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About the Mennonites

The Mennonite Church


The Mennonite church traces its beginnings to Zurich, Switzerland in 1525 as part of the Anabaptist movement during the Protestant Reformation.

The church eventually nicknamed for Menno Simons, who left the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1536 and gave major leadership to the movement. Major points of the Mennonite expression of Christianity may be summarized as follows:

  • We believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, our personal Savior, and model for life. All other allegiances are secondary to this.
  • We believe in the Trinity: God, the Father; God, the Son; God, the Holy Spirit.
  • We believe that reading the Bible and following its teachings are central to a Christian life.
  • We believe that we can have new life in Christ and forgiveness for sins.
  • We practice “believer’s baptism,” a voluntary decision to join the church and commit oneself to a lifetime of following Jesus.
  • We reach out to the whole world, regardless of racial or political differences.
  • We seek to live peacefully with all people in the world, following Christ’s command to love enemies along with family and friends, pursuing justice and mercy, and refusing violence against anyone.