A Global, Cross-Shaped Movement
When we look back over 500 years of the Anabaptist story, it is natural to ask what the next fifty years might hold. Not as an academic question but as people committed to maturing and multiplying disciples in our congregations and communities.
I was raised in a Rosedale Network family involved in church planting in Eastern Kentucky. I later attended Rosedale Bible College and helped with the music program in its early years. I have since worshiped with Anabaptists and other Christians in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Across these years, two realities have become clear:
- The future of Anabaptism is growing brighter in the Global South;
- The future in North America is more fragile and will require deeper discipleship and more courageous leadership.
The demographic center of Anabaptism continues to move south and east. Many Majority World congregations worship with joy, persevere through hardship, and witness to Christ in places of uncertainty. Their vitality invites us into a humble partnership. Rosedale Network sees this through relationships with hundreds of congregations in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, whose ministries enrich our shared mission. The Spirit is renewing the global Church in ways we did not foresee, often far from traditional Western centers of influence. The question for congregations in the U.S. is whether we are humble enough to listen, learn, and receive from these younger expressions of Christ’s body.
Meanwhile, churches in North America face polarization, secularization, and cultural fatigue. Believers in the Global South face different pressures—authoritarian governments, tribal conflict, and economic instability. Without humility, each context can misread the other; with humility, we can grow together into the likeness of Christ.
The future church is global, multilingual, and multiethnic.
At the center of our shared life is the kingdom of God. Christ is Lord, and His kingdom is visible in the church. His people follow Him in love, peace, and self-giving service. His gospel forms communities of reconciliation and hope. In the challenges that lie ahead, we will continue to return to this center with renewed clarity.
The gospel frees us from tying our faith to political identity—and frees us from despair. We follow a crucified and risen Lord, which guards us from both triumphalism and hopelessness. In a polarized age, the church must breathe the peace of Christ.
The church in North America may become smaller, but it can grow deeper. Depth is shaped by practices that form Christlike character—Scripture, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, hospitality, disciple-making, and strong families. Programs may fade; practices endure. As we grow deeper, we will grow outward—multiplying disciples who carry the life of Jesus into the world.
As Anabaptists, we need a mature peace witness. A biblical peace witness is not passive; it is Christ-shaped. A mature peace listens across differences, cultivates reconciliation, rejects contempt, works to reduce the conditions that lead to violence, and models Jesus’ love for enemies. Our children will see peace lived in our families, congregations, and communities, not only taught from our pulpits.
The future church is global, multilingual, and multiethnic. Rosedale Network already reflects this, and the next generation will deepen it. We are becoming congregations where longtime Mennonite families and new believers stand together in worship, leadership, and mission.
Three practices can guide us:
We remember our baptism. We belong to Jesus and follow Him in the unity and mystery of the Trinity.
We return to the table. In the Lord’s Supper, the potluck meal, the kitchen table, is where reconciliation takes root and strangers become family.
We recover the cross as a way of life in daily habits of self-giving love in all our relationships.
The future of Anabaptism is not guaranteed. But the future of Christ’s Church is sure. May the next fifty years find us faithful, unified in mission, and open to the Spirit’s surprising work around the world.
Photo credit: Jan Luyken, Martyrs Mirror
