came to enjoy the city in general. I liked how it was a city, but it wasn’t too large, either. I really like the beauty of DC. It has parks and nice architecture. And getting connected to Hyattsville Mennonite and living in the Brethren volunteer house really created a sense of community. It was a community I wasn’t ready to give up, so I decided to stick around.

5. How do you start working for Hyattsville Mennonite Church?

I had known of Hyattsville when [Pastor] Cindy Lapp was at Bluffton during my first year there as a speaker for a peace conference. I also did a research paper later in my time at Bluffton concerning LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer] acceptance in the Mennonite church, and Hyattsville had come up multiple times in my research. As a bisexual man, it was also essential I find a welcoming church, a place where I could explore and live out my faith while also being true to other aspects of my identity not always accepted in every church.

I wanted to check Hyattsville out, but also wanted to give myself a little break from the Mennonite church. For probably about the first six months in D.C., I was attending a United Methodist church, which was really close to the Brethren House.

After awhile I just wasn’t quite feeling as connected. I think the Methodist church was good about trying to be conscious about peace and social justice, but there were still members of the military and they practiced infant baptism. For me, believer’s baptism and choosing to be part of a faith community is essential to being a true believer. Especially working with an organization that was trying to get people out of the military because they were having crises of conscience, it was ironic to attend a church that was occasionally running against my values.

Hyattsville really is a place that you can explore and question your faith in ways that other churches I don’t necessarily think allow for. I just really appreciate that. It is a smaller congregation with an average 120 attendance. There’s a real sense that the whole congregation is willing to work together on things if there are big questions that come up. The community really wants to pull together to do things, whatever it may be.

I finished my year in BVS and was unemployed for three weeks, which was a little scary, especially considering how expensive DC is. I got work at my retail job, which helped keep me afloat for a little bit. I was working full time through the holidays, but after that, the work slowed down. I was trying to look for more work, but it’s a really competitive environment. After six months of working part time and trying to find work, I was really struggling and getting dragged down.

Then Hyattsville said they needed a new administrative assistant part time. They interviewed me and I got the job, which was, in multiple ways, a lifesaver. I’ve been doing both of these jobs ever since.

6. What keeps you connected to church in an era when people are concerned that young adults are checking out?

I spent a semester in Northern Ireland at Bluffton. While I was there, I was intentional about attending church services. I wasn’t looking to find a church home while I was there, but wanting to explore different faith traditions. There were not Mennonites in Northern Ireland.

It was a good way to just explore and kind of see which kind of church is for me and what kind of denomination or way of thinking is where I connect. I explored multiple denominations while I was in Northern Ireland, and I connected most with the Methodist church. I probably attended a month and a half worth of services at a Methodist church during that time.

So when I came to DC, I thought about Methodists. I had known people who were Methodist and felt they had a good social justice perspective on things. That’s what important to me, really wanting to live out faith. Not just attend church every Sunday, but really working towards faith and being proactive.

James 2:14-26 really explains the way I try to live out my faith and what I look for in a faith community. “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (verse 17) Am I living my faith in a way that demonstrates I truly believe what I believe in a concrete way? I say I oppose violence and war, I oppose racism, I oppose sexism, I oppose heterosexism, I oppose classism, and I oppose the many boundaries that divide people in ways that are harmful and unjust. But am I actively working to oppose these systems of oppression and injustice? Is my church community working to oppose these systems as well? If not, then it is not church for me.

And my mentor, Sanford Wyse, is perhaps the earliest, and certainly the biggest, influence on why I remain a part of the church. Seeing him live out his faith consciously and earnestly reminds me of what a true Christian looks like.

That’s why I stay in church. I’ve found community that reflects those things. There are times I still get frustrated, but I think everyone gets frustrated with church at some point. Also, living in D.C., which is not the most religious city, people have to take more ownership and be truly intentional of their faith. You have to be prepared for people to ask questions about it. I have friends from all over the religious spectrum; sometimes they are Christian or some other religion, while other times they are just curious and really want to know why I attend church, because they are not religious any more or they don’t believe in God, and some of them just avoid asking about it almost entirely. But I am glad to have this diversity, to help strengthen my own faith.

7. If someone had one day in Washington, D.C., what would you tell them to do?

One day. Can I get a whole weekend?!

If it’s a Saturday, I really love going to Eastern Market. It’s one of the largest outdoor farmer’s markets in the city. It’s also the oldest in the city and one of the oldest in the country. You can buy from farmers; you can buy meals; there are flower stalls; there’s people selling jewelry and paintings; there’s a flea market and antiques. It’s just great for people watching and seeing all sorts of different things. It’s on Capitol Hill, in a very historic neighborhood. Plus, there’s a great used bookstore nearby. I just love it.

I’ve been so many times and still haven’t gotten sick of it. I like going there to get my pickles. They pull them out of barrel and stick them in a container for me. Occasionally on Saturdays there’s a more conservative Anabaptist group that comes with their goat cheese products.

In general, I just really love wandering around the city. I’m a people watcher and I like interacting with different people and seeing the different neighborhoods. You don’t have to go very far and you can get into a different neighborhood with a completely different vibe. Especially for a smaller city, there’s a lot of diversity.