Press release
The Rootseekers Genealogical Society were pleased to welcome the Grays Prairie Mennonite Church to our meeting in November. Their members sang “Now Thank We” and “Immortal Praise” and it was beautiful. Gerald Champ spoke about the history of the Mennonite Church. Mennonites generally trace their roots back to either Swiss or Dutch descent. The Swiss movement began in 1525 in Zurich, Switzerland. To escape the ensuing persecution, they fled up the Rhine Valley in the Alsace and the Palatinate. From there they migrated to America, settling first in Pennsylvania before spreading south to Virginia and North to Ontario. From there they spread all the way across America and Canada, reaching the West Coast.
The Dutch movement began later around 1533. Menno Simons, a Catholic priest,converted to the Anabaptist movement in the Netherlands and became a prominent leader. The name Mennonite traces back to his followers who were nicknamed Mennists. In the face of severe persecution, some fled south into the upper Rhine Valley. The majority fled east into Poland. At Catherine the Great’s invitation, many relocated to Russia. In the face of devastation during the world wars they again relocated to Canada, Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay.
Many Mennonites fled western Europe for the more accommodating religious climate of the Americas or Catherine the Great’s Russia, giving these two groups distinctly different cultural heritages. The differences are also due in part to their degree of commitment to following the truth and how they applied the truth in their everyday lives. Mennonites are a branch of the Christian Church and believe in practicing Jesus’s teaching of service to others. Mennonites are known for their emphasis on issues such as peace, justice, simplicity, community, service and mutual aid. In keeping with their spiritual roots, Mennonites still believe in the close textual readings of the Scriptures and a personal spiritual responsibility as the basis of their faith. The Mennonite Church emphasizes service to others as an important way of expressing one’s faith. A disproportionately large number of Mennonites spend part of their lives working as missionaries or volunteers helping those in need, nationally or internationally. While certain conservative branches of the Mennonite Church still dress simply and require women to wear head coverings, Mennonites generally are not culturally separatist, choosing the larger communities outside of their church rather than forming a separate community around the church.
It is always a pleasure to hear about the Mennonite Church because we learn so much. Thanks to Gerald Champ for relating the history of the church and all the group who came to sing such beautiful songs.