Andrews University, a Seventh-day Adventist institution in Berrien Springs, Mich., hosted a conference in honor of Anabaptism’s 500th anniversary April 3-5 to “reflect on the past, engage with the present and envision the future of Anabaptist traditions, emphasizing their enduring impact on Christian faith, peacebuilding and communal living.”

Andrews has a history of dialogue and collaboration with Goshen College and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary.

Themes included pacifism, the Sabbath and the connection between Anabaptist ideology and social justice.

Event co-organizer Abner Hernandez, assistant professor of church history at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, said the event underscored the enduring significance of Anabaptism for contemporary Christianity, “particularly for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which has inherited from the Anabaptist tradition a deep commitment to believers baptism, the separation of church and state and the primacy of scripture.”

Keynote speakers included John D. Roth, project director of MennoMedia’s Anabaptism at 500 initiative, and Regina Wenger, educational curator at the Mennonite Heritage Center in Harleysville, Pa., who examined the legacy of the Anabaptist movement in early education and its intersections with local communities.

“The conference served not only as a remembrance of how God has faithfully led his church through history but also as a call to renewed fidelity to the principle of sola scriptura — a principle cherished by the Anabaptists and foundational to Adventist identity and mission,” Hernandez said.