Mennonite Church
Anabaptist body following Menno Simons, devoted to peace, service, and community
The Mennonite Church was named after the former Dutch Catholic priest Menno Simons, who consolidated Dutch and North German Anabaptism after the disastrous Munster rebellion, directing the movement onto a strictly peaceful, biblical, and Christocentric foundation of nonresistance, mutual mutual aid, and believer's baptism.
Historical Context & Significance
Fleeing European persecution, Mennonites migrated to the Vistula delta in Prussia, Catherine the Great's Russian Empire, and Pennsylvania (1683), creating global relief networks such as the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).
Genealogical Lineage & Splits
Anabaptist Tradition (Radical Reformation)
The Anabaptists ('re-baptizers') emerged during the Radical Reformation in Zurich on January 21, 1525, when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock rejected infant baptism and baptized one another on confession of personal faith, advocating absolute separation of church and state, pacifism / nonresistance (refusal to bear the sword or swear oaths), and mutual community discipleship.
Separated in 1536 ADTheological & Hermeneutical Coordinates
Primary Scripture Proof-Texts
Key biblical passages central to this tradition's exegesis and historical debates.
Connected Theological Perspectives & Debates
Universal confession that Christians are called to love their enemies, pray for persecutors, and respect civil authorities as established under God's providence.
Universal confession that the church is called to holiness and that persistent, unrepentant scandalous sin requires pastoral confrontation and correction.