I. Group Profile

1. Name: The Mennonites

2. Founder: Menno Simons

3. Date of Birth:1496

4. Birth Place: Switzerland

5. Year Founded: January 21, 1526

6. History: The Mennonite tradition grew out of the Anabaptist faith of the early 16th century. Anabaptism was a theological revolt against the Protestant Church of the State. The Mennonite were radical reformers in their time, who protested Luther's and Calvin's continued tie to the state. They were considered by the conservative Lutherans and Calvinists as anarchists, making them an easy target for scorn and persecution. The Anabaptist reformers were interested in the reform of the church, but had quite different goals of reformation than that of Calvin or Luther. They felt that while faith and liturgy were important they were not as precedent as the relation of church was to state. They disapproved of secular activity and were persecuted by the state. However, most of these radicals were silenced through war or means of systematic execution. Many saw their entire movement destroyed (Melton 87; Hastings 551-553).

   In 1525 Hans Denck, laid the seeds for the first churches to fall under the label of the Anabaptists faith. He led in the reconstitution of his religious followers to be truly reformed by adopting the apostolic practice of believer's baptism. According to this belief only adult believers could be baptized, a practice believed to have been used by the Apostles. Hence forth, Anabaptism became a central conflict in the age of radical reformation. From this belief and practice came the Anabaptist faith as a group of adults possessing free will. In an attempt to escape religious persecution the Anabaptists fled the Catholic Church, soon splitting into many smaller groups: the Swiss Brethren, the Hutterian Brethren of Austria, and the Amish (Melton 87; Queen 397-398; Gross 5-14).

   The survival of the Anabaptist faith is attributed to Menno Simons. Simons was born in Witmarsum in the Netherlands in 1496. He became a Roman Catholic priest, but began to ponder if the views of the Anabaptist faith weren't indeed correct. After the religious persecution and death of his brother as an Anabaptist, Simons left the Catholic religion. He soon became an Anabaptist leader. Simons focused his goals on keeping the Anabaptist community safe from authorities and free from militarism. He viewed the taking up of arms as a mistake that had killed so many of his new faith in the past. His followers first found refuge in the East Friesland of the Netherlands under the Countess Anne. She recognized this group as the Menists and declared them to be pacifists, contradicting the long held view that all Anabaptists were militaristic who held extreme apocalyptic views. Simons spent the rest of his life fleeing religious persecution while defending his faith (Melton 89 and Queen 397-398).

   The Mennonites movement slowly penetrated the continent of Europe, building on small, isolated groups of Anabaptists. They settled and migrated as rulers offered religious toleration in exchange for settling lands, only to persecute the groups after the land had been settled. Despite religious persecution up to and during the 17th century, the Mennonites were able to establish themselves and thrive (Melton 89).

   It was during this period of settlement and migration that the first Mennonites came to America. The first permanent Mennonite settlement was established in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1683; a date considered by Mennonites to be their date of origin in America. Many came to America to escape religious persecution. In addition, William Penn and George Fox sought out German converts to populate their settlements. Mennonites continued to migrate to America, where they were able to grow and establish their own existence (Melton 89-91; Lippy 618-622).

   The first major American conflict that the Mennonites had was during the Revolutionary War. The Mennonites maintained that they could not support the Continental Congress because support would involve them in war, contradicting a commandment of God. Continual immigration from Europe and the continual expansion of those families in America already, forced the Mennonites west. This growing migration and geographic isolation created many schismatic churches during the 1880's. This splintering of the Mennonite Church can generally be found to trace back to the origins of the settlers. Most of the Western Europeans settled in Pennsylvania, pushing west into Canada and Indiana. While the Russian immigrants settled in the west (Melton 92).

7. Sacred or Revered Texts:

   The Bible is the most sacred text of the Mennonite faith. They take a very strict and literal definition of the book, accounting for much of their rigid rituals and practices in day to day life. They affirm the scriptures, especially the New Testament and the direct words of Jesus Christ (Melton 89).

8. Cult or Sect:
Negative sentiments are typically implied when the concepts "cult" and "sect" are employed in popular discourse. Since the Religious Movements Homepage seeks to promote religious tolerance and appreciation of the positive benefits of pluralism and religious diversity in human cultures, we encourage the use of alternative concepts that do not carry implicit negative stereotypes. For a more detailed discussion of both scholarly and popular usage of the concepts "cult" and "sect," please visit our Conceptualizing "Cult" and "Sect" page, where you will find additional links to related issues.
9. Size of Group:

   The Mennonite Directory(1999), published jointly by the Conference of Mennonites in Canada, the General Conference Mennonnite Church and the Mennonite Church identifies 132,966 members in the United States and 37,437 in Canada. An additional 3,622 are identified in South America for a total of 174,025. Only adults are counted in the census of full church members.

   Including children and other nonaffiliated Mennonite groups, the total Mennonite size may approach a half-a-million in the North America and perhaps as many as 700,000 world-wide. (see: Melton 93; Eliade 376-377).

   A large majority of Mennonites live in rural or small communities that are centered around the church. Mennonites do not proselytize, hence conversion is a rare phenomenon. Their numbers in the Americas initially grew through migration and has been sustained by high birth rights. A significant, but uncertain proportion of adult children leave or drift away from the faith tradition. Hence, this is not a group that is destined to grow in the future.

II. Beliefs of the Group

The Mennonite church belongs to the free church family. This implies that are they are simply not state churches, but rather they are adamantly opposed to the concept of state churches. They exist as a free association of adult believers, people who are mature enough to make free-will decisions to join the church. The free church emphasizes free will, they historically disagreed heavily with the rigid concept of predestination practiced by Calvinists (Bainton 7-23; Hershberger 2-8).

The Mennonites share the Anabaptist views regarding rebaptism to be permissible, pacifism, religious toleration, separation of church and state, opposition to capital punishment, opposition of taking oaths, and opposition to holding public office (Bax 43).

Menno Simons' beliefs contradicted the Anabaptists faith in two ways. He agreed with the Brethren use of the strict application of a religious ban. This act meant that any one who seemed to deviate from the teachings of the church were be banned from the congregation. Any member of the church was not permitted to have contact with this individual. This practice of shunning centered around concept of meal time. No one was permitted to eat with the banned person, even if they lived in the same household. This practice has since been liberalized, but it was a distinguishable characteristic of the Mennonite church in the 1500's. Simons also took a much more liberal approach to the concept of incarnation, by minimizing the human properties Christ was said to have received from Mary. This concept has not been a major focus of Mennonites in recent history (Bax 34-45).

The unique doctrinal position of the Mennonite church was officially formalized in the Dordrecht Confession of 1632. Many of the beliefs laid out had previously been written down during the Anabaptist Schleitheim Confession of 1525. The Dordrecht takes a more systematic view of the religious institution of the Mennonites. It affirms the Trinity of God, restoration of humanity through Christ, and the incarnation of Christ as the son of God. Baptism was to be an act carried out on repentant adult believers. The state is viewed as a gift from God and those of the Mennonite faith are to support it any manner that doesn't contradict the commandments of God. The acts of taking an oath or to brandish a weapon would be examples of state actions contradicting the words of God. The Dordrecht also advocated the acts of shunning and banning. The Confession was adopted by the American church and is still used by as a standard by most Mennonites. According to this, the Bible is the source of belief. Emphasis on he practical life in the Spirit, is worked out through shared experiences in the church. The church should be the basis of society for a true Christian, while the State should come second (Melton 90).

Except for those points laid out in the Schleitheim and Dordrecht confessions Mennonites would have little problem with siding with the main-line churches of America. The church views the most important issues to be ecclesia and separation from the world. They emphasize the local congregation and build fellowships that's derived from a shared set of beliefs (Smith 21).

The church-world dualism is implicit in the Mennonites' theology and view of the social world. The early technique of survival from seclusion originates to the religious persecution of the 16th century and consequential migrations to isolated regions. The idea that the church is the center of all society is reinforced with the Schletheim and Doredrecht Confessions of Faith. Mennonites feel the church should be a caring, secluded institutions that helps restore and maintain the church depicted in the New Testament. Mennonites are Trinitarian, believing in the doctrine of the trinity. In addition, their services are extremely sermon-centered (Toews 21-27; Melton 89-91).

The Mennonite traadition emphasize free will, while they discredit predestination They feel that Christ has undone the damage of Adam, making it possible for the disciple's life to gradually turn into the image of Christ. Through a life of simplicity, governed by the commandments of God, a Mennonite is able to turn his life into one resembling that of God (Horsch 133-136).

Like many other traditions, Mennonites exhibit the tendency to splinter into sectarian factions. And, as has occured with many mainstream Protestant denominations during the second half of the 20th century, the two major Mennonite bodies (Mennonite Church and General Conference Mennonite Church) are currently working at healing the old wounds and reuniting into a single body.

The factors that caused Mennonites to split were similar to other tradition including doctrine and worship practices. An important factors in Mennonite disputes over the years were arguments about the number and type of items that are considered to be worldly. For example, certain groups are adamantly opposed to continuing education. The use of electricity, combustion engines, protracted singing, preaching in English are other examples of practices that splinted Mennonites in the past. The "old order" traditions continue to withdrawal from what they consider to be the corrupt modern world. They dress plainlyplanning much as possible, avoiding contact with the products of the highly technological world that surrounds them (Melton 433; Lippy 631). The large majority of Mennonite schismaticantially "mainstreamed" in American culture while retaining a network of schools to educate their own members.

Over the years, schisms have occured for many reasons and many of the schmismatic groups continue to survive and new ones emerge including the New or Reformed Mennonites; the River Brethren, a temporary group known as the Funkites who split during the Revolutionary War over the debate of paying war taxes; Old Order Mennonites; and the United Missionary Church. These groups left over controversies of whether to use or not use cars, Sunday school practices, protracted singing, and English preaching (Melton 433; Lippy 631) .

The 20th century has produced a strong sense of historical reference and preservation for the Mennonites. They have produced historical centers and archives in colleges across the nation. Two major outgrowths of this new vision is the Mennonite Quarterly and the Mennonite Encyclopedia. This historical reverence and extensive evangelism and missionary work has place the Mennonites into a strong religious position in the United States (Lippy 631).

Migration, missionary work, and natural population increases has scattered the Mennonite faith over the entire globe. Today the Mennonites have several conferences and groups that meet annual, or at other intervals, to discuss ideas regarding the faith as well as for worship and celebration. One such conference is The Mennonite World Conference, that meets every five years for such purposes. The more conservative groups of Mennonites do not form or separate in such conferences. The Mennonite tradition varies from group to group, with ruling practices and customs being defined primarily by the individual congregations. However, the Mennonite faith seems to linked through common practices such as worship, attendance to denominational private schools, small-group Bible study, and involvement in mission services. The Mennonites have extended their practices to operating liberal colleges for seminary training, such as Eastern Mennonite University, Bible schools, and secondary schools, retirement centers, medical services, and disaster aid services. These activities are direct examples of their conviction that the word and deed must be one. They perform their services to provide a visible example of their love of and dedication to society (Eliade 376-377).

III. Links to Mennonite Web Sites

The Mennonite Church
This is the official home page of The Mennonite Church, the largest denomination of Mennonites in the U.S. and Canada. This is not a massive page, but considerable information about the historical tradition of Mennonites and the organizational life of this body can be found on this site.
http://www.mennonites.org/

General Conference Mennonite Church
This is the ofofficialome page of the General Conference Mennonite Church, the second largest Mennonite body in the U.S. and Canada. As with the The Mennonite Church above, the site is not large, but large enough to provide valuable information for those who wish to learn about this group.
http://www2.southwind.net:80/~gcmc/

Mennonite Connections on the WWW
This remarkable page, created by Bradley Lehman, has organized over 400 links to Mennonite materials on the Internet. Materials are broken down into a dozen categories, with additional categories, to help the reader locate materials of interest. The first section entitled "Primary Sources" contains links to pages of Mennonite bodies and other significant resources. Especially valuable for those who want to explore the Mennonite tradition is depth is a "basic bibliography" of Mennonite readings.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/mennocon.html

Mennolink.org
This is a very substantial site with lots of different kinds of information about Mennonites.
http://www.mennolink.org/

Confessions of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective
This segment of Menolink provides a comprehensive analysis of the Mennonite faith, written by premier scholars of the Mennonite tradition. It examines the beliefs and doctrines of the Mennonite Church. In addition, it offers further information of the AnAnabaptistaith as it is related to the Mennonites.
http://www.mennolink.org/doc/cof/

Brief Statement of Mennonite Doctrine
This summary of Mennonite Doctrine is taken from the Mennonite Yearbook, Vol 77 (1986-87). Go back to the root of this annabaptist site for lots more interesting information.
http://www.anabaptists.org/history/cof-1963.html

Third Way Cafe This is a nicely constructed site that his maintained by the Mennonite Media on behalf of the Mennonite Church of the U.S. and Canada. While the "Old Order" are of interest because of their different life-style that runs agagainsthe grain of modern culture, many Mennonites have substantially assimilated back into the mainstream of culture. This page presents information about "mainstream" Mennonites.
http://www.thirdway.com/

About Mennonites
This site provides a thorough investigation into the religious practices and beliefs of the Mennonite Church. The site offers insight to to the origins of many of these traditions such as their code of dress, public convictions, and those ideas that separate various groups among the Mennonite faith.
http://www2.dmci.net/users/salemmc/menno.htm

Mennonites and Amish
This site addresses many questions that the American public may have regarding the Mennonite faith. In addition, this site looks at questions surrounding the faith traditions of Anabaptists and Amish. It examines how the Amish grew from the Mennonite faith because of difference in religious ideas and convictions.
http://www.tcsx.net/users/royalsk/mennonit.htm

Mennonites in Canada, 1996
This site offers the Mennonite religious opinion on several issues facing modern society such as: child abuse, welfare, domestic violence. It also talks about how the members of the church are affected by each situation, and in some cases have helped increase the occurrences of it.
http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/mcc/menno-guide/index.html

Mennonite Information Center
This page provides a comprehensive search link to many issues facing the Mennonite community. Issues that are addressed are the simplicity of the Mennonite life, military service and Mennonites, public offices, oaths, and various other public ininstitutionshat challenge the simplistic life of the Mennonite. This site is linked numerous Mennonite libraries and historical archives.
http://www.prairienet.org/community/religion/mennonite/menno.html

Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania
This site, maintained by the Mennonite Heritage Center, provides a link to the historical library and archives that contains a comprehensive selection of 12,000 books, manuscripts, and documents. This site is essential in aiding in the understanding of Mennonite history and contains resources for genealogical study.
http://www.pond.come/~mennhist/

The Center for Mennonite BrBrethrentudies
This site offers links to GeGenealogicalesources, Mennonite historical societies, and publications by scholars in the faith. It also serves as a link to other archives and libraries that contain information concerning the Mennonite Church.
http://www.fresno.edu/affiliation/cmbs

The Mennonites: A Brief Guide to Information
This site provides links to many of the numerous Mennonite historical archives and libraries. The site breaks up searches by state, with listings of all of the general conferences and fellowships of the Mennonite Church.
http://www.bethelks.edu/services/mla/guide/guide.html

IV. Bibliography

 

Bainton, Roland. 1952.

The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. Boston: Beacon Press.

Bax, E. Belfort. 1962.

Rise and Fall of the Anabaptists. New York: American Scholar Publications.

Bush, Perry. 1998.

Two Kingdoms, Two Loyalities: Mennonite Pacifism in Modern America. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press.

Eliade, Mircea. 1987.

The Encyclopedia of Religion. New York: Macmillian Publishing Company. .376-377.

Gross, Leonard. 1980.

The Golden Years of the Hutteries. Pennsylvania: Herald Press.

Hastings, John. 1916.

The Encyclopedia of Religions and Ethics. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons Publishing. 551-554.

Hershberger, Guy. 1972.

The Recovery of the Anabatistist Vision. Pennsylvania: Herald Press.

Horsch, John. 1971.

The Principle of Nonresistance as Held by the Mennonite Church. New York: Garland Publishing.

Hostetler, Beulah. 1987.

American Mennonites and Protestant Movements. Pennsylvania: Herald Press.

Kiss, Fred. 1997.

Disquiet in the Land: Cultural Conflict in American Menonite Communities. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Little, Franklin. 1964.

The Origins of Sectarian Protestantism. New York: The Macmillian Company.

Melton, J. Gordon. 1996.

The Encyclopedia of American Religions. Detroit: Gale Research. Fifth Edition. 87-93.

Miller, Keith. 1996.

Wise as Serpents, Innocent as Doves. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press.

Queen, Edward. 1996.

The Encyclopedia of American Religious History. Shattuck: Prose Works Publishing. 397-398.

Redekop, Calvin, Stephen C. Ainlay, Robert Siemens, 1995.

Mennonite Entrepreneurs. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Roth, John D. 1996.

"The Mennonites' Dirty Little Secret" Christianity Today (Oct 7:44- )

Scott, Stephen. 1996.

Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups. Intercourse, PA: Good Books.

Smith, Henry. 1981.

Smith's Story of the Mennonites. Maryland: Faith and Life Press.

Toews, Paul. 1996.

Mennonites in American Society, 1930-1970: Modernity and the Persistence of Religious Community. . Pennsylvania: Herald Press. 441 pp.

Umble, Diane Zimmerman, 1996.

Holding the Line: The Telephone in the Old Order Mennonite and Amish Life. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Weaver, Denny. 1987.

Becoming Anabaptist. Pennsylvania: Herald Press.

Wenger, John. 1949.

Glimpses of Mennonite History and Doctrine. Pennsylvania: Herald Press.

Wenger, John. 1966.

Mennonite Church in America. Pennsylvania: Herald Press.

Yoder, Don, 1998.

"Sects and Religious Movements of German Origin," in Charles H. Lippy and Peter W. Williams, eds. Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Vol I: 615-633.

Visiting Mennonite Communities

Mennonite communities are scattered throughout the U.S. and Canada, and small enclaves can be found in many Central and South American countries. Many welcome the opportunity to explain their beliefs and life styles to visitors.

One of the best places to get a glimpse of Mennonite life is in Lancaster Country, Pennsylvania. Located in Southeastern Pennsylvania, a little more than an hour west of Philadelphia, Lancaster County is home to both Amish and Mennonites. The area has become highly commercialized, but the genuine cultures are still present for those who will leave the main highways and shopping centers.

A good place to start is The People's Place in the heart of Intercourse, PA on Route 340. They offer an excellent orientation film, a wonderful little museum that compares Amish and Mennonites, and the best book shoppe in the area. A short distance away is the Mennonite Information Center (maps if the area are everywhere). In addition to a film and exhibits, the Mennonite Information Center offers Mennonite guides who will join you in your car, van or bus for a tour. They also offer guest lodging is MeMennoniteomes. With a little advanced planning, Lancaster County offers an excellent opportunity for high school or college field trips. For more information on Amish and Mennonite educational opportunities, see the Lancaster On Line Page and click on PA Dutch Sites. This section on visiting Amish and Mennonite communities added by J.K. Hadden (08/31/99)