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Ernie, would there be room or interest in discussing the basic differences between Anabaptist theology and Evangelical and Fundamentalist theology? I think many conservative Anabaptists think that Fundamentalism was a return to NT Christianity.

But I'm not sure that this fits the focus of what you are thinking. I didn't fill in the poll, but I know that my wife and I would be interested in attending something like this, if we could work it into a trip to visit our families in Ontario. We can hardly afford a separate trip for it.

lesterb wrote:Ernie, would there be room or interest in discussing the basic differences between Anabaptist theology and Evangelical and Fundamentalist theology? I think many conservative Anabaptists think that Fundamentalism was a return to NT Christianity.

That's a good question. I think a lot of seekers to conservative Anabaptism are conscious they are looking for something different than Fundamentalism, and many have already gone down various Fundamentalist routes - Church of Christ, fundamentalist Baptists, various lifestyle-conservative home church groups, and so on.

It would probably be good to at some point discuss those differences, but I would expect to get a lot of nods of agreement from the audience - although in my experience, many seekers unconsciously still believe in fundamentalism and would get very uncomfortable if some fundamentalist beliefs were challenged, like inerrancy.

Wayne and Josh are hitting on some very good things. Unfortunately I will not have time to work at this until July, so put the dates on your calendar and wait to hear more. In the meantime, feel free to discuss.

I will say this, some of the topics being suggested are MN topics, not topics that seekers unfamiliar with early Anabaptism and unfamiliar with conservative or Old Order Anabaptism would be able to grasp. They need more foundational "milk".

If you want to discuss the meat things, you are going to need to organize a different gathering/conference.

I like the idea of keeping things simple, which is indeed an Anabaptist theological principle and also an Anabaptist cultural value.

By avoiding needlessly complex areas and topics, we also stay accessible to people with a variety of language backgrounds, intellectual ability, or levels of academic learnedness. I think the right level of complexity is what Jesus had in his teachings. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

A specific gathering for, say, people who have a high degree of knowledge in certain languages would be appropriate - just not appropriate for this gathering. I hope I got my point across here.

I'd be really interested but there's a good chance I'll be taking my final exams right around that time, transportation would also be an issue, so here's another vote for recording the sessions! I'll see if I can make it closer to.

If I were a non - Christian Someone seeking and searching, I would want a clear, well-written statement of faith given in the very first two lectures. It would provide me a doctrinal frame of reference for the rest of the talks. The repeat session would be for those who have to arrive late and can't attend lectures until the next day. There are always those who arrive later: like me.

MaxPC wrote:If I were a non - Christian Someone seeking and searching, I would want a clear, well-written statement of faith given in the very first two lectures. It would provide me a doctrinal frame of reference for the rest of the talks. The repeat session would be for those who have to arrive late and can't attend lectures until the next day. There are always those who arrive later: like me.

We could use the Schleitheim and/or Dordrecht Confessions of Faith.

Speaking as someone who regularly interacts with non-Christians who are seeking and searching, clear, well-written statements of faith are not something they care about very much. Nor do they really care about doctrine. And Anabaptism, for the most part, is not too interested in focusing on doctrine.

Josh wrote:

MaxPC wrote:If I were a non - Christian Someone seeking and searching, I would want a clear, well-written statement of faith given in the very first two lectures. It would provide me a doctrinal frame of reference for the rest of the talks. The repeat session would be for those who have to arrive late and can't attend lectures until the next day. There are always those who arrive later: like me.

We could use the Schleitheim and/or Dordrecht Confessions of Faith.

Speaking as someone who regularly interacts with non-Christians who are seeking and searching, clear, well-written statements of faith are not something they care about very much. Nor do they really care about doctrine. And Anabaptism, for the most part, is not too interested in focusing on doctrine.

There is beginning talk of drafting a Schleitheim II that addresses issues we are facing today. It may happen before the 500th anniversary of Schleitheim I.

Ernie wrote:There is beginning talk of drafting a Schleitheim II that addresses issues we are facing today. It may happen before the 500th anniversary of Schleitheim I.

What will be the goals of it? Will it just end up being like Garden City 1921, which absorbed the theological fads of its day - and whose progenitors (the Mennonite Church USA) no longer has any interest in it at all?

The same happened with the 1995 Confession of Faith, whose progenitors (also MC USA) do not really see a purpose in following it.

MaxPC wrote:If I were a non - Christian Someone seeking and searching, I would want a clear, well-written statement of faith given in the very first two lectures. It would provide me a doctrinal frame of reference for the rest of the talks. The repeat session would be for those who have to arrive late and can't attend lectures until the next day. There are always those who arrive later: like me.

When I studied Technical Writing, the most important thing I learned is: "Who is your audience?" and second to that: "Why are they reading this?" What I would say to a Bowdoin College Agnostic student about who Jesus was and what He said is quite different from what I would say to a Patriarchal Fundamentalist Baptist homeschooler who likes the lifestyle of the Amish.

Once Ernie clearly defines who, precisely, the conference is for and we sort out why the attendees are attending then "we" can sort out the topics and common thread of such a conference. I suspect in an case it would be hard to represent contemporary Conservative and Primitive Anabaptism in a single confession of faith (do we present the 14 or the 7 points of Schleitheim?)