Today’s Mennonites defy stereotypes

BLUFFTON, Ohio (AP) — Lynn Miller is not a typical Mennonite.

He has a beard, but no mustache. He and his wife, Linda, live on two acres outside Bluffton where they raise vegetables, flowers and butterflies.

He drives and builds boats. He has a light book for Mennonites that includes the joke, “You’re Really a Mennonite When...”

Miller is not a typical Mennonite because there are no typical Mennonites.

Some wear simple clothing, and some of the women cover their heads. Others wear jeans and T-shirts. Most drive cars, but a few paint the chrome black because chrome is considered too “worldly.”

Most have nothing to do with farming.

Mennonites are pacifists, activists, Christians and music lovers.

Literally and figuratively, some sing in four-part harmony, and others sing a cappella.

“Mennonites sing well,” Miller said. “But we fight, too. ... In 485 years, we’ve split 47 times. And all you have to do to start a new Mennonite church is change the music.”

The Millers are among hundreds of Mennonites who attend one of the five Mennonite churches in the Bluffton and Pandora areas.

Lynn and Linda go to First Mennonite in Bluffton, which also serves many teachers from Bluffton University, a Mennonite school.

The congregation at First Mennonite looks about like any congregation.

“We do come from a history of a simple lifestyle,” said First Mennonite Pastor Steve Yoder. “But with increased affluence, we’ve been hit by that bug.”

Once a cohesive community, the Bluffton and Pandora Mennonites have grown ethnically and culturally diverse.

But they still agree on a few points, especially nonviolence.

Most Mennonites actively work toward peace, and many, although not all, refuse to serve in the military, and would even if a draft were reinstituted.

Most Mennonites also are pro-life, and they mean all life: They oppose the death penalty, too.

All Mennonites need not believe the same things, however. When differences arise, they might argue about it and, if that doesn’t work, some might start a new church.

Also, the Mennonites are not Amish.

The Amish often farm and wear distinguishing clothing; they often have church services in German; the Amish children often do not attend school after the eighth grade. They also use horses instead of cars or tractors.

But Mennonites and Amish do share a history.

In 16th-century Europe, both groups were called “Anabaptists,” a group that split from the Roman Catholic Church because they believed only adults should be baptized.

When some Anabaptists believed the group had grown too worldly, they became the Amish.

In Pandora and Bluffton, Mennonite settlers were from Switzerland, and are still considered “Swiss Mennonites.” But they are no longer all Swiss.

In fact, some of those who attend First Mennonite are not even Mennonite, Yoder said.

Worship, and the community, are mixed.

It was not always that way, said Dick Boehr, 77, a Mennonite and real-estate agent in downtown Bluffton.

He remembers having electricity installed in his family’s home to replace lanterns. People drove, and listened to the radio and phonographs.

But Mennonites dressed simply when he was growing up. That meant black coats and ties for the men, at least in church, and no makeup, jewelry or short hair for the women.

The modernization of the Bluffton Mennonite community began with one woman in the 1940s who began wearing makeup, then jewelry, Boehr said.

“It raised a ruckus,” Boehr said, “but they chose not to excommunicate her or anything like that.”

The long hair went next, he said, as women working in World War II war-production factories didn’t want to deal with it.

In the 1960s, the black ties and coats went. Younger men stopped wearing them.

“Today, you can wear just about anything in the churches,” Boehr said. “But I still like to wear a suit.”

Farming went next. In Boehr’s youth, he said, at least 80 percent of Mennonites were farmers.

And then the Swiss language, which was mostly a German dialect, faded.

When Boehr was a boy, he knew Mennonite children who barely spoke English. Now, only a few older members still speak in the old tongue.

But the more eclectic, modern Mennonites still have shared principles that bind them.

“Our feeling is, you can’t love people if you’re killing them,” said Dennis Schmidt, pastor of Grace Mennonite Church in Pandora.

And if someone else attacked?

“We wouldn’t defend ourselves,” he said.

The belief helps distinguish Mennonites, but it also caused some commotion in a few Mennonite churches after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001 caused so many Americans to want to retaliate.

“The Christian church knows no national boundaries,” Schmidt said. “We are part of our country and obey what we can. But our higher allegiance is to Jesus and his kingdom.”

In fact, that higher allegiance is also a hallmark of Mennonite life. Most do not celebrate the 4th of July.

“Why celebrate war?” Miller said.

He said it is not that Mennonites aren’t patriotic, but it is a more global patriotism.

Still, not all Mennonites share Miller’s beliefs. Some have served in the military. Some are part of an umbrella organization, Mennonite Church USA; others are independent.

There is no governing body, which allows congregations the freedom to determine worship styles.

Miller said these days there are three kinds of Mennonites: the cultural Mennonites who love the four-part harmony and a good potluck, but aren’t very spiritual; a genetic Mennonite born into the faith; and what he calls “Christ-loving, Jesus-following Mennonites.”

“It’s all a matter of how you live,” he said. “How you follow Jesus.”