Who is MWC?

World Directory
  *World Map 2003

World Assembly: Africa 2003
  *Photo Tour

Faith and Life Council, Peace Council

Global Youth Summit

Global Mission Fellowship

Program Plan 2003-2006

World Fellowship Sunday

Publications

News Releases

How can you participate?

Confession and Forgiveness Mark Anabaptist-Reformed Conference

ZURICH, Switzerland — Christians from the Zwinglian Reform tradition and the Anabaptist global church confessed sins that separated them 500 years ago and extended forgiveness to each other at an event called "remarkable and memorable." Settings for the Reformed-Anabaptist Reconciliation Conference were the Grossmunster and nearby Limmat River in the city of Zurich on June 26.

Throughout the day, some 400 people, representing four continents and the two traditions, took steps toward new understanding of what drove them apart and new relationships as brothers and sisters with a common vision.

In 1525, Ulrich Zwingli preached to Reformers against the radical Anabaptists from the pulpit in the Grossmunster. Anabaptists were hunted, persecuted, exiled and killed. Zurich authorities ordered the drowning of Felix Manz, one of their earlist leaders, in the Limmat River in 1527.

In 2004, Larry Miller, Executive Secretary of Mennonite World Conference (MWC), a community of Anabaptist-related churches, preached from Zwingli's pulpit to both Reformed and Anabaptist Christians in an afternoon worship service. In his sermon, "The new city," based on Zechariah 2 and Matthew 5, he said that the best in the Reformed vision of the church was like the Old Testament city, "open to all citizens without exception." It lifts up Jesus as Lord of all and says that the church is called to shape society. Reformed practice, however, has not always matched this vision, including in relation to Anabaptist Felix Manz and his siblings in the faith.

The Anabaptist vision, Miller said, was typically of the New Testament "city set on a hill," a church as the community of disciples following Jesus in life daily, separated from the world while witnessing to it. However, persecution drove them into tightly knit, separatist communities.

"After lighting the lamp, we hid it under the bushel where it neither illuminates good works nor provokes offerings of glory to God," he added.

Miller commended the Reformed Church for being willing to revisit the convictions of the Anabaptists and to take steps "toward fuller communion with former adversaries."

Confessions and responses from representatives of each group, both during the afternoon worship service in the old church and at an evening ceremony at the Limmat River, were among the conference's most moving moments. Reudi Reich, president of the Reformed Church of the Canton of Zurich, read a statement of regret for the persecution of the early Anabaptists during the worship service. In response, Ernest Geiser, president of the Council of Elders of the Swiss Mennonite Church, said: "Descendents of the formerly persecuted Anabaptists among you today no longer see themselves as victims.... We seek no compensation for past injustices. We accept your confession with a spirit of forgiveness."

In the evening, several hundred people crossed the bridge over the Limmat and gathered on the bank facing the towering Grossmunster, near the spot where Manz was drowned. A rowboat slipped silently along the river to the cluster of people and in a dramatic move, the rowers snatched the cover from a new capstone on the wall. The English translation of the inscription on the grey granite plaque reads:

"Here in the middle of the Limmat River from a fishing platform, Felix Manz and five other Anabaptists were drowned between 1527 and 1532 during the Reformation. The last Anabaptist executed in Zurich was Hans Landis in 1614."

At the dedication of the plaque, Ruedi Reich again asked for forgiveness for the persecution, torture and death inflicted on Anabaptists nearly five centuries ago "in a combined action by Church and State."

Thomas Gyger, president of the Swiss Mennonite Conference, in his response, noted that city authorities and the Reformed Church in the 16th century acted to maintain public order in the face of what they considered a serious threat. He expressed gratitude for the memorial and for the steps being taken toward reconciliation.

Robert Neukomm, Zurich city councillor, reviewed the history of Harold Bender's 1952 unsuccessful attempt to erect a memorial to Manz. This year, noted Neukomm, there were no dissenting votes.

The ceremony also included singing, prayer and a poem, written and read by James Landis, a direct descendant of the executed Hans Landis.

The conference began in the morning in the Grossmunster with singing by Swiss Mennonite and North American choirs. After the reading of several 16th century texts representing the two traditions, Hanspeter Jecker from the Beinenberg seminary offered a historical analysis. Markus Rediger, Mennonite World Conference executive committee member from Switzerland, presented Anabaptists and Mennonites around the world today. He was joined by Charly Lukala, a Congolese Mennonite Brethren pastor, Kathiana Sempertegui, a Bolivian Mennonite, and Larry Miller, to present the book In God's Image as gifts to local, national and world Reformed leaders including Setri Nyomi from Ghana, General Secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC).

An evening cultural celebration, also in the Grossmunster, concluded the conference with music and story-telling, led by John E. Sharp, director of Mennonite Church USA Historical Committee. Sharp introduced Lawrence Hart, who recounted his role in a Southern Cheyenne peacemaking ceremony in Oklahoma (USA). There was music by Roland van Straaten on the blues harp and Swiss folk music by Paul Giger, Noldi Alder and Tobi Tobler to round out the evening.

During the afternoon, workshops addressed the history of the Reformed and Anabaptist traditions and their churches today. Peace, state and church and the day's reconciliation events were other topics. There was also a guided tour to traces of the Anabaptists still found in Zurich (there are no Mennonites there now).

An exhibit of Anabaptist history and photos of Mennonites and Amish were displayed in the house where Zwingli once lived.

The global face of the Anabaptist church today was underscored at the event by the presence of Amish and Mennonites from Ireland, Netherlands, France, Germany, Bolivia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Canada and the USA.

Planning for the event began after Sharp wrote to the Zurich City Council in January 2003, requesting that a marker be erected to remember Felix Manz. Last July, Sharp met with Reform officials Peter Dettwiler, Minister of Mission and Ecumenical Relations, and Philip Dytwiler, who is in charge of special events for the Canton of Zurich. He encouraged them to work with the Swiss Mennonite Church in planning the conference.

In 1984, after representatives of the WARC, Baptist World Alliance and MWC shared a 1983 service of confession and communion in the Grossmunster, a call to churches to continue the conversation at the local level had little response. Larry Miller expressed his hope that the 2004 event will have a different result.

"Where we encounter one another with a common commitment to Scripture as normative and openness to mutual correction and sharing, we can expect to be led by the Spirit beyond our brokenness into God's new city," concluded Miller.

— Ferne Burkhardt, News Editor