What do old order, conservative, & progressive Anabaptists have in common?

[Josh]

... churches from ... Ohio ... conferences of the Mennonite Church, plus CMC...

...

• Communion & (often) Feet-Washing together - practiced only a few times a year, approached soberly and often with an associated call to a time of preparation.
  Two-Kingdom Theology - this takes various forms of course, and various degrees of separation, but it is present throughout, including a near-universal distance from the patriotism and civil religion that is common in many other traditions.
  Christocentrism - A special focus on the importance of the teachings and example of Christ as Lord (especially the Sermon on the Mount) and secondarily the New Testament church.
  Discipleship - Anabaptists are people of action, more interested in how faith is lived out.
  Simplicity - Whether in the family garden or church-house decor, Anabaptists tend to value simplicity of life and behavior.
  Vocal Music - Music is important in the Anabaptist tradition especially the focus on vocal (a-capella) singing, harmonizing as a gathered church.
  Suffering/Surrenderedness - Perhaps it is the shared history of the Martyrs Mirror (or the Hutterian Chronicles), but the idea that suffering and personal sacrifice is to be expected as an honorable part of the Christian experience.
  Peace/Non-Resistance - Across the spectrum there is the general understanding that Christ is the Prince of Peace, and he calls his followers to enemy love and cheek turning.

I often wonder if I live in a parallel universe, because I spent years and years before I was a believer in the Ohio Mennonite Conference of the MC USA and I spent about half of last year in the CMC. I never run into acapella music once there. I certainly never ran into the idea of lived-out peace/non-resistance/two-kingdom theology, but that's probably because it was acceptable to carry guns, have concealed-carry permits, and serve in the military. (For example, in the MC USA congregation, someone's daughter or other relative was enlisting in the National Guard so we prayed as a congregation for blessing on her one day during the Sunday morning prayer time.) There was, and is, absolutely no difference between any other typical mid-sized evangelical congregation in Ohio and those congregations, and it shows, since so many young people who grew up in the church have since felt comfortable either attending elsewhere, or just not attending at all.

The only real talk and discussion I really heard much about holiness is about how we feel about homosexuality, and basically that we don't feel it's good and that homosexuals should be married. Personally, for me, I felt like I wasn't very much of a Christian, but I also wasn't a homosexual, so I wasn't exactly sure just what on earth it was I needed to do to be a Christian. I could tell some of the other congregants definitely were--but the idea of things like loving my enemies, trusting Jesus for life and death so that I don't have to kill to preserve my own life, and the idea that it's actually okay to live an outwardly holy life even if it makes you look a bit different, were ideas I just never heard either from the pulpit or from the membership.

In fairness, I did experience these things in the Ohio Mennonite Conference of the MC USA & in the CMC:

[/list]Servant Leadership - Humble and soft-spoken leaders are the norm, addressed by first name, often chosen from the immediate faith community. Plural part-time pastoral leadership is common as well.
Community - Or as Simon Schrock would call it, "one-anothering" - An emphasis on mutual aid, the gathered church, sharing of time and resources in moments of need, group discernment, regular group fellowship meals & events.
Disaster Relief & Humanitarian Sharing - Whether through MCC, MDS, CAM or whatever, Anabaptists across the spectrum are strongly inclined to help those in need both in the US and abroad, through poverty or disaster, giving both time and treasure.
Voluntary Service - This may have had it roots in the alternate service during war time, but it is still an expectation across the Anabaptist spectrum that young people give some of their time to Christian service, often in a cross-cultural setting.[/list]

[/quote][/quote]

Of course, I am out of those settings now, and MDS, MCC, and MVS continue to implode in size as the conservative end of the spectrum focuses its resources elsewhere, and as the left wing end of the spectrum views these organisations as something to extract resources from, not something to contribute to and preserve.

[Josh]

There are at least 2 Anabaptist churches in our city that I am familiar with that in some of these areas are not so similar. Those would be in the areas of foot washings (not practised), communion with no prep is practised open and monthly, no obvious soft spoken leaders, not so simple living (many are quite wealthy with big homes and new cars, elaborate churches with gyms and big kitchens and youth centers,etc) and music with lots of instrumentation and few songs that accommodate harmony. I guess these would be considered the far left when it comes to Anabaptism and closer to modern day Evangelical practise. From the little I know of the many other Anabaptist kinds in our area, I think your description is quite true from observing what I can see from the outside.

Same story here - although I don't know if I'd call it hard left. I could just as well call it hard right, because at the same time as big homes, elaborate churches, instrumental worship, and all kinds of other departures from historic Anabaptism have been embraced, so has right-wing political thinking.

[Dan Z]

Understood. Like with any generalization Josh & Sudsy, I'm sure there are exceptions - although not particularly among the most liberal congregations I would say, but rather (in my experience) among contemporary outreach-oriented congregations influenced most strongly by evangelical culture and models. I can think of a few CMC congregations, for example, that would not share many of the traits I highlighted at all. I also recognize that there are cultural differences between the old GC and MC Mennonites, as well as between the the Russian Mennonites of the great plains and the Swiss-German Mennonites from the east - perhaps most significantly when it comes to the influence of North American protestant evangelicalism.

For clarification, my exposure to non-plain Anabaptism has been most significant among the churches of the CMC and the eastern "Old Mennonite" conferences of MC-USA and their related institutions - although my contact beyond the east is fairly significant as well (including numerous national gatherings). All told, because of my relationship with a number of Mennonite institutions, over the years I've probably worshiped in a couple hundred MC & CMC congregations (and perhaps 100 or so plain churches as well I would guess). I'm probably least familiar with the Russian-Mennonite tribe.

With all those disclaimers in mind - I'll stand by my list as representing the norm in my experience. Josh, I don't suspect your universe is parallel so much as it is narrower.

[Sudsy]

Understood. Like with any generalization Josh & Sudsy, I'm sure there are exceptions - although not particularly among the most liberal congregations I would say, but rather (in my experience) among contemporary outreach-oriented congregations influenced most strongly by evangelical culture and models. I can think of a few CMC congregations, for example, that would not share many of the traits I highlighted at all. I also recognize that there are cultural differences between the old GC and MC Mennonites, as well as between the the Russian Mennonites of the great plains and the Swiss-German Mennonites from the east - perhaps most significantly when it comes to the influence of North American protestant evangelicalism.

For clarification, my exposure to non-plain Anabaptism has been most significant among the churches of the CMC and the eastern "Old Mennonite" conferences of MC-USA and their related institutions - although my contact beyond the east is fairly significant as well (including numerous national gatherings). All told, because of my relationship with a number of Mennonite institutions, over the years I've probably worshiped in a couple hundred MC & CMC congregations (and perhaps 100 or so plain churches as well I would guess). I'm probably least familiar with the Russian-Mennonite tribe.

With all those disclaimers in mind - I'll stand by my list as representing the norm in my experience. Josh, I don't suspect your universe is parallel so much as it is narrower.

I think the underlined best describes our MB church. The other bigger Mennonite church is a United Mennonite church and they do lots in the community with a Thrift Store and very active in the Gleaners and many other social helps. They are featured in the local newspaper regularly. But they are not that evangelical and much more ethnic than our MB church. We could learn a great deal from one another, imo.