Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Christian ethics and theology with an Anabaptist perspective
User avatar
Josh
Posts: 23826
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:23 pm
Location: 1000' ASL
Affiliation: The church of God

Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Post by Josh »

This question came up in another discussion forum:
Do you know why the Followers of Jesus choose not to identify as Mennonite or Anabaptist? Not being critical, just wondering.
0 x
Ernie
Posts: 5447
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 2:48 pm
Location: Central PA
Affiliation: Anabaptist Umbrella
Contact:

Re: Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Post by Ernie »

The people who started this church come from Catholic, Assemblies of God, Beachy Amish-Mennonite, Nationwide Fellowship, Old Conference German Baptist, Independent Baptist, Washington/Franklin Conference, Charity, BMA, and Southeastern Conference backgrounds. These folks aren't really interested in trying to find a surname that means something historically but has very little meaning to the unchurched. If pushed, they would all say they fit under the Anabaptist umbrella and they are happy to be identified as such when the term is understood, even though most of them have not been rebaptized.
0 x
The old woodcutter spoke again. “It is impossible to talk with you. You always draw conclusions. Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word. You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge?"
User avatar
Josh
Posts: 23826
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:23 pm
Location: 1000' ASL
Affiliation: The church of God

Re: Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Post by Josh »

Ernie wrote:The people who started this church come from Catholic, Assemblies of God, Beachy Amish-Mennonite, Nationwide Fellowship, Old Conference German Baptist, Independent Baptist, Washington/Franklin Conference, Charity, BMA, and Southeastern Conference backgrounds. These folks aren't really interested in trying to find a surname that means something historically but has very little meaning to the unchurched. If pushed, they would all say they fit under the Anabaptist umbrella and they are happy to be identified as such when the term is understood, even though most of them have not been rebaptized.
Would they be comfortable saying "we are similar to Mennonites"?
0 x
joshuabgood
Posts: 2815
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 5:23 pm
Affiliation: BMA

Re: Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Post by joshuabgood »

I think the reason (some) people are leary of groups that "drop" the Mennonite name (as seems the case with this church beings the leaders people know were mostly some variant of Menno's) is because this historically was a common path for churches becoming culturally assimilated and generally protestant evangelical. Also, in times past when the name Mennonite was shunned often it was (rightly for the most part) perceived as a reactionary movement (think Charity).

In more recent times though, the name Mennonite has been left behind for other motives, as is the case at FOJ State College. And I don't think these folks are influenced by the same voices the prior folks were/are.

Interestingly, I once had a personal conversation with Walter Beachy, and he told me he was advocating for not using the term Mennonite in the BMA name. However, he didn't feel super strong on it and acquiesced to prevailing thought. He told me he would have liked the moniker "Anabaptist" in place of Mennonite.

Personally I don't know why we use the name Mennonite since we were specifically instructed not to by none other than Paul himself...but I don't see it as a weightier matter of the law. Probably right about in the same place as prayer veilings. :)
0 x
User avatar
Josh
Posts: 23826
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:23 pm
Location: 1000' ASL
Affiliation: The church of God

Re: Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Post by Josh »

"Mennonite" is a name that other people gave us, and eventually, it's the name that stuck.

I personally like the idea of calling ourselves "Anabaptists", and that's what one church in Australia did. As a bonus, they find they get along very well with the Baptists in Papua New Guineau, who are delighted to have a preacher visit them from a church with "Baptist" in the name.

A simple reality to deal with is that if we pick some non-distinctive name, we become virtually impossible to find. One Anabaptist fellowship near me simply calls itself "Christian Fellowship". That's not helpful at all for someone who is seeking kingdom Christianity, Jesus-following, conservative Anabaptism, or whatever you want to call it.
0 x
User avatar
ohio jones
Posts: 5222
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 11:23 pm
Location: undisclosed
Affiliation: Rosedale Network

Re: Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Post by ohio jones »

joshuabgood wrote:Interestingly, I once had a personal conversation with Walter Beachy, and he told me he was advocating for not using the term Mennonite in the BMA name. However, he didn't feel super strong on it and acquiesced to prevailing thought. He told me he would have liked the moniker "Anabaptist" in place of Mennonite.
Acronym lovers, as well as Lamb of God Mennonite Church, would have preferred that name. ;)
0 x
I grew up around Indiana, You grew up around Galilee; And if I ever really do grow up, I wanna grow up to be just like You -- Rich Mullins

I am a Christian and my name is Pilgram; I'm on a journey, but I'm not alone -- NewSong, slightly edited
Sudsy
Posts: 5859
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:32 pm
Affiliation: .

Re: Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Post by Sudsy »

joshuabgood wrote: Personally I don't know why we use the name Mennonite since we were specifically instructed not to by none other than Paul himself...but I don't see it as a weightier matter of the law. Probably right about in the same place as prayer veilings. :)
I see the :) but I have often wondered about why there are so many Mennonites that have identified themselves with the person who started their particular brand of Mennonite when Paul really did speak out against doing that. But then again, Paul's writings are quite picked over in selecting orthopraxy for a Christ follower, are they not ?

Our church was originally know as Mennonite Brethren and about 15 or so years ago was changed to the name of a city subdivision close by called Meadow Brook. So the 'MB' was retained, that pleased some, and the word 'Fellowship' was added. Meadow Brook Fellowship. Recently it was changed again to Meadow Brook Church and I am not familiar with why this was changed but I see various churches using the word 'Church' in their naming. The Pentecostal church, for instance, was originally called Full Gospel Tabernacle and has evolved through name changes to now be called Lake Pointe Church.

The original change away from the word 'Mennonite' in our case was to make it more inviting to folks not from a German/Russian background. I remember when I first started attending how folks on the outside could not understand why I would be going to a church they suspected still had services in German as some in our area do.

We have just completed a series called 'Roots' where we studied Anabaptist history in the main Sunday services. All of this is available on the Internet website for anyone curious about our church beliefs and/or background.

Seems to me Mennonite churches are the most fragmented amongst all Christian churches in their brand of Mennoniteism. My preference would be to keep the name more by location and have the members and a website share with the public the kind of Anabaptist beliefs are followed.
0 x
Pursuing a Kingdom life in the Spirit
User avatar
Josh
Posts: 23826
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:23 pm
Location: 1000' ASL
Affiliation: The church of God

Re: Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Post by Josh »

That's what my particularly group does, simply calling ourselves the "church of God" and identifying a congregation by its location.

However, nobody else does, and they call it the Holdeman church, and call its members Holdemans. So even if you try hard not to be identified by a leader in your past, everyone else will still do so.
0 x
KingdomBuilder
Posts: 1482
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 9:00 pm
Affiliation: church of Christ

Re: Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Post by KingdomBuilder »

I don't see labels as being all that bad. I think an issue is present when someone first identifies as "Mennonite" (or whatever denomination) and not as "Christian".

Labels are more helpful for those already within the Faith as well as for those seeking something specific. To the general public, though, I don't think we should be quick to toss around our "brand name" and stir up additional confusion and divisiveness. If someone earnestly asks, I don't see an issue with using a label for clarification.

One interesting piece, of the three largest Southern Baptist Churches in the tricounty area, only one ever had "Baptist" in the name. Now, though, even this church has dropped the "Baptist" from it's name.
0 x
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do
User avatar
Josh
Posts: 23826
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 6:23 pm
Location: 1000' ASL
Affiliation: The church of God

Re: Question about Followers of Jesus (State College, PA)

Post by Josh »

A bigger question is just what does a label like "Christian" communicate (and why is it, as a label, so sacrosanct).
0 x
Post Reply