List of conservative and moderate churches

Christian ethics and theology with an Anabaptist perspective
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Josh
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Re: List of conservative and moderate churches

Post by Josh »

Peregrino wrote:I've also seen a church's requirements against insurance (especially medical coverage) be a deal-breaker for some families, might it be helpful to include that as one of the comparisons?
What I envisioned was a diagram of different alignments and peculiar beliefs you would find in each alignment; insurance would be one of them (with varying degrees), marriage would be another.

Unfortunately, for many parts of the country (in fact most, based on population), your choices are:

1. An ultra-conservative Nationwide or Eastern church which has no flexibility around things like insurance.

2. A Holdeman church, which the rest of Mennonites will steer you away from, and encourage you not to become a member.

3. An Apostolic Christian church which is in the same boat as #2.

4. An Amish or Hutterite setting where one would need to learn a new language and where the belief system is not compatible with someone who has fundamentalist, evangelical beliefs (which would be what most seekers believe/require).

I'm not sure what to do about this other than encourage seekers to move to a place like Ohio where they can find a wide range of fellowships and hopefully find one that will suit their needs, and have options to migrate to a more or less conservative fellowship in the future as their needs change.
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Haystack
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Re: List of conservative and moderate churches

Post by Haystack »

Josh wrote:2. A Holdeman church, which the rest of Mennonites will steer you away from, and encourage you not to become a member.
Why is that?
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RZehr
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Re: List of conservative and moderate churches

Post by RZehr »

The official Holdeman position is that they alone are the only true church. That is perhaps the foundational difference between them and other Mennonite groups.
I believe their position on divorce and remarriage is much different than most of the other plain Mennonite churches.
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Josh
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Re: List of conservative and moderate churches

Post by Josh »

Haystack wrote:
Josh wrote:2. A Holdeman church, which the rest of Mennonites will steer you away from, and encourage you not to become a member.
Why is that?
I'm repeating what RZehr said, but moderately conservative Mennonites would think Holdemans too sectarian. More-conservative Mennonites would consider Holdemans not conservative enough, e.g. Holdemans do not opt out of Social Security, and don't mandate a double layer cape style dress. Finally, they do not share a hard line stance on divorce & remarriage.

Everything above is also true of both Apostolic Christian Church of America and Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarean).

(A lot of conservative Mennonite directories also don't list BMA churches or ones similar to them.)
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Haystack
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Re: List of conservative and moderate churches

Post by Haystack »

Interesting, thank you both for the info.
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Josh
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Re: List of conservative and moderate churches

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Slightly related to this is something I've been working on which is a list of churches in major cities. Often there is not an "ideal" church situation for a seeker, but I think some kind of Anabaptist fellowship is better than nothing. For example:

- Boston - Followers of the Way or an Eastern Pa. Mennonite church.

- L.A. - a tiny Holdeman mission, several Apostolic Christian churches, or a tiny Midwest / Hope / Western Fellowship loosely affiliated house church, and an independent moderately conservative Mennonite church an hour (without traffic) north of L.A.

- San Diego - several Apostolic Christian churches and that is all

- Chicago - two Apostolic Christian (ACCA) churches

- Montreal - a small Holdeman mission

- Seattle - a small Holdeman mission near Seattle and a very small independent house church of a few families a half hour northwest

- Minneapolis - an evangelical Hutterite colony an hour away and a Holdeman guest home that does hold small church services an hour away in Rochester

Thinking back to when I was a new convert, I think any of the above environments could provide a healthy environment to learn about following Jesus and the basics of Christian living. As one becomes more and more deeply committed to kingdom Christianity and the conservative Anabaptist expression of it, then it makes more sense to consider moving somewhere with a church situation more to one's liking.
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YorkandAdams
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Re: List of conservative and moderate churches

Post by YorkandAdams »

I had the same idea too, and so far have went off the list from ernie and used gameo to fill in when i had questions. If you would like some help on the project, I would be open to it! PM me if you would like.
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