Mennonite World Conference commemorates birth of Anabaptism in 2025
Zurich (Karla Braun)
ON MAY 29, 2025, Mennonite World Conference (MWC) will welcome guests from around the world to The Courage to Love: Anabaptism@500. The day-long celebration commemorates the birth of the Anabaptist movement in Zurich, Switzerland. Following workshops, concerts, a panel discussion and self-guided historical walking tours, participants will gather for an ecumenical worship service at the Grossmünster cathedral.
The symbolic beginnings of the Anabaptist movement date to January 1525, when a group of young people gathered in Felix Manz’s home to commit a subversive act: adult baptism. Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock, who baptized several others on confession of their faith.
Their reading of the Bible convinced these early reformers that baptism was a symbol of a conscious decision to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ only adults can make. Their radical act put them at odds with the established church, which had been baptizing infants for a millennium.
As an act of peacebuilding and a testimony to recent reconciliation, MWC is inviting leaders of world communions (e.g., Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed) that were once sharply at odds with the Anabaptist movement. “On this day, Anabaptists will become visible in the streets of Zurich,” says Liesa Unger, MWC Chief International Events Officer. All events are within walking distance, and the worship service will be conducted in English and translated into French, Spanish and German.
“The event will have a strong historical component that makes it clear why we are gathering in Zurich. But an even stronger emphasis will focus on the future,” says historian and MWC Renewal 2025 coordinator John D. Roth.
Today, about 2.13 million believers in more than 80 countries identify as Anabaptists. MWC is preparing to receive hundreds of guests on May 29, including from the five regions it serves: Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. Musical ensembles from each region will perform, as well as an international ensemble—just like at MWC’s Assembly Gathered events.
