Congregations

Formed in 1992, the Anabaptist Network is a loose-knit, relational network of individuals interested in drawing on the insights and experiences of the Anabaptist tradition. Their mandate is to offer resources and perspectives from the Anabaptist tradition for reflection on Christian discipleship in a post-Christendom culture, where churches are now on the margins rather than at the center of society. They want to encourage friendship and sharing of ideas between those who are wrestling with the challenges of this context and who are interested in mining this marginalized tradition for responses. Above all, they want to stimulate and encourage faithful and creative forms of mission, church life, and discipleship. Urban Expression is one of the partners of the Anabaptist Network. It is an urban mission agency that recruits, equips, deploys and networks self-financing teams pioneering creative and relevant expressions of the Christian church in under-churched areas of the inner city. The inner city is where Christian mission in Britain has been at its most creative over the past two centuries. Many new expressions of church life, evangelism, and social action were pioneered here. People have come to faith in Jesus Christ, communities have been renewed and signs of God’s kingdom of justice and peace have been evident. But church life in many inner city communities is weak. So, under-churched areas of the inner city continue to challenge Christians to engage in pioneering and creative mission. Urban Expression is one response to this challenge. In September 2008 Franconia Conference sent Krista Ehst to serve as an intern with the Anabaptist Network and Urban Expression, working out of East London. Her ten-month assignment is one way of working out our partnership and beginning to build bridges to bring learning to Franconia Conference congregations.

The Tabernacle of Christ congregations in Vina del Mar, Chile, are a network of churches who have identified with Anabaptist convictions but come from Pentecostal and Baptist experiences. This network is rooted in the life of several Franconia Conference congregations while connections continue to be broadened both in the United States and Latin America.