Mennonite Church USA Leader Urges Anabaptists to Take Cues from Jesus, Not Party Platforms, After Presidential Election

Michael Danner, associate executive director for Church Vitality at Mennonite Church USA, has written a reflection on how Anabaptist followers of Jesus should live and interact with government in the wake of the 2024 presidential election. Danner previously served as conference minister for Illinois Mennonite Conference and spent 17 of his 20 years as a local church pastor at Metamora Mennonite Church in Illinois.

Danner writes that presidential elections, held every four years, determine executive leadership for the following four years and can prompt fear, hope or other responses. He says Anabaptist followers of Jesus should recognize that election winners can have a deep impact on ordinary people, while avoiding two errors: believing government can solve every problem, or believing it can accomplish nothing. He also says Anabaptists often fall into the same pattern as others in their culture by choosing a side between Democrats and Republicans and presuming the other side is wrong. Some, he notes, go further by treating a party’s positions as Christian regardless of how they align with the teaching of Jesus.

Danner sets out five points he says guide his own thinking. First, he writes that followers of Jesus take their cues from his life and teaching rather than from party platforms, and he points to the Sermon on the Mount as the best summary of that platform. Second, he says that following the greatest commandment to love God and neighbor does not require government permission, and that believers hold real power, especially in local communities. Third, he calls for living with “margins” of free time, space and resources so people can respond to others in need. Fourth, he writes that followers should consider others more important than themselves and seek to serve. Fifth, he describes believers as co-creators in God’s shalom, which he defines as the Hebrew word for salvation, justice and peace.

Danner acknowledges that the difficulty of living out these points depends partly on how government uses its power. If government supports the good, he writes, it is easier to live quiet and peaceful lives. If it acts in ways that hurt people, especially vulnerable people, believers may face more costly choices (Proverbs 31:8-9).

He recalls that in the 16th century Mennonites became known as “the quiet in the land,” a term for arrangements in which Mennonite communities lived apart, avoided stirring up trouble, and were left alone by local government leaders in return. Danner says that option was attractive in that period but that today being “quiet in the land” is available to some people and not others.

Danner concludes his argument with the view that shalom is a social condition in which all people have what they need to thrive, and that it is not fully present until all people share in it. He quotes Philippians 2:1-11 at length, including the passage’s call to unity, humility and valuing others above oneself.

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