Just as Jesus let his body be broken and his blood be shed, he wants you to give up being a separate grain of wheat, a separate grape. He wants you to throw yourself into the unity of the body, the unity of the flowing wine. Through the death of Christ this unity is created. The new Spirit flows and gives life to the body, making it of one heart and one mind. This is the mystery of Christ, of the Church, of full uniting. This is the Lord’s Supper.
- Eberhard Arnold, January 1933
Selected Reading
The Spirit of the Early Church
Eberhard Arnold
The early church was not perfect, nor can it be blindly imitated, admits Eberhard Arnold in this groundbreaking 1926 essay. And yet, never since in church history has the Spirit been so forcefully at work. Why has the example of the first Christians never ceased to fuel renewal and reform?
Continue Reading
Why We Live in Community
Eberhard Arnold
Everyone’s talking about community these days. In this time-honored manifesto, Eberhard Arnold adds his voice to the vital discussion of what real intentional community is all about: love, joy, unity, and the great “adventure of faith” shared with others along the way.
The Early Anabaptists – Part II: Anabaptism in the Reformation
Eberhard Arnold
Persecuted by Catholics and Lutherans alike, these sixteenth-century Christians faced arrest and execution by the thousands for their beliefs. Learn more about the roots of a renewal movement that threatened the power of both church and state.
Continue ReadingQuick Quotes
The seeds of grain are scattered over many fields, and then comes harvest time. The grain from one field does not necessarily come together in one loaf. Mostly it is grain from many fields in different places that is baked together into one loaf. So we are many people; we have come together from many nations, from many different strata in society, from a variety of ideologies and traditions. We come from many different fields, but we are baked together in one loaf.
- Eberhard Arnold, May 1934
The Lord’s Supper is our way of expressing the central experience in Jesus, because we do not want to forget Jesus. How easy it is for us to forget Him! We need a very powerful reminder of Him. That is why we need the Lord’s Supper; it is a Meal of Remembrance.
- Eberhard Arnold