Anabaptist Perspectives

We educate for reading the scripture and for service. Paul Emerson urges us to educate for eternity. Children getting good jobs or going to college is not the central aim (though it is not excluded). Since all wisdom and knowledge come from Christ, education is ultimately Christology. Learning how to read scripture is not just a matter of learning to read words in the early grades. For example, the study of literature and genre in high school or college also provides valuable training. The conversation ranges across the role of postsecondary bible schools as well as K-12 education. This is the 195th episode of Anabaptist Perspectives, a podcast, blog, and YouTube channel that examines various aspects of conservative Anabaptist life and thought. Sign-up for our monthly email newsletter which contains new and featured content!Join us on Patreon or become a website partner to enjoy bonus content!Visit our YouTube channel or connect on Facebook.Read essays from our blog or listen to them on our podcast, Essays for King JesusSubscribe on your podcast provider of choiceSupport us or learn more at anabaptistperspectives.org.The views expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Anabaptist Perspectives or Wellspring Mennonite Church.

From the beginning, the phrase “The Earth Is the Lord’s” seized the imagination of Anabaptists. John Roth unpacks the powerful resonances of this phrase in the 16th century and calls us to see its contemporary significance for the global Anabaptist movement.This is the 194th episode of Anabaptist Perspectives, a podcast, blog, and YouTube channel that examines various aspects of conservative Anabaptist life and thought. Sign-up for our monthly email newsletter which contains new and featured content!Join us on Patreon or become a website partner to enjoy bonus content!Visit our YouTube channel or connect on Facebook.Read essays from our blog or listen to them on our podcast, Essays for King JesusSubscribe on your podcast provider of choiceSupport us or learn more at anabaptistperspectives.org.The views expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Anabaptist Perspectives or Wellspring Mennonite Church.

A viewer asks: “Does Jesus really call us as His children to build anything?......an identity, a structure, or a culture or rather to simply align ourselves with what He has already promised us He would build in and through His ekklesia?” This was in response to Melvin Lehman’s previous episode “The New Conservatives”. In this episode Melvin argues that the New Testament calls churches to proactively create culture.The episode that sparked this comment.That episode followed up on this essay from Melvin: The New Conservatives.Hannah Coulter — Wendell BerryThe Story of Dirk Willems — AudioThe Story of Dirk Willems — TextThe Earth is the Lord’s — John RuthThis is the 193rd episode of Anabaptist Perspectives, a podcast, blog, and YouTube channel that examines various aspects of conservative Anabaptist life and thought. Sign-up for our monthly email newsletter which contains new and featured content!Join us on Patreon or become a website partner to enjoy bonus content!Visit our YouTube channel or connect on Facebook.Read essays from our blog or listen to them on our podcast, Essays for King JesusSubscribe on your podcast provider of choiceSupport us or learn more at anabaptistperspectives.org.The views expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Anabaptist Perspectives or Wellspring Mennonite Church.

Freedom comes from mature integrity. Chester Weaver explains we can only relate well to others when we are honest with ourselves, others, and God and guided by God’s Spirit.This is the 192nd episode of Anabaptist Perspectives, a podcast, blog, and YouTube channel that examines various aspects of conservative Anabaptist life and thought. Sign-up for our monthly email newsletter which contains new and featured content!Join us on Patreon or become a website partner to enjoy bonus content!Visit our YouTube channel or connect on Facebook.Read essays from our blog or listen to them on our podcast, Essays for King JesusSubscribe on your podcast provider of choiceSupport us or learn more at anabaptistperspectives.org.The views expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Anabaptist Perspectives or Wellspring Mennonite Church.

What kind of community should Christians cultivate? Melvin Lehman argues that particular Christian communities should be shaped by shared values, shared geography, shared goals, and shared commitments. This includes submitting to brotherhood decisions. But it must be framed within the greater commitment to the Lordship of Jesus. Look for two more episodes with Melvin to further develop these ideas.Wendell Berry’s book Hannah Coulter {affiliate link}The story of Dirk Willems as told in the Martyrs Mirror This is the 191st episode of Anabaptist Perspectives, a podcast, blog, and YouTube channel that examines various aspects of conservative Anabaptist life and thought. Sign-up for our monthly email newsletter which contains new and featured content!Join us on Patreon or become a website partner to enjoy bonus content!Visit our YouTube channel or connect on Facebook.Read essays from our blog or listen to them on our podcast, Essays for King JesusSubscribe on your podcast provider of choiceSupport us or learn more at anabaptistperspectives.org.The views expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Anabaptist Perspectives or Wellspring Mennonite Church.

Doubt is not a sin and questions are not always doubt. Questions and doubts should spur us to dig deeper in the appropriate areas, be our struggle factual, philosophical, emotional or volitional. Daniel gives practical encouragement for each dimension of doubt. We should be active in our search for understanding and growth. Even as we wrestle with Christian doctrine we must not give up on prayer and spiritual formation. Beyond our own faith, we should be concerned with helping others come to an understanding of the basis of Christian belief. The body of Christ has a role in preventing doubt as well as walking with others in the midst of honest doubt. The scripture calls us to have mercy on those who doubt.This is the 190th episode of Anabaptist Perspectives, a podcast, blog, and YouTube channel that examines various aspects of conservative Anabaptist life and thought. Sign-up for our monthly email newsletter which contains new and featured content!Join us on Patreon or become a website partner to enjoy bonus content!Visit our YouTube channel or connect on Facebook.Read essays from our blog or listen to them on our podcast, Essays for King JesusSubscribe on your podcast provider of choiceSupport us or learn more at anabaptistperspectives.org.The views expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Anabaptist Perspectives or Wellspring Mennonite Church.

How does a struggling believer find reassurance? Daniel Yoder discusses four categories of doubt: factual, philosophical, emotional and volitional. In dealing with any of these we need to investigate the truth.  The power is not in the strength of our faith but in the power of God in whom we have faith. Based on Romans 10, Daniel calls us to reconfirm our confession of Christ as Lord and submission to his Lordship. Whether or not we are bothered by doubt we should be regularly examining ourselves to see if we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13). How do we examine ourselves? Daniel gives three suggestions for self-examination. Do I believe in Jesus? Am I obeying Jesus? Am I learning to know Jesus better? Books mentioned:  In Two Minds by Os GuinessDealing with Doubt by Gary HabermasThis is the 189th episode of Anabaptist Perspectives, a podcast, blog, and YouTube channel that examines various aspects of conservative Anabaptist life and thought. Sign-up for our monthly email newsletter which contains new and featured content!Join us on Patreon or become a website partner to enjoy bonus content!Visit our YouTube channel or connect on Facebook.Read essays from our blog or listen to them on our podcast, Essays for King JesusSubscribe on your podcast provider of choiceSupport us or learn more at anabaptistperspectives.org.The views expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Anabaptist Perspectives or Wellspring Mennonite Church.

How do God’s people compose the church? How do they relate to society? What is salvation? Chester Weaver explains how he sees Anabaptists navigating these questions. The quotation from Frank ReedThis is the 188th episode of Anabaptist Perspectives, a podcast, blog, and YouTube channel that examines various aspects of conservative Anabaptist life and thought. Sign-up for our monthly email newsletter which contains new and featured content!Join us on Patreon or become a website partner to enjoy bonus content!Visit our YouTube channel or connect on Facebook.Read essays from our blog or listen to them on our podcast, Essays for King JesusSubscribe on your podcast provider of choiceSupport us or learn more at anabaptistperspectives.org.The views expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Anabaptist Perspectives or Wellspring Mennonite Church.

How can Christians think about and practice community well? Kyle Stoltzfus describes two perspectives that orthodox Christians have represented, the Evangelical view and the "resident aliens” view. Kyle looks at the strengths and weaknesses of both perspectives and encourages us to embrace ways of thinking that are distinctly Christian and that differ from the prevailing culture. The Benedict OptionResident Aliens A Community of CharacterGrowing in the Life of Faith The Nature of Confession  This is the 187th episode of Anabaptist Perspectives, a podcast, blog, and YouTube channel that examines various aspects of conservative Anabaptist life and thought. Sign-up for our monthly email newsletter which contains new and featured content!Join us on Patreon or become a website partner to enjoy bonus content!Visit our YouTube channel or connect on Facebook.Read essays from our blog or listen to them on our podcast, Essays for King JesusSubscribe on your podcast provider of choiceSupport us or learn more at anabaptistperspectives.org.The views expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Anabaptist Perspectives or Wellspring Mennonite Church.

Anabaptists easily outline high ideals. Living them is a continuing challenge which we need to embrace. Chester Weaver articulates a version of the Anabaptist Vision and the challenges to living it out. Chester adapts themes from Harold Bender’s “The Anabaptist Vision” and Stephen Dintaman’s reflections on “The Spiritual Poverty of the Anabaptist Vision.” Harold Bender’s “The Anabaptist Vision”Stephen F. Dintaman, “The Spiritual Poverty of the Anabaptist Vision,” The Conrad Grebel Review 10 no. 2 (Spring 1992): 205–8. (Unfortunately, this essay does not seem to be available online, but it is widely referenced in other writings.) This is the 186th episode of Anabaptist Perspectives, a podcast, blog, and YouTube channel that examines various aspects of conservative Anabaptist life and thought. Sign-up for our monthly email newsletter which contains new and featured content!Join us on Patreon or become a website partner to enjoy bonus content!Visit our YouTube channel or connect on Facebook.Read essays from our blog or listen to them on our podcast, Essays for King JesusSubscribe on your podcast provider of choiceSupport us or learn more at anabaptistperspectives.org.The views expressed by our guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Anabaptist Perspectives or Wellspring Mennonite Church.