Anabaptism and Other Denominations
On this 500th anniversary of the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement, Rosedale Bible College’s Beacon articles will look at a wide variety of denominations within the household of faith, highlighting a different denomination each month. We hope to foster a humble, rooted appreciation for how the gospel has come to us and to consider how Jesus might be calling us forward.
In 1993, The Gospel Herald, a periodical of the Mennonite church, published an article by Steve Dintaman entitled “The Spiritual Poverty of the Anabaptist Vision.” It was widely commented upon and appreciated for its helpful critique of Harold Bender’s articulation of the core of Anabaptist theology.
Dintaman pointed out that Bender’s vision, 1) the Christian life as discipleship, 2) the church as community, and 3) the practice of nonresistant love, lacked some key points of emphasis that inevitably led to “spiritual poverty.”
While Dintaman focused on several issues, one of his points was that “we [those discipled in the Anabaptist vision] have been impoverished in our sense of the spiritual presence and power of the risen Christ. It was only when Christ’s redeeming death and resurrection had taken place, and His empowering presence had been poured out through the Holy Spirit, that fruitful apostolic ministry began to happen.”
Dintaman’s article is short and to the point. It’s still worth reading more than 30 years later! For me, it articulates why the Vineyard has been a friend to and a helpful church movement for many Anabaptists.
I grew up in a home that was deeply influenced by the Vineyard.
The Vineyard has its roots in the Jesus People movement of the 1960s and 70s. The anti-establishment sentiments of the hippies were causing consternation in broader society and the church. How should the church reach out to and love this generation of young people who were questioning all forms of authority and convention?
Chuck Smith was one pastor who took this call seriously. The Calvary Chapel movement grew from his efforts. John Wimber was another leader who looked to organize and build a movement during this era. What emerged under Wimber’s leadership is known as the Vineyard. Today, there are about 500 Vineyard churches scattered throughout the United States. They claim a membership of around 130,000.
Whereas Calvary Chapel emphasized the Bible and expository preaching, the Vineyard was birthed with an emphasis on worship and the move of the Holy Spirit. During the early 80s, Wimber was helping to facilitate a class at Fuller Seminary called Signs, Wonders, and Church Growth. He would teach for the first part of the class and then say, “What good is it to teach about this stuff if we aren’t doing it?” He proceeded to pray for and minister to students in his class. Various “signs and wonders” did indeed follow. During this season, Wimber was giving more time to evangelism and church planting than to seminary teaching.
This emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit is still at the heart of the Vineyard churches. In the core values listed in their material, the first point of emphasis is Partner with the Holy Spirit. The second is Experience and Worship God. The rest of their vision, which latches on to an “already/not yet” view of the Kingdom, flows from these two points of emphasis. The Kingdom language that is used feels familiar to me as an Anabaptist.
I grew up in a home that was deeply influenced by the Vineyard. My parents sat in John Wimber’s Signs and Wonders class at Fuller during the time the Vineyard movement was being born. I remember both of my parents telling stories about the profound influence Wimber’s ministry had in their lives. Some of this was formative for me as well. In college, I would “sneak off” to Vineyard worship services for times of ministry where the work of the Holy Spirit was emphasized.
During this time, the new “praise and worship” music was also beginning to find a place in Mennonite church services. In the 90s, many of the early praise and worship songs were flowing out of the Vineyard movement. God was using the Vineyard to breathe new spiritual vitality into churches across denominational lines. This movement coincided with the exact time that Dintaman was noting the “spiritual poverty of the Anabaptist Vision.”
There is much that I appreciate about the Vineyard. It’s inspirational to sense their serious emphasis on Kingdom building in the context of the work of the Spirit. This is broader than just “charismatic gifts.” The Anabaptist movement, with its focus on the works of the Kingdom and serious discipleship/spiritual formation, has sometimes minimized the vital work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Dintaman called this “spiritual poverty.” I believe the Vineyard has been a helpful and renewing movement that reminds us Anabaptists of the spiritual power and source of God’s Kingdom. Though Bender’s “Anabaptist Vision” articulates deeply held Mennonite values, the Vineyard has helped to breathe new life and spiritual vitality into that vision. And for that, I am grateful.
Photo credit: Math: “Green Tree Field”
