I really appreciate this post from Dan in seeing some things and would like to share not as a defense for Charity or myself or arguing in any way that there aren't people like he says but rather sharing in helping why some people make the decisions they do, and so hopefully opening the door for some to be considered in a different light.Dan Z wrote:Charity tended to draw in "seeker people" (from both old-order/conservative Anabaptism and as well as radical homeschool types from outside of Anabaptism) who were generally strongly independent-minded idealists, discontent with their current faith context. This worked great at first, as people with much zeal for their faith and ideals gathered around a strong leader (Denny) in an idealistic movement. It was truly electric in its day! But, in the long run, this makeup of people contributed to the difficulty Charity had in keeping everyone going the same direction, for a number of reasons:
Sorry to get all sociological here...but having lived in the Charity context for a while, I've had a lot of time to think about what worked and what didn't.
- 1) Seekers are mobile by nature, not prone to appreciating the status quo, nor staying content in the same place for very long.
2) The folks Charity drew were mainly independent idealists, each with strong convictions about their own ideas, and not prone to compromise or conformity.
3) Charity also drew in and taught an authoritarian approach to faith and family - with all of those little "Kings" having difficulty cooperating under a higher authority.
4) Authoritarianism tends to keep peace and harmony in the short-run (and can even produce something that looks very much like a Godly family), but research shows that in the long run, when children of authoritarians grow up and assert their own independence, a higher percentage of them will leave their father's faith.
I know there are a lot of remnants of the Remnant Churches remaining, and I honestly hope some of the good seeds from the movement are growing to maturity...and that there is still a yield of good fruit yet to be realized.
For me I was raised without Christianity. With no Anabaptist Churches near(like most of the world) it only make sense to move. The problem was by the time I realized the need for change in my life; we were hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt including nearly $50,000 in credit card debt at 20% interest.
Now keep in mind that the last time I heard the average Canadian spends 3% more than they earn... So depending on own long they have lived in covetousness their debt load could be huge and this is the norm.
So when we "wanted" to move it wasn't never the option of where do we "want" to move but rather of where "can" we move. This does not make newcomers mobile - in a simple way at least.
Our "can" came when I got a job offer near a church(work also paid for our entire move plus extra and rent for three months). Keep in mind I still had no idea that there were different denominations so much within Anabaptism. Before our move we had Rod and Staff material because we were homeschooling with no option of a Christian school except a Catholic school 30 minutes away which we "couldn't" afford to drive to anyway.
But now we were finally at an Anabaptist church!
A very strong message was preached on not accepting Child Tax Benefits from the government. I talked to the Pastor after and he explained that the government documents were written in a way that said they owned our children by receiving that money from them and was very much against God's order.
That was easy for me as I was excited to submit and conform and stopping government aid was something I "could" do.
But without that money we soon found with all our debt (that was my own fault), we "couldn't" afford to even drive our vehicle... So we "couldn't" go to church... Yet we "wanted" to...
Months passed of us listened to sermons over the phone because that was something we "could" do. Not something we "wanted" to do. Really when asked how we could be helped I didn't know what to say? We just met these Mennonites and was I to ask them for a few hundred thousand dollars, or just gas, food, etc... They did help in ways. But I just said a bike would be nice to get to work rather than walking everyday. That lasted for about a year when the church member finally said he was missing getting to ride with his son...
We heard things, the times we "could" sporadically make it to church about consistent witness and consistent church attendance. We "wanted" to...
Things did get better that we "could" attended consistently but we still had a lot of debt.
When homeschooling versus church schooling came up; maybe you guessed it - it was something I "wanted" to do but "couldn't" afford to do. (The schooling was free - but gas and a second vehicle are not.)
I don't want to give any impression that I am a strong advocate of homeschooling. I do think church schools bear much good fruit. But I am concerned we label newcomers by their actions of what they "could" do rather than what they "want" to do. Yes, much things take faith in not seeing a way how it will ever work, but somethings are also completely unreasonable to follow unless the church is very much willing to support. But those who are sincere are not looking for support but rather to be a blessing to others while being accepted into the local body even if they "can't" uphold standards that require the financial means to do so.
I wonder how many people are turned away that are poor and take a look at the standards of a church and just laugh and say how "can" I follow Christ well spending a couple thousand dollars on moving, and/or a couple of thousands of dollars on a new wardrobe and/or a couple thousand dollars on second vehicle and default on my loans in the process? Even if they "want" to?
Are these people then showing up at Charity?
Please remember if certain financial things are not a requirement in your church and we would have made out fine - when I view the locations of plain churches; the less conservative groups tend to cluster in closer proximity while the ultra-conservatives that require more of these financial standards are more spread out and more available for newcomers to interact with...
"Can" we encourage newcomers or do we "want" to?