What’s the Core of Being Mennonite?

Mennonite history and theology is rich, diverse, and increasingly multicultural and multinational. A Mennonite congregation in one place may be drastically different from another Mennonite congregation a few miles away. Urban Mennonites tend to be quite different from rural Mennonites, and Black and Asian and Latino Mennonites tend to be different from each other and from those of Dutch, German, and Russian stock.

But there is a core at the heart of what it means to be Mennonite–or at least I believe there is. For me, it can be boiled down to three key distinctives in how we follow Jesus:

Service. One of the characteristics that I find to be the strongest among Mennonites, at least as I’ve encountered it in North America, is a commitment to serve others in need. Unlike most of society, Mennonites do not believe in pursuing wealth, fame, or power; we believe that the purpose of life and the call of Jesus is to pursue serving others and making this a better world. This does not mean that obtaining wealth, fame, or power is wrong; but if any of these selfish goals is our pursuit, then we have misconstrued life’s priorities. As a result of this value, Mennonites often volunteer for disaster relief and community assistance, they love to raise money for relief and development projects, and they tend to go into service professions in disproportionate numbers (e.g. medicine, teaching, social work, etc.). Other professions are also legitimate and good, so long as our purpose is not ourselves, but the wholeness of humanity.

Nonviolent Peacemaking. Mennonites are known, perhaps more than anything else, for their commitment to nonviolence. Following the example of Jesus and his explicit command to “love your enemies,” Mennonites believe in overcoming evil with good, even if this means suffering harm rather than causing harm. This isn’t based simply on a revulsion toward violence (though that’s certainly a part of it), but a deep-seated conviction that Jesus has shown us that nonviolent love is what ultimately defeats the power of evil. Whenever we resort to violence, even for a just cause or to prevent the abuse of the innocent, we are feeding and keeping alive a spiritual power that is fundamentally at odds with the Spirit of God. The heart of God is nonviolent, self-giving love that ultimately overcomes all evil. Mennonites bring this conviction not only to big issues such as involvement in war, but also into everyday life. Peacemaking is to be done at every level, bringing about justice, conflict resolution, and reconciliation through equal valuing and respect of every human being. Mennonites are not passive; they often endorse such tools as protests, strikes, boycotts, noncooperation, and civil disobedience to bring attention to injustices and compel changes in social policy; but these tools must be consistent with love and respect for all. The biblical vision of shalom, of all being made well and people living in peace, motivates our hope and action. Not all individual Mennonites are absolutely committed to nonviolence, and few of us know what we would actually do in traumatic situations, but rather than training ourselves in the use of violence, we train ourselves in the arts of peacemaking.

Church as Community. For Mennonites, the church is not a building or a place to worship once or twice a week, it is essentially a community of Jesus’ followers engaged in mutual help, love, nurture, and commitment. Together we worship, take care of one another, discern God’s will, and make decisions. The church truly is an extended family. Most Mennonite congregations, though led by pastors or leadership teams, tend to be egalitarian, removing special privileges for the few. Humbleness is a virtue that ought to be demonstrated by all, especially those who lead.

From these three essentials flow many other features that are characteristic of many Mennonites: an emphasis on living a simple lifestyle that is kind to the earth and frees up resources for those in greater need; an allegiance to God’s kingdom that supersedes all other allegiances, including nationalism (American flags are rare in U.S. Mennonite churches); and a tendency to do things on a smaller, more intimate scale, rather than striving for bigness and mass popularity.

Of course, not every Mennonite or Mennonite congregation may look like the above, but I think most do. Nor are these characteristics exclusive to Mennonites. The Church of the Brethren, the Society of Friends, and some other denominations also share many of these values and emphases. Our object is not to be distinctive for the sake of being distinctive (that may be more true of the Amish); our object is simply to follow Jesus as faithfully as we can.

(This concludes my series on “What Do Mennonites Believe?”)