After 500 Years of Silence, the Anabaptist Must Speak

You know us and we know you.  We are the "ordinary" Anabaptists, and we have lived and worked among you in silence for nearly 500 years.

You know and respect our Brethren in the foundations of faith, the Amish and Mennonite.  While we spring from the same root - we are vastly different in terms of our execution of Anabaptist values in both the historical and modern world.

There are similarities - similarities in spirit and faith in action.

Whether in Europe and throughout North America, we see you driving past traditional farms, watching good work on the land, the joy of lives of toil, listening to the laughter of  happy children.  

The hunger you feel for simple effort and traditional lifestyles exists, whether the farms you pass and the people you observe are of Anabaptist or other faiths.  It is the toil itself, and the traditions of effort and community that draws you to traditional life and work

Our word for what you are seeking is "Avodah".  

An Ancient Hebrew word, Avodah is Work, Life and Worship, woven together into lives that express the human experience as a divine and inspired whole. food, purchase our produce and the products of our work from our factories homes and farms.  

Frequently you vacation among our more open and visible Anabaptist brethren.

Your modern life challenges and frustration draw you to the simple ways - and your curiosity often extends to joining us at table or in commerce - and you are welcome.

We are the Anabaptist and after 500 years of silence we must now speak.  We seek neither to convince nor convert, and worry not - this is not about religion nor faith.  This is however about our shared future, and about truth.

We have answers to questions you have dared not ask.  Addiction, suicide, families divorced father from son, mother from daughter.  We watch and suffer with you as you live alone, and die in nursing homes or under bridges.

We are the ordinary Anabaptist - who have lived in your midst for centuries.

Now is the time to answer your call for help.

 

This world we share is suffering.  We fear that war is on the horizon.  Toxins choke our air and water, and the insects, the birds and the fish in the sea become scarce, and people starve.

We have answers.  We have solutions for many of the problems now plaguing the modern world.

Read on, Learn about our pattern of living - yes, we are faith based, but do not let that push you away.  Many of us in the New Hope project are Arab or Jew, Catholic or Protestant, and some are Atheist or have no opinion at all.  To you also, we extend a hand of friendship and welcome.

About us:  We are a new international movement, multi-denominational, of concerned people familiar with the Anabaptist way and the Anabaptist path.  We are thinkers and philosophers of many faiths, genders and countries all around the world.  

We started in a small way in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA about 20 years ago, but most of us are convinced our lives and our one true path has been directed to this moment, and this purpose since the day we were born.  

Some of us are of Anabaptist faiths, many are not, but we all share the same passion, the same dedication and the same commitment to try our best, to make a difference, and to share the truth with the world at large.  

Man or woman, gay or straight, believer or not - we welcome and embrace you all.  

The pain and suffering we have experienced personally and that we witness in your lives will no longer be abided in silence - and we have solutions.  

So often your doctors and psychiatrists approach us to learn why we do not suicide, why we have so few addicts and chronic alcoholics, and our families are so strong, so productive, so happy.  Perhaps we have remained silent for too long, for war clouds are looming all over the earth - but now is the time, and we are here to help.

We are the people and the international movement that is called "New Hope."  We are not a religion in any traditional sense, and like all true Anabaptist communities, we seek neither to convince nor convert.

Ours is a pattern of living, a set of rules about how to treat others, and a method to address the illnesses, the addictions, the anxieties and the fears that beset the modern world.  

The Prophecy is Now Fulfilled

Illusions, Chapter one, By Richard Bach, 1977

1.  There was a Master come unto the earth,
    born in the holy land of Indiana, raised 
    in the mystical hills east of Fort Wayne.

2.  The Master learned of this world in the 
    public schools of Indiana and he grew, 
    in his trade as a mechanic of automobiles.

3.  But the Master had learnings from other
    lands and other schools, from other lives 
    that he had lived.  He remembered these,
    and remembering became wise and strong, so
    that others saw his strength and came to him
    for counsel.

4.  He believed that he had power to help himself
    and all mankind, and as he believed so it was 
    for him, so that others saw his power and came
    to him to be healed of their troubles and their
    many diseases.

5.  The Master believed that it is well for any man 
    to think upon himself as a son of God, and as 
    he believed, so it was, and the shops and garages
    where he worked became crowded and jammed with 
    those who sought his learning and his touch, and
    the streets outside with those who longed only
    that the shadow of his passing might fall upon 
    them, and change their lives.