Evangelicals and Plain Folk

30 December 2008 (John)

I remember sitting in the semi-luxurious, though sterile, setting of Melbourne airport, and feeling a bit like I imagined a Roman might on returning to the empire after some venture to a far-flung and “barbarous” place. I remember thinking about how the Roman, like myself, might have returned wondering if perhaps the “barbarous” people weren’t in fact happier and more civilized than those in so called “civilization”.

OK, I’d only been to the north-west coast of Tasmania, and the people I’d been visiting had electricity, phones and broadband Internet, nevertheless there was still a sense while staying at Rocky Cape Christian Community of having at least one foot outside “the system”.

But it wasn’t such a bad comparison that I’d made considering that these people were, for the most part, descendants of church groups that in the past found themselves fleeing to the outermost edges of civilization to escape persecution by the “Holy Roman Empire” (Catholicism), and later even by the reformed movements of Luther and Zwingli.

Anabaptists, Mennonites, Hutterites, or the rather endearing title of “Plain Folk”. All labels with close connections to one another and various nuances of meaning; yet I’m not sure if the people at Rocky Cape wear any of them completely. Like any label, they help those in the know place a people and their beliefs, but can also spawn assumptions that may not fit. Likewise if I wore the label “evangelical” amongst those I’m going to refer to as “Plain Folk”, their assumption would not be that I was a sound bible-believing Christian, but that I was part of apostate western Christianity. You see, both sides have their pre-conceptions, and labels despite their value enhance the problem.

I’ll admit though that I probably did harbor a few pre-conceptions when I set out to Tasmania to visit my sister and family living at Rocky Cape Christian Community. What would these Christians who live in community, and whose woman folk are at least 200 years behind modern fashion, be like? There’s something about these two most obvious factors that made me suspect harsh legalism, and yet in my stay I found just normal, warm, genuine Christian folk who I quickly felt at home with. Because I’m writing from, very broadly speaking, an evangelical perspective, and largely to an evangelical audience, I’d like to share my impressions, and the small amount I know, about these people, along with sharing some of their impressions of “us”.

Us, the evangelicals, don’t generally make any connection between “fellowship” and “communal living”. In fact, mainly because of the hippy commune era we are usually quite suspicious of community. I more than many have had opportunity to reflect on the problems of hippy communes. My mother was raised in New Zealand’s first hippy commune (Beeville) and my father wrote one of the quintessential books on NZ communes called ‘A Hard Won Freedom’. Also for a number of years my parents were the editors of ‘Mushroom Magazine’, a key alternative NZ publication in the 70’s. While I do fondly remember the relaxed and free feeling of many of the hippy communities I’ve stayed on, I had long since decided that communal living was not a good thing. Nevertheless, I’d never been to a Christian community and I still can’t claim to know what it’s like to live and grow up on one. Many plain folk on the other hand see communal living as part of what the Christian life is meant to be all about. Much of this difference in focus between the evangelical world and the plain folk seems to come from the difference between translating the bible into English and German. In English the Greek word “Koinonia” is translated as “Fellowship”, which we take only to imply a spiritual fellowship. In German it is translated as “Gemeinshaft” which implies not just spiritual fellowship, but a fellowship of goods also. It implies community and having all things in common as the first Christians early in the book of Acts did. So while we tend to be suspicious of those that chose a highly communal response to this, they are equally as skeptical of our fragmented Christian society. Indeed, we must admit that members of many western churches are not really “close”, and can even be notoriously false in their relationships. We may have a clear sense of the dangers of communal life, but we are often less perceptive of how divided and conquered we tend to be in the evangelical Christian community.

Community life

So, what is a typical day of community life like at Rocky Cape? Well, the place itself is a former Baptist camp situated near the mouth of the detention river in Rocky Cape, Tasmania (the large island off the bottom of Australia). Breakfast is had separately in each household and then the men folk go off to work while the school age children go to school. In most communities of this type the men farm or run businesses located on the community itself, however due to being a fairly new community the men were working off-site at a local mining operation while I was there. And while the children go off to school, their school is part of the community and run by a parent and a couple of the oldest teenage girls. I actually sat in for one morning of schooling and really enjoyed the lessons. Running a community school is much more time efficient than everyone home schooling and keeps learning as a social activity amongst the children. School lasts till lunchtime which is the one communal meal of the day, prepared by whoever is on the roster. This is usually a full cooked meal, people’s main meal of the day. It’s quite clear in conversations about food that the economics of community are very good due to the ability to bulk buy, and even to do creative things like gleaning potatoes and carrots after the harvesting machines on local farms. After lunch children are free for the afternoon to play, build things in the well equipped workshop, go fishing or help their parents at home. Woman folk largely spend their days in the very traditional activities of raising children, cooking, cleaning, doing washing, perhaps doing some gardening or sewing. Perhaps the only non-traditional activity might be that of emailing or reading something online. Both men and woman are well educated and have a wide range of practical skills. As the day nears its end there is a group devotional time called Gebet (short for Gebetsstund, meaning "Prayer Hour") which, though often starting with singing, otherwise has many similarities to a bible study / prayer meeting. After this families return to their separate dwellings, have dinner and spend the evening together. To me this seemed like a reasonable level of community, not too intensely communal like one non-Christian example I recall where all meals were in common and even clothes were communal property. I’m not sure what the official line is on private property, but it was clear that people had personal items, though all significant wealth was communal and all pay went into the communal purse.

Perhaps this kind of life sounds awful to you, or maybe it sounds very appealing. Whatever you do please don’t suddenly decide it’s the answer to all your problems and run off to join it. Knowing a little of the history of those who have come to it from outside, my impression is that it’s very hard for people to adjust who are not “natives” to this lifestyle. Some people have probably gone there trying to escape problems that were actually personal or spiritual problems, and guess what – their problems followed them. Others, even balanced and spiritually minded, have nevertheless found that in the end the culture being set (informally) by the community, rather than within the family unit, meant they ultimately chose to cease actually living in the community, trading this for a more standard friendship with it. The community at Rocky Cape is an offshoot from Elmendorf in the US, and amongst its aims are that of being a witness and a mission. To me it was a witness that our way wasn’t the only way, and also hooked me into a well of valuable Anabaptist understanding of the Christian life. If I was to recommend anything it would be to visit for a day; perhaps a few days if it was mutually agreeable. Get to know the people, who are very amenable, and draw from them an understanding of what they would call “the life” to take home and apply in your own Christian community.

Coming together

So far I have suggested some things we can learn from them, but what do I think they could learn from us? In evangelical circles we have been exposed to a huge ecumenical push in recent decades. Unfortunately much of this has given way to a dumbed down oneness that may eventually include holding hands with moderate Islam and the New Age, and saying that we “all worship the same God”. However, despite this there are many who are still true to God’s word and who have learnt a more spiritual ecumenicalism. We have learnt to cross doctrinal divides and find others who have a genuine walk with the Lord. We have learnt to discuss our differences and still maintain a fellowship of love despite them. I think there has been an opening up in Plain Folk circles too, but they more than us are probably often reluctant to build these bridges (especially when they perceive us as all being worldly and swept up in materialistic and individualistic living). They more than us perhaps are unwilling to swerve from tradition, if only because they have a Christian heritage that has come down generation to generation over hundreds of years. But really, to my way of thinking there are only two kinds of Christians in the world – the wheat and the tares. Both seem to be found through most denominations. The tares are all coming together; building the apostate Christian kingdom on earth and it is on my heart that the wheat should not be isolated by them, but also come together to fight the spiritual battle ahead. If there are Christ’s children in the evangelical movement and in the various groups of Anabaptist origin, then I would love to see them forming connections with each other. To do so will require love, patience, and a view of what makes a genuine Christian that goes beyond adherence to overly specific doctrinal or lifestyle distinctives.

Building bridges

What, practically speaking, can each side do to build bridges? How about evangelical churches inviting plain folk to speak (and vice versa). Rocky Cape really opened the door to hear what I had to say even though they knew I might say things that were not according to their doctrinal leanings. Actually, in general Plain Folk will be more concerned by the witness of your life than what rolls off your tongue. What about you? Are you willing to let them step into your church group and stir up serious reflection on what it means to live like a Christian and to be in the world but not of the world? If you are reading this outside of Australia then the best way to find a community near you would be to make contact with someone via the Rocky Cape website: www.thecommonlife.com.au and to ask them for information about similar groups that might be closer to you. The website also has some great eBooks and articles that provide excellent insight into the wonderful Anabaptist heritage. And of course, if your are from a Christian community and feel moved by the Holy Spirit to build bridges with serious minded evangelicals, please feel free to contact me (John) via contact page on this website and I can probably make connections in most parts of the English speaking world.

Everything I have written here is just a spark, but I hope it's a spark that ignites some warm fires of friendship.

ALSO See: Documentary video on The Hutterites

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