Heartfelt Apologies

[RZehr]

In conservative Plain Anabaptist culture, it is common for heartfelt apologies regarding relationship issues to take place between individuals... for things such as standoffishness, bitterness, offending others intentionally, unintentionally or unnecessarily, hurtful words, etc.

I’m still stuck on this line. This is common in Plain Anabaptist culture?

I think so. Certainly not uncommon, anyway.

[Ken]

In conservative Plain Anabaptist culture, it is common for heartfelt apologies regarding relationship issues to take place between individuals... for things such as standoffishness, bitterness, offending others intentionally, unintentionally or unnecessarily, hurtful words, etc.

I’m still stuck on this line. This is common in Plain Anabaptist culture?

I think so. Certainly not uncommon, anyway.

In traditional Anabaptist culture, everyone is also kind of related somehow (think the Mennonite Game). Not blood relatives necessarily, but connected more extensively than is probably the case in a lot of other denominations. If you have multiple orders of generational connections to someone (and their parents have connections to your parents, etc.) then it is probably more difficult to just brush people off permanently.

[Josh]

In conservative Plain Anabaptist culture, it is common for heartfelt apologies regarding relationship issues to take place between individuals... for things such as standoffishness, bitterness, offending others intentionally, unintentionally or unnecessarily, hurtful words, etc.

I’m still stuck on this line. This is common in Plain Anabaptist culture?

Yes, it is.

[Ernie]

In conservative Plain Anabaptist culture, it is common for heartfelt apologies regarding relationship issues to take place between individuals... for things such as standoffishness, bitterness, offending others intentionally, unintentionally or unnecessarily, hurtful words, etc.

I’m still stuck on this line. This is common in Plain Anabaptist culture?

Yes, it is.

Common, yes! (At least in the spectrum from ultra-conservative to moderate-conservative. I'm not sure about Old Orders and not sure about progressive-conservative and left of that.)

Does it always happen when it should? Unfortunately not.

[Ernie]

One Evangelical recently remarked that what they are missing is life-long community relationships. They are moving all over the place for jobs, ministry, etc. Yes, the have opportunity for small groups if they want and this is good, but the average spiritual relationship only lasts a few years. This Evangelical was looking wistfully at the culture of the Plain folk who stick with each other for a long time.

There are pros and cons to this and I am grateful for the pros.

[MaxPC]

One Evangelical recently remarked that what they are missing is life-long community relationships. They are moving all over the place for jobs, ministry, etc. Yes, the have opportunity for small groups if they want and this is good, but the average spiritual relationship only lasts a few years. This Evangelical was looking wistfully at the culture of the Plain folk who stick with each other for a long time.

There are pros and cons to this and I am grateful for the pros.

I think that long term relationships are an important aspect to developmental maturity. The comfort level of familiarity between individuals can foster opportunities for honest feedback. Of course, not everyone is very good at doing so regardless of the duration of the relationship.

[Ernie]

Another type of common apologies is for teenagers to write notes of apologies to their school teachers for being disrespectful, dishonest, unkind, etc. I wrote such notes to a number of my teachers and have had former students write to me as well. Often this happens when teens decides to commit their life to the Lord.
I was dean at a Bible school for a number of years and since then have had people make verbal apologies and perhaps written apologies as well for their conduct at Bible school and disrespect for authority.
Interestingly, I don't think I ever heard any teaching or preaching on this, but somehow most of us knew that this is something new believers did. What percentage do this? I have no idea. But it is common nonetheless.

I'm grateful for this part of my culture.

In a couple weeks I plan to be on a panel alongside a Catholic, an Orthodox, and a Charismatic. Each of us will get an opportunity at the beginning to describe our faith tradition a bit and say what we love about our church/tradition.

This thread is helping me prepare.

[Josh]

In plain circles, you may have friends, relatives, etc. who will encourage you to apologise/make amends for something as well. This is not at all the norm in other Christian circles. This kind of activity picks up quite a bit at communion time.

[Karstan78]

Another type of common apologies is for teenagers to write notes of apologies to their school teachers for being disrespectful, dishonest, unkind, etc. I wrote such notes to a number of my teachers and have had former students write to me as well. Often this happens when teens decides to commit their life to the Lord.
I was dean at a Bible school for a number of years and since then have had people make verbal apologies and perhaps written apologies as well for their conduct at Bible school and disrespect for authority.
Interestingly, I don't think I ever heard any teaching or preaching on this, but somehow most of us knew that this is something new believers did. What percentage do this? I have no idea. But it is common nonetheless.

I'm grateful for this part of my culture.

In a couple weeks I plan to be on a panel alongside a Catholic, an Orthodox, and a Charismatic. Each of us will get an opportunity at the beginning to describe our faith tradition a bit and say what we love about our church/tradition.

This thread is helping me prepare.

We also practice this, we call it restitution. A soul who has committed to follow the Lord has this time now before baptism to make peace with all men and seek those they feel they have wronged.

Yes we also we do this as members before communion too.

[Grace]

Do this for me: take action and make a change. I don't need to hear words. Don't tell me, show me.

That should be the quote of the day.

1 John 3:18 " Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth".