http://secure.mennonite.net

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Menno Simmons and the Mennonites



I lived next to Gretel for a long time. She was a nice lady, if slightly crazy. Yet I promised to tell my tale of Menno Simmons, so here it goes:



I spent years getting to know Menno Simmons when he was a priest in a nearby community. However, after 12 years of preaching Menno began questioning many of the Catholic doctrines like the rest of us. He would renounce the church and convert to the Anabaptist religion after 1527. After the events at Munster (you know, where all of the people died at the hands of King Jan), Menno was baptized in October 1536. This marks the point where he began preaching as an Anabaptist.



By 1541, Menno had been exiled from Groningen and Friesland. I was very concerned that he would not find an audience anywhere. After a brief stay in Amsterdam, Menno moved away to northern Germany. He remained there afterward, so I decided to follow him. He produced several books, including Christian Baptism and Foundation of Christian Doctorine, which focused on new birth in Chris of Brethren believers and living as Christ taught.


Menno Simmons's beliefs were broadcast in many languages. He became the most important Anabaptist preacher. I was followed Menno across multiple different countries, and I am proud to consider myself one of his "Mennonites." We live our lives to fulfill the teachings of Christ. As Menno once said, "Scripture does not need interpreting; it needs only to be obeyed."


Thanks for reading an old man's rambling tale.



Sources:
A Short History of Renaissance and Reformation Europe: Dances over Fire and Water
by Jonathan W. Zophy.


http://mennochurch.net/mennosimons.htm
I have been a part of the Mennonite religion for quite some time now. The thing that attracted me the most to this unique and amazing religion is our strong belief in engaging and learning from others, and spreading God’s word in the most peaceful way possible. We are committed to service and are passionate about getting out in our communities and making a difference. One of my favorite organizations is the Mennonite Disaster Service, or MDS. Started in 1950, MDS is a disaster relief agency of Mennonite churches in the United States and Canada. I’m proud of this organization because it is a common desire of mine, and other Mennonite followers to seek opportunities to be engaged in peaceful, helpful activity.

To our delight, MDS grew so much that five years later it became part of the Mennonite Central Committee, an inter-Mennonite relief agency! Today, MDS is responsible for relief efforts in the US and Canada, while the Mennonite Central Committee is responsible for organizing disaster response efforts in international settings. Another organization that is important to me is the Peace and Justice Support Network. Created in 2002, this amazing network is open to anyone wanting to support the work of peace and justice, something that is core in the Mennonite religion. The PJSN focuses on these main goals:

*creating and keeping clear the vision of peace and justice in Mennonite Church USA
*promoting the expansion of peace and justice through gatherings for inspiration
*providing counsel to Mennonite Church USA agencies and Executive Board
*sharing and publicizing resources for congregations,
*communicating peace and justice work to the wider constituency.

Being a part of these beneficial agencies and spreading God’s word is extremely rewarding and I’m blessed to have the opportunity to help so many people.



www.mennoniteusa.org/

Monday, April 18, 2011

Thoughts from a newly reformed believer in 1550--


I recently decided I could no longer take orders from a politically driven pope, so I began to listen to these so-called reformers here in Switzerland. People say they began as Anabaptists but now call themselves Mennonites after one of their leaders. (I will have to follow up with details about this when I get them from my neighbor.) For now, I am mainly interested in what these guys believe. I want to know what I'm getting myself into if I join this group reformers. To start, they say they are different from Protestants in that their motives for breaking from Rome were strictly spiritual. The separation of Church and State is high on their priorities. I learned some other main beliefs that make the Mennonites unique, too.



  • Rather than baptizing infants, they believe in baptizing when one can pledge before the church his/her covenant to walk with God. Believers are baptized by the Spirit, water, and blood.

  • This leads into their belief in freedom of consciousness.

  • Salvation is attained when someone repents sin and accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

  • Religion is for the individual experience.

  • Each person is responsible to God and only God.

  • The Bible is God's rule for how people should live their lives. The Mennonites accept God's will and follow is law without question, no matter what the authorities say.

  • Peace is the will of God. They practice nonresistance, meaning they do not take part in war or any other type of violence. They trust in God's ability to overcome evil with good.

  • Mennonites believe in always speaking the Truth, to let your "yes be yes and no be no." (James 5:12) This also leads to their avoidance of taking oaths.

Personally, I like the idea of staying out of war. There surely has been enough of that. I wouldn't mind having the "freedom of consciousness" they talk about as well as answering to God alone. These Mennonites also make sense with their belief in always speaking the truth. Separation of Church and State could lead to some interesting changes around here as well. I may just look into becoming one of them.


Anyway, I'm off to feed the chickens and cook for Hans.


--Gretel



(This person is fictional.) :)



Bibliography


Kauffman, Daniel. Mennonite History. http://www.anabaptists.org/history/mennohist.html.


Mennolink Books. Confessions of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective. http://www.mennolink.org/doc/cof/ .



Photo: Courtesy of www.mennoweekly.org


An engraving from 1736, it portrays a baptismal service in the Singel Mennonite Church in Amsterdam.