Mennonite beliefs / Jeff

[Brother Randy]

Jeff I know you addressed this to Bro Ben , and I hope I am not out of line here, but being seeing how I attend a Mennonite church I thought may I could share some things. Am sure Bro Ben may go more in depth on it.
I have been in both camps.

First just like Baptist there are many different Mennonites too.

The big different is in the once saved always saved thought. They don't believe one can claim to be saved and live in sin continually. For me it is not a big thing, don't tell me what you did a year ago or 20 years ago. What are you doing with the Lord right now. If you are not walking with the Lord then Maybe you need to check things out? I'll not judge any man only the Lord really knows , but even as I have heard Baptist say we can be fruit inspectors. Some would say that we have a works salvation, from what I have seen the is far from being true. They use James , 2 The thought is that true faith will produce Godly works,

Mennonites believe that a woman should wear a head covering in keeping with 1 Cor 11. In headship order( Man is the head of the woman and home} In modesty for both the men and women. In non-resistance, In greeting fellow believers with a holy kiss, although they would tend to limit this to other Mennonites in good standing in their church. Also in feet washing.

Communion is a closed thing normally limited to the local brotherhood, but if one expresses a desire and gives a testimonies before hand they are permitted to partake. This is done twice a year.

They practice an accountability with one another, submitting to the standards set by the church, and to the men of the church.

They don't have a paid ministry which is chosen by lot. Very few would be what most would call learned men in regards to having formal bible training.


They also believe in living a simple life not conforming to the changing world around them.

They also hold a very strong position against divorce and remarriage.

There is much more that could be said , but I will stop here for now, There are many Christians that ad hear to much of this like Bro Ben and his dear family.

Like I said the big thing is in how you look at salvation , and I for one will not dis fellowship over just that.

If there are any other questions that I could answer I would be glad to try.

Bro Randy

[jeff]

Thanks Bro Randy! That’s the direction I was headed with my questions. I’ve looked at different “statements of faith” but they usually don’t tell the whole story. There is a general one for the Southern Baptist Churches that I guarantee isn’t uniformly held to throughout the churches.

Just based on what I had been able to gather, it appeared to me that the only big difference was in the conditional security vs. unconditional security area. And like you, I’m not going to disassociate myself with someone over that one issue. I’m even working through some issues regarding that myself (and I might mention that Bro Ben’s writing “Eternal Security from a non-Calvinistic perspective” is helping me greatly).

We are members of a very conservative SBC church, I can see a point in the not too distant future where we (our local church body as a whole) are going to have to make a choice whether or not to continue to be a part of the SBC. It’s a decision that should have already been made, but it hasn’t. Like so many others, our church has gone through its share of turmoil lately, and I hope and pray that we are headed in the right direction.

Thanks again for the info. I may have some other questions later, but I’m having a momentary brain cramp, so I’ll have to hold them for now.

Jeff

[prv31wife]

We visited an Conservative Mennonite church once last summer and though it was very different from what we are used too, I really enjoyed the service and the people. They seemed to have many of the same values and beliefs that I have.
We may visit again sometime. Weather wise right now it is not possible because it keeps snowing up there(Lebec,CA) and the major highway through there which is I-5 tends to get closed when the snow is too bad. We figure when the snow stops we could go. Anyway, I'm rambling now. Thanks for sharing about your church.