Mennonites
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Mennonites are a group of
The majority of the early Mennonite followers, rather than fighting, survived by fleeing to neighboring states where ruling families were tolerant of their belief in believer's baptism. Over the years, Mennonites have become known as one of the historic peace churches, due to their commitment to pacifism.[7]
Congregations worldwide embody various approaches to Mennonite practice, ranging from Old Order Mennonites (who practice a lifestyle without certain elements of modern technology) to Conservative Mennonites (who hold to traditional theological distinctives, wear plain dress and use modern conveniences) to mainline Mennonites (those who are indistinguishable in dress and appearance from the general population).[8] Mennonites can be found in communities in 87 countries on six continents.[9] Seven ordinances have been taught in many traditional Mennonite churches, which include "baptism, communion, footwashing, marriage, anointing with oil, the holy kiss, and the prayer covering."[6] The largest populations of Mennonites are found in Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, and the United States.[9] There are Mennonite settlements in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia,[10] Brazil, Mexico, Peru,[11] Uruguay,[12] Paraguay,[13] and Colombia.[14] The Mennonite Church in the Netherlands still continues where Simons was born.[15]
Though Mennonites are a global denomination with church membership from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, certain Mennonite communities with ethno-cultural origins in Switzerland and the Netherlands bear the designation of
History
The early history of the Mennonites starts with the Anabaptists in the German and Dutch-speaking regions of central Europe. The German term is Täufer (Baptist) or Wiedertäufer ("re-Baptizers" or "Anabaptists" using the Greek ana ["again"]).
Some of the followers of Zwingli's
Many government and religious leaders, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, considered voluntary church membership to be dangerous—the concern of some deepened by reports of the
Despite strong repressive efforts of the state churches, the movement spread slowly around western Europe, primarily along the Rhine[citation needed]. Officials killed many of the earliest Anabaptist leaders in an attempt to purge Europe of the new sect.[22]: 142 By 1530, most of the founding leaders had been killed for refusing to renounce their beliefs. Many believed that God did not condone killing or the use of force for any reason and were, therefore, unwilling to fight for their lives. The non-resistant branches often survived by seeking refuge in neutral cities or nations, such as Strasbourg. Their safety was often tenuous, as a shift in alliances or an invasion could mean resumed persecution. Other groups of Anabaptists, such as the Batenburgers, were eventually destroyed by their unwillingness to fight. This played a large part in the evolution of Anabaptist theology. They believed that Jesus taught that any use of force to get back at anyone was wrong, and taught to forgive.[citation needed]
In the early days of the Anabaptist movement, Menno Simons, a Catholic priest in the Low Countries, heard of the movement and started to rethink his Catholic faith. He questioned the doctrine of transubstantiation but was reluctant to leave the Roman Catholic Church. His brother, a member of an Anabaptist group, was killed when he and his companions were attacked and refused to defend themselves.[23] In 1536, at the age of 40, Simons left the Roman Catholic Church. He soon became a leader within the Anabaptist movement and was wanted by authorities for the rest of his life. His name became associated with scattered groups of nonviolent Anabaptists whom he helped to organize and consolidate.[24][25]
Fragmentation and variation
During the 16th century, the Mennonites and other Anabaptists were relentlessly persecuted. This period of persecution has had a significant impact on Mennonite identity. Martyrs Mirror, published in 1660, documents much of the persecution of Anabaptists and their predecessors, including accounts of over 4,000 burnings of individuals, and numerous stonings, imprisonments, and live burials.[26] Today, the book is still the most important book besides the Bible for many Mennonites and Amish, in particular for the Swiss-South German branch of the Mennonites. Persecution was still going on until 1710 in various parts of Switzerland.[27]
In 1693, Jakob Ammann led an effort to reform the Mennonite church in Switzerland and South Germany to include shunning, to hold communion more often, and other differences.[28] When the discussions fell through, Ammann and his followers split from the other Mennonite congregations. Ammann's followers became known as the Amish Mennonites or just Amish. In later years, other schisms among Amish resulted in such groups as the Old Order Amish, New Order Amish, Kauffman Amish Mennonite, Swartzentruber Amish, Conservative Mennonite Conference and Biblical Mennonite Alliance. For instance, near the beginning of the 20th century, some members in the Amish church wanted to begin having Sunday schools and participate in progressive Protestant-style para-church evangelism. Unable to persuade the rest of the Amish, they separated and formed a number of separate groups including the Conservative Mennonite Conference. Mennonites in Canada and other countries typically have independent denominations because of the practical considerations of distance and, in some cases, language. Many times these divisions took place along family lines, with each extended family supporting its own branch.
Political rulers often admitted the Menists or Mennonites into their states because they were honest, hardworking and peaceful[citation needed]. When their practices upset the powerful state churches, princes would renege on exemptions for military service, or a new monarch would take power, and the Mennonites would be forced to flee again, usually leaving everything but their families behind. Often, another monarch in another state would grant them welcome, at least for a while.
While Mennonites in
A strong emphasis on "community" was developed under these circumstances. It continues to be typical of Mennonite churches. As a result of frequently being required to give up possessions in order to retain individual freedoms, Mennonites learned to live very simply. This was reflected both in the home and at church, where their dress and their buildings were plain. The music at church, usually simple German chorales, was performed a cappella. This style of music serves as a reminder to many Mennonites of their simple lives, as well as their history as a persecuted people. Some branches of Mennonites have retained this "plain" lifestyle into modern times.
Statistics
The Mennonite World Conference was founded at the first conference in Basel, Switzerland, in 1925 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Anabaptism.[29] In 2022, the organization had 109 member denominations in 59 countries, and 1.47 million baptized members in 10,300 churches.[30]
Beliefs and practices
The beliefs of the movement are those of the Believers' Church.[31]
One of the earliest expressions of Mennonite Anabaptist faith was the Schleitheim Confession, adopted on 24 February 1527.[32] Its seven articles covered:
- The Ban (excommunication)
- Breaking of bread (Communion)
- Separation from and shunning of the abomination (the Roman Catholic Church and other "worldly" groups and practices)
- Believer's baptism
- Pastors in the church
- Renunciation of the sword (Christian pacifism)
- Renunciation of the oath (swearing as proof of truth)
The Dordrecht Confession of Faith was adopted on 21 April 1632, by Dutch Mennonites, by Alsatian Mennonites in 1660, and by North American Mennonites in 1725. It has been followed by many Mennonite groups over the centuries.[33] With regard to salvation, Mennonites believe:[34]
When we hear the good news of the love of God, the Holy Spirit moves us to accept the gift of salvation. God brings us into right relationship without coercion. Our response includes yielding to God's grace, placing full trust in God alone, repenting of sin, turning from evil, joining the fellowship of the redeemed, and showing forth the obedience of faith in word and deed. When we who once were God's enemies are reconciled with God through Christ, we also experience reconciliation with others, especially within the church. In baptism we publicly testify to our salvation and pledge allegiance to the one true God and to the people of God, the church. As we experience grace and the new birth, we are adopted into the family of God and become more and more transformed into the image of Christ. We thus respond in faith to Christ and seek to walk faithfully in the way of Christ.[34]
Traditionally, Mennonites sought to continue the beliefs of
Seven ordinances have been taught in many traditional Mennonite churches, which include "baptism, communion, footwashing, marriage, anointing with oil, the holy kiss, and the prayer covering."[6]
In 1911, the Mennonite church in the Netherlands (Doopsgezinde Kerk) was the first Dutch church to have a female pastor authorized; she was Anne Zernike.[38]
There is a wide scope of worship, doctrine and traditions among Mennonites today. This section shows the main types of Mennonites as seen from North America. It is far from a specific study of all Mennonite classifications worldwide but it does show a somewhat representative sample of the complicated classifications within the Mennonite faith worldwide.
Moderate Mennonites include the largest denominations, the
Traditionally, very modest dress was expected, particularly in
The Reformed Mennonite Church, with members in the United States and Canada, represents the first division in the original North American Mennonite body. Called the "First Keepers of the Old Way" by author Stephen Scott, the Reformed Mennonite Church formed in the very early 19th century. Reformed Mennonites see themselves as true followers of Menno Simons' teachings and of the teachings of the New Testament. They have no church rules, but they rely solely on the Bible as their guide. They insist on strict separation from all other forms of worship and dress in conservative plain garb that preserves 18th century Mennonite details. However, they refrain from forcing their Mennonite faith on their children, allow their children to attend public schools, and have permitted the use of automobiles. They are notable for being the church of Milton S. Hershey's mother and famous for the long and bitter ban of Robert Bear, a Pennsylvania farmer who rebelled against what he saw as dishonesty and disunity in the leadership.
The Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, a group often called Holdeman Mennonites after their founder John Holdeman, was founded from a schism in 1859.[39] They emphasize Evangelical conversion and strict church discipline. They stay separate from other Mennonite groups because of their emphasis on the one-true-church doctrine and their use of avoidance toward their own excommunicated members. The Holdeman Mennonites do not believe that the use of modern technology is a sin in itself, but they discourage too intensive a use of the Internet and avoid television, cameras and radio.[40] The group had 24,400 baptized members in 2013.[41]
- Horse and Buggy Old Order Mennonites came from the main series of Old Order schisms that began in 1872 and ended in 1901 in Ontario, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Midwest, as conservative Mennonites fought the radical changes that the influence of 19th century American Revivalism had on Mennonite worship. Most Horse and Buggy Old Order Mennonites allow the use of tractors for farming, although some groups insist on steel-wheeled tractors to prevent tractors from being used for road transportation. Like the Stauffer or Pike Mennonites (origin 1845 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania), the Groffdale Conference, and the Old Order Mennonite Conference of Ontario, they stress separation from the world, excommunication, and the wearing of plain clothes. Some Old Order Mennonite groups are unlike the Stauffer or Pike Mennonites in that their form of the ban is less severe because the ex-communicant is not shunned, and is therefore not excluded from the family table, shunned by their spouse, or cut off from business dealings.
- Automobile "Black Bumper" Mennonitesbecause some members still paint their chrome bumpers black.
Conservative Mennonites are generally considered those Mennonites who maintain somewhat conservative dress, although carefully accepting other technology. They are not a unified group and are divided into various independent conferences and fellowships such as the Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church Conference. Despite the rapid changes that precipitated the Old Order schisms in the last quarter of the 19th century, most Mennonites in the United States and Canada retained a core of traditional beliefs based on a literal interpretation of the New Testament scriptures as well as more external "plain" practices into the beginning of the 20th century. However, disagreements in the United States and Canada between conservative and progressive (i.e. less emphasis on literal interpretation of scriptures) leaders began in the first half of the 20th century and continue to some extent today. Following WWII, a conservative movement emerged from scattered separatist groups as a reaction to the Mennonite churches drifting away from their historical traditions. "Plain" became passé as open criticisms of traditional beliefs and practices broke out in the 1950s and 1960s.[citation needed] The first conservative withdrawals from the progressive group began in the 1950s. These withdrawals continue to the present day in what is now the growing Conservative Movement formed from Mennonite schisms and from combinations with progressive Amish groups. While moderate and progressive Mennonite congregations have dwindled in size, the Conservative Movement congregations continue to exhibit considerable growth.[citation needed] Other conservative Mennonite groups descended from the former Amish-Mennonite churches which split, like the Wisler Mennonites, from the Old Order Amish in the latter part of the 19th century. (The Wisler Mennonites are a grouping descended from the Old Mennonite Church.) There are also other Conservative Mennonite churches that descended from more recent groups that have left the Amish like the Beachy Amish or the Tennessee Brotherhood Churches.
In North America, there are structures and traditions taught as in the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective[42] of Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA.
Many
Most progressive Mennonite Churches place a great emphasis on the Mennonite tradition's teachings on
Sexuality, marriage, and family mores
Most Mennonite denominations hold a conservative position on homosexuality.[45]
The Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests was founded in 1976 in the United States and has member churches of different denominations in the United States and Canada.[45]
The Mennonite Church Canada leaves the choice to each church for same-sex marriage.[46]
The Mennonite Church in the Netherlands and the Mennonite Church USA which had 62,000 members in 2021, about 12% of American Mennonites,[47] permit same-sex marriage.[48][49]
Russian Mennonites
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2022) |
The "Russian Mennonites" (German: "Russlandmennoniten")
In the 1770s
In 1854, according to the new Russian government official invitation, Mennonites from Prussia established colonies in Russia's
Between 1874 and 1880 some 16,000 Mennonites of approximately 45,000 left Russia. About nine thousand departed for the United States (mainly Kansas and Nebraska) and seven thousand for Canada (mainly Manitoba). In the 1920s, Russian Mennonites from Canada started to migrate to Latin America (Mexico and Paraguay), soon followed by Mennonite refugees from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Further migrations of these Mennonites led to settlements in Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Belize, Bolivia and Argentina.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the Mennonites in Russia owned large agricultural estates and some had become successful as industrial entrepreneurs in the cities, employing wage labor. After the
When the German army invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 during World War II, many in the Mennonite community perceived them as liberators from the communist regime under which they had suffered. Many Russian Mennonites actively collaborated with the Nazis, including in the rounding up and extermination of their Jewish neighbors, although some also resisted them.[52][53][54] When the tide of war turned, many of the Mennonites fled with the German army back to Germany where they were accepted as Volksdeutsche. The Soviet government believed that the Mennonites had "collectively collaborated" with the Germans. After the war, many Mennonites in the Soviet Union were forcibly relocated to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Many were sent to gulags as part of the Soviet program of mass internal deportations of various ethnic groups whose loyalty was seen as questionable. Many German-Russian Mennonites who lived to the east (not in Ukraine) were deported to Siberia before the German army's invasion and were also often placed in labor camps. In the decades that followed, as the Soviet regime became less brutal, a number of Mennonites returned to Ukraine and Western Russia where they had formerly lived. In the 1990s the governments of Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine gave these people the opportunity to emigrate, and the vast majority emigrated to Germany. The Russian Mennonite immigrants in Germany from the 1990s outnumber the pre-1989 community of Mennonites by three to one.
By 2015, the majority of Russian Mennonites and their descendants live in Latin America, Germany and Canada.
The world's most conservative Mennonites (in terms of culture and technology) are the Mennonites affiliated with the Lower and Upper Barton Creek Colonies in Belize. Lower Barton is inhabited by Plautdietsch speaking Russian Mennonites, whereas Upper Barton Creek is mainly inhabited by Pennsylvania Dutch language-speaking Mennonites from North America. Neither group uses motors or paint.[55]
North America
Persecution and the search for employment forced Mennonites out of the Netherlands eastward to Germany in the 17th century. As
In the early 18th century, 100,000 Germans from the
During
From 1812 to 1860, another wave of Mennonite immigrants settled farther west in
There were also Mennonite settlements in Canada from those who emigrated there chiefly from the United States (Upstate New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania):
- Humberstone townships), Ontario c. 1780s–1790s
- St. Jacobs, Ontario c.1819
- Kitchener, Ontario/Waterloo, Ontario c. 1800s
- Cambridge, Ontario c. 1830s
- Markham, Ontario, c. 1800–1820s
- Stouffville, Ontarioc. 1803–1805
According to a 2017 report,[62]
"there are two basic strains of Mennonites in Canada: the Swiss-South German Mennonites came via Pennsylvania, and the Dutch-North German Mennonites came via Russia (Ukraine). In the late 1700s and early 1800s "Swiss" Mennonites from Pennsylvania settled in southern Ontario. In the 1870s, a large group of "Russian" Mennonites from Ukraine moved to southern Manitoba. Further waves of "Russian" Mennonites came to Canada in the 1920s and 1940s". In the last 50 years, Mennonites have been coming to Canada from Mexico.
During the 1880s, smaller Mennonite groups settled as far west as
Old Order Mennonites and Amish are often grouped together in the popular press. That is incorrect, according to a 2017 report by Canadian Mennonite magazine:[62]
The customs of Old Order Mennonites, the Amish communities and Old Colony Mennonites have a number of similarities, but the cultural differences are significant enough so that members of one group would not feel comfortable moving to another group. The Old Order Mennonites and Amish have the same European roots and the language spoken in their homes is the same German dialect. Old Colony Mennonites use Low German, a different German dialect.
Moderate to progressive Mennonites
"Old" Mennonite Church (MC)
The Swiss-German Mennonites who immigrated to North America in the 18th and 19th centuries and settled first in Pennsylvania, then across the midwestern states (initially Ohio, Indiana, and Kansas), are the root of the former Mennonite Church denomination (MC), colloquially called the "Old Mennonite Church". This denomination had offices in Elkhart, Indiana, and was the most populous progressive Mennonite denomination before merging with the General Conference Mennonite Church (GCMC) in 2002.
Mennonite Brethren Church
The Mennonite Brethren Church was established among Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites in 1860, and has congregations in more than 20 countries, representing about 500,000 members as of 2019.
Mennonite Church USA
The Mennonite Church USA (MCUSA) and the Mennonite Church Canada are the resulting denominations of the 2002 merger of the (General Assembly) Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. Total membership in Mennonite Church USA denominations decreased from about 133,000, before the merger in 1998, to a total membership of 120,381 in the Mennonite Church USA in 2001.[65] In 2013 membership had fallen to 97,737 members in 839 congregations.[66] In 2016 it had fallen to 78,892 members after the withdrawal of the Lancaster Mennonite Conference.[67] In May 2021 the main page of their website stated a membership of about 62,000.[68]
Pennsylvania remains the hub of the denomination but there are also large numbers of members in Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, and Illinois.[69]
In 1983 the
The merger of 1999–2002 at least partially fulfilled the desire of the founders of the General Conference Mennonite Church to create an organization under which all Mennonites could unite. Yet not all Mennonites favored the merger. The Alliance of Mennonite Evangelical Congregations represents one expression of the disappointment with the merger and the events that led up to it.
Mennonite Church Canada
Mennonite Church Canada is a conference of Mennonites in Canada, with head offices in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As of 2003, the body had about 35,000 members in 235 churches. Beginning in 1989, a series of consultations, discussions, proposals, and sessions led to the unification of two North American bodies (the Mennonite Church & General Conference Mennonite Church) and the related Canadian Conference of Mennonites in Canada into the Mennonite Church USA and the Mennonite Church Canada in 2000.
The organizational structure is divided into five regional conferences. Denominational work is administered through a board elected by the delegates to the annual assembly. MC Canada participates in the Canadian Council of Churches, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, and the Mennonite World Conference.
Conservative Mennonites
Conservative Mennonites include numerous groups that identify with the more conservative or traditional element among Mennonite or Anabaptist groups but not necessarily Old Order groups. The majority of Conservative Mennonite churches historically has an Amish and not a Mennonite background. They emerged mostly from the middle group between the Old Order Amish and Amish Mennonites. For more, see Amish Mennonite: Division 1850–1878.[70]
Those identifying with this group drive automobiles, have telephones and use electricity, and some may have personal computers. They also have Sunday school, hold revival meetings, and operate their own Christian schools/parochial schools.
According to a University of Waterloo report, "of the estimated 59,000 Mennonites in Ontario, only about twenty percent are members of conservative groups". The same report estimated that "there are about 175,000 Mennonites in Canada".[71]
Old Colony Mennonites
Old Colony Mennonites are conservative Mennonite groups who are the majority of German speaking so-called
Old Order Mennonites
The Old Order Mennonite are living a lifestyle similar to or a bit more liberal than the Old Order Amish. There were more than 27,000 adult, baptized members of Old Order Mennonites in North America and Belize in 2008/9. The total population of Old Order Mennonites groups including children and adults not yet baptized normally is two to three times larger than the number of baptized, adult members, which indicates that the population of Old Order Mennonites was roughly between 60,000 and 80,000 in 2008/9.
Alternative service
During
In the United States,
The CPS men served without wages and with minimal support from the federal government. The cost of maintaining the CPS camps and providing for the needs of the men was the responsibility of their congregations and families. Mennonite Central Committee coordinated the operation of the Mennonite camps. CPS men served longer than regular draftees, not being released until well past the end of the war. Initially skeptical of the program, government agencies learned to appreciate the men's service and requested more workers from the program. CPS made significant contributions to forest fire prevention, erosion and flood control, medical science and reform of the mental health system.
Schisms
Prior to emigration to America, Anabaptists in Europe were divided between those of Dutch/North German and Swiss/South German background. At first, the Dutch/North German group took their name from Menno Simons, who led them in their early years. Later the Swiss/South German group also adopted the name "Mennonites". A third group of early Anabaptists, mainly from south-east Germany and Austria were organized by
A trickle of North German Mennonites began the migration to America in 1683, followed by a much larger migration of Swiss/South German Mennonites beginning in 1707.[75] The Amish are an early split from the Swiss/South German, that occurred in 1693. Over the centuries many Amish individuals and whole churches left the Amish and became Mennonites again.
After immigration to America, many of the early Mennonites split from the main body of North American Mennonites and formed their own separate and distinct churches. The first schism in America occurred in 1778 when Bishop Christian Funk's support of the American Revolution led to his excommunication and the formation of a separate Mennonite group known as
Larger groups of Dutch/North German Mennonites came to North America from the Russian Empire after 1873, especially to Kansas and Manitoba. While the more progressive element of these Mennonites assimilated into mainstream society, the more conservative element emigrated to Latin America. Since then there has been a steady flow of Mennonite emigrants from Latin America to North America.[citation needed]
These historical schisms have had an influence on creating the distinct Mennonite denominations, sometimes using mild or severe shunning to show its disapproval of other Mennonite groups.
Some expelled congregations were affiliated both with the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. The latter did not expel the same congregations. When these two Mennonite denominations formally completed their merger in 2002 to become the new Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada denominations, it was still not clear, whether the congregations that were expelled from one denomination, yet included in the other, are considered to be "inside" or "outside" of the new merged denomination. Some Mennonite conferences have chosen to maintain such "disciplined" congregations as "associate" or "affiliate" congregations in the conferences, rather than to expel such congregations. In virtually every case, a dialogue continues between the disciplined congregations and the denomination, as well as their current or former conferences.[76]
Schools
Several Mennonite groups established schools, universities and seminaries.[77] Conservative groups, like the Holdeman, have not only their own schools, but their own curriculum and teaching staff (usually, but not exclusively, young unmarried women).
Ethnic Mennonites
Though Mennonites are a global denomination with church membership from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, certain Mennonite communities that are descended from émigrés from Switzerland and Russia bear the designation of
In contemporary society, Mennonites are described either as a religious denomination with members of different ethnic origins,
List of Mennonites surnames
This is a list of surnames common among Mennonites in Canada originating (indirectly) from Russia, in descending frequency. The number in brackets indicates the number of places they are higher than on a 20-entry list of surnames of Mennonites in Canada originating (indirectly) from Russia. This list only includes surnames higher on the list concerning West Prussian Mennonites than on the list of surnames of Mennonites in Canada.[83]
- Penner (4)
- Wiens*
- Janzen (12)
- Enns (6)
- Janz*
- Froese*
- Regehr*
- Harder (8)
- Ewert*
- Pauls*
- Fast*
- Franz*
- Epp*
- Fieguth*
- Albrecht*
* name not on the 20-entry list
Surnames of Frisians include Abrahams, Arens, Behrends, Cornelius, Daniels, Dirksen, Doercksen, Frantzen, Goertzen, Gossen, Harms, Heinrichs, Jantzen, Pauls, Peters, Siemens, and Woelms.[84] Surnames that mostly occur in Frisian congregations include Adrian, Brandt, Buller, Caspar, Flaming, Hamm, Harms, Isaak, Kettler, Kliewer, Knels, Stobbe, Teus, Töws, and Toews;[85] additionally, Pauls,[86] Peters,[87] Unruh,[86] and Fransen and Schmidt.[86] Nickel also is a name mainly of Frisian Mennonites denomination.[88] Unger is a name in congregation of Frisian Mennonites denomination.[89] Foth/Vodt and Arentsen are most likely of Frisian congregations.[90]
Environmental impacts
Across Latin America, Mennonite colonization has been seen as a driver of environmental damage associated with land clearance in countries including
The Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), conducted by the Amazon Conservation Association, has identified Mennonite colonization as a new driver of deforestation in Bolivia and Peru.[19] In Peru, MAAP has identified over 7,000 hectares (27 square miles) of rainforest lost to deforestation between 2017 and 2023 following the arrival of Mennonite settlers,[92] and their colonies have been charged with illegal deforestation.[91][93]
On the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, agricultural expansion following Mennonite settlement has been a driver of deforestation of the native tropical rainforest.[94][95] In July 2018, Mexican Mennonites were fined $500,000 for unauthorized logging on 1,445 hectares (5½ square miles) of forested ejidos (shared ownership lands) in Quintana Roo.[95]
Controversies
As of 2007, the Quebec government imposed a standard curriculum on all schools (public and private). While private schools may add optional material to the compulsory curriculum, they may not replace it. The Quebec curriculum was unacceptable to the parents of the only Mennonite school in the province.[96] They said they would leave Quebec after the Education Ministry threatened legal actions. The province threatened to invoke youth protection services if the Mennonite children were not registered with the Education Ministry; they either had to be home-schooled using the government-approved material, or attend a "sanctioned" school. The local population and its mayor supported[97] the local Mennonites. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada wrote that year to the Quebec government to express its concerns[98] about this situation. By September 2007, some Mennonite families had already left Quebec.[99]
Between 2005 and 2009, more than 100 girls and women in the Manitoba Colony of Bolivia were raped at night in their homes by a group of colony men who sedated them with animal anesthetic.[100] Girls and women, including infants, elderly women, and relatives to the perpetrators, reported these attacks, but were at first dismissed as "wild female imagination", or else attributed to ghosts or demons. Eventually a group of colony men were caught in the act. The colony elders, deciding that the case was too difficult to handle themselves, called local police to take the perpetrators into custody in 2011.[101] The youngest victim was three years old, and the oldest was 65.[102] The offenders used a type of gas used by veterinarians to sedate animals during medical procedures. Despite long custodial sentences for the convicted men, an investigation in 2013 reported continuing cases of similar assaults and other sexual abuses. Canadian author Miriam Toews has made these crimes the center of her 2018 novel Women Talking.[103][104][105]
- Sexual misconduct cases
Anabaptist/Mennonite Church sexual misconduct cases - Wikipedia
Service projects
The Mennonite Disaster Service, based in North America, is a volunteer network of Anabaptist churches which provide both immediate and long-term responses to hurricanes, floods, and other disasters in the U.S. and Canada.[106]
Since the latter part of the 20th century, some Mennonite groups have become more actively involved with peace and social justice issues, helping to found
Membership
According to a 2018 census by the Mennonite World Conference, it has 107 member denominations in 58 countries, and 1.47 million baptized members.[111]
Africa has the highest membership growth rate by far, with an increase of 10% to 12% every year, particularly in Ethiopia due to new conversions. African Mennonite churches underwent a dramatic 228% increase in membership during the 1980s and 1990s, attracting thousands of new converts in Tanzania, Kenya, and the Congo.
In Latin America growth is not as high as in Africa, but strong because of the high birth rates of traditional Mennonites of German ancestry. Growth in Mennonite membership is steady and has outpaced total population growth in North America, the Asia/Pacific region and Caribbean region. Europe has seen a slow and accelerating decline in Mennonite membership since about 1980.[114][115]
Organization worldwide
The most basic unit of organization among Mennonites is the church. There are hundreds or thousands of Mennonite churches and groups, many of which are separate from all others. Some churches are members of regional or area conferences. And some regional or area conferences are affiliated with larger national or international conferences. There is no single world authority on among Mennonites, however there is a Mennonite World Committee (MWC) includes Mennonites from 53 countries.[116] The MWC does not make binding decisions on behalf of members but coordinates Mennonite causes aligning with the MWC's shared convictions.
For the most part, there is a host of independent Mennonite churches along with a myriad of separate conferences with no particular responsibility to any other group. Independent churches can contain as few as fifty members or as many as 20,000 members. Similar size differences occur among separate conferences. Worship, church discipline and lifestyles vary widely between progressive, moderate, conservative, Old Order and orthodox Mennonites in a vast panoply of distinct, independent, and widely dispersed classifications. There is no central authority that claims to speak for all Mennonites, as the 20th century passed, cultural distinctiveness between Mennonite groups has decreased.[117]
The twelve largest Mennonite/Anabaptist groups are:
- Mennonite Brethren (426,581 members in 2010 worldwide)[118]
- Old Order Amish (383,565 members in 2023 worldwide)[119]
- Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia (120,600 members; 126,000 more followers attending alike churches)[120]
- Old Colony Mennonite Church (120,000 in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Belize and Argentina)
- Communauté Mennonite au Congo 87,000 members
- Old Order Mennonites with 60,000 to 80,000 members in the U.S., Canada and Belize
- Mennonite Church USA with about 62,000 members in the United States[121]
- Kanisa La Mennonite Tanzania with 50,000 members in 240 congregations
- Conservative Mennonites with 30,000 members in over 500 U.S. churches[122]
- Mennonite Church Canada with 26,000 members in 2018.[123]
- Church of God in Christ, Mennonite with 24,400 members, of whom 14,804 (2013 data) were in United States, 5,081 in Canada, and the remainder being found in various countries of Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe.[41]
Organization: North America
In 2015, there were 538,839 baptized members organized into 41 bodies in United States, according to the Mennonite World Conference.[9] The largest group of that number is the Old Order Amish, perhaps numbering as high as 300,000.[citation needed] The U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches comprises 34,500 members.[118] 27,000 are part of a larger group known collectively as Old Order Mennonites.[124][125] Another 78,892 of that number are from the Mennonite Church USA.[67]
Total membership in Mennonite Church USA denominations decreased from about 133,000, before the MC-GC merger in 1998, to about 114,000 after the merger in 2003. In 2016 it had fallen to under 79,000. Membership of the Mennonite Church USA is on the decline.[67][115]
Canada had 143,720 Mennonites in 16 organized bodies as of 2015.[9] Of that number, the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches had 37,508 baptized members[118] and the Mennonite Church Canada had 31,000 members.[126]
As of 2012, there were an estimated 100,000 Old Colony Mennonites in Mexico.
On the other hand, the Mennonite World Conference cites only 33,881 Mennonites organized into 14 bodies in Mexico.[9]
Organization: Africa
Organization: Europe
Germany has the largest contingent of Mennonites in Europe. The Mennonite World Conference counts 47,202 baptized members within 7 organized bodies in 2015.[9] The largest group is the Bruderschaft der Christengemeinde in Deutschland (Mennonite Brethren), which had 20,000 members in 2010.[118] Another such body is the Union of German Mennonite Congregations or Vereinigung der Deutschen Mennonitengemeinden. Founded in 1886, it has 27 Congregations with 5,724 members and is part of the larger "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Mennonitischer Gemeinden in Deutschland" or AMG (Assembly/Council of Mennonite Churches in Germany),[130] which claims 40,000 overall members from various groups. Other AMG member groups include: Rußland-Deutschen Mennoniten, Mennoniten-Brüdergemeinden(Independent Mennonite Brethren congregations), WEBB-Gemeinden, and the Mennonitischen Heimatmission.[131] However, not all German Mennonites belong to this larger AMG body. Upwards of 40,000 Mennonites emigrated from Russia to Germany starting in the 1970s.[130]
The Mennonite presence remaining in the Netherlands, Algemene Doopsgezinde Societeit or ADS (translated as General Mennonite Society), maintains a seminary, as well as organizing relief, peace, and mission work, the latter primarily in Central Java and New Guinea. They have 121 congregations with 10,200 members according to the World Council of Churches,[15] although the Mennonite World Conference cites only 7680 members.[9]
Switzerland had 2350 Mennonites belonging to 14 Congregations which are part of the Konferenz der Mennoniten der Schweiz (Alttäufer), Conférence mennonite suisse (Anabaptiste) (Swiss Mennonite Conference).[132]
In 2015, there were 2078
While Ukraine was once home to tens of thousands of Mennonites, in 2015 the number totalled just 499. They are organized among three denominations: Association of Mennonite Brethren Churches of Ukraine, Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (Ukraine), and Evangelical Mennonite Churches of Ukraine (Beachy Amish Church – Ukraine).[134]
The U.K. had but 326 members within two organized bodies as of 2015.[9] There is the Nationwide Fellowship Churches (UK) and the larger Brethren in Christ Church United Kingdom.[135] Additionally, there is the registered charity, The Mennonite Trust (formerly known as "London Mennonite Centre"), which seeks to promote understanding of Mennonite and Anabaptist practices and values.[136]
In popular culture
Mennonites have been portrayed in many areas of popular culture, especially literature, film, and television.[137] Notable novels about or written by Mennonites include A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews, Peace Shall Destroy Many by Rudy Wiebe, The Salvation of Yasch Siemens by Armin Wiebe, The Russlander by Sandra Birdsell, A Year of Lesser by David Bergen, A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett, and Once Removed by Andrew Unger.[138] Rhoda Janzen's memoir Mennonite in a Little Black Dress was a best-seller.[138] In 1975 Victor Davies composed the Mennonite Piano Concerto and in 1977 composer Glenn Gould featured Manitoba Mennonites in his experimental radio documentary The Quiet in the Land, part three of his Solitude Trilogy.[139] In the 1990s, photographer Larry Towell documented the lives of Canadian and Mexican Mennonites, subsequently published in a volume by Phaidon Press.[140] In 2007, Mexican director Carlos Reygadas directed Silent Light, the first ever feature film in the Russian Mennonite dialect of Plautdietsch.[141] Other films depicting Mennonites include I Propose We Never See Each Other Again After Tonight, as well as All My Puny Sorrows and the Oscar-winning Women Talking, both based on Miriam Toews novels. Mennonites have also been depicted on television, including the show Pure, and in episodes of Schitt's Creek, Letterkenny[142] and The Simpsons, which was created by Matt Groening, himself of Russian Mennonite descent.[143] Andrew Unger's satirical news website The Unger Review (formerly called The Daily Bonnet) pokes fun at Mennonite culture and traditions.[144][145]
See also
- Bible Mennonite Fellowship
- Bruderhof Communities
- Church of God in Christ, Mennonite
- Eastern Mennonite Missions
- Vincent Harding
- Guy Hershberger
- List of Mennonites
- Mennonite Church USA Archives
- Mennonite cuisine
- Mennonite denominations
- Mennonites in Argentina
- Mennonites in Belize
- Mennonites in Bolivia
- Mennonites in Mexico
- Mennonites in Paraguay
- Mennonite literature
- Mennonite settlements of Altai
- More-with-Less Cookbook
- Portrait of a Man in a Wide-Brimmed Hat
- Rot-Front, Kazakhstan
- Simple living
- Virginia Mennonite Missions
References
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There are educated, professionalized, affluent Mennonites, conservative Mennonites who still wear plain clothes, restrain education but drive cars and tractors, and use electricity, and there are Old Order Mennonites who differ from the Amish only by the absence of beards and the use of plain, austere church buildings instead of the Amish house church. Transportation is by horse and buggy.
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But Mennonites ... are from many places and diverse in terms of belief, drawing, historically, on European diasporic histories, and at present, negotiating a much broader variety of diasporic histories, perhaps especially in Asia (Indonesia, for example), Latin America (Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, among others) and Africa (Congo, for example). A subset of these groups of Mennonites--Swiss Mennonites and Russian Mennonites
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it is in many ways, an option of last resort and it's something we only do when we think we have a critical threat to the community's safety and we need immediate action
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{{cite book}}
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"MC USA's new, lower membership total is based on only 1,091 members from LMC"(Lancaster Mennonite Conference)
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Bibliography
- Penner, Nikolai (2009). The High German of Russian Mennonites in Ontario (PDF) (Thesis). Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: University of Waterloo. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- Unruh, Benjamin Heinrich, ed. (1955). Die niederländisch-niederdeutschen Hintergründe der mennonitischen Ostwanderungen im 16., 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (in German).
Further reading
- Epp, Marlene Mennonites in Ontario. Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario, 2012. ISBN 0969604637
- Epp, Marlene Mennonite Women in Canada: A History (Winnipeg, University of Manitoba Press, 2008. xiii + 378 pp.) ISBN 9780887551826
- Epp, Marlene Women without Men: Mennonite Refugees of the Second World War. University of Toronto Press, 2000. ISBN 0802082688
- Epp, Maureen. Sound in the Lands: Mennonite Music Across Borders (Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press, 2011).ISBN 978-1926599199
- Gingerich, Melvin (1949), Service for Peace, A History of Mennonite Civilian Public Service, Mennonite Central Committee.ASIN B0007DXNN6
- Harder, Helmut and Miller, Larry, "Mennonite Engagement in International Ecumenical Conversations: Experiences, Perspectives, and Guiding Principles," Mennonite Quarterly Review 90(3) (2016), 345–71.
- Heisey, M. J. "'Mennonite Religion was a Family Religion': A Historiography," Journal of Mennonite Studies (2005), Vol. 23 pp. 9–22.
- Hinojosa, Felipe (2014). Latino Mennonites: Civil Rights, Faith, and Evangelical Culture. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.ISBN 978-1421412832
- Horsch, James E. (Ed.) (1999), Mennonite Directory, Herald Press. ISBN 0836194543
- Kinberg, Clare. "Mennonites." om Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 3, Gale, 2014), pp. 171–182. Online
- ISBN 0889202443
- Krahn, Cornelius, Gingerich, Melvin & Harms, Orlando (Eds.) (1955). The Mennonite Encyclopedia, Volume I, pp. 76–78. Mennonite Publishing House.ASIN B002Q3LGMU
- Kraybill, D. B. Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010).ISBN 978-0801896576
- Mennonite & Brethren in Christ World Directory 2003. Available On-line at MWC – World Directory
- Pannabecker, Samuel Floyd (1975), Open Doors: A History of the General Conference Mennonite Church, Faith and Life Press. ISBN 0873036360
- Miller Shearer, Tobin (2010). Daily Demonstrators: The Civil Rights Movement in Mennonite Homes and Sanctuaries. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 392. ISBN 978-0801897009.
- ISBN 1561481017
- Smith, C. Henry (1981), Smith's Story of the Mennonites (5th ed. Faith and Life Press). ISBN 0873030605
- Van Braght, Thielman J. (1660), Martyrs Mirror (2nd English ed. Herald Press) ISBN 083611390X
External links
- Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, in Pennsylvania
- Mennonites at Curlie
- Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO)
- Global Anabaptist Wiki
- Mennonite World Conference
- Pilgrim Ministry: Conservative Mennonite church directory
- The Swiss Mennonite Cultural and Historical Association
- Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. .