Mennonites

Factual Questions
21

My grandparents are Mennonite. My grandma (actuall step-grandma) is a former Amish whose father turned the whole family (10 kids) into Mennonites when she was 18.

They happen to live in “Amish Country” in Ohio, but that’s just because it’s where all her family is. My grandfather was a member of a Mennonite church in Bedford, Ohio (very citified suburb of Cleveland) for about 45 years until he got re-married and moved out to the country.

My grandparents only shun technology cuz they’re old and cranky, not cuz they’re Mennonite. My grandpa loves his cars!

Also their church is about 10x as spectacular as my Lutheran church. Mine’s a barn compared to theirs.

From what I’ve known of my grandparents friends and fellow church-goers, the Mennonites in their area are really really into charity, helping our their fellow man and learning all they can about the bible. Sounds like any other Christians to me!

22

Just adding a note-along with the doctrines of believer’s baptism and pacifism, Mennonite (and other Anabaptist) churches are united by the doctrine of the simple life. It’s interpreted in different ways by different groups-the Amish interpretation is pretty well-known, but other denominations & sub-groups have more liberal ideas of what it means. The core lies in using material possessions as means rather than celebrating them as ends in themselves. A liberal Mennonite will quite likely own a car-but she’ll always treat it solely as a means of transportation, and the choice of vehicle will reflect her transportation needs alone.

One reason you see so much variation in different locations is that none of these churches recognize any central authority. Each church sets its own policies and procedures based on the conscience and faith of the members …