Christian Churches

In the history of the various Christian churches which have interpreted and acted on the scriptures of the New Testament, a unique place has been held by the existence of the group of Christian churches which are referred to as the Mennonites, who adhere to the beliefs and practices of an Anabaptist kind of Christian church, which carried out the challenge to the authority of the Catholic Christian church in a markedly radical and strongly argued fashion, with a consequent result of incurring long periods of repression and persecution.

In the subsequent history of the Christian church, the role of the Christian churches which exist within the Mennonite philosophy has been noted by participants, observers and Christian church scholars for its part in spearheading politically progressive movements, particularly in regard to advocacy against war and for the philosophy of pacifism, and for its widespread dispersal throughout the world. Though relatively small in the number of adherents it can claim worldwide in comparison to other Christian churches, with only an estimated 1.5 million Mennonites throughout the world by the count of a study which was conducted in 2006, the Mennonite Christian Church is noted for its adherence to a doctrine which has been much embattled over the course of its history as well as for the degree of variety which can be found in the existence of Mennonite Christian churches throughout the world.

The Mennonite Christian Church is named for the Dutch Anabaptist leader Menno Simons, who lived in the 16th century and emphasized an approach to putting the ideal of the Christian church into active practice in the world through an emphasis on the mission and ministry of Jesus. In the subsequent development of the Mennonite doctrine, the followers who were attracted to this belief were subjected to a great degree of abuse and persecution from the other dominant Christian churches of the period, both those adhering to the traditional approach to the Christian church of Catholicism and the upstart Protestant Christian churches, both of which saw the anti-hierarchical principles of the Mennonite beliefs as challenges to their established working methods of relying heavily on authority imposed from above on Christian believers.

Many of the initial leaders of the Mennonite Christian church were killed in the 16th century after they refused to renounce their beliefs. Similar damage was enacted to other Christian churches which had a part in the Anabaptist movement, which shared a common belief in the idea that baptism should take effect only when the believer is an adult and possesses adult powers of reasoning to bring to bear on the questions associated with becoming believers. Simons adopted Anabaptism after a period in which, still adhering to the doctrines of the Catholic Christian church as a priest in that area of faith, he witnessed the murder of his Anabaptist brother at the hands of religiously motivated attackers. The Mennonites adopted pacifism in part due to their feeling they could not win in combat against the rival Christian churches.