Plain Anabaptist Church Planting Models

[Neto]

Some have mentioned "church planting" on "the foreign field", so I'll chime in here with some questions and comments.
How long are you willing to live among the target group until you see any conversions, or actual meetings start that are initiated by them, not the "foreigners")?
(In our case, it was pretty short, at 11 years. Another translation team lived in that tribe for 27 years before the first convert. After some years, the mission agency said that they have to go somewhere else. They said that they would resign from the mission and stay there if it came to that. They were called "stubborn". Then after nearly the whole village turned to Christ within a period of a few months, they were called "persistent". Funny how that works.)

Are you willing to let the Holy Spirit lead them? (I realize this will sound slanted, and maybe a bit accusatory. I don't mean it that way. In WBT the Bible translation team is not ALLOWED to be the church leaders. I helped build the church house there, but only after being asked by the people. AND, I was criticized for it by the administration, until I said "Would it help if I said that I was on vacation?" I never even read a Scripture passage in the meetings unless the native leader asked me to, usually just at some point in the "service".)

One suggestion type comment: I would not go into a community and just start having meetings. The first step is to get to know the people, then wait for them to get interested in the Gospel, until they ask for a Bible study group. That will often develop into a congregation. By living there, I mean working with then in some local business as well, creating "non-threatening" opportunities for interaction. (But maybe the objectives are significantly different in the Western society big city environment, because while there is no Christian presence at all in these tribal societies, there are probably congregations already meeting in the target community here. In that case, much of what I've said here may not apply at all.)

I cannot help myself - One question that goes with the above: Are you OK with meeting just as a couple or a family on Sundays, while all of your "home church family" is at the regular services? That is, can you "feed yourself" spiritually? This is essential in a remote village setting, so maybe it should work at home, too. (We had cassette tape messages we would listen to. A young woman in our current congregation - we weren't even members there yet - took it on as her own project to mail them to us.)

[Josh]

I cannot help myself - One question that goes with the above: Are you OK with meeting just as a couple or a family on Sundays, while all of your "home church family" is at the regular services? That is, can you "feed yourself" spiritually? This is essential in a remote village setting, so maybe it should work at home, too. (We had cassette tape messages we would listen to. A young woman in our current congregation - we weren't even members there yet - took it on as her own project to mail them to us.)

The Beachy mission I used to be part of in Australia (I was not involved as a "missionary" but simply found it was the best church I knew of in the area I lived in) has ended up going down this exact path. The original family that planted it still lives there - 15 years later. (Or maybe it's been longer.) Nowadays they don't have enough of a membership to meet regularly but they do operate a business in town that is quite appreciated and popular with the local people.

[Bald Eagle2]

Have our anabaptist roots evolved into an anabaptist arrogance that we are blind to but others from our communities are very aware of. Seeking families who drastically change their life style can come to our fellowships but their voice is of less value, the informal comradarie more surface, their role in church life less important, our children play less with their children, etc. Eventually they disappear from our congregations disillusioned and we are left with transplanted Mennonites coccooned within our cultural bubble and irrelevant to our local communities trying to reach out with VBS.

[Soloist]

Have our anabaptist roots evolved into an anabaptist arrogance that we are blind to but others from our communities are very aware of. Seeking families who drastically change their life style can come to our fellowships but their voice is of less value, the informal comradarie more surface, their role in church life less important, our children play less with their children, etc. Eventually they disappear from our congregations disillusioned and we are left with transplanted Mennonites coccooned within our cultural bubble and irrelevant to our local communities trying to reach out with VBS.

What do you mean by the bolded? Otherwise I agree its a problem.

[Ernie]

I'm simply saying, let's look at what DOES work with seekers. Occasionally a whole family that is already born again joins, but it seems to be exceedingly rare.

Yes, quite a number of singles have joined an ethnic Anabaptist church, married eventually, and today have many descendants in ethnic Anabaptist churches. A few families have done the same. So, yes, Josh, I think this is good advice for the majority of ethnic Anabaptists who will never be able to think outside of their own framework.

David Bercot has observed that about 25% of folks who join conservative Anabaptist churches are able to stay long term. Often some of this 25% need to try a few congregations until they find one that fits them a little better. This is understandable and I don't fault them for this at all. But 75% don't make it and most of them head back to their Augustinian roots, worship without a church, or give up the faith altogether.

Harry Argo was a seeker who quit going to church altogether as a 50+ year old, (due to not being able to find a church that followed the NT worldview) and then happened to stumble across Anabaptists as he did an academic study on Amish and lack of media. He wasn't aware that his theology and applications of scripture had much in common with Amish/Anabaptists. I asked him, "What percentage of people like you in the USA eventually stumble across Anabaptists, and what percentage die without knowing or even being aware that Anabaptists and their worldview exists?" He thought for a bit and then replied, "Probably 95% never do."

So while I am glad to interact with the 25% and the 5% and help them find a place where they can belong, over the last 15 years I have become increasingly motivated to help the 75% and the 95%. I would like to see these folks also find a church home that is faithful to the New Testament (even if it is not Anabaptist).

[Josh]

Have our anabaptist roots evolved into an anabaptist arrogance that we are blind to but others from our communities are very aware of. Seeking families who drastically change their life style can come to our fellowships but their voice is of less value, the informal comradarie more surface, their role in church life less important, our children play less with their children, etc. Eventually they disappear from our congregations disillusioned and we are left with transplanted Mennonites coccooned within our cultural bubble and irrelevant to our local communities trying to reach out with VBS.

Well said.

[HondurasKeiser]

This is a thread to discuss...

Plain Anabaptist Missions, Ministries, and Church Planting Endeavors.

Non-Plain Anabaptists are welcome to comment in this thread if they can be kind, congenial, and conciliatory.
Please no lobbing of general accusations and critiques, if the criticism only applies to a particular demographic or subset of Plain Anabaptists.

Sorry, Ernie if this is the wrong direction for the thread. We just had visitors from the States this past Sunday, Mark & Kathy Miller. Mark was raised here in Honduras back in the 1950's & 60's and he was the son of the first missionaries, George and Grace Miller, that Lancaster Conference sent to Honduras. Their work commenced in Trujillo, which was then and is still today, a sleepy, coastal port town. His visit Sunday was a picto-historical account of the beginning of Mennonite Missions and the Mennonite Church in Honduras. The early missionaries were quite plain, men in straight-cut suits and women in large coverings and cape dresses. The work was arduous and fraught with setbacks and some tragedies but it was clear how fondly Mark and Kathy recall their growing up years here. What's more, it was obviously fruitful - congregations of Mennonites, plain-ish Mennonites, sprung up all over the northeastern half of the country in the first 20 years of Eastern Mennonite Mission work.

We invited the Millers to lunch after the service and he made two comments that I've been mulling over for 2 days now. The first was something like: "I felt so deeply, in my bones, the divisions that occurred in the Church when I was young." He said this with tears in his eyes and choking up. I didn't want to dig but I guessed that he was referring to the EPMC bishops that broke with the Conference in the 1960's.

The second comment came after the first and was in reference to divisions that have occurred in the Mennonite Church here in Honduras in more recent years. It was something to the effect of: "We make the mistake of wanting to hold onto things just because they've always been that way. They may have been good and even necessary at one time but they may no longer be and I think we have to learn to let go of them. My grandparents and parents felt the need to break out of the tight control they felt back home and my parents I think were able to do that here."

I am not sure what to make of that exactly. I understand the impulse in the desire to break with tight controls, especially ones you see as antiquated or beyond their use. I think that might have contributed to the desire to serve on the part of many Lancaster Conf. missionaries 70+ years ago. Indeed, I think that same desire may have been a contributing factor in my own desire to serve in missions 17 years ago. I can't help but think though that breaking out of tight controls might have contributed to the break with the EPMC bishops that Mr. Miller laments so much.

I'm sorry if this is not what you envisioned and if you don't want it here just have it deleted. Your query struck a note with me as this encounter with the Millers was 2 days ago.

[ken_sylvania]

This is a thread to discuss...

Plain Anabaptist Missions, Ministries, and Church Planting Endeavors.

Non-Plain Anabaptists are welcome to comment in this thread if they can be kind, congenial, and conciliatory.
Please no lobbing of general accusations and critiques, if the criticism only applies to a particular demographic or subset of Plain Anabaptists.

Sorry, Ernie if this is the wrong direction for the thread. We just had visitors from the States this past Sunday, Mark & Kathy Miller. Mark was raised here in Honduras back in the 1950's & 60's and he was the son of the first missionaries, George and Grace Miller, that Lancaster Conference sent to Honduras. Their work commenced in Trujillo, which was then and is still today, a sleepy, coastal port town. His visit Sunday was a picto-historical account of the beginning of Mennonite Missions and the Mennonite Church in Honduras. The early missionaries were quite plain, men in straight-cut suits and women in large coverings and cape dresses. The work was arduous and fraught with setbacks and some tragedies but it was clear how fondly Mark and Kathy recall their growing up years here. What's more, it was obviously fruitful - congregations of Mennonites, plain-ish Mennonites, sprung up all over the northeastern half of the country in the first 20 years of Eastern Mennonite Mission work.

We invited the Millers to lunch after the service and he made two comments that I've been mulling over for 2 days now. The first was something like: "I felt so deeply, in my bones, the divisions that occurred in the Church when I was young." He said this with tears in his eyes and choking up. I didn't want to dig but I guessed that he was referring to the EPMC bishops that broke with the Conference in the 1960's.

The second comment came after the first and was in reference to divisions that have occurred in the Mennonite Church here in Honduras in more recent years. It was something to the effect of: "We make the mistake of wanting to hold onto things just because they've always been that way. They may have been good and even necessary at one time but they may no longer be and I think we have to learn to let go of them. My grandparents and parents felt the need to break out of the tight control they felt back home and my parents I think were able to do that here."

I am not sure what to make of that exactly. I understand the impulse in the desire to break with tight controls, especially ones you see as antiquated or beyond their use. I think that might have contributed to the desire to serve on the part of many Lancaster Conf. missionaries 70+ years ago. Indeed, I think that same desire may have been a contributing factor in my own desire to serve in missions 17 years ago. I can't help but think though that breaking out of tight controls might have contributed to the break with the EPMC bishops that Mr. Miller laments so much.

I'm sorry if this is not what you envisioned and if you don't want it here just have it deleted. Your query struck a note with me as this encounter with the Millers was 2 days ago.

I don't know the details of that situation, so I really don't know if this is at all applicable, but it's a question that comes to mind as I read what you wrote here.

Is there any substantial difference between demanding the opportunity to break out of rigid restrictions, and the demand for rigid restrictions? Hearing from various individuals involved in splits like that, it seems that generally both sides are certain that their way is the right way, and they blame the other side for causing the split. (Incidentally, the fact that missionaries were going to the mission field and living a different standard than the folks back home found acceptable was in fact a contributing factor to the non-conference and EPMC movements).

[Josh]

HK, quite a good post, as the current president plain Anabaptist mission models and church planting models basically are a “cargo cult” version of the old EMM model you described above.

Complete with the same results. Missionaries came back and tell stories of great spiritual revival whilst attired a little less plain than the home congregation. It is obvious the mindset is “We are doing great spiritual things so we can relax our dress standards a bit.”

As far as those who gripe about a handful of conservatives departing… if unity were really so important for liberals, maybe they could have paused and had a tad more forebearance for those who ended up leaving, plus a little self-introspection about the fact Lancaster Conference ultimately ended up being the flashpoint of a big division too. (Not that I think they did the wrong thing.)