The Mennonites are members of certain Christian groups belonging to the church communities of Anabaptist denominations named after Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings, Simons articulated and formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders. The early teachings of the Mennonites were founded on the belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus, which the original Anabaptist followers held to with great conviction despite persecution by the various Roman Catholic and Protestant states. An early set of Mennonite beliefs was codified in the Dordrecht Confession of Faith in 1632, but the various groups do not hold to a common confession or creed. Rather than fight, the majority of these followers survived by fleeing to neighboring states where ruling families were tolerant of their belief in believer's baptism. Over the years, Mennonites have become known as one of the historic peace churches because of their commitment to pacifism.
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination with origins in the Schwarzenau Brethren that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany, as a melding of the Radical Pietist and Anabaptist movements. The denomination holds the New Testament as its only creed. Historically, the church has taken a strong stance for nonresistance or pacifism—it is one of the three historic peace churches, alongside the Mennonites and Quakers. Distinctive practices include believers baptism by trine immersion; a threefold love feast consisting of feet washing, a fellowship meal, and communion; anointing for healing; and the holy kiss.
The Bible Fellowship Church is a conservative pietistic Christian denomination with Mennonite roots.
The Conservative Mennonite Conference (CMC) is a Christian body of Conservative Mennonite churches in the Anabaptist tradition. They are mostly of Amish descent.
The Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference(EMMC) is an evangelical body of Mennonite Christians, organized on July 1, 1959.
Mennonite Church Canada is the conference of Mennonites in Canada, with head offices in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches (FEBC) is a small evangelical Christian denomination with an Anabaptist Mennonite heritage. Most of the denomination's approximately 5000 members are in congregations located in the U.S. and Canada.
Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches—Church of the Brethren; Religious Society of Friends (Quakers); and Mennonites, including the Amish, Old Order Mennonite, and Conservative Mennonites—and has been used since the first conference of the peace churches in Kansas in 1935.
Virginia Mennonite Conference is a body of Mennonite churches in the south-Atlantic region of the United States, consisting of Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky and the city of Washington D.C. There are 67 congregations in the Conference, and a number of congregations in formation without full membership status. As one of the regional Conferences of Mennonite Church USA, the congregations belong to nine Districts: Calvary, Central, Eastern (VA), Eastern Carolina, Harrisonburg, Northern, Potomac, Southern, and Tennessee/Carolina/Kentucky.
Amish Mennonites came into existence through reform movements among North-American Amish mainly between 1862 and 1878. These Amish moved away from the old Amish traditions and drew near to the Mennonites to become Mennonites of Amish origin. Over the decades most Amish Mennonites groups removed the word "Amish" from the name of their congregations or merged with Mennonite groups.
Franconia Mennonite Conference is a conference of Mennonite Church USA based in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, with 45 congregations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont, New York and California and 19 conference related ministries. It is a member of Mennonite World Conference.
The Oklahoma Bible Academy (OBA) is an interdenominational Christian private school located in Enid, Oklahoma. OBA is the oldest coeducational private school in the state of Oklahoma.
The Beachy Amish Mennonites are formally a subgroup of Amish but they are much less traditional than other Amish. Even though they have retained the name "Amish" they are quite different from the common idea of Amish: they do not use horse and buggy for transportation, with a few exceptions they do not speak Pennsylvania German anymore, nor do they have restrictions on technology except for radio and television. In the years 1946 to 1977 a majority was transformed into an evangelical revivalist denomination. The traditionalists who wanted to preserve the old Beachy Amish ways then withdrew and formed their own congregations. Today they are known as Midwest Beachy Amish Mennonites or Old Beachy Amish.
The Fellowship of Evangelical Churches (FEC) is an evangelical body of Christians with an Amish Mennonite heritage that is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The Mennonites in France are religious descendents of the Anabaptist movement. Anabaptists first appeared in the east of what is today France during the early years of the Protestant Reformation. Strasbourg was a haven for all kinds of religious dissidents during this period. From 1528 to 1532, Pilgram Marpeck lived in Strasbourg, serving for two years as a timber supervisor and engineer, before he was expelled from the city because of his Anabaptist activity. After opposition from reformers such as Martin Bucer, all known Anabaptists were expelled from the city. But 20 years later they were again active in Strasbourg. By 1556 there was an Anabaptist congregation of about one hundred in the city. Strasbourg become a favourite location for conferences of Anabaptist ministers, with gatherings being held in 1554, 1555, 1557, 1568, 1592, and 1607. The 1554 conference was reputed to have been attended by 600 Anabaptists. As persecution continued, they tended more and more to live in the country, where there was a greater chance to live out their principles undisturbed. Their numbers were sharply reduced by emigration to America. Repeated attempts were made to expel them from Alsace.
Conservative Mennonites include numerous groups that identify with the more conservative or traditional element among Mennonite or Anabaptist groups but who are not Old Order groups. The majority of Conservative Mennonite churches historically have an Amish and not a Mennonite background.
The Bible Mennonite Fellowship (BMF) is a Mennonite confederation of churches founded in 1958. There are three churches in the conference; one in Brownsville, Oregon, one in Sheridan, Oregon, and one in Woodside, Montana. The large Fairview Mennonite Church in Albany, Oregon is unofficially affiliated with the group. A small congregation in Winston, Oregon is also affiliated with, but not formally a member of the group.
The Markham-Waterloo Mennonite Conference (MWMC) is a Canadian, car-driving, Old Order Mennonite church established in 1939 in Ontario, Canada. It has its roots in the Old Order Mennonite Conference in Markham, Ontario, and in what is now called the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. The Conference adheres to the 1632 Dordrecht Confession of Faith. The Markham-Waterloo Mennonite Conference is in fellowship with two similar car-driving Old Order Mennonite churches: the Weaverland Mennonite Conference and the Ohio-Indiana Mennonite Conference.
