Mennonite Heritage Village exhibit celebrates the Anabaptist movement

An exhibit commemorating the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism will be coming to the Mennonite Heritage Village next month.

“Through this exhibition our aim is to remember God’s work and history and the journey of the Church of Christ and the beginnings of the anabaptist movement. The convictions of our spiritual forefathers and their courage to act accordingly challenges us today to examine our own faith and commitment,” said exhibit representative Marcel Regehr.

On Fire for Christ will examine the history and the impact of Anabaptism.

Anabaptism began in 1525 during the Radical Reformation, which perceived corruption in the Catholic Church and in the expanding Protestant movement led by Martin Luther and others.

One of the central ideologies of the movement is the baptism of adults rather than children. They believe that baptism is only valid when candidates freely confess their faith in Christ and request to be baptized.

“It marks a huge milestone. This is the 500th anniversary of the first adult baptism or it would have been at the time a rebaptism because those people would have been baptized as infants already, so it’s huge,” said Mennonite Heritage Village curator Andrea Klassen.

Life was very difficult for the Anabaptists in the 16th century because they were persecuted by the Catholic and Protestant churches.

“The title of the exhibition is On Fire for Christ, which has a double meaning because ‘on fire’ means to be fervent in spirit for Christ, but at the same time it also meant that many Christians actually died burning at the stake. So, there’s a double meaning to this,” said Regehr.

One of the branches of the Anabaptist movement is Mennonite, which was led by Dutchman Menno Simons in the mid to late 16th century. Klassen said today the word Mennonite is often associated with the cultural aspects of the people practicing the religion rather than the faith itself.

“Personally, I think that’s important for us to consider the roots of where we come from and what does that actually mean to be Mennonite today,” she said.

There are 2.13 million Mennonites in the world. Klassen noted there are more Mennonites in India than in Canada and that they don’t necessarily act or look like the descendants of the Mennonites who came here 150 years ago.

“They don’t know the inside jokes that we have here or the way that Mennonites don’t dance, all those kinds of stereotypes. So, what is it that ties us all together? And I would argue that’s the Mennonite system of belief and that’s what we’re marking – the 500 years.”

The touring exhibit will be on display from Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. to Sept. 7 and will have such artifacts as songbooks, Bibles, and instruments of torture. The free hour-and-a-half tours are done by registration at onfireforchrist.ca. A representative will be on hand to answer any questions people might have about the movement outside of the tours.

“When it comes to the takeaway or what the desire with the exhibition (is) our prayer and hope is that this exhibition will inspire many to rediscover the principles of following Jesus. This is the desire,” said Regehr.