I'm adding "Ana-" to my "Baptist"

After several years of thinking about it I've decided to come out of the closet. I am definitely more of an Anabaptist than a Baptist. I'm not that interested in denominational "names", but the more I see of the foundational ideas of the Anabaptists the more I am willing to identify with them. There are several reasons why:

First, Anabaptists stress the centrality of the teachings of Jesus. That may seem like a no-brainer, but what I mean is that they actually believe that we are called to follow Jesus and His teachings in our day to day lives. While most "Baptists" won't usually admit it, we have tended to look at teachings like the Sermon on the Mount as the ideal way to live, but not that practical. Often Jesus' teachings are seen more as ideals that make us realize that we don't measure up to God's standards than as characteristics of people seeking to live in God's Kingdom.

Second, Anabaptists see the meaning of Baptism as more important than the method. I think if hard-core Baptists are honest with our position of "total immersion only" we have to admit that we are bordering on sacramentalism. We may say that salvation is by grace alone, but in elevating the method above the heart commitment we often make immersion something that we do to earn God's favor.

Third, Anabaptists believe in the Kingdom as more than just something that will happen one day. It becomes their way of life. They seek to live in counter-cultural ways, as strangers and aliens here on earth. One thing that I'm learning about the Kingdom of God is that if you take it seriously it has far reaching implications, many of which will be viewed as strange or radical by outsiders.

Finally, Anabaptists aren't afraid to live at the margins of society. Brian McLaren says it well,

"Believing as I do that modernity is slowly but surely being replaced by a new postmodern ethos -- and believing that in the postmodern milieu Christians will have neither the dominating position that they had through the Middle Ages not the privileged position they had during much of modernity -- I believe we have a lot to learn at this juncture from the Anabaptists, who were willingly marginalized throughout modernity. Because they rejected the idea of the state church that the early Reformers accepted, they were welcome in neither Catholic not Protestant countries and for some years were bitterly persecuted...As outsiders they learned to function at the margins, and they learned that the gospel functions there just as well as or better than at the centers of power, prestige, wealth, and control. Rather than lamenting that 'Christendom' is over, Anabaptists have always felt 'Good Riddance!' Ever since Constantine, they believe, the church has been perverted by copulation with the Empire and its seductions." (A Generous Orthodoxy, p.206)

The current desire by many North American Christians to use the political process to legislate Christian values scares me. It appears to be causing many of those outside the faith to draw conclusions about Jesus (and Christianity) that I don't believe are accurate. The church seems to have lost it's prophetic voice in critiquing the current "Christian" administration. And finally, if it was so important to use the state as a vehicle for Kingdom growth doesn't it make sense that Jesus would have sought to do the same thing?

I should also say that I realize that there are no Anabaptists that live completely true to their convictions, but I believe that their convictions are more compelling (and more in line with the teachings of the New Testament) than the ones that I have held for years. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm adding "Ana-" to my "Baptist".