“One of us”

Christian ethics and theology with an Anabaptist perspective
Soloist
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Re: “One of us”

Post by Soloist »

One could equally answer the question, what makes one feel welcome? Figure out what makes you feel welcome and evaluate if that is the right perspective a Christian should have on a church group.

I'm still not one of them and I likely never will be, but I'm different than many others. One person I know when accused or questioned about his name not being Mennonite, he responds "Its is now" Thats a good outlook. From a person coming in and looking at him, he clearly is part of them now but for all I know he still feels like an outsider.
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Chiruso78
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Re: “One of us”

Post by Chiruso78 »

Well what church do you belong to? Marrying someone from the church and then serving in the community may help resolve this over time?
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Re: “One of us”

Post by Soloist »

Chiruso78 wrote:Well what church do you belong to? Marrying someone from the church and then serving in the community may help resolve this over time?
I don't belong to one at the moment, I attend two separate churches. Still trying to make a choice between them.

Also, I'm married with 3 children.
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MaxPC
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Re: “One of us”

Post by MaxPC »

Wade wrote:
MaxPC wrote:Chiruso, I think the important focus is not on joining a fellowship to be accepted as one of them. The focus in my opinion is to join because the group is following the same calling to the Lord that you have and is expressing their discipleship in a like-minded manner. The focus should always be Jesus.
The challenge can be that the community/ close fellowship or (being one of "them") aspect is an important piece of the true expression of following Christ...

How does the verse go? You know you have passed from death to life when you have love of the brethren.
Indeed, yet in my experience of years if one doesn't love God and have a personal relationship with Him first, then the brotherhood aspect won't express the following of Christ: it becomes a Sunday social club or at best a charitable agency. I've been in parishes that had a Godly community of brotherhood and other parishes that essentially was a Sunday social club with a charity outreach. The difference between the two was whether the parish emphasized each person develop that personal relationship with Christ.

The way I've always viewed Luke 10:27-28 is that Jesus affirmed the order of priority: God first, neighbor next. Love of neighbor flows from love of God. In my view the fellowship that maintains those priorities will be doing what Christ commanded. YMMV though. :D
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temporal1
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Re: “One of us”

Post by temporal1 »

Hats Off wrote:In some ways you will always remember that your past is different from ours.
You will remember that you don't have extended family in the church like we do.
:arrow: I would like to think you will remember those things after we have largely forgotten them.
I hope Steve is wrong with most Mennonites - that he had a bad experience(s).

:arrow: But in some ways you will always be different because you came in by choice; you chose to be one of us. And I really admire and appreciate that.

:arrow: Once we stop treating you special and seem to almost be ignoring you, you can feel that you are one of us. It is not that we are ignoring you, we just treat you the same as we do every other brother and sister.
love these points. in my life experience, so very true, in many ways, in addition to church membership. things i have experienced, and witnessed in others. adoptions come to mind, and, joining families through marriage.
Last edited by temporal1 on Sat Oct 28, 2017 6:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Josh
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Re: “One of us”

Post by Josh »

To be frank:

Mennonites, Hutterites, Amish, Apostolic Christians, and German Baptists are not pefect.

But the sincere seeker who encounters any of these will find brotherhood, accountability, and fellowship. One can never change the circumstances of one’s birth and family. But the true family of God can look past this. I have found fellowship with all of these: both Old Order and evangelical Hutterite, Amish, Mennonite, German Baptist, and Apostolic Christians.

You will never be born into them. But why covet or fear when one can be grafted in? You can share the saving grace of Jesus’ death and resurrection with so many that the average Mennonite girl or boy simply dreams about being able to talk to. And here I sit, a phone full of contacts I need to reply to and a travel schedule making me wonder “With so many seekers how will I find the time?”

Jesus doesn’t demand that every person becomes plain and a conservative Anabaptist Christian. But if you are so called - respond to the call - and answer with joy. There are so many who need to know you. So many who have never known someone who cares.

If God calls you to be a Mennonite, simply remember: being Mennonite is hard. But for most people, there is no greater blessing in this world or the next then knowing a Mennonite, other than knowing Jesus. Answer to call and step up to the task of being Jesus’ ambassadors on earth.

Remember that in Ethiopia, Mennonites are known as: Meserete Kristos, or “Followers of the Jesus Way.”
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Re: “One of us”

Post by Sudsy »

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?
1 Cor 1:13

When we do not acknowledge other believers as 'one of us', I think we are losing site on who we are as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Somehow, our secondary beliefs and practises are getting in the way of accepting one another as all parts of the body of Christ. This attitude is like breaking up Christ into various unattached pieces whereas we are to recognize each other as parts of the whole where each part needs each other part. My experience has taken me into various Christian churches and I have found those who look at brotherhood from a big picture point of view. I can show up in their local churches anytime and share with them our oneness in Christ. Imo, one of the cons of local church membership is when a believer thinks and acts too distinct from other believers in Christ in other churches. Someday all of these splits and divisions will go away when Jesus returns so why not think more that way now.
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Josh
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Re: “One of us”

Post by Josh »

I find limits on brotherhood with other “Christians” with people who engage in gross immorality (sleeping around, cheating on their wife, openly homosexual, etc.) or who think violence is OK: like someone I spoke with not too long ago who thinks Christians have a moral imperative and duty to “kill the wicked” like it says in the Old Testament.

With that said I do try. I never want to let walls go up between me and any other person.
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Re: “One of us”

Post by YorkandAdams »

I'm in this situation right now. I believe it depends on a lot of factors, with the actual church (local body of believers) being the greatest difference in how quickly you feel accepted.

There are so many factors that come into play. Some of the factors that have played to my advantage include age (still can be part of a youth group), marital status (being able to go whenever and where ever god calls), and ability to make others laugh.

Several people have commented to me that I "jumped right in" to the church and no one looking from the outside could tell the difference. But the hard part is that you are going to be reminded regularly that you aren't "one of them" simply by your lineage. My last name has the curse of being one that fits in quite well to a Mennonite directory.
Learning to play the "Mennonite Game" is something that you are going to have to do, and you are going to have to find your own unique way to play the game. I simply respond by saying "no, we're not related". :lol:
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CADude
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Re: “One of us”

Post by CADude »

My observation is that smaller churches that are recently established and more out of the way (in remote areas) and that are more diverse often will often have a culture that isn't as "strong" and as "demanding". I'm thinking of one small church that was in a fairly remote area but it lacked diversity and also had been established for some 40 years already and it seemed like the families there sort of stuck to themselves and were not as hospitable and accepting of "outsiders" as what some other places were.

Ideally, a person should feel they are "one of us" by virtue of being of the same spirit, the spirit of Christ. But since churches are at least somewhat human establishments, they end up having culture and traditions that become a part of them. If the spirit of Christ is the primary point of unity like it should be, you should find yourself feeling "integrated" fairly quickly, but where a church is not primarily united by Christ, you'll likely find it an uphill battle to feel fully integrated.

There are some of us who were born into the church and culture, and sometimes we're still not sure where/if we fit in. I'm speaking more of the social/culture aspects when I say that. Spiritually speaking, Christ unites people like nothing or no-one else can. Menno Simons says that "unfeigned brotherly love" is one of the marks of the true church.
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