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Written by: Chester Weaver Preface: In the following article Dualism will be understood as separating Wholeness into two distinct parts in order for practitioners to feel good about themselves while not being Whole. The two separate parts may or may not include truth as part of each whole. Religious Dualism is a widespread Christian problem inherited from the Gnostic heresy. The Apostle John directly deals with the Gnostic heresy of his day in his ...
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Written by: Marlin Sommers Managers in God’s Household: How to be a steward. Fourteen-year-old Bob has the rather grandiose title, “Steward of the Woodpile”. While Dad is gone, Bob is in charge of the woodpile. Bob is thrilled. He promptly messages his friends and says, “Hey nobody’s home tonight, come over and we will have the biggest bonfire you ever saw.” The next morning the firewood has been consumed. The temperature is well below freezing ...
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1 Chronicles 29:13: "And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name." Hello everyone.  We are excited to announce that Anabaptist Perspectives will be relaunching our blog emails starting in January 2020.  We are grateful to God for His direction in the past and are praying for his direction for the future as well. We have been praying for some time that God would lead someone to Anabaptist Perspectives to fill this ...
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Charis Kauffman, along with her husband Kenneth and and their 2-year-old daughter, lives in Brooklyn, NY. As a family they are discovering that their passions are bigger than their energy. If the Kauffman family is not at home when you stop by for a visit, you can likely find them in one of the many coffee shops throughout NYC, sipping on a mug of craft coffee. *** The recent passing of the Reproductive Health Act ...
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Emily Hallock is a blogger and mother of three who lives at Beech Grove, a Bruderhof community in Kent, England. This article originally appeared on Bruderhof.com and in the Autumn 2018 issue of Plough Quarterly. *** When I was thirteen years old, my dad died from AIDS as a result of a same-sex relationship outside of his marriage. So when as a follower of Jesus, I get called a bigot, it hurts me deeply. I loved my ...
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Dwight Gingrich is a former pastor and high school teacher who currently lives in Atlanta, Ga with his wife and three daughters where they are helping to establish a church plant. Dwight says that he is passionate about “exegesis and ecclesiology–that is, faithful interpretation of the Bible and good theological understandings and practices regarding the Church of Jesus Christ.” You can read more of Dwight’s writings and Scripture studies here. (Thank you to Daughters of ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Melvin Lehman conducted by Reagan Schrock. Melvin lives with his family in Guys Mills, Pennsylvania, where he served as a teacher at Faith Builders Educational Program for many years. Melvin is passionate about teaching the Bible to the next generation and enjoys tending their small family farm. *** Mennonite culture has traditionally promoted work that is centered around agriculture and working with one’s hands. But in the ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Kyle Stoltzfus conducted by Reagan Schrock. Kyle is on staff at Faith Builders Educational Program, a conservative Anabaptist school whose mission is to prepare young people to serve their churches and communities through teaching and ministry. Kyle manages the communications department while pursuing a graduate degree in church history and theology. He lives with his family in Guys Mills, Pennsylvania. *** When I think about being a ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Samantha Trenkamp conducted by Valonna Miller. After being raised Catholic, Samantha later encountered the Anabaptists and joined a Mennonite church. Samantha is part of the production team with Anabaptist Perspectives and also works in publications for other non-profit missions organizations. Her blog can be found here. *** Valonna: Tell us a little of your life before joining the Mennonite church. Samantha: My extended family identifies as ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Matthew Landis conducted by Reagan Schrock. Matthew serves on the leadership in his local church in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. He is founder and owner of Landis Technologies, a technology company providing custom software and support to various industries. He is deeply interested in the effects of technology and how Anabaptists can respond in a reasonable, Christ-like way. *** Social media (and technology in general) is a big question ...
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Henry Moody lives at the Danthonia Bruderhof in the wide-open, sun-soaked spaces of the Northern Tablelands region of NSW, Australia where he is a school teacher. He is married to Dori and they have four children. On her mother’s side, Dori has her roots in the Hutterite Anabaptist heritage and blogs at www.Bruderhof.com. *** Across the sparrows and slates of the rooftops of London, the Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral heard the great bells naming ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Melvin Lehman conducted by Reagan Schrock. Melvin lives with his family in Guys Mills, Pennsylvania, where he also served as a teacher at Faith Builders Educational Program for many years. Melvin is passionate about teaching the Bible to the next generation, and enjoys tending his small family farm. *** Ten years ago, after some of my interactions with the young folks who were coming to Faith Builders, ...
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Dorcas Smucker is a pastor’s wife and mother of six. She and her family live near Harrisburg, Oregon in a house that's been in the Smucker family for over 100 years. Dorcas has been writing a monthly column called “Letter from Harrisburg” for the Eugene Register-Guard for 17 years, and these columns have been compiled into seven different books. Find more of her writings on her blog, Life in the Shoe. *** “We shouldn’t be ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Rachel Schrock conducted by Reagan Schrock. “Rae” is Founder and Chief Editor of Daughters of Promise Magazine. With a strong cup of coffee in hand, she loves exploring new and out of the way places, heartfelt talks with a friend, and doing anything creative and handmade. She lives in Virginia where she enjoys a quiet home in the country surrounded by fields and woods. *** ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Elijah Yoder conducted by Reagan Schrock. Elijah is a pastor and has been a full time teacher at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute for over 25 years. He lives with his family in Harrisonville, Pennsylvania. *** Before we can talk about evangelism, we have to understand the biblical role of the church. The first time I taught the course on local church evangelism, I took the word ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Clifford Schrock conducted by Reagan Schrock. Cliff is administrator and teacher at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute where he has served for over ten years. He is best known for his classes on the topics of nonresistance, apologetics, and separation from the world. Cliff lives with his family in Harrisonville, Pennsylvania. *** Bible schools began around the early‒mid 1900’s in our Mennonite circles because, as Anabaptist people, ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Benjamin Good, conducted by Reagan Schrock. Benjamin is a teacher and choir director at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute and has been regularly involved in various Mennonite choirs and conservative singing groups. He lives with his wife and children in Harrisonville, PA. ** I have been teaching full-time at SMBI (Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute) since 2012. I grew up in a family that sang together quite a ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Elijah Yoder conducted by Reagan Schrock. Elijah is a pastor and has been a full time teacher at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute for over 25 years. He lives with his family in Harrisonville, Pennsylvania. *** In my growing up years, the importance of the principles of Scriptures in our lives, not just the practice, was stressed. In other words, you don't just want to teach the ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Dan* conducted by Reagan Schrock. Dan is on staff with an Anabaptist relief organization and has spent several years living in the Middle East. He is a pastor and will be moving with his family back to the Middle East to aid in the refugee crisis. *name withheld for security reasons *** Three years ago Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, the largest Christian ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Elijah Yoder conducted by Reagan Schrock. Elijah is a pastor and has been a full time teacher at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute for over 25 years. He lives with his family in Harrisonville, Pennsylvania. *** Anabaptists have historically tried to live a holy life style and not follow the things of worldly culture. Hence, we dress differently, are nonresistant, don't go to war, and our ladies ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Clifford Schrock conducted by Reagan Schrock. Cliff is administrator and teacher at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute where he has served for over ten years. He is best known for his classes on the topics of nonresistance, apologetics, and separation from the world. Cliff lives with his family in Harrisonville, Pennsylvania. *** What is the “simple life”? The simple life is often defined as canning food, making ...
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The following message comes to us from Val Yoder who serves as pastor at Kitchi Pines Mennonite Church in Bemidji, Minnesota. He is a part-time teacher at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute and helped establish Institute for Global Opportunities (IGO), a missionary training school in Chiang Mai, Thailand. “Get in the Way of Evil” was originally published in the Summer 2017 issue of Daughters of Promise magazine (used by permission). *** When the Apostle Andrew ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Clifford Schrock conducted by Reagan Schrock. Clifford is administrator and teacher at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute where he has served for over ten years. He is best known for his classes on topics of nonresistance, apologetics, and separation from the world. Clifford lives with his family in Harrisonville, PA. *** The first thing to be said about nonresistance is that it is different from classical pacifism, ...
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The following is taken from an interview with Dean Taylor conducted by Reagan Schrock. Dean Taylor is a writer and traveling Bible teacher, as well as the author of "A Change of Allegiance”. He and his wife, Tania, are members of Altona Christian Community in Henderson, Minnesota. *** What is the essence of Anabaptism? When we talk about the essence of Anabaptism, one thing that needs to be addressed from the very beginning is ...
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Welcome to Anabaptist Perspectives! The team which forms Anabaptist Perspectives identifies, as you may expect, with the historic Anabaptists and contemporary expressions of that movement through our respective churches. Anabaptists, both present and past, have important insights; ones that could be of value to many. However, we have observed that media outlets are mostly void of this perspective and an accurate description of Anabaptist lifestyle is only minimally present online. Accessible resources to our ...
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