Encountering the Eternal One: A Guide for Mennonite Churches, by Gerke Van Hiele Et. Al.
This book is a guide to faith exploration. Written from a Mennonite perspective, originally for churches in the Netherlands where it has been widely used, it is presented here in English translation for the first time. Although the book can be read by interested individuals, it is designed especially for group exploration and study.
"The book is a valuable and highly accessible snapshot of the life of one of the oldest Anabaptist groups in the world." - Mennonite Quarterly Review
"This book was written to enable deep discussions. It encourages people to get into real conversation with each other. Everyone brings rich gifts with their faith stories, allowing us to learn from one other. This book hopes to reunite the personal experience of the gathered community." - from the preface to the Dutch Edition by Gabe Hoekema, Chairman of the Committee for Spiritual Affairs of the ADS (General Mennonite Society, the Netherlands)
"It is common for works of Mennonite scholarship and church materials to be translated from English into Dutch. This work represents the opposite. Encountering the Eternal One is a translation of Aangeraakt door de Eeuwige, published in the Netherlands in 2001, and is offered as a contribution from the Mennonite churches in the Netherlands to the English-speaking global Mennonite fellowship. The purpose of the book for Dutch readers is well articulated and evidently appropriate for that context. Written by four authors, it is a "guide to faith exploration" for individuals and groups. Material in the book is expressly presented in a manner so as to avoid conversation-ending pronouncements and propositional conclusions. Rather, the purpose of the book is to 'enable deep discussions' for Mennonites (and other Christians) in the Netherlands, whom the authors broadly characterize as seekers and searchers." - Andrew Brubacher Kaethler, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary