As a human being, I am not defined by my theological leanings. Each one of us is God’s creation, the apple of his eye. And that’s precisely where I intend to reside.
Yet, identifying the framework through which we view scripture, and acknowledging the nuances of our church traditions and how they have shaped our faith thus far in life can be a part of helping us better understand each other and keep from vilifying one another.
There is a deep stirring among many today who have grown up in conservative Anabaptist churches. I write this series to help us, at least in some small way, sort through things we’re wrestling with.
In my last article, I wrote about everything I love in the Anabaptist tradition. In this article, I’m going to share things that frustrate me.
What I share isn’t definitive of everyone or every church in conservative Anabaptist circles. Rather, they are weaknesses I have noticed. They are weaknesses others have noticed.
Other articles in this series include:
1. Conservative Anabaptists have undervalued robust theological training.
In general, conservative Anabaptists are quite skeptical of higher education. People have stated directly to me that the more educated one gets the more liberal he becomes.
First of all, that’s an awful use of the terms “liberal” and “conservative.”
But even more, it simply isn’t true.
Gaining knowledge will certainly bring about change—that’s what knowledge is for, bringing change. But are we calling “change” liberalization?
What if we are mistaken in our interpretation? How are we going to know we’re heading down the right track if we do not intentionally rub the edges of our own thinking against another line of thinking?
If we change, is that necessarily a sign of “going liberal”? What if our change leads us to be more faithful to scripture?
In my experience with the conservative Anabaptist church, few Bible teachers know the theological basis for getting the results they hope to accomplish in their students.
What is sin? Is it merely doing bad stuff?
How does the Law correlate with the rest of scripture?
Why do we practice things like the head covering? Is it simply a part of being modest?
What does it mean to not be conformed to this world? Does it mean we don’t watch movies?
When was the last sermon you heard addressing holiness, conformity, or submission that included a rich explanation of the Gospel within it?
Each of these questions poke at places where I feel we have been theologically negligent. As a result, we raise generations of people who long for more in a sermon than just telling how we should or should not live. They’re thirsty. And in their thirst, they are willing to go anywhere to find something to quench it.
2. Conservative Anabaptist churches lack intentionality in church structure, leadership training, and discipleship methods.
Most conservative Anabaptist churches do things the way conservative Anabaptist churches have done them for centuries. Not that there is anything wrong with tradition and the rich historical coherency it brings to one’s faith.
But is the lot the healthiest way of going about choosing church leaders?
What about consideration of giftings and personality?
Why don’t we intentionally seek out young leaders and train them, so they know how to cast vision, care for people pastorally, communicate with clarity, and influence people?
Is our church structured well for taking care of those in need? Or do people tend to fall through the cracks? Why do they fall through the cracks? Have we ever thought of changing structure so they don’t?
Is our church structured well so the women, single or married, or the orphaned young adults have voice within the larger body? Or does our church structure primarily cater to men… specifically, married men with money?
What happens when someone comes to faith? Is it assumed that they are learning to read and understand scripture for themselves, or do we have strategic plans in place, people specifically designated and supported to walk with new believers as they come to know Christ more?
3. Conservative Anabaptist churches have idolized our way of life and interpretations of scripture.
If you don’t bake your own bread, change your own oil, design your own brochure, you are not being a “good steward.” If you don’t abstain from TV, refuse to wear skinny jeans, or drive dark-colored vehicles, you are “assimilating to the world.”
But what if you don’t have time for a Bible study with a new believer because you’re busy baking bread, changing oil, or designing brochures?
What if the delight you take in your newly built, seven room, three bath house is just as much a part of a worldly mindset as watching TV?
See what I’m getting at?
4. Conservative Anabaptist churches have “church standards.”
Where in scripture do we find “requirements” to be a part of the church? Yes, there are basic beliefs that church leaders are exhorted to teach their flocks. We can point to Acts 15 as an example of what was required of Gentiles in the early church.
But Acts 15 is pretty vague compared to most conservative Anabaptist churches.
My biggest frustration with church standards is that we end up focusing more on keeping people in line with the standards than we do on teaching robust, biblical theology. Most of our “church standards” are merely one expression of many biblically faithful ways to live out Christianity.
Why not improve our teaching in theology so people are better equipped to apply it faithfully in a way that is comfortable for themselves?
This morphs into “rebellion,” then, if someone questions the standard and wants to return to the teachings of scripture. How is that “Anabaptist”?
5. Conservative Anabaptist churches choose applications based on fear.
We wear the head covering “all the time” because “What would happen if we didn’t? Would our children quit wearing it altogether?”
We wear long pants and long dresses because we want to make sure we’re never a stumbling block for someone who struggles with lust. I’m not saying we should never consider the greater implications of what we wear (or what we do). I am saying, however, that too often our applications aren’t chosen from a desire to be most faithful to scripture but from a fear of “being bad” or “going down a slippery slope.”
This tends to be how church standards get developed. Instead of returning to the scripture and developing a theological foundation for what we do, we put in place a church standard that says, for example, one must to wear a large veiling because we’re afraid of people wearing smaller and smaller veiling’s until they no longer wear any.
6. Conservative Anabaptist churches are externally focused.
No one seems too concerned about someone’s spiritual wellbeing until they start wearing a different style of clothes or quit wearing the head covering.
To be fair, it’s okay that people sit up and take notice when externals change. Obviously, something going on within that person.
But too often, we seem entirely out of touch with the hearts of our own people. We don’t know the wrestlings of their souls.
I’m not saying everyone in every church should know everybody’s struggle. But are we reaching out to those we can? At the very least, we could do a better job of teaching on heart issues instead of merely the external workings-out of our faith.
7. Conservative Anabaptist churches are ethnocentric.
I recently heard a prominent conservative Anabaptist speaker address music at an Anabaptist conference. He basically said any music that moves the body is sensual, and not godly.
A man from Africa stood up and said, “In Africa, we can’t help but dance even when we sing the hymns.” In short, the speaker responded by saying the Africans were singing the song wrong. They need to find a way to sing the hymns so they don’t move the body.
I could not believe what I heard. Can we not recognize that our white culture is naturally less inclined to move when we sing? Do we not have any space for other cultures?
What do we do with the places of scripture that exhort to praise the Lord in dance?
Where is the humility to acknowledge that worship and the manifestations of the Gospel will look differently in other cultures then it does in our own?
8. Anymore, conservative Anabaptist churches function more like the Catholic church we came out of than true Anabaptists.
Disagreement with church authorities get taken as more rebellious and heretical than unfaithfulness to the scriptures.
Immorality exists, yet gets covered up.
We have extra-biblical hoops and hurdles new believers must jump through in order to be upstanding members of the church. It smells awfully close to indulgences. Perhaps the only difference is that you don’t pay for our hoops and hurdles, and we at least still profess salvation is by faith (not through buying indulgences).
But we are oh so close to the corruption we came out of.
Yes, I have frustrations about the conservative Anabaptist church. But these frustrations don’t define my overall experience with it.
Furthermore, I know many pastors share my frustrations, many long to see changes similar to what I’ve expressed. That’s why I’m not ready to throw in the towel on the conservative Anabaptist church.
Do we need a reformation of sorts? Yes.
Is there a shift happening within the Anabaptist church today? I think that’s pretty clear.
But what is core to Anabaptist theology that we don’t want to lose as we shift? In my next article, I’m going to start addressing these things as I begin evaluating prominent doctrines of conservative Anabaptist theology.
What are some of your frustrations? Feel free to talk about them in the comments below.
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