The role of the Mennonite Brethren Church today

Brian Stiller

But we also live with an evangelical resurgence. In Brazil, for example, evangelicals have recently risen from 3% to over 20% of the population.

Through the first half of this century, an important reason why the evangelical church grew was that the message was received by the poor and disenfranchized. Our problem today is that evangelicals are no longer the disenfranchized in socio-economic terms. Yes, we are put down by media and generally ignored by government, but no longer do we live on the other side of the tracks. We drive the best of cars and live in the finest of homes. In most communities today, the new churches, with the most money and resources, are evangelical.

My question is: What is the role and message of the anabaptist community in Canada today? Historically, you have had an enormous influence. In a recent editorial, I asked the question, "Will the American religious right rise in Canada?" My short answer is "No." One of my prime reasons is the Mennonite presence--you wouldn't let it happen. But what is your future? Given the evangelical pluralism of today and the melting pot of evangelical faith, what will that future be?

One of the tragic moments in Canada's history was what happened in 1925 when the United Church was formed. It's not the forming of the United Church which is the tragedy. It's that the ethos and message of the vibrant, evangelical Methodist, Congregational and Presbyterian communities merged into a religious melting-pot and, as a result, lost their conservative evangelical roots.

My advice to you is: Don't seek to become like the Christian and Missionary Alliance or the Pentecostals. You have your own historical and theological reasons for existence. Your contribution to the evangelical church and the church at large will be lost if you try to become like others. I'm not saying you shouldn't grow. Yes, of course. But if you don't continue to bring to the wider church your vision of holiness, stewardship and missions, then the rest of the church will lose the richness of that emphasis.

For example, the Pentecostal understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit has profoundly affected the church today. We are all grateful for that. If the Pentecostals became something else, we would lose the richness of that theology, emphasis and understanding. The same is true of Mennonites.

Our greatest vulnerability as evangelicals is materialism. The challenge is not what the world is saying about us. The real issue is what the people of God are becoming. Earlier this century, we assumed that others with material well-being weren't holy because they had money, and that we were holy because we were poor. Now that we have crossed that economic line, what does it mean to be holy? What does it mean to be stewards of God's good creation? What does it mean to have a heart for the poor and the dispossessed?

It isn't that Mennonites are resistant to material things. However, your ethos and theology have a special and unique way of coming at matters of materialism and riches like few others within the evangelical community. The interesting thing about the Mennonites and the Jews is that you have this incredible memory of being dispossessed, out of your European experience. The longer you live away from that historical moment, the less that theology bubbles up in your community and the less it affects your vision of the world.

However, I believe what you do has value. Your pastors and lay people should be trained in an environment where the anabaptist message and theology shape their lives. Don't be blurred by evangelical pluralistic thought. Enjoy the riches of the other traditions, but continue to bring to the wider church that which is uniquely yours, without which I believe the church loses something which is both strategic and vital.

The sectarianism of the past doesn't exist as it used to, and we thank God for that. But pluralism works because it allows distinct views to sit around the table together. When you lose those distinct views, views become blurred, and the good points of each theology are lost.

I pray that God will give you an understanding of the importance of your role and that you will continue to bring a vigour and a vision into the church today. God knows the church needs it. May God continue to give you courage and vision as you serve Him.

<I>Brian Stiller is President of Ontario Bible College/Ontario Theological Seminary and former President of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. This article is based on an address given at the fall celebration of MB Biblical Seminary B.C. Centre, Oct. 2, 1997 in North Langley Community Church.