About

Our Approach to Discipleship & Ethics

The term discipleship is often used in relation to a method for training or mentoring Christian leaders. For Anabaptists “discipleship” is often used in relation to ethics--following Jesus. And since the beginning for Anabaptists, following Jesus has been thought of in terms of life commitments, living differently.  So in this course “discipleship” has that connotation: actions and behavior determined by looking at Jesus and listening to his teachings. Jesus did mentor leaders, and that appropriately is related to discipleship. On this site, however, we will focus on the ethical aspects of following Jesus as his disciples. Think of discipleship as a transformation word, being transformed to be more like Jesus.

Discipleship and Ethics—What makes it Anabaptist?

We present Discipleship and Ethics intentionally from an Anabaptist perspective. We rarely, however, use the terms “Anabaptist” or “Mennonite.” How is it Anabaptist? Three characteristics stand out: 

1. An emphasis on following Jesus in terms of actions and behaviors.

2. Attention to means – As they have sought to follow Jesus, Anabaptists have often emphasized that “the ends do not justify the means.” (This is powerfully illustrated in a video about the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement: “The Radicals.” We recommend it.)

3. An emphasis on Christian community as alternative culture – we will continually work at thinking about not just the individual, but the community and the theme of nonconformity. As one Mennonite missiologist, Wilbert Shenk observed: As Christians we are always involved in cross-cultural mission, even if we are in the same town or city we were born in, because the culture of the Kingdom of God will be in tension with the culture and society we live in. We are not, however, seeking to be different just for the sake of being different. Timothy Keller, a Presbyterian pastor, describes the church, Christian community as “counter-culture for the common good.”

Of course what we are doing is not limited to Anabaptism, other Christians are concerned about the same issues — many of the authors used in the course and recommended on this website are not Anabaptists (note that we just quoted a Presbyterian.) In constructing the content we intentionally choose a number of non-Mennonite authors in order to communicate to Mennonites that we are not the only ones who emphasize these characteristics, and to communicate to non-Mennonites that you do not have to be, or become, a Mennonite to embrace the approach and emphasis of this course.

To learn more about our approach to these ideas, head over to the paradigms tab.

Who We Are

Although this site is related to the course Discipleship and Ethics at Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary, the postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Fresno Pacific University.