Question Submitted: why is it that those who seem to be so passionate about grace, and serving Jesus radically are losing what we call marks of conservative Anabaptist teaching and what we believe about separation in dress, Christian Woman’s Veiling, keeping the Lord’s Day etc?
When I was born in 1991, my Dad was the pastor of a small Midwest Fellowship church in Northern Minnesota. He pastored there until late 1997 when he stepped down from leadership because of some tension between him and the assistant pastor.
As you mention, one of the “marks” of conservative Anabaptism is the Christians Woman’s veiling, or head covering. In the six years of attending there, I remember only one lady who wore a flowing veil instead of a bonnet-style covering. I remember it because it stuck out and was always seen as something different. She was a bit “independent.” I don’t recall Dad ever having a problem with it, but picked up on other people’s feelings about it.
One of the things Dad began to question, which led to some of the tension causing him to later step down, was the importance of the plain suit. In the Midwest Fellowship, at least at that time, the plain suit was an essential part of being able pastor or even preach. You had to wear the plain suit! Yet, Dad wrestled with it because nowhere in Scripture is that imperative.
It seemed extra-biblical values, or doctrines, or commandments, or whatever we want to title them were being added to Biblical doctrines and treated with the same level of significance.
The question needs to be asked, if conservative Anabaptists claim to hold true to Scripture, yet continue to enforce extra-scriptural applications as “imperatively Scriptural,” are they actually holding true to Scripture? I ask this because I believe it is a vital part to the answer of your question.
Are people who let go of the “marks of conservative Anabaptism” simply wanting to go do their own thing? Are they being rebellious?
Are the Anabaptist doctrines simply wrong? Will everyone who study and honestly approach Scripture without a predetermined agenda end up letting go of Anabaptist doctrine?
Or maybe, could everything simply be culturally interpreted? Anabaptist doctrines are neither right no wrong, and letting them go is no big deal. Is that it?
Personally, I believe all three of these play into why people let go of the “marks of conservative Anabaptism.” Yes, unfortunately, there are people who just want to do what they want to do. Maybe they’re even rebelling. They have absolutely no attraction to the church they grew up in. But I do not believe that is the primary reason people leave.
In fact, as I look at my generation, I see very few people leaving out of blatant rebellion. Most of those leaving actually want more of Christ. They want to be more effective in making disciples then they feel able to be in their current church.
So that leads us to the next option: are Anabaptist doctrines wrong? Again, I believe this could be part of it. There some things Anabaptists do or believe that aren’t the best interpretations of Scripture.
(For instance, I don’t entirely subscribe to the traditional Anabaptist doctrine of soteriology. I believe Scripture would tell the story of a God who relentlessly pursues us no matter what. Not that everyone is saved, but that our personal works have less to do with salvation than we typically think. Another example is that I believe many Anabaptists take Romans 12:2 completely out of context and fail to realize “be not conformed to this world” is a bit of a side-note Paul is making as he rehearses the narrative of the nation of Israel and the life of a believer. The focus is not on what we aren’t conforming to, the focus is on what we are being conformed to. But those are posts for another time.)
Or maybe it’s culturally interpreted, such as the third option. And the more someone studies and grows in Scriptural knowledge and actual discipleship with other people, they realize the Anabaptist answers fail. An example of this could be our understanding of how the Holy Spirit works. It wasn’t until going to Asia and seeing the Holy Spirit work in ways I had never seen before that I began reconsidering my understanding of how He works.
But again, I do not believe this is the main issue. There are plenty of Anabaptist doctrines that are, in fact, better interpretations than some of the more mainstream Protestant doctrines. People wanting to do their own thing, Anabaptist doctrines being wrong, or the doctrines being culturally interpreted are part of the complex issue we see of passionate Christians letting go of the “marks of conservative Anabaptism.” But I submit that none of them are the main issue.
I believe the main issue goes back to my Dad’s experience pastoring a Midwest Fellowship church. Not that Midwest Fellowship is the problem, but that it exemplifies the problem.
We as Anabaptists pride ourselves in taking the commands of Christ literally. But I have yet to meet a Christian who doesn’t take the commands of Christ literally. I mean, that’s core to the Christian faith no matter what church background you’re from. Where we differ is on determining what are commands of Christ.
Yes, we as Anabaptists hold more faithfully to the Sermon on the Mount than most of evangelicalism. Christ’s teaching in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 are perhaps some of the most significant marks of Anabaptist theology. Two-Kingdoms. We are not of this world. Those are commands of Christ and they are somewhat unique (at least until recently) to Anabaptism. Many Protestant churches dismiss the Sermon on the Mount as not for today. It’s for another age, a future dispensation.
On the other hand, where do you find New Testament command for the bonnet-style covering? Or the plain suit? There are too many areas of Scripture where Anabaptists have made an application and called the application a “command of Christ.” When the reality is, someone could make a significantly different application and still be obeying the command of Christ behind it.
When people begin realizing how extra-biblical applications are weaved into Anabaptists theology and doctrines, and when not doing those applications are punished or seen as rebellion, it doesn’t take long for those who truly want more of Christ to walk away. And unfortunately, they dump what is a good and true interpretation of Scripture within Anabaptist theology along with the extra-biblical.
I believe we as Anabaptists have much to offer the world! But I believe we need to do better at theology. We need to do better at letting people make Holy Spirit directed application to theology instead of directing people to one (or even two) applications as the “only way.” We need to be okay with people looking different than ourselves. We need to learn how to work as brothers and sisters alongside believers who challenge and sharpen our own theological framework.
It is scary to me to see some of the “best” representatives of Anabaptism not bearing fruit of the Gospel. And then it makes me even more sad when I see spirit-filled, Gospel-fruit-bearing Christians leave. Not because I fear they are walking away from God, but because I care for the Anabaptist church and I wish they could stick around to help bring change.
In short, the more we try to maintain “Anabaptism” the less focused on Jesus and His Word we’ll be. Eventually, we begin requiring things of our people that aren’t even Scriptural. And when they see the dichotomy, they’ll let everything go.
People are attracted to life. Especially, Holy Spirit life. Are we living that life? Are we teaching from that life?
Feel free to share you thoughts in the comments.
