Jessica Griggs shares the experience of collective camaraderie and competition she witnessed at the Anabaptism at 500 celebration.
Jessica Griggs is a freelance writer and copy editor, who works primarily with the Mennonite Church USA communications team. She is a first-generation Mennonite and holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Religion in biblical studies from Cincinnati (Ohio) Christian University. Jessica lives in Elkhart, Indiana, with her husband, Zane, two daughters — and a third child on the way — and three beagles. She attends Silverwood Mennonite Church, in Goshen, Indiana.
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Hope. Joy. Exhilaration. Teamwork. Unity.
As I stood at my table, reading John 11-12 aloud, while hundreds of people around me read their assigned Bible passages, I couldn’t help but feel this bundle of unexpected and overwhelmingly positive emotions. Together, we celebrated 500 years of heritage — both familial and spiritual — strong convictions, belief amid persecution, reading the Bible in community and unity, by attempting to read the whole Bible together in under 15 minutes.
I can only imagine that the experience I had at the Follow Jesus ’25 Anabaptism at 500 celebration in Greensboro, North Carolina, is just a microcosm of the overall experience. My husband, two toddlers and I sat at a table with our conference minister, one of my husband’s former seminary classmates and two people from a neighboring conference whom my family had just met.
As the first round of trivia began, we bonded quickly over our shared competitiveness. We were amazed as our team worked together and began to rise to the top of the trivia rankings. Completely by happenstance, each of us seemed to have different strong suits, from 16th century Anabaptism to U.S. Mennonite history to Anabaptists in popular culture today. And despite our clear drive to win, we readily trusted one another when someone confidently shared the answer to the question. Unfortunately for us, someone accidentally spilled their cup of water on the phone we were using to submit our answers, and the subsequent technical difficulties took us out of the running for the round. But everyone at the table was a good sport, and no one’s devices were permanently disabled.
After the first round of trivia, we moved into the collective Bible-reading experience. Since there were fewer than the expected 500 participants, some people were asked to take on the task of reading two passages in the 15 minutes allotted. Multiple people at our table volunteered to take on the extra reading. One person at our table even considered taking on a third passage but decided against it for fear of causing us to miss the 15-minute mark. Even before the timer began, the room was buzzing with excitement. Common questions flowed through our heads: Will we meet our goal? What if I’m the last person reading? What if my phone dies? What if I get a phone call? I had a lot of anxiety surrounding my children, who began crying as soon as we began reading, so my husband and I were left comforting them while also trying to read.
All of these fears were unfounded. We were in it together, and I witnessed that fact in so many beautiful ways at my table alone.
The unity and teamwork was absolutely astounding. Despite having taken two passages, one person at our table, Eli, finished their reading before anyone else at our table, and seeing that my toddler was crying, they walked over to her and attempted to comfort her, so my husband and I could read without as much distraction. Once I completed my reading and could direct my attention toward my child, Eli went back to their seat but was shortly thereafter asked to finish another person’s assigned reading, which they did happily. Meanwhile, Doug, our conference minister’s phone stalled while he was reading his passage — likely due to the water being spilled on it earlier in the night. After some mild panic, he was able to pass the rest of his passage off to yet another person at our table. We all worked together toward our shared goal, helping one another, as good Mennonites do.
We were asked to sit down when we completed our reading. As fewer and fewer people remained standing and the clock ticked down, something amazing happened. Despite the ever-increasing collective anxiety, around the two-minute mark, the group began cheering as each person sat down, providing an incredibly positive atmosphere and relieving a lot of the stress of being “the last man standing.” When the timer ran out and there were still a couple of people reading, not a single groan was heard, only overwhelming encouragement. This time of collective reading was one of the most unifying and encouraging 16 minutes and 15 seconds I have ever experienced.
After the excitement wore down, many people filed out, but the dedicated few continued to the second round of trivia, and our table’s competitiveness came back to the forefront. Despite a series of questions that our group found particularly challenging, we came out on top and demolished our competition — all in good sport, of course.
Some of the beauty of the night was contained in this juxtaposition of competition and collective camaraderie.
But the real beauty could be seen as we stood on the shoulders of 500 years of forebearers who led us to this point in our faith, as we also held generations to come on our shoulders.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog belong to the author and are not intended to represent the views of the MC USA Executive Board or staff.