Jamie Pitts

Concern for Church Mission and Spiritual Gifts

Evangelism & Missions

“The essays republished in this volume show an emerging Mennonite Church intelligentsia in the mid-twentieth century struggling to apply a Bible- and community-centered discipleship ethic to developments in the global church. Both the continuing pertinence and the limitations of these historical pieces are beautifully brought forth in responses by Hyung Jin Kim Sun and Andrés Pacheco Lozano, whose calls for intercultural church and Spirit-led, self-critical ‘mission from the margins’ deserve wide discussion.”

The Drama of a Rural Community’s Life Cycle

History & Biography

“Roy Kaufman’s vision for the renewal of agrarian communities is grounded in a close study of his Anabaptist ancestors on the American Great Plains. Rejecting populist nostalgia, Kaufman calls for a reckoning with the imperial dynamics that have both enabled and degraded rural Anabaptist life. This insightful work of contextual theology raises issues for congregational mission that should be given serious attention by church leaders and theologians.”

Toward an Anabaptist-Pentecostal Vision

Evangelism & Missions

“Sawatzky presents a stimulating case for an integration of a Mennonite focus on ‘horizontal’ discipleship and a Pentecostal ‘vertical’ spirituality. His argument develops from an examination of North American Mennonite partnerships with AICs in South Africa. For Sawatzky, if North Americans are genuinely going to embrace a ‘learner-teacher’ model of mission, then they need to learn from their partners’ focus on the Holy Spirit, prayer, and worship.”