An online voice for the ‘quiet in the land’

February 2, 2011 | God at work in the Church | Number 3
By Ross W. Muir | Managing Editor

“The simple and quaint have raised their voices, loudly, on AnabaptistBlogs.com,” says the blog’s founder, Jeff McLain.

Several hundred years ago, Mennonites and their Anabaptist predecessors educated and addressed their congregants in small rooms, mountainside caves and hidden in barns. Early thinkers like Michael Sattler and Menno Simons wrote their letters and theological statements by oil lamps and the shimmering moonlight.

Mennonites and their cousins of other Anabaptist denominations don’t have to preach in caves anymore, nor do they still write by oil lamps. Although they are still defined by their simplicity, there is an increasing and engaging voice of these Mennonites and Anabaptists on the blogosphere.

Last year, McLain formed AnabaptistBlogs.com as an engaging and missional online directory and network of Anabaptist-themed blogs from Anabaptist bloggers, giving them a central and unified home on the Internet. Not affiliated with any specific Anabaptist or Mennonite denomination or conference, AnabaptistBlogs.com simply organizes blogs that are Anabaptist-themed.

Blog themes range from missionaries to pastors, and from Mennonite recipes to Anabaptist history and theology. More than 40 diverse bloggers—from conservatives to progressives—make up this network, which includes posts by Mennonite Church Canada Witness worker Andrew Suderman.

“I hope we do more than just network online,” says McLain, who also acts as the site’s webmaster. “I hope we can see benefits from this network form offline as well.”

McLain hopes to eventually see churches hosting conferences and public forums for Anabaptist bloggers so they can learn how to sharpen their blogs and their online voice to carry the Anabaptist message in what many call a post-Christendom world.

From a release by AnabaptistBlogs.com.

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