Lutheran-Mennonite dialogue

“Our division is a scandal and contrary to God’s will. It gets in the way of God’s message,” Paul Schreck said at a gathering of Mennonites and Lutherans recently at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. “Each denomination has a Spirit-gifted dynamic. Our goal is to address the scandal of our divisions.”

Schreck is executive assistant to the secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He participated in the ELCA–Mennonite Church USA dialogue from 2002 to 2004. He comments were part of a Forum in which Lutheran pastors and leaders joined with Mennonite leaders and the seminary community to hear more about the dialogue between the two denominations. John Roth, professor of history at Goshen College and also a part of the dialogue, was the Mennonite reporter at Forum.

On one hand, the Lutheran confession of faith—the Augsburg Confession—contains denunciations of Anabaptists. On the other hand, Mennonites (the descendants of the Anabaptists) have an identity in which the persecution of forebears is an important element. Some differences of theology and belief still divide the two groups: baptism, the role of the state and Christian use of violence.

As representatives of the two group met over several years, the concept of “right remembering” became a framework for moving ahead. Roth outlined right remembering with three components: be historically accurate, remember empathetically, focus on what helps us be better followers of Jesus.

Schreck explained that the two groups are working on a joint history of the Reformation that is co-authored and written in a way we can both accept. “It’s the hardest work I’ve ever undertaken as a historian.”