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Shared community of Brethren, Mennonites or Amish?
Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2024 1:40 pm
by MaxPC
Are there now, or have there been any Brethren, Mennonite or Amish communities in which the property and income was shared by all? I am thinking of the model as lived by the Hutterian Brethren as an example.
Re: Shared community of Brethren, Mennonites or Amish?
Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2024 8:48 pm
by Josh
MaxPC wrote: ↑Sat Apr 20, 2024 1:40 pm
Are there now, or have there been any Brethren, Mennonite or Amish communities in which the property and income was shared by all? I am thinking of the model as lived by the Hutterian Brethren as an example.
At a church/congregational level, no.
The Scottsville, KY-type churches sort of do this.
At one point Cookeville/Caneyville also tried to do this.
Re: Shared community of Brethren, Mennonites or Amish?
Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2024 11:41 pm
by Judas Maccabeus
MaxPC wrote: ↑Sat Apr 20, 2024 1:40 pm
Are there now, or have there been any Brethren, Mennonite or Amish communities in which the property and income was shared by all? I am thinking of the model as lived by the Hutterian Brethren as an example.
No. That model is unique to the Hutterites and the "Christian Communities " commonly known as the Bruderhof, or sometimes the Arnold group. The latter has had serious issues, if you want more info on the latter, Wayne in Maine's old posts could be informative.
Re: Shared community of Brethren, Mennonites or Amish?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:14 am
by Praxis+Theodicy
Aren't Mennonites in South America like this? I know they exist in "colonies" like the Hutterites, but I'm not aware of what sort of property/income sharing they do.
There is a big church in Texas that is sort of non-anabaptist which is communal, but they do have members who live on big private ranch properties while others live communally, so it's not a universal thing.
Re: Shared community of Brethren, Mennonites or Amish?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:27 am
by Josh
Praxis+Theodicy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:14 am
Aren't Mennonites in South America like this? I know they exist in "colonies" like the Hutterites, but I'm not aware of what sort of property/income sharing they do.
There is a big church in Texas that is sort of non-anabaptist which is communal, but they do have members who live on big private ranch properties while others live communally, so it's not a universal thing.
If you mean the group in Paraguay, it would be more accurate to say they all share a significant “family business” (which all of the Mennonites participate in) which also provides most municipal services, basically everything other than escalated law enforcement. It is not quite an Acts 2/4 common purse.
Re: Shared community of Brethren, Mennonites or Amish?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:45 am
by Praxis+Theodicy
Josh wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:27 am
Praxis+Theodicy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:14 am
Aren't Mennonites in South America like this? I know they exist in "colonies" like the Hutterites, but I'm not aware of what sort of property/income sharing they do.
There is a big church in Texas that is sort of non-anabaptist which is communal, but they do have members who live on big private ranch properties while others live communally, so it's not a universal thing.
If you mean the group in Paraguay, it would be more accurate to say they all share a significant “family business” (which all of the Mennonites participate in) which also provides most municipal services, basically everything other than escalated law enforcement. It is not quite an Acts 2/4 common purse.
Not sure if and Acts 2/4 community is what's in question. In Acts, property was shared but there's no indication of income sharing. There's a big difference between the two, and there are many communities that have one or the other (some share income but all have private property, some share capital but have control over their own income).
Of note, almost no communities have "total" sharing. Most people have some form of personal possessions. I'm assuming Max's question about "complete" sharing includes some exceptions; I just don't know what exceptions he'd allow, and whether the colony(s) in South America would count. The group in Paraguay you describe sounds almost more extensive than a Hutterite colony in the States.
Max, there was also Reba House, which was at one point a communal living situation in Chicago, IL. However, from what I hear, they are now much more of a mixture of communal and private in their ownership and income. Also of note, they are affiliated with MCUSA, not a conservative Mennonite tradition. I'm guessing you're more interested in conservative groups, but I'm not sure so thought I'd mention them anyway.
There is also Elohim City, which was started by an ex-Mennonite, but they are a white supremecist apocalyptic cult stockpiling weapons in preparation for the race war at the end of the world, so I doubt they fit your criteria either.
Re: Shared community of Brethren, Mennonites or Amish?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:56 am
by MaxPC
Praxis+Theodicy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:45 am
Not sure if and Acts 2/4 community is what's in question. In Acts, property was shared but there's no indication of income sharing. There's a big difference between the two, and there are many communities that have one or the other (some share income but all have private property, some share capital but have control over their own income).
Of note, almost no communities have "total" sharing. Most people have some form of personal possessions. I'm assuming Max's question about "complete" sharing includes some exceptions; I just don't know what exceptions he'd allow, and whether the colony(s) in South America would count. The group in Paraguay you describe sounds almost more extensive than a Hutterite colony in the States.
Max, there was also Reba House, which was at one point a communal living situation in Chicago, IL. However, from what I hear, they are now much more of a mixture of communal and private in their ownership and income. Also of note, they are affiliated with MCUSA, not a conservative Mennonite tradition. I'm guessing you're more interested in conservative groups, but I'm not sure so thought I'd mention them anyway.
There is also Elohim City, which was started by an ex-Mennonite, but they are a white supremecist apocalyptic cult stockpiling weapons in preparation for the race war at the end of the world, so I doubt they fit your criteria either.
Thank you, P+T: I am interested in all expressions regardless of where they on the theological spectrum of conservatism and liberality. Your answers are quite helpful.
Re: Shared community of Brethren, Mennonites or Amish?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 8:06 am
by Praxis+Theodicy
MaxPC wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:56 am
Thank you, P+T: I am interested in all expressions regardless of where they on the theological spectrum of conservatism and liberality. Your answers are quite helpful.
Here is the Reba Place website. Last I knew, they had become much less intentional about having a common purse arrangement, but I haven't looked at then in a while:
https://rebaplacefellowship.org/
And here is a link to an umbrella organization aimed at promoting and providing low-level networking between Christian Intentional Communities.
https://www.nurturingcommunities.org/communities
As far as I know, Reba Place is the only anabaptist community affiliated with NCN that is Anabaptist aside from the Bruderhof church. But you could look around and see if you find something i haven't.
Re: Shared community of Brethren, Mennonites or Amish?
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 10:11 am
by RZehr
I believe in Paraguay, the colony holds the government title to the land, sort of as a corporation might. As far as the Paraguayan government is concerned, it is one single chunk of land. But then, the colony turns around and subdivides the land and sells the parcels to the individual members of the colony.
There are some unique rules to this though. 1. Only members are allowed to buy the parcels from the colony. And if they want to sell their land, they can only sell to another member, or to colony. 2. The price of the farmland is fixed and determined by the colony. And it doesn’t sound like the price gets changed very often. So if the price set is high, and crops are bad, and you can only sell within the colony, who members are all suffering from poor crops, there is no buyers for your land. You’re just stuck with it, and cannot lower the price.
I may have some of these details mixed with colony’s in Belize, but it is something like this.