Anabaptism @ 501 Symposium Comes to PMC

---

​On November 7-9, Portland Mennonite Church offered a symposium with the theme “Anabaptism @ 501: Practicing Faith – Weaving the Work of Justice.” Nekeisha Alayna Alexis and Jamie Pitts, both from AMBS (Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary), led the gathered group through a reflection on the 500 year anniversary of our Anabaptist faith, what it means to practice our faith today, and how we might look forward into the next 500 years. 

Throughout the weekend, leaders used the imagery of weaving and we had a visual centerpiece that featured a large loom. People brought items that represented their Anabaptist identity and practice to place around the loom. We talked about weaving together various threads of our Anabaptist story and practice. When PMC has recently talked about the church we dream of becoming, we have named some contrasting themes. We want to be true to our Anabaptist history and clear about who we are in this identity. On the other hand, we want to be inclusive of people who are new and different. How do we hold these two very different things together or how might we weave these themes together? We might think that these are easy things to do. But, holding our Anabaptist story well could take some work. And, being inclusive is not just a name we give ourselves, we must continually work at how we are engaging the “other” and breaking down social injustices. So, we invited some special speakers here to help us reflect on some of these threads and invited folks from PNMC churches to join us.

Similarly, Jamie and Nekeisha work in different disciplines and brought us different threads of learning. Nekeisha Alayna Alexis is a speaker/consultant for AMBS. She supports individuals, communities and organizations, as they grow in intercultural competence, challenge systems of White and other domination, work at undoing racism, and create spaces of justice, belonging, right relationships and joy. Jamie Pitts is professor of Anabaptist theology and history, and his teaching includes an emphasis on global Anabaptist traditions past and present. His current research interests include theological method, pneumatology, reconciliation, and postcolonial mission. During the weekend, Nekeisha offered us the thread of being strategic about our work at intercultural competence and undoing racism, and Jamie offered us the thread of reflecting on how Anabaptists throughout history have related to the Holy Spirit. We attempted to weave these ideas together, and through these lenses we had conversations about what it means to be Anabaptist in this world today and into our future.

The weekend started on Friday night with a worshipful introduction to our themes. Saturday morning, Jamie led us in a workshop on the Holy Spirit, and Nekeisha did consulting work with PMC’s Racial Justice and Sanctuary of Belonging teams. We had a delicious lunch of Venezuelan food made by the Lopez family. We then heard from Jamie and Nekeisha about some of the ways that we can weave together the threads they brought us. We got a chance to have some discussion about the recent books they have both published. Throughout the weekend we shared times of prayer, discussion, and singing together. Nekeisha and Jamie stayed to preach for PMC’s Sunday morning service and had a Q&A during our Sunday School hour following the service. Nekeisha also joined Ministerios Restauración on Sunday afternoon for their worship service and preached a sermon which was translated by Nelly Ascencio.

Various people joined us this weekend. We had many PMCers involved, an average of 30-40 at any given time, and somewhere around 50 people throughout the weekend. We had one attender from Salem Mennonite Church and several from Ministerios Restauración. We are grateful for the work of Madga Moreno who we hired to interpret during the weekend and for a generous grant from the PNMC that made this interpretation possible. Additionally, we had many volunteers help out in different ways. We are so grateful for all those who helped make this event possible for people at PMC and our larger regional conference!

During this weekend we worked at weaving various threads together. In celebrating our 500 year history as Anabaptists, we drew the thread of Anabaptist history and stories, and thought about what these things mean for us today. We drew the thread of wondering what it means to practice our faith today – and noted that working at peace and justice are integral to how we enact our faith. We drew the thread of thinking theologically about the Holy Spirit with questions like: what does it mean to listen for the Holy Spirit’s calling in our lives, not just in movements that arise but in our institutions? We drew on the thread of antiracism work and how to be strategic about making change. These threads and frameworks will continue to give us inspiration as we move into 501 years of Anabaptism and beyond.