Seekers Gathering 2018 long thread

[Ernie]

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.

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.

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?

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.)
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.

[KingdomBuilder]

Sounds like a good idea-
I certainly would like to attend, but I don't think I can vote that I likely could attend (unsure of dates and travel costs).

[Josh]

Ernie,

How welcome would typical Holdeman or Apostolic Christian Church views be (let's ignore the one true visible church idea for now, which is something not really shared or expected from seekers)? In particular, both of those groups have a "softer" feeling on D&R for seekers specifically.

[Ernie]

They would be welcome.
My vision does not include a forum where we debate issues like this where there is a variety of strong persuasions among conservative Anabaptists.
If someone raised the question, I would want us to acknowledge that conservative Anabaptist take different stances on this issue and not use this event as a place to try and set such things straight.
I would want the focus to be more on presenting and identifying things that are commonly believed and practiced among us.

In our study of early Anabaptist history, we might of course identify the various statements made by early Anabaptists on D&R and that would be fine of course.

[Josh]

They would be welcome.
My vision does not include a forum where we debate issues like this where there is a variety of strong persuasions among conservative Anabaptists.
If someone raised the question, I would want us to acknowledge that conservative Anabaptist take different stances on this issue and not use this event as a place to try and set such things straight.
I would want the focus to be more on presenting and identifying things that are commonly believed and practiced among us.

In our study of early Anabaptist history, we might of course identify the various statements made by early Anabaptists on D&R and that would be fine of course.

I think it would be useful to:

1. Focus on things that are the core of Christianity and Anabaptism. Divorce & remarriage is not the core of what we believe in, although reconciliation and loving your enemy are, as is fleeing sexual immorality.

2. Briefly share that there are different conservative/plain Anabaptist groups that live these things out different ways, and acknowledge it can be a source of different groups viewing the other as not quite living up to scripture. I think it's better for seekers to understand this earlier rather than later.

3. Share the blessing of being part of a church with healthy fruit and simply submitting to that group on what seem like controversial issues. Sooner or later everyone is going to run into a bizarre issue where they have to do this. And I think this is actually part of the core of Anabaptism.

Otherwise talk about marriage / immorality becomes a totally useless debate club about the nuances of permanent (Webb) vs covenant (Deu. 24) views of marriage. For me, as a seeker, even being aware of that debate, let alone the nuances of it, was spiritually devastating to me.

[GaryK]

I would probably attend.

[Ernie]

I think it would be useful to:

1. Focus on things that are the core of Christianity and Anabaptism. Divorce & remarriage is not the core of what we believe in, although reconciliation and loving your enemy are, as is fleeing sexual immorality.

2. Briefly share that there are different conservative/plain Anabaptist groups that live these things out different ways, and acknowledge it can be a source of different groups viewing the other as not quite living up to scripture. I think it's better for seekers to understand this earlier rather than later.

3. Share the blessing of being part of a church with healthy fruit and simply submitting to that group on what seem like controversial issues. Sooner or later everyone is going to run into a bizarre issue where they have to do this. And I think this is actually part of the core of Anabaptism.

Otherwise talk about marriage / immorality becomes a totally useless debate club about the nuances of permanent (Webb) vs covenant (Deu. 24) views of marriage. For me, as a seeker, even being aware of that debate, let alone the nuances of it, was spiritually devastating to me.

This is good!

[mike]

I would be interested in attending. I can see that if you are working toward 150 people that it won't work so well to bring large families.

[Ernie]

I would be interested in attending. I can see that if you are working toward 150 people that it won't work so well to bring large families.

I'm not envisioning this being a large public event. It would be MN families and their friends.

15 families with an average of 8 children would be 150. 30 families with an average of 3 children would be 150.

Penn Valley could handle up to 200 if the attendees wanted that large of a gathering.

[Dan Z]

Count us in Ernie, we'd love to attend if at all possible.