On 11 November 1554 the city council of Wismar decreed that all Anabaptists were to leave the city. Menno had already left during the summer and gone to Lübeck. He and his followers proceeded together to the town of Oldesloe in the province of Holstein. In the vicinity of this town Bartholomeus von Ahlefeldt had since 1543 been gathering oppressed Anabaptists on one of his large estates, called Wüstenfelde (desert field). Here at last Menno found shelter and protection. His printer began to print his books, and Menno took the opportunity to revise his early editions and write several new books. Although von Ahlefeldt was often challenged to expel the Mennonites he remained their protector, having learned to appreciate them when he was in Holland.

The Mennonites aimed at nothing less than the establishment of a true Christian and apostolic church. With Paul they were determined to present to Christ His bride without spot and wrinkle and to keep themselves pure and clean as far as the world around them was concerned and also to keep the world out of the church. They were doing this through church discipline, using the ban and avoidance. Questions regarding the application of church discipline led to controversies. Menno had meetings with his fellow workers in Emden, Francker, and Harlingen. Dirk Philips and Leenaert Botswana favored a rigid application of church discipline. Others were lenient. Menno mediated between the two extremes. Menno made his last trip to his home province, Friesland, in 1557 to settle a dispute over this question. But in vain. This matter was to occupy the minds and hearts of the Dutch Mennonites for at least another century. After his return he wrote to a friend, "If the omnipotent God had not preserved me last year as well as now, I would already have gone mad. For there is nothing upon earth which my heart loves more than it does the church, and yet I must live to see this sad affliction upon her" (Writings, 1055). Certain reports indicate that Menno was won over by the more rigid church disciplinarians toward the end of his life.

Through Zyllis and Lemke, Menno's friends and co-workers of the Lower Rhine area, the question of church discipline was presented at a large conference of South German Anabaptists which met at Strasbourg in 1557. Some 50 representatives of congregations in various South German countries, such as Moravia, Switzerland, and Alsace, were present. The assembled elders sent an appeal to Menno and his co-workers not to go to extremes in the matter of ban and avoidance, through which even family life was disrupted. Menno and Dirk Philips responded in writing, defending the more rigid position. Menno now emphasized that the heavenly marriage between Christ and the soul is more important than the relationship of man and wife in the earthly marriage. This controversy saddened the last days of his life.

During his last years Menno was crippled. The earliest portraits show him with crutches. His wife preceded him in death, although it is not known when she died. The children included at least two daughters and a son Jan. The son probably also preceded the father in death. One of the daughters gave some information about Menno to the historian Pieter Jans Twisck. According to all available information Menno died at Wüstenfelde on 31 January 1561, 25 years after his withdrawal from the Catholic Church. He was buried in his own garden. The Thirty Years' War destroyed the estate on which the Anabaptists had settled, so that the exact location of the grave is no longer known. In 1906 a simple stone was erected at the approximate place, which was popularly known as the "Menno field." Not far from it the Menno Linden, supposedly planted by Menno himself, and the Menno House, in which his books were supposedly printed, still stand.

Menno Simons was a Biblicist in the truest and best meaning of the word. He turned away from tradition and became Bible-centered in all his beliefs and practices. Once he had turned to the Bible, he took it for the Word of God and made it the cornerstone of all his work. His writings are filled with Bible quotations. His approach to the Bible differs from that of the other reformers. It is above all Christ-centered. Every book and every little pamphlet he wrote have on the front page the motto, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11). Christ-centeredness marks his theology and the practices he derived from the Bible. Discipleship (Nachfolge) or a fruitful Christian life were very strongly emphasized. But this emphasis on true Christian living does not take. place in a vacuum or as a matter merely between the individual and his God, but rather within the congregation, the church of Christ. Menno's faith is therefore not only Christ-centered but also church-centered: his chief concern was the achievement of the true church of Jesus Christ or the body of Christ. Again and again he refers to 1 Corinthians 12:13, 25-27, and Colossians 1:18-24. The prerequisites for church membership according to Menno are regeneration and willingness to bear the cross of Christ. These two are inseparable. Discipline was as natural in the church of Menno Simons as any normal function of the healthy body.

Lines taken from above article -

The Mennonites aimed at nothing less than the establishment of a true Christian and apostolic church.

Is this Biblical?



With Paul they were determined to present to Christ His bride without spot and wrinkle and to keep themselves pure and clean as far as the world around them was concerned and also to keep the world out of the church. They were doing this through church discipline, using the ban and avoidance.

The start of exclusivity?



Questions regarding the application of church discipline led to controversies. Menno had meetings with his fellow workers in Emden, Francker, and Harlingen. Dirk Philips and Leenaert Botswana favored a rigid application of church discipline. Others were lenient. Menno mediated between the two extremes. Menno made his last trip to his home province, Friesland, in 1557 to settle a dispute over this question. But in vain. This matter was to occupy the minds and hearts of the Dutch Mennonites for at least another century. After his return he wrote to a friend, "If the omnipotent God had not preserved me last year as well as now, I would already have gone mad. For there is nothing upon earth which my heart loves more than it does the church, and yet I must live to see this sad affliction upon her" (Writings, 1055). Certain reports indicate that Menno was won over by the more rigid church disciplinarians toward the end of his life.



Sounds like excommunication and avoidance was a point o contention from the beginning of mennonitism. The legalists always win?

Legalists win on earth because they are more agressive. It's a natural thing. But do they really WIN?

With Paul With Paul they were determined to present to Christ His bride without spot and wrinkle and to keep themselves pure and clean as far as the world around them was concerned and also to keep the world out of the church. They were doing this through church discipline, using the ban and avoidance.

The crux of the matter does not have anything to do with ban or avoidance, but with this opening line:

With Paul they were determined to present to Christ His bride without spot and wrinkle

See, the premise is wrong and the very foundation of this movement is in error. The entire reason for the Christ and His Atonement was that HE would present/claim a spotless Bride, made clean by HIS blood!

The forbears of Anabaptistry were still wallowing in the swill of the Mosaic Law, thinking THEY would present a Pure Bride. It was never there job to do so. Only the Christ could make the Bride pure.

(Have these people ever even cracked a book on theology?)

The basic premise of Anabaptist dogma is to replace Christ with an organized "church" and built on a foundation that places man in God's role. This is blatant idolatry for the First Commandment is "thou shalt have no other gods before Me".

(you don't even have to believe in God to see this error. It's spelled out in the Book they venerate as being literal and inerrant)

Excellent insight, Peter!

Peter.

Have you ever studied Anabaptist history? Your view of them establishing organised churches is opposing to any history I have read.

Atrisk, Yes, I have studied the writings of the Anabaptists and also the writings of Holdeman. I have also studied theology and comparitive religion.

Have you studied any of these topics from different sources, or is your study based on the books provided by your church library/Gospel Tract and Publishing Co.?

Peter,

I should say I havn't "studied" any history at all. I have read alot of books from historian's perspective. I do not recall any written by Holdeman mennonites. Some were autobiographies and others biographies. I have also read some on histories of churches. (again none on my own.) perhaps you could point me to a source?

Any how I have seemed to have formed an impression some where down the line that Anabaptist origin was very loosely organized and was in fact an appeal to some for that reason.

The church discipline of the era in organized religion was rather severe. (the local jail was run by the church officials) You just might lose your head or get a little stretch if you were found in conflict. (maybe I read to much Robynn Hood and Walter Scott as a kid and have a warped idea here.)

With time there were groups that established themselves from the original Anabaptist influence and became organized. eg. Hutter, Menno, Amon, Baptists, etc. The establishments came about as groups splintered off and migrated into different parts of Europe and later the Americas.

This kind of summarizes my impression. There is the Protestant side as well of course, but we are on Anabaptist here.

I would be interested in where this differs from what your studies have come up with.