Malcolm Gladwell Profiles Minister Who Defied Church for Gay Son

From The Advocate-

Chester Wenger, a Mennonite pastor who sacrificed his ministry by officiating his son’s same-sex marriage, is an examplar of “generous orthodoxy” — showing “respect for the body he is trying to heal,” says journalist and commentator Malcolm Gladwell.

Gladwell, famed for explaining cultural trends in his book The Tipping Point, profiles Wenger on Thursday’s episode of his Revisionist History podcast.

Wenger, now 98, says he had little knowledge about homosexuality for much of his life, and whe

Some years later, Phil joined the more accepting Episcopal Church after Gene Robinson became its first openly gay bishop, making his father weep with joy that he had renewed his faith.
n his son Phil came out as gay, the minister thought it was a phase Phil would get over. Eventually it became clear it was not a phase, and Phil was expelled from the Mennonite Church (by another clergy member, not his father). Wenger and his wife urged Phil to maintain his faith in Jesus Christ nonetheless.

More here-

http://www.advocate.com/religion/2016/8/11/malcolm-gladwell-profiles-minister-who-defied-church-gay-son

A Mennonite pastor is suspended and a denomination is splintered

From RNS-

The Virginia Mennonite Conference suspended a pastor’s ministerial credentials Wednesday (May 25) because he officiated at a same-sex wedding.

The Rev. Isaac Villegas of the Chapel Hill (N.C.) Mennonite Fellowship and my pastor, is “at variance” with the conference, which belongs to the Mennonite Church USA. The denomination, with some 100,000 members, holds that marriage is “a covenant between one man and one woman for life.”

The conference was aware of Villegas’ plan to officiate the wedding well in advance, as the congregation has been in dialogue with it for years over the matter of fully welcoming LGBT people in the congregation.

More here-

http://religionnews.com/2016/05/27/a-mennonite-pastor-is-suspended-and-a-denomination-is-splintered/

Anabaptist movement thrives in North America

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-

From horse-and-buggy Mennonites in Mexico to Amish in Arkansas, a new study reveals the variety of Anabaptist culture in North America.

"The biggest surprise was that there was a Mennonite group in the Bahamas," said Donald Kraybill, senior fellow at Elizabethtown College's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, who did the research.

But that plain-dressing group isn't lounging on the beach in bonnets and suspenders.

"They're doing evangelical mission work and have two congregations. But they also have an industrial training school and are teaching occupational skills to native people there," he said.

Dr. Kraybill, who published his findings in the new "Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites" from Johns Hopkins University Press, found Anabaptist groups in 17 of the 23 North American nations. It is the first study of all Anabaptist groups. Anabaptists descend from Swiss and German radicals of the Protestant Reformation who insisted on adult baptism, rejected state control of the church and practiced nonresistance despite brutal persecution.

The study found 809,845 Anabaptist adults. Children would raise the total to an estimated 1.3 million. More than two-thirds -- 578,195 -- live in the United States, with the next largest group of 144,000 in Canada.

Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10339/1108416-84.stm#ixzz17Emqrcc7