This Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective takes its place in this rich confessional history. The historic creeds of the early Christian church, which were assumed as foundational for Mennonite confessions from the beginning, are basic to this confession as well.
Some of the important characteristics of the Mennonite faith are strict pacifism, a plain lifestyle, shunning oaths, and commitment to social justice. The Amish are often mistaken for Mennonites. They are a distinct group that broke away from the Mennonites in the late 17th century.
We believe God saves all people who put their faith in Jesus Christ. By His obedient life, sacrificial death and victorious resurrection, Christ delivers people from the tyranny of sin and death and redeems them for eternal life in the age to come.
We believe that to be a disciple of Jesus is to know life in the Spirit. As the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ takes shape in us, we grow in the image of Christ and in our relationship with God. The Holy Spirit is active in individual and in communal worship, leading us deeper into the experience of God.
The doctrines of nonconformity to the world, church discipline, nonswearing of oaths, and nonresistance (a Mennonite teaching based on New Testament ethics that rejects both war and the use of coercive measures to maintain social order) are affirmed but not practiced universally.
Some churches (not all necessarily Mennonite) take these passages to heart, and greet one another with a kiss on the cheek, much as anyone else would greet another person with a hug or handshake. This tends to occur in the more conservative Mennonite churches, and was more prevalent in the past.
In Australia, there are Nationwide Fellowship Mennonite congregations in Deloraine, Tasmania and also in Canowindra, New South Wales (Lachlan Valley Mennonite Church).
Many Mennonites stress the importance of missionary work, helping to spread their faith to over fifty countries around the world, while the Amish tend to focus their efforts closer to home, sharing information about ministries, services, testimonies, and opportunities to Amish and non-Amish (English) communities alike.
We are called to extend God's holistic peace, proclaiming Christ's redemption for the world with our lives. Through Christ, God frees the world from sin and offers reconciliation. We bear witness to this gift of peace by rejecting violence and resisting injustice in all forms, and in all places.
Anabaptists have confessions instead, like Schleitheim (1527) and Dordrecht (1632), and the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995) which are more attuned to the needs of the time and the context.
We have turned our faces away from you, Lord. Living God of mercy, we confess that our hearts have often been filled with pride and greed. We have not sought you with all our hearts, Lord. Living God of mercy, we confess that we have not given ourselves fully to the work of your peace in the world.
Communion (Lord's Supper, Abendmahl, Nachtmahl) has always had only a symbolic meaning for the Anabaptists and Mennonites and was observed as the ordinance of the Lord and not a sacrament which in itself conveys the grace of God to the participant.
The Mennonite Church teaches that "tithing as a minimum baseline is one of the principles on which financial giving in this 'first fruits' system is based": We depend on God's gracious gifts for food and clothing, for our salvation, and for life itself.
The 1963 Mennonite Confession of Faith stated that marriage should be a monogamous, heterosexual lifetime commitment. The Christian home should have regular family worship.
During the last 100 years, the church considered the consumption of alcohol to be a sin. But that “marker” is passing away. While a large majority of us—probably 75 percent by now—accepts some use, we honor those for whom the consumption of alcohol continues to be “always wrong.”
Mennonites do not have any dietary restrictions as exist in some other religious groups. Some conservative Mennonites abstain from alcohol, but other Mennonites do not, with Mennonite distilleries existing as early as the late 16th century.
For the more modern Mennonites, dress is not an issue. The only standard is that women are encouraged to dress modestly, and persons interpret that differently. Women wear slacks and jeans as well as dresses. In the summer, you would find many wearing shorts.
with a focus on Respect, peace and service. Mennonites believe, with their Christian brothers and sisters, in the great affirmations of faith: God becoming human, the lordship of Christ, the power of the Gospel, the work of the Holy Spirit and the authority of the scriptures.
A Mennonite Amish woman is expected to cover her head with a cap, bonnet, or scarf while in public. This is to show respect and humility when in the company of men. The book of 1 Corinthians states that “every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head” (1 Cor. 11:5).
On December 25, Amish and Mennonite communities celebrate as a family with special meals not unlike wedding dinners. On the 26th, they may visit with extended family, friends and relatives, to give gifts and celebrate the commercial side of the holiday.
A family leaves behind the trappings of the 21st century to lead a simple, self-sufficient and pious life in rural Tasmania.
When it comes to their beliefs, the Amish and Mennonite faiths are very similar. The differences lie mainly in the outward practice of those beliefs. But foundational to both groups is their core commitment to faith, family, and community.
The most prominent ethnic Mennonite groups are Russian Mennonites (German: Russland-Mennoniten), who formed as an ethnic group in Prussia and South Russia (now Ukraine), but who are of Dutch (both Flemish and Frisian) ancestry and speak Plautdietsch and Mennonites of Pennsylvania Dutch heritage who formed as an ethnic ...
Seven ordinances have been taught in many traditional Mennonite churches, which include "baptism, communion, footwashing, marriage, anointing with oil, the holy kiss, and the prayer covering." The largest populations of Mennonites are found in Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, and the ...
"No one was willing to risk the appearance of them siding with me." Shunning has its roots in biblical teachings and is used in some Mennonite churches as well. Jehovah's Witnesses also practice a form of shunning. But it's essential to Amish beliefs.