Ex-Mennonites?

[fschmidt]

Are there any ex-Mennonites here?  I am looking for an ex-Mennonite to give me an honest description of life in a Mennonite community.
 

[◊ Weezer ◊]

There is no typical Mennonite community.  There are 4 or 5 "levels", or sects, ranging from Amish who dress in black and use horses and buggies, to the progressive liberals that call themselves the "General Conference".  In between are the "Holdermans" and the "Brethren".  The Brethren and Generals blend into regular society.  Google these for more info.  

 

We have all the sects in Kansas.  I have had dealings with all of them, and they generally have good reputations.

[★ Citsonga ★]

As Weezer said, there is a wide range of Mennonites, although I should point out that the Amish technically are not Mennonites (they both fall under Anabaptist theology, though, so they are closely related).

 

I suspect that the question was meant more in regard to the Old Order Mennonites, which are nearly as conservative as the Amish. Some of my wife's extended family are very conservative Mennonites. However, though my father-in-law is an ordained Mennonite minister, he's a bit more liberal than the others, so my wife didn't grow up ultra-conservative.

 

I was not raised as any version of Mennonite myself, although as a teenager I did go weekly to a youth group at a Mennonite church. Other than the church name saying Mennonite, though, you wouldn't be able to distinguish it from mainline protestant church youth groups. They were definitely nowhere near what most people think of as Mennonite. Due to my wife, I did later regularly go to another Mennonite church, which wasn't as modern as the youth group I went to, but they weren't ultra-conservative, either. That's the only church I ever officially became a member of, although I was never committed to any particular denomination and merely referred to myself as Christian.

 

[◊ Weezer ◊]

Thanks Citsonga for the clarification.

 

When my wife and I first left the Church of Christ, and before I became Agnostic, we attended a Mennonite Brethren church for a while.  They were friendly, but it became apparent that if you didn't have Mennonite background, you were not a full member of the group.

 

What ever the denomination, it is interesting how churches that go by the same name can be different from place to place.  With each believing they have the correct interpretation of "God's word."  

 

 

[Joshpantera]

On 10/22/2018 at 2:13 AM, fschmidt said:

Are there any ex-Mennonites here?  I am looking for an ex-Mennonite to give me an honest description of life in a Mennonite community.
 

 

So the answer is not at this time, not that I'm aware of. 

 

 

[Joshpantera]

On 11/11/2018 at 12:44 PM, Citsonga said:

As Weezer said, there is a wide range of Mennonites, although I should point out that the Amish technically are not Mennonites (they both fall under Anabaptist theology, though, so they are closely related).

 

There were German Baptists who used to snow bird every season across the street in several houses in my grandfathers neighborhood. I watched them slowly secularize over the years. They went around building up Wendy's nationwide and had been friends with Dave Thomas as they said. The older folk still look like Mennonites. 

[◊ Weezer ◊]

Liberalization is taking it's toll.  Horses and wagons are slowly giving way to tractors in Kansas.