Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Christian ethics and theology with an Anabaptist perspective
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Once Again
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Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Post by Once Again »

I know there are some members here that came started out as non-Christians or were members of churches that are not Anabaptist who converted to some type of CA church. I was hoping that you might share your experiences, especially any cultural differences you had to work through. Also, how NMB young single persons are received at Mennonite/CA churches.
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Hats Off
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Re: Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Post by Hats Off »

I am a life-long CA so I don't really qualify to answer but my experience is that they seem to be received extra well. It is their parents who have the greater struggle would be my guess based on what I have seen.
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Soloist
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Re: Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Post by Soloist »

I'm not necessarily a CM... I do attend a conservative church half the time, but we are leaning that way. I can try to write up my experiences if they are welcome at a later point.
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steve-in-kville
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Re: Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Post by steve-in-kville »

Alright, I might not be the best guy to give an unbiased opinion on this, but here goes...

I grew up going to a Church of God until age 12. My parents briefly attended a liberal-ish (at the time) Church of the Brethren. Through some things I saw there, I developed some convictions that took me to the Dunkard Brethren church. I married there, and raised a family up until we were part of a more conservative splinter group that was loosely affiliated with what is called the Bible Brethren. I had no problems being accepted in either group, as both groups had other transplants like me.

Where things went sideways was when we started attending a Mennonite church, that will remain un-named. It was horrible. I was never accepted, largely because of my non-Mennonite pedigree. My children who were in the youth group were held at arm's length. The more I tried to fit in, the worse it got. The funny things is, I had pastors from both Pilgrim and EPMC tell me that I'd have no problems in their circles, pedigree had nothing to do with salvation.

I could post more, but I'm out of time. I will be back later....
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Once Again
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Re: Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Post by Once Again »

Soloist wrote:I'm not necessarily a CM... I do attend a conservative church half the time, but we are leaning that way. I can try to write up my experiences if they are welcome at a later point.

Yes, I'd like to hear about your experience with CM churches.
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Josh
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Re: Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Post by Josh »

My experience has been great.

My first church is a warm loving place - still is - my best friend who grew up in NYC is a member there now. He basically led me to the Lord, when I finally accepted, I went to the church 2 miles from my house because it said “conservative” on the sign!

My other best friend and his wife are in instruction class there. The people there are all miss me and are always asking my mom about me if they run into her in town shopping or if my mom visits there.

I will add I had a terrible experience with 1 person caught in grave sin there. I am still a believer, mostly because everyone else was so loving and kind to me.

I still attend their youth group sometimes and I guess you could say I fit in well enough with the youth that sometimes a few of them like to gather at my house. A few ex members live with me (long story).

My church in Australia was awesome, but it’s also a mission church. No trouble fitting in when every single person has a different background. The youth all hung out multiple times a week. We were aged teens to late 20s to me (35).

My current church is also awesome. I am 35 and wanted to connect more to guys my age so I focused on that and don’t go to youth functions, although I value a few friendships I have with some of the unmarried older youth boys in their 20s. I frequently visit other sister churches when travelling for work and now I know people and have places to stay all over the country.

I also have felt very at home at a Mennonite Church in an urban setting and visit frequently on business trips - eventually someone gave me a key to the guys’ house, so it’s almost like my home away from home.

And I feel at home at an evangelical Hutterite colony that’s in an Anabaptist desert - it’s 1 of 2 places to go. Now I look forward to work trips out there. It’s also the first place I ever played soccer!

I try to visit Apostolic Christian Churches as well since they are thick in my home area. Very different culture but it’s warm and receptive.

Your mileage may vary. Be loving, don’t over share, focus on “how can I bless this church?” Vs “how can I be blessed?”, and seek relationships with godly men and to be a good example to the youth.
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RZehr
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Re: Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Post by RZehr »

Josh wrote:...and seek relationships with godly men and to be a good example to the youth.
I think this is a good advise.
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KingdomBuilder
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Re: Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Post by KingdomBuilder »

I'm not sure who else can/will answer this (I simply don't know much about many members on here), but I've enjoyed the posts thus far. Perhaps if the Lord wills it, I'll be able to post on this thread someday :?: :?:
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Judas Maccabeus
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Re: Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Post by Judas Maccabeus »

Once Again wrote:I know there are some members here that came started out as non-Christians or were members of churches that are not Anabaptist who converted to some type of CA church. I was hoping that you might share your experiences, especially any cultural differences you had to work through. Also, how NMB young single persons are received at Mennonite/CA churches.
My wife and I were in a C&MA church for about 30 years. It had a series of problems, and sooner or later it was going to close....but we fought for years to save it, to the point where I promised the pastor that I would be there to turn the lights out with him if it came to that. It did, and we were so busy trying to keep it afloat we had never looked at what to do the next Sunday.

I had believed in nonresistance since my high school days (Viet-Nam era) which caused some issues in our former church, particularly since 9-11, and had some mennonite classmates in college, so we checked out the local Mennonite church website. With it came news of that denomination ordaining homosexuals....way out of bounds for us. But lower in the list of search results was our current church. One of my daughters had run into some people from the church, and was positively impressed, so we paid a visit, and were a bit surprised that it was as conservative as it was, (Cape dresses, plain suits, ect.)but it was the friendliest, most genuine church we had ever seen. We tried a few others after that, but I think we knew where we belonged from word go. It took us quite a while to decide that we wanted to sign onto the promises that one makes as one becomes a member, but they started an instruction class (We think for someone else) we went, and decided that this is were we belong. I think it has been about 2-3 years.

Sure, there has been a few cultural misunderstandings, but we have learned to laugh at ourselves when we do. Since it is an urban church, I don't think some of the issues that might come up in a very rural church have.

J.M.
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Judas Maccabeus
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Re: Becoming Conservative Mennonite

Post by Judas Maccabeus »

steve-in-kville wrote:Alright, I might not be the best guy to give an unbiased opinion on this, but here goes...

I grew up going to a Church of God until age 12. My parents briefly attended a liberal-ish (at the time) Church of the Brethren. Through some things I saw there, I developed some convictions that took me to the Dunkard Brethren church. I married there, and raised a family up until we were part of a more conservative splinter group that was loosely affiliated with what is called the Bible Brethren. I had no problems being accepted in either group, as both groups had other transplants like me.

Where things went sideways was when we started attending a Mennonite church, that will remain un-named. It was horrible. I was never accepted, largely because of my non-Mennonite pedigree. My children who were in the youth group were held at arm's length. The more I tried to fit in, the worse it got. The funny things is, I had pastors from both Pilgrim and EPMC tell me that I'd have no problems in their circles, pedigree had nothing to do with salvation.

I could post more, but I'm out of time. I will be back later....
If I would have seen this, I would have ran. There are mennonite churches that have transplants.

J.M.
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