A small booklet with an outsized influence

A small booklet with an outsized influence

A small booklet with an outsized influence


Elder Zheng Shaojie, the leader of the church in Nanle County, China, a former Mennonite mission area, with Palmer Becker (left). Photo by James Krabill. Download full-resolution image.
Wil LaVeist
Wednesday, January 2, 2013


Palmer Becker’s short-term mission trips abroad have been like conducting a traveling mini-seminary. The author of Mennonite Mission Network’s What Is an Anabaptist Christian? (Missio Dei Number 18) last year held workshops in India based on the booklet, which has been translated into Hindi and a dozen other languages.

Becker was asked by the Rev. Jai Prakash Masih, a Mennonite pastor and translator, to offer a series of pastoral and leadership training seminars in India Sept. 12-21, 2012.

Masih, a graduate of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., who pastors an Asian church in Lombard, Ill., did the Hindi translation and published about 1,000 copies in India. It was the most recent of the workshops he has held on different topics in at least seven countries since 2007.

Masih accompanied Becker and they both spoke at three synods in the central part of the country: Bihar Mennonite Mandli in Jharkhand state, Bharatiya General Conference Mennonite Church, and the Mennonite Church in India in Chattisgarh state.

The trip was organized by Mennonite Christian Service Fellowship of India. About 30 church leaders—men and some women—attended each workshop, in which Becker emphasized the three core principles of Anabaptism as described in the booklet:

• Jesus is the center of our faith.
• Community is the center of our lives.
• Reconciliation is the center of our work.

In each mission trip, Becker stresses that Anabaptists believe in following Jesus in daily life, studying and interpreting Scripture with other believers from an ethical, Christ-centered approach, structuring the church for community, and that forgiveness from God and forgiveness and peace among each other is essential for community.

“Much of the distinctive way in which we hold these beliefs was new to the pastors,” Becker says of the Indian Christians and those he has taught in other countries. “There are always many expressions of appreciation for helping them understand what it means to be an Anabaptist Christian.”

In rural areas of India and other countries, Christian leaders may have the passion, but not necessarily education beyond high school, much less seminary training. While his seminars have been well-received, Becker senses an urgent need in Asia for establishing practical pastoral training programs based close to the churches.

Becker first developed the outline of what would become What Is an Anabaptist Christian? while preparing to address the Anabaptist Vision and Discipleship Series conference at Hesston (Kan.) College in 2002. The lecture was received enthusiastically, which led to the booklet’s publication in 2008, he said.

“When they read the book, missionaries or local people working with people of Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, Ethiopian, Hindi, Filipino and Arab backgrounds have said, ‘This is what my people need!’ ” Becker says. “They have arranged for the translation and publication of the booklet and then invited me personally to introduce the concepts.”

The booklet and a leader’s guide are downloadable and are being studied by many Sunday school classes and small groups in North America. In 2010, Becker taught the concepts from the booklet at churches in China and churches and universities in Korea.

He has also taught other topics, such as Anabaptist identity, pastoral care and counseling, and leadership and discipleship, which he taught earlier in the Hesston College Pastoral Ministries Program and this year at Meserete Kristos College in Ethiopia. After the India workshops, Becker visited Vietnam and Hong Kong, where he taught on discipleship and experiencing God in daily life.

“Mennonites worldwide are seeking to find and clarify their identity,” Becker says. “Most published materials have been addressed more to those in academia than to the common lay person. What Is an Anabaptist Christian? is brief and written in a style that seems to be understandable at a lay level.”

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For immediate release.

Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.