On January 21.
A small step for a baby.
A giant leap for Christianity.
An historical surge forward…though it really was backing up…to find truth.
Because of a baby, the church changed on this day, January 21, 1525. No one realized it at first.
The Protestant reformation in Europe had furthered the recovery of faithful Bible interpretation. When reformers gained control of governments, they replaced the Roman church with reformed churches. For the most part, all people—including newborn babies—were expected to belong to the newly reformed churches, just as they had belonged to the old. Newborn babies were baptized into the reformed church and became members simply by being born in their community, much as a person becomes a citizen of the United States by being born there.
Reformation came to Zurich, too, under Ulrich Zwingli’s Bible-centered teaching. The Zurich City Council and most Christians supported his reforms. However, when an eager group of Zwingli supporters looked into the Bible, they found a wide difference between the primitive churches of the first century and the state churches of the sixteenth.
They became convinced that the church wasn’t intended to include everyone. Rather, it should include only those people who really know and follow Christ. “How could a baby join a church,” they asked, “When it knows nothing but to cry and eat?”
Full article: Anabaptists Took a Baby Step
Many cheers for the faithful Anabaptists of old!
May this generation of Anabaptists grow in faith and faithfulness.
PS: I started out by saying it was a small step for a baby. Of course it wasn’t, but you know what I mean. 🙂