Military, Policing and Christianity
Listen Now
Our Guests
-
Cameron McKenzie is the lead pastor at Fort Garry EMC in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
-
Cyndy Warkentin is the pastor of Saturday Night Church in Landmark, Manitoba.
-
After studies at Fresno Pacific University, Mennonite Brethren Bible College, University of Manitoba (BA Hons), and Harvard University Divinity School (MDiv, ThD), Tom served as hospital and prison chaplain in Winnipeg, as well as pastor in Thompson, MB, and Boston, MA. He served on the MCCanada Christian Formation Council and is presently chair of the Faith and Life Commission of the Mennonite World Conference. His teaching and preaching have taken him beyond North America to Europe, Asia, and Africa. Tom is author numerous articles, both popular and scholarly, as well as books such as Guilt and Humanness: The Significance of Guilt for the Humanization of the Judicial-Correctional System, 1982; Put on the Armour of God! The Divine Warrior from Isaiah to Ephesian, 1997; Ephesians (Believers Church Bible Commentary), 2002); Christus ist unser Friede: Die Kirche und ihr Ruf zu Wehrlosigkeit und Widerstand, 2007; Recovering Jesus: the Witness of the New Testament, 2007; and Killing Enmity: Violence and the New Testament, 2011. Tom and his wife Rebecca are members of First Mennonite Church, Kitchener, ON.
Links and Resources
Books
Killing Enmity, by Dr. Thomas Yoder Neufeld
Music
First Communion, Dane Joneshill
(Spotify | YouTube Music)
A Dear Old Drinking Game, Kevin Aron
Notable Quotes
How Does Jesus’ Teaching Impact Our Views on Military Involvement?
If I had a young man in my church, or a young woman in my church who is looking at a career in the military, I would want to sit down and have a long and diligent conversation with them about the question of loyalty and what it means to swear an oath and how that oath to your country fundamentally compromises the oath that you make to Jesus in baptism, when you say I belong to you, you are Lord of my life. ~Cameron McKenzie
We are sinners. That's who we are. So these conversations are not about who's more righteous and who's less righteous, who's holy, or who's less holy, who's a better Christian, who's a worse Christian, what we're trying to do is we're trying to navigate through the scriptures, in the context of the church, what it means to follow Jesus faithfully and to me, to follow Jesus faithfully means Jesus gets the final command on my life, always Jesus gets the final command on my life. ~Cameron McKenzie
I think that actually, within Anabaptist history, though they talk about the sword, and they talk about the military and all those sorts of things, the real issue in early Anabaptism that really catalyzes this for me is the whole question of the oath. ~Cameron McKenzie
In spite of all of that, I still can't come to terms with joining the military to fight and kill other human beings. I just don't see how I can live into Jesus’ teaching on love your enemies and the peace and unity he sought to bring, and at the same time, we try to blow up those with whom we are in conflict. ~Cyndy Warkentin
I can't imagine right now, however, what stress… There are some Mennonite churches in Ukraine, including a Mennonite Brethren one in Berdyans’k, very close to Mariupol, which is being absolutely devastated right now. What pressure are those young men facing as Ukrainian young men trying to figure out what's the connection between military service and following Jesus? Because many times, what happens if you say no in a setting like that to carrying weapons your alternative is to go to prison and perhaps even to be executed, so there's nothing abstract about the question you raised right now for many, many people in our world. ~Dr Thomas Yoder Neufeld
Is There a Distinction Between Military and Policing? If so, where is it?
And so, when I think about encouraging the church to pursue a life of discipleship, I would ask the question: so what do you see the police doing that you think is worth dedicating your life to? And once you've identified that, let's talk about how you can actually do that. ~Cameron McKenzie
I hope that Christ-followers who join the police force see themselves as peace officers first and foremost and that they actually feel it's a calling and a way that they can help struggling people and show the love of Jesus through their work. ~Cyndy Warkentin
In this very building, some years ago, when I was still working here, we had a series of meetings with police officers from Anabaptist congregations, Mennonite, Brethren in Christ, et cetera. And it was a very, very interesting, moving event. I found it very moving to hear how different their lives are from those that are depicted on television on cop shows. Most of them had never actually used a gun in their line of work. They were trained for it, but most of them had never, and when one of them had, and it was a profoundly traumatic experience for which he received a lot of counselling and help, etcetera. So that was very interesting for some of us to hear who tend to abstract this question. ~Dr. Thomas Yoder Neufeld
I'm not closed to the possibility that people can be police officers and be faithful followers of Jesus. I don't think it's going to be easy, and in many settings, it may not be possible. But there may be many other settings in which you can combine your care for the community, for the vulnerable, in which your treatment of people who are addicted, who are mentally ill, who are poor, is informed by your passion as a follower of Jesus. ~Dr. Thomas Yoder Neufeld
