Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Early Beginnings Mennonites, a branch of Anabaptists which means ”rebaptizers”, are one of the early religion. The first group was during the 16th century in Zurich, Switzerland. They called themselves Swiss Brethren. They had branched off of the Protestant church during the Protestant Reformation. They believed that there should be a separation between the church and state and that the church had not reformed enough during the Reformation, so they broke away. Menno Simons was one of the original leaders and the name Mennonite is derived from his name. He was a Roman Catholic priest who led the early Anabaptists during the mid-1530's. Many Mennonites came to America as early as 1683 due to severe persecution in Europe. Today there are over one million members in 68 different countries worldwide. Mennonites are the largest denomination of direct descendants of the Anabaptists. There is no certain ethnic group or culture group that makes up the Mennonite religion. It consists of members worldwide from Swiss to German, Russian to Dutch, Native American to African, American and many more.