Question re: Mennonite Churches

[AndOne]

No - I know the difference between the two - I promise I'm talking about Amish....

But perhaps you are right about the Amish becoming more liberal - because the one's in my neck of the woods are extremely friendly and courteous...

 

[ZiSunka]

The whole ethnic/family thing can be a real problem, especially (and I don't know how many times I heard it) when they ask you who you're related to. And I have a non-mennonite name and related to no one, but I'm at least able to drop a couple of names to sorta keep me in the conversation

I find the "name snob" mennonites are usually more impressed with a person's name than they are a person's faith or character.

I briefly went to a mennonite house church that was mostly ethnic mennonite and they were very much focused on outward appearances like names and clothing, and career and houses. These people had some of the largest and most fabulous houses you could imagine. Every one of them had a house where 40 people could worship together comfortably in the living room and filled with expensive furniture and appointments. But also very shallow spiritually. Constantly bragging about pedigree and wealth, as if a name and some money mean much to God.

But I also went to another mennonite house church in a different location where the people were very humble, very Christ-like in their daily lives, very devoted to each other and to serving as Christ's hands and feet. No showy houses, no bragging about names or pedigrees, no attempting to impress anyone in any way. It was an almost perfect situation.

There are some pretty shallow churches out there that really miss the point of being a Christian, but there are some really great churches out there that are very much the way God intended churches to be. If you find one that isn't what church should be, leave it behind and find one that is better. There's a boatload of mennonite churches out there!

 

[ZiSunka]

No - I know the difference between the two - I promise I'm talking about Amish....

But perhaps you are right about the Amish becoming more liberal - because the one's in my neck of the woods are extremely friendly and courteous...

Around here, the ones in Middlefield are becoming more liberal, but many of the ones in Tuscarawas County are becoming more strict. It's possible that the Lancaster County Amish are becoming more liberal, too.

 

[Antje]

I was reading this thread, and decided to start my own thread on the "Mennonite names" topic. Here it is:

http://www.christianforums.com/t430...and-other-quirks-of-culture.html#post29436982