Our Mennonite History Our Hebrew Origin Woman in the Wilderness The Trumpet Sound Terminology Study Papers MI Paper Archive Books to Read Order Books Biography Apply/Respond	Most modern Mennonites are the descendants of Teutonic tribes of what is now Switzerland, Holland and Germany who lived in heathen darkness until they came in contact with the Gospel early in the Middle Ages. They were Swiss, Dutch, and German people who were evangelized after a fashion by Roman Catholic missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and who until the time of the Reformation in the sixteenth century continued in the faith and worship of the Roman Catholic Church.   The Mennonite faith had it's origin in Switzerland in Reformation times. Certain followers of Ulrich Zwingli were unable to accept the compromises which he and Martin Luther had made in setting up a Protestant state church system. They and many others like them in western Europe had been expecting a complete reformation of the church, and a restoration that was faithful to New Testament teaching. They wanted the church to be composed of believers only, men and woman who had had a genuine conversion experience and who had committed their lives in unreserved obedience to the Word of Life. They wanted no half-Christian profession following the customs and traditions of the time, and maintaining an outward form of reverence but denying it's power. It was these people who continued in the Reformation which Luther and Zwingli began. They were the founders of the Mennonite fellowship.   It must be kept in mind of course that the founders of the Mennonite brotherhood in Switzerland did not adopt the name "Mennonite" for the new fellowship which they established. This name was given to it much later. In fact, even today the Mennonites of Switzerland do not have it as their official name. The name "Mennonite" was given to the branch of the church which was established in Holland, in which Menno Simons became the leader after the year 1536. It was only later that the name "Mennonite" was carried over from Holland into Germany and into Switzerland, and finally into America. The first name of the church in Switzerland was simply "Brethren." These Brethren had no other name. Since there were Brethren in various places in Europe in the course of the following years, it soon became the custom to refer to the ones who first founded the church in Switzerland as the Swiss Brethren.   The birthplace of the Mennonite Church is to be found in the city of Zurich, Switzerland, in the year 1525. The City Council of Zurich had decided to suppress the small company of people in Zurich under the leadership of Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock, who had refused to have their children baptized and who insisted that a thoroughgoing reformation take place in accordance with Zwingli's original promise. Before taking radical measures, however, the City Council had decided to give the Brethren a chance to defend themselves in public in a debate in which Zwingli and his friends were to refute the arguments against infant baptism. As soon as the debate was over, the City Council issued strict decrees forbidding the Brethren to meet, to teach, and to have fellowship together. January 21, 1525 is also considered to be the birth date of the Anabaptist movement, the term Anabaptist referring to the "re-baptizing" of adult believers. Because of their radical views on baptism and the nature of the church, the Brethren were perceived as a threat to the leading reformers and began to be violently persecuted.   It is a fact recognized by many historians that the persecution of the Anabaptists surpassed in severity the persecution of the early Christians by pagan Rome. Persecution began in Zurich soon after the Brethren had organized a congregation. Imprisonment of varying severity, sometimes in dark dungeons, was followed by executions. Felix Manz was the first martyr to die in Zurich and George Blaurock soon after. Anabaptism was made a capital crime. Prices were set on the heads of Anabaptists. In Roman Catholic states even those who recanted were often executed. In Catholic countries the Anabaptists, as a rule, were executed by burning at the stake; in Lutheran and Zwinglian states by beheading or drowning. In Germany, when all efforts to halt the movement proved in vain, the authorities resorted to desperate measures. Armed executioners and mounted soldiers were sent in companies through the land to hunt down Anabaptists and kill them on the spot without trial or sentence. Thousands sealed their faith with their blood. It was comparatively easy for catchpoles to ascertain who was and who was not an Anabaptist. They simply put the question to suspected persons. A true Anabaptist would disdain saving his life and burdening his conscience by telling an untruth and denying his faith.   Among the churches that grew out of the Anabaptist movement are the Mennonites, Hutterites, Baptists, Quakers and Dunkards. The story of the early Mennonite movement is largely the story of Menno Simons. Menno, although a price was placed upon his head, traveled and labored unceasingly throughout Holland and northern Germany. He was particularly influential through his writings, a total of twenty-four titles being published from the year 1539 to 1561 under his name. Several of these were extensive books. One of them, entitled The Foundation, became very popular and was a powerful force in spreading the faith of the Mennonite Church. Menno was a good leader, and was looked up to by his brethren as the father of the church until his death at his home in Wuestenfelde near Lubeck in 1561. The strongest growth of the Mennonite movement was in northwestern Holland in the province of Friesland, where very early a large portion of the population were converted and baptized into the Mennonite Church. However, strong churches were also established around Amsterdam, Haarlam, and Rotterdam, and on down into the territory of Flanders. From 1540 to 1570 the Mennonite movement was the strongest Protestant movement in the whole Low Countries. It was not until later that the Calvinist movement outdistanced it.   One of the curiosities as well as a distinction of our Anabaptist-Mennonite past is in regards to the teaching about a truly converted life. Menno Simons, and Anabaptists generally, did not accept Martin Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone. They saw that doctrine as an impediment to the true doctrine of a "living" faith which results in works, and detected a tendency toward antinomianism in the Reformed doctrine of justification by faith. Even now, critics of Anabaptists and Menno Simons point to this distinction with suspicion, suggesting that it leaves people to devise a righteousness of their own based on Law. Nevertheless, Menno Simons did believe that works do justify and were proof of a truly converted life. This heritage has remained with modern Mennonites who are ever ready to demonstrate their faith in action.   For a more complete history of our Mennonite people, see Harold S. Bender's paper at http://www.bibleviews.com/menno-heritage.html I am indebted to him for much of the above.
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