March 14 - No baby steps

March 14 - No baby steps

Reform was sweeping through Europe, but sometimes the church simply changed hands. For the most part, the reformers would gain control of the government and simply replace the Roman church with the reformed church. Everyone in the community was expected to belong to the new church.

Zwingli was supported by Zurich in Switzerland. However, there were a group of people that had some fresh ideas about who might belong to the church. Maybe it wasn't meant for everyone, but just for those who wanted to be Christians. As they thought through that, it occurred to them that baptizing infants wasn't really working out so well. How could a baby join a church. In that day and age, babies were baptized just as a matter of form since they were part of the community.

Conrad Grebel and his wife decided that they weren't going to baptize their baby. Other families made the same choice. The city council in Zurich called for a debate on the issue. Following the debate, a vote was taken and infant baptism still remained. These radical people needed to either get their babies baptized or get out. They were also ordered to stop meeting.

They met. They talked. They prayed. Georg Blaurock was convicted during his prayer and asked Grebel to baptize him as the apostles had - after he had made a confession of faith. Others followed and the Anabaptist movement was born. Anabaptist means 'rebaptizer.' They didn't choose the name. Enemies mocked them with it.

They left Zurich and began their own church, free from the laws of the city. The leaders were imprisoned and many were executed.

Grebel began preaching and during the spring of 1525 baptized over five hundred people that had been baptized as infants. He had studied with Zwingli and stood with him as changes were made in Zurich, but now he was in exile. He and Zwingli held public debates.

Grebel was arrested later in 1525, sentenced to life in prison, escaped but then at the age of 29 died of the plague.

The Anabaptist movement had just begun. From this group came the Mennonites, Huttites and the Amish.