An Overlap of History

It was billed as another learning tour to rural Alberta. This second occasion after an earlier visit to Two Hills and surrounding community contained a suggestion from our group leaders. “Why not utilize our carpool time as a bit of mix and match, ride in different cars going place to place.” Good idea. So five repeaters of the first trip and nine first timers became the mix. It’s a new day and a new group. Who says a second tour must be repeat of the first?

The main reason for this second excursion was at invitation of the people we had visited last time. Our first visit to these immigrant Mennonites was a get-to-know-you occasion. And now we had the invite to come again, meaning that the first was not a big intrusion, just a short visit with good memories. Kommt wada, a common statement of welcome among Low German Mennonites.

Most of us in this tour group are urban Mennonites. We are those who have adapted to ‘ways of the world,’ including higher education. Education does interesting things. To our rural hosts we are probably characterized as ‘the learned ones.’ We the visitors probably do not see ourselves in so generic a way. We are a mix of school teachers, preachers, administrators, and medical professionals including nurses and a doctor. From our vantage our hosts may be perceived as the ‘unlearned ones,’ whose migrant lifestyle has recently landed them in Alberta! [i] That also would be oversimplified. They too have variety, unique stories and a unique lineage which brings them here. Besides faith practice and a history of moves and economic interests, politics will be waiting in the wings even if we don’t immediately posit those questions!

History has always received a bit of thumbs down among my cronies, probably because most of us in the education pursuit were pointing toward careers, useful things like teacher training, health care either nurses or doctors (the really smart ones😊), technology or business. History was kind of a long-haired pursuit for those who didn’t care for useful education!  Anyway, however it got labeled, my undergraduate journey favored some history options, making it a minor just below the major, religious studies, which eventually led to my calling (Career? My interests a little out of the ordinary among all my practical minded friends). Yesterday on that tour, we were a bunch of those early students now 50 or 60 years later, visiting businesses, churches, and schools operating with that minimal education perspective which we had fought our way out of. Now they were our hosts! There is something Back to the Future about this. We the old educated ones marveling at all the things being accomplished by those who may or may not have completed eighth grade.

The discipline of history also has specialties. Among both amateur and professionals there are those who know how to spell out details; others more inclined to notice and describe themes that come out of those back-there details along with implications for present and future. Although not a professional nor even quite an amateur historian, I recognize my own interpretive yen, and probably why I am an eager participant in this second visit. As a preacher, and as one whose faith journey started in and among the Old Colonists of the Russian Mennonites, I find it natural to observe and perhaps identify a few trends here. Still the nescheah as per nickname when I was a kid, here goes; a few thematics (?) from this thinker.

Diligence. It was everywhere. We visited a factory; owner and C.E.O. with minimal education, but incredible qualifications and confidence. He knows his business, knows what needs fabricating and why and how to do it and who should do it. Our tour started with this hospitable owner, a cheerful plant manager and many welders and cutters and painters and foremen and office personnel. I saw no Union or Health and Safety (HSR) representatives – seemingly unnecessary when everybody is on same page about best and safest way to get things done (wages were not a talking point). We visited churches, three rural locations; our hosts all church leaders who had taken time off their day jobs to serve as our tour guides (no pastoral salaries here). This fact was cordially and matter-of-factly stated only in response to one of our questioners, not to make a political or theological point. Although I did not take a survey, I know beyond a doubt that us visitors are of similar mindset. Mostly retirees, we also represent diligence, some good track records of expertise and success, whether in education, social services, business, medicine. Good work is more important than the wages we make. Not too many freeloaders here!

Pride. Although Mennonites often poke jokes at one another about being proud of our humility, I saw pride everywhere, not only in the Q and A sessions, but when conversing in our cars moving one place to next in our tour schedule. We speak about our children in their professional and other pursuits, possibly not mentioning the ones we grieve about. We review our career paths making sure it is understood, and if perceived safe to the listening ear, perhaps some reference to a disappointment or two. The underbelly of diligence among Mennonites is that failures are hard to deal with. We prefer successes. One hosting minister spoke with deep pride about his sixteen-year-old son who recently successfully managed his business (11 employees) on their farmyard for two weeks while he attended a church convention in Mexico. Myself a Saskatchewan farm boy, I marveled at his son, I ‘got it’ easily. [ii] Also I remember an additional feature of this topic. In my day, among those ‘adult’ responsibilities our parents made sure we didn’t get too proud of our great accomplishments. Come to think of it, I should have asked this dad if his son knew he was proud of him. 😏

Still a common characteristic, we try to live our lives responsibly, church prayer requests usually limited to safety for somebody on a trip, the sick and the dying, and praise God for a son or daughter who just got a PhD! [Admittedly there are differences here. In these rural churches, the Old Colony and the Rheinlander do not go into such sharing time during worship at all!] Whatever the worship style, I maintain that stoicism is standard fare among most of us Caucasian Mennonites. We do not mention the mentally ill or failing marriages or spiritual doldrums. All of us have things to learn from our black or brown brothers and sisters in Africa or Latin America, sometimes addressing illness or the evil one right there in the worship service!

Also some surprises! One of our hosting bishops spoke with considerable candor acknowledging ongoing problems with alcoholism and addictions in their midst. This was honest humble communication. Spirit-led leaders know it important to think about and learn from one another regardless how sophisticated or simple we are in our urban or rural faith communities. This is a challenge faced by faith communities of all traditions. 1 Thessalonians 5 has something to say about that, And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them (:14). Homegrown honesty can do all of us proud.

Preachers. As already noted these rural ‘brothers’ are minimally educated, but invested with considerable authority, totally committed and serving the felt needs of these rural churches. The Old Colony this year have a baptismal class of 43 all set for Pentecost, the Rheinlander and Kleine Gemeinde also with sizable groups. These three groupings, quite in character with denominationalism everywhere, also have slightly different theological emphases (O.C. baptism is the way to salvation and church membership, Rheinlander a rite “upon confession of faith in Jesus as Savior” also followed by membership, Kleine Gemeinde a similar faith confession but I do not know membership implications). All of these churches are full every Sunday - something for us visitors to think about, possibly even talk about in our carpool rides back to the city!

Most urban Mennonite churches, along with the mainline churches, in varying degrees are suffering a credibility gap. Baptismal classes? Is that a thing of the past? Many of today’s young adults admit to spiritual openness but find no faith invitation in their parents or present-day educated church leaders. Ouch! Visiting these country cousins is an occasion of humble confession especially for those of us in faith communities more aligned with today’s progressive theology while slowly forgetting the rites of Christian faith. When we don’t have those faith celebrations we look for consultants and webinars to help us understand things rather than seeking the Lord’s guidance. Bring back the catechism.

Protestantism, which emphasizes authority residing in the pulpit, is becoming a go-to among Mennonite churches, meaning that even while faltering we look for a good preacher as the solution. Therefore churches at this time are vulnerable to this subtle and compromising shift. Many in our midst do not know that we are neither Catholic or Protestant. [iii] Hiring the right preacher is a Protestant pattern which we have incorporated into our urban professional mindsets. We need to read some history about that. A visit among these country cousins has been a good reminder of what the church is all about.

The early church began after an outpouring of the Spirit on that fiftieth day after Easter. That outpouring is available still but comes only as we the faith community bow in humility before the Lord our God, whether that be in Edmonton, Toronto, or Two Hills. One scripture on topic comes from a hardy fisherman become disciple become the Apostle Peter: To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:1-3).

These visits have been a great opportunity for urban and rural Mennonites to learn from one another, and to claim all that God has availed for us. We have much in common. Praise the Lord!

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[i] I described something of that first trip in an earlier blog almost a year ago, Froese, Jacob (2023) “Solutions Outside the Lines,” Thoughts from my Room, June 17. Available at: https://www.jcfroomthoughts.blogspot.com.

[ii] “Extensions Beyond,” Ibid. April 20, 2024.

[iii] Walter Klaassen, Anabaptism: Neither Catholic nor Protestant (Waterloo, ON: Conrad Press, 1978). See also first in a podcast series, Loewen, William. "Martin Luther and the Niesinck Convent" (S1E1), Free Radicals Podcast, 2 Jan. 2024, https://www.freeradicalspod.com.