Mennonites
A
large body of Anabaptist groups today, descendants of the Dutch and Swiss
Anabaptists (the Swiss Brethren, as they came to be known) of the sixteenth
century. The basic doctrines of the original Swiss Anabaptists, as well as the
Peace Wing of the Dutch Anabaptists, are reflected in the 1524 Programmatic Letters
of Conrad Grebel; in the Seven Articles of Schleitheim, 1527; in the voluminous
writings of Pilgram Marpeck (d. 1556); in the writings of Menno Simons and of
Dirk Philips (Enchiridion or Handbook of the Christian Doctrine); in the Swiss
Brethren hymn book, the Ausbund (1564); and in the huge Martyrs Mirror of 1660.
The Swiss Brethren were the Free Church wing
of the Zwinglian Reformation. Initially the pioneer leaders such as Conrad
Grebel and Felix Mantz had nothing but praise for Zwingli. But by the fall of
1523 they became increasingly uneasy about the tempo of the Reformation in
Zurich, and particularly about Zwingli's practice of allowing the Great Council
of the 200 to decide what Catholic forms of doctrine, piety, and practice were
to be dropped. These young radicals felt that Zwingli was too lukewarm and slow
in carrying out his strongly biblical vision for an evangelical Reformed Church
in Zurich. But they did nothing until they were ordered to have their infants
baptized and forbidden to conduct any more Bible study sessions. It was then
that they met, and after earnest prayer ventured to inaugurate believer's
baptism and to commission each other to go out as preachers and evangelists.
The date of organization of this Swiss Free Church was January 21, 1525.
At
this organization meeting the three strongest leaders were Conrad Grebel, who
died in 1526; Felix Mantz, who died as a martyr early in 1527; and George
Blaurock, who was severely beaten and banished from Zurich in 1527, only to be
burned to death in the Tirol in 1529. After the original leaders were off the
scene, the mantle of leadership fell upon a former Benedictine monk of South
Germany named Michael Sattler. It was Sattler who helped the scattered and
sometimes differing Swiss Brethren to settle upon what was a biblical faith and
way of life. This was realized at a village in Schaffhausen called Schleitheim
in 1527. Seven articles were worked over and finally adopted unanimously by the
"brethren and sisters" who were present. These seven articles may be
summarized thus:
(1)
Baptism is to be given to people who have repented and believed on Christ, who
manifest a new way of life, who "walk in the resurrection," and who
actually request baptism. (Infants and children are considered saved without
ceremony, but infants are often "dedicated.")
(2)
Before the breaking of bread (the Lord's Supper), special effort shall be made
to reclaim from any form of sin any brothers or sisters who may have strayed
from Christ's way of love, holiness, and obedience. Those who are overtaken by
sin should be twice warned privately, then publicly admonished before the
congregation. The rite of exclusion of impenitent sinners the Swiss Brethren
called the ban.
(3)
The Lord's Supper is to be celebrated by those who have been united into the
body of Christ by baptism. The congregation of believers must keep themselves
from the sinful ways of the world in order to be united in the "loaf"
of Christ.
(4)
Disciples of Christ must carefully avoid the sins of a Christ-rejecting world.
They cannot have spiritual fellowship with those who reject the obedience of
faith. Accordingly there are two classes of people: those who belong to the
devil and live in sin, and those who have been delivered by Christ from this
evil way of life. We must break with every form of sin, and then he will be our
God and we will be his sons and daughters.
(5)
Every congregation of true Christians needs a shepherd. The shepherd (or pastor)
shall meet NT qualifications, "the rule of Paul." He is to read God's
Word, exhort, teach, warn, admonish, discipline or ban in the congregation,
properly preside in the congregational meetings and in the breaking of bread.
If he has financial needs the congregation shall give him support. Should he be
led away to martyrdom, another pastor shall be ordained in "the same
hour."
(6)
The section on being nonresistant suffers is entitled "The Sword."
The sword is ordained of God "outside the perfection of Christ" (the
church). The only method the church has to deal with transgressors is the ban
(exclusion). Disciples of Christ must be utterly nonresistant. They cannot use
the sword to cope with the wicked or to defend the good. Nonresistant Christians
cannot serve as magistrates; rather, they must react as Christ did: he refused
when they wished to make him king. Under no circumstances can Christians be
other than Christlike.
(7)
Finally, by the word of Christ, Christians cannot swear any kind of oath.
Christian disciples are finite creatures; they cannot make one hair grow white
or black. They may solemnly testify to the truth, but they shall not swear.
In
the covering letter accompanying the Seven Articles, Sattler acknowledges that
some of the brothers had not fully understood God's will aright, but now they
do. All past mistakes are truly forgiven when believers offer prayer concerning
their shortcomings and guilt; they have perfect standing "through the
gracious forgiveness of God and through the blood of Jesus Christ."
In 1693 Jakob Ammann, a Swiss elder in
Alsace, founded the most conservative wing of the Mennonites, the Amish. Down through the centuries the Mennonites
have produced numerous confessions of faith, catechisms, printed sermons, and
hymn books. Mennonites hold to the
major doctrines of the Christian faith and feel free to confess the Apostles'
Creed. They are dissatisfied, however, with the creed's moving directly from
the birth of Christ to his atoning death. They feel that it is also important
to study Christ's way of life, his beautiful example of love, obedience, and
service. They cannot believe that seeking to be faithful to both the letter and
the spirit of the NT is legalism, if such obedience is based on love for God
and love for man. Indeed, Michael Sattler wrote a moving essay in 1527: Two
Kinds of Obedience. They are (1) slavish obedience, which is legalism; it
involves a low level of performance and produces proud "Pharisees."
(2) Filial obedience, which is based on love for God and can never do enough,
for the love of Christ is so intense Mennonites see the will of God revealed in
a preparatory but nonfinal way in the OT but fully and definitively in Christ
and the NT.
Violent
suppression of the Mennonites practically led to their extermination in
Germany. In Switzerland they survived chiefly in two areas, the Emme valley of
Berne and the mountainous areas of the Jura. William I of the House of Orange
brought toleration of a sort to the "Mennists" (the name coined by Countess
Anna in Friesland in 1545 to designate the Peace Wing of the Dutch Anabaptists)
of the Netherlands about 1575. The severe persecution of the Swiss
Taufgesinnten, the Dutch Doopsgezinden, and the Frisian Mennists effectively
silenced their evangelistic and mission concerns for several centuries, but
these were revived slowly in the nineteenth century, first in Europe and then
in North America. Mennonite missions have been most successful in Africa,
Indonesia, and in India, and have started in Latin America.
See
also MENNO
SIMONS.