Pentecostal pacifist to speak for joint worship at San José Mennonite Convention
Paul Alexander (right) of Azusa, Calif., and speaker for the July 4 evening worship at the Mennonite Church USA San José Convention, is pictured with his wife Deborah, daughter Kharese (top) and son Nathan. A minister in the Assemblies of God church, Paul Alexander discovered his denomination’s peace position during Ph.D. studies and later founded the Pentecostal Charismatic Peace Fellowship.
NEWTON, Kan. (Mennonite Church USA)Paul Alexander found a peace theology in a place he never thought to lookburied beneath the teachings of his own denomination. Raised in a Pentecostal family with a devout love of Jesus and in a church wedded to civil religion, Alexander at age 25 thought he knew Jesus.
Then he discovered peace, and his search for Jesus started all over again.
Today, Paul Alexander sits in his office at Azusa (Calif.) Pacific University, amazed at his faith journeyone that took him from his parents’ home in Sedan, Kan., to college and grad school in Texas, and now to southern California where he directs the doctor of ministry program at Azusa.
Mennonite Church USA convention planners have asked Alexander to speak to youth and adults during the July 4 evening worship at San José. The message from this peace-loving Pentecostal will be simple: don’t lose focus on Jesus.
Background
“My great-grandparents were part of the Pentecostal movement at the beginning of the 20th century when it was just getting started. For Mennonites that’s not a long heritage, but for Pentecostals, that’s as far back as it goes,” Alexander explains. Traditional beginnings for the movement date back to revivals in 1901 in Topeka, Kan., and 1906 in Los Angeles.
Pentecostals believe in a baptism of the Holy Spirit evidenced by divine healings and speaking in tongues. Pentecostals in the United States today, including evangelists Oral Roberts and Rex Humbard, number more then 20 million.
The largest Pentecostal denomination is Assemblies of God, the church to which Alexander’s parents belong and in which Paul Alexander is a minister.
“My dad prayed for me and my brother almost every night of our growing up years. He would plead the blood of Jesus over us. I was used to an emotional religion of weeping and praying. Dad’s great advice to me was to always ‘seek Jesus’,” Alexander says.
Raised with a heart for the church, missions and world, Alexander claims that his denomination was in love with the military and patriotism and also wedded to civil religion.
“My love of Jesus and my heart for God and the church went very well with my love and patriotism for this country. The thought of being a conscientious objectoror opposing war or not killing someone in self-defense or for Americaseemed ludicrous to me,” Alexander says. “I could not fathom the idea of a Christian not killing. Amish and Mennonites seemed rather silly and naïve.”
Alexander completed his bachelor’s degree in cross-cultural missions in three years at Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas. Two years later he earned his master of divinity degree.
During his Ph.D. work in theology at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, he struggled with his faith. Where is the all-loving and all-powerful God, he wondered, when there is suffering and evil in the world? Where is this God we plead to for healing when healing doesn’t happen? Where is the Jesus I thought I understood so well?
Reclaiming his peace heritage
Doing research for a course, Alexander remembers that he “accidentally” learned about the peace heritage and social justice concerns that had been part of the early history of the Assemblies of God church until the Vietnam War.
Shocked and surprised, this one-time disciple of Far Right political commentators absorbed the writings of the United Methodist theologian Stanley Hauerwas and took a course taught by Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoderin 1997, months before Yoder died.
After learning about peace and ethics, after “finding” the Jesus described by Yoder and the Peace Church tradition and after discovering the early Pentecostal conscientious objectors, Alexander reclaimed his faith.
“The theology of peacemaking was very persuasive. I realized that Jesus saved me. I came to understand that if Jesus is the son of God and the way, then this is what it means to live that way,” Alexander says.
He had found a strong, passionate vocal and public witness for nonviolence and forgiveness and against war and nationalism. Only after first learning stories of the Assemblies of God pacifists did he discover that his grandfather had resisted conscription during World War II.
Grandpa in CPS
“When Grandpa Smith was drafted, he wrote a letter to General Hershey and to the President, explaining that he was a Pentecostal Christian, a follower of Jesus, and he could not kill,” Alexander says. Granted an exemption, W.B. Smith of Mt. Pleasant, Texas, served in a Civilian Public Service camp in Virginia from April 1942 to February 1945.
A conscientious objector’s grandson, Alexander could no longer argue for violence in any form. “Earlier I thought I had all the answers and I could explain war and justify violencethat sometimes you just have to kill peoplebut I was wrong.”
The position came directly from his Pentecostal heritage. Sound theological and biblical arguments, including those from Mennonites, backed up the peace position. Alexander finally told himself, “Okay, I’m going to follow Jesus.”
Owning peace
Although Alexander’s years of owning the peace position have held some rocky days, he continues to follow “God’s call to the way of Christ in all things.” Discipleship is ongoing.
In July 2001 Alexander founded the Pentecostal Charismatic Peace Fellowship, which now has around 500 members. As its executive director, he has met twice since the Charlotte (N.C.) Convention with Mennonite Church USA leaders, including peace advocate Susan Mark Landis and director of interchurch relations André Gingerich Stoner, to discuss how denominational peace fellowships can work together.
In 2005 Alexander put his walk with peace into action when he joined a Christian Peacemaker Team to Palestine/Israel/West Bank.
“My father always told me to ‘seek Jesus.’ Little did he or I know that this would lead me to take peacemaking so seriously,” Alexander says.
Resource advocates widen web of Mennonite Church USA resources
Linda Alley, explains how the hand-crafted pin represents Virginia Mennonite Conference
By Marlene Bogard
BALTIMORE, Md.An apple, Play-Doh, cracked pottery and handmade jewelry served as part of a visual focus for the second annual Resource Advocate Training March 2 to 4 in Baltimore, Md. Initiated in 2006 by Mennonite Church USA, the Area Conference Resource Advocate network links congregations with Mennonite Church USA agencies and churchwide ministries and the resources they produce.
In Baltimore, conference resource advocates shared objects to introduce themselves and their area conferences. The pliable Play-Doh represented the “still-forming” Mountain States Mennonite Conference. Purple and blue jewelry, brought by a Virginia Mennonite Conference advocate, symbolized “taking what you have and using it.” The apple, shared by the New York conference advocate, signified a “strong core of beliefs” in the Apple State. The visuals demonstrated the diversity the advocates work with and represent.
The training focused on resources pertaining to the missional pathway of hospitality and evangelism. Representatives from Mennonite Mission Network, Mennonite Publishing Network and Mennonite Church USA Executive Leadership attended the event. Resources for study, prayer, worship, faith formation and practical theology were highlighted.
Those in attendance agreed Mennonite Church USA’s agencies and Executive Leadership offer a wealth of print and media resources. The challenge is to get the resources from the agencies into the hands of congregational leaders.
Eldon Stoltzfus, advocate for the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference, said the resource advocate’s role makes him a better pastor. He described himself as a “people link” to connect pastors and congregations to resources through the connections and e-mails he receives from churchwide ministries.
A clear challenge to the advocates is to increase their visibility in area conferences. Kathy Weaver Wenger, resource advocate coordinator from Lancaster, Pa., is positive about the network’s future.
“The concept and role of a resource advocate for each conference is still relatively new, but when I hear testimonies about how a simple conversation or event had a broader impact, I know the seed is beginning to grow,” Wenger said
