Reformed Mennonite
Encyclopedia
The Reformed Mennonite Church is an Anabaptist
religious denomination that officially separated from the main North American Mennonite
body in 1812.
, under the leadership of John Herr, the son of Francis Herr, a Mennonite who had been expelled from the church. Herr split from the main Mennonite Church on the premise that the Church leaders were deviating from the original teachings of Menno Simons
. The new denomination retained the name "Mennonite" and identified itself as the only true Mennonite movement. Others, however, referred to followers of Herr as "New" Mennonites or "Herrites", and subsequently as "Reformed" Mennonites, which eventually became the denomination's official name.
The Church reached its peak membership in the mid-nineteenth century, at which time it included up to 3,000 members in Ontario
and eight U.S. states.
It has experienced two divisions in its nearly 200-year history. In 1917, three congregations located in Huron
, Richland
, and Lucas
counties in Ohio (along with a few members in Ontario) formed the New Reformed Mennonite Church under the leadership of Minister John Miller. The cause for the split was disagreement over whether funerals should be held in cooperation with non-Reformed Mennonite ministers and over the Church's support of the American Red Cross
during the First World War.
The second split occurred in 1975 under Minister Willis Weaver, who organized the United Mennonite Church. In 1987, the group had 17 members located in Lancaster County
in Pennsylvania.
' teachings and of the teachings of the New Testament
. They have no church rules, but they rely solely on the Bible
as their guide. The Reformed Mennonites practise nonresistance
and therefore do not go to war, practise self-defence, or sue at the law. They practise the Lord's Supper
and believer's baptism
on confession of faith. Upon meeting, members greet with a kiss of charity
as taught in 1 Peter 5. They practise feet washing
as taught by Christ in John 13. They insist on strict separation from other denominations, and use excommunication
and shunning
of former members. Members dress in conservative plain garb that preserves 18th century Mennonite details. Their children attend public schools. They permit the use of automobiles.
The 1890 U.S. Census
reported a membership of 1,655 in 34 congregations. By 1948, these figures had fallen to 733 and 24, respectively, and in 1958, the Church had only 616 members. By 1987, membership had further declined to 257 and in May 2000, it reached 171. A similar decline occurred in Ontario, which in 1948 had 6 congregations with 217 members. In May 2000, this figure stood at 131.
As of 2000, the single largest congregations were in North Easthope
and Stevensville, Ontario
, with 73 and 58 members, respectively. Congregations in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee were considerably smaller.
Current estimates place total membership in the Reformed Mennonite Church at less than 300 serviced by no more than 10 churches.
Milton S. Hershey
's mother was a Reformed Mennonite. Robert Bear, a Pennsylvania farmer who was excommunicated in 1964 and again in 1972 has since been actively and publicly attacking the church.
Leo Tolstoy
, in his book The Kingdom of God is Within You
, praised the religious pamphlet Non-Resistance Asserted by Reformed Mennonite member Daniel Musser.
Helen Reimensnyder Martin
harshly portrayed the Reformed Mennonite Herrites and other Pennsylvania Dutch
groups in her novel Tillie: a Mennonite Maid (1904), a novel which provoked cries of misrepresentation from those who resented her depictions. Early in the story a young girl of Pennsylvania Dutch, but not Mennonite, background, joins a Reformed Mennonite group after listening to a funeral sermon, but is excommunicated within a few years for allowing curls of hair to peek from her bonnet. The chapter depicting the funeral scene makes much of the Herrite prohibition of attendance at funerals of other faiths; to accommodate them, two separate funeral sermons are preached, and the conclusion of the first sermon by a Reformed Mennonite minister is the signal for the Reformed Mennonites to depart.
Newbery Honor
-winning Kathryn Lasky
's novel Beyond the Divide is ostensibly about a fourteen-year-old Amish girl heading west with her father in 1849 after he has been shunned by their community for attending a funeral outside the faith. The depiction of the faith mixes Reformed Mennonite, Amish, Mennonite, and even Quaker customs, but the funeral incident reflects both Reformed Mennonite practice and Tillie: a Mennonite Maid.
)
Anabaptist
Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....
religious denomination that officially separated from the main North American Mennonite
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...
body in 1812.
History
The Reformed Mennonite Church was founded on May 30, 1812, in Lancaster County, PennsylvaniaLancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010 the population was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the...
, under the leadership of John Herr, the son of Francis Herr, a Mennonite who had been expelled from the church. Herr split from the main Mennonite Church on the premise that the Church leaders were deviating from the original teachings of 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...
. The new denomination retained the name "Mennonite" and identified itself as the only true Mennonite movement. Others, however, referred to followers of Herr as "New" Mennonites or "Herrites", and subsequently as "Reformed" Mennonites, which eventually became the denomination's official name.
The Church reached its peak membership in the mid-nineteenth century, at which time it included up to 3,000 members in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and eight U.S. states.
It has experienced two divisions in its nearly 200-year history. In 1917, three congregations located in Huron
Huron County, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 59,487 people, 22,307 households, and 16,217 families residing in the county. The population density was 121 people per square mile . There were 23,594 housing units at an average density of 48 per square mile...
, Richland
Richland County, Ohio
Richland County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 124,475. It is included in the Mansfield, Ohio, Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Mansfield–Bucyrus Combined Statistical Area....
, and Lucas
Lucas County, Ohio
----...
counties in Ohio (along with a few members in Ontario) formed the New Reformed Mennonite Church under the leadership of Minister John Miller. The cause for the split was disagreement over whether funerals should be held in cooperation with non-Reformed Mennonite ministers and over the Church's support of the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
during the First World War.
The second split occurred in 1975 under Minister Willis Weaver, who organized the United Mennonite Church. In 1987, the group had 17 members located in Lancaster County
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010 the population was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the...
in Pennsylvania.
Practices
Reformed Mennonites see themselves as true 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...
' teachings and of the teachings of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
. They have no church rules, but they rely solely on the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
as their guide. The Reformed Mennonites practise nonresistance
Nonresistance
Nonresistance is generally defined as "the practice or principle of not resisting authority, even when it is unjustly exercised". At its core is discouragement of, even opposition to, physical resistance to an enemy...
and therefore do not go to war, practise self-defence, or sue at the law. They practise the Lord's Supper
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
and believer's baptism
Believer's baptism
Believer's baptism is the Christian practice of baptism as this is understood by many Protestant churches, particularly those that descend from the Anabaptist tradition...
on confession of faith. Upon meeting, members greet with a kiss of charity
Holy kiss
The kiss of peace is a traditional Christian greeting dating to early Christianity.The practice still remains a part of the worship in traditional churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Orthodox churches, Oriental Orthodox churches and some liturgical...
as taught in 1 Peter 5. They practise feet washing
Feet washing
Foot washing or washing of feet is a religious rite observed as an ordinance by several Christian denominations. The name, and even the spelling, of this practice is not consistently established, being variously known as foot washing, washing the saints' feet, pedilavium, and mandatum.For some...
as taught by Christ in John 13. They insist on strict separation from other denominations, and use excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
and shunning
Shunning
Shunning can be the act of social rejection, or mental rejection. Social rejection is when a person or group deliberately avoids association with, and habitually keeps away from an individual or group. This can be a formal decision by a group, or a less formal group action which will spread to all...
of former members. Members dress in conservative plain garb that preserves 18th century Mennonite details. Their children attend public schools. They permit the use of automobiles.
Membership
The membership of the Reformed Mennonite Church has been mostly declining since the death of founder John Herr in 1850.The 1890 U.S. Census
United States Census, 1890
The Eleventh United States Census was taken June 2, 1890. The data was tabulated by machine for the first time. The data reported that the distribution of the population had resulted in the disappearance of the American frontier...
reported a membership of 1,655 in 34 congregations. By 1948, these figures had fallen to 733 and 24, respectively, and in 1958, the Church had only 616 members. By 1987, membership had further declined to 257 and in May 2000, it reached 171. A similar decline occurred in Ontario, which in 1948 had 6 congregations with 217 members. In May 2000, this figure stood at 131.
As of 2000, the single largest congregations were in North Easthope
Perth East, Ontario
The Township of Perth East is municipality located in Perth County, Ontario, Canada and situated north of Stratford.Milverton is the major community of the township, where the municipal administration is based...
and Stevensville, Ontario
Stevensville, Ontario
Stevensville is a small community in southern Ontario, Canada in the town of Fort Erie, most notable as the birthplace of Canadian entrepreneur James L. Kraft.-General Community Description:...
, with 73 and 58 members, respectively. Congregations in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee were considerably smaller.
Current estimates place total membership in the Reformed Mennonite Church at less than 300 serviced by no more than 10 churches.
Milton S. Hershey
Milton S. Hershey
Milton Snavely Hershey was an American confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the "company town" of Hershey, Pennsylvania....
's mother was a Reformed Mennonite. Robert Bear, a Pennsylvania farmer who was excommunicated in 1964 and again in 1972 has since been actively and publicly attacking the church.
Literary portrayal
Reformed Mennonites have been depicted in a variety of literature from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
, in his book The Kingdom of God is Within You
The Kingdom of God Is Within You
The Kingdom of God Is Within You is the non-fiction magnum opus of Leo Tolstoy and was first published in Germany in 1894, after being banned in his home country of Russia...
, praised the religious pamphlet Non-Resistance Asserted by Reformed Mennonite member Daniel Musser.
Helen Reimensnyder Martin
Helen Reimensnyder Martin
Helen Reimensnyder Martin was an American author. She was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, studied at Swarthmore and at Radcliffe colleges; and married Frederic C. Martin in 1889...
harshly portrayed the Reformed Mennonite Herrites and other Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
groups in her novel Tillie: a Mennonite Maid (1904), a novel which provoked cries of misrepresentation from those who resented her depictions. Early in the story a young girl of Pennsylvania Dutch, but not Mennonite, background, joins a Reformed Mennonite group after listening to a funeral sermon, but is excommunicated within a few years for allowing curls of hair to peek from her bonnet. The chapter depicting the funeral scene makes much of the Herrite prohibition of attendance at funerals of other faiths; to accommodate them, two separate funeral sermons are preached, and the conclusion of the first sermon by a Reformed Mennonite minister is the signal for the Reformed Mennonites to depart.
Newbery Honor
Newbery Medal
The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
-winning Kathryn Lasky
Kathryn Lasky
Kathryn Lasky is an American author whose work includes several Dear America books, The Royal Diaries books, Sugaring Time, The Night Journey, and the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series.-Biography:...
's novel Beyond the Divide is ostensibly about a fourteen-year-old Amish girl heading west with her father in 1849 after he has been shunned by their community for attending a funeral outside the faith. The depiction of the faith mixes Reformed Mennonite, Amish, Mennonite, and even Quaker customs, but the funeral incident reflects both Reformed Mennonite practice and Tillie: a Mennonite Maid.
Further reading
(digital copy at Google Book SearchGoogle Book Search
Google Books is a service from Google that searches the full text of books that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October...
)
External links
- Official website of the Reformed Mennonite Church