Mennonite beliefs

[Jensen]

I asked a question on another thread in a different section...but it should have been here.

What do the mennonites believe? I know that that is very general....are they (as a whole) Calvinistic or Arminian? Do they believe in salvation by faith alone? In Christ alone? or how is a person saved? What about end times?

What do people think about how they live? Is it Biblical?

Anyone know of any good web sites on Mennonites & anabaptists?

 

[atestring]

There are lots of Mennonites that live close to me. They stay to themselves but if one persist a relationshiop can be developed with them.
There are various groups of Mennonites and they do not tend to interact with other groups except for the purpose of working together on disaster relief. When natural disasters occur they are quick to respond.

The ones that I know are a the sect called "Church of God in Christ (mennonite)"
If ask they will tell you that they are saved by grace through faith.
They believe in seperation from the world.
They do not believe in serving th military in combat. They hold eachh other accountable for living a holy life.
I ask one of their members since he said that he believes in salvation by grace and I believe in salvation by grace and since he believes in seeration from worldly sin and I believe in seperation rom worldly sin, and they believe in water baptism and i believe in water baptism and they believe in being in covenant of a local church and I believe in being in covenant with a local church , if we were brother's in Christ. he looked at me with a hard look and simply said "NO."
I then ask him if i can call him my brother in Christ and he responded , "that is up to you."
I since found out thafrom talking to a younger mennonite that he probably misunderstood my question because the younger mennonite would not say i was not his brother in Christ. he also explained that there is a difference in being a Brother in Christ and being in a brotherhood relationship that comes about by being in the same local church and denomination.
the experience that I mentioned before did not seem positive but I have observed that most Mennonites have the fruit of the Sprit in theri lives even though they might disagree with me on issues.
I had a friend that tried to convince me that mennonites are a cult but that person thnks everyone but him is in a cult.
i am now leary of anyone that tries to demonize everyone but themselves and their group and have found that they are probably in a cult.

 

[Gold Dragon]

Mennonites are followers of Menno Simmons who was an Anabaptist leader in the Netherlands in the 1500s.

The primary belief of Anabaptists is their rejection of infant baptism which is shared with Baptists and why they were given the derogatory nickname of Anabaptist (rebaptizers) and persecuted by Catholics and Reformers. Other Anabaptist groups include Hutterites, Amish and some Brethren groups.

One of the earliest documents that most Anabaptist groups identify with is the Schleitheim Confession written in 1527. Other key teachings emphasized in this document include:

Non-violence
Symbolic communion
Separation
Prohibit swearing of oaths

Generally anabaptists also seem to be more communally based in things like decision making and sharing of goods, etc.

Since Calvinists were some of the primary persecuters of Anabaptists, I believe their soteriology is largely Arminian.

I don't know if they would use them as defining terms, but I believe Mennonites would side with sola fide and sola Christus over the RCC positions.

I don't believe there is any defining millenial view in Mennonite tradition.

The rejection of modernisms that some Mennonites and Amish follow is part of their tradition on separating from the secular world. Like Baptist, Mennonites practice local autonomy and there are many Mennonite groups that have no problems with modernisms and are similar to your average evangelical church community in this regard and many theological positions.

[ June 09, 2005, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: Gold Dragon ]

 

[Mercury]

Yes, what Gold Dragon said.

Some recommended sites:
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• Third Way Café: a great site about Anabaptism in general</font>
• Canadian Mennonite Brethren: What We Believe: the Confession and some other faith statements from my own denomination</font>

 

[Ben W]

Here is a main site that groups together many Anabaptist, Mennonite and Brethren groups together. Many interesting articles there also.

http://www.anabaptist.org/

 

[JulieMarie]

I hope this is not an ignorant question, but do they believe you can lose your salvation? I was under the impression that was one of their beliefs.

 

[violet]

Yes, they do-- very strongly, in fact.

 

[rsr]

Not to be too repetitious, but this is from the other thread:

Generally, Mennonites (which came out of the Anabaptist movement) believe in:

* A church of converted members;

* Adult baptism and the memorial understanding of the Lord's Supper;

* An emphasis on community, mutual aid and charity;

* Separation of church and state.

* Pacifism and peacemaking.

A general Mennonite confession is available at:

http://www.mennolink.org/doc/cof/index.html

As with Baptists, there can be divergences between specific groups, which range from the Old Order Mennonites (who are much like the Amish) to the Mennonite Church USA, the largest body in the U.S. with about 110,000 members. (There are 20 organized Mennonite bodies within the U.S.)

Closely related are other Anabaptistic groups such as the Church of the Brethren (which has an association with the American Baptist Churches in the USA). The Brethren are less creedal and maintain that footwashing and anointing are also ordinances. Because of evangelistic efforts, the Church of the Brethren now has more members in Nigeria than in the United States.

 

[Taufgesinnter]

Originally posted by Jensen:
I asked a question on another thread in a different section...but it should have been here.

What do the mennonites believe? I know that that is very general....are they (as a whole) Calvinistic or Arminian? Do they believe in salvation by faith alone? In Christ alone? or how is a person saved? What about end times?

To know what Mennonites and other Anabaptists historically have believed, see the Schleitheim Confession of 1527 that another poster linked (the original confession authored by Michael Sattler at the Martyrs Synod of the Swiss Brethren), the Dortrecht Confession of 1632 adopted by the Dutch Anabaptists (the standard foundational confession to this day among conservatives, including the Amish), and for the largest Mennonite denomination, the new Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective . The Mennonite Church USA represents the merger of the two largest groups, one here since 1693 and of mostly Dutch origin, and the other here since about 1860, and of Low German origin by way of Russia.

Mennonites hold to sola fide, sola gratia, sola Christus, and sola scriptura, just as all Protestants do. All Anabaptist-Pietist groups are Arminian, except for a small splinter called the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. Some individual Mennonites and Mennonite denominations are premillennial, even somewhat dispensational (without shunting the core of NT Christianity, the Sermon on the Mount, off into some future age), but as with the vast majority of Baptists and Anabaptists historically, just as with historic Protestantism overall, most are amillennial.

I am still formally a Mennonite, that is, on paper, and had been until about a month ago for most of my adult life. Although probably too brief, I hope my answers have been helpful.

Regards,
Tauf

 

[Paul from Antioch]

To know what Mennonites and other Anabaptists historically have believed, see the Schleitheim Confession of 1527 that another poster linked (the original confession authored by Michael Sattler at the Martyrs Synod of the Swiss Brethren), the Dortrecht Confession of 1632 adopted by the Dutch Anabaptists (the standard foundational confession to this day among conservatives, including the Amish), and for the largest Mennonite denomination, the new Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective . The Mennonite Church USA represents the merger of the two largest groups, one here since 1693 and of mostly Dutch origin, and the other here since about 1860, and of Low German origin by way of Russia.

Mennonites hold to sola fide, sola gratia, sola Christus, and sola scriptura, just as all Protestants do. All Anabaptist-Pietist groups are Arminian, except for a small splinter called the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. Some individual Mennonites and Mennonite denominations are premillennial, even somewhat dispensational (without shunting the core of NT Christianity, the Sermon on the Mount, off into some future age), but as with the vast majority of Baptists and Anabaptists historically, just as with historic Protestantism overall, most are amillennial.

I am still formally a Mennonite, that is, on paper, and had been until about a month ago for most of my adult life. Although probably too brief, I hope my answers have been helpful.

Regards,
Tauf

I grew up in what was then (1950s-1960s) known as a "New Mennonite Church" in PA. From what I've read in Mennonite History books, soon after our Civil War (1860s) ended there arose a split within the Mennonite ranks due primarily over the use of buttons on a man's coat. Since a basic tenet of all Mennonites has been what they term "Non-Resistance" in wars, the "Old Mennonites" deemed that since buttons were used by soldiers in the war, a man sporting buttons on his coat identified him as a pro-military person, and, hence, someone to be avoided. OTOH, the "New Mennonites" seemed to support the use of buttons, presumably because they were easier to use than the old tradition of a "Hook & Eye" combination. Other than that, the only other difference between the two groups seemed to be that the "Old Mennonites" preferred sermons to be in the German language while the "New Mennonites" preferred their sermons to be in English. For some 130 years or so these two groups went their own separate ways. However, in the latter 20th Century, both the "Old" & the "New" Mennonite groups began negotiations with each other that eventually allowed for a merger in to one Mennonite Church. Each local Mennonite congregation was given the option to either stay as a separate congregation or to merge into on unified church organization. Most Mennonites seemed to prefer merging, apparently because their missionary works & relief agencies seemed to work more productively together. A good general introduction to Mennonite history would be An Introduction to Mennonite History by Cornelius J. Dyck. (1993, Herald Press; Scottdale PA 15683. ISBN 0-8361-3620-9).

 

[Squire Robertsson]

This thread from 2005 is closed.