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May 20, 2025
Good morning,
” But many who heard the message believed;
so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand. ” Acts 4:4
On Thursday May 29, there will be a celebration in Zurich, Switzerland commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the beginning of Anabaptism. On January 25, 1525, a group of believers decided to baptize each other as adults in a house in Zurich. Shirley and I led a tour of this history in April. We led it backwards, beginning in the Netherlands ( Menno Simons became a believer later in the 1530’s ), and ending in Zurich. Over the course of two weeks, we went to an Anabaptist historical site every day. There was never another group with us. There was little signage if any at all at the sites. There were no large Anabaptist buildings, so there was little to look at. The history is hidden, or not seen , from the general public.
This is not surprising because the group was being persecuted, and so people were being killed. These public executions probably made people thing twice about being open about their baptism or not going to war. The Mennonite communities in these countries are very small, and there are only a few tours a year from North America , exploring our history, with 2025 being an exception. At this point there are only about 2 million Mennonites/Anabaptists in the world. This is small compared to the 1.4 billion Catholics.
The writer of Acts tells us that Peter and John have just been arrested. He then writes that 5000 ‘men’ have just turned to Jesus. Persecution in Acts leads to new believers. When the Emperor told ( ordered ) everyone to be a Christian in the 300’s, that changed the Church forever, and not in good ways. The Anabaptist movement has always been small in the world. The largest national churches are in Africa and Asia today. Many of their leaders will be in Zurich for the celebration. These churches are being persecuted. Another Ethiopian Mennonite pastor was killed just last week.
Pray for the churches that are under threat.
Pray for the small church of Catholics in GAZA. AMEN
Fred
Black and white shadows
crush humanity’s freedom
am I complicit ?
MPL 2025
Ponder Anew 