It’s a great question! One I’ve thought about quite a bit, myself. Here’s a few thoughts I have in response.
I think the question alone exposes a flaw in our concept of “spreading the gospel.” If we are spreading the gospel, whether Anabaptist or Pentecostal or Protestant, the focus will be on the gospel not on the denomination we’re a part of.
Perhaps the real issue is we don’t know the gospel. We know our denominational sales pitch; but not the gospel. Therefore, when we “spread the gospel,” we tend to spread our denominational take on the gospel and not the gospel itself.
To be honest, I think all denominations have this problem. I’m not saying this to pass the buck, neither do I think the answer lies in trying to not be a part of any denomination. Rather, I believe sorting through our unique bias and getting to the core of the gospel is a habit all Christians must rigorously develop.
So how can we spread the gospel effectively?
What pieces of our message are we communicating that cause people to feel they need to apply the gospel the same way we do if they are going to actually follow and embrace Jesus?
We get misdirected when we try creating the visible signs of obedience in a person before nurturing and growing personal faith in Jesus Christ. The visible things will come, if gospel seed is planted and watered well. The scary thing is that it’s possible to get visible fruit to sprout quickly without actually having deep roots of faith. In the end, a person who “bears fruit” with little or no faith will likely become antagonistic to the faith because of the pressure they feel to perform.
They can’t perform. Not in genuine sincerity. They never truly believed.
In short, I believe the way Anabaptists can spread the gospel without making people feel they need to become like them is by shifting their mindset from getting a person to bear visible signs of obedience to walking patiently with people as their faith in Christ grows.
In my observation, we as Anabaptists have neglected four specific aspects of one’s faith journey. Actually, we haven’t neglected all four—we’ve neglected the first three.
Let me explain.
The story of man.
If we’re not careful, we can get caught up in debates about creation. But the Genesis account of creation isn’t so much about science as it is about God’s goodness and man’s rebellion. God made man, and he gave man everything he needed for life. Yet, man decided he wanted to be god instead. Man walked away from God and worshiped and served himself.
He thought he would gain control of everything, but actually lost control of the only thing he was designed to have control of: himself. Paul tells us in Romans that as a result, man is bound by deception and blindly walking to death. There is no hope for man, left to himself.
The narrative of God’s pursuit.
The Bible is not a manual for how to live. It’s a story of God’s design and his pursuit of a people who walked away from his design.
God longs to be in relationship with man, but for whatever reason, he lets mankind go his own way. But he doesn’t just give up on him; he pursues him. Even though man going his own way leads to death, God continually pursues man until he actually dies.
Perhaps this is where I break a bit with traditional Anabaptist theology. There is a clear narrative in Scripture of God sovereignly drawing people to himself. There’s also a clear narrative of man—no matter how hard he tries—being unable to walk in holiness and obedience.
God wants to do a work in us. He pursues us. We don’t do the work. We are selfish creatures who use everything—even religious activity—for making ourselves look great.
But when we humble ourselves before God, surrendering to his design, to Jesus Christ as our Lord, he does a powerful redemptive work in our hearts. Obedience, then, comes from the heart, not from obligation.
The person of Christ.
Jesus. Immanuel. God with us. He didn’t have to come. He was God—is God. He could have wiped us off the earth and started over.
But he didn’t.
He gave up everything he had in heaven (Philippians 2) and became obedient to death so that we could have life. The kind of life that reconnects us with himself and allows us to live with him forever.
God’s love for us is fully manifested in Jesus Christ. God’s judgment against sin is fully revealed in Jesus Christ. Linger on him. Allow the full weight of what Christ did for us to rest on us and whoever we’re discipling.
Faith in him is the most natural response to such radically pursuit.
Because Christ gave his life for us, he deserves us to give all of our lives to him.
Anabaptists do fairly well at emphasizing the importance of giving Christ all of our lives. We run into trouble, however, when we haven’t fully developed the reason for why Christ deserves all of our lives.
Christ bought us with his life, and we needed bought back. We were headed for death, for destruction. Because of him, we are free.
Therefore, he deserves nothing less than one hundred percent of ourselves. And if we give less, Paul says, it’s as if we are crucifying him again. We are again selling ourselves out to deception, to the idea that we can be god and have control.
The result is always the same, however. We lose control. We become slaves to sin, to brokenness, to our fallen selves.
Faith is a journey.
Just because we know the main marking points of that journey, and just because we communicate them to others, doesn’t mean people will grow in faith automatically. We must walk patiently with them. We must allow there to be messiness in the journey. We must be willing to fellowship with and welcome people who don’t yet bear pretty fruit of faith if we’re going to help people grow in faith in Jesus without making them feel pressured to become like us.
My wife and I are so blessed to be a part of a church here in LA where each of us actively try to walk with people in their journeys of faith. We are not a perfect church, and there are lots of things we’re still fleshing out. Sometimes we make mistakes as we seek to disciple others in Christ.
But one thing I really appreciate about our church is that we are not out to replicate Anabaptists. We are unashamedly an “Anabaptist church” in terms of theology and practice. But if you came to visit us on a Sunday morning, and all you know is conservative Anabaptist churches from the east, you’d likely feel a little out of place.
Growing faith roots in people takes much longer than simply convincing them to wear modest dress. But when faith roots are deeply established, we notice people are able to make decisions for themselves to begin dressing in ways that honor and glorify God’s beauty and holiness.
Start with the inside. Work on heart issues. Let Jesus transform them from the core. I believe that is how anyone from any background spreads the gospel without making people feel pressured to become just like them.
I’d love to hear your feedback. Are you actively a part of spreading the gospel? What are your thoughts on spreading the gospel without making people feel like they need to become like us? Share in the comments below.
