Mennonite Church in the Netherlands
Encyclopedia
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
The Mennonites (or Mennisten or Doopsgezinden) are named for Menno Simons
Menno Simons
Menno Simons was an Anabaptist religious leader from the Friesland region of the Low Countries. Simons was a contemporary of the Protestant Reformers and his followers became known as Mennonites...
(1496–1561), a Dutch Roman Catholic priest from the Province of Friesland who converted to Anabaptism around 1536. He was re-baptized as an adult in 1537 and became part (and soon leader) of the Dutch Anabaptist movement. In 1811, this group dropped the name Mennonite in favour of Doopsgezinde or "Baptist-Persuasion". The Mennonite Church in the Netherlands is a member of the Mennonite World Conference
Mennonite World Conference
The Mennonite World Conference is a global community of Christian churches that facilitates community between Anabaptist-related churches and relates to other Christian world communions and organizations....
and in 2003 had 11,000 members in 123 congregations.
General characteristics
The doopsgezinden (literally: baptism-minded) or the Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit (General Baptism-minded Society) are a religious community in the Netherlands that can be considered the Dutch branch of the MennoniteMennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s. In the Netherlands they are at times also called Mennists.
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Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
. Rather than baptizing infants as is usual in many other denominations, baptism is reserved for adults. Prior to baptism a person writes a personal statement of confession and becomes a full member of the community upon being baptized. The confession is not necessarily based on any prescribed forms or dogmatic rules, in contrast to what is customary in the "Protestantse Kerk in Nederland", the largest Protestant denomination in the country; a denomination that unifies a number of Calvinist and Lutheran traditions.
Another characteristic of the doopsgezinden is that they reject military service and the bearing of arms. In the past, this stance has extended to all service for the state. In the days of the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, this position brought the community into conflict with local and Stadholderly authorities, because the church members refused to participate in the city's militia. In place of such service, however, they often did participate and contribute to the fire brigades in many places.
Founding years
Mennonites are the followers of Menno SimonsMenno Simons
Menno Simons was an Anabaptist religious leader from the Friesland region of the Low Countries. Simons was a contemporary of the Protestant Reformers and his followers became known as Mennonites...
(1496–1561), who was born in Witmarsum, Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
. Simons is considered one of the best known leaders of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
alongside Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
, Calvin and Zwingli
Huldrych Zwingli
Ulrich Zwingli was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system, he attended the University of Vienna and the University of Basel, a scholarly centre of humanism...
. Simons is the only widely-recognized Reformer of Dutch descent.
Anabaptism
Anabaptist
Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....
appeared in the Netherlands by 1530, when Melchior Hoffman
Melchior Hoffman
Melchior Hoffman was an Anabaptist prophet and a visionary leader in northern Germany and the Netherlands.-Life:Hoffman was born at Schwäbisch Hall in Franconia before 1500...
(1495–1543) visited Emden in East Frisia
East Frisia
East Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony....
. While there, Hoffman baptized more than 100 adults who converted to Anabaptism. The early years saw a number of, at times, rather fanatical, even violent developments under Anabaptist-associated groups like the Batenburgers
Batenburgers
The Batenburgers were members of a radical Anabaptist sect led by Jan van Batenburg, that flourished briefly in the 1530s in the aftermath of the Münster Rebellion.-Jan van Batenburg:...
. A similar violent take over of the city of Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
was subsequently repressed.
After 1536
After the demise of the Anabaptist rule in MünsterMünster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
(1534–1536, under Jan van Leiden), Menno Simons became the pivotal person who inspired the movement known as the (Ana)baptists. This movement was fiercely repressed and persecuted by many, including the Lutheran church. After 1536, Menno Simons was mostly active in organizing congregations in what are now the German states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, but congregations were also founded in his homeland of the Netherlands.
16th and 17th century
Soon after Menno's death, his followers in the Netherlands split into a number of local factions. There were Waterlandic, Frisian and Flemish denominations. After 1664, there was another schism. One of the groups was founded by the preacher Galenus Abraham de Haen from ZierikzeeZierikzee
Zierikzee is a small city, located on the former island of Schouwen in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Schouwen-Duiveland, and lies about 26 km southwest of Hellevoetsluis....
. Members of that group are known as the "Lammists." A different group, known as the "Sonnists," arose under the preacher Samuel Apostool. Lammists were more liberal and Sonnists were stricter. In 1735, the Sonnists founded their own Mennonite seminary in Amsterdam. In 1801, the two groups united again.
During the Republic, which was dominated by Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
, the Menists found themselves in a position similar to that of the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and the Catholics. They were tolerated as long as they did not practice their religion too openly. Churches were built in inconspicuous places, hidden from view. In some places, they can still be found in the middle of a block behind the houses, e.g. in Grouw, Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
, Deventer
Deventer
Deventer is a municipality and city in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel. Deventer is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, but also has a small part of its territory on the west bank. In 2005 the municipality of Bathmen Deventer is a municipality and city in...
and Joure
Joure
Joure is a town in the Dutch province of Friesland. With 13,000 inhabitants, it is the largest town in the municipality of Skarsterlân.-History:...
. In this period, the community was mostly of an orthodox nature as the usual name of the churches the “Vermaning” (Admonition) indicates. Many walks of life and professions were not open to the community, e.g. they were not admitted into the guilds. Many members, therefore, became merchants or earned their living in financial services. In the heyday of the Dutch Republic, the Golden Age of the seventeenth century, many of the Menists came into considerable wealth. The region of the river Vecht above Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
is still known as the "Menists' Heaven", because of its many opulent mansions.
18th century and the Napoleonic period
From the 18th century onward, many Menists evolved from a rather orthodox view to a decidedly liberal one. At the end of the century, there was considerable upheaval and the "patriots" inspired by events in the American colonies strove for sweeping reform in the rather archaic institutions of the Republic. In the Batavian RevolutionBatavian revolution
The term Batavian revolution refers to the political, social and cultural turmoil that marked the end of the Dutch Republic at the end of the 18th century...
of 1795, a disproportionately large number of 'doopsgezinden', as they started to call themselves, could be found amongst the "patriots" and they played an active role in the emancipation of groups that, like themselves, had been excluded from full citizenship. In 1806, the old guilds were finally abolished and all professions became open to the Menists. However, the customary right to refuse military service was now denied them.
19th century
In the century that followed, many of the more orthodox members of the 'doopsgezinden' decided to leave and join the more conservative Dutch Reformed ChurchDutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...
. The remaining mennists acquired a more and more progressive signature, quite in contrast to their fellow menists overseas.
Mission work among the group also began in the 19th century, carrying into the early 20th century. The group chose Central Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
and New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
as mission
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
fields. Strong ties still exist between these communities
Gereja Kristen Muria Indonesia
Muria Christian Church in Indonesia...
(now in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
) and today's Dutch groups.
Modern church
By 2007, there were 118 "doopsgezinde" congregations with a total of 8362 members. These are located mostly in the provinces FrieslandFriesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
and North-Holland, and in cities along the river IJssel
IJssel
River IJssel , sometimes called Gelderse IJssel to avoid confusion with its Hollandse IJssel namesake in the west of the Netherlands, is a branch of the Rhine in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel...
.
These congregations have a remarkably high number of female ministers. In fact, the "doopsgezinde" church was the first Dutch denomination that opened its seminaries to women, this occurring at the end of the 19th century. The first woman to grace the pulpit in the Netherlands, Anna Zernike, was "doopsgezind." Her ministry started in 1911 in the Frisian town of Bovenknijpe (near Heerenveen
Heerenveen
Heerenveen is a town in the Heerenveen municipality of the province of Friesland , in the north of the Netherlands.- History :The town was established in 1551 by three lords as a location for the purpose of digging peat which was used for fuel, hence the name...
).
Together with the Remonstrants
Remonstrants
The Remonstrants are the Dutch Protestants who, after the death of Jacobus Arminius, maintained the views associated with his name. In 1610 they presented to the States of Holland and Friesland a remonstrance in five articles formulating their points of disagreement from Calvinism.-History:The five...
, the "doopsgezinde" church was also the first church to accept and perform same-sex marriage in the service, after such was legalized in the Netherlands in 2001.
External links
- Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit — Official website in Dutch.
- Doperse immigranten in het Noord-Duitse kustgebied (1500–1700)
- Doopsgezinde prenten