Weltweite Gemeinschaft - Worldwide Community
From Isolation to a Worldwide Community.
Some descendants of Swiss Anabaptists still live where their Anabaptist ancestors once found asylum, for example in Alsace and the Palatinate, in the Netherlands or in North America. Many of them still belong to the church, now globally called "Mennonite," which in 2020 had more than 2 million members worldwide.
Map: Mennonite World Conference.
The majority of members of Anabaptist-Mennonite churches, however, have long since ceased to have European roots and come from Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.
Photo: Mennonite World Conference.
The Anabaptist-Mennonite community has become global and colorful. Here the committee of YABs (Young AnaBaptists) from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America.
Overall, Anabaptist-Mennonite churches have been slow to emerge from isolation. In the meantime, however, most of them cooperate with other churches. In ecumenism, the Anabaptist peace testimony has met with interest, especially since the two world wars.
In recent decades, discussions have been initiated with other churches, such as Lutherans, Reformed, Baptists, Catholics and Adventists, at both the national and global levels. On various occasions, "steps toward reconciliation" have been taken.