Faced with steadily declining membership, Dutch Mennonites are streamlining their structure and working to build their identity as Anabaptist Christians in a thoroughly secular society.
ELKHART, Ind. — Connie and Dennis Byler, serving with Mennonite Mission Network, watched Anabaptism take root in Spain in their 37 years of ministry there.
Spears to pruning hooks. Swords to plowshares. And since April 1, Anabaptist prison to cozy apartment. Already a tourist hotspot for Mennonites, portions of Trachselwald castle could even become an “official” museum.
It can’t change the past, but it can impact the future. In surprise comments delivered in early November, a government official in Bern, Switzerland, requested forgiveness for persecution by the church and state of Anabaptists centuries earlier.