Winds of the spirit

In this groundbreaking study, the authors make an unsettling claim: Anabaptist churches of the Global South have more in common with the church of the first three centuries than they do with contemporary churches in Europe and North America that claim the Anabaptist name. With data from 18,000 church members in ten countries, they show how historical patterns of church renewal are repeating themselves today in the Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The study does more than crunch statistics; it probes the sources and nature of the renewal and growth. And it pushes readers to ask what these trends can teach the church of the North in their own quest for faithfulness and vitality.

"A compact and informative thesaurus on emerging ecclesiastical and cultural meanings of ‘Mennonite.’ Christian faith today is not merely a world religion, but a substantially non-Western phenomenon."
—Jonathan J. Bonk, executive director, Overseas Ministries Study Center