Mennonites and family reunions

Back from a family reunion on my wife's side and a trip to Philadelphia where we lived for ten years from 1980 to 1990. Spending time with the Peachey's in Belleville and then friends from Philadelphia, we experienced two extremes of the Mennonite Church. It seems folks from both groups are leaving the Mennonite Church or are talking about doing so, but for different reasons.

The Peachey reunion included Mennonites, and Peachey's who have joined the Nazarene's, Brethren in Christ, Assemblies of God, Presbyterians, or some large non-denominational church. Thirty to forty years ago this extended family would have all been Mennonite, sending their kids to Rosedale, or maybe to Eastern Mennonite, though Goshen would have been considered too "liberal." Now, the number of Menno's in the family are outnumbered by the non-Menno's. It was disheartening when one family described their pride in their grandson who had just joined the military because “God spoke to him and helped remove some of the hurdles to joining he was experiencing.”

It was the first time I had seen some of these people since my CPT trip to the West Bank last summer. Generally people ask questions and we have a nice discussion. This time it felt more like an attack. Some of the Peachey's consider themselves to be experts in Biblical prophecy (though they humbly add, certainly not on the same level as Grandpa or his brother when they were alive) so the line I kept hearing over and over during the weekend was "The creation of Israel is the fulfillment of prophecy." This was followed by "The Palestinians should just leave." I told them about some of the Palestinian Christians I met which seemed to cause some cognitive dissonance especially when I told them one Palestinian we met with could trace his families faith back to Pentecost.

I enjoy a good argument as much as anyone so at least I found a way to entertain myself at what was otherwise a rather sleepy reunion.

From Belleville we drove east stopping in Lancaster County and then making our way into Philadelphia. We spent one night with some friends from our days in Germantown and with some folks from the "early days" of the Germantown Mennonite congregation. "Early days" refers to the early 1980's - not the 1680's when the first Menno's came to the area. There was good food, good wine, and excellent Scotch. It was enjoyable catching up with everyone and reminiscing a bit about our time together.

Like some of the Peachey’s, some of these folks no longer go to a Mennonite Church. Instead of the large non-denominational groups, the Germantown folks are more likely to join an Episcopalian church, become Catholic, a high church Presbyterian congregation or go the silent route and join the Quakers.

Then there are folks we heard about from both groups who are dropping out of church all together. They spend Sunday mornings reading the paper, drinking coffee, going for a bike ride, or I suppose sleeping.

Those from Belleville said the Mennonite church is too liberal. From our discussions it seemed they took most of their cues from the local Christian radio station, Rush Limbaugh, James Dobson and other politically conservative preacher/politicians/entertainers. I don’t know much about Mennonite churches in “Big Valley” but they were described as too traditional in worship styles, too stuck in their ways, and not interested in reaching out.

The folks from Germantown listen to NPR, some might not know who Limbaugh is, and don’t like Dobson. They might also describe the church as too traditional (think women leadership – not worship styles), stuck in their ways, and not interested in reaching out – especially to gays.

I realize these may be two extremes and that there is a lot of room in between but the difference between the folks in Belleville and those in Philadelphia seemed much more than the 4-5 hour drive. And I realize there are similarities between the two, but frankly they are minimal. In the tradition of Anabaptism perhaps some “third way” will emerge to keep the two extremes together. It did help me appreciate my church, which though it has its faults, has many good people trying to live together in faithful ways.