Through Fire and Water: An Overview of Mennonite History (Revised edition)

Introduction

Disturbing A Church Service

On Sunday morning, January 29, 1525, there was a great commotion in a small church near Zurich, Switzerland. As the Reformed pastor approached the pulpit to deliver his sermon, a tall young man stood and asked in a loud voice, "What have you come to do?"

"I am going to preach the Word of God," the pastor replied.

"Not you but I have been called to preach!" the young man shouted back.

Ignoring the disturber, the pastor began his sermon. But the young man interrupted and talked back to him rudely. Unable to continue, the pastor stepped down from the pulpit and headed for the door.

Angry voices came from the congregation, voices that clearly sided with the preacher. People called on the pastor to continue his sermon and told the young man to sit down and cease his disturbance. The pastor resumed, but then the young man struck the pew with a stick and shouted, "It is written, my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves."

Now the troublemaker had gone too far. The deputy magistrate, who was attending the service, ordered him to keep quiet or he would be arrested.

The young man was Georg Cajacob, nicknamed "Blaurock" (blue coat, in German) because of the jacket he usually wore. He belonged to a group of radical Christians called Anabaptists.

George Blaurock's zeal for reforming the church and his confrontational style eventually led to his arrest, trial, and torture. Four years later, at the age of 38, he was burned at the stake for what officials called his "heretical faith."¹

From Nun To Anabaptist Teacher

As a child, Elizabeth Dirks was taken to a convent near Leer, in northwest Germany, to become a nun. When she was twelve, Elizabeth heard about someone who had been executed for questioning church teaching. It startled her to think that some people would believe something so deeply that they would rather die than give up their beliefs. Elizabeth decided to begin reading the Bible and examining her own beliefs. The more she read, the more questions she had. But she was afraid to share them with anyone.

Over time she found it hard to keep her questions to herself. Finally, she talked to the other sisters in the convent about the things that troubled her, but they told her to stop doubting and kept her isolated. Eventually, with the help of a few sympathetic nuns, Elizabeth escaped, disguised as a milkmaid.

Elizabeth found refuge among some local Anabaptists. She attended their worship and was baptized. It seems that at one point Elizabeth discussed theology with Menno Simons, a Dutch Anabaptist leader whose name was becoming a nickname for a segment of the Anabaptist movement—"Mennonites." For a time Elizabeth lived quietly with an Anabaptist widow. Both women had a strong desire to share their faith. Putting caution aside, they began talking with anyone who would listen.

In 1549 the authorities arrested Elizabeth and accused her of teaching heresy. At her trial Elizabeth's answers were courageous and direct.

"We demand to know who your friends are."

"I will not tell you, . . . for that would mean their destruction."

"Tell us who the persons are you have taught."

"O my lords, leave me in peace about my fellow believers, but ask me instead about my faith. I shall tell you gladly about it. . . . All my salvation is in Christ, who has commanded me to love the Lord my God, and my neighbor as myself."

In the torture chamber, the executioner applied thumbscrews to Elizabeth's fingers until blood squirted from under her nails. Then he applied screws to her shins, dislocating her joints. Elizabeth cried in pain and prayed earnestly.

When her tormentors saw that she would not recant, they condemned her to death by drowning. Elizabeth died on May 27, 1549 ².

Connecting Faith And Culture

Polingaysi Qoyawayma sat at her desk in despair. It was the 1920s, and she was a new teacher in a government school for children on a Hopi reservation in Arizona. One of the textbook's stories was about a train, but none of her students had ever seen a train. The next story was a European folktale. Wouldn't it be better to use the stories, songs, and proverbs of her own Hopi people to teach Hopi children? School policy required teachers to follow the textbook without adding anything. But Polingaysi decided she would create her own Hopi lessons, even if it got her in trouble.

Instead, her approach to teaching attracted attention and imitation. Eventually, the national commissioner of Indian affairs directed all teachers in Native schools to follow Polingaysi's methods and treat each child's culture with respect.

Interestingly, Polingaysi herself had only gradually come to value her culture. The Mennonite church that she had attended as a girl, and where she had been baptized, had given her an abiding sense of God's love and call on her life. But some white members of the church also criticized Hopi ways and encouraged Hopi members to act like them.

Polingaysi struggled to relate her faith and her culture until she realized that Christianity is not bound to any single culture. The songs and pottery of her people were expressions of God's creativity as much as European music and art. And didn't the Bible agree with what Hopi elders had long taught: "Don't fight. Don't think spiteful things about others. Don't try to get even when they hurt you"? She could be fully and proudly Hopi and follow Jesus.

Later in life, after she survived being hit by a truck, she wrote to a friend, "To have been given another chance to live again is more than a privilege. In humbleness I thank God for it, and each moment should count to fulfill this purpose." Polingaysi lived to be 98 years old, wrote popular children's books, helped revive Hopi pottery and crafts, cared for her nieces and nephews, and started a Hopi scholarship fund³.

Handcuffed And Beaten

John J. Yoder was taking the train from Georgia to Maryland—in handcuffs and accompanied by a United States army officer. The army considered Yoder to be a dangerous man because he would not be a soldier. World War I was raging in Europe, and 24-year-old John Yoder had been drafted from his home in Ohio and sent to Camp Greenleaf in Georgia. There, officers demanded that John wear a uniform, work in the camp, or drill with the soldiers. He refused, saying that as a Christian he could not kill or contribute to killing, even in defense of his country.

The officers were determined to test John's commitment. "You do not realize how a person's faith is tried here," John wrote on March 13, 1918, just days after arriving at the camp. One day the officers called John out from confinement and beat him with a heavy broom handle, nearly breaking his back. His spinal cord never fully healed, and he lived with pain the rest of his life.

Now John was being transferred by rail to another military camp, in Maryland. To his delight, the officer assigned to watch him on the train was friendly, and John was able to share his Mennonite convictions. He explained that his refusal to cooperate with the military was not a result of ignorance, but because he took Jesus seriously.

In Maryland, John's treatment was as bad as it had been in Georgia. When the summer temperatures rose to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit / 37 degrees Celsius, soldiers put him in a tiny sweatbox, closed the door, and told him he might not get out alive. For five hours John could not move and was barely able to breathe. Yet the experience did not take away his resolve or his decision to follow Jesus' way of peace.

One morning, thirty-five years later, John opened his morning newspaper and saw a picture of a policeman who had been shot in the stomach. John immediately remarked to his family, "I know that man." The policeman had been one of the army officers who had beaten John in 1918. They hadn't seen each other since then. As John studied the picture, he quietly said, "I must go to see him and tell him about Jesus."

The next day John drove to Cleveland, Ohio, to find the hospital where the policeman was recovering. When the officer realized that John was one of the conscientious objectors he had abused, he began to cry. That day, two people who might have been enemies were reconciled.⁴

Feeling God's Power In Her Life

Naka Gininda and her neighbors were discouraged. The colonial government had forcibly relocated them within their country, the African nation of Zimbabwe (then called Rhodesia). Sad and lonely, the resettlers were without their familiar churches and pastors. One person suggested that they meet for worship anyway and perhaps form a house church.

Naka had a divine surprise soon after that: "One Sunday I was late [for worship]. I sent my children on ahead. When I got to the service, I found that they had chosen me to be pastor!"

Naka, a busy mother of nine children, was to be a pastor? "I was afraid! Oh, I prayed about it," she said. "God [promised to] give me the message, that I was just the instrument. Then I was no longer afraid."

Indeed, the villagers quickly saw that Naka was a powerful woman of prayer. They also appreciated her sermons, filled with Scripture quotations. She led village women in making bricks to construct a building for their Brethren in Christ church. When rebel soldiers sought to keep the group from worshipping there, the believers met around Naka's kitchen fire. Even after soldiers beat her and kidnapped one of her sons, she continued to deliver the messages God gave her.

Advancing age didn't stop her. Naka continued to serve her Brethren in Christ congregation well into her seventies. She also worked as an evangelist, spreading the gospel to people of surrounding villages. Having felt God's power in her own life, she wanted others to experience it too.⁵

What Do The Voices Tell Us?

These echoes from the past tell us something important about the Anabaptists and their spiritual descendants, the Mennonites, Brethren in Christ, Amish, and Hutterites. They had experienced new life and sought to serve God and follow Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit—even if that meant suffering.

Some of these women and men were outspoken while others were reserved. Some did not show political wisdom or good manners in expressing their beliefs while others were winsome and highly regarded. They found strength in the church as the gathered people of God, even though their churches sometimes failed to live up to their ideals. And wherever they lived, these people sought to live Jesus' example and extend God's peace.

What made them so certain about what they believed? Are there aspects of their stories that connect with you? Aspects that seem strange or unfamiliar? Is their faith evident among Mennonites today? These are question to consider as you read this book.

How Did We End Up Where We Are?

Before we begin exploring the Anabaptist story, however, we should consider where it fits within the wider Christian story.

The Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition is a vibrant and important part of the Christian tradition. But it is only one part. Mennonites recognize that the body of Christ includes many other faithful believers. They do not presume that Mennonites have a monopoly on God's truth. Nevertheless, they believe that their witness to the way of Jesus is vitally important for the rest of the church and the wider world.

Mennonites share much in common with other Christians, including dramatic changes in where the family of God is found in the twenty-first century. Not many generations ago, most Christians lived in Europe and North America; the "typical" Christian was a European man. Now the typical Christian is a woman in Africa or Latin America. Today there are almost as many active Christians in China as in the United States. Last Sunday more people went to church in Kenya than in Canada.

Along with other groups, the Anabaptist-Mennonite community is experiencing remarkable global growth. So how did a radical tradition grounded in Europe in the 1500s come to connect with people around the world? That is the history we will explore in this book.

History is a way of understanding how we have reached where we are today, and an opportunity to think about where we may be headed. Historians study the thoughts, actions, feelings, and beliefs of people in the past by examining letters, diaries, government documents, artifacts, photographs, and many other sources.

The writers of this book want to tell the Mennonite story sympathetically, yet also critically. This story includes both the good and the bad, stories that may inspire you and stories that may disappoint you. To be fair, we must say that the writers identify with this story and with the faith tradition that has guided Anabaptist Christians through time. The writers do not think that the Anabaptist witness has been flawless, but they do hope that this book will lead readers to appreciate the Anabaptist witness and to strengthen their own faith and commitment.

Finally, we should say a word about the scope of this book. After exploring the story of the Anabaptists of the sixteenth century, we will focus mostly on two branches of the Anabaptist family, Mennonites and Brethren in Christ. Today members of many different Mennonite groups live and worship around the world. The Brethren in Christ emerged in the 1780s in the United States, but today a majority of Brethren in Christ live outside North America. (Because the Brethren in Christ church did not exist in Russia, it does not figure in the section titled "The Russian Mennonite Story.") Given the limitations of space, we have not given much attention to Amish or Hutterite history, even though those groups are also heirs of the Anabaptist movement, nor do we discuss much recent European Mennonite history.

1 You can read more about George Blaurock in John A. Moore, Anabaptist Portraits (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1984).
2 Elizabeth’s story is told in Thieleman J. van Braght, Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2001), 481-82; and under the entry “Elisabeth Dirks (d. 1549)” in The Mennonite Encyclopedia, 5 vols. (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1955-1990), vol. 2. A dramatic telling of her life, with some details imagined, is provided by Myron Augsburger and Marcia Augsburger Kincanon in The Deacon (Hillsboro, KS, and Winnipeg: Kindred Press, 1990).
3 Qoyawayma recounted her life in detail in No Turning Back: A Hopi Indian Woman’s Struggle to Live in Two Worlds (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1964); a shorter version appears in Ruth Unrau, Encircled: Stories of Mennonite Women (Newton, KS: Faith & Life Press, 1986), 163-75. Qoyawayma, who sometimes used the English name Elizabeth Q. White, died in 1990.
4 Information from Elwood Yoder, John J. Yoder’s grandson, and quotation from The Weekly Budget, Sugarcreek, Ohio, Mar. 20, 1918, p. 2.
5 Mennonite Central Committee, Women’s Concerns Report, no. 81, Nov.-Dec. 1988.M

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