Are mennonites a rare species of insect?
An ancient tribe that lived near the Hittites?
A strange cult that doesn't believe in
driving cars? Mennonites are none
of these things. In fact,
Mennonites are a group of Christians that date from the early 1500s
that are
distinguished from both Roman Catholics and Protestants.
Mennonite Origins
When Martin
Luther first
began his reformation of the Roman Catholic church in 1519, there were
many who
agreed with his focus on faith and Scripture, and they called
themselves
'evangelicals'. There was a small
group in Zurich, Switzerland that felt that the evangelicals were not
focusing
enough on what the Bible really said, especially concerning that
baptism is for
those who have faith, not for infants.
They were called Anabaptists (which means re-baptizers) because
they
baptized those who were supposedly baptized as infants.
Because the Anabaptists held to these
positions in opposition to both the Catholic and Evangelical (or
'protestant')
governments, which legalized religious beliefs, the Anabaptists were
declared
criminals and arrested, tortured and killed by all governments in
Europe for
the next 100 years. Even
evangelical leaders such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and Ulrich
Zwingli encouraged
political leaders to arrest and kill Anabaptists.
Fleeing
persecution and seeking to spread the gospel around the world caused
Anabaptists to spread all over Europe, from the Netherlands to Russia. Later, the Anabaptists moved to
America, seeking to hold their beliefs without persecution. As they came to the United States, the
immigration officials saw that most Anabaptists carried a writing of
Menno
Simons, a popular Anabaptist writer of the mid 1500s, and so they
labeled them
'Mennonists' or, later, 'Mennonites'.
Today
there are more than a million people who are a part of Anabaptist or
Mennonite
communities. There are many
Anabaptist groups, including the Mennonite Church, the Brethren in
Christ, the
Amish and the Hutterites. More
than half of all the Mennonites in the world are found in Africa,
India,
Indonesia and Brazil. Mennonites
have established many cooperative ministries including international
aid
organizations, health services, mutual insurance programs, service to
the needy
in North America, and conscientious objector programs.
Mennonite Beliefs
Many Mennonite
beliefs are
similar to any evangelical beliefs, such as the Lutherans, Baptists,
Methodists
or Presbyterians, as below:
a.Scriptures
is the
supreme authority over the church.
b.God is
able to do what
he wants, is holy, judges the wicked but is merciful to humanity.
c.God the
Father created
the universe and guides his people.
d.Jesus is
the Christ and
is both God and human.
e.The Holy
Spirit is God
present with his people.
f.Salvation
is a gift of
God's grace, based on what Jesus did on the cross, that must be
received by
faith.
g.The
LordÕs Supper and
baptism are sacraments of God's people.
h.The
church must spread
the gospel and establish communities around the world.
i.The Lord
Jesus will return
at any time to judge the wicked and reward the righteous in him.
Mennonite distinctives
In addition to
the beliefs
that Mennonites have in common with other evangelicals, Mennonites also
firmly
adhere to the word of Jesus above all other teaching, which leads us to
the
following beliefs that are not necessarily shared by other evangelicals:
a.The
teaching of Jesus
and the apostles takes precedence over the Law and the Prophets. Thus, Mennonites do not hold to a
'flat' Bible, but see the teaching of Jesus and the apostles as
central, and
the rest of Scripture being interpreted through the teaching of Jesus.
(Hebrews
1:1-3)
b.The end
of all Bible
study is to do what it says. We
can believe in the Bible, but unless we do it, then our faith is dead. The true believer in Jesus is not just
one who agrees with the word of Jesus, but who lives it out. (James
2:14-26;
Matthew 7:21-27)
c.Believers
of Jesus must
be faithful to the teaching of Jesus, even if this brings them into
conflict
with the authorities placed over them by God. (Acts 5:29)
d.Baptism
is for
believers only. Baptism may not be
given to infants or family members of believers in Jesus, but only for
those
who are firmly committed to Jesus for their whole lives. (Mark 16:16)
e.Each
local congregation
is qualified and responsible to decide what should be taught to it. Local congregations should also call,
support and discipline their own pastors.
f.Believers
of Jesus are
literally to love their enemies and not to resist evildoers. This means that Christians cannot
participate in the military. This
separates all disciples from the world system which demands warfare and
violence. (Matthew 5:38-48)
g.Believers
in Jesus must
share what they have with other believers who have needs.
(Luke 12:33; 16:9) This means that
believers need to live
simply, in order to reserve their extra resources to share with others.
Why is Anawim
a Mennonite
congregation?
Anawim desires
to fellowship
with and be accountable to a group of believers larger than itself. But it wants to be accountable to
believers who acknowledge both the foundation of Scripture and the
varieties of
the work of the Spirit, so that our giftings and uniqueness are not
considered
unacceptable. Anawim also desires
to be a part of a group that recognizes that the cross of Christ is not
just to
be held as the means of our salvation, but is also our example of the
Christian
life. In its desire to live out
the will of God, its service to others, its humility, its faithfulness
despite
persecution, and its position against hostility and vengeance, the
Mennonite
church has shown itself to live out the cross of Christ, even as we
desire
to. We affirm the
Anabaptist/Mennonites to be our brethren in Christ and we gladly
fellowship
with them in communication, resources and love. We
also fellowship with others who are faithful to Jesus in
other churches: evangelical, peace, charismatic, Catholic and Orthodox
churches. We are open to learning
from and networking with anyone who takes Jesus seriously.
But we hold a special connection with
the Mennonite congregations.
For more
information about
Anabaptists and Mennonites, read The Confession of Faith of the
Mennonite
Church; Through Fire and Water(an Anabaptist history) and 26
Distinctives of
Anabaptism (by William Higgins).
Anawim
Christian
Community is a member of the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference, a
conference of the Mennonite Church.
