May 10, 2010 issue
Scandinavians form Anabaptist network
By Mennonite Mission Network staffSTOCKHOLM, Sweden — Anabaptists in a country without a historic Anabaptist presence are forming the kind of community they believe is essential to practicing their faith.
Fredrik Wenell, Else-Marie Carlsson, Jonas Melin and Disa Rutschman talk together at the Scandinavian Anabaptist gathering. — Photo provided by MMN
About 40 people met in Stockholm in December for the first gathering of the Scandinavian Anabaptist Network.
The new network is one of several that have sprouted across the globe as Anabaptist Christians seek support and fellowship with others who share their convictions.
“Anabaptist networks are appearing in other parts of the world and have potential to be significant grassroots kingdom movements,” wrote Tim Foley, Mennonite Mission Network’s director for Europe.
Foley believes these networks are a good way to connect Christians who have found that Anabaptism is crucial for their understanding of discipleship and mission.
Tom and Disa Rutschman, MMN partners in Jokkmokk, participated in the Scandinavian network meeting. The gathering included authors, peace activists, theology students and seminary professors.
Margot and Stephen Longley, who partner with MMN in Finland, also attended.
Stuart Murray, who is active in the Anabaptist Network in the United Kingdom, a partner organization with Mennonite Mission Network, spoke at the Scandinavian network gathering.
His presentations focused on mission in post-Christendom and the core convictions of the U.K. Anabaptist network.
In addition to speaking, Murray also led seminars with local church planters, reported Jonas Melin, the network organizer.
For the Rutschmans, the meeting provided a way to connect and build a virtual community.
“This is an exciting development,” wrote Tom Rutschman. “Mainly we will meet via computer… . The feeling of the group is that there needs to be Anabaptist literature written in Swedish. Right now we are working on formulating our core convictions.”
Comments
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In the 1800's the Scandinavian countries did have an "Anabaptist presence"--if you mean by that presence a belief that only persons mature enough to make an informed decision should be baptized & church & state should be separated. My father's grandparents (with their children who including the two who became his parents)came to the U.S.A. in the 1880's b/c the state & state church were persecuting what my father called the Swedish free church (I don't know what they called themselves in Sweden). I really doubt that all the "free churchers" migrated, so I suspect that an Anabaptist presence has remained in some place.
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Thank you for writing about the Anabaptist Network in Scandinavia. I want to give a short answer to Lois M. Kroeker. When we say that Sweden is a country without historic Anabaptist presence we mean that there are no (and have never been) Mennonite or Hutterite churches in Sweden. We generally make a distinction between Anabaptists and Baptists. There is a strong Baptist presence in Sweden. The first Baptist church was formed 1848 (with support from America, England and Germany)and it started a very strong and growing movement. Because of persecution and poverty many emigrated to America as you write, but many also remained in Sweden and built a strong free church movement. The Anabaptist network in Scandinavia connects to the historic Anabaptist movement in the 16th century and the Anabaptist (Mennonite) heritage.
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Just for the record, the "Swedish free church" was not Baptist. They still exist in the States under the name of Evangelical Brethren (or something similar to that). However, they are no longer simply Swedish--they early merged w/ the equivalent Norwegian & Danish churches & now are open to all, not just to Scandinavians. They also were not Mennonite, of course. I really don't know how their church got started. My grandparents became part of the early 20th century Pentecostal movement & eventually became part of the Assemblies of God--causing a split w/ the branch of the family that stayed w/ the Swedish free church, so there's a lot about that church that I don't know in spite of my having connected w/ our second cousins in the last couple of decades.
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