|
  Historical Committee
Zurich
Reflections
by Dan Nighswander
Those of us with family roots in Switzerland (one of my ancestors, by
the original name of Neuenschwander, is named in Swiss Anabaptist
documents as early as 1537) may have felt a particularly personal
connection with the historic significance of this reconciliation. But
its future implications connect with all Mennonites—six of the ten
Mennonite Church Canada persons present at the conference trace their
ancestry to the North German rather than the Swiss roots, and others
present there included African, Native American, and Latin American
Mennonites.
I believe that this act of reconciliation has immediate and future
significance for Mennonites and the various expressions of the Reformed
church (Christian Reformed, Presbyterian, United, etc.) in Canada and
other countries as well as in Switzerland. Only by facing up to the
facts of the past can the spiritual descendants of Zwingli and the
spiritual descendants of Felix Manz stand shoulder-to-shoulder as
reconciled siblings in the family of Christ. Events like this gathering
in Zurich enable and force us to stop seeing ourselves either as
sectarian victims of persecution or as more favoured by God because of
the martyrdom of some of our forebears.
It was a delight to make personal acquaintance with members of the
Swiss Reformed church and to worship with them as sisters and brothers
in Christ who share many theological convictions, missional vision, and
spiritual experiences. It was also gratifying to talk with members of
the Swiss and other European Mennonite churches and to experience this
reconciliation together. Such experiences hold forth the promise of
future relationships.
But reconciliation requires more than one meeting, and there are still
questions to be answered. Some of the questions have already begun to
be discussed in meetings between the Reformed churches and Anabaptist
churches in 1983 and 1989.* These previous meetings have called for
local congregations of our two traditions to get acquainted and to find
ways to serve Christ together. Mennonite World Conference and the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches continue to work on common interests. MC
Canada and the Christian Reformed Church in Canada plan to have formal
meetings next spring to talk about our common calling and convictions.
What might your congregation and your area conference do to connect
with your neighbours in the Reformed tradition (or other Christian
traditions)?
*See Baptism, Peace and the State in the
Reformed and Mennonite Traditions, edited by Ross T. Bender and
Alan P. F. Sell; Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press,
1991—essays presented at a symposium held in Calgary, Alta., in
1989.
Dan
Nighswander is general secretary of Mennonite Church Canada. He resides
in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
|
|
|
Mennonite Historical
Bulletin
|
Mission
Statement:
"God calls us to preserve our faith heritage, to interpret our stories,
and to proclaim God's work among us."
|
|