About 300 Plain Mennonite youth and young adults gathered June 29 at Lime Rock Meetinghouse in Lancaster County, Pa., to hear teachings on Christian nonresistance.

Twice a year, Weaverland Mennonite Conference, a car-driving Old Order group, hosts meetings on nonresistance for its young people, age 16 to 25, in communities across the United States.

A Weaverland bishop said the meetings are crucial for sustaining a commitment to Christian nonviolence. They’ve been held for generations: The young people’s grandparents would have attended similar meetings.

Held a few days before July 4, the gathering was a form of Mennonite counterprogramming to a patriotic holiday. One of the speakers reminded the young people that during the Revolutionary War most Mennonites refused to serve as soldiers.

“When we first arrived in Pennsylvania in the 1700s, we made a promise to the king of England that we would be his loyal subjects,” the speaker said. “For our ancestors, living in America was a blessing and an answer to their prayers. We promised that we would be loyal to the king as long as the laws did not go against Jesus’ teaching and example.”

The Sunday afternoon meeting followed the pattern of Old Order Mennonite worship. The women, wearing head coverings and cape dresses, sat on one side of the meetinghouse. The men, in black pants and white dress shirts, sat on the opposite side. In the center was a singers’ table. The preachers’ table was placed at one end of the singers’ table, forming a T shape.

The crowd sang hymns in unison, a cappella. In Plain Anabaptist worship, the song leaders “raise up the hymn,” and the congregation joins several words into each verse. It is a tradition older than the United States, yet remarkably contemporary: Thousands of Plain Anabaptists worship this way every Sunday.

I felt that the leaders aimed to teach the young people to see themselves as outsiders within the American experience — more as subjects than as citizens. Throughout the afternoon, there were expressions of gratitude for the government and the freedoms of the United States.

The speakers discussed Jesus’ ­Sermon on the Mount and his example of not physically resisting his arrest, suffering and death. They shared stories from Mennonite history of people who, at great personal cost, stayed committed to a nonresistant faith.

The speakers said:
— Jesus and the rest of the New Testament teach that there are two kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. We are members of the kingdom of God.
— Nonresistance is a way of life, encompassing more than avoiding military service.
— Is your Christian nonresistance evident in your relationships with family, peers and at work?
— Your internet use leaves an electronic trail others might see. Do the websites you visit reflect that you are a follower of Jesus? Members of Weaverland Conference have agreed to use filters on all devices that access the internet. Are you upholding this commitment?
— We believe it is inappropriate to play violent video games.
— How you drive reflects being a nonresistant Christian. Driving aggressively is not consistent with being a nonresistant person.
— We believe our members should not own military-style guns.
— We strongly advise against participating in paintball events. It might seem like a harmless game, but it promotes violence.
— We strive to avoid offending our neighbors due to our Christian beliefs. I am part of a construction crew, and we have decided not to work on job sites on July 4 and Memorial Day to show respect for our neighbors.
— When our government or community asks us to deviate from the teachings of Jesus and the Word of God, we must obey God rather than man.
— You are too young to remember the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. It was a wake-up call when some of our neighbors demanded we fly American flags. We had a small taste of how public opinion can shift overnight as people called for revenge against those who harmed our country.
— We encourage young men to register with Selective Service. Write on the registration form, “I am a conscientious objector.” Weaverland Conference also has a document to fill out that serves as a written record of your commitment to being a nonresistant person. We encourage both men and women to fill out the church form. We have a memorandum of understanding with Selective Service for an alternative service program in the event of a draft.

Joe Miller is a researcher and writer from Lancaster, Pa., and a bishop for the Conestoga River District of LMC, an Anabaptist denomination based in Lancaster. He is working on a project examining how Plain Anabaptists pass down a commitment to biblical nonresistance through generations.