A Heresy Too Many Mennonites Embrace

The unprecedented wealth of North
American Christians should be seen as
an elephant-in-the-room issue, but is
getting scant attention.

"The whole scriptures speak of mercifulness and love, and it is the only sign whereby a true Christian may be known… All those who are born of God, who are gifted with the Spirit of the Lord, take to heart the needs of the saints. They entertain those in distress. They take the stranger into their houses. They comfort the afflicted; assist the needy; clothe the naked; feed the hungry; do not turn their face from the poor, and do not despise their own flesh…” 

- Menno Simons CW 558 

In my 60 years as a Virginia Mennonite Conference pastor, I have witnessed over a dozen church divisions in my community. Issues that created conflicts ranged from plain dress, television, and women in ministry to divorce and remarriage and how or whether to welcome LGBT+ members. In each case Anabaptist-minded congregations appealed to the authority of scripture as a basis for their decisions.

But strangely enough, not one of these divisions has been over an issue the Bible has far more to say about, the pursuit of ever more wealth and possessions. Even among the most conservative of my Anabaptist kin there has been general agreement that it's OK to become wealthier every year of our working lives. And today's Anabaptists have largely been silent about whether its acceptable for households, congregations and church institutions to invest in increasingly expansive and upscale building and remodeling projects, or for believers to feel entitled to a lifestyle of unimaginable privilege when compared to our world neighbors.

All of this seems to be met with the tacit approval of the church and at the advice of our trusted financial advisors, including our Mennonite ones. 

In a recent address at a workshop sponsored by the VMC Council on Faith and Life, "Rebirth of Anabaptism: Just, Joyful and Sustainable Living," Sam Funkhouser, a Princeton graduate and a member of the Old German Baptist Brethren, said, "We live like royalty, enjoy a level of prosperity that is unjust and unsustainable, and that is predicated on the poverty of others...  Nothing could be more clear in the teachings of Jesus and the prophets than a condemnation of this kind of wealth."

If that is true, what might a radical rebirth of Anabaptism look like?

What if it meant seeing needy persons everywhere, worldwide, as a part of God's beloved neighborhood, as loved ones worthy of the same blessings and benefits as ourselves? Our alternative to the heresy of Christian nationalism or of individualism would be an inspiring kind of internationalism.

What if this kind of world view would result in a Zacchaeus kind of redistribution of our wealth and a willingness to live at or near the level of income that would be equitable and sustainable for all of God's beloved children?

What if our retirement plans involved investing in low interest loans to Calvert funds devoted to clean energy, agricultural development and micro-lending programs in support of small businesses around the world rather than investing in the Mammon-driven U.S. stock market?

What if Mennonites everywhere would again be seen as "plain" people, not necessarily in preserving dress styles from their European peasant past, but as people who are content with simply having enough, a people who joyfully deny themselves of the excess baggage and ornamentation our American culture insists we need, a people who would live on half as much, give multiple times as much and who lived by a policy of "Use it up, make it do, wear it out or do without"?

Were we become radically non-conformed to the world in this way, we would be honoring the legacy of Anabaptist martyr Anna Janzs, who wrote, "Honor the Lord in the works of your hands, and let the light of the Gospel shine through you. Love your neighbor. Deal with an open, warm heart your bread to the hungry, clothe the naked, and do not tolerate having two of anything, because there are always those who are in need. " 

Likewise, we would be celebrating the revolutionary lifestyle changes launched by Doris Janzen Longacre's More With Less Cookbook in 1976, and be following the lead of people like Ruth Brunk Stoltzfus, who several years later objected to her church's purchase of a $35,000 pipe organ "when 12,000 to 15,000 people were starving to death daily."

As an "old man dreaming dreams" I envision a time when we might combine Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite Missions, Mennonite Disaster Service and similar ministries into one magnanimous "Mennonite World Outreach," administering billions of our wealth into meeting the needs of both the Mennonite world and the world at large that "God so loves."

All of the above may seem impossible and implausible, but we face a choice. Will Anabaptism become a mere footnote in history or will it make a significant impact on the world, inspire millions of young people to join the movement, and be remembered 500 years hence?