What the Mennonites got right

[silentreader]

Simpleness.

I mean a simpleness that is profound, like how Mennonite preachers can speak a sermon that touches the young, the middle aged, and the old, as well as the very intelligent, the not so intelligent, and the average, even the rich and the poor all at the same time.

And a simpleness of life that is not so busy with cares of this life and so is enabled to be busy serving.

I am editing to add maybe I should have substituted the word simpleness with plainness? I think either work fine?

Simplicity?

Just for the record, Wade, I wasn't intending to correct you, only to suggest a different term that might carry less baggage.

[Wade]

Simpleness.

I mean a simpleness that is profound, like how Mennonite preachers can speak a sermon that touches the young, the middle aged, and the old, as well as the very intelligent, the not so intelligent, and the average, even the rich and the poor all at the same time.

And a simpleness of life that is not so busy with cares of this life and so is enabled to be busy serving.

I am editing to add maybe I should have substituted the word simpleness with plainness? I think either work fine?

Simplicity?

Just for the record, Wade, I wasn't intending to correct you, only to suggest a different term that might carry less baggage.

That is how I understood it. And I want correction - Thank you. Look forward to your posts!

[Franklin]

1. Not neglecting the Old Testament.
2. Having their own schools.
3. Separating men and women in church.
4. Being organized around churches, the right middle ground between individualism (Protestants) and centralization (Catholics).
5. A rural lifestyle.

[temporal1]

We have a single mother join here and a divorced mother regularly attending. Not sure what you mean.
My comment is contrasting the two working parent homes and sending the kids to daycare. Not a knock at the single moms who work. Although we try to meet their needs so that can stay at home if they have small children.

I'm just having trouble seeing how stay-at-home mothers is something the "Mennonites got right". It seems like more of an artefact of growing up with a stable, traditional culture with accumulated wealth and not a lot of debt, so in a 2-parent family, both parents don't need to work, and were single-parent families just don't really happen that often.

Yet if I look at the early Swiss Brethren, many of them were people attending church alone - without their spouse. And how they were raising their kids - and concepts like a stay at home mother (when both mothers and fathers had to work, a lot, just to survive) - isn't a topic of discussion that even shows up anywhere.

As far as the Swiss Brethren go, I suspect that many of them were involved in cottage industries and that both parents and all the children were probably working for most of their waking hours, just to stay alive.

A lot of families with stay at home mothers live on a lot less than some families think they need.

It's true that there are families in the Mennonite Church that are well to do, and the father makes a kings ransom for an income. But that isn't nearly as true for today's working generation as it was a generation ago, at least here in the west.
Most of this generation's fathers will not have large savings accounts built up for retirement.
At least not those who don't live in large Mennonite communities.

We were not Anabaptists, but, on so little, without gov assistance, we lived frugally so that i/we could be at home raising our children. children includes teens. teens benefit from close parenting. they don’t need care like toddlers, but they need care. i did different things in addition to thrift. i often cared for one or two children with our children, i sometimes did typing at home for college students (don’t judge by my poor habits here!) i helped a number of students get through. i sometimes worked part time at a local college. occasionally, i worked full-time. but i returned home asap.

for a period, there was a popular saying, “with children, it’s not quantity of time, but quality.”
people can be so clever with words.

i found, working full time, there is NO quality time. fantasy.
both parents and children are tired. getting through dinner, baths, bedtime, was “it.” homework.
sometimes, on weekends, my husband would want to “go out.”
but, being away from the children all week was too much. leaving them with others even more was unthinkable.

parenting, keeping a home, IS a full time job. it doesn’t go away just because additional jobs may be required.

for some years, we walked a lot, only using our one vehicle weekly, to get groceries. we were fortunate, there was a nearby bus my husband could catch to campus.

we had 1 landline phone. no computer. or other.

we often received compliments on our children’s behavior when we were out.
there is no replacement for time with your children. thousands+thousands of small things shared over years.

many want gov more+more involved to “free” mothers for work.
i advise, do not fall for it! the high cost of childcare was a central motivation that allowed me to stay home.
i would not have wanted the temptation to trade that time off.

be very careful what you wish/vote for.

[PetrChelcicky]

A sense of (spiritual) independency and a striving for collective (material) independency?
This would imply simplicity/thrift, work ethics and mutual aid, in a way also stableness. And "own schools".

My spontaneous answer to the question: "What the Mennonites got right" was: MDS and MEDA. MDS seems rather unique (it can only work in a community with enough members who have the skills needed in a catastrophe). And MEDA, even it is part of the "third world development" industry, seems more "down-to earth and "on equal footing" than other attempts (or am I too naive and uniformed there?). In any way I question if MEDA shouldn't have done more in the United States itself, in the Rust Belt or the Big City slums.

[temporal1]

I think we do good at resisting divorce. We also do well with the headship covering.

i thought of this today when reading:

“Dear Therapist: I Don’t Think I Can Accept My Boyfriend’s Past”
Seeing photos with his ex-wife and kids pushed me over the edge.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/arch ... ce/671887/

i believe this is written from a completely secular, self-centered view ..
i couldn’t help but think, as many of our unhappinesses and frustrations come along, the central problem is ignorance of God’s Truth, His plan, His design.

If this young woman (and her divorced boyfriend) better understood God’s Will for marriage and divorce, they would not be surprised at the trouble they are having, trying to ignore/deny what marriage is about.

Not regarding marriage and divorce alone, i believe there is tremendous confusion and suffering due to ignorance (of scriptures).
So much heartache could be prevented.

It’s one thing to choose sin, to know there will be a price. This is bad enough.
It’s another thing altogether to choose sin, with the world’s full “blessing” - then to suffer - in abject confusion.

[mercysfree]

On the lighter side, a trivial thing that absolutely charmed me when I first came to my church was seeing most of the children barefoot on Sunday morning.

[RZehr]

On the lighter side, a trivial thing that absolutely charmed me when I first came to my church was seeing most of the children barefoot on Sunday morning.

unless it’s freezing, there’s an extremely high chance some of my kids will be barefoot at church. 8 year old might be wearing a suit, but his piggys are free.

[mercysfree]

On the lighter side, a trivial thing that absolutely charmed me when I first came to my church was seeing most of the children barefoot on Sunday morning.

unless it’s freezing, there’s an extremely high chance some of my kids will be barefoot at church. 8 year old might be wearing a suit, but his piggys are free.

We live in Arkansas, and I've seen Mennonite children barefoot on frosty ground. I emulated that with my children and let them go barefoot any time they felt hardy enough. They all survived to adulthood without getting pneumonia or frostbite.

Sadly, nowadays the fashion is for gussying children up more, including shoes for all and those stupid headbands with bows on girl babies. "Wearing your best for God" is how I've heard it phrased.

Poor kids. I try to praise parents for holding out against current fashion.

[Josh]

Interestingly Holdemans don't go to church barefoot, even though their Russian Mennonite and Swiss/Amish constituencies tended to before they joined the Holdemans.