500 Years, One Faithful Voice
This article originally appeared in the Spring/Summer 2025 issue of The Bulletin.
The Anabaptist Community Bible is a communal project from MennoMedia, created to mark 500 years of Anabaptism — a tradition grounded in the belief that true evangelical faith cannot lie dormant. Shaped by 600 Bible study groups and 60 scholars across North America, this Bible reflects a Jesus-centered approach to Scripture, one that bears fruit in love, service and active witness. Many contributors have deep ties to Goshen College, a longtime center of Anabaptist thought. In this essay series, hear from Goshen-connected scholars, artists and alumni whose voices helped shape the Bible — and whose reflections reveal the living, serving, justice-seeking spirit at its heart.
Rooted in Scripture, Shaped by Community
By John D. Roth ’81, professor emeritus of history, general editor of Anabaptist Community Bible
The Anabaptist Community Bible, the centerpiece of MennoMedia’s Anabaptism at 500 initiative, is a study Bible that seeks to embody core Anabaptist principles for reading Scripture: that the Bible should be read in community and through the lens of Jesus, trusting the the Holy Spirit will reveal how the text can be applied to daily life.
My work as general editor of the Anabaptist Community Bible was filled with challenges — but also with an equal number of blessings. It was a joy to collaborate with 61 gifted biblical scholars, as well as a team of historians who gathered biblical commentary from more than 100 16th-century Anabaptist writers. I also was overwhelmed by the creativity of the artists who created 40 original linocut drawings that offered new perspectives on familiar texts.
But the truly amazing aspect of the study Bible was the contribution of nearly 600 lay Bible study groups from Anabaptist faith communities across North America and 15 other countries. Those groups took their assignments seriously, and the insights, questions and applications they contributed captured a central element of Anabaptist biblical hermeneutics — making the Anabaptist Community Bible unique among the many study Bibles currently available.
The Anabaptist Community Bible was truly a collaborative effort. I am hopeful that in the coming years it will achieve our goal of inviting readers “to a renewed encounter with Scripture as a living text that has the power to transform our lives.”
John D. Roth served as professor of history at Goshen College as well as director of the Mennonite Historical Library and editor of The Mennonite Quarterly Review. He was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism at Goshen College (2012) and secretary of the MWC Faith and Life Commission (2009). In 2022 Roth became the project director of Anabaptism at 500, an initiative of MennoMedia. Its centerpiece was a new study Bible — the Anabaptist Community Bible. John has written widely on topics related to Anabaptist-Mennonite history and church life.
Reading Together, Living Forward
By Amy Gingerich ’99, executive director of MennoMedia
The idea for the Anabaptist Community Bible originated with MennoMedia’s leadership team during a February 2020 retreat. We were nearing the end of another significant project — the Voices Together worship and song collection — and began dreaming about what might come next. As we looked ahead to 2025 and this significant 500th anniversary, our team quickly coalesced around the concept of an Anabaptist Bible project. From there, we spent more than a year testing the idea with scholars, staff and board, donors and customers.
From the very beginning, we dreamed about how this suite of resources could invite Anabaptists to look back and live forward. Through the Anabaptism at 500 initiative, we have tried to live into the space between where the church has been and where it is going — to give voice to the transformation that the early Anabaptists called for, while also recognizing the ways that Anabaptist faith continues to evolve around the world.
Nearly 600 study groups signed up to participate in the Anabaptist Community Bible!
My own spiritual life has been profoundly enriched by reading these study notes. The groups took the assignment seriously, and it is clear from the reflections that they listened deeply to one another, trusted the Holy Spirit and let the text speak to them.
I find fresh hope for my faith in reading from the 7,000+ notes alongside the biblical text — to see the encouragement, the questions and the wrestlings right there on the page. I hope people find connection to their own wonderings, beliefs, convictions and even doubts in those notes, and that in finding these connections they are drawn anew into the Bible.
Amy Gingerich ’99 serves as publisher and executive director of MennoMedia, which published the Anabaptist Community Bible. She lives near Cleveland, Ohio.
Scripture that Moves Us: A True Communal Endeavor
By Breanna Nickel ’10, associate professor of Bible and religion
I continue to be amazed by the Anabaptist Community Bible — it is a rich celebration of Anabaptist/Mennonite biblical exploration, a unique study resource and a beautiful reflection of communal endeavor.
Alongside the many contributors, I was honored to write a section of introductory commentary for the book of Zephaniah. This little prophetic book may not always be our “go-to” reading, but I find the uncompromising nature of its warnings and expectations to be inspiring. There is no hint of doubt in this text that our actions, and our treatment of others, deeply matter!
It was especially meaningful to see the Bible in its finished form, with so many voices contributing. Reading through the notes from church study groups, you encounter thoughtful wrestling with all sorts of aspects of biblical stories — from “strangeness” and humor to piercing questions about the efficacy of the church.
This project has renewed my gratitude for the Anabaptist/Mennonite tradition, and it’s definitely prompted me to rethink what it means to be a biblical tradition! I hope readers will continue the conversations they find running across the Bible’s pages and take the opportunity to move from reading to action.
Living into Uncertainty with Intention
By Rafael Barahona ’01, MennoMedia board member and brand designer
Earlier this year, Goshen College and College Mennonite Church hosted a commemorative worship service for the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism and to celebrate the launch of the Anabaptist Community Bible. This event was a major milestone in the life of our Anabaptist faith, inviting us to carefully consider our complex history and collectively examine what lies ahead of us as we engage with an exponentially changing world.
This journey began in earnest for me several years earlier when our design studio was contracted to brand the Anabaptism at 500 initiative. We had the privilege of helping develop a visual language and a voice for this historical moment. I am especially fond of the tagline: Looking back, living forward.
As other believers engage with this initiative, I hope they can appreciate the constant nature of God, as well as the diversity that we hold as a global church. As I look back, I have really come to appreciate the opportunity that Goshen College gave me to lean into questions and nuance. This critical life skill has informed how I engage with my faith both personally, and also in relationship to my local and global community.
I was recently in a conversation around the limits of our human capacity to live in a global context. We are innately communal, but this works best when we can see and interact meaningfully with a small group of people who speak into our lives. In other words, tribes. But in a national or a global context, we have also been made painfully aware of how tribalism can be used as a destructive force. So how do we hold these in tension?
I often take solace in the fact that whatever is happening in the world, God is never changing. When it comes to us humans, we sometimes change, for better or worse, and sometimes we don’t change, also for better or worse. But our posture matters. I am hopeful that Anabaptism at 500’s invitation to look back and live forward is a poignant framework for us all to live into uncertainty with intention.
Rafael Barahona has served on the MennoMedia Board of Directors since 2015, playing a key role in shaping the vision of the Anabaptist Community Bible from its earliest stages. As both a board member and ambassador for the Anabaptism at 500 initiative, he contributed to the Bible’s marginal notes and participated in its launch at Goshen College. Professionally, Rafael’s design studio LightBox crafted the project’s brand identity, collaborating closely with MennoMedia to develop its visual direction. He lives in Goshen.