Anabaptist Identity Conference held in Millersburg

The 20th Anabaptist Identity Conference took place Jan. 29-31 at Harvest Ridge Event Center at the Holmes County Fairgrounds near Millersburg. While many different denominations of Anabaptists were there to hear speakers and connect, they were all invited to hear one common message, that of faith and love that remains at the heart of the Anabaptist faith.

The purpose of the event was to relay some basic principles of the Anabaptist faith, those being who they are, where they have come from and where they are going.

The birth of the conference began 19 years ago with brothers Nathan and Matthias Overholt, who felt called to share the importance of remaining steeped in the Anabaptist faith, which has been around for centuries.

Nathan Overholt said the focus is centered around awakening the conscience and arresting the desertion of the Anabaptist people from radical Christianity.

He said the goals were to promote the true Gospel of Jesus in ways that were relevant to today’s world while respecting all groups and encouraging people to focus on the building of the church of Christ rather than bringing more people to one specific church body.

“None of us choose the family we are born into,” said Overholt, who grew up in Hartville, where his father was an evangelist. “His world was souls. But we eventually had to choose our own path. We had our share of brokenness in our lives, but this was the path that my brother and I chose to pursue.

“Our desire is to help people build up their own communities, to learn to help each other do that rather than trying to entice people to join a specific church. That is what this event was created to do.”

Keynote speakers for the event included a Thursday lineup of The Kingdom of Peace: Can Nonconformity and Nonresistance Stand, Our Heritage in Agriculture, and What Kind of Church Makes Brotherhood.

Day two featured topics like Chalkboard Theology, Five Overlooked Essentials of a Christian Life, Where My Feet Have Trod by Sam Chupp, Gospel to North Korea, a Friday night youth night, Anabaptist Artillery based on guns and What Songs We Should Sing.

The last day featured a pair of discussions on Two Kingdom History and a panel discussion.

Two of the seminars were presented by David Bercot, an American Christian author, church historian, retired attorney and speaker best known for his work on early Christianity. Bercot has dedicated much of his life to studying early (pre-Nicene) Christianity and has written extensively about how the earliest Christians lived and what they believed. His work often challenges modern Christian theology by contrasting it with early Christian teachings.

All the topics were put together to relay one simple message: Anabaptist people should be recognized by their actions.

“Our faith should be recognizable through our lives,” Overholt said.

Ray Miller, publisher of “The Vendor” and one of the guides at Behalt, said much of what is offered at the convention is dedicated to the future.

“The majority of this is geared toward educating our next generation of Anabaptist leaders,” Miller said. “People like John D. Martin and David Bercot have invaluable knowledge about our Anabaptist faith, and the hope is that we can keep it alive as we share with younger people.”

Speaker Robert Yoder, discussing the Anabaptist heritage, said the early Anabaptists made some strong promises to one another.

“The first promise was to stay true to the teachings of Jesus,” Yoder said, “and also to spread the Word. They promised to be separate from the evils of the world. This really started the separation of church and state.”

Overholt said the need to encourage one another continues to be paramount in today’s world, where anger and hatred seem to be running rampant as people try to walk a thin line between living in faith and living in the world.

From wealth and finances to taking care of the land, being sincere and serving Christ, the conference was laced with hope for the future.

The speakers who were brought in were designed to offer that hope to people of all walks of life within the Anabaptist faith.

“If we can learn from each other, it is a blessing,” Overholt said. “We have a wide variety of people and faiths here for this event. We need to be more encouraging and less pious. The teachings of Jesus are very clear, and our hope is that we lift other people up, encourage and bless people, and try not to be too judgmental.”

He said people are born with choices, and using the history of the Anabaptist faith to better honor and respect others helps people fashion those choices.

He said instead of looking behind and letting traditions and culture take the place of Christ, people should grow to understand they are broken and it is only by the grace of God people have been given the gift of helping others.

“You’re not much of a frog if you can’t croak in your own pond, but we need to croak with humility and brokenness,” Overholt said.

The goal of the conference was to help people understand the value of croaking the right way, wherever they call home, and to help them grow in understanding of the Anabaptist faith while at the same time valuing each individual's life and becoming more understanding and tolerant of people who may not think exactly the same way.