Poll: Concealed Weapons among Plain Anabaptists?

[steve-in-kville]

[But now that I realize it's almost 100%, my question is why is there such a strong aversion to inner city ministry on the part of conservative Mennonites. Even in Baltimore, they go to the one place where it's not inner city.

No place to grow tomatoes??

[twinpines]

[But now that I realize it's almost 100%, my question is why is there such a strong aversion to inner city ministry on the part of conservative Mennonites. Even in Baltimore, they go to the one place where it's not inner city.

No place to grow tomatoes??

I get that with rural Mennonites. I was just flabbergasted 5 mins ago when I found out the Baltimore church is in the one ritzy place in Baltimore. If you are going to go to Baltimore to reach the lost, why not reach the 90% that is inner city.

[Ken]

The people in York are centred in the worst part of town.

The people in Baltimore, well, it’s a nice part of Baltimore... but it gets dicey if you go a few blocks.

Only in the rural Mennonite world would York, PA be considered high crime area. That just drives home my point that conservative Mennonites live overwhelmingly in very safe areas. And yes. It's a very nice area of Baltimore. So there are almost zero mennonites living in bad areas in America. I always knew by the nature of conservative Mennonites living in rural areas, that the vast majority of them would live in safe places. But now that I realize it's almost 100%, my question is why is there such a strong aversion to inner city ministry on the part of conservative Mennonites. Even in Baltimore, they go to the one place where it's not inner city.

Mennonites aren't particularly poor. At least not on average. They tend to be employed and solidly middle class. So they tend to live in solidly middle class neighborhoods in both rural and urban areas. So it is no coincidence that the churches tend to be founded in the same type of neighborhoods. And since Mennonites tend to be relatively industrious and astute about agriculture, they tend to have originally settled in productive agricultural area and maintain relatively prosperous communities.

Also, Mennonites were a nearly exclusively rural denomination in previous generations. So, unlike say Catholics or Methodists, there weren't many Mennonite churches ever built in cities in previous generations. By contrast, Catholic churches went up in all the immigrant neighborhoods in big cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries when they were Polish, Italian, and Irish neighborhoods. Fast forward to today and those inner-city neighborhoods have changed over the years and are more Black and Hispanic but the old Catholic churches remain. Mennonites never built churches in those neighborhoods to begin with.

[Ken]

[But now that I realize it's almost 100%, my question is why is there such a strong aversion to inner city ministry on the part of conservative Mennonites. Even in Baltimore, they go to the one place where it's not inner city.

No place to grow tomatoes??

I get that with rural Mennonites. I was just flabbergasted 5 mins ago when I found out the Baltimore church is in the one ritzy place in Baltimore. If you are going to go to Baltimore to reach the lost, why not reach the 90% that is inner city.

Why would you be flabbergasted? Which Mennonite church are you talking about. The one next to Johns Hopkins University? https://goo.gl/maps/KaVbWoGwAzq6uDBY9 It looks like an OK neighborhood but certainly not one of the "ritziest in Baltimore." Is the purpose of that particular church to be a mission to the poorest so-called "unchurched" parts of inner-city Baltimore (if such a thing exists in the US anymore). Or is the purpose to be a home congregation for existing Mennonites who themselves already live and work in Baltimore? I think it is more the latter. In which case it makes sense to put the church close to where a majority of the congregation live and work.

[Ambassador]

Twinpines, I think you do not know York or the church there. As of December 2019, York had 46% higher crime than the national average. The church there is in a section of the city that is considered most violent. I was going to link sources but couldn't figure out how. Not that it makes alot of difference as far as how you should live out the Christian life, but just some facts.
Btw, I wish too more Christian's were willing to live in inner cities.

[Moses]

[But now that I realize it's almost 100%, my question is why is there such a strong aversion to inner city ministry on the part of conservative Mennonites. Even in Baltimore, they go to the one place where it's not inner city.

No place to grow tomatoes??

I get that with rural Mennonites. I was just flabbergasted 5 mins ago when I found out the Baltimore church is in the one ritzy place in Baltimore. If you are going to go to Baltimore to reach the lost, why not reach the 90% that is inner city.

One could hypothesize that the Mennonite church must have had a good effect on the area immediately surrounding it.

[Ernie]

Only in the rural Mennonite world would York, PA be considered high crime area.

One Mennonite girl serving in York at the church mission was shot at. She had a hole through her dress. Not sure what your frame of reference is...

[Judas Maccabeus]

The people in York are centred in the worst part of town.

The people in Baltimore, well, it’s a nice part of Baltimore... but it gets dicey if you go a few blocks.

Only in the rural Mennonite world would York, PA be considered high crime area. That just drives home my point that conservative Mennonites live overwhelmingly in very safe areas. And yes. It's a very nice area of Baltimore. So there are almost zero mennonites living in bad areas in America. I always knew by the nature of conservative Mennonites living in rural areas, that the vast majority of them would live in safe places. But now that I realize it's almost 100%, my question is why is there such a strong aversion to inner city ministry on the part of conservative Mennonites. Even in Baltimore, they go to the one place where it's not inner city.

Have you ever been to any of these churches? By what you are saying, I doubt it.

J.M.

[Ken]

Twinpines, I think you do not know York or the church there. As of December 2019, York had 46% higher crime than the national average. The church there is in a section of the city that is considered most violent. I was going to link sources but couldn't figure out how. Not that it makes alot of difference as far as how you should live out the Christian life, but just some facts.
Btw, I wish too more Christian's were willing to live in inner cities.

There are plenty of Christians living in the inner cities. They just tend not to be Mennonites.

For example: https://www.abyssinian.org/

[Josh]

Is the purpose of that particular church to be a mission to the poorest so-called "unchurched" parts of inner-city Baltimore (if such a thing exists in the US anymore). Or is the purpose to be a home congregation for existing Mennonites who themselves already live and work in Baltimore? I think it is more the latter. In which case it makes sense to put the church close to where a majority of the congregation live and work.

The purpose of the Hampden congregation was to be a good base for a mission to the people of the city of Baltimore. Before the congregation was established, "existing Mennonites who themselves already live and work in Baltimore" did not exist (at least for conservative Mennonites).

Generally speaking, I'm not sure why would want to locate their church building in a place with very high property crime, although the congregation in York did do that. Doing so means you have to make sure you have people occupying your houses basically 24/7 and be ready for your cars to get stolen on a rather regular basis. The congregation in York has adapted to this (and I felt very comfortable and at home there, but then again I grew up around such things are fairly comfortable with that).

Amongst other things, there was an act of arson on the block the congregation in York is. The leadership at the school and church shared information about the arsonist with law enforcement. In retaliation for this, one of the suspects tried to shoot some young people who were visiting. A girl ended up with a few holes in her cape dress.

I think there should be a certain amount of respect for the fact many conservative Mennonites prefer not to live in an environment where buildings regularly get burned down, and cooperating with the police and fire departments to investigate arson results in people getting shot.