What drew you to Anabaptism or made you decide to stay?

[Maccupid]

What made you decide to become a Mennonite (if you didn't grow up as one)? Did it accompany a change in your lifestyle? What about your ideals? Or if you were raised in a Mennonite family, what convinced you to stay in the church (or return to it if you left)? If you had any tips for someone trying to live a Christian lifestyle based on a Mennonite interpretation, what advice would you give? And if I missed anything important, feel free to make up a related question and answer it too.

[barnhart]

I passed through a stage in my early 20's questioning if the traditions provided enough benefit to offset the weight. For me the combination of seeing the weaknesses of other traditions and a fresh vision of the answers embedded in the culture were valuable and reasonable theological responses to very real problems in broader society stabilized my discontent.

[JohnH]

I had my salvation experience about 10½ years ago in a conservative Mennonite setting, and I also simultaneously felt convictions about things that distinctly align with Anabaptist values. So it was difficult to even imagine giving up those values.

With that said, the question of "a Christian lifestyle based on a Mennonite [or Anabaptist] interpretation" begs the question of if you mean any Mennonite/Anabaptist group or specifically plain / conservative Anabaptism.

[Maccupid]

I had my salvation experience about 10½ years ago in a conservative Mennonite setting, and I also simultaneously felt convictions about things that distinctly align with Anabaptist values. So it was difficult to even imagine giving up those values.

With that said, the question of "a Christian lifestyle based on a Mennonite [or Anabaptist] interpretation" begs the question of if you mean any Mennonite/Anabaptist group or specifically plain / conservative Anabaptism.

Yeah, I mean plain/conservative Anabaptism. I should have been more specific. Thank you for the response . Can you tell me more about the convictions and experiences that drew you close to Anabaptism?

[Maccupid]

I passed through a stage in my early 20's questioning if the traditions provided enough benefit to offset the weight. For me the combination of seeing the weaknesses of other traditions and a fresh vision of the answers embedded in the culture were valuable and reasonable theological responses to very real problems in broader society stabilized my discontent.

Thank you very much for the response . I can see what you mean, but can you elaborate on this some more and provide some specific examples from your perspective? I would really appreciate it.

[cmbl]

It seemed to me that Jesus meant that his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount are to be put into practice. Also, Conservative Mennonites believed that you can start the Christian life and not finish it, which lined up with how I believed, despite my being taught otherwise.

[Soloist]

Wife: my husband can give you his viewpoint, but this is how I remember it

We just moved back to the north west after my husband got discharged from the military and I had been out for a couple of years. We didn’t feel like we matched well with his parents church, and were going through some struggles.

We each did a personal retreat or 2 where we went to a cabin at a Christian camp to read the Bible and pray. We were looking at the sermon on the mount and reading the New Testament and I don’t remember everything perfectly, but I seem to think we also did some surveys to see what churches aligned with our beliefs best. I know nonresistance was a big part of it and I don’t remember a ton beyond that. Male and female roles came into it. hubby had some random surveys he had us take and I think we also used Corey Anderson’s website. it’s actually really funny because I’ve forgotten about the surveys for quite a while and it sounds like we basically just did a personality test and that’s where it put us.

A lot of it was just that we were dissatisfied at the churches we grew up with and feeling like we wanted to get more serious about following God and were church hunting. We grew up being lukewarm Christians, and it felt like every church we ran into had some reason to make excuses why certain stuff didn’t apply. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mennonites do that a little as well, but as a whole, they seem more serious about following the Bible and not getting dragged into politics than most other denominations.

[R7ehr]

Wife: my husband can give you his viewpoint, but this is how I remember it

We just moved back to the north west after my husband got discharged from the military and I had been out for a couple of years. We didn’t feel like we matched well with his parents church, and were going through some struggles.

We each did a personal retreat or 2 where we went to a cabin at a Christian camp to read the Bible and pray. We were looking at the sermon on the mount and reading the New Testament and I don’t remember everything perfectly, but I seem to think we also did some surveys to see what churches aligned with our beliefs best. I know nonresistance was a big part of it and I don’t remember a ton beyond that. Male and female roles came into it. hubby had some random surveys he had us take and I think we also used Corey Anderson’s website. it’s actually really funny because I’ve forgotten about the surveys for quite a while and it sounds like we basically just did a personality test and that’s where it put us.

A lot of it was just that we were dissatisfied at the churches we grew up with and feeling like we wanted to get more serious about following God and were church hunting. We grew up being lukewarm Christians, and it felt like every church we ran into had some reason to make excuses why certain stuff didn’t apply. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mennonites do that a little as well, but as a whole, they seem more serious about following the Bible and not getting dragged into politics than most other denominations.

Hmmm, so it wasn’t our robust outreach and evangelism efforts after all?

[barnhart]

I passed through a stage in my early 20's questioning if the traditions provided enough benefit to offset the weight. For me the combination of seeing the weaknesses of other traditions and a fresh vision of the answers embedded in the culture were valuable and reasonable theological responses to very real problems in broader society stabilized my discontent.

Thank you very much for the response . I can see what you mean, but can you elaborate on this some more and provide some specific examples from your perspective? I would really appreciate it.

At some point I felt things popped into focus and I could see that observances that I had thought were unique isolated cultural islands were connected beneath the waterline by a continent of soteriology and ecclesiology. What I had experienced as random and optional was actually purposeful and part of a well developed theology of how the kingdom of Heaven sits on earth.

[Ernie]

Wife: my husband can give you his viewpoint, but this is how I remember it

We just moved back to the north west after my husband got discharged from the military and I had been out for a couple of years. We didn’t feel like we matched well with his parents church, and were going through some struggles.

We each did a personal retreat or 2 where we went to a cabin at a Christian camp to read the Bible and pray. We were looking at the sermon on the mount and reading the New Testament and I don’t remember everything perfectly, but I seem to think we also did some surveys to see what churches aligned with our beliefs best. I know nonresistance was a big part of it and I don’t remember a ton beyond that.

So what got you moving away from the military and toward nonresistance?