Switching denominations

[PetrChelcicky]

From an outsider view, U.S. denominations are mostly organized along the lines of social class or of ethnicity. It has often been described that Anglo lower classes were Baptists, middle classes Methodists and higher classes Episcopalists. An interesting case is the fact that indeed people seem to have switched from one denomination to another when they went upwards. On the other hand I have never read anything about people who went downwards - did they for instance change from Methodist to Baptist? Or did they prefer to drop out completely?
On the other hand Germans, Scandinavians, Irish and Italians seem to have stuck to their Lutheran resp. Catholic denomination - at least as long as they were not completely assimilated into the Anglo mainstream.
My reason to bring this up is the obituary for Laurie Oswald Robinson at the Anabaptist World Website. Robinson changed from Mennonism to Catholicism, but I had to read another obituary to find that out. From the Anabaptist World text you could as well suppose that she became a Catholic and remained a Mennonite at the same time. (I doubt that the Catholics would accept a double membership, would MC USA accept it?)
A conversion to Catholicism would often be part of a marriage, but this seems not the case for Robinson. Did she in fact change her religious convictions? Or, as she obviously was a do-gooder, did she find more opportunities for good works within the local Catholic community?
Are there any statistics about people leaving Mennonism (any variant) and to what denomination they would turn?

[RZehr]

Probably non-denominational community churches get more ex-Conservative Mennonites than any other single denomination. That’s my guess.

[barnhart]

Anecdotally my branch of Mennonites who leave seem drawn to Anglican.

[Neto]

If the reasons for the change are cultural or socio-economic, a major factor might simply be the question of what is the dominant denomination in a person's area. In the MB congregation I grew up in, there were lots of former Southern Baptists, and some of them switched back to Baptist in later years, some temporarily, others permanently. Many that came did so because of problems in their church group of heritage, and most of those who went back did so during times of problems in the MB congregation. (One man, who was one of the youth sponsors during my HS years, told me that if he had been as spiritually mature when they left their Baptist church as he was at the point when he & his wife were our youth sponsors, that they would have stayed where they were. In other words, he was saying that their decision to leave that congregation was to some degree brought about by their own spiritual immaturity.)

There were others who came because they had moved away from their home area, and were influenced by neighbors who were MB members. The church house was close by, their children were friends with other children who were in the MB congregation. One couple in particular, the parents of my closest friend during HS, they came from a "high church" after moving from the city, and later said that while they had been very involved in their former congregation, teaching SS classes, etc., that they were not actually Christians, and had never realized that.

Our current congregation is not a member of any larger group, so I cannot really compare that and my MB background. There are many benefits of a denominational structure that are completely absent in an independent congregation.

[QuietlyListening]

Interesting to note- in this area we have several different congregations in the different denominations. We have the 'wealthier' episcopal church and the one where the less wealthy attend. The same is true for the Southern Baptist and United Methodists. We have PCA and Presbyterian USA and both seem to draw a wealthier crowd. This isn't to say some of the more upscale/wealthy folks don't go to some of the other churches within the denomination but there are the churches that seem to 'attract?' the more wealthy folks. But is doesn't seem to be a denominational thing.

[ohio jones]

Anecdotally my branch of Mennonites who leave seem drawn to Anglican.

"Better Mennonite than Anglican"

[cooper]

Knowing someone's level of education (I would include informal), you can make an educated guess about what denomination they might choose.
Someone with less education is more likely to choose Southern Baptists, Pentecostal, non-denom community church
Someone who is more education generally more likely to pick Anglican, PCA/reformed, possibly Orthodoxy

MC-USA types with advanced degrees I would guess go to a mainline denomination
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads ... us-groups/

[barnhart]

From an outsider view, U.S. denominations are mostly organized along the lines of social class or of ethnicity. It has often been described that Anglo lower classes were Baptists, middle classes Methodists and higher classes Episcopalists. An interesting case is the fact that indeed people seem to have switched from one denomination to another when they went upwards. On the other hand I have never read anything about people who went downwards - did they for instance change from Methodist to Baptist? Or did they prefer to drop out completely?
On the other hand Germans, Scandinavians, Irish and Italians seem to have stuck to their Lutheran resp. Catholic denomination - at least as long as they were not completely assimilated into the Anglo mainstream.

This is a keen insight, one reason it is true is because it tends to be enforced by the "sending" group as much as by the receiving group. There are push factors and pull factors. The impetus is not solely from the individual in transit but also from the two groups involved. When an individual moves past a cultural marker like wealth or education, it can cause stress with a group whose identity is partly formed by rejecting wealth and education.

My reason to bring this up is the obituary for Laurie Oswald Robinson at the Anabaptist World Website. Robinson changed from Mennonism to Catholicism, but I had to read another obituary to find that out. From the Anabaptist World text you could as well suppose that she became a Catholic and remained a Mennonite at the same time. (I doubt that the Catholics would accept a double membership, would MC USA accept it?)

I doubt double membership in this case, but for Anabaptist groups that do not hold One True Church doctrine, it is common to accept believers can move to similar groups in good conscience without breaking fellowship entirely. I am not familiar with MCUSA but is it possible they consider the Catholic church within their family of faith or at least close enough to avoid the rapture of relationship?

[Praxis+Theodicy]

A conversion to Catholicism would often be part of a marriage, but this seems not the case for Robinson. Did she in fact change her religious convictions? Or, as she obviously was a do-gooder, did she find more opportunities for good works within the local Catholic community?
Are there any statistics about people leaving Mennonism (any variant) and to what denomination they would turn?

The main draws to Roman Catholic church are
(1) Sacrementalism, which I have heard some say they were really drawn to. However, I have heard a lot of people drawn to the Eastern Orthodox church lately for this and similar reasons. The main draw to RC church is
(2) It's claim to be the original, apostolic, One True Church. A lot of people who deconstruct their faith tradition often find that no church is perfect, so just join the original church, warts and all, and maybe find a Catholic Order that affirms their convictions.

Rachel Stella felt homeless in the Mennonite tradition and (spoiler alert) ended up becoming a Roman Catholic. Her telling is worth a read:
https://rachelcstella.wordpress.com/201 ... ld-part-1/