If I coordinate the event, the goal would be to introduce my seeker friends to conservative Anabaptists, not the complete spectrum of Anabaptists. (The Mennonite World Conference would be an example of a place to become more acquainted with the complete spectrum.)Bootstrap wrote:On MN/MD, there has been more than one perspective on what early Anabaptist thought says, or pointing to a variety of thought streams among early Anabaptists. And more than one kind of seeker.Ernie wrote:The last couple years there has been interest on MD/MN in having a gathering where MN members would speak about various topics that interest them, and then we would discuss them. For now I am calling this a "seekers gathering" since most of us on MN are seekers, even if we were born Anabaptist.
It has been observed (I think correctly) that some of the emphases at Anabaptist Identity Conference and Kingdom Fellowship Weekend would have been foreign to early Anabaptists or even censured by them. It was thought that perhaps we need a gathering that more faithfully reflects early Anabaptist thought.
Do you see this more as a MN/MD get-together where people discuss these various perspectives, or an event to introduce people to on stream of conservative Anabaptists and David Bercot's perspective?
Anyone who is interested in attending to become familiar with what was commonly believed among early Anabaptists, and also become more familiar with conservative Anabaptist thought, would be very welcome. (John D. Roth has done the latter at various conservative Anabaptist events and because of his respectful attitude, he has been very appreciated.)
If someone was interested in using this event to push back against various conservative Anabaptist stances such as remarriage after divorce, headcovering, non involvement in politics and worldly entertainment, women in church leadership, churches ordering their brotherhoods according to certain agreed upon practices, etc., that would not be welcome. Also if someone wanted to use this event to introduce seekers to mainstream Anabaptist thought, that would not fit my vision for the weekend.
I think there could be a time and place for debate and discussion on such matters but not at this event.
I would not envision this being a MennoMeet per say, although MN folks would probably be the coordinators, speakers, and discussion leaders.
If most of the MN attendees would like a larger spectrum represented instead of what I am proposing, that is fine, but then I would want someone else to coordinate it, and I would probably not bring my seeker friends who are interested in learning more about the conservative Anabaptist worldview.