As presented to the Mennonite World Conference General Council, Limuru, Kenya, 24 April 2018

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Part I “All things gathered in Christ”

• God is a gatherer

• The Old Testament

• The New Testament

• Ephesians 1:10 – The Secret is Out! God is gathering all things in Christ!

• Ephesians 2:11-22 – For He is “our” Peace

• The near and the far

• Conclusion – Anabaptists and the “gathering of all things”
   

Part II “Unity of the Spirit – the creation of body and temple”

• Spirit (ruach/pneuma) – energy, breath, wind

• The unity of the Spirit

  • 1. Spirit as energy or power

  • 2. Spirit as breath

  • 3. Spirit as wind

• The body of Christ, the womb in which the new human is being formed

• The temple of God – a home from recycled material

• Unity and diversity

• Anabaptists and Spirit

Part III “Maintaining the Unity of the Spirit – when walking together is hard”

• We do not walk alone

• How do we walk together?

• Humility, patience, suffering each other

• Forgiveness

• Speaking truth WITH the neighbour

• Seeing the face of God in each other

• Does the bond ever tear? Does the chain break?

At time of writing, Thomas R Yoder Neufeld is chair of the Faith and Life Commission. He is retired as professor of religious studies (New Testament) and peace and conflict studies at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.