Reidenbach Old Order Mennonites

Reidenbach Old Order Mennonites, also called Thirty Fivers, comprise about 10 Old Order Mennonites churches, who emerged from a split of the Groffdale Old Order Mennonite Conference in 1946 and subsequent splits. The people who formed the Reidenbach Mennonites Church were more conservative than the members of the Groffdale Conference. The original name of the new church in 1946 was "Reidenbach Mennonite Church".

History

During World War II around the year 1942 there was a conflict among the Groffdale Conference Mennonites about the question if members of the Conference should send their male youth to government-run Civilian Public Service camps or if the young males should rather go to jail. A minority group of 35 church members who opted against Civilian Public Service camps on May 30, 1946 formed the "Reidenbach Mennonite Church". The later history is characterized by a long series of splits, the major one being a division in 1977 about the use of bottled gas, which left the 158 members in two groups, one of 90 members, the John J. Martin group, who forbade bottled gas, and one of 68 members, the Amos Martin group, who allowed it. The John J. Martin group later saw several further splits.^{[1] [2]}

Splits

The table below lists all splits of more than one family until the middle of the year 1996:^[3]

Customs and belief

The belief of the Reidenbach Mennonites almost does not differ from other Old Order Mennonites. Their Ordnung (set of church rules) does not allow cars, rubber wheels on buggies, tractors for fieldwork, TV, radio, telephones and electricity from public lines. Pennsylvania German is the language used at home and with other Old Orders, children go to parochial schools and dress is a very conservative form of plain dress.^[4] Their Ordnung is more conservative than that of mainstream horse and buggy Old Order Mennonites ("Wenger" and Ontario) but less conservative than the Ordnung of the "Pikers".

Marriage and disease

There are basically four family names among the Reidenbachs: Martin, Hoover, Reiff and Nolt, because there was only a small founder group. First cousin marriages are avoided among Old Order Mennonites, if it is possible, but in the first years of the Reidenbachs the small size of the group led to a high percentage of such marriages, as young members could not find partners inside the church who were less close related and marrying outside the church was no option because of the Ordnung (set of rules) of the church. From 1947 to 1965 83.3 percent of all marriages were first cousin marriages. The fast natural growth of the group improved the situation and from 1965 to 1977 only 5.9 percent of all marriages were first cousin marriages.^[5] The split in 1977 aggravated the situation again and the old problem arouse anew. Therefore, the Reidenbachs are in all likelihood the most inbred group of Anabaptists. There are two genetic diseases among them: Hirschsprung's disease and Maple syrup urine disease.^[6]

Membership

In 1994 there were about 300 adult members divided into 10 subgroups.^[7] In 2008/9 membership was about 375 in 10 subgroups.^[8] In 2015 the membership of all branches was 371 in 18 congregations.^[9]

Bibliography

• Karsten-Gerhard Albertsen: The History & Life of the Reidenbach Mennonites (Thirty Fivers). Morgantown, PA 1996.
• Mark Z. Hoover: The Inside Story. Leitchfield, KY 2011.
• Stephen Scott. An Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups. Intercourse, PA 1996.

References

External links

• Reidenbach Mennonite Church (Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA) in Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online