{"id":2413,"date":"2012-05-03T06:32:28","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T13:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/?p=2413"},"modified":"2018-04-17T16:22:11","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T23:22:11","slug":"mennonite-a-ruined-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/2012\/mennonite-a-ruined-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"Mennonite &#8212; a Ruined Brand?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You know of or about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.anabaptists.org\" title=\"Anabaptist Mennonites\">Mennonites<\/a>, right?<\/p>\n<p>Mennonites &#8212; the religious sect&#8230;er&#8230;the people that distinguish themselves by __________________________.<\/p>\n<p>What <i>does<\/i> go in the blank, anyway?!<\/p>\n<p>Mennonite used to mean &#8220;stuff&#8221; like&#8230; <!--more--><\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top:-1.2em\">\n<li>plain living<\/li>\n<li>modest dressing<\/li>\n<li>separation from and nonconformity to the world<\/li>\n<li>nonresistance<\/li>\n<li>non-involvement in politics<\/li>\n<li>community brotherhood<\/li>\n<li>loyalty to the Scriptures<\/li>\n<li>liveable faith<\/li>\n<li>women with headship coverings<\/li>\n<li>disaster relief<\/li>\n<li>delicious homemade food<\/li>\n<li>frugality and generosity<\/li>\n<li>certain generally abandoned ordinances<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now <i>Mennonite<\/i> might also (or instead) conjure up images of&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top:-1.2em\">\n<li>social and political conscience<\/li>\n<li>wealthy materialists<\/li>\n<li>mainstream Christianity<\/li>\n<li>anti-nuclear protests<\/li>\n<li>women ministers<\/li>\n<li>ecumenicalists (maybe I mean ecumenists or ecumenics?)\n<li>pro-homosexual declarations<\/li>\n<li>anti-Israel activism<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/2009\/bonnet-rippers\/\" title=\"Bonnet Rippers aka Bonnet Books\">bonnet books<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So at times some of us <strong>cringe to identify ourselves as Mennonite<\/strong>, even if we prepend <i>conservative<\/i> to it. Or <i>traditional<\/i> or <i>faithful<\/i>. Or all three. \ud83d\ude33<\/p>\n<p>Some go so far as to drop <i>Mennonite<\/i> from their congregational name. Too much baggage with that name, you know; it&#8217;s a ruined brand.<\/p>\n<p>They opt for <i>Christian<\/i> instead. \ud83d\ude2f<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style:italic; margin-left:25px; padding-left:10px; border-left:1px dotted black\">Pardon me? That&#8217;s a hard-to-impugn name? That name has no baggage? It doesn&#8217;t suffer from damaged branding? Using that name will create an untarnished image for yourself and\/or your church? It declares clearly who I am and what I believe?<\/p>\n<p>I wonder what they say when someone asks them if they&#8217;re Mennonite. I assume they admit it, even though their congregational name hides it. Which leads me to another wonderment: <b>In what way does that help the seeker or the general public?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Imagine this exchange between two non-Mennonites, one of them a newcomer in town:<\/p>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Newcomer<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Are there any Mennonites in this town? I looked in the local church directory and didn&#8217;t see any Mennonite churches.<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Oldtimer<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Do you mean the kind that the women wear dresses and some prayer-related thing on their head?<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Newcomer<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Yes!<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Oldtimer<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Well, Thistown Christian Fellowship is actually a Mennonite church.<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Newcomer<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Seriously?! \ud83d\ude2f I wonder what&#8217;s with hiding their identity like that. Weird.<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Oldtimer<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\" style=\"margin-bottom:1.5em\">Yeah. \ud83d\ude44<\/div>\n<p>How would that benefit my congregation?<\/p>\n<p>I know, I know &#8212; a Mennonite can be (and at times is) <strong>denigrated as a follower of some mere mortal<\/strong> ex-priest from the Netherlands.<\/p>\n<p>Well, I&#8217;m not a follower of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Menno_Simons\" title=\"Menno Simons at Wikipedia\">Menno Simons<\/a>. For all that I know, he might not even fit in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.anabaptists.org\/churches\/hopewell.html\" title=\"Anabaptists | Hopewell Mennonite Church\">my home congregation<\/a>. But <strong>I accept the Mennonite brand name<\/strong>. Embrace it, truth be told.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, it often requires some clarifying and qualifying. But if I were to refer to myself only as a Christian, I would need to do even more clarifying and qualifying.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine a conversation between me and a stranger in a thrift store:<\/p>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">He<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Are you folks Mennonites? \ud83d\ude42<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Me<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">\ud83d\ude10 Well, we&#8217;re Christians. We identify ourselves with Christ.<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">He<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">We are Christians also, but you look different. Tell me more about yourselves. \ud83d\ude42<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Me<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Well, we believe in separation from the world in values and appearance.<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">He<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Like Mennonites.<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Me<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">\ud83d\ude33 Actually, it&#8217;s a Christian thing. We also believe in simple living.<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">He<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Like Mennonites.<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Me<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Really, it&#8217;s a Christian thing. We also believe that the ladies should wear dresses and headship coverings, and that the men&#8217;s appearance should complement those.<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">He<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">Like Mennonites. \ud83d\ude44<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">Me<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\">\ud83d\ude15 Please, it&#8217;s a Christian thing. We also believe in&#8230;<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-who\">He<\/div>\n<div class=\"conversation-what\" style=\"margin-bottom:1.5em\">Like Mennonites. <i>Walks away, shaking head.<\/i><\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:left\">What would that gain?<\/p>\n<p>I am a Mennonite Christian. <i>Mennonite<\/i> and <i>Christian<\/i> both bless me with and tie me to rich elements of <strong>a rich heritage with which I am pleased and privileged to identify<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Taking on the identity of both of those terms at times causes me discomfort in a not-for-righteousness&#8217;-sake way.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, <strong>I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ<\/strong>. Neither am I ashamed of the historic Anabaptist life-presentation of Christ&#8217;s Gospel.<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8220;Anabaptist?!&#8221;<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Yes, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.anabaptists.org\/history\/what-is-an-anabaptist.html\" title=\"What Is an Anabaptist?\">Anabaptist<\/a>. But that&#8217;s another big subject&#8230; \ud83d\ude2e<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and a little closing note to some of my readers: I&#8217;ve had this on my mind on and off for quite a while, OK? \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<p>PS: I am an Oregonian American human that drives a Honda Accord car. <strong>I&#8217;m also a Mennonite Anabaptist Christian.<\/strong> \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You know of or about Mennonites, right? Mennonites &#8212; the religious sect&#8230;er&#8230;the people that distinguish themselves by __________________________. What does go in the blank, anyway?! Mennonite used to mean &#8220;stuff&#8221; like&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[395,999,534],"tags":[904,351],"class_list":["post-2413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dumb-and-such","category-soul-and-spirit","category-todays-thought","tag-christians","tag-mennonites"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/prJUJ-CV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}